PTI seeks to oust defector senator who backed controversial constitutional change

ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party formally moved on Thursday to disqualify one of its own senators, Saifullah Abro, accusing him of defection after he broke ranks to support a controversial constitutional amendment that has deepened divisions in the country’s fractured political landscape.

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Pakistan expands biometric law to allow facial and iris scans for national identity checks

ISLAMABAD: The government has expanded the legal definition of biometrics to include facial and iris scans alongside fingerprints, paving the way for a new system of contactless identity verification that aims to ease longstanding hurdles for citizens whose prints have faded with age or illness.

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Army chief warns of ‘firm and decisive’ response to any breach of sovereignty

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top military commander warned on Wednesday that any breach of the country’s territorial integrity, whether direct or indirect, would provoke a firm and decisive response, as he accused Indian-sponsored proxies of fomenting violence and disrupting development in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan.

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At a funeral in Dhaka, a brief handshake signals a pause in India-Pakistan silence

ISLAMABAD: In a brief but symbolic encounter, the speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, shook hands with India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Wednesday during a funeral in the Bangladeshi capital, marking the first high-level contact between officials from the two nuclear-armed neighbors since a military clash in May that brought relations to a new low.

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