LAHORE: Pakistan’s main opposition party called on Sunday for a judicial investigation into what it said was rigging at an election this week that it lost.
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or Pakistan Movement for Justice, emerged as the largest single party in Wednesday’s vote, defeating the Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) party of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
During the campaign, Sharif said the military had influenced the judiciary to deny him a second term. The military denied this. It has ruled Pakistan for about half the time since the country’s formation in 1947.
“We demand constitution of a judicial commission to probe incidents that took place on July 25,” senior party leader Khawaja Asif told reporters in Lahore. “We will issue a white paper on the election rigging and other incidents.”
“PML-N will not accept these elections as legitimate and we are ready to ... start movement along with other parties,” Mushahid Ullah Khan, a senior leader, told reporters.
PTI did better than expected to win 16.86 million votes and beat PML-N, which got nearly 13 million votes. PTI opened coalition talks with at least one smaller party and independent politicians on Saturday.
European Union observers were critical of the political climate in the run-up to the vote, saying that some parties had been disadvantaged. The United States voiced similar concerns.
“Pakistan witnessed the most disputed elections in the country’s history,” Ahsan Iqbal, a senior leader of PML-N and former interior minister, told reporters.
Sharif was taken to hospital in Islamabad on Sunday with a possible heart problem, said a government official and Sharif’s party.
Sharif and his daughter Maryam were arrested on July 13, minutes after they returned from Britain seeking to revitalize their flagging PML-N party ahead of a July 25 election.
An anti-corruption court sentenced him on July 6 to 10 years while his daughter and political heir was sentenced to seven years over the purchase of luxury flats in London in the 1990s.
They were moved to Adiala jail in the garrison town of Rawalpindi.
“After initially refusing to be shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences ... Sharif agrees to be treated outside prison after consulting with his personal doctor,” said a PML-N tweet on Sunday night.
“Doctors at Adiala jail have observed changes in the ECG (electrocardiogram) of Nawaz Sharif,” Punjab Chief Minister Hasan Askari Rizvi told Reuters. An ECG checks the heart’s electrical activity.
“We cannot take any risk about Sharif’s health,” Rizvi said.
Pakistan opposition party calls for investigation of election ‘rigging’
Pakistan opposition party calls for investigation of election ‘rigging’
Pakistan’s seafood exports to China rise 24% to $240 million in 2025
- The Chinese embassy cites strong growth in agricultural trade with Pakistan
- Islamabad aims to expand food exports amid effort to boost foreign reserves
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s seafood exports to China rose 24% year-on-year to $240 million in the first 11 months of 2025, the Chinese embassy in Islamabad said on Wednesday, highlighting growing agricultural trade between the two countries.
China is one of Pakistan’s largest seafood export markets, alongside destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam and countries in the Middle East. Pakistan exports fish, shrimp and other marine products sourced from coastal areas in Balochistan and Sindh, including Gwadar, Pasni and Karachi, with shipments typically consisting of frozen fish, frozen shrimp and a smaller volume of processed seafood.
The figure cited by the Chinese embassy fits into a longer upward trend, supported by rising Chinese demand, improvements in cold-chain logistics and market access approvals for Pakistani exporters.
“Pakistan’s seafood exports to China hit [nearly] $240 million from Jan-Nov 2025, soaring by 24% compared with the same period in 2024, which fully shows the strong vitality of the agricultural trade between China & Pakistan,” the embassy said. “[China looks] forward to more export of high-quality Pakistani products to China in the future.”
China is Pakistan’s closest regional ally and a key destination for its agricultural and food exports, which Islamabad has been seeking to expand to bolster foreign exchange earnings.
The two countries enjoy strong strategic and economic cooperation, with Chinese support seen as vital to Pakistan’s efforts to diversify its export base beyond textiles and reduce reliance on external financing.
Beijing and Islamabad are also working closely on energy and infrastructure projects as part of broader efforts to enhance regional connectivity and support industrial development in Pakistan.
