Pak allows UN to deliver relief supplies to Afghanistan through 2 border crossings

Pakistan on Thursday, Dec 4, decided to allow United Nations agencies to deliver relief supplies to Afghanistan from two border crossing points in northwest Pakistan, according to an official communication issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
The ministry has written a letter to the Director General of Afghan Transit Trade and the Member Customs Operations of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), informing them of the decision. The approval has been granted on the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, enabling humanitarian organisations to transport essential food items across the border, the letter said. The permission has been granted for only 143 UN containers to cross into Afghanistan via the Chaman and Torkham border crossings on humanitarian grounds, it added. The government directed authorities to facilitate the phase-wise clearance of containers belonging to UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The clearance process should prioritise humanitarian considerations, it said, emphasising that customs officials need to ensure the smooth passage of cargo vehicles carrying relief goods. The containers carrying medicines and medical equipment will be cleared in the earlier phase.
Petition filed In Pak court for Imran’s medical examination
A petition filed in the Islamabad High Court has sought medical examination of incarcerated former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan by doctors from a specialised cancer hospital in Lahore.
The hospital named in the petition is The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH) in Lahore that Khan had set up more than three decades ago. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister and a leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party Sohail Afridi, while petitioning the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, also named as respondent the government of Punjab province through its prison department.
Khan, the 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician, has been lodged at the Adiala Jail in Punjab province in connection with multiple cases since 2023 after he was first arrested in August that year.
Dawn reported that Afridi argued in his plea that Khan was facing “multiple health complications” and “required assessment from specialist doctors.”