President Arif Alvi assents summary; govt weighs in on a proposal to give provisional province status to GB with representation in parliament High Asia Herald Report ISLAMABAD: General elections for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) will be held on November 15, according to a summary moved by the government and approved by President Arif Alvi on Wednesday. The notification comes …

Political leaders, media and human rights bodies condemn the abduction of the senior journalist   Herald Report   Islamabad: Journalist Matiullah Jan returned home late Tuesday night, nearly 12 hours after he was abducted from Sector G-6, a highly secured locality of the capital city in broad daylight, family sources said. Earlier on Tuesday, Matiullah Jan, known for his criticism …

Herald Report ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tourism sector suffered another jolt as the PTDC has announced to shut down its 30 motels and terminate the services of its 450 permanent employees, prompting a strong reaction from social media activists and employees over the government’s decision. PTDC Motel SkarduAccording to a circular issued on July 1, the members of Board of Governors of …

Civil society organisations condemn video incitement to murder Herald Report Islamabad: Pakistan’s top judge on Thursday took notice of a video clip containing derogatory, and scandalous language against Justice Qazi Faez Isa and politicians. In the viral video, a man identified as Agha Iftikharuddin Mirza can be seen giving threats to the Supreme Court judge. “The [CJP] has taken notice …

Student’s Solidarity Protest against Poor Internet connectivity & falsified policies of HEC regarding online classes organised by All Baltistan Movement in Skardu.#teamABM Posted by ABM (All Baltistan Movement) on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 Students from GB, Kashmir, ex-Fata districts, Seraiki and Balochistan regions demand suspension of online classes, waiver of fees Inayat Abdali, Iqbal Salik & Aunil Muntazir   Gilgit/Ghizer/Skardu/Islamabad: …

Herald Special Report Forman Christian (FC) College, Lahore has refused to renew the contract of Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy, a noted Pakistani nuclear physicist, peace activist and intellectual citing ‘over-staffing’. Reports of his termination have been making rounds on social media. However, Dr Hoodbhoy told Naya Daur online news portal that he will teach a semester at the college before tendering …

All 18 samples collected from Jutial and Barmus Water Supply Complexes were found highly contaminated unfit for human consumption, says report   Herald Report As the temperatures rise in the summer season in Gilgit city, so does the level of turbidity and bacteria thus spreading typhoid and other water-borne diseases, says a report. The citizens of Gilgit city are consuming …

AWP observes two-day mourning. CPIM, PWA, PMA and others pay homage to the oldest beacon of Left Movement by Herald Special Correspondent TOBA TEK SINGH/Islamabad: Veteran socialist leader and founding member of the Awami Workers Party Chaudhry Fateh Mohammed, the oldest beacon of Left and peasant movement goes out. Draped in the party’s red and white flag, he was laid to …

The main hospital in Gilgit ransacked, medical staff manhandled by relatives of a corona patient who died at the hospital    Bureau Report GILGIT: The doctors and paramedical staff have demanded stern action against the persons who attacked the of Provincial Headquarter Hospital in the capital city of GB, ransacked the main health facility and damaged ambulance and other vehicles …

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky …

In 1856, the Maharaja Gulab Singh ruled the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, with the blessing of the British. Lieutenant Thomas George Montgomerie, the commissioner of the Great British Trigonometric Survey of India, was trying to ascertain the heights of the peaks in northwestern Kashmir, but he couldn’t actually get close to ones he wanted to measure: He was …

Greta Thunberg has donated the money she won from a Danish foundation to the UN Children’s Fund   Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has donated a $100,000 prize she won from a Danish foundation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for use against the Covid-19 pandemic, the world body said Thursday. “Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is …

Lawmakers in a move to revive traditional names approve a bill banning identification documents containing Russified surname News Desk DUSHANBE: Tajik lawmakers have approved a bill banning the issuance of new identification documents and birth certificates for ethnic Tajiks containing Russified surnames, the latest attempt to revive traditional names. Justice Minister Muzaffar Ashuryon said after the bill was approved by …

Migrant workers in India, Pakistan and Nepal are crushed by poverty as earnings come to an abrupt halt in the lockdown forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, says a report compiled by Joydeep Gupta, Zofeen T Ebrahim, Ramesh Bhushal, published in thethirdpole.net online magazine. News Desk Across South Asia, the impact of the Covid-19 on livelihoods has been extreme. Despite being an outlier …

Political, social, human rights activists condemn Maulana Tariq Jameel for insulting 220m people, women and media   High Asia Herald Report ISLAMABAD: Political, social and rights activists condemn Maulana Tariq Jameel for his misogynistic and hateful comments linking “women’s immodesty” to coronavirus spread in Pakistan. They sought an unconditional apology from the preacher for his controversial remarks on a TV …