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Marine Le Pen, head of the French far-right Rassemblement National parliamentary group in the National Assembly, casts her ballot in the first round of elections in Henin-Beaumont, on Sunday.—AFP PARIS: French voters flocked to the polls in numbers not seen for decades on Sunday for the first round of snap parliamentary elections , which could see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first. President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation by calling snap polls after the far-right National Rally (RN) party trounced his centrist forces in European Parliament elections this month. But the gamble risks backfiring, with Macron’s alliance predicted in opinion polls to come only third behind the rampant RN and a new leftist New Popular Front (NFP). Julien Martin, a 38-year-old architect, voting in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, said: “These are not easy elections, the results are very uncertain, and the repercussions could be serious for society.” With the ...

ISLAMABAD: Taking on both the government and opposition parties, the mercurial Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday said that the incumbent government was incapable of allaying their concerns about the Feb 8 polls, while the PTI appeared confused about the way forward. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of his party’s Majlis-i-Shura, which spanned two days, the JUI-F chief demanded snap elections without the interference of the establishment. The Maulana said his party had reached the conclusion that the government was incapable of addressing the concerns of the JUI-F and other political parties. He also alluded to a resolution recently passed by the US House of Repre­sentatives about free and fair polls to support his call for fresh elections. Opposes ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’; says govt blaming Kabul to cover ‘own failures’ According to the Maulana, the JUI-F was also concerned about the intentions of the PTI and the Sunni Ittehad Council; therefore, it has decided to push for sn...

LAHORE: Amid escalating tensions with the treasury, the opposition in the Punjab Assembly held its own session on Saturday, pledging not to accept “fake Form-47” Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, even if the speaker suspended all its lawmakers. Opposition lawmakers from the PTI (Sunni Ittehad Council) and ruling PML-N lawmakers had been at loggerheads after 11 opposition members were suspended for 15 sittings due to “rowdyism” during Maryam Nawaz’s speech on Friday. The government further escalated the situation by stripping opposition leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar of his perks and privileges and closing his chamber in the assembly. A heavy contingent of police and a prisoner van were stationed outside the Punjab Assembly as the session began on Saturday, with orders to prevent the 11 suspended lawmakers from entering. Expressing solidarity with their suspended members, the opposition lawmakers held their own session outside the assembly gate and made fiery speeches against CM Mar...

RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench has admitted a petition challenging PIA’s privatisation process and also asked the top law officer to respond to the questions raised in the plea. Justice Jawad Hassan issued the order on Friday on a pro bono petition filed against the procedure adopted to privatise PIA. The judge also expressed his intention to examine the law introduced by the previous caretaker government to set up an appellate tribunal for privatisation disputes. The petition stated that the government issued an advertisement to privatise the national carrier without properly evaluating its local and foreign assets as required under the Privati­sation Commission Ordinance, 2000. When the judge questioned the petitioner’s counsel over the plea’s maintainability, he argued the requirements in Section 23 of the Privatisation Commission Ordinance, 2000 have not been met. While proceeding with the privatisation process, principles already settled by the S...

Pakistan clinched four spots in the finals of the Asian Junior Squash Championship at the Mushaf Sports Complex in Islamabad after a grueling round of semi-finals on Friday. Saturday’s finals will see Pakistani teammates Huzaifa Shahid and Sohail Adnan battle it out for the Boys U-13 title, while Abdullah Nawaz faces Malaysia’s Nikhileswar Moganasundharam in the U-17 category at the 31st edition of the championship. Last year’s world champion Hamza Khan will face off Malaysia’s Harith Danial in the U-19 category. Not a single Pakistani girl advanced to the semi-finals in the tournament, which has featured some 200 players from a dozen countries across the U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 categories. Earlier this month, the Ali sisters fueled Pakistan’s medal rush at the PBA 20th Penang Malaysia Junior Open. Sohail had a clean win over Malaysia’s Muhammad Ifwat Zulkifli, beating him 11-8, 11-6, 11-2 to advance to the finals. The Malaysians lost another spot in the Boys U-13 final as Hu...

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday wound up the debate on the provincial budget 2024-25, shedding light on the provincial government’s priorities, future projects and the economic, political and social situation of the province. As many as 131 members from the two sides of the aisle in a 168-member House participated in the discussion on the provincial budget in a congenial atmosphere. The Sindh Assembly also unanimously approved a Rs213 billion supplementary budget — the additional funds spent by different ministries and departments during the fiscal year 2023-24. Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presented 55 demands for grants of different ministries on the supplementary budget statement which were approved without any opposition as no cut-motions were moved by any member belonging to opposition parties. PA approves Rs213bn supplementary grants The provincial ministries and departments had spent Rs213.164 billion more than the originally projected...

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan administration has protested to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the latter’s “unilateral decision” to postpone the Shandur polo festival. The three-day festival was scheduled to begin on Friday (tomorrow). On Monday, the KP government announced the postponement of the event due to “inclement weather”. Criticising the move, the deputy commissioner of Ghizer, a district in Gilgit-Baltistan, said in a letter to his Chitral counterpart that it was “extremely disappointing and shocking for us in GB” to learn that the Shandur polo festival had been postponed. “This event is a cornerstone of our cultural heritage and a symbol of our districts’ friendship and cooperation. It is astonishing that the tourism department of KP has taken a decision without consultation, despite the fact that Shandur is a historic area of Gilgit-Baltistan,” said Habibur Rehman, the deputy commissioner. He said such decisions were always taken after consultations between the two administrat...

• CJP says PTI didn’t lose symbol due to SC verdict, rather over its failure to hold intra-party polls • Justice Minallah seeks update on complaints regarding poll irregularities ISLAMABAD: As a Sup­reme Court judgement — that resulted in the PTI losing its election symbol over a failure to conduct intra-party polls — continued to come under fire during a full court hearing on the matter of reserved seats , Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa took exception to what he termed “snide remarks” against the verdict, saying that whatever happened was PTI’s own doing. The court was hearing a petition filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) — which was joined by the PTI-backed independents — against a Peshawar High Court (PHC) decision to deny it reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies. “Repeatedly the judgement of the Supreme Court is being referred to,” CJP Isa observed and wondered whether the party ever held intra-party elections or not. ECP counsel Sikandar Bashir Mo...

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Local police have registered a case against seven tribesmen for killing an endangered leopard in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. According to sources, the tribesmen killed the leopard to protect their livestock in Zain area of the district. Dera Bugti Deputy Commissioner Ejaz Khan that the district administration has re­­g­­­istered a case under The Balochistan (Wil­d­­­life Protection, Pre­s­e­rvation, Conser­va­t­ion and Management) Act 2014 and initiated legal proceedings against the tribesmen. He also called for commencing awareness campaigns by wildlife organisations to educate the tribesmen about protecting endangered species. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has also taken notice of the incident and directed the authorities to take stern legal action against the accused. Former WWF Pakistan activist Umer Waqas identified the leopard as a Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana). This species is native to the Iranian Plateau, including the...

LAHORE: Cotton ginners across the country have gone on an indefinite strike to protest against new taxes and an “exorbitant” rise in the power tariff for ginning units. A general body meeting of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) held in Sukkur on Sunday decided to immediately suspend the procurement of raw cotton and delivery of the ginned lint to spinning units across the country as a protest. “Cotton ginners are already paying 11 different types of taxes due to which they are suffering from severe financial hardship,” said PCGA chairman Chaudhry Waheed Arshad, adding that it was not possible “for us to continue the ginning business” any more. While speaking to hundreds of ginners who had gathered from across the country, Mr Arshad announced the “unanimous” decision to stop the purchase of raw cotton immediately. Procurement of new cotton crop, supply of lint to factories will also be halted in protest He added that neither white lint will be delivered to textile...

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday approved the deployment of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) at the request of Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, in a decision that raised eyebrows in the region given the recent incidents that had led to three deaths in state capital Muzaffarabad allegedly at the hands of a paramilitary force. The deployment comes on the heels of a warning by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) that the activists of the rights movement would stage “peaceful sit-ins” at AJK’s entry and exit points with Pakistan if the authorities did not honour the pledges made to the alliance leadership and released the detained activists by June 25. According to a press release issued by the AJK government, the meeting between Haq and Naqvi, held in the latter’s office in the federal capital, focused on the law and order situation and overall security in the liberated territory. Both leaders also discussed the political climate an...

GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan has expressed concern over extraordinary delays and frequent cancellations of PIA flights to the region, particularly during peak tourism season. In a letter sent to federal Minister for Aviation Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday, the GB CM criticised PIA for its erratic flight schedule to Gilgit and Skardu airports, terming it irresponsible behaviour and demanding that the minister ensure regular flights to both airports. “These cancellations have not only caused significant inconvenience to the residents and visitors of the region but also severely impacted the ability of the Gilgit-Baltistan government to meet its commitments at the federal level,” he lamented. He said air travel is the primary mode of transportation for officials and representatives of the GB government to attend crucial meetings, conferences, and other engagements in Islamabad and other parts of Pakistan. In recent months, he added, there has been a noti...

CAIRO: Israeli forces pounded Rafah and other areas across the Gaza Strip and engaged in close-quarter combat with fighters led by Hamas on Friday. Residents said the Israelis appeared to by trying to complete their capture of Rafah , the city on the enclave’s southern edge that has been the focus of an Israeli assault since early last month. Tanks were forcing their way into the western and northern parts of the city, having already captured the east, south and centre. Israeli forces fired from planes, tanks and ships off the coast, forcing a new wave of displacement from the city, which had been sheltering more than a million displaced people, most of whom have been forced to flee again. Health officials said 12 Palestinians had been killed in separate Israeli military strikes on Friday. The Israeli military said its forces were conducting “precise, intelligence-based” actions in the Rafah area, where troops were involved in “close-quarter combat”. It also reported actions elsewh...

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi met Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Rana Sanaullah on Friday to convey that the provincial government was challenging the writ of the state by forcibly entering grid stations and restoring power supply to many areas. According to a statement issued by the PM Office, PM Shehbaz said the federal government would provide utmost assistance and resources for the welfare of the people of KP. A row between the Centre and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on loadshedding, which had ostensibly been settled last month, was resurrected on Wednesday after KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur issued another ultimatum, telling the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) to reduce outages on all grids to 12 hours a day. Pesco is among those distribution companies whose power losses are as high as 60 per cent and last month, Energy Minister Awais Leghari had explained that those feeders where losses we...

The Swat police on Friday registered two first information reports (FIRs) over the previous night’s lynching of a man in Madyan with arrests yet to be made. A mob had brutally lynched a man — who had been detained for the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran — inside the Madyan police station on Thursday evening. The mob then set fire to the suspect’s body, the police station and a police vehicle. This was the second incident of someone being lynched on suspicion of blasphemy in recent weeks; a man was killed in Sargodha last month over similar allegations. According to locals, some individuals announced in a market that a man had committed blasphemy, leading others to apprehend him and hand him over to the police. But shortly afterwards, announcements were also made from mosques in Madyan, a known tourist destination in Swat, mobilising the people towards the police station in anger. According to witnesses, the mob asked police to hand over the suspect to them, and on their ref...

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday inaugurated the Sindh Smart Surveillance System (S4) project aimed at providing a comprehensive and integrated security solution for all major entry and exit points connecting all major cities in the province. Officials have said that the system would enable effective monitoring of entry and exit points and ensure security through the integration of advanced technologies such as facial and number plate recognition at 40 toll plazas, including 18 in Karachi. They said that the project also aimed at enhancing security responses and seamlessly integrating with the existing command and control centre at the Central Police Office (CPO). The inauguration ceremony of the first of the Sindh Safe Cities-related project was held at the CPO. CM Murad says project will help arrest over 80,000 absconding criminals, reduce vehicle theft and snatching Speaking on the occasion, CM Shah hoped that the S4 project would facilitate the arrest...

A man was killed by a mob over alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in the Madyan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district on Thursday night, police said. Eight people were injured in the unrest, according to Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Zahidullah Khan. He said the police had moved the suspect of the alleged desecration incident to the police station but a charged mob “attacked the police station and took the suspect away”. “People set fire to the police station and a mobile vehicle,” the DPO said, adding that the suspect was “torched”. More details are awaited while an investigation is underway. DPO Khan said a heavy police force was deployed in Madyan and was trying to control the tense situation. Madyan is one of the famous tourist spots of Swat Valley apart from Kalam, Bahrain and other sites. It is around 245 kilometres from the provincial capital of Peshawar. A statement posted by the PTI said KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur took notice of the “unfortunate”...

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has extended the deadline to September 16 for transferring pending cases involving multi-billion tax amounts to the Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR) to expedite the resolution. The tax disputes pending before the Commissioner Inland Revenue-Appeal (CIRA) involving more than Rs20 million in income tax or refund, more than Rs10m in sales tax and Rs5m in federal excise duty would be moved to the newly established ATIR. The CIRA will hear cases below the ATIR’s threshold. The new appeal system was implemented through the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2024 , which was not part of the Finance Bill 2024. The new appeals will also follow the threshold to determine whether ATIR or CIRA will file the case, and the decisions of these bodies can be contested before the high courts by the aggrieved persons. According to the new amendment, the commissioner will not recover any tax for 30 days from the date of communication of the CIRA or ATIR orde...

QUETTA/GILGIT: Nine people, including five policemen , died and 12 others suffered injuries in road accidents in different areas of Balochistan during the last 48 hours, police said on Wednesday. Officials said policemen were escorting the SSP Lasbela, who was travelling to Uthal from Hub, on Monday. When they entered the limits of Uthal a vehicle coming from the opposite direction hit the escort pick-up, killing five cops on the spot. Confirming the deaths, police officials said two other constables received serious injuries. Police shifted the bodies and the injured to the district hospital. The wounded cops were sent to Karachi after initial treatment. The deceased were identified as Nadir, Mohammad Rafiq, Irfan Ronjha, Abdul Rasheed and Saleh Mohammad. Their bodies were handed over to their families after formalities. Police said the driver of the other vehicle fled the scene after the accident. In another accident that took place at Zhob-D.I. Khan road, two people were killed a...

RAWALPINDI: As Pakistan continues to face sizzling heat , weather experts have expected that western winds and rains in upper parts of the country will bring down the temperature by a few notches till June 22. “The country is facing a transition period of weather pattern…we do not call it pre-monsoon rains as rains are expected due to the winds coming from the west. The pre-monsoon rains will likely start from July 1,” said a Met Department official. The monsoon season will run from July 15 to Sept 15 across Pakistan. He said intermittent rains were expected in the upper parts of the country. “Weather will remain warm in the afternoon, but cool breeze and rain are expected in the evening or night till June 22,” he elaborated. The official said that moist currents from Arabian sea were penetrating upper or central parts of the country, adding that a shallow westerly wave is also present over those regions. He said that windstorm/thunderstorm coupled with rain is expected at isolate...

Journalist Khalil Jibran was gunned down in the Landi Kotal area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district on Tuesday night, the police said. According to a statement from District Police Officer (DPO) Saleem Abbas, unknown assailants in a vehicle pulled the journalist out of his car near his home and fled the scene after shooting him dead. DPO Abbas said the body was moved to a local hospital for a postmortem examination. He said the deceased was associated with Khyber News for a long time and was also a former president of the Landi Kotal press club, adding that Jibran had received threats from terrorists before as well. The DPO said a case was registered on the complaint of Advocate Sajjad, who was with Jibran and a witness to the crime. The first information report, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was registered at the Landi Kotal police station under Sections 302 (intentional murder) and 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The journalist’s funeral p...

LAHORE: Lahore’s traffic situation has reached a boiling point, with citizens facing severe congestion and gridlocks, particularly during the past few days. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has expressed her displeasure over the worsening traffic situation and has questioned the eligibility criteria for the posting of the Lahore city traffic officer (CTO). According to an official, the chief minister conveyed her strong annoyance to the inspector general of police for not bringing relief to the citizens ahead of Eidul Azha. The official claimed the chief minister said the government has spent billions of rupees on building flyovers, underpasses, U-turns and signal-free corridors to facilitate the fast-growing vehicular population of the city but still the traffic police failed in improving the traffic flow to provide relief to the public. Questions eligibility criteria for the posting of CTO The issue came to light when thousands of citizens, including families, got stuck in traffic ...

At least four people were killed and 120 injured on Tuesday in a 4.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Iran’s northeastern city of Kashmar, state media reported. The quake struck at 1:24pm (9:54am GMT), Kashmar’s governor, Hajatollah Shariatmadari, who gave the casualty toll, said on state television. Thirty-five people were hospitalised, he said, adding the quake damaged mostly dilapidated buildings in urban and rural areas of the city. State television aired footage of the aftermath of the quake showing first responders working in a street where all buildings were reduced to rubble. The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake hit at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles). Iran sits atop various tectonic plates and is often hit by earthquakes. A 5.9 magnitude quake early last year killed three people and injured over 800 in the country’s mountainous northwest, near the border with Turkiye. And in one of the world’s deadliest disasters, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake killed o...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is facing expanding desertification and recurring but intense droughts, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam highlighted on Sunday, stressing that the country stands at a critical juncture in its fight against desertification and land degradation. However, through “targeted policies, investments in research and technology and fostering international cooperation, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to combating desertification and achieving land degradation neutrality”, Ms Alam said in a statement issued on the eve of World Desertification Day. She said the theme for this year’s World Desertification Day — celebrated each year on 17 June — is “Restoration. Land. Climate”, which she said resonated deeply with the government’s commitment and on-ground efforts to fight desertification by restoring degraded lands and ecosystems, enhancing climate-resilience and achieving sustainable development goals. Ms Alam highlighted th...

South Korea’s military fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line near the border on Tuesday, according to the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Some 20 to 30 soldiers breached the line by 20 metres inside the demilitarised zone on Tuesday morning and briefly moved back north after warning shots were fired by the South, according to a JCS official. The JCS does not think the breach was intentional, the Yonhap news agency reported. North Korean soldiers also suffered multiple casualties while working due to the explosion of landmines in the demilitarised zone, the JCS official told the press. North Korea’s military has been conducting various activities along the frontline including deploying soldiers and planting landmines, the JCS official added. Such activities appeared to be part of efforts to tighten border control and prevent North Koreans from defecting to the South, the official said. “The South Korean military […] is closel...

LAHORE: Industry representatives and public have criticised the government over its plans to impose 18 per cent General Sales Tax (GST) on locally produced infant formula milk and baby food. They said the heavy taxation would worsen malnutrition among infants and children as parents would be compelled to choose cheaper and unhealthy alternative feeding solutions. According to the budget proposal presented by the finance minister last week, the government intends to withdraw the zero-rating status of locally produced infant formula, baby food and fortified child nutrition milk powders and impose 18pc GST on it. “In other countries, governments reduce taxes on such products,” said Akmal, a resident of Lahore, as he “condemned” the government’s move. “How can people, who are already under immense financial stress, afford costly formula milk and food?” he asked. Manufacturers want tax to be imposed in three phases The government’s decision has come at a time when Pakistan was alr...

THE Gilgit-Baltistan region, the neglected mountainous expanse within the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has recently risen to prominence . Previously perceived as a remote liability and officially referred to as the Northern Areas, it was a nameless region of Pakistan. Local Kashmiri leaders, deeming it a barren land and a financial burden, forsook its ownership. Thus, in the Karachi Agreement between Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the government of Pakistan, the region was handed over to Pakistan unconditionally. This set in motion an ad hoc governance arrangement under the control of a joint secretary of government of Pakistan. For the simple folk of the region, the presence of Pakistani officials and the fluttering Pakistani flag symbolised their merger with Pakistan; they were, oblivious to the reality that they possessed no constitutional rights, as a disputed territory governed through decrees by the government of Pakistan. The people had merely exchanged one hars...