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• Ex-PM, spouse each get 14-year jail in Toshakhana case; Banigala declared sub-jail for Bushra Bibi • PTI calls it ‘travesty of justice’ • IHC refuses to quash proceedings in iddat case • Bilawal, Maryam offer mixed reaction to ruling ISLAMABAD: A day after a hasty trial ended in a 10-year jail term for him and his close aide, an accountability court sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi to 14 years in jail and imposed Rs1,540 million fine in the Toshakhana reference. After the conviction, Mr Khan and his spouse are barred from holding public office for 10 years. The case said the couple retained expensive jewellery from Toshakhana after paying a nominal price. Separately, the Islam­abad High Court refused to quash proceedings in the Iddat case, saying the charge had already been framed by the trial court. It, however, gave the couple some relief by dropping the ‘illegitimate relations’ charge (496-B). Toshakhana reference Accountability judge...

The caretaker government on Wednesday hiked the price of petrol by Rs13.55 per litre for the next fortnight. The new price of petrol is now Rs272.89 per litre from the previous price of Rs259.34, according to a notification from the Finance Division. The price of high-speed diesel (HSD) was increased by Rs2.75 to Rs278.96 per litre. The notification did not mention any changes in the prices of light-diesel oil (LDO) and kerosene oil. The petrol price increase is higher than what was expected earlier . The prices of petrol and HSD were estimated to go up by Rs5-9 per litre for the next fortnight owing to higher international prices and import premiums, nullifying an impact of minor exchange rate gains. Informed sources had said the prices of both major petroleum products had increased in the international market over the past fortnight and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) also had to pay higher import premiums even though the rupee had gained against the US dollar. As a result, the p...

• Also revises next fiscal year’s projection downward to 3.5pc • Lifts global growth forecast to 3.1pc citing unexpected ‘resilience’ • Indian economy expected to grow at a faster 6.5pc ISLAMABAD: Des­pite an improved global outlook, the Interna­tional Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered Pakis­tan’s economic growth forecast to two per cent for the current fiscal year, down 0.5 percentage points from its October estimate of 2.5pc . In its latest World Eco­nomic Outlook (WEO) rep­ort released on Tue­sday, the Washington-based global lender also slightly revised downward (by 0.1pc) the next fiscal year’s growth forecast to 3.5pc. The revised growth estimates are based on the Fund’s recent deta­iled quarterly review of Pakistan’s macroeconomic position as part of the ongoing $3bn Standby Arrangement (SBA), which is set to expire in March. The IMF’s growth forecast is significantly lower than the government’s 3.5pc GDP growth target for the current year but generally in line w...

JUBA: Fighting between rival communities in a disputed region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan has killed 54 people, including two UN peacekeepers, the United Nations said on Monday, calling for calm. One of the two peacekeepers was Pakistani, according to the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). The clashes in Abyei, a contested oil-rich territory straddling the border of both countries, broke out at the weekend, according to local authorities. In a statement on Monday, the US, the UK and Norway — the international “troika” that sponsored South Sudan’s independence — said they were “deeply concerned by the escalation of violence in recent months between communities living in and around” Abyei. “All leaders who have influence with involved communities and who fail to use it to support peace are demonstrating their disregard for the interests of their people,” the troika said. The UNISFA said it “strongly condemns these attacks against civilians and peacekeepers. Curr...

Security forces “successfully thwarted three coordinated attacks” carried out by terrorists in Balochistan’s Mach area on Monday night, according to provincial interim information minister Jan Achakzai. In a post on social media platform X, he said the militants were affiliated with the Aslam Acho group. “Fortunately, no damage was inflicted on any installations, and there were no casualties among our security forces,” he said. The minister added that the terrorists retreated and were being pursued by security forces. “We remain hopeful that all threats will be eliminated before dawn,” Achakzai added. He earlier said a report was received about a “few rockets” fired from the hilly areas of Mach. In a post on social media platform X, the minister said there were no reports of any losses and the law enforcement agencies were alert. Mach Central Jail Superintendent Saleem Tareen said the facility was not damaged due to the attacks and the building, its staff and prisoners we...

ISLAMABAD: As a six-judge Supreme Court bench resumes on Monday the hearing of a set of intra-court appeals (ICA) in the case of civilians’ military trial , a petition has been filed in the apex court to restrain federal and provincial governments from engaging a private counsel to plead the matter. Moved through senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui on behalf of some of the respondents, the fresh application requested the court to issue directions that only attorney general for Pakistan (AGP) should plead the case. Headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, the six-judge bench which will take up the ICAs, also comprises Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan. Earlier on Dec 13, 2023, the Supreme Court, by a majority of five to one, had suspended the short order of October 23 that declared as unconstitutional the trial of 103 civilians identified in relation to their alleged involvement in the M...

ISLAMABAD: Brush­ing aside reports about the harassment of journalists in the matter related to a ‘malicious’ campaign on social media against judges, caretaker Minister for Information, Broad­casting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Sunday said a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is probing the matter in accordance with law. “So far no FIR has been lodged against anybody, nor has anyone been arrested,” the minister said while addressing a news conference along with the officials of Federal Investi­gation Agency, Pakistan Tele­communication Autho­rity and other institutions. “Nobody has been picked up since the formation of JIT,” he said while dispelling the impression of a witch-hunt under the garb of the JIT. The minister explained that the JIT, formed on Jan 16 to probe the anti-judiciary campaign, held its first meeting the next day and another on Jan 23, adding that investigation was still underway. He said it was imperative to bring forth facts in this regard. So fa...

KARACHI: A day after the Election Commission of Pakistan issued a notice to Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab for violating its code of conduct, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday came up with a complaint against him and the Sindh governor, asking the poll supervisory body to “temporarily remove” them from their offices to ensure free, fair and impartial elections. PTI-Karachi president Khurrum Sher Zaman, who is also contesting the Feb 8 elections from NA-241, accused him and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori of indulging in activities tantamount to violation of the ECP’s code of conduct. In a formal complaint sent to the provincial election commissioner, the PTI leader contended that both the governor and mayor were engaging in activities that violate the code of conduct of the ECP, undermining the principles of a fair and impartial electoral process. In light of these serious allegations, Mr Sher Zaman called upon the ECP to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation int...

Legendary singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan apologised on Saturday and owned a video circulating of him physically abusing his “student” after it generated online furore at his behaviour. Earlier in the day, a video doing the rounds on the media showed the singer beating ostensibly a domestic servant repeatedly over a missing “bottle”. The video generated intense criticism by netizens towards the singer. In an apology video issued later today, the singer said it was a “personal matter between a teacher and his student” and identified a person, Naveed Hasnain, saying he was the individual being beaten in the video. Hasnain said the “bottle” responsible for the controversy in the original video contained “water sanctified by a pir”, adding that he had misplaced the bottle and forgotten about it. “He is my father and my teacher. He loves us a lot too. Whoever has done this act [of leaking the video] is plainly blackmailing to defame my teacher.” The singer added that he had asked forgiven...

KHYBER: Tribal customs and traditions are the main hurdle to three women candidates for general seats of provincial assembly in Khyber district as they run a restricted door-to-door campaign and focus mostly on female voters. Shakira Shinwari, Lal Zaida and Naseem Riaz have filed their nominations for PK-69, PK-70 and PK-71, respectively, alongside 76 other male contestants for the three provincial assembly seats in Landi Kotal, Jamrud and Bara. Shakira Shinwari and Naseem Riaz are contesting elections as independent candidates while Lal Zaida has the backing of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-Parliamentarians. None of these three female candidates have so far organised any public meeting nor are their personal posters or banners anywhere in sight in their respective constituencies. Motivated by her family support and backing to try her luck in the February 8 general elections for the first time, Shakira Shinwari believes that she can be a better choice to raise voice for the legitimate...

Ollie Pope was unbeaten on 67 at tea with England still trailing by 18 runs and struggling against a persistent Indian bowling attack in the opening Test on Saturday. England were 172-5 at the break in Hyderabad after beginning the second innings behind by 190 after the hosts were bowled out for a mammoth 436 in the morning session. Pope was batting alongside wicketkeeper Ben Foakes (2) after brief and disappointing spells from Joe Root (2) and skipper Ben Stokes (6). Jasprit Bumrah and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked two wickets each. Zak Crawley fell to Ashwin’s off-spin early but England raced to 89-1 at lunch after Ben Duckett defied the Indian attack with back-and-forth sweeps to keep the scoring rate above five per over. Bumrah bowled a sensational spell after lunch to get Duckett bowled for 47, soon after the batsman survived an lbw call that would have likely been upheld if reviewed. He then got veteran batsman Joe Root lbw for two to raise the volume of a raucous...

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif unveiled his party’s much-anticipated election manifesto on Saturday, with the upcoming February 8 polls less than two weeks away. Speaking at a party event in Lahore, he said that the PML-N’s manifesto has been prepared with “great efforts” and would be “fully implemented” if voted to power. While the former premier recalled the PML-N’s previous tenures, saying there was “no inflation” back then, the detailed manifesto was shared by the party on its official account on social media platform X. Nawaz termed the country’s economy as the most important aspect of the manifesto. At the outset of his address, he said it felt “strange” despite him being ousted as the prime minister in 2017 and “political vendettas” against his party members, the PML-N was once again “preparing to contest elections and presenting its manifesto”. If voted to power, the party vowed to provide the public with “cheap and increased electricity” as well as “speedy development”. ...

MANSEHRA: A group of Kohistan clerics, mostly members of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, on Friday issued a fatwa (Islamic decree) against canvassing by and for women election candidates and declared the act un-Islamic. “The women’s act of going from door to door to solicit votes is against sharia [Islamic laws],” declared seminary head Mufti Gul Shahzada after a meeting of clerics in the Kandia area of Upper Kohistan district. He said the fatwa against women’s election campaign was issued by 30 authorised religious scholars and endorsed by participants, including around 400 clerics from Kohistan region. For the first time in Kohistan, three women have entered the electoral arena. They insist it is sinful to defy fatwa They include the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-backed Tehmina Faheem (PK-31 Kohistan-I) and Momina Basit (PK-33 Kolai-Palas) and independent Sannaya Sabeel (PK-33 Kolai-Palas). Cleric Shahzada claimed that it was sinful to defy the fatwa. He also said the sharia di...

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has hundreds of thousands of child labourers, reveals the province’s first Child Labour Survey 2022-23. The working children totalling 922, 314 make up 11.1 per cent of the province’s child population with 745,165 beingchild labourers, according to the survey findings that were unveiled in a special ceremony here. The event was attended by representatives of government departments, UN agencies, donor organisations, academia and civil society. Adviser to the chief minister on labour Riaz Anwar Khan was chief guest on the occasion. The survey said working children were economically active, while child labour was the work that was not only mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous for children but also interfered with their schooling. It was the second such exercise conducted in the country after Punjab. The survey conducted by the labour department across the province, including the newly-merged tribal districts, said the residents aged 5-1...

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took more digs at former ally PML-N on Thursday and questioned its agenda in the absence of a manifesto despite the general elections being just two weeks away. Bilawal, who has criticised the PML-N on the regular during his election trail, was addressing a campaign rally in Gujrat today when he made the remarks. “What kind of democracy and election is this where one party has a manifesto and another — which is pitting its nominee for the prime minister for the fourth time — says their [old] manifesto is [still] valid. They can’t even tell you that if they somehow get the chance again [to rule] for the fourth time, what they’ll do,” the PPP scion said. In contrast, he said, he had presented his 10-point agenda on the nation’s most important issues. Bilawal said he wanted to serve the women of Punjab as a dutiful son of his mother. “Those who said PPP is not present in Punjab and they have no competition with us are chanting ‘PPP PPP’ day and ni...

NEW DELHI: A mosque and a church were assaulted as Hindutva mobs staged victory marches in BJP-ruled states a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a controversial temple in Ayodhya. A group of Hindu activists unfurled saffron flags in a mosque in Agra in Uttar Pradesh amid reports of a similar attack on a church in Madhya Pradesh. In BJP-ruled Assam on Tuesday police booked Rahul Gandhi for “wanton acts of violence”, as the political confrontation between the Congress leader and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma escalated on the 10th day of east-to-west peace march. Mr Gandhi asserted that he does not get “intimidated” by such tactics. “With reference to wanton acts of violence, provocation, damage to public property and assault on police personnel today by Congress members, an FIR has been registered against Rahul Gandhi, K.C. Venugopal, Kanhaiya Kumar and other individuals…,” the chief minister posted on X. Communal clashes reported in several states Mr Sar...

With the February 8 general election roughly two weeks away, the PTI will be contesting the polls without a common electoral symbol after being stripped of its iconic ‘bat’. Despite the party’s best efforts, its candidates will be competing in the polls as independents, each having a separate symbol, and that’s because the Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to revoke their long-held symbol, which held additional value due to party founder Imran Khan’s cricketing roots. The verdict has also resulted in the party losing out on reserved seats for women and minorities. Resultantly, the PTI has alleged that revoking its ‘bat’ will cast a shadow on the freeness and fairness of the election, as its candidates would be vulnerable to horse-trading. Let’s take a look at the significance of electoral symbols and the challenges which the PTI faces in the Feb 8 polls. What is an electoral symbol? Electoral symbols — unique pictorial identifiers — are...

Once dubbed the establishment’s “blue-eyed boy”, former prime minister Imran Khan finds himself on the sidelines, with his nomination papers for 2024 elections rejected, and his party in tatters. Born in Lahore in 1952, Imran first rose to fame as a cricketer, leading the national side to its only ODI World Cup victory in 1992. Following his retirement from the sport, in addition to ramping up his philanthropic activities, he founded the PTI in 1996 but only saw limited political success till 2011, when he started gaining the attention of youth disillusioned by massive corruption and an unemployment crisis. Following the 2013 elections, Imran alleged widespread rigging, leading a months-long sit-in in Islamabad in protest, but called it off after the deadly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. Imran’s popularity continued to rise ahead of the 2018 elections, so much so that he was dubbed the “prime minister in waiting” albeit with some help from powerful quarters. Followin...

The National Press Club (NPC) penned a letter to the Islamabad police on Monday requesting the removal of a Baloch rights camp in the federal capital near the club’s premises. Baloch protesters are currently demonstrating in a sit-in organised in front of the NPC by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The BYC camp has been established since December 22 and continues to attract more participants despite harsh weather and pressure from law enforcement agencies. Organisers of the Islamabad sit-in have accused the police of harassing their supporters and profiling them as well as registering first information reports against them. The NPC sent a letter today to the Kohsar police station house officer requesting that a plan be drawn up to relocate the protesters to a different location so “the difficulties for the press club and all residents and the business community can be reduced”. The letter explained that the press club’...

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and sister Aseefa wave to supporters at the rally.—M. Arif / White Star LAHORE: Peoples Party on Sunday staged an impressive power show in rival PML-N’s stronghold of Lahore with Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari making an impassioned appeal to the supporters of both Nawaz Sharif and out-of-arena Imran Khan to vote for his party so that he could bury the “politics of vendetta”. Addressing the public gathering at the Township cricket ground in Lahore’s NA-127 constituency from where he is contesting the election, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said his family and party workers were “tortured by PML-N” due to political vendetta, and he wouldn’t wish the same for any other party. “Those who are still engaging in the politics of hatred and division are further dividing our society and country. The PPP will bury the politics of hate and division forever with the support of people. The followers of PTI should help me in this cause,” he said and claimed that PML-N took ...

AIMAL Wali Khan, an MBA in human resource development, was compelled to pick up the mantle of ANP’s leadership. He is out to revive the past glory of his party, which has now been reduced to almost a non-entity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But persistent threats from militants and restricted movement mean he has to tread a perilous path to achieve the objective.—Facebook / ANPMarkaz WALIBAGH is to the ANP what Garhi Khuda Bakhsh is to PPP or Jati Umra is to the Sharifs. Nestled in the heart of Charsadda, Walibagh stands as a symbol of political heritage. This sprawling homestead in the fertile Bahloli village is the cradle of the Walis, the current flagbearers of Pakhtun nationalist politics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, led by Asfandyar Wali Khan and his heir apparent, Aimal Wali Khan. The walls of its drawing room, protected within the secure confines of the hujra behind high walls and security barricade, narrate a 103-year history, tracing the lineage from the British Raj era in undivided ...