Category: English

Yemen’s Houthis attacked Riyadh’s international airport with a missile on Saturday, a diplomatic source told AFP, with dozens reported wounded and a witness describing panic in the terminal. Saudi authorities did not confirm any new attack or evacuation, but one witness reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded. “I was on gate 403” at the domestic terminal, the witness told AFP. “I saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”…

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the suspected suicide of Laiba Aijaz, a student at Islamabad’s International Islamic University, and directed the Islamabad inspector general of police and the chief commissioner to immediately arrest the suspect accused of defrauding her. “The incident involving the young student is extremely tragic,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement, adding that the suspect would be arrested and given exemplary punishment in accordance with the law. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has also taken notice of the case. FIA Islamabad Director…

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) anti-government long march entered its seventh day on Saturday as the convoy led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi departed Charsadda for Mardan. Addressing participants before the departure, CM Afridi warned those threatening to impose governor’s rule in the province that the movement would not be stopped by such measures. “Those threatening governor’s rule should listen: the matter has gone beyond positions and power,” he said. CM Afridi praised the people of Charsadda for their enthusiasm, saying the movement would continue with the same determination to…

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has opposed the imposition of an emergency or governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying the province is effectively under governor’s rule and only a formal announcement remains. Speaking to the media after meeting Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and attending a meeting of the party’s senior leadership at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar, Gohar said federal government interference had weakened the authority of the provincial government. He said all stakeholders agreed on the need to eliminate terrorism but differed over how to…

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The federal government has decided to impose an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaching an agreement on the move during a meeting at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Saturday, according to sources. The federal cabinet will be asked to approve the decision on Sunday, while separate sessions of the National Assembly and Senate will also be convened to secure parliamentary endorsement, the sources said. The 35-minute meeting between the president and the prime minister focused on the country’s overall political situation, law and order,…

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday telephoned Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and invited him to the Prime Minister’s House for a meeting. According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Maulana Fazl accepted the invitation, and the meeting is expected to take place soon. During the conversation, the two also discussed ways to ease tensions between the federal government and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the statement said. The development comes amid mounting tensions over the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s march on Islamabad, with party supporters already…

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Yemeni military sources told AFP on Saturday that their forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas around the Bab al-Mandsb strait but have not yet secured control of the waterway, after the government launched an operation to capture lost territory. The Saudi-backed government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the pro-Iran group seized Yemen’s entire western coastline in a lightning offensive. The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandeb area, but they claimed to have repelled…

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Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Saturday criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s leadership for bad governance and the deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past 13 years. He said this while addressing a news conference along with Prime Minister’s Coordinator Ikhtiar Wali Khan and MPA Jalal Khan in Islamabad. Tarar also alleged that the PTI is Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s ‘B team’ and they do not condemn terrorists. The information minister said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was once a cradle of peace and pride for the nation,…

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An alleged Rs7 million education scam has emerged as a possible factor in the suspected suicide of Laiba, a gold medallist in the BS programme at Islamabad’s International Islamic University, her family has said. Police officials said Laiba’s family maintained that an education consultant had demanded a large sum of money on the pretext of securing her admission to a US university, but the admission documents later turned out to be fake. According to the family, Laiba wanted to pursue higher education in the United States and had hired the…

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Pakistan has condemned continued Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and called for an immediate halt to attacks on commercial shipping, urging the UN Security Council to step up efforts to address the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Speaking at the council’s monthly briefing on Yemen on Friday, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said escalating hostilities, threats to maritime traffic, fighting around Taiz and Bab al-Mandeb, and worsening humanitarian conditions required urgent attention. Ahmad condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including those targeting infrastructure in…

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