ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a Rs50 billion relief package for domestic electricity consumers using up to 200 units per month. Addressing a ceremony on energy sector reforms in Islamabad, the prime minister stated that the subsidy will benefit 25 million consumers, representing 94 per cent of total domestic users, over the three months of July, August, and …
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insad (PTI) has announced its intention to challenge the government’s notification which granted Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to intercept and trace calls in the “interest of national security”. Earlier today, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication authorised the intelligence wing to tap phones, stating that this authority was granted under Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, …
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has issued a notification authorising the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to intercept and trace calls within the domain of national security, under Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, 1996. “In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 54 … the federal government in the interest of national security and in the …
RAWALPINDI: A Pakistan Army captain was martyred in an exchange of fire with terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district on Tuesday, according to the military’s media wing. A statement from the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that Captain Muhammad Osama bin Arshad, 24, resident of Rawalpindi district, was martyred during a fire exchange between security forces and terrorists …
ISLAMABAD: In a detailed opinion on the presidential reference in the murder trial of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Supreme Court on Monday said the trial and appellate courts that heard the cases were not true courts under the Constitution. “The country was captive to martial law and so too were its courts,” Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa …
ISLAMABAD: Amid public outcry and potential political backlash, the government has decided to step back from about 51pc increase in electricity rates it had approved last week for so-called protected consumers by meeting a ‘prior action’ required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On the instructions of the prime minister, a revised summary would be urgently run through the federal cabinet that …
QUETTA: Emphasising the need for reforms, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared on Monday that if Pakistan did not take “hard decisions”, the country would have to knock on the doors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once again. “If we do not introduce reforms and take hard decisions, we will have to approach the IMF again after three years when the new …
KARACHI: The ministry of interior has defended the months-long ban on social media platform X on the ground that it is a “threat to peace and national security” as it spreads “misinformation and incites violence”, it emerged on Monday. The ban was imposed on Feb 17 on the basis of reports from intelligence agencies. In its reply placed before the Sindh High …
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had an in-depth exchange of views on the Ukraine crisis when they met in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Monday. Orban briefed Xi on his recent visits to Ukraine and Russia. Xi commended Orban for his efforts towards seeking a political solution to the crisis, stressing that an early …
BEIJING: The Asia-Pacific region needs neither a military bloc nor a “small circle” that provokes confrontation between camps and incites a new Cold War, said a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday. Lin Jian made the comments in response to a defense pact signed earlier Monday between Japan and the Philippines that allows the deployment of one’s military …