Pakistan

MAKKAH MUKARMA, Jun 10 (APP): A total of 240 buildings, divided into nine sectors, exclusively procured in Makkah to ensure ample, comfortable lodging for Pakistani pilgrims during Hajj, Director Moavineen e Hujjaj Sajjad Haider Yaldram said.

Talking to APP, he said a total of 140 buildings are presently providing accommodation to 56,000 Pakistani hujjaj who have arrived in Makkah Mukarama so far.

ISLAMABAD, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday talked over the phone with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on bilateral ties, according to the prime minister's office.

During the phone conversation, Sharif noted that Pakistan deeply valued its bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, saying the countries need to further enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest, the office said in a statement.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Heavy rains swept through Pakistan’s northwest on Saturday, causing several houses to collapse and leaving at least 20 people dead and 80 injured, authorities said.

Rains and hail hit the Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Karak districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, senior rescue officer Khateer Ahmed said, uprooting trees and knocking down electrical transmission towers.

Officials were working to provide emergency relief to the injured, Ahmed said.

Islamabad, Jun 9 (PTI) Cash-strapped Pakistan on Friday hiked defence spending by 15.5 per cent and allocated over Rs 1.8 trillion, as the government unveiled a Rs 14.4 trillion budget for 2023-24 as it battled to fend off a looming default due to shrinking foreign reserves.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who presented the budget in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, said the government will target a growth rate of 3.5 per cent in the coming fiscal year.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 9 (APP): A US-based human rights group “Justice for All” has drawn a parallel between the Hindutva ideology and the Niazis, citing the ongoing persecution of the minorities in India.

The organization’s report titled “The Nazification of India” compares 12 different mechanisms of hate and persecution from the Nazi playbook, and how they are being implemented in India today.

India, the largest democracy in the world has become the weakest at the hands of the fascist Hindutva ideology, said the report released by the Chicago-based human rights organization.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 9 (APP): Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Friday said that Pakistan has tried its best to fulfil all necessary conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

QUETTA, Pakistan, June 7 (Reuters) - Pakistani police on Wednesday formally named former Prime Minister Imran Khan in connection with the murder by unknown gunmen of a lawyer seeking sedition proceedings against him.

Police registered an "abetment to murder" case against former cricket hero Khan, 70, who faces dozens of charges since his ouster in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April last year.

Khan, who has not been charged in connection with the lawyer's murder, has dismissed all the cases against him as concocted by his opponents.

Peshawar, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban or TTP claimed responsibility for an attack in northwest Pakistan that left two soldiers and two militants dead.

The army said in a statement that militants opened fire on a security checkpoint Saturday evening in the Jani Khel area of Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leading to a shootout with Pakistani troops. A search operation was underway to track the militants behind the attack.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 03 (APP): A total of 38,934 Pakistani intending pilgrims of government scheme have arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of the hajj pilgrimage, said spokesman Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.

He shared the latest figures of intending pilgrims arriving in Makkah Mukarma and Madinah Munawara, stating that out of the total, 28,934 pilgrims have reached Madinah, while 10,504 individuals have already settled in Makkah Mukarma with the purpose of partaking in the esteemed hajj ceremony.

ISLAMABAD, May 31 (NNN-APP) – Hybrid rice seed donation from China, will play a major role in rebuilding the agriculture sector of Pakistan’s south-west Balochistan province, which was badly affected by devastating floods last year, a Pakistani official said, yesterday.