Pakistan's Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, reiterating his stance from a press conference held earlier this month, yesterday rejected the notion that the security forces have any direct role in how the July 25 elections will unfold.

Pakistan's powerful military says it is taking "no direct role" in the July 25 election, but a history of coups and dictatorships is fuelling fears over the balance of power in civil-military relations. Here is a brief overview of Pakistan's troubled path to democracy under the shadow of military rule.

The general perception is that apart from the elections that were held in 1970 — which saw the then-East Pakistan break away from the West — none of the elections in Pakistan have really been “free” or “fair”. The Free and Fair Election Network’s (Fafen) General Secretary, Sarwar Bari, agrees.

The European Union could adopt sanctions ranging from travel bans to asset freezes against those in the Maldives responsible for human rights violations and undermining the rule of law in the Indian Ocean island chain, the bloc warned yesterday.

Pakistan's human rights commission yesterday slammed "blatant, aggressive and unabashed" attempts to manipulate the upcoming election, as politicians expressed security fears following one of the country's deadliest attacks.

At least 18 people are killed in a road accident this morning when a trailer ran into a bus that had stopped to change a punctured tyre on the National Highway near Hala in Pakistan, rescuers say.

Pakistan was in shock yesterday after a suicide blast killed 128 people, shaking confidence in security just as the dramatic arrest of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif ratcheted political tensions higher ahead of nationwide polls.

Graft accused Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who were arrested soon after their arrival back home from London yesterday, have been given B Class facilities owing to their social status.

Pakistani cricket legend Imran Khan said he was "quietly confident" of victory in a general election this month and that as prime minister, he would drive an anti-corruption and anti-poverty campaign in the south Asian nation.

Sri Lanka is looking for an executioner to fill the vacant position of state hangman, prison officials said yesterday, after President Maithripala Sirisena ended the island's moratorium on capital punishment.

A suicide bomber kills 85 people at an election rally in southwestern Pakistan in the second election-related attack, officials say, amid growing tensions over ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif's return ahead of the July 25 vote.

Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam are arrested after flying back to the country to face lengthy prison sentences, in a high-stakes gamble to galvanise their beleaguered party ahead of a July 25 election.

Sri Lanka announced yesterday it would start hanging drug criminals, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as

The United States says it is tightening the distribution of visas to Myanmar and Laos after both countries refused to accept their citizens deported from the country.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif, daughter of Pakistan's ex prime minister Nawaz Sharif, yesterday told reporters that she and her father would return to Pakistan within 10 days to appeal against a court verdict that gave Sharif 10 years behind bar.

Troops shot dead three stone-throwing protesters including a 16-year-old girl in Indian-administered Kashmir yesterday, as tensions rose ahead of the anniversary of the death of a rebel commander.

India will further smoothen the process of granting visa for foreigners and is implementing the Immigration Visa Foreigners’ Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) in a mission mode for their safety and convenience, the country's Home Minister Rajnath Singh says.

A Pakistani court sentences ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison over his family's purchase of upscale London flats in a major blow to his party ahead of a general election in July.

The Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan is gaining ground in opinion polls ahead of a July 25 general election, with one survey showing it pulling ahead of the ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.

Turkey will sell four corvette ships to Pakistan's navy, Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli was quoted as saying by state-run Anadolu