Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (NNN-APP) – The United States had exerted pressure to remove former Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, in 2022, due to his government’s neutral policy on the Ukraine crisis, the online American magazine “The Intercept” revealed on Wednesday.

The magazine said, it obtained a classified Pakistani government cable, about a dialogue between Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, on Mar 7, 2022.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Shukria Sediqi knew her days in safety were numbered. As a journalist who advocated for women’s rights, she’d visited shelters and safe houses to talk to women who had fled abusive husbands. She went with them to court when they asked for a divorce.

According to the Taliban, who bar women from most public places, jobs and education, her work was immoral.

11 August 2023; AA: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday struck down a law concerning court judgements, terming it unconstitutional.

The decision on the Supreme Court (Review of Judgements and Orders) Act 2023 was reserved by a three-member bench on June 19. The law provided a right to appeal under Article 184(3), which gives the court power to assume jurisdiction over any “question of public importance.”

10 August 2023; MEMO: The US encouraged the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by the Intercept.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 09 (APP): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Saudi Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Eng. Waleed Abdulkarim El Khereji on Wednesday discussed investment opportunities in energy, agriculture, desalination, IT and mining sectors. 

On his Twitter handle, the foreign minister said that he was pleased to receive the Saudi minister leading a high level delegation to Pakistan.

He further said “There is a huge potential to unlock for enhanced cooperation also in infrastructure development including through public private partnerships.”

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan plans to privatise its loss-making national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIAa.PSX), the government said on Monday, as the country also seeks to outsource its airport operations in line with an IMF deal.

The privatisation decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Privatisation chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the country's federal government will step down on Aug. 9, following which a caretaker setup will take charge till the next general elections.

Sharif made the remarks when he paid a farewell visit to the Pakistan Army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi, a neighboring city of the capital Islamabad, and met relatives of the soldiers who got killed or injured during terrorist incidents in the country.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan is being held in a small, dirty prison cell, one of his lawyer's said on Monday after being given access to the former cricket star in jail as he prepares to appeal against his graft conviction.

Khan, 70, has been at the heart of political turmoil since he was ousted as prime minister in a vote of no confidence last year, raising concern about stability in the nuclear-armed country as it grapples with an economic crisis.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan awoke Sunday as an inmate in a high-security prison after a court handed him a three-year sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics.

The court ruled Saturday that national cricketing hero Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts.

Islamabad, Aug 6 (PTI) Imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on Sunday accused authorities of denying his legal team access to the leader to get his signatures on essential documents for court purposes.

Khan, 70, was arrested from his home in Lahore on Saturday shortly after an Islamabad trial court found him guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana corruption case and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment.