Blaze News - Pakistan

The federal government on Saturday announced plans to produce two historical web series on the life and services of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and philosopher-poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal to mark their 150th birth anniversaries. The decision was taken at a high-level consultative meeting chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, which brought together leading media houses, producers, directors, and prominent figures from the creative sector. Speaking at the meeting, Iqbal said the 150th anniversary celebrations of Quaid-e-Azam and Iqbal would go beyond formal ceremonies, serving instead as a milestone in national renewal and intellectual revival. A consultative meeting chaired by Minister for Planning @betterpakistan in Islamabad deliberated on development of two landmark historical web series on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal@PlanComPakistan #RadioPakistan #news https://t.co/oCqbF5YGDU pic.twitter.com/DHpJ1qL71k — Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) Februar...

The politics of the MQM-P has once again entered a decisive phase. What began in the 1980s as an organised assertion of urban Muhajir identity gradually revealed deeper contradictions within Sindh's political economy. Today, visible divisions between the party's factions led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mustafa Kamal underscore a structural crisis rather than a temporary disagreement. Muhajir politics was never merely a spontaneous cry for recognition. It emerged from material shifts that unsettled the urban middle classes of Karachi. The sweeping nationalisation policies of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s disrupted banks, industries and educational institutions where many Urdu speaking 'muhajirs' were concentrated. Loss of economic control translated into political grievance. Identity hardened as access to state employment and influence appeared to narrow. Out of this dislocation, a disciplined organisational machine took shape, mediating jobs, contracts, housing an...

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said on Friday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan would be transferred to a hospital on February 25 for medical treatment, clarifying that the hospitalisation would be limited solely to administering his second injection to treat his eye. Speaking to the media in Islamabad on Friday, Chaudhry said that Imran, 73, received his first injection on January 25, with two further injections still pending. “Regarding the matter of his eye, on January 25 he was given one injection, two more are still to be administered. For that, the proposed date for the injection is February 25, and one month later he will be given the third injection at the best available facility in Pindi and Islamabad,” he said. When asked if the former prime minister would be moved to the hospital for the injections, Chaudhry responded in the affirmative, adding that the injections could only be administered in a hospit...

As India and the United States move toward implementing a tenuous trade agreement, the Modi government is once again confronting an old political fault line: farmers. Nowhere is this tension sharper than in Punjab, though protests have now spread beyond the state into Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, where memories of the massive 2020-21 farm protests remain raw and politically consequential. Those protests forced Prime Minister Modi to repeal three controversial farm laws that were widely seen as a backdoor to agricultural liberalisation without adequate safeguards. The current trade negotiations have already begun reopening those wounds, with farmer groups staging demonstrations and strikes. At the heart of farmers' anxieties is a familiar fear: exposure to global markets without adequate state protection creates immense wealth for some, while simultaneously deepening existing inequalities and hardships for vulnerable populations. Liberalisation in Indian agriculture over the p...

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday raised questions over the alleged purchase of a 19-seat luxury jet, which the Punjab government plans to include in its newly proposed airline. The Punjab government’s apparent acquisition of a high-end Gulfstream business jet has drawn scrutiny after an official job advertisement seeking a pilot specifically trained on the aircraft surfaced, offering rare confirmation of a major purchase that authorities have not publicly acknowledged. Open-source aviation tracking and posts by strategic affairs observers indicate that the provincial government has acquired a 2019-manufactured Gulfstream GVII-G500, a long-range luxury aircraft typically used by heads of state and corporate executives. The jet, bearing manufacturer serial number 72022 and previously registered in the United States as N144S, has been observed operating VIP flights for Punjab in recent days. Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said a day ago it was intended for Air Punja...

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah claimed on Wednesday that during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) November 2024 protest, party founder Imran Khan initially agreed to hold talks and not protest at D-Chowk but later withdrew, adding that it was a missed opportunity for his release. In November 2024, PTI supporters left Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for Islamabad, demanding the restoration of the party's electoral mandate, the release of detained party members and the reversal of the 26th Amendment. However, the protest in the federal capital was brought to an end after the government launched a major operation to prevent protesters from reaching D-Chowk, forcing the senior party leadership to “escape” the scene. In an interview on programme 'Capital Talk' on a private news outlet, Sanaullah revealed that the government, including Interior Minister Naqvi, had made an offer to Imran, proposing that the party hold its planned November 2024 sit-in at Sangjan...