The question of whether Pakistan should carve out new provinces will reach the floor of parliament next month, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said Thursday, moving a proposal that has unsettled political leaders across the country from the realm of speculation into a formal legislative calendar.
Politics
PM Sharif to press for Iran diplomacy as UN gathering opens under war’s shadow – report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to New York later this month to address the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to press the case that the war between the United States and Iran should end at the negotiating table rather than the battlefield — a message Islamabad has delivered, with mixed results, since the conflict reignited this summer.
Pakistan warns Iran to rein in Houthis as Saudi attacks escalate, testing new defence pact
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has delivered a pointed warning to Iran to restrain its Houthi allies in Yemen, after a surge of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia left dozens wounded and threatened to pull the newly formed Makkah Defence Alliance into its first real test.
Pakistan warns Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia could trigger trilateral defence pact
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s defence minister has warned that a fresh wave of Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia could be enough to activate a fledgling trilateral defence pact between Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara, as the Yemeni conflict edges closer to spilling across the kingdom’s southern border.
Pakistan welcomes 12-nation push to curb trade with Israeli settlements
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has welcomed a coordinated decision by Britain, France and Canada to impose trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as Israel responded to the move by ordering the closure of the UK’s consulate in Jerusalem and barring a dozen British parliamentarians from entering the country.
PPP chief says interior minister ‘entitled to his opinion’ but demands new provinces row be settled in National Assembly
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called for the contentious question of creating new provinces to be settled through debate in Parliament, rather than in the public statements and forums that have inflamed tensions between his party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government’s most senior security official over the past six weeks.
Thousands of Afghan medical students told to leave Pakistan as deportation drive widens
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s medical regulator has ordered thousands of Afghan nationals studying at medical and dental colleges across the country to return home, in one of the most far-reaching measures yet in Islamabad’s escalating campaign against Afghan citizens living within its borders.
Pakistan rallies behind Saudi Arabia after Houthi strikes wound 73, hit energy facilities
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif moved swiftly on Tuesday to condemn a wave of Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, reaffirming Pakistan’s solidarity with the kingdom within hours of an assault that wounded 73 people and ignited fires at oil facilities across four southern Saudi cities — a response that leaned heavily on a trilateral defence pact Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara had only recently finalised.
As province fight sharpens, President Zardari cuts short London visit
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan will cut short a visit to London and return home Sept. 8, according to people familiar with his travel plans, as a dispute over restructuring the country’s provinces threatens to strain the ruling coalition.
CM Afridi completes contested run to Karachi, sharpens fight over jailed ex-premier
KARACHI — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi rolled into this port city in the early hours of Monday after a drive of more than six hours through detours, blocked highways, and what his party described as deliberately dug-up pavement, capping a five-day mobilisation tour that has hardened the standoff between his party and Pakistan’s provincial authorities ahead of a nationwide protest planned for September 27.