ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed on Tuesday that the federal budget for next year was prepared in collaboration with the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF). His remarks came as Finance Minister Muha­mmad Aurangzeb ann­ounced significant ame­ndments to the proposed finance bill for 2024-25. “We had to prepare the budget jointly with the IMF” because of the prevailing circumstances and ground realities, the prime minister …

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday advocated for the normalisation of relations with India, expressing Pakistan’s openness to dialogue, while also outlining conditions aimed at easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, who have long been embroiled in disputes. Speaking at the 51st founding anniversary of the government-run think tank Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Mr Dar, …

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in the National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday that next year’s fiscal budget will aim to reduce fiscal deficit by focusing on measures that enhance the government’s revenues and reduce unnecessary expenditures. Aurangzeb presented the budget on June 12 in the National Assembly, after which the lower house of parliament mulled over the financial plan …

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad district and sessions court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on petitions requesting suspension of sentences given to former premier Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the iddat case. On Saturday, while resuming the hearing for pleas seeking suspension of sentences, additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka asked Zahid Asif — the counsel for Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, …

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA / PESHAWAR: In a late-night move, the government clarified that the campaign to be launched under the banner of Azm-i-Istehkam would not be a kinetic large-scale military operation, nor would it entail the mass displacement of the local population. The clarification came apparently in the wake of intense opposition criticism of the government’s plans to launch military action, ostensibly to safeguard …

LAHORE: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Monday “directed” the governments of his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and daughter Maryam Nawaz in the Centre and Punjab, respectively, to take the party on board in the decision-making on important issues. During a maiden meeting after becoming the party’s president on Monday, the elder Sharif made it clear that both governments should be …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday reaffirmed his resolve to completely eradicate polio from the country in a meeting attended by Bill Gates and officials of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The meeting of the National Taskforce for Polio Eradication in Islamabad marks the second time Gates has visited Pakistan, previously meeting then-PM Imran Khan in February 2022 on …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Monday approved the promotion of “quality domestic” cricket on all levels, calling for tournaments to be organised from the club level to the national level. A stunning super-over humiliation for the Green Team at the hands of the United States was followed by a six-run loss to bitter rivals India in a game where they failed to chase …

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday said that the government had decided to take all parties in confidence on Operation Azm-i-Istehkam. The federal government on Saturday approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign, Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, that symbolised the national resolve to eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country. The campaign was launched with the consensus of all stakeholders, including the …

ISLAMABAD: As the Supreme Court on Monday took up the case of reserved seats, Justice Munib Akhtar observed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was “channelising returned candidates of a political party into the category of ‘independents’”. “Are we going to be so blinded by the harsh political realities […] that if the ECP, on its own cascades of …