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An Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) convicted 10 people on Friday over the nationwide riots on May 9, 2023, although they were acquitted of charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. Following the arrest of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan on May 9, 2023, from the Islamabad High Court’s premises, riots erupted across the country that went on for at least 24 hours. At least 10 people lost their lives and hundreds sustained injuries, while approximately 40 public buildings and military installations were damaged, including Lahore Corps Commander’s House (Jinnah House) and Askari Tower in Lahore, General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Office in Faisalabad, FC Fort in Chakdara, Radio Pakistan building in Peshawar, Toll Plaza at Swat Motorway and the Mianwali Air Base. The state then launched a severe crackdown on his party, rounding up thousands of PTI workers and almost the entire top-tier leadership, with many still facing co...

KARACHI: In a bid to avoid a government levied tax, commercial banks have imposed a fee on deposits higher than their designated threshold, and set lower deposit targets in the range of Rs1 billion to Rs5bn. All major commercial banks, including Bank Alfalah, MCB, Meezan, HBL and Standard Chartered have sent notices to clients who have large deposits ranging from Rs1bn to Rs5bn, with each bank setting its own maximum threshold. According to the schedule of charges, which came into effect from Thursday, Nov 21, any account holder whose balance on the last day of the month is above the designated threshold, would now have to pay a five per cent monthly fee. This applies to both rupee and foreign currency accounts. Commercial banks set upper limit for deposits between Rs1bn and Rs5bn; daily limits also put in place In addition, some banks, like Meezan, have also applied maximum daily credit balance limits on checking accounts. “The bank has the right to refuse and/or to return the ...

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday indicted incarcerated PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mah­mood Qureshi, its Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid, former governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and others in another case of May 9 riots. ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill conducted the hearing of four cases of last year’s widespread violence at Kot Lakhpat Jail. The judge directed the prosecution to present its witnesses to testify on Dec 2 after the suspects pleaded not guilty in case of burning police vehicles near Mughalpura. The judge adjourned the hearing of other three cases, including atta­cking and torching Shadman police station and vehicles near Jinnah House in cantonment, till Nov 28. Aslam Iqbal declared proclaimed offender The indictment of the suspects could not be made in the three cases due to the absence of PTI former MNA Aliya Hamza Malik and activist Sanam Javed, who are on bail. The wo­­m­en’s lawyers filed separate requests for a one-day exemption fr...

Anchorperson Orya Maqbool Jan was released on Thursday from Lahore’s Camp Jail after he was granted post-arrest bail a day ago in a cybercrime case pertaining to alleged hate speech against the former top judge of the country regarding the Mubarak Sani case. On February 6, a two-judge Supreme Court bench, led by former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, overturned the conviction of Sani, who was accused of an offence in 2019 under the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Act. In its judgement, the court noted that the offence that the defendant had been accused of was not criminalised till 2021. Consequently, the apex court set aside the conviction and ordered the immediate release of the petitioner. This led to what the government and the legal community termed a “malicious and slanderous campaign” against the CJP, even prompting the Supreme Court to issue a clarification. Jan was arrested by the FIA’s cybercrime wing and detained in its Gulberg offi...

ISLAMABAD: The first four months of FY25 saw a 30.98 per cent increase in crude oil imports, leading to higher-than-expected production of petroleum products by local refineries and an increase in exports. Preliminary estimates suggest that the increase in local production of petroleum products in the past few months and its exports from the country is likely to boost economic growth in the current fiscal year. Data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that petroleum crude imports increased by 16.80pc in value and 30.98pc in quantity in the July-October FY25 from a year ago. In quantity, the crude import reached 3.137 million tonnes in 4MFY25 from 2.395m tonnes in the previous year. The rise in crude oil imports clearly indicates high transportation and other economic activities in the country. This also suggests higher capacity utilisation of local oil refineries compared to last year, which increased their profitability. The surging crude oil imports also...

Pope Francis meets Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska at the Vatican, on Wednesday.—Reuters • Ukraine fires UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia • Biden administration approves supply of antipersonnel mines to Kyiv • Kremlin says US ‘doing everything to prolong war’ • Erdogan calls missile decision ‘big mistake’ • ICBL terms latest mines’ approval ‘terrible decision’ KYIV: The United States shut its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday morning due to what it called the threat of a significant air attack, a day after Ukraine used American missiles to hit a target inside Russia in what Moscow described as an escalation in the war. With tension already running high over the use of US-made ATACMS missiles by Kyiv and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to lower the threshold for a nuclear strike, Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday. On the other hand, in yet the latest step-up in military supplies announced by the US ...

Countries at the COP29 climate summit were warned on Wednesday that the “hardest part” was about to start in talks over how much money should be provided to developing countries to help them cope with climate change. Figuring out what form that funding takes, who pays and how much is the main task of this year’s annual UN climate talks. With a notional Friday deadline looming, frustration over the lack of progress was starting to seep out of the negotiating rooms. Yalchin Rafiyev, the chief negotiator of the summit’s host Azerbaijan said, “Now the hardest part begins,” ahead of a fresh text which is due to be released at midnight in the capital Baku. Progress at the annual summit is typically marked through regular draft documents that get whittled down to a final deal. Wealthy and developing countries are sharply divided over the size of the new goal. It will replace a 2020 pledge by developed countries — delivered two years late — to provide $100 billion per year in climate fin...