Pakistan News

A school on Indonesia’s main island has partially shaved the heads of more than a dozen girls, its headmaster said on Monday, after they were accused of wearing their Islamic hijab headscarves incorrectly. Activists say Muslim and non-Muslim girls have been forced for years to wear a hijab in conservative parts of the nation of 270 million people, which moved in 2021 to ban schools from such mandatory dress codes. An unidentified teacher at state-owned junior high school SMPN 1 in the East Java town of Lamongan partially shaved the hair of 14 Muslim girls last Wednesday, headmaster Harto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said. Harto said the school had apologised and the teacher had been suspended. He said the schoolgirls did not wear inner caps under their headscarves, leaving their fringes visible. “There is no obligation for female students to wear hijab, but they were advised to wear the inner caps for neat appearance,” Harto told AFP . “We apologised to the parent...

Asia’s cricket giants India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will get a final chance to size each other up before October’s 50-over World Cup when the Asia Cup begins on Wednesday. Fiery rivals India and Pakistan could clash as many as three times if they go all the way in the six-nation continental championship. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are co-hosts, a hybrid model agreed after World Cup hosts India refused to tour Pakistan, with the final on September 17 in Colombo. Pakistan, which became the world’s top-ranked ODI team after last week’s 3-0 series sweep against Afghanistan, open the campaign at home on Wednesday against Asia Cup debutants Nepal in Multan. Skipper Babar Azam, who scored 113 runs in the Afghanistan series, leads a team containing a triple-pronged fast bowling attack in Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. World Cup hosts India, led by Rohit Sharma, will open their campaign against the Green Shirts in a hotly anticipated clash on Saturday in Pallekele. India ...

Citizens continued to stage protests in parts of the country on Monday against inflated power bills as the government was set to deliberate on the issue a second time. The public has taken to the streets in large numbers since Saturday over exorbitant electricity bills on the back of a significant increase in the national average tariff. The outrage had prompted interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq to take notice and summon an “emergency” meeting for Sunday to discuss the issue. However, yesterday’s meeting had remained inconclusive with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) saying that another round would take place today. “Meeting on power will continue for the whole day on Monday (today) in which some relief will be given to electricity consumers,” Information Minister Murtaza Solangi told Dawn . “We have very limited space between primary surplus and current account deficit to give relief to people. But we have to do something in this regard,” the caretaker minister added. Solangi...

Eight US marines were in hospital on Monday — one of them in intensive care — following a military aircraft crash in northern Australia that killed three of their comrades, authorities said. Twenty three marines were on board the Boeing MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft when it crashed on Melville Island, north of Darwin, on Sunday morning during a military exercise for locally based troops. Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said eight marines were still receiving treatment and that she wanted to “assure their families that they are getting the best care possible and we’re working to ensure they’re supported”. Authorities have launched an investigation into what caused the crash, and efforts are also under way to recover the remains of the three dead marines. An exclusion zone has been established around the crash site. Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy told reporters the recovery and investigation would be “prolonged, enduring and complex”, add...

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Twenty people in various uniforms and plain clothes broke into human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazir’s house at 3:30am on Sunday, August 20, 2023, and took her away without showing a warrant, without letting her change, and without informing her mother where she was being taken. They also took the CCTV camera and hard drive containing the CCTV footage, beat up her guard and took his phone, and besides her own phone and computer, also took her mother’s phone. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) called the manner of Islamabad Police breaking into her house without a warrant “unacceptable”, adding that it “points to a larger, more worrying pattern of state-sanctioned violence against people exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly”. The HRCP has said Imaan “must be released immediately and unconditionally”. Amnesty International stated that “the circumstances of her arrest violate due process and Imaan’s right to liberty and security of person...

Despite the statement made by Shehbaz Sharif, PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah has said that he does not see PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif returning to Pakistan in October. On Friday, after meeting his brother in London, Shehbaz had said that after consultations with the party’s senior leadership, it had been decided that Nawaz “will return to Pakistan in October”. Shehbaz made the statement in response to a question about media reports suggesting that Nawaz would return to Pakistan in mid-October. However, in an interview with a private television channel earlier this month, Shehbaz had said Nawaz would return to Pakistan in September while other senior N-leaguers suggested the same. Informed sources told Dawn that though the elder Sharif was eager to return to Pakistan ahead of the elections, there was still no clear date set. Party insiders told Dawn that Nawaz’s return date was still up in the air, as key developments back home would determine his return to the country, includin...