ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that bidding for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) would be held on December 23 with a live media broadcast. The government has been seeking to sell a 51-100 per cent stake in the struggling national airline to raise funds and reform cash-draining, state-owned enterprises as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund …
ISLAMABAD: Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for a two-day maiden state visit. The Kyrgyz president and his high-level delegation comprising senior cabinet ministers, top officials and prominent business leaders landed at Nur Khan Airbase, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari received them. State-run Radio Pakistan reported that a 21-gun salute was presented …
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday wondered whether it could continue proceedings in the murder case of journalist Arshad Sharif, as the suo motu powers invoked by the Supreme Court while taking up the case had been curtailed after the 27th Amendment. The question was raised by a two-judge FCC bench, headed by Justice Aamer Farooq and also …
KARACHI: A report by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on the drowning of a three-year-old boy in an open manhole in Gulshan-i-Iqbal has attributed the incident to the “carelessness” of officials from the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service and a department store adjacent to where the incident took place, it emerged on Wednesday. The body of a three-year-old boy who …
KARACHI: A Karachi anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday acquitted Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch in a case of sedition and public mischief registered against her in October last year. Mahrang had been booked in the terrorism case by Malir district’s Quaidabad police on Oct 11, 2024, for allegedly inciting people by levelling “allegations against security institutions”. ATC …
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday that multilateralism was “under assault” as stability in South Asia faced various threats, stressing the need for regional cooperation. Speaking at an event in Islamabad, Dar said, “Multilateralism is under assault and the institutions of global governance are often criticised for the acts of omission and commission of a few states …
ISLAMABAD: Amid stiff opposition from both sides of the aisle, parliament on Tuesday passed by majority vote a bill to establish a statutory body to protect and promote the rights of minority communities in the country. The opposition was based on fears that a provision giving the law an overriding effect would affect the anti-Ahmadiyya ordinance promulgated in 1984. A …
ISLSMABAD: A joint session of Parliament passed the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2025 with some changes on Tuesday, which aims to establish a national body dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of minority communities in Pakistan. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar tabled the bill amid outcry from some members, particularly those belonging to the PTI and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam—Fazl …
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday that India was preventing humanitarian assistance from being sent to Sri Lanka by air, prompting Islamabad to send aid by sea to the south Asian island, where severe flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have claimed more than 400 lives. In a post on X, the FO said: “India continues to …
PESHAWAR: Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu on Tuesday noted that Pakistan had emerged as a regional stabiliser after the May conflict with India. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) chief made the remarks during the passing out parade at PAF Academy Asghar Khan in Risalpur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Nowshera district. “In the wake of Marka-i-Haq, Pakistan has successfully …