Blaze News - Pakistan

The police and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers clashed near the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Wednesday as the party staged a protest demanding the release of its founder, Imran Khan, on the third anniversary of his arrest. Authorities sealed key roads with shipping containers to prevent demonstrators from reaching the venue, triggering traffic disruptions and confrontations that ended with tear gas shelling and multiple arrests. Imran has remained in prison since August 2023 after his conviction in a corruption case and has since faced multiple convictions and prosecutions in other cases, including allegations relating to corruption, disclosure of official secrets and marriage laws. He and his party reject all allegations, maintaining that the cases are politically motivated and intended to keep him out of politics. Police blocked roads leading to the KPC and surrounding areas by placing containers at key intersections, causing severe traffic congestion and making access ...

The lawyer representing former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, requested a court on Saturday to set aside the seven-year sentence handed down to his clients in the Iddat case before Eidul Fitr. However, the matter was postponed until April 9, likely the first day of Eid. In February of this year, Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah sentenced the couple to seven years in jail, along with a fine of Rs500,000 each, for tying the knot during Bushra’s Iddat – a mandatory waiting period that a Muslim woman must observe on account of the death of her husband or dissolution of her marriage before she can remarry. District and Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand heard the couple’s appeals against the sentence on Saturday. The judge noted that the appeals had been largely heard but added that the complainant, Bushra's ex-husband Khawar Maneka, should also be given an opportunity to present his arguments. The court called for arguments from Maneka’s lawyer at the next hearing. Re...

As the sugar crisis grips the nation, two main political parties who were part of the last coalition government led by Shehbaz Sharif on Monday pointed fingers at each other over the matter and the alarming rise in prices across the country, tossing around the blame as consumers grapple with skyrocketing costs. Former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal shifted the blame onto former commerce minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Naveed Qamar, asserting that the latter should be held accountable for the crisis. He laid the blame squarely on the former commerce minister’s doors who, he claimed, had taken the decision that led to the current sugar crisis. Read PM Kakar says Saudi Arabia to invest $25b over next five years He further stressed that Qamar needed to clarify his stance on the current crisis as he was at the helm of the affair, and asserted that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) cannot be held responsible for every decision made by the coalition government. On t...

The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) on Monday arrested at least two 'key suspects' involved in human trafficking in relation to the Greece boat tragedy from Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin and registered a first information report (FIR) against the human smugglers. The accused, Waqas Ahmad from Wazirabad and Sajid Mehmood from Mandi Bahauddin, are alleged to have been involved in the smuggling of the victims of a drowning incident in Greece. Waqas is alleged to have conspired with other accomplices to traffic several individuals to Europe in exchange for money. The agent is said to have received Rs2.3 million in this regard, as per the details provided by the FIA Link Office Greece. Furthermore, FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle Gujrat registered another case against Mehmood who was offloaded from Karachi Airport. An earlier case had been registered against accused Sajid Mehmood over a similar incident but he had been absconding for the past several months until he was arrested ...