SAUDI ARABIA: More than 1.5 million Muslims braved extreme heat to reach Mount Arafat on Saturday for the high point of the annual Haj pilgrimage, praying for hours, especially for Palestinians in conflict-ridden Gaza. Clad in white, worshippers began arriving at dawn for the most gruelling day of the annual rites, ascending the rocky, 70-metre hill where Prophet Muhammad (Peace …
KARACHI: The PPP government in Sindh on Friday presented a Rs3.056 trillion balanced budget for the next fiscal year, proposing a salary hike of up to 30 per cent for provincial government employees and allocating around a third of the total outlay, or Rs959 billion, for development expenses. In percentage terms, the development budget for the next year is almost equal to the …
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan stated on Friday that engaging in talks with politicians would be futile if decisions are dictated from elsewhere. He made these remarks while speaking to media personnel after a hearing in the GBP190 million corruption case. Mr Khan clarified that the PTI was not opposed to political dialogue. But during previous talks with politicians, facilitated by …
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) alleged on Friday that the incumbent government was causing irreversible damage to the country, citing the recently announced budget as evidence. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub made these remarks during a press conference in Islamabad. He was flanked by PTI leader Raoof Hasan. Ayub claimed that complete budget documents were not presented …
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday sought reports from secretaries of Interior, Defence, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Military Intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and sector commanders of spy agencies of Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Azad Kashmir on a petition filed by a woman seeking recovery of her husband, who went missing on June 7. IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani was hearing the …
LAHORE: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Punjab president Dr Yasmin Rashid has criticised PML-N President Nawaz Sharif for making “false statements” about not believing in political victimisation. In a letter written from jail and shared with the media on Friday, she accused Sharif and his daughter, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, of arresting and re-arresting women prisoners, including Sanam Javed and Aaliya Hamza, in …
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has dismissed a Punjab government reference against the presiding judge of a Rawalpindi antiterrorism court whom the latter accused of favouring PTI founding chairman Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, incarcerated in Adiala jail. “The prosecution department has been informed by the high court about the dismissal of the reference,” Prosecutor General …
ISLAMABAD: In a rare but apparent downgrade, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will personally head the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), instead of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, as he notified the newly formed eight-member centre-provincial forum. This marks the first time in decades that a finance minister will not chair Ecnec, a subordinate committee of the constitutional forum traditionally led …
ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday slashed the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) for the next fortnight by Rs10.2 and Rs2.33, respectively. In a notification, the finance ministry said the prices of petroleum products had seen a mixed trend in the international market in the last fortnight. It said Ogra had worked out the consumer prices based on the …
ISLAMABAD: After a seeming change of heart in the PTI to reach out to the government to end the political impasse, the party on Friday walked back and said it would not talk with “three parties”. In February, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan had said that party founder Imran Khan had given instructions to initiate contact with all other political parties, except the PML-N, PPP …