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Jan 14, 2025 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Usman Khan Yousafzai
On 9th May 2023, Pakistan witnessed nationwide demonstrations that resulted in riots causing damage to military installations and monuments. In response, the government arrested thousands of individuals including those from PTI and Pakistan witnessed an era of oppressive state policies most notable of which were illegal arrests and crackdown on free speech.
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Jun 22, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Gulzar Dildar |Usman Khan Yousafzai |Raza Rumi |Adeel Daniel
In March of this year, the United Nations General Assembly declared that the “International Day of Play” would be celebrated annually on June 11. This decision follows years of advocacy by UNICEF, global civil society, and organisations such as the Right to Play. This month, the world marked the inaugural Day of Play, aimed at promoting conscious efforts to ensure that children everywhere can exercise their right to play. At first glance, dedicating a day to play might seem trivial.
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May 11, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Usman Khan Yousafzai |Syed Faisal Ali |Junaid Jahangir |Tariq Aqil
In an unprecedented criticism of its close ally, one it helped arm, the United States has observed that it was "reasonable to assess" that over the past seven months, Israel used weapons provided by Washington in Gaza in a way that was inconsistent with international humanitarian law. However, the report by the US State Department, released Friday, did not offer any "conclusive findings", essentially nullifying the report and thus failed to block further weapons shipments to Israel.
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May 8, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Ikramul Haq |Ibrahim Yahya |Usman Khan Yousafzai |Raza Rumi
The Tax Law (Amendment) Bill 2024, was introduced in the National Assembly by the Minister for Finance and Revenue as a Government Bill on 24th April 2024. It was swiftly passed by the lower and upper houses of Parliament and has been assented to by the President of Pakistan on 4th of May 2024. Thus, a draft bill has become law within ten short days. The changes made in the law have raised questions regarding the transparency and fairness in the process.
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Apr 23, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Pti .. |Usman Khan Yousafzai |Sabih Ul Hussnain |Ejaz Haider
On 1st April, Iranian military commanders stationed in Syria, Damascus, in support of the Syrian government gathered inside the Embassy’s compound. They included General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who was an influential figure in the IRGC (the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) and the Quds Force, a militarized intelligence wing that is responsible for supporting militant wings in the region.
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Apr 8, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Pti .. |Arshad Yousafzai |Yousuf Nazar |Usman Khan Yousafzai
Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz held an official meeting on Monday at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, during which both sides affirmed their commitment to expediting the first wave of an investment package worth $5 billion, which was discussed previously. During the meeting, the crown prince extended his congratulations to Premier Shehbaz on assuming office and expressed warm wishes for his tenure.
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Feb 12, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Pti .. |Hasan Zafar |Usman Khan Yousafzai |Zalmay Azad
And finally, it’s done. Despite persistent doubts, the elections did indeed transpire on the 8th of February. However, this undertaking has plunged the nation into yet another whirlpool of crisis. The PTI-backed independent candidates have seized the lead in the National Assembly, with the PML-N closely following. Nevertheless, Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N supremo, declared victory on the eve of the 9th of February during an address to a gathering of his workers.
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Feb 8, 2024 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Pti .. |Usman Khan Yousafzai |Asif Mohmand |Zalmay Azad
On February 8, Pakistan witnessed the much anticipated General Elections of 2024. The road to the elections was extremely rocky, with contesting parties repeatedly claiming that they were being targeted, alliances were forcibly being formed and the Supreme Court of Pakistan found itself playing a larger role than it was mandated to play under the Constitution, changing the very landscape of the election itself.
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Nov 27, 2023 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Usman Khan Yousafzai |Hasan Zafar |Raza Rumi
The term paranoid defines an individual psyche wherein the individual is suspicious of other’s intentions, often finding oneself in a siege mentality - with the thought that everybody is out to inflict harm and that everything must be done within their power to deter such an attempt. Modern nation-states are no different, as they often exhibit a mindset corresponding to the national psyche.
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Nov 6, 2023 | 
thefridaytimes.com | Usman Khan Yousafzai |Raza Rumi |Adeel Daniel |Zafar Ahmed
In these days of the ever-changing digital landscape, there is no doubt that artificial intelligence has opened new doors in the technological age, and while these doors offer great benefits, there can also be no argument that these advancements also pose serious threats to the already lackluster cybersecurity laws of Pakistan.
