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• Palestinians long for peace, but hopes of ceasefire seem farther than ever • Israeli minister calls for return of settlers to Gaza GAZA CITY: Israeli jets intensified attacks on central Gaza on Sunday, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take “many more months” to end. Netanyahu’s comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave’s border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution. Air strikes pounded al-Maghazi and al-Bureij in the centre of Gaza, killing 10 people in one house and driving more to flee to Rafah on the border with Egypt from front lines where Israeli tanks are battling Hamas fighters. At least 48 Palestinians were killed in overnight bombing in Gaza City, the health ministry said, with many still buried under the r...

LAHORE: Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday emphasised that the upcoming elections on February 8 are not ordinary, calling on the people to cast their votes with renewed passion to save the country as it faces some existential issues. Speaking to workers in Sheikhupura, the PML-N president emphasised, “We have to fight poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment. It doesn’t matter if the country lacks oil wealth; we have a talented youth that can lead the country out of any crisis.” Referring to the upcoming election as “very important”, he stated, “We have not taught the youth abuses and hatred. On election day, people will have to decide who has served the country with sincerity and who has attacked and sabotaged the state.” Under the rule and guidance of its Quaid Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N eliminated the menace of loadshedding in the country, which was suffering up to 20 hours of electricity absence. It was Nawaz Sharif who fought terrorism and put an end to it, bringin...

QUETTA: South Asian Partnership (SAP) and Aurat Foundation have asserted that considering population statistics, the proportion of reserved seats for women should be increased in all elected assemblies and local bodies. They emphasised that this increase should be implemented immediately through a constitutional amendment, raising it to 33 per cent. Shahida Kakar, representative of SAP, along with Yasmeen Mughal, Alauddin Khilji, and Shugufta Khan of Aurat Foundation, stated this during a joint press conference on Saturday. Ms Kakar, while referring to the lists issued by political parties, said it shows that once again, active women workers, trans­g­ender individuals, and pers­ons with disabilities have been neglected. She criticised the practice by political parties of nominating women from influential families only. Highlighting the issue, she added: “Only 11pc of women candidates have been nominated for election on general seats of national and provincial assemblies, which is ...

LARKANA: People ride a rickshaw on a foggy morning, on Saturday. Although Punjab suffers the most from air pollution, the menace has started troubling Sindh as well. Poor visibility led to cancellation of several flights and delayed departure of trains from Lahore and other stations in Punjab.—AFP LAHORE: The foggy weather continues to disrupt flight and train schedules adversely, leading to the cancellation of various flights and delaying the departure of express trains from Lahore and other major stations in Punjab. Official sources said fli­ghts, including PIA’s Jed­­dah-Karachi, Islamabad-Jeddah, Peshawar-Kara­chi, and some others, were ca­­ncelled, while several others either couldn’t land or depart from Karachi and other airports in Punjab. Similarly, trains, including Karakoram Express, Business Express, Millat Express, and some others, also departed from Lahore to various destinations late by three to four hours from their actual departure timings. Traffic disrupted Hea...

• Nominations of Imran, Qureshi, other bigwigs rejected; party cries foul; tribunals to decide appeals till Jan 10 • GDA leaders Zulfiqar, Fahmida Mirza; Akhtar Mengal, Sheikh Rashid, Alvi’s son, Ayaz Amir face rejection • Nawaz, Shehbaz, Bilawal, Achakzai, Maryam, Khattak, Fazl, Siddiqui, Tareen, Awan, Siraj among those cleared ISLAMABAD: In the initial phase of elections slated for Feb 8, the top leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its allies has been knocked out of the polls race, as almost “90 per cent of nominations from important leaders” failed to stand the scrutiny exercise ended on Saturday. Despite their failure to clear scrutiny at the initial stage, the PTI candidates have till Jan 3 to approach an appellate tribunal against the decision of the respective returning officer. The tribunals can adjudicate on these appeals till Jan 10. Most of the candidates whose papers were rejected belong to PTI, which has fallen out of favour and is facing the full ...

• State joins Colorado in disqualifying him over role in assault on US Capitol • Campaign spokesman says ex-president will appeal the decision Donald Trump WASHINGTON: The US state of Maine on Thursday blocked former president Donald Trump from its Republican presidential primary ballot, the second state to disqualify him over his role in the January 2021 assault on the US Capitol. Maine’s top election official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, decided in favour of the citizens who had claimed that Trump should be constitutionally barred from seeking re-election after trying to upend the 2020 election. Bellows said in her decision that the January 6 attack “occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President”. “The US Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government and (Maine law) requires me to act in response,” read the decision, which came in response to challenges filed by a handful of Maine voters. Mai...

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday ruled that the federal capital’s deputy commissioner, who also acts as the district magistrate, does not have the authority to issue detention orders under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960. The ordinance provides the government with vast powers of detention and has been used by authorities to round up and detain PTI leaders following the May 9 riots. Section 3 of MPO states: “The government, if satisfied that with a view to preventing any person from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order, it is necessary to do, may, by an order in writing, direct the arrest and detention in such custody […] and [the] government, if satisfied that for the aforesaid reasons, it is necessary so to do, may extend from time to time the period of such detention, for a period not exceeding six months at a time.” Justice Babar Sattar presided over the hearing today on petitions filed by...

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday approved a hike of around Rs1.72 per unit for K-Electric (KE) consumers on account of quarterly adjustments for electricity consumed in the second and third quarters of 2023. In its notification for adjustment in electricity rates of KE, Nepra said the tariff increase would apply to all consumer categories except lifeline consumers. The notification said there were two components to the tariff hike: Rs0.47/unit to be recovered for April, May and June and Rs1.25/unit to be recovered for July, August and September. It added that the amount would recovered in the three-month period from January to March 2024. Nepra said it sent its approval to the federal government for notification. The notification said the federal government had already previously approved the hike in accordance with the National Electricity Policy 2021 to maintain a uniform consumer-end tariff for KE and state-owned distribution companies. Earli...

RAWALPINDI: Police have implicated PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi in at least 12 different cases registered by the district police in connection with the May 9 violence — erupted after the arrest of former PTI chairman Imran Khan — as a magistrate on Thursday sent him to Adiala Jail on a two-week remand in a case regarding the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi. The court rejected the Punjab police request for a 30-day remand of the former foreign minister and sent him to prison for two weeks. The former foreign minister, who was whisked away by the police from prison, claimed that he was “mentally and physically tortured” on Wednesday night. He was detained in a case regarding the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) on May 9. Sources said the Rawalpindi police have implicated the PTI leader in 12 different FIRs registered with the district police in connection with the May 9 violence. The PTI leader was brought to the court of Magistrate Syed Jhangeer Ali i...

LAHORE: The nomination papers of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for Mansehra’s NA-15 constituency were reportedly approved by the respective returning officer on Thursday, whereas separate decisions were reserved on objections to the nomination papers of PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and ex-premier Imran Khan in Lahore. In NA-15, objections were moved against Nawaz Sharif by PTI leader Azam Swati through his representative Shahid Rafiq, a local party leader. The papers, however, were initially cleared by the RO after she rejected the objections. The PTI leader argued that the PML-N supreme leader had been disqualified for life by the Supreme Court and added the RO was not authorised to approve the nomination papers. But Mr Sharif was cleared. In Lahore’s NA-122 constituency, the nomination papers of ex-PM Imran Khan were contested on grounds of his punishment in the Toshakhana case. The objector said the court had only suspended the sentence, not the conviction handed out to ...

LAHORE: With elections just round the corner, the PML-N on Wednesday unveiled an online portal to seek inputs from Pakistani nationals at home and abroad by Jan 5 for its upcoming manifesto, likely to be launched in the second week of next month. PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif underscored the participation of people in this endeavour and said the former ruling party aimed to enter elections “with a mission to identify Pakistan’s main issues across various sectors and propose implementable solutions”. “We extend an invitation to you, the people of Pakistan, to help us achieve this objective. Visit ‘pmln2024.com’ now and be an integral part of shaping a meaningful manifesto that propels Pakistan forward,” the PML-N president said on the occasion. PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz tweeted, “PML-N’s unbreakable bond with the people is its greatest strength! We are excited to take this cornerstone of our politics into the digital age with an online portal that empowers every Pakistani, ...

LAHORE: The award of tickets has become a thorny issue in the PML-N camp, with former Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz reportedly asking his uncle, Nawaz Sharif, not to ignore party loyalists in the distribution of tickets for general and reserved seats. The PML-N leadership’s decision to nominate women, either from influential families or the upper echelons of society, for reserved seats has already sparked discontent among women workers, who are questioning the criteria of the selection process. “Now, Hamza Shehbaz has joined [this chorus] and requested the party supremo to give importance to loyal workers,” a party insider told Dawn on Tuesday. The source said the party’s old guard was worried over the preference being shown for new faces. It may be noted that Hamza, who is the son of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, has kept a low profile since he lost the chief minister’s office to Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in July last year. Ex-Punjab CM asks uncle Nawaz not to ignore ‘party ...

GAZA: Even on Christmas day, the land where Jesus Christ was born remained in the crosshairs of the Israeli military, which continued its relentless bombing of Gaza, as well as launching raids in West Bank cities such as Bethlehem, on Sunday. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that war with Israel since early October has killed at least 20,674 people in the Palestinian territory. The ministry added that 54,536 people have been wounded since the start of Israeli hostilities. The health ministry said that an Israeli air strike killed at least 70 people at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp. Biblical Bethlehem also among West Bank towns raided by Israeli forces Palestinian health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the toll was likely to climb, adding: “What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded residential square”. Before dawn, an Israeli strike “targeting a house” in the central Al-Zuwaida area killed at least 12 peopl...

LAHORE: The PTI has not managed to catch a break, as it claimed that several of its candidates were left injured, harassed and intimidated and unable to file their nomination papers for the Feb 8 elections until the closing of the process on Sunday evening. However, the party said it still managed to submit nomination papers of a large number of its aspirants. The PTI was dealt yet another blow when the ECP did not share the lists of names of its aspirants for reserved seats for women and minorities. The party is now hoping to get relief from the Peshawar High Court, where it has challenged the watchdog’s decision of depriving it of its election symbol. The situation has forced the party to employ multiple means to stay in the election arena against all odds. Though the party’s status remains unclear, the potential candidates did mention in their nomination papers that they belong to the PTI. The PTI has also filed a large number of complaints with the ECP against the “highhandedne...

LAKKI MARWAT: Police foiled a militant attack on Serai Gambila police station here late Sunday night. A police official said that unknown militants attacked the police station in a bid to enter the building. They used light and heavy weapons prompting policemen to retaliate in the same manner,” he maintained. The official said that the personnel deployed at the police station were fully alert and they responded strongly. The police station is located along the Bannu-DI Khan section of Peshawar-Karachi Indus Highway at a stone’s throw distance from Gambila River in Sera Gambila town. The police official said that the prompt and quick action by police forced the assailants to flee. He said the personnel who engaged the militants remained unhurt in the gun battle. He added that a large contingent of police led by DPO Tariq Habib reached the area and launched a search for the attackers. It was the third attack on police installations in Lakki Marwat and DI Khan districts during the l...

CHAKWAL: A PTI activist, who was detained under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) on Dec 21, was rearrested shortly after getting released from Jhelum prison on Dec 22 — this time on cow theft charge, sources told Dawn on Sunday. Mohammad Naseeruddin Babar alias Babar Gujjar was among the four PTI activists who were detained on Dec 21 under the MPO on the order of deputy commissioner (DC) Chakwal. Advocate Syed Najamul Hassan, the lawyer of PTI’s president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Malik Akhtar Shahbaz, PTI’s candidate for PP-22; PTI Choa Saidan Shah tehsil general secretary Malik Ehsan Mehmood and Babar Gujjar, an office-bearer of PTI’s Youth Wing in Choa Saidan Shah, were detained under MPO on Dec 21 on the order of DC Chakwal. However, after the arrest of Advocate Syed Najamul Hassan, the district administration faced intense pressure from the District Bar Association as well as the Punjab Bar Council and had to release the four detainees. The deputy commissioner, therefore, issue...

• Apprehends rollback of commitments on gas, power subsidies, tax measures and trade tariffs • Indicates willingness to support Pakistan in coordination with IMF • Says broader, deeper reforms needed to support fiscal consolidation, increase investment ISLAMABAD: The World Bank fears that following the upcoming elections , strong and organised vested interests may spur a number of potential reversals on critical policy reforms — committed to multilateral lenders — posing ‘high’ macroeconomic risks to Pakistan. The possible reversals include the rationalisation of gas and electricity subsidies, lower trade tariffs and better property tax realisation. “Stakeholder risks are high due to strong and organised vested interests, potentially advocating to reverse critical reforms, particularly trade tariff reforms, increases to property taxation and energy sector reforms,” said the Wash­ington-based lending agency in an assessment of its recently approved $350 million loan under second R...

LAHORE: The PML-N, which recently was showering praise on the judiciary for providing ‘expeditious justice’ to its convicted supreme leader Nawaz Sharif in corruption cases, on Saturday turned its guns on the apex court for providing “certificate of innocence” to PTI founder Imran Khan in the cipher case. On Friday, the Supreme Court granted post-arrest bail to PTI leaders Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case. Reacting strongly to the SC decision at separate pre­ss conferences, PML-N’s central information sec­retary Marriyum Aura­ngzeb, Malik Ahmad Khan and former minister Moh­sin Shahnawaz Ranjah taunted that “Imran is now being portrayed as innocent”. Since his arrival from London on Oct 21 after a four-year self-imposed exile, Nawaz Sharif has been given VVIP protocol from the caretaker governments at the Centre and in Punjab, while his convictions in Al-Azizia and Avenfield cases have been set aside by the Islamabad High Court after a few hearings. Mr Sha...

• 13 of 15 members back resolution seeking immediate acceleration of aid supplies, US and Russia abstain • UN chief laments how Israeli bombing is hampering humanitarian relief efforts UNITED NATIONS: Following numerous delays and intense negotiations, the UN Security Council finally adopted a significantly diluted resolution on Friday, which calls for an immediate acceleration of aid deliveries to Gaza. But it falls short of demanding an “urgent suspension of hostilities,” as originally proposed in the UAE draft. Thirteen of the 15 council members voted in favour of the resolution, with no member state voting against it. The United States, leading the weeklong consensus negotiations, abstained due to the absence of a condemnation of Hamas. Russia also abstained, labelling the resolution as ‘toothless’ and asserting that it permits Israel to continue military operations against the Palestinians. Their abstentions, however, allowed the resolution to pass, as a negative vote by any ...

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves fell below $7 billion for the first time in the current fiscal year, posing challenges for the government to stabilise the exchange rate and meet debt servicing obligations. The SBP on Thursday reported a $136 million decline in reserves to $6.904bn due to debt repayments. This outflow of dollars brought the total SBP reserves to a five-and-a-half-month low during the current fiscal year, decreasing from the peak of $8.759bn in July FY24. Since then, reserves continuously declined, with the SBP losing $1.855bn from July to Dec 15. SBP reserves are decreasing as the government falls short of the borrowing target set for the current fiscal year. The latest data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed a 51 per cent shortfall in external borrowing, with $4.3bn raised compared to the $24.2bn target, and a $10bn five-month target. Experts and analysts said that there is little chance of improvement in the domesti...

• Despite minister’s claims that 90 per cent of protesters released, several still remain in custody • IHC seeks police report on protesters’ plea against unlawful detention • Demonstrations erupt across Balochistan against crackdown on long march ISLAMABAD: After the capital’s police used force to disperse and detain Baloch demonstrators, who had converged on the capital to protest against enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in their province, the federal government claimed that more than 90 per cent of the demonstrators — including all women and children — had been released by the police. The claim stood in stark contrast to scenes that unfolded later on Thursday night outside the Women Police Station, when cops could be seen shoving women into buses to send them back to Quetta. After exhaustive talks with protesters that continued late into the night, authorities decided to postpone their ‘repatriation’ until Friday, when the protesters are also likely to be pre...

ISLAMABAD: A senior counsel representing some petitioners before the Supreme Court on Thursday requested the secretary for placing a letter he wrote to the special three-judge committee stating that the earlier six-judge bench that heard intra-court appeals (ICAs) against the military court case has not been constituted properly and, therefore, it should be reconstituted. On Thursday, Advocate Faisal Siddiqui wrote a four-page letter to the secretary with a request to place the letter before the committee constituted under Section 2 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023, that fixes cases before different benches so that the six-judge Supreme Court bench, which will resume hearing on a set of ICAs against the Oct 23 judgement, should be reconstituted. The bench is likely to hear the matter in the third week of Jan 2024. Headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, the bench by a majority of five to one had suspended on Dec 13 the Oct 23 short order of declaring as unconst...

GENEVA: There are no longer any functional hospitals in the north of the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday, describing “unbea­rable” scenes of largely abandoned patients begging for food and water. The UN health agency said it had led missions to two badly damaged hospitals, Al Shifa and Al Ahli, in the north of the Palestinian territory on Wednesday. “Our staff are running out of words to describe the beyond catastrophic situation facing remaining pati­ents and health workers,” said Richard Peeper­korn, the WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory. His comment came amid increasingly frantic diploma­tic efforts to secure a pause in the war that Hamas says has already claimed 20,000 lives in Gaza, 70 per cent of them women and children. Operation theatres at Al Ahli dysfunctional due to fuel shortage, lack of medical staff WHO has already described Al Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza which last month was the focus of an extended Isr...

ISLAMABAD: After Lal Masjid started unauthorised construction on a plot adjacent to it in Sector G-6, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) swung into action on Wednesday and asked the mosque administration to halt the construction and remove the erected structure within 15 days. The land on which the construction is ongoing had once housed Jamia Hafsa and the Children’s Library, which were demolished following the military operation in 2007. After the operation, the government and the mosque administration, led by Maulana Abdul Aziz, reached an agreement under which the CDA provided an alternative site for the reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa in H-11. Similarly, the CDA also altered the master plan for the G-6 civic centre and left the entire area around the mosque vacant. Previously, in the vicinity of the mosque, plots were reserved for a children’s library, a gymnasium, an author’s corner etc. Civic body asks mosque admin to remove encroachment within 15 days or face action T...