ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday suspended the notifications of 75 returned candidates on reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies till further orders. The lawmakers include 27 Punjab Assembly lawmakers — belonging to the ruling coalition — suspended last week by Speaker Malik Mohammad Ahmed Khan and barred from joining the house proceedings. In a notification issued …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday approved the immediate provision of Rs23 billion to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after the region witnessed clashes and protests in the past few days. The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the state, has been seeking the provision of electricity as …
LAKKI MARWAT: Police on Sunday claimed to have killed two militants of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) while three others were injured in a joint operation carried out by police and security forces in Wanda Zareefwal and Shaikh Badin areas. District Police Officer (DPO) Taimur Khan said security personnel were dispatched to the mountainous belt bordering Dera Ismail Khan district …
MUZAFFARABAD: Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister and PTI’s regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi on Sunday called for the immediate resignation of the sitting AJK premier Chaudhry Anwarul Haq followed by the announcement of fresh general elections in the state. Speaking at a press conference along with PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hassan at the Islamabad residence of …
ISLAMABAD: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will meet Pakistani authorities next week to discuss the “next phase of engagement”, an official from the international money lender said on Sunday. Esther Perez Ruiz, the Fund’s resident representative for Pakistan, said: “A mission team led by Nathan Porter, IMF’s mission chief to Pakistan, will meet with authorities next week to discuss …
MUZAFFARABAD: Following violent clashes over the last 48 hours, which left a policeman dead, the situation in Muzaffarabad seemed to have calmed down on Sunday, with a Rangers detachment that was sent to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from Kohala having been withdrawn. AJK witnessed violent clashes between the police and activists of a rights movement amid a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike …
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday said that there was “no such thing” as strategic state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as he stressed the need for privatisation. He made the remarks at a pre-budget conference in Lahore, two days after Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said the government would limit its business only to strategic and essential SOEs under its domain …
PESHAWAR: Renewing allegation of rigging in the Feb 8 general elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders on Saturday claimed that poll documents were manipulated to reduce the margins of the poll victory of the party-supported independent candidates. During a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club, former provincial ministers Taimur Jhagra and Kamran Khan Bangash and advocates Ali Zaman and Malik …
PESHAWAR / DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The acrimony between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi intensified on Saturday when the two leaders threatened each other with “dire consequences”. A day after the governor’s fiery speech, Chief Minister Gandapur warned Governor Kundi to stay within the limits of his constitutional position and avoid making olitical …
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has criticised the report of the special commission on the 20-day Faizabad dharna (sit-in) in 2017, describing it as “replete with clichés, platitudes, and homilies, often as a substitute for substance”. A three-page order issued by the Supreme Court on Saturday noted that the commission’s report did not address the Terms of Reference (ToR) and incorrectly assumed that the right to travel …