Ex-bureaucrat Azam Khan nominated caretaker CM of Pakistan's northwestern province

This photograph taken on August 13, 2018 shows Pakistani legislators taking oath during a session of the provincial assembly after the July 25 general election, in Peshawar. (AFP/File)
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Updated 20 January 2023
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Ex-bureaucrat Azam Khan nominated caretaker CM of Pakistan's northwestern province

  • Muhammad Azam Khan has previously served as chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
  • Outgoing KP chief minister, leader of the opposition nominate Khan for caretaker CM post

ISLAMABAD: Retired bureaucrat Muhammad Azam Khan was nominated as the caretaker chief minister of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Friday after the provincial assembly was dissolved earlier this week by ex-PM Imran Khan's party to put pressure on the coalition government.

In its bid to push the government toward early polls, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, who belongs to Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, advised the governor to dissolve the provincial assembly earlier this week. The governor acted on his advice and subsequently dissolved the provincial assembly on Wednesday. 

The chief minister and leader of the opposition, Akram Khan Durrani, agreed to nominate former KP chief secretary Muhammad Azam Khan, a notification by the Pakhtunkhwa House said. 

"We, after consultation, have agreed to nominate M. Azam Khan to be appointed as care-taker Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," the notification, bearing the chief minister's and Durrani's signatures, read. 

"Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa may proceed to appoint him as such."




An undated file photo of Muhammad Azam Khan. (Photo courtesy: social media)

According to the KP government, Azam Khan has served as finance minister and as federal secretary of the religious and petroleum ministries of the province in the past. He has also served as the chief secretary of the KP government. 

Earlier this week, Khan's key ally and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi also dissolved the provincial assembly in Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab. The dissolution of the assemblies in the two provinces ruled by Khan’s party has created a crisis for the coalition government of PM Shehbaz Sharif.

Pakistan is due to hold general elections later this year, but Khan has been calling for early elections since he was ousted from office last April in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence.

Holding elections in both provinces, in addition to general elections, will be an expensive and logistically complicated exercise for a government heavily dependent on foreign aid after devastating floods last year.

Political analysts say the new pressure created by the dissolution of the two assemblies will bolster Khan’s demands, although any local assembly elections do not constitutionally trigger a national election.

PM Sharif's coalition government has repeatedly denied Khan's request to hold elections before October 2023. 


Pakistan throws weight behind full UN membership for Palestine, urges Security Council action

Updated 9 sec ago
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Pakistan throws weight behind full UN membership for Palestine, urges Security Council action

  • UNGA last week overwhelmingly backed Palestinian bid to become full member by recognizing it was qualified to join
  • Palestinian push for full UN membership comes seven months into war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip

KARACHI: Pakistan has expressed support for a “historic” call by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to admit the state of Palestine as a full member, the Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad said on Friday, urging the UN Security Council to decide the matter “favorably.”

The UNGA last week overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it was qualified to join and recommending the UNSC “reconsider the matter favorably.” The vote by the 193-member General Assembly was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member — a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state — after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month.

“Pakistan supports the historic call made by the UN general assembly made at the 10th emergency session to admit the state of Palestine as a full member,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters at a weekly press briefing.

“The resolution determined that the state of Palestine is qualified for membership of the UN and recommended the security council to decide the matter favorably.”

Baloch said the UNSC had been provided another opportunity to lift its objections to the admission of Palestine to the UN and “restore the credibility of the assurances that have been given in support of the two-state solution.”

The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the UN considers illegal.

Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 people, mostly civilians after the war broke on Oct 7 when Hamas fighters stormed across the border into Israel.

Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on internationally agreed parameters and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.


Suspected militants bomb second girls school in a month in northwest Pakistan

Updated 17 min 19 sec ago
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Suspected militants bomb second girls school in a month in northwest Pakistan

  • The attack damaged part of the facility in South Waziristan, however, no one was injured in its wake
  • Though nobody claimed responsibility for the bombing, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban

PESHAWAR: Suspected militants blew up another school for girls in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police and residents said on Friday.
The attack happened in the South Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan. It was the second one this month after another school was badly damaged in the region, according to district police Spokesman Habib Islam.
The overnight attack damaged one room of the facility, however, no one was hurt in its wake.
“A loud bang was heard in the night and police found early morning that a newly built girls’ school in Karikot, a village close to district headquarters of Wana City, was damaged in the explosion,” Islam told Arab News.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for bombing the school, but suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have targeted girls’ schools in the province in the past.
A police officer from Wana said the management of the damaged school had received several threats in the past.
Jalal Wazir, general secretary of the Wana Welfare Association, regretted the bombing and said education was of “paramount importance” to beat illiteracy in the region.
“We can’t compete in today’s world if our girls are left uneducated,” Wazir said. “We will work to promote women education because if you educate a single girl, you educate an entire family.”
On May 9, unidentified militants had blown up a girls’ school on the outskirts of Miran Shah city in the neighboring North Waziristan district, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to direct authorities to immediately rebuild the damaged facility.
In May last year, two girls’ schools were blown up in the Mir Ali area of the North Waziristan district.
Pakistan witnessed multiple attacks on girls’ schools until 2019, especially in the Swat Valley and elsewhere in the northwest where the Pakistani Taliban long controlled the former tribal regions. In 2012, the insurgents attacked Malala Yousafzai, a teenage student and advocate for the education of girls who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.


Pakistan says will accelerate progress on major connectivity projects with China

Updated 17 May 2024
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Pakistan says will accelerate progress on major connectivity projects with China

  • The understanding to this effect was reached during Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to China
  • The visit comes amid Pakistan’s push for foreign investment, with Islamabad seeing flurry of high-level exchanges

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have resolved to accelerate progress on major connectivity projects and strengthen cooperation in multiple fields, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Friday, amid an increase in bilateral engagements with longtime ally Beijing to boost foreign investment in Pakistan.
The understanding to this effect was reached during Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s ongoing visit to China, where he met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other top officials.
Beijing has been one of Islamabad’s most reliable foreign partners in recent years and has invested over $65 billion in energy and infrastructure projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The project, part of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, aims to connect China to the Arabian Sea via a network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports in Pakistan, and help Islamabad expand and modernize its economy.
“The two sides will work together to forge an upgraded version of CPEC by jointly building a growth corridor, a livelihood enhancing corridor, an innovation corridor, a green corridor by aligning them with Pakistan’s development framework and priorities,” said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, a Pakistan foreign office spokeswoman, while briefing reporters on Dar’s visit.
“Together we will accelerate progress on major connectivity projects, including upgradation of ML-1 (Main Line-1), the Gwadar port, realignment of KKH (Karakoram Highway) phase-2, strengthen cooperation in agriculture, industrial parks, mining and information technology.”
The $6.8 billion ML-1 project is aimed at upgrading and dualizing the 1,872-kilometer existing railway track from the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi till Peshawar in the country’s northwest, while the port in Pakistan’s southwestern Gwadar city lies at the heart of CPEC.
Dar’s visit comes amid Pakistan’s recent push for foreign investment, with Islamabad seeing a flurry of high-level exchanges from diplomats and business delegations in recent weeks from Saudi Arabia, Japan, Azerbaijan, Qatar and other countries.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said the premier had invited a Chinese research and investment firm, MCC Tongsin Resources, to invest in Pakistan’s mining sector and assured it of “maximum facilitation.” The statement came after Sharif’s meeting with a delegation of MCC Tongsin Resources, led by Chairman Wang Jaichen, in the federal capital of Islamabad.
“The government is taking steps on priority basis to increase foreign investment in the country,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office. “In order to increase the exports of Pakistan, investment for the extraction of minerals, their processing and export will be fully facilitated.”
Sharif has vowed to rid the country of its chronic macroeconomic crisis through foreign investment and efficient handling of the economy.


Pakistani Hajj pilgrims to leave for Makkah today from Madinah via 11 caravans 

Updated 17 May 2024
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Pakistani Hajj pilgrims to leave for Makkah today from Madinah via 11 caravans 

  • Over 20,000 Pakistani pilgrims have so far arrived in Madinah under the government scheme
  • Eleven caravans carrying 2,177 Pakistani pilgrims will leave for Makkah after Friday prayers

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs Chaudhry Salik Hussain on Friday visited the office of the National Adillah Establishment in Madinah to discuss travel arrangements for over 2,000 Pakistani pilgrims who will leave for Makkah today ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage, APP reported.
The National Adillah Establishment is the Saudi agency in charge of coordinating all pilgrim activities in Madinah, including passport collection, departure of pilgrims from Madinah to Makkah, visit to Riazul Jannah, accommodation and transport facilities. As part of the Hajj 2024 policy, there is an agreement on arrangements and requirements of Hujjaj between the National Adillah Establishment and the Office of Pilgrim’s Affairs Pakistan (OPAP).
Pakistan has a Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims this year, of which 63,805 people will perform the pilgrimage under the government scheme while the rest will use private tour operators. This year’s Hajj is expected to run from June 14-19.
Pakistani pilgrims have been arriving in Madinah since May 9 when pre-Hajj flight operations were launched. Over 20,000 Pakistani pilgrims have so far arrived in Madinah under the government scheme. Eleven caravans carrying 2,177 Pakistani pilgrims who stayed eight days in Madinah will leave today, Friday, for Makkah after Friday prayers, Radio Pakistan reported. 
In his meeting with Adillah officials, Salik discussed Hajj-related matters “particularly the departure of ‘advanced caravans’ of Pakistani pilgrims today from Madinah to Makkah.”
“This year’s pilgrimage will be one of the best experiences, better management-wise,” Pakistan’s APP news agency quoted the CEO of Adillah, Esam Damyati, as telling Salik. 
Salik thanked Damyati for extending all possible assistance and cooperation to the Religious Affairs Ministry and Pakistan Hajj Mission in its Hajj operation. 
“Salik said the digitization of Hajj related services by the Saudi authorities had really worked in improving the Hajj arrangements,” APP said. “He appreciated the Saudi government for taking a number of innovative measures like formation of new companies, increasing number of Hajj welfare staff both male and female and use of latest technology.”
Adillah’s Head of Investment Management Ahmed Hammad said the company was keen to explore ways to enhance investment in Hajj-related matters with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Pakistan Hajj Mission.


X ban enters fourth month in Pakistan

Updated 17 May 2024
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X ban enters fourth month in Pakistan

  • Pakistan has long struggled to regulate social media through different legislations, prompting critics to accuse it of trying to quell dissent
  • The Government of Pakistan must ‘uphold the right to freedom of expression,’ restore access to X immediately, Amnesty International says

ISLAMABAD: X remained restricted in Pakistan on Friday as a ban on the social media platform entered fourth month, according to netizens.
Authorities have blocked X, formerly known as Twitter, since Feb. 17 after protests swept the country over allegations of vote rigging in a general election.
Digital rights activists and rights groups have described the shutdown, either partial or full, as a “violation” of civil liberties in the South Asian nation of more than 241 million.
“This ban continues at a time when the government has announced legislative proposals to further restrict digital freedoms,” Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, said on X.
Pakistani authorities have long struggled to regulate social media content through different legislations, prompting critics to accuse them of trying to quell dissent. Earlier this month, the government notified a National Cybercrimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to probe electronic crimes, making digital rights activists describe it as yet another official attempt to stifle criticism online.
The NCCIA was approved by the caretaker government of Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar last year to take over cybercrime investigations from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
While the government says the move was meant to protect digital rights of millions of users, encourage responsible Internet use and prevent hate speech and disinformation, digital rights activists say successive governments have drafted new laws or amended old ones to curb online dissent and file criminal charges against journalists and activists to restrict freedom of speech and expression.
“The Government of Pakistan must uphold the right to freedom of expression and restore access to the platform [X] immediately,” Amnesty International added.