Pakistan

Karachi/Peshawar, Oct 21 (PTI) Polling for Pakistan's second round of by-elections in three national and provincial assembly constituencies in Karachi and Peshawar were underway amidst strict security.

A total of 858,866 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the by-polls, which were necessitated after the candidates elected on them in the July 25 general elections tendered their resignations.

All three of the winners belonged to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan's peace and reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, will hold talks here on Tuesday with Pakistani officials to discuss ways of cooperation in reconciliation in Afghanistan.

A Pakistani official told Xinhua that the U.S. special representative will meet Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other senior officials at the ministry.

A U.S. embassy spokesman said Khalilzad will "explore how best to reach a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan."

Islamabad, Oct 8 (PTI) Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that a strong bilateral relationship with China is the cornerstone of the Pakistan's foreign policy.

Khan chaired a high-level meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and discussed his maiden tour to China next month during which matters related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is to be discussed, the Express Tribune reported.

Lahore, Oct 8 (PTI) Former Pakistan premiers Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, along with a prominent journalist, appeared before the Lahore High Court on Monday for hearing on a petition seeking treason proceedings against them in a case related to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Journalist Cyril Almeida, Assistant Editor for the Dawn newspaper is also a respondent in the case being heard by a three-member bench headed by Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi, The Express Tribune reported.

Lahore, Oct 6; PTI: An anti-corruption court in Pakistan on Saturday granted a 10-day remand of opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif to the country's top anti-graft body in a Rs 1,400 crore housing scam, the latest setback to the embattled Sharif family.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which arrested the PML-N president on Friday, had sought a 15-day remand to investigate his alleged involvement in the multi-billion rupees corruption case.

Shahbaz, 67, is the younger brother of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, 68, who is facing corruption charges in three cases.

Islamabad, Oct 4 (AFP) Pakistan has ordered international charity ActionAid, which supports a range of development and women's rights projects, to shut down its operations in the country, the aid group said on Thursday.

A letter from Pakistan's interior ministry sent to ActionAid, and shared with AFP by the group, said it must cease its work within 60 days.

No representative of the interior ministry was immediately available for comment.

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Oct 4 (PTI) Pakistan wants the US to facilitate talks with India as the two nations are not engaging bilaterally, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said, warning that the absence of dialogue could lead to escalation of tension.

Islamabad, Oct 2 (PTI) Irked by former dictator Pervez Musharraf's failure to come back to Pakistan and face ongoing cases against him, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar on Tuesday warned that if the "courageous commando" does not appear soon, he may be forced to return in a disgraceful manner.

Chief Justice Nisar made the remarks when Musharraf's lawyer told the three-judge bench that his client "respects the court" but was unable to return due to his medical condition and reservations over the provision of security, Dawn newspaper reported.

Islamabad, Oct 2 (PTI) Pakistan has slashed the Chinese investment in railways by USD 2 billion citing a huge burden of loans, giving credence to reports that the new government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan may scrutinise the multi-billion dollar CPEC, a media report said Tuesday.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said that the share of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the railways has been reduced from USD 8.2 billion to USD 6.2 billion.

Islamabad, Oct 1 (PTI) Pakistan's former dictator General Pervez Musharraf is "growing weaker rapidly" due to a new unspecified illness and cannot return to face the treason case now, a senior leader of his party has said.

Musharraf, 75, who has been living in Dubai since 2016, is facing the high-profile treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007.