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Posts published in “Pakistan”

Women ‘barred’ from working for NGOs

by Umar Bacha in Dawn, November 5th, 2023SHANGLA: A number of religious leaders in Lower Kohistan have warned women against working for NGOs, advising locals that if “you come across a woman with an unrelated colleague, you should persuade the two to marry each other”. A group of local ulema, led by Maulana Karimdad, held a meeting at a police station in Pattan on Saturday and said police should help them “enforce our decision” to…

Immigrants allowed to resettle abroad exempted from arrest

by Saleem Shahid | Ibrahim Shinwari | Umer Farooq in Dawn, Nov 5th, 2023PESHAWAR: The caretaker Khyber Pakhtun­khwa government has exem­pted the illegal immigrants scheduled to resettle in Western countries from the ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrants. The KP home department said in a letter that a list of illegal foreigners destined for third countries was received from the federal Ministry of Interior and individuals destined for third countries would not be subject to arrest.…

Lack of verification devices, record hampers illegal immigrants’ repatriation in Karachi:

By Imtiaz Ali in Dawn, November 3rd, 2023KARACHI: The government machinery employed to identify illegal immigrants and facilitate their repatriation or deportation faced immense hardship in undertaking the process mainly due to a lack of verification devices and record of foreigners, sources said on Thursday. The sources said that the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) officials deputed at the transit centre, at Old Haji Camp, here did not have any record of illegal immigrants…

Acting Defense Minister Warns Pakistan Against ‘Cruel’ Treatment of Afghans

By Mujeeb Rahman Awrang Stanikzai, Head of TOLOnews, online, Nov 3, 2023 at 8:40 PMActing Defense Minister, Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, criticized the treatment of Pakistan’s caretaker government towards the Afghan refugees, saying that the decision to expel Afghans had been taken unilaterally and that Pakistan should consider the consequences of such actions. In an audio clip, Mujahid called on the regime in Pakistan to not “be cruel to the Afghans, not seize their personal…

More holding areas spring up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

by Umer Farooq | Saleem Shahid in Dawn, Nov 4, 2023PESHAWAR/ QUETTA: As the voluntary repatriation of the illegal Afghan nationals continued on a third consecutive day after the expiry of the deadline, the government has opened six more holding areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to facilitate the repatriation. On the other hand, Afghan consul general Gul Hassan called on Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai in Quetta, where the latter minced no words to refute the…

UN agencies call for protection of children, families seeking safety in Pakistan

by Amin Ahmed in Dawn, November 4th, 2023ISLAMABAD: Three UN agencies have expressed their deep concern over the safety and well-being of children and families affected by the ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’ and alarmed at the potential consequences of this plan’s implementation. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and Unicef, the UN Children’s Fund, continue to appeal to the international community to increase support for hosting vulnerable children and families and…

PML-N, PTI yet to make contact: PPP

by Rizwan Shehzad in The Express Tribune, Niv 4, 2023LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders on Friday said that neither the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nor the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) formally reached out to their party for scheduling a meeting between the leadership. The PPP information secretaries, Shazia Marri and Faisal Karim Kundi, shared with The Express Tribune that nothing significant has happened after both the PML-N and the PTI announced that they would…

Bilawal extends olive branch to PTI

byImran Ayub in Dawn, Nov 4th, 2023KARACHI: In a conciliatory tone, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday invited the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to join the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed by two major parties in order to ensure that none of them solicit military support to come to power or to dislodge a democratic government. While talking to reporters after inaugurating a free diagnostic lab facility under the JDC Foundation, the PPP…

Time running out for Nawaz, Imran

By Ansar Abbasi in The News, Nov 4, 2023ISLAMABAD: Time is running out for Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan to get their convictions reversed in order to take part in the upcoming general elections. As the election date – Feb 8, 2023 – has been announced, these top leaders have nearly one month period to get chit from courts to become eligible for taking part in the elections. The Election Commission of Pakistan has to…

By Nasir Iqbal in Dawn, November 3rd, 2023

ISLAMABAD: After months of dilly-dallying on the issue of polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) agreed to hold general elections in the country on Feb 8 next year — a date “set in stone”. The announcement by the ECP came after a meeting between Presi­dent Arif Alvi and Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who visited the presidency with the ECP members, on the orders of the Supreme Court, which had taken up pleas…

SC confident election will be held on Feb 8

by Nasir Iqbal in Dawn, Nov 4th, 2023• Presidential approval of poll date presented to apex court• CJP regrets issue needlessly brought to judiciary• Media warned against creating doubts about elections ISLAMABAD: A day after a decisive meeting between the president and the chief election commissioner to agree on a poll date, the Supreme Court on Friday expressed the confidence that general elections would be held without disruption on Feb 8 next year. However, Chief…