Pakistan

10 August 2023; MEMO: The US encouraged the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by the Intercept.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 09 (APP): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Saudi Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Eng. Waleed Abdulkarim El Khereji on Wednesday discussed investment opportunities in energy, agriculture, desalination, IT and mining sectors. 

On his Twitter handle, the foreign minister said that he was pleased to receive the Saudi minister leading a high level delegation to Pakistan.

He further said “There is a huge potential to unlock for enhanced cooperation also in infrastructure development including through public private partnerships.”

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan plans to privatise its loss-making national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIAa.PSX), the government said on Monday, as the country also seeks to outsource its airport operations in line with an IMF deal.

The privatisation decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Privatisation chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the country's federal government will step down on Aug. 9, following which a caretaker setup will take charge till the next general elections.

Sharif made the remarks when he paid a farewell visit to the Pakistan Army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi, a neighboring city of the capital Islamabad, and met relatives of the soldiers who got killed or injured during terrorist incidents in the country.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan is being held in a small, dirty prison cell, one of his lawyer's said on Monday after being given access to the former cricket star in jail as he prepares to appeal against his graft conviction.

Khan, 70, has been at the heart of political turmoil since he was ousted as prime minister in a vote of no confidence last year, raising concern about stability in the nuclear-armed country as it grapples with an economic crisis.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan awoke Sunday as an inmate in a high-security prison after a court handed him a three-year sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics.

The court ruled Saturday that national cricketing hero Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts.

Islamabad, Aug 6 (PTI) Imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on Sunday accused authorities of denying his legal team access to the leader to get his signatures on essential documents for court purposes.

Khan, 70, was arrested from his home in Lahore on Saturday shortly after an Islamabad trial court found him guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana corruption case and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Saturday after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics.

The court ruled that Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts. Police moved quickly to take the former cricket star from his home in the eastern city of Lahore to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, senior police officer Ali Nasir Rizvi said.

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has launched the South Asian country's first-ever Chinese news service to further promote friendly relations between Pakistan and China.

The newly launched service would publish international, domestic and China-related news in the Chinese language, editors at the China News Desk told Xinhua Thursday.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 3 (APP):Pakistan and Iran on Thursday set a target of $5 billion for bilateral trade as the two countries chalked out a five-year trade cooperation plan to enhance cooperation.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, addressing a joint press stakeout with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said the five-year trade cooperation plan was aimed at removing impediments in bilateral trade, finalizing the Free Trade Agreement and establishing of institutional linkages between the private sectors of both countries.