LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to issue instructions to all civil and military agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau and Inter-Services Intelligence, against contacting or approaching “any judge” or member of their staff. Justice Shahid Karim issued the directions in a written order — which emerged on Saturday — on a complaint filed …
LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan barred 11 opposition members from attending the next 15 sittings of the house for resorting to “rowdyism” during the speech of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz in the house on Friday. An annoyed speaker also put off the discussion on supplementary budget for Saturday, contrary to the agreed schedule. The suspended MPAs belonging …
ISLAMABAD: The government has extended exemptions in specific sectors while announcing new tax measures in several areas to generate additional revenue in the coming fiscal year to meet the International Monetary Fund’s criteria. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced the new measures in the National Assembly on Friday. These include introducing a capital value tax on property in Islamabad and implementing new tax measures on …
WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s envoy to the US, Masood Khan, has urged Washington to provide small arms and modern equipment to the country to ensure the success of Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, a newly approved counter-terrorism initiative. The federal government recently greenlit the reinvigorated national counter-terrorism drive, however, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif clarified that this initiative would not be a large-scale military operation and would …
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday announced the appointment of Rizwan Saeed Sheikh as the new ambassador to the United States and Asim Iftikhar as Pakistan’s additional permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. “The Government of Pakistan has decided to appoint Additional Foreign Secretary (Middle East and SIFC) Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh as Pakistan’s new ambassador to …
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution with a majority vote terming the June 25 resolution adopted by the US House of Representatives — seeking probe into the alleged irregularities in the Feb 8 elections — “an interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs amid noisy protest by the opposition PTI members who voted against it. After passage of the resolution, the treasury …
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed the government’s tax-heavy finance bill for the coming fiscal year ahead of more talks on a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout as it seeks to avert a debt default for an economy growing at the slowest pace in South Asia. The government presented the tax-loaded budget two weeks ago, drawing sharp criticism from opposition parties, especially the PTI, as well as coalition …
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday briefed his Chinese counterpart Qi Yanjun on the progress made in the probe into the Bisham attack in which five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed. During a meeting at the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations in New York, Mr Naqvi and Mr Qi discussed bilateral relations, security-related matters and cooperation between the …
ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Amid a surge in terror incidents, which Pakistan blames on the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership hiding in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday hinted at the possibility of cross-border strikes to eliminate militant hideouts in the neighbouring country. The defence minister’s statement came on the same day as Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s warning about the critical security situation …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s fresh offer to the opposition PTI for a dialogue on Wednesday met with a strong rebuke, as the latter made it conditional with the release of the party’s founding chairman Imran Khan and other party leaders and activists. “If any hardships are being faced by your [PTI’s] founder in jail, then [let’s] talk about them,” said PM …