by Rosamond Hutt

Pakistan hit its billion tree goal in August 2017 – months ahead of schedule. Now, the hills of the country’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are alive with newly planted saplings.

The massive reforestation project – named the Billion Tree Tsunami – added 350,000 hectares of trees both by planting and natural regeneration, in an effort to restore the province’s depleted forests and fight the effects of climate change.

Reporter: Meenakshi Ravi – Al Jazeera

Despite being in jail for more than two years, Imran Khan continues to occupy air time in Pakistan. After the army restricted access to Khan, rumours of his death ricocheted across social media. Pressure from his supporters and family forced the military to lift the restrictions and grant Khan’s sisters access to speak to him.

Lahore: Pakistan’s incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that economic progress can never happen as long as the current “fascist system” is in place and warned that there is a plan to impose a “10-year dictatorship” in Pakistan.

Amnesty International Public Statement

A year on from Imran Khan’s conviction and sentencing, Amnesty International has found several fair trial violations under international human rights standards which have resulted in his arbitrary detention, denying his right to liberty. Amnesty International has reviewed key documents in Imran Khan’s cases and spoken to lawyers involved in the trials. We have noted a pattern of weaponization of the legal system to keep Imran Khan under detention and away from all political activity. Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Imran Khan from arbitrary pre-trial detention.

ISLAMABAD:

The world is widely acknowledging Prime Minister Imran Khan’s smart lockdown strategy, mainly focusing balance between lives and livelihood, as the country witnessed a steep decline from around 6,800 Covid-19 patients a day in mid-June to 1,209 cases during the last 24 hours across the country.

A United Nations human rights working group on July 1 called for the immediate release of Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying he had been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international laws.”

by Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu

Pakistan will “absolutely not” allow the CIA to use bases on its soil for cross-border counter terrorism missions after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan

Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says Khan’s imprisonment violates international law and demands ‘immediate’ release.

Thousands of protesters in Pakistan defied a security crackdown on a march to Islamabad. At least one police officer was killed and dozens of people injured as supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan clashed with security forces outside Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, according to officials and the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) Party.

Authorities have enforced a security lockdown for the last two days after Khan called for a march on parliament for a sit-in demonstration to demand his release, while highways into the city have been barricaded. Voted out of power by parliament in 2022 after he fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, Khan faces charges ranging from corruption to instigation of violence, all of which he and his party deny.

Why do people think Imran Khan can save the country’s future? This time on News Desk, we ask: Imran Khan: Hope or Hype? Why are Pakistanis protesting for him?