RAWALPINDI: They arrived early, submitted their names, and waited in the heat outside Adiala jail for two hours. By the time 4 o’clock came and the window for visitation closed, not one of the six Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders had been allowed past the gates to see their imprisoned party founder, Imran Khan.
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Roads, rights, and roti: party leaders woo voters in the shadow of the Karakoram
GILGIT: He stepped off the plane and onto broken roads, and Nawaz Sharif could not hide his dismay.
The three-time former prime minister of Pakistan had not visited Gilgit-Baltistan in years, and what greeted him on Tuesday upon leaving the airport was a testament to the benign neglect that has defined Islamabad’s relationship with one of its most spectacular, and most overlooked, territories. Crumbling pavement. Potholed streets. An airport frozen in time, unchanged since his own tenure in power.
PPP chief rallies Gilgit-Baltistan voters with promise of autonomy, synchronised elections
SHIGAR: In a pointed pre-election address that blended constitutional grievance with campaign theater, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Monday for Gilgit-Baltistan to be granted enforceable rights under any future constitutional amendment, and demanded the abolition of the federal ministry that oversees the territory.
FIA blocks nearly 40,000 passengers in crackdown on human smuggling last year
ISLAMABAD: The federal immigration authority blocked nearly 40,000 passengers from boarding scheduled flights last year, part of an aggressive and expanding enforcement campaign that officials say has disrupted criminal smuggling networks and reduced the number of Pakistanis dying on illegal migration routes to Europe and the Middle East.
Security forces kill 13 in two-day operation against TTP affiliate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed at least eight more militants on Saturday in the second consecutive day of an ongoing offensive in the Darra Adamkhel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the operation’s death toll to 13, security sources told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
Opposition PTI leaders detained and expelled from Gilgit-Baltistan as election code dispute erupts ahead of June 7 vote
Gilgit: Police in Gilgit-Baltistan detained and later expelled Junaid Akbar, president of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter and a member of the National Assembly, along with six other party figures on Friday as the region’s political parties intensified campaigning for legislative elections set for June 7.
Pakistan marks nuclear anniversary with pledge of deterrence, not aggression
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared Thursday that Pakistan “harbors no aggressive intentions” against any country as the nation observed the 28th anniversary of its nuclear tests, a milestone that transformed it into the world’s newest declared atomic power and reshaped the balance of terror in South Asia.
Dar heads to New York for Security Council talks on UN Charter and global governance reform
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar left Beijing on Tuesday for New York, where he is scheduled to take part in a United Nations Security Council open debate on preserving the core principles of the UN Charter and reinforcing the world body’s central place in international affairs.
Pakistan and 13 other nations condemn Somaliland embassy in Jerusalem as violation of international law
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan joined Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Indonesia, Djibouti, Somalia, Palestine, Oman, Sudan, and Yemen on Sunday in a sharply worded joint condemnation of Somaliland’s opening of a “purported embassy” in occupied Jerusalem.
22 militants killed in Bannu shootout, nine more in Quetta raid, as Islamabad battles resurgent militancy near Afghan border
ISLAMABAD: At least 22 militants and two police officers were killed Saturday in a fierce gunbattle in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said, one of two significant counterterrorism operations conducted the same day as the country struggles with a sharp increase in attacks linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other extremist groups.