Peshawar, Pakistan — AFP Almost 6,500 candidates from 150 parties will stand in Pakistan’s election this week. Five percent of these happen to be women. The constitution reserves seats for women in both the provincial and national assemblies but few women contest election outside that reserved quota. AFP has interviewed three femal...
Lahore, Pakistan – AFP In a Pakistan paediatric ward, a chorus of infant coughs and straining lungs is the toll of a frigid winter, compounded by choking smog and lagging vaccination rates. “Please pray for him,” the mother of four-month-old pneumonia patient Ibrahim begs a nurse in Lahore, delicately arranging a blanket arou...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) — A Pakistani court on Saturday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to seven years each in prison over charges of unlawful marriage. Judge Qudrat Ullah announced the verdict in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, according to local broadcaster ARY. The judge...
Islamabad, Pakistan – AFP Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison, less than two weeks before the country votes in an election his party has been hamstrung from contesting. Pakistan goes to the polls next Thursday in a ballot already marred by allegations of pre-vote rigging, with Khan [&hell...
Mianwali, Pakistan — AFP Pakistani cricketing legend turned politician Imran Khan is wildly popular in his constituency and ancestral homeland of Mianwali, but the political posters that line the streets do not bear his face and flags do not fly his colours. A relentless crackdown widely attributed to Pakistan’s powerful military h...
ISLAMABAD (AA) – Pakistan on Saturday evening confirmed the killing of a number of its citizens in a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said they were in touch with Iranian authorities and had asked Tehran to immediately investigate the incident and hold to account those involved in this “he...
TEHRAN (AA) – At least nine foreign nationals were killed by unidentified assailants in southeastern Iran, according to an Iranian media report. The semi-official Mehr News Agency on Saturday reported that “unidentified” armed men killed nine non-Iranians in the city of Saravan in the Sistan-Baluchestan province. “Accor...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – The closure of border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is inflicting losses of millions of dollars on Afghan traders. The two South Asian neighbors share a 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) land border with 18 crossing points. The Torkham border in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province and the Spin Boldak border in ...
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan and Iran have agreed to send back their ambassadors to their respective posts, reflecting a thaw in strained relations following an exchange of missile attacks on each other’s territories last week. “Following the telephone conversation between the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran...
Islamabad, Pakistan – – AFP Pakistan and Iran’s cross-border air raids this week targeting militants on each other’s soil mark an unprecedented flare-up at a time when the region is already a tinderbox of tensions, analysts say. “This kind of attack has never been done by either side,” said Karachi Universit...
