Setting the ball in motion to elect the 18th Lok Sabha and four state assemblies, Election Commission on Saturday announced seven-phase polls that will stretch for one-and-a-half-months, between April 19 and June 1, followed by counting for all seats on June 4. These will be the longest general elections since the polls of 1951-52 that lasted more than four months.

Aaj Ka Panchang, 17 March, 2024: The Ashtami and Navami Tithi of the Shukla Paksha will occur on March 17, according to Drik Panchang.

The 87m-long PNS Rizwan is said to be similar but much smaller to India’s indigenously-built 175m-long missile range instrumentation ship, INS Dhruv, that is packed with long-range radars, dome-shaped tracking antennae, and advanced electronics. INS Dhruv was commissioned in 2021. China has helped Pakistan Navy induct its first specialised research or spy ship, which apparently has the capability to track launch of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles and undertake other intelligence-gathering missions.