Oct 07
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), which is often criticised by Pakistani scientific community for not being on par with its Indian or Chinese counterparts, sent two satellites in space from a launching facility in China this July.A surprise as it may be, one of the satellites launched the PakTES-1A, which was …
Sep 09
On a hot and humid evening this May, a middle-aged man clad in shalwar kameez is standing in front of a group of people who are seated on the ground. He is leading a recitation of hymns from the Bible. He first reads out a verse and then explains its significance before others join him …
Aug 13
KARACHI: Once a major stakeholder in Karachi’s politics, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), a component of the five-party Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal alliance, has found itself reduced to only one provincial assembly seat in the 2018 general elections. Arguably, its peak time in the electoral politics was in the 2002 elections when it fought elections from the platform of …
Aug 13
MIRPURKHAS has been a fort of the Pakistan Peoples Party since the country’s first general election in 1970. The party has won on all the seats in this district save one provincial assembly seat, PS-64 (now PS-47), which the MQM has won three times running since 2002. Mirpurkhas has two National Assembly seats — NA-218 …
Aug 13
KARACHI: Until the 2013 elections, Karachi had 20 national seats — from NA-239 Karachi West to NA-258 Malir-cum-Karachi West. But in the recent delimitations, the city has gained one more seat, raising the total count to 21. This new seat is NA-252 Karachi West-V, which comprises Manghopir subdivision and some parts of Mominabad subdivision. Previously, …
Aug 13
KARACHI: NA-253 Karachi Central-I is a new constituency and comprises the areas of New Karachi subdivision. Previously, some of its areas were included in then NA-243 Karachi Central-cum-Karachi West, which is now rebranded as NA-243 Karachi East-II, whereas some of the areas of new NA-253 were also in NA-244 and NA-245, both previously called Karachi …
Aug 13
KARACHI: An election commission representative has informed that the ECP’s aggressive registration drive in collaboration with Nadra and civil society had registered as many as 3.8 million women voters in recent months, compared to the initially identified 12 million women voters who were left out of the electoral rolls. Nighat Siddique, ECP’s Additional Director General …
Jun 16
By Zehra Naqvi and Bilal Karim Mughal KARACHI: An overwhelming number of Karachi’s Bengali community remains out of the finalised electoral rolls for the general elections because they do not possess a CNIC, a prerequisite for being on the electoral rolls as per Elections Act 2017. The community, whose strength in Karachi is estimated to …
May 07
KARACHI: With the advent of Internet-based ride-hailing services, drivers of yellow/black and yellow cabs of Karachi are seen complaining of a severe decline in their business. Old taxis, that were once a common sight in the city for decades, have seen themselves being effectively pushed out of today’s highly competitive transport market, leaving their drivers …
Apr 05
KARACHI: Thousands in the city are at risk of losing their right to vote in the upcoming elections as the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) is making it difficult for them to obtain their computerised national identity cards. In the last few months, Nadra has shut down more than a dozen of its swift …