The opposition alliance in the National Assembly will also surge to a strength of 120, the report said. Currently, the combined opposition, including the PTI, has 97 members
Under Pakistan's election rules, parties are allocated 70 reserved seats - 60 for women, 10 for non-Muslims - in proportion to the number of seats they win
He was present in the court in connection with the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case in the Adiala Jail, where he has been lodged
A United Nations human rights working group on Monday called for the immediate release of Pakistan's imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying he had been detained arbitrarily in violation of international laws. The Geneva-based United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made this demand after examining Khan's case in which he was sentenced last year on charges of corruption. Khan has been facing multiple prison sentences since 2022 when he was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in the parliament. There was no immediate comment from the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced Khan after his ouster. Khan has been held in prison since August 2023 when a court awarded him a three-year prison sentence after finding him guilty of hiding assets after selling state gifts. It led to a ban on Khan from taking part in politics and contesting the Feb 8 elections, which his party says were rigged. The Election Commission of Pakistan, which oversaw the .
A Pakistan district court on Thursday rejected appeals by former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi to suspend their sentences in the illegal marriage case. The former couple was sentenced to seven years in jail with a fine of Rs 5,00,000 each on February 3 by a district and sessions court in the case, popularly known as Iddat case, for contracting marriage during the period when a Muslim woman should wait after divorce or death of her husband before second marriage. Additional district and sessions judge ADSJ Afzal Majoka, after conducting the hearing, had reserved the verdict on the conclusion of the process on Tuesday. On Thursday, as he announced the verdict to a packed courtroom, and rejected the pleas filed by the couple, it dashed hopes of their release from the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi where they have been imprisoned. While 71-year-old Khan is slapped with several cases, his wife Bushra, 49, is facing a couple of cases. The case was filed by Bibi's ...
Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal expressed concern that the 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) release could lead to renewed protests and unrest
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced sending as many as 1,000 students of the country to China for advanced training in the agriculture sector as it strives to increase output, according to a media report on Sunday. The premier, who concluded his five-day official visit to China, made the announcement during a visit to Yangling Agricultural Demonstration Base in Xi'an city on Saturday, Radio Pakistan reported. The 72-year-old also invited China's North West Agriculture and Forestry University to open a campus in Pakistan. He directed the Pakistan ambassador to China and relevant authorities to finalise the matters with the Chinese authorities in this regard, Geo News reported. The prime minister toured various parts of the facility and was shown Pakistani products at the Pakistan Pavilion, the report said. Sharif also visited the modern plant production factory where he oversaw a demonstration of the vertical method of agriculture, it said. Pakistan is striving to
Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Athar Minallah, and Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi also sat on the bench
The Pak govt's submission also listed family members, friends, lawyers, and party members who have visited Khan since his imprisonment in August last year
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party founder Imran Khan was on Monday acquitted in three high-profile cases, including the cipher case, in a major relief to the beleaguered former prime minister who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for making public a secret diplomatic communication. The 71-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician has been in jail since August last year after being convicted in some of the nearly 200 cases slapped on him since his ouster in April 2022. On Monday, a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb acquitted Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case. However, the duo are not expected to be released from prison due to Khan's sentence in the Iddat case (illegal marriage) while Qureshi was arrested in a case linked to the May 9 violence. Qureshi is on physical remand till June 5. Khan and Qureshi were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in the cip
In a relief to beleaguered Imran Khan, a district and sessions court in Pakistan on Monday acquitted the jailed former prime minister and other leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in two vandalism cases. The court's verdict in the two cases related to the vandalism during the March 2022 long march came during the hearing of acquittal pleas filed by the 71-year-old PTI founder and other politicians, Geo News reported. Other leaders of the party who were acquitted included Zartaj Gul, Ali Nawaz Awan, Faisal Javed, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Qasim Suri, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Shireen Mazari, Saifullah Niazi, Asad Umar and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad. The cases against Khan and other politicians were registered in the Kohsar and Karachi Company police stations for violation of Section 144 imposed by authorities following the arrest of the former prime minister in an alleged corruption case. Speaking with journalists here, Khan's lawyer Naeem Panjotha said the cases
Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has refused to apologise for the events of May 9
Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has refused to apologise for the unprecedented May 9 riots, a day after the military ruled out dialogue with his party unless they tendered a public apology over the unprecedented violence. Khan, who spoke to the media after the court proceedings in the 190 million pounds Al Qadir corruption case at Adiala jail on Wednesday, also said that he was ready to face an inquiry into the sit-in that his Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf party staged in 2014, Dawn newspaper reported. When asked whether he would apologise for the May 9 violent protest, 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician replied no, saying he was under detention at the time and was unaware of those protests, the report added. I condemned the May 9 incidents in front of (former) chief justice Umar Ata Bandial, he added. The ex-premier mentioned that he became aware of the protests when he appeared before the then-chief justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial. Khan has been incarcerat
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has lamented the sorry state of affairs in the country where political leaders like him languish in jail and said all that is left for the powerful military leadership was to "murder" him. In a column for the UK's Daily Telegraph' newspaper, penned from the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi where he is being held for disputed corruption charges, the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician reiterated his previous assertion that if anything happens to him or his wife, General Asim Munir the Chief of Army Staff, will be responsible.
Pakistan's three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is all set to retake the helm of the ruling PML-N next month to guide the party amid internal strife, seven years after he relinquished the post after being disqualified by the apex court. Nawaz, 74, will be elected president of the ruling party on May 11 in a meeting of the party leadership, a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader told PTI. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Nawaz as premier and party president for his alleged corruption in cases related to the Panama Papers revelations about his illegal wealth stashed abroad. He relinquished his position within the party following his disqualification, which also led to his departure from the prime minister's office. PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah told a press conference that a decision to make Nawaz the president of the party again was taken at a party meeting on Friday. A resolution was passed at the party meeting today to make the el
Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said on Tuesday that the party has no interest in engaging in discussions with anyone, firmly denying any rumours of secret negotiations with the powerful establishment. Today, I asked the party's founding chairman Imran Khan if some institutions had contacted him for the talks. Imran Khan clearly said that no one had contacted him, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan told reporters outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. He said no one had even contacted him for dialogue, nor had he received any message for talks from anyone, Gohar Khan was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper. Gohar Khan's clarification came days after it was reported in a section of the media that Imran Khan had revealed that some PTI leaders were still in contact with the establishment (the military). The same is the case with the other party leadership. Even if we receive any message from anyone for dialogues, we will inform the media, he said. G
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan on Saturday said that he did not de-notify former Army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa despite his actions during the removal of PTI government in 2022 felt like a betrayal', according to a media report. Khan, 71, who was ousted from power in April 2022 via the opposition's no-confidence motion, had blamed Gen Bajwa for playing a vital role against his government. Speaking to journalists in an informal conversation during the hearing of the Toshakhana reference in Adiala Jail, Khan said: "Although General Bajwa's actions felt like a betrayal, we [the then PTI government] refrained from convening a committee to confront him. During the conversation, Khan once again called for negotiations for the betterment of the country. It's for the betterment of Pakistan, so convince me for negotiations. If I could meet Gen Qamar Bajwa twice following the removal of our government, then I could meet anyone. Right now, it is not about me, but is abou
Imran Khan's wife Bushra Bibi has not been given any poisonous substance, her personal physician has said following a medical checkup after allegations by the ex-prime minister that the former first lady was poisoned while incarcerated at his private residence which was turned into a sub-jail. On April 2, Khan during the hearing of the 190 million pound Toshakhana corruption case in Adiala jail informed Judge Nasir Javed Rana that there had been an attempt to poison the former first lady and added that she had marks on her skin and tongue as a side effect of the "poisoning". "I know who is behind it," the 71-year-old former prime minister said, without naming anyone. He said that if any harm came to 49-year-old Bushra, the Pakistan Army chief (Gen Asim Munir) should be held responsible as members of an intelligence agency were controlling everything at his Bani Gala residence in Islamabad and Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. At this time, there is no evidence of Bushra Bibi being poisone
The Toshakhana corruption case pertains to the accusations against Khan for illegally selling state gifts, which he received during his tenure as the PM of Pakistan between 2018-2022
Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan once again on Wednesday demanded a judicial probe into the May 9 violence and the February 8 elections, urging Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to hear the petitions filed by his party on the two issues. Khan, 71, while speaking to journalists after attending a court hearing in the 190 million pound corruption case, said the establishment was using the May 9 violence following his arrest in a corruption case as a pretext to dismantle his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan claimed that the plot to dismantle his party was hatched in London by the now-ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and urged Chief Justice Isa to set up a judicial commission to probe the matter, Dawn News reported. Khan's supporters resorted to violence, burning civil and military installations following his arrest by the National Corruption Bureau (NCB) outside the Islamabad High Court premised in a corruption case. The May 9 violence, also