Pakistan

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Prime Minister‘s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Friday said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi is engaging in “illegal activity and travel” by trying to mobilise the party’s support base for a nationwide street movement. The KP chief executive is currently in Karachi as part of the PTI’s plans to launch a street movement, as per the directions of party founder Imran Khan. Speaking on the Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath’, the PM’s aide said that the PTI was in no position to launch a street movement and described their upcoming nationwide wheel-jam strike on February 8 as “violence”. “They cannot mobilise because it isn’t in accordance with the law. The KP CM is involved in illegal activity and his travel is illegal,” Sanaullah said. When asked what part of CM Afridi’s visit was illegal, Sanaullah replied: “How is a wheel-jam strike a political activity permitted by the law and Constitution? Holding a wheel-jam strike in and of itself is illegal.” Sanaullah a...

KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday evening continued his efforts to rally PTI’s support base in Karachi to support the party’s upcoming nationwide street movement. After his visit to the Karachi Press Club (KPC), the provincial chief executive was scheduled to visit Insaf House and hold public meetings in the city’s district South and Malir. Earlier in the evening, Afridi reached the KPC and met with the city’s journalist fraternity while appreciating the welcome extended to him by the Sindh government. From the airport, the KP CM’s convoy took six hours to reach the press club, accompanied by a large crowd of party supporters. During his interaction with the media, Afridi compared his arrival in the metropolis with his recent visit to Lahore and said, “Karachi has been more welcoming than Lahore”. “The democratic traditions of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto are still alive in Sindh,” said the KP CM during his interaction with journalists at the press club. The KP chief...

Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat on Friday clarified that all schools and colleges across the province will reopen on January 12. The clarification comes after a reportedly fake notification circulated on social media claiming that winter vacations in Punjab had been extended from January 10 to 17. However, the education minister rebuffed claims of extending winter holidays, urging the public to “avoid fake news.” Earlier this week, he had also denied any extension of the winter holidays. Later in the evening, the education minister posted a poll on his X account, asking people about when schools and colleges in Punjab should reopen. The two options were January 12 and 19. Around 11:30pm on January 9, 82.5 per cent of users were in favour of January 19, while 17.5pc for January 12. Commenters seemed in favour of reopening institutions on the later date, due to the increasing cold in the province, while others noted that January 19 would be peak cold in Punjab. Another user questioned why the mini...

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Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb expanding protests, with phone calls not reaching the country, flights cancelled and online Iranian news sites only intermittently updating. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners”. He also told Trump to focus on the problems in his own country. The protests, which began on December 28 over an inflationary spiral, have not approached the scale of unrest three years ago but have spread across Iran with dozens reported dead and the authorities looking more vulnerable because of a dire economy and the aftermath of last year’s war with Israel and the United States. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported at least 34 protesters and four security personnel killed, and 2,200 arrested duri...

Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets in several areas of Lebanon on Friday, a day after the Lebanese army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group. Under US pressure and amid fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming the resistance group, which was weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, including two months of all-out war that ended with a November 2024 ceasefire. Despite the truce, Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon, usually claiming it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives, and has maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic, accusing the group of rearming. In a statement on Friday, the Israeli military said it struck “several areas in Lebanon”, targeting “weapons storage facilities and a weapons production site that were used for the rehabilitation and military build-up of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation”. “Additionally, several launch sites and rocket launchers, along with mi...

LAHORE: Acting on public complaints about hospitals, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Friday made it mandatory for hospital staff to wear body cameras. Body cameras, or body cams, are wearable audio and video recording devices used to capture footage of official action for evidence. Last month, following corruption complaints against the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (Pera), CM Maryam made it mandatory for field officials to wear body cams in a bid to ensure transparency and accountability. However, this order has yet to be implemented. Presiding over a meeting on provincial health projects today, the CM said that wearing body cams would be mandatory for nurses, ward boys, security guards, and pharmacy staff. The CM further said that public hospital administration must ensure the comprehensive daily steam cleaning of facilities by 9am. “There must be a ban on the use of mobile phones by doctors and nurses during duty hours, stressing that patient care must remain the foremost priority,” she...

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