Blaze News - Pakistan

A large protest demonstration against unrest and in support of sustainable peace was held under the auspices of Swat Awami Pasawon at Nishat Chowk in Mingora city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Swat district on Friday. The protest came days after at least 15 people, including six police personnel, were martyred and several others were wounded in a suicide attack outside Kabal police station in Swat district on Sunday. Thousands of people from various schools of thought took part in the rally. Protesters carried placards, banners and black flags while the entire area echoed with the slogan, ‘We want peace on our own land.’ Participants demanded an end to insecurity in Swat, the establishment of lasting peace and firm protection for the public. Raising strong slogans against terrorism and disorder, they made clear that the people of Swat would no longer accept any form of unrest. Read: Suicide attack outside police station in Swat leaves 15 martyred, including six polic...

Spain's Civil Guard is investigating the possibility of another mass migrant crossing into the North African enclave of Ceuta on Aug 15, following the circulation of calls on social media encouraging a collective attempt. According to Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), an internal Civil Guard assessment based on publicly available information concluded that the online campaign is "real and documented" across Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, where groups linked to the calls collectively count between 400,000 and 422,560 members, although authorities cautioned that "those figures should be interpreted carefully". The assessment said the risk of an attempted crossing is "real, but its magnitude is uncertain," adding that preventive measures by Moroccan authorities and reinforced Spanish border controls will be key factors. 🇪🇸 🇲🇦 🇪🇺 What was behind the migrant rush to Spain's Ceuta? An unprecedented 72,000 people crossed in...

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 ...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday said the government would complete its constitutional five-year term, asserting that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would remain in office for the full tenure. Speaking to reporters in Lahore, Naqvi dismissed speculation about the government's future, saying the current system was "going nowhere". "The government will complete its five-year constitutional term," he said. "Shehbaz Sahib will remain prime minister for five years. People can say whatever they want or interpret my remarks however they like, but he will complete his term as prime minister." Read: Governance system has collapsed: Naqvi Responding to a question about his absence from a cabinet meeting and criticism of his performance, Naqvi said he was answerable only to the prime minister. “I would request the prime minister to conduct an audit of all ministries and evaluate the performance of each ministry. Whatever the results are, ...

Amnesty International on Tuesday called on the federal government to release Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder and former premier Imran Khan ahead of the completion of three full years in incarceration. Imran has been imprisoned since August 5, 2023, currently serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case. In addition, he faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) related to the protests of May 9, 2023. On the eve of the completion of his three years, Amnesty International South Asia Acting Regional Director Isabelle Lassee noted that the authorities had "systematically denied" Imran the right to a fair trial, subjected him to prolonged solitary confinement and limited his access to medical care and visitation rights. She further added that Imran not been allowed to meet his family for more than eight months and his vision had reportedly deteriorated significantly. PAKISTAN: Ahead of the...

Voting will be held on Tuesday in LA-27 Kotla and at 51 polling stations in LA-28 Lachhrat constituencies, where polling was deferred after adverse weather conditions prevented election material from reaching the stations in time during the second phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections on August 2. The Election Commission has completed arrangements for the polling with heightened security measures in place. Personnel from the Pakistan Army, Rangers and police will be deployed at polling stations to ensure a peaceful and orderly voting process. Polling at the affected stations could not take place on Sunday as severe weather disrupted the transportation of election material. The Election Commission subsequently rescheduled the voting for Tuesday. In LA-27 Kotla, the electoral contest is being closely watched with the main battle expected among IPP candidate Sardar Tabarak Ali, PML-N’s Noreen Arif and PPP’s Sardar Javed Ayub. The constituency has 107,061 registe...

Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday said that the "countdown for the federal government had begun" as he lashed out at the federal coalition partner for alleged rigging in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections. Senior leaders from both parties have held competing press conferences as rigging accusations have intensified. The PPP accused the federal government of interfering in the elections through development announcements and misuse of official resources, while the PML-N alleged the PPP was itself attempting to manipulate the vote, claiming ballot papers had been recovered from the residence of a rival candidate. In a series of posts and video messages on X, Bilawal said the recent elections were not transparent and fair but were "rigged elections, these were bullet elections, these were killer elections, these were bloody elections". He added: "Despite all this, you have made the PPP victorious on nine parliamentary s...