The Supreme Court of Pakistan has been approached by the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in the £190 million case, while challenging the verdict of the Islamabad High Court.

In the appeals filed before the apex court, the petitioners argued that the Islamabad High Court dismissed their sentence suspension pleas despite repeated adjournments sought by the National Accountability Bureau and ignored key legal aspects of the case.

The applicants contended that the high court rejected the appeals without conducting a preliminary review of evidence, calling the decision contrary to the principles of justice.

The appeal stated that jail authorities deliberately delayed obtaining signatures on legal documents. It further claimed that the PTI founder has lost 85 percent vision in his right eye, while Bushra Bibi underwent eye surgery during imprisonment without informing family members or legal counsel.

According to the petition, both the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi were unlawfully confined in a cell at Adiala Jail, where solitary confinement caused severe mental distress.

The appeal maintained that refusing sentence suspension despite serious health concerns amounts to injustice.

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The petitioners also alleged that NAB repeatedly sought adjournments, unnecessarily prolonging proceedings and delaying justice.

The appeal further stated that bail had previously been granted during trial and some allegations were already declared baseless, making the rejection of sentence suspension contrary to legal principles.

It also argued that the arrest procedure was unlawful and that a superior court had earlier ordered release in relation to the arrest. The petitioners claimed the accountability process was politically motivated and deviated from fair trial principles.

The petition requested the Supreme Court to set aside the Islamabad High Court’s decision, suspend the sentences and order the release of both petitioners.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced a revised timeline for the delimitation of union councils in Punjab.

As per the timetable, the complaints on delimitation can be submitted till July 4 while the results on the objections on limits of union councils would be announced by July 29.

The last deadline for notifying the Punjab union council delimitation committees about the decisions has been fixed for August 7.

The timetable further mentioned that the final list of Punjab union council delimitations will be released on August 17.

The definitive timetable of elections for local government in Punjab will be announced after the completion of the process of delimitation.

BACKGROUND

Local government polls in Punjab have been deferred several times since 2019. The erstwhile Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provincial government disbanded the local government entities in April that year. The Supreme Court later reversed the order and restored the elected bodies. They then served out their constitutional term on 31 December 2021.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is obligated by Article 140-A of the Constitution and Section 219(4) of the Elections Act to hold local government elections within 120 days of the expiry of the term of local councils. Therefore, the polls should have been held by the end of April 2022.

However, the Punjab administration delayed the polls by making a number of revisions to the province’s local government statute and the voting process was delayed repeatedly.

ECP announces local government elections in December 2025 on October 8, 2025 The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the Punjab administration to immediately start the process of delimitation of constituencies with orders to complete the procedure within two months.

The revision was made within less than two weeks of the Punjab government’s passing of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2025. Following the passage of the new law, the ECP withdrew the delimitation schedule prepared under the 2022 law and directed the province administration to prepare fresh delimitation and demarcation guidelines within four weeks.

Later, on October 31, 2025, the ECP said local government elections in Punjab could not be held before the second quarter of 2026, as there were no legal and administrative prerequisites to conduct the polls.

The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) carried the biggest volume of cargo in its 138-year-old history this fiscal year, official media said Sunday, as the US-Iran war in the Middle East rerouted many ships towards Pakistan.

Pakistan’s port activity saw a boost after the US-Iran war started in February this year as several vessels changed their course from Gulf transshipment hubs towards KPT, Port Qasim and Gwadar ports in Pakistan.

The KPT handled more than 54.685 million metric tonnes of cargo during the current fiscal year, exceeding its previous best performance set in 2017-18, PID added.

“KPT had broken the all-time cargo handling record of 54.685 million tonnes in the current financial year,” the PID cited Maritime Affairs Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry as saying.

The PID said the minister attributed the success to improved operational efficiencies, effective management and enhanced port capacity.

The government continued to modernise the ports, increase their capacity, develop logistical infrastructure and provide amenities in accordance with international standards, the PID said, quoting Chaudhry.

Karachi Port, the main seaport of Pakistan, accounts for a considerable share of the country’s sea traffic. Container volumes are a key measure of commercial activity and port performance and the government has been investing in infrastructure enhancements to put Pakistan on the map as a regional logistics and transshipment hub.

This latest milestone comes a week after the KPT reported it set a new record for container throughput by handling more than 2.651 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the current fiscal year.