Authorities at biggest state hospital in Islamabad say 15 babies were in the ward when fire broke out
At least 14 newborn babies have died in a fire that broke out in the maternity ward at one of Pakistan’s most prominent state hospitals.
The blaze began in the early hours of Wednesday and engulfed the ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the biggest state hospital in Islamabad.
Continue reading...Supreme court ordered transfer of ex-leader whose health is reportedly deteriorating, but he was returned to prison several hours later
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan was briefly taken to a hospital in the country’s capital on supreme court orders after weeks of uproar about his deteriorating health.
Khan, 73, was transferred to the hospital in the early hours of Friday, but then moved back to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi after a few hours, a spokesperson for his party said on Friday.
Continue reading...Rules brought in soon after killing of dozens of protesters, news of which was reported only by overseas outlets
Pakistani authorities have imposed severe new restrictions on international media, including barring them from reporting in most of the country, in a move that has provoked a significant backlash from journalist organisations.
According to the new rules anyone, including Pakistani nationals, should seek permission first if they want to report from anywhere Pakistan except three cities – Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
Continue reading...Rules brought in soon after killing of dozens of protesters, news of which was reported only by overseas outlets
Pakistani authorities have imposed severe new restrictions on international media, including barring them from reporting in most of the country, in a move that has provoked a significant backlash from journalist organisations.
According to the new rules anyone, including Pakistani nationals, should seek permission first if they want to report from anywhere Pakistan except three cities – Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
Continue reading...Lahore police official says all personnel were responsible for preventing and reporting any wrongdoing at station
The alleged rape of a 20-year-old woman with learning disabilities in a police station in Lahore, Pakistan, has prompted authorities to suspend all 78 police officers and staff at the precinct, in one of the country’s biggest ever disciplinary actions against its police force.
The woman alleges that an assistant sub-inspector apprehended her, took her to Ghaziabad police station and raped her in a room on the second floor. The woman’s family said she disappeared on the street, before returning home in tears and stating that she had been sexually assaulted at the station.
Continue reading...Lahore police official says all personnel were responsible for preventing and reporting any wrongdoing at station
The alleged rape of a 20-year-old woman with learning disabilities in a police station in Lahore, Pakistan, has prompted authorities to suspend all 78 police officers and staff at the precinct, in one of the country’s biggest ever disciplinary actions against its police force.
The woman alleges that an assistant sub-inspector apprehended her, took her to Ghaziabad police station and raped her in a room on the second floor. The woman’s family said she disappeared on the street, before returning home in tears and stating that she had been sexually assaulted at the station.
Continue reading...Other members of expedition led by world-renowned climber on Broad Peak have also died, climbing company says
A world-renowned Nepali mountaineer and former UK Special Forces member has died after being among 11 climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak.
Nirmal Purja was killed leading an expedition of 10 other people on the world’s 12th-highest mountain when an avalanche struck at around noon on Thursday.
Continue reading...Local civil rights group alleges authorities removed evidence of killings amid communications blackout
At least 30 people are alleged to have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the past two days as part of what has been claimed is a brutal state crackdown that has engulfed the disputed region for weeks.
According to a local civil society group, Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the Pakistani security services fired on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, killing 25 people on Monday and five more on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Early flight data shows K2 Airways plane crashed into sea with five crew on board south-west of Karachi
Pakistan has located the wreckage of a Boeing cargo plane, the country’s airports authority said, adding that rescuers were searching for the five crew members on board when the aircraft went missing.
The plane was approaching Karachi from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates when radar showed it “rapidly descending” on Tuesday evening after reporting a “navigational system issue”, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA).
Continue reading...Local officials said preliminary reports showed the centre was unregistered and operating inside a privately owned residential building
Fourteen children died after the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, rescue officials have said, as authorities opened the way for a possible negligence investigation.
Punjab’s emergency service said rescuers found children and a 30-year-old female teacher under the rubble of the private after-school facility. The children killed were aged five to 16 with most below nine.
Continue reading...Pakistan says strikes were aimed at a terrorist group while Taliban condemn ‘cowardly act of aggression’
Pakistani airstrikes in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan killed 36 civilians and wounded 163 others, Afghan officials have said, as attacks between the two countries showed no sign of abating.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the operations on Sunday night were aimed at a terrorist group his country blamed for a deadly militant attack in Karachi that killed three security personnel over the weekend.
Continue reading...Husband arrested after Sylvie Yasmina, 54, and five children found at home in north-western province
Pakistan police say they have rescued a French woman and her five children after she told authorities she had been held captive by her husband for more than a decade and subjected to years of domestic abuse in the country’s north-west.
The woman, identified as 54-year-old Sylvie Yasmina, was rescued earlier this week from a mud-brick home in Bara, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, the district police chief, Waqar Ahmad, said.
Continue reading...Campaigners welcome announcement cutting levies on menstrual health items, but say their work to end period poverty is ‘far from over’
Pakistan plans to abolish “period tax”, in a victory for young campaigners who had taken the government to court over the charges.
Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that sanitary towels and related items were “daily necessities that are indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities”, and said he intended to remove the sales tax.
Continue reading...Punjab police said an officer mistakenly opened fire at the Ahmed family, who were victims of a robbery at Chakwal
A Pakistani police officer has been stood down and arrested after mistakenly shooting dead a young Australian girl who was on holiday with her family.
Australian-born Hania Ahmed and her family were visiting a relative at Chakwal, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, when they were robbed while in their rental car late on Wednesday night (local time).
Continue reading...Nine-year-old visiting relatives in Punjab province when police opened fire on car, local media report
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A nine-year-old Australian girl has been killed and two of her family members injured after reportedly being shot by police in Pakistan.
The family were visiting a relative in Chakwal, in Punjab province, when they were robbed while in their rental car on Wednesday night local time, Pakistani English-language news outlet Dawn reported.
Continue reading...Explosives-laden vehicle detonated as passenger train travelled through south-western city of Quetta
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a railway track as a passenger train travelled through the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 70 others, officials have said.
The force of the explosion on Sunday caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online.
Continue reading...Iran has threatened to impose tolls on shipping, while US demands that Iran hand over its highly enriched uranium may be deferred. Is there an end in sight?
Qatar has rushed a team of mediators to Tehran in a sign that talks to open the strait of Hormuz, in return for the lifting of US sanctions and asset freezes, are reaching a climax.
The aim would be to sign a memorandum of understanding on the strait that would lead to 30 days of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme – so deferring discussion of the US demand that Iran hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Continue reading...Renewed threat comes after US president said he was ‘an hour away’ from ordering a strike before pulling back
Donald Trump has again threatened Iran, saying the US may launch new attacks if Tehran continues to refuse the significant concessions he wants before a deal can be struck to end the Middle East war.
The US president said he had called off a fresh wave of strikes, which would have broken the ceasefire in place since early last month. “I was an hour away from making the decision to go today,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Diplomatic efforts continue despite fighting in and around contested strait of Hormuz in recent days
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said that Washington is expecting a response from Iran to its proposals for an interim deal to end the conflict in the Middle East, as Iran accused the US of breaching the increasingly fragile ceasefire announced last month.
In recent days there have been the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the contested strait of Hormuz since the informal truce began. The rise in violence followed Donald Trump’s announcement – then rapid pause – of a new naval mission aimed at opening the strategic waterway.
Continue reading...Pakistan officials dismiss Afghan media reports and official statements about strikes on university in Kunar province as ‘blatant lie’
Mortars and missiles fired from Pakistan on Monday struck a university and civilian homes in north-eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people and wounding at least 85, Afghan officials said.
Pakistan denied the accusation of targeting a university.
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