KARACHI: A court on Monday acquitted all eight defendants — including two members of the Sindh provincial assembly — in the 2018 assassination of a former union council chairman from the Pakistan Peoples Party and his two sons, ruling that prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence to secure convictions.
Politics
FM Dar, injured in a fall, heads to Beijing to consult on month-old US-Iran conflict
ISLAMABAD: The deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, will leave Tuesday for an official visit to China even though he suffered a hairline fracture in his shoulder the day before, the Foreign Office said Monday, a move that officials described as a measure of how seriously Islamabad takes its deepening role in trying to end the fighting between the United States and Iran.
Pakistan says US and Iran have expressed confidence in it to host direct peace talks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Sunday that both Washington and Tehran had voiced confidence in Islamabad’s ability to facilitate talks aimed at ending the Middle East conflict that has engulfed the region since US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
PTI demands hospital care for Imran Khan’s imprisoned wife, citing vision loss and medical neglect
ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on Sunday demanded that Bushra Bibi, the wife of the party’s jailed founder and former prime minister Imran Khan, be immediately transferred to a hospital for diagnosis and treatment after a medical document describing her deteriorating vision began circulating on social media.
PM Sharif reaffirms ‘unwavering’ support for Saudi Arabia as regional powers meet on Middle East crisis
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday praised Saudi Arabia’s “remarkable restraint” in the face of Iranian missile and drone attacks and assured Riyadh of Pakistan’s steadfast solidarity, as Islamabad hosted a high-level gathering of foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to discuss ways to end the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Iran opens Hormuz to more Pakistani ships in gesture Islamabad calls a ‘harbinger of peace’
ISLAMABAD: Iran has agreed to allow 20 additional ships flying the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels crossing daily, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister said late Saturday in a move that officials here described as a significant confidence-building gesture amid a month-long war that has crippled global energy supplies.
Pakistan hosts key regional ministers as US-Iran diplomatic push accelerates with direct talks possibly days away
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has thrust itself into the center of a high-stakes diplomatic scramble to halt nearly a month of open conflict between the United States and Iran, convening senior diplomats from across the Muslim world in Islamabad this weekend, while signalling that face-to-face American and Iranian talks could begin as early as Tuesday.
Pakistan rejects Indian criticism of its treatment of Shia Muslims as cynical deflection, points to mob lynchings in India
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Saturday dismissed as “cynical and diversionary” India’s expressions of concern over the treatment of Pakistan’s Shia community, framing the remarks as an attempt to deflect attention from New Delhi’s own record of violence and discrimination against religious minorities.
PM Sharif briefs Iranian president on mediation drive for US-Iran talks
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif informed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday of Pakistan’s active diplomatic campaign to arrange indirect peace talks between Washington and Tehran, according to a detailed official account of a telephone conversation that lasted more than an hour.
Pakistan to host Saudi, Turkish and Egyptian foreign ministers for talks on easing tensions in US-Iran conflict
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will host the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt this weekend for two days of discussions focused on de-escalating the widening regional conflict sparked by the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, the Foreign Office said on Saturday.