Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A Pakistan court has banned media from reporting on proceedings in a closed-door trial of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of leaking state secrets, raising concerns about transparency ahead of national elections in February.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, according to a U.N. report published Thursday.

Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the U.N. report said.

Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station’s main gate in northwest Pakistan early Tuesday, killing at least 22 officers and wounding 32 others, and causing a part of the building to collapse upon impact, officials said, in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months.

Some militants also opened fire and a shootout ensued for hours between them and security forces before three attackers were gunned down, local police officer Kamal Khan said.

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) of Pakistan has announced that it has discovered gas and condensate reserves in the country's southern Sindh province.

In a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the leading state-owned company of Pakistan said on Friday that the discovery was made at the West Well No. 2 in the Tando Allahyar district of the province.

KARACHI, Dec 08 (APP): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday said that the investors had regained confidence after the successful signing of a standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the execution of the annual budget 2023-24 and improvement in the fiscal and external accounts.

GWADAR, Pakistan, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The China-donated seawater desalination plant will resolve the water shortage in Gwadar district of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, which has been the biggest problem in the area for many years, Pakistani Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has said.

The water shortage has been the largest hurdle in the development of Gwadar district, the prime minister said on Monday while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the China-aided desalination project and upgrade of the Pak-China Friendship Hospital in Gwadar.

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and 26 others injured in shooting at a passenger bus on Saturday evening in the Diamir district of Gilgit-Baltistan region in northern Pakistan, an official said.

Deputy Commissioner of Diamir Arif Ahmed said in a video statement that some unknown gunmen opened fire at a passenger bus in the Hudar Pari point of the Chilas area in Diamir, leaving eight people dead on the spot.

Two soldiers are also among the killed, who were going to their hometowns on vacations, said the official.

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A policeman and a terrorist were killed in an attack on a polio-eradication team in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, police said.

The incident happened in the Khyber district of the province, where the terrorists targeted the team when it was on its way back after taking part in a door-to-door campaign to administer polio drops to kids, the district's police said in a statement.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has confiscated over 420 kg drugs and arrested five suspects, said an official on Monday.

The ANF spokesperson, in a statement, detailed the successful interdiction of seven drug smuggling attempts across various regions of the country. The recovered narcotics include heroin, hashish, ice, and intoxicated tablets, which were intended for distribution across Pakistan.

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A fire tore through a shopping mall in the southwestern Pakistani city of Karachi, killing at least 10 people and injuring 22 others, police and local officials said Saturday.

The multi-story RJ Mall is in a commercial high-rise that also houses call centers and software firms.

The fire department dispatched eight fire trucks to the scene after being alerted at 6:30 a.m, local time. Chief fire officer, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan, said the fourth floor of the building was the most affected.