ISLAMABAD: Anticipating a bumper wheat crop, the federal cabinet on Wednesday decided to write a letter to all provinces to enhance their wheat procurement targets and set a good price for the commodity to facilitate farmers and ensure the availability of the staple in the market. During a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the Ministry of National Food …
WASHINGTON: In a meeting with the IMF chief and some members of its board of governors, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to carry out “aggressive reforms” to stabilise its economy. These discussions were part of a meeting of Middle East and North Africa (MENAP) ministers and governors with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva held on Tuesday. Mr …
KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday expanded his cabinet with eight more ministers, taking the number of cabinet members to 21. Governor Kamran Khan Tessori administered oath to newly inducted ministers Jam Ikramullah Khan Dharejo, Muhammad Ali Malkani, Makhdoom Mehboob Zaman, Dost Muhammad Rahimoon, Shahid Abdul Salam Thahim, Riaz Hussain Shah Shirazi, Shahina Sher Ali and Mir …
LAHORE: The federal government, on the request of Punjab, has approached the United States to initiate legal action against PTI’s leader Dr Shahbaz Gill for inciting gender-based violence (GBV) through unwarranted and hateful tweets against a female police officer. Written by the provincial government, the letter has been addressed to Mr Donald Blome, the US ambassador in Pakistan. “We are constrained to reach …
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday gave a clean chit to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Toshakhana vehicle reference. The Toshakhana is a government department that stores gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and officials by heads of other governments, states, and foreign dignitaries. According to the case filed by NAB, then-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in order to …
WASHINGTON: inance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has held meetings with the presidents of the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in which the former assured his full support for reforms to stabilise the economy and enhance revenues. The minister is currently in Washington to attend the spring meetings organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the WB. …
ISLAMABAD: The counsel for former prime minister Imran Khan, Barrister Salman Safdar, accused ex-principal secretary Azam Khan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of not following rules for protecting secret documents, which led to the charge of misplacing the cipher against Mr Khan. Barrister Safdar argued before the Islamabad High Court division bench on Tuesday that Azam Khan was required to monitor …
LAHORE: The ruling PML-N lost two of its National Assembly seats on Tuesday after separate benches of the Lahore High Court set aside the victory notifications of its lawmakers elected from Gujranwala and Lodhran. In addition, another PML-N MNA from Nankana Sahib had his victory notification suspended on a petition filed by his PTI-backed opponent. Meanwhile, incarcerated PTI leader Dr …
ISLAMABAD: With by-elections on vacant seats of the national and provincial assemblies less than a week away, the PTI has accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of pre-poll rigging in the run-up to the elections slated to be held on April 21. The former ruling party also decided to organise public gatherings in constituencies where by-polls are slated to …
ISLAMABAD: Officials of the capital administration and police held a meeting with the staff of Chinese companies for a security audit in view of last month’s suicide attack at Besham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed in the suicide bombing while travelling from Islamabad to a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu. Officials told Dawn that after the …