'Under the circumstances, this announcement may remain limited to bravado and little else, adding momentum to Imran's narrative of victimhood,' points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan, who was arrested by paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday, is facing 121 cases across the country, including for committing treason and blasphemy and inciting violence and terrorism.
Police arrested over 100 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf protesters trying to reach party chief Imran's residence. Police also baton-charged protesters in the Pakistan Chowk area.
Qureshi is the senior most functionary of the government to be infected with the virus.
The Imran Khan enclosure, which is one of the VIP stands in the stadium, has been a permanent fixture at the venue since 1992.
Karachi and Sindh are not Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf territory; traditionally, the city and the province where it is located are Pakistan Peoples Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement strongholds, which makes the turnout at Imran's rally interesting.
At least 12 persons, including four children, were killed and 30 injured as two explosive-laden vehicles rammed into the boundary wall of the main cantonment in Bannu in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday while the army personnel neutralised at least six terrorists.
Clearly, her father hopes that a successful tenure in Lahore will give Maryam the ballast to be prime minister after the next general election.
Citing sources within the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), the Geo News reported that the names of the PTI leaders and its party chief have been added for their involvement in the May 9 violence and desecration of martyrs' monuments.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir visited Balochistan on Saturday amid clashes in the restive province in which 18 security personnel and 23 terrorists have been killed in the last 24 hours. The army chief was given a comprehensive brief on the prevailing security situation in the province and offered prayers at the funeral of the slain soldiers. He also visited the injured soldiers in the Combined Military Hospital Quetta. The military said the terrorists were killed in different areas of troubled Balochistan in the last 24 hours. Terror attacks have increased since the banned militant Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government.
'Imran Khan's rule was dismal. Despite this, he has become a cult figure.' 'He sold the dream of a Naya Pakistan to the people of Pakistan, especially the youth, and branded all other politicians as corrupt.' 'Hence, his popularity.'
Pakistan's election commission has formed a high-level committee to probe the explosive allegations levelled by a senior bureaucrat that widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body happened against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The ministry said that the media and the public's concerns about the late processing of the results have been reviewed.
A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidates had contested as independents after the ECP had snatched the former prime minister Imran Khan-led party of its iconic cricket bat symbol.
Pakistan Army troops were deployed in Punjab on Wednesday to maintain law and order in the most populous province after violent protests in several cities and attacks on military installations following the dramatic arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan in a corruption case.
Springing a surprise, independents backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party won the lion's share of 101 seats in the National Assembly in Thursday's election.
He however clarified that it is ultimately up to the courts to officially ban a political party.
Bilawal has said the reality is that his party does not have a mandate to form a federal government.
Khan will remain in jail as he is convicted in many other cases.
A series of Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan's Barmal district of Paktika province has resulted in the death of 46 people, with six people left injured so far, with the majority of victims being women and children, as reported by Khaama Press, citing reports from Taliban authorities.
Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday admitted that Islamabad had "violated" an agreement with India signed by him and ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, in an apparent reference to the Kargil misadventure by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
After hearing the case, the chief justice reserved the judgment without giving a date for its announcement.
He attributed the nation's predicament to unseen forces orchestrating decisions from behind the scenes, reducing elected officials to mere puppets.
Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of former premier Nawaz Sharif, is expected to become Pakistan's new prime minister as the coalition of leading political parties led by them is set to comfortably cross the simple majority mark to form the next government after elections produced a split mandate.
Sources in the PML-N told the Press Trust of India in Lahore that Nawaz Sharif decided to withdraw himself from the race for the prime minister's office for his daughter and political heir, Maryam Nawaz, 50.
In a breakthrough that could end the political uncertainty in Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party have agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a new coalition government after intense negotiations following a fractured poll verdict.
Sharif, the three-time former premier, said that there is a need for all the political parties to sit together and form a government to pull Pakistan out of its difficulties.
Among the political parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the largest party, winning 227 seats, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 160 seats.
Section 144 has already been imposed in Islamabad and gatherings have been banned, the Islamabad police spokesperson said on Saturday.
Protesters continue to agitate against the Nawaz Sharif government
Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years each in prison for leaking State secrets.
The two Sikhs were in the business of spices and had shops in the Bata Tal bazaar in Sarband, about 17 km from Peshawar.
The courts in Pakistan have been flooded with petitions as candidates, mostly backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), challenged the results of Thursday's general elections, alleging rigging.
The last word may not have been said on the churnings within the Pakistan army or the extent to which army chief General Asim Munir is in control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RAW, India's external intelligence agency.
The Islamabad police said that there was no incident of violence in the country's capital.
Pakistan's top election body on Tuesday issued bailable arrest warrants for former prime minister Imran Khan and other top leaders of his party in a contempt case.
According to a report in the Dawn newspaper, 22 constituencies with a greater number of rejected votes than the margin of victory fell in Punjab, with one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh province.
Pakistan's Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday nominated himself for the post of prime minister, while Imran Khan's party threatened to withdraw its lawmakers from Parliament if the former Punjab chief minister was allowed to contest the election for the top post on Monday.
Pakistan was "drowning" in debt and it was the new government's job to "sail this ship ashore," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday.
Pakistan, which is witnessing an influx of Tehreek-i-Taliban terrorists in significant numbers in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's tribal districts, is also facing a threat from the Islamic State (ISIS) which is trying to establish a foothold in the country, the ministry of interior has said.
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