ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani officials arrived in Turkey for the first formal meeting of a strategic committee established under a new trilateral defence pact with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which commits each nation to treat an attack on any one of them as an attack on all three.
Politics
Govt disputes reports on Imran Khan’s prison conditions, medical care
ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday moved to counter what it described as misleading foreign media coverage of the imprisonment of former prime minister Imran Khan, issuing a detailed rebuttal that touched on his living conditions, family access, and a medical dispute now before the country’s Supreme Court.
Azad Kashmir swears in new premier after contested nomination, narrow party revolt
MUZAFFARABAD: Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gillani, a 46-year-old lawyer whose political career has been defined as much by sudden reversals as by steady ambition, was sworn in on Friday as prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, capping a 15-year rise that included an unlikely by-election upset, a cabinet post, an electoral defeat, and finally a phone call from the top of his party that few had seen coming.
Pakistan warns of ‘profound consequences’ as India keeps water treaty frozen
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top diplomat delivered a pointed warning to an international audience on Friday, cautioning that any effort to strip his country of water it is owed under a six-decade-old treaty with India would carry grave consequences for peace across South Asia.
Kashmir’s ruling party fractures as Sharif taps political newcomer for premier
MUZAFFARABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz appeared headed into Friday’s vote for a new Azad Jammu and Kashmir prime minister with its own house in disorder, after the party’s central leadership passed over two senior regional figures in favour of a young barrister barely four days into his legislative career — and those passed-over leaders responded by saying they would boycott the election entirely.
Rangers soldier killed in ambush during Kashmir road-clearing operation
MUZAFFARABAD: A paramilitary soldier was shot dead and a second wounded on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on security forces conducting a road-clearing operation in the Sarsawa-Thorar-Thal area, officials said, the latest episode of violence in a region that has been convulsed by months of unrest.
Security forces kill 11 militants in Bannu, South Waziristan, Balochistan raids
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 11 militants in a series of intelligence-based raids across the country’s volatile northwest and southwest on Thursday, the government said, the latest in a string of operations that officials describe as central to an intensifying campaign against insurgent groups along the Afghan border.
Pakistan says army chief Munir went to Iran as mediator, not Trump envoy
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday pushed back hard against reports that the country’s top military officer travelled to Iran last week on behalf of US President Donald Trump, insisting that Field Marshal Asim Munir went to Tehran as a mediator acting for Pakistan, not as an emissary of the United States.
Top court to weigh contempt case over Imran Khan’s blocked hospital transfer on Sept. 16
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will take up a contempt of court petition next month accusing the government of defying a judicial order to transfer imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan to a private hospital for medical treatment, according to court filings and officials familiar with the case.
Pakistan seeks to revive Iran-US truce, but Pentagon keeps strikes ‘on the Table’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Tuesday it had made “significant progress” toward reviving a fractured peace framework between Iran and the United States, following a day-long visit by the country’s top military and security officials to Tehran, even as US officials signalled they had not ruled out further military action against Iran.