Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. (Image By Arrangement)Vijayawada: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan on Thursday slammed the Andhra Pradesh government’s agriculture department and its allied ones for failing to aid rain-hit farmers who are staring at severe crop loss. He blamed the officials of the agriculture department, ministers and the legislators as they were unprepared to come to the rescue of the farmers by initiating necessary measures even when it was apparent that untimely rains would damage crops. The Jana Sena chief then turned critical of the state government for its apparent failure in initiating works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), even as farmers were in desperate need of labour to harvest crops. Pawan Kalyan said that it was disheartening to see that the ruling party was not taking much care even as the harvested paddy was germinating due to being drenched in untimely rains.

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RAWALPINDI - Mall Road Saddar is closed for all kind of vehicular traffic while other city roads including Murree Road are open. A City Traffic Police (CTP) spokesman said on Thursday that traffic was normal on city roads and Murree Road except Mall Road Saddar and some other roads in its surrounding area which were closed for all kind of vehicular traffic. Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Rawalpindi Taimoor Khan said that traffic police officers and wardens were in the field and regulating traffic on city roads. CTP had finalized arrangements to control traffic load on alternate routes on different city roads in case of traffic diversion, he said. Information about the traffic situation was being provided to the citizens through FM 88.6 and official social media pages, the CTO added.

From the Tribune staff reportsTRUSSVILLE – A member of the Trussville Rotary Daybreak Club has received a prestigious award from Rotary International. Mary Sanspree won Rotary International’s (RI) “Service Above Self” award. The award recognizes Rotarians who demonstrate their motto of “service above self” by volunteering to help others. The award is internationally competitive and is granted to no more than 150 Rotarians worldwide annually. She chaired the Rotary Interact committee from 2009 to 2018 and oversaw the significant growth and vitality of the Interact program.

ISLAMABAD - Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Interior Attaullah Tarar here on Thursday termed the relief given by the apex court to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan “a match fixing”. Talking to the media, he said the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party leadership were denied relief by the courts in false cases for years. He claimed that the lawyers of the PTI chairman were aware of the decision of the superior court in the Al-Qadir Trust case. Atta Tarar alleged,” Imran Khan has been given out-of-way relief in the case.”He claimed that Imran Khan had committed corruption of Rs. He said action would be taken against Khawaja Harris Raheem and an application would be moved in the courts against him.

The chief justice stated that the incident was a matter of respect for the judiciary. Justice Minallah questioned what the PTI wanted from the apex court, to which Khan stated that the court should order Imran's release. Imran's lawyer argued that the PTI chief had only received one notice from the anti-graft watchdog. Justice Minallah stated that Justice Mazhar was talking about the implementation of the law and that the "real issue" was the right of access to justice. Justice Minallah said that the bureau had not "learned any lessons" and was accused of many activities including political engineering.

ISLAMABAD: A Turkish professor and the honorary consul of Pakistan in Izmir were presented with Pakistan Civil Awards by Pakistan’s ambassador to Turkey during a ceremony. The awards were conferred upon the Turkish dignitaries in recognition of their distinguished services to Pakistan and the strengthening of Pakistan-Turkey relations. Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Junaid extended the heartiest felicitations to the recipients of the Pakistan Civil Awards on this well-deserved honour. He commended their invaluable services to Pakistan and their contributions towards the further strengthening of Pakistan-Turkey ties. Now the responsibility lies with us to further strengthen it and pass this sacred trust to our future generations.”The ceremony was attended by Ankara Governor Vasip Sahin, Turkish dignitaries and prominent businessmen.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. "We will present the facts and figures before the political parties to convince them to form an alliance with our party. We want all the people of the state to get power into their hands," the Jana Sena leader said. Meanwhile, state BJP general secretary Vishnuvardhan Reddy said, "The BJP parliamentary board will take a decision on our party’s political alliance with other parties in AP. As of now, BJP is in alliance with Jana Sena and we will contest the polls in an alliance."

AFP/FileThe recent arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan has sparked nationwide protests across the country, leading to violent clashes between party supporters and security forces. Reacting to the volatile situation, the United Nations has taken notice of protests and called for all parties to refrain from violence. The UN chief also urged law-enforcers to follow the law while enforcing it against Imran Khan. The party supporters in several cities took to the streets and clashed with security forces, who fired tear gas and tried to beat them back. The situation remains currently tense as the government has deployed additional security forces to maintain law and order.

The Jana Sena chief told farmers that he is with the farmers. He said he will launch a fight against the state government unless it procures every single grain. FacebookVijayawada: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan vowed to fight with the state government until it purchased the last grain from the rain-hit farmers of the state. The Jana Sena chief told farmers that he is with the farmers. Jana Sena political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar and Jana Sena leader Kandula Durgesh accompanied Pawan Kalyan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Farrukh Habib has said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial is being looked to by the whole nation to take action against the abuse being meted out to party leaders. From Gilgit-Baltistan House in Islamabad, he claimed, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, and Malika Bokhari were “abducted” last night. According to Habib, “basic human rights have vanished in Pakistan.”Earlier Farrukh Habib alleged that police in Faisalabad were opening fire on PTI protestors. “Faisalabad – police in Pakistan open fire on unarmed civilians,” he stated in a tweet, adding, “Killing own people on the command of a fascist dictatorship.”Habib also uploaded two videos that showed individuals scurrying about amid smoke as gunshots could be heard in the distance.

GAZA STRIP-Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have fired 270 rockets at Israel and the Israeli military says it has hit 50 targets belonging to Islamic Jihad, in the heaviest fighting in nine months. It comes a day after 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, including three Islamic Jihad leaders. Islamic Jihad, which is the second biggest militant group in Gaza, had sworn to avenge their deaths. Not long afterwards, militants began firing barrages of rockets from Gaza and rocket sirens sounded in communities in southern Israel. The strikes were the deadliest since three days of hostilities between Israel and Islamic Jihad last August, in which 49 Palestinians were killed in Gaza.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb says at least 15 notices were sent to Imran Khan in Al-Qadir Trust case which was being investigated by the NAB. Talking to the foreign media, the minister said there was no political victimization in the arrest, adding that “NAB is an independent institution”. Imran Khan arrested all the opponents during his regime,” she said, adding that they never reacted in the same manner. “Imran Khan was supposed to file a reply in the Al-Qadir Trust case, but he did not appear in this case,” she remarked. She said when Imran Khan was arrested yesterday the PTI leaders instigated party workers to acts of arson and sabotage.

PHOTO: AGENCIESThe Supreme Court ordered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to be produced in court in an hour on Thursday, as it heard the PTI's plea challenging Imran's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case. Justice Minallah asked why anyone would trust the judiciary if those who surrendered in the court were arrested. Justice Minallah asked if the NAB had asked Imran to appear in a personal capacity. Justice Minallah stated that Justice Mazhar was talking about the implementation of the law and that the "real issue" was the right of access to justice. Justice Minallah asked how many notices were issued to Imran, to which the prosecutor said that only one notice was issued.

GENEVA: A “perfect storm” of overlapping crises forced tens of millions to flee within their own country last year, sending the number of internally displaced people to a record high, monitors said on Thursday. An unprecedented 71.1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) were registered in 2022 — up 20 percent from a year earlier — amid mass displacement from Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as by the monsoon floods that drenched Pakistan. Beyond the 17 million displacements inside Ukraine last year, eight million were forced from their homes by Pakistan’s monster floods. More than 700,000 people have already become internally displaced by the fighting that erupted on April 15, while another 150,000 people have fled the country, according to UN numbers. “The war in Ukraine also fuelled a global food security crisis that hit the internally displaced hardest,” he said.