RAWALPINDI: A special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight repatriated 107 Pakistanis who were stranded in Iran due to the closure of Iranian airspace, bringing them home early on Wednesday, officials said. The passengers, unable to return directly due to the airspace closure, travelled by land to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, before boarding PIA’s first special flight PK-9552, which landed at Islamabad International …
ISLAMABAD: PML-N lawmaker Afnan Ullah Khan revealed that 2,500 bureaucrats of the country including four federal secretaries were holding dual nationality. He said a bill seeking a bar on civil servants’ dual nationality moved by him had been unanimously passed by the Interior Committee, but regretted that it has not yet come to the House. “How can a person be …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the escalating armed conflict between Iran and Israel as “very alarming,” warning that the situation poses a grave threat to both regional and global peace. Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the premier reiterated Pakistan’s “complete solidarity” with Iran in the face of Israeli aggression and urged the international community to ensure an …
ISLAMABAD: Judges of the Supreme Court are not passive interpreters of text, rather they are the custodians of liberty, equality, and institutional independence. “[The Supreme Court] is the ultimate guardian of fundamental rights and the final sentinel against executive or legislative overreach,” said a 15-page judgement authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and endorsed by Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi, …
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is set to host Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, for lunch at the White House today. The meeting, listed on the president’s official schedule, will take place in the Cabinet Room at 10pm Pakistan Standard Time (PST) and is closed to the press, according to the US president’s public schedule. …
ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a major partner in the ruling coalition, on Tuesday continued their criticism of the federal budget for the next fiscal year, lambasting the federal government over its alleged discriminatory policies towards the party-ruled Sindh province. Taking part in the general debate on the federal budget in the National Assembly, almost every …
ISLAMABAD: PTI’s parliamentary leader Senator Ali Zafar distanced the party from holding talks with the PPP on boycotting the federal budget voting, saying the fellow party leader Asad Qaiser’s move to do so was in his personal capacity. When asked about the meeting between Qaiser with Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, he said it was the former NA speaker’s “personal choice” and …
ISLAMABAD: The PTI patron-in-chief, Imran Khan, has delayed his party’s countrywide protest for at least two weeks owing to the situation in the Middle East. This was announced by Mr Khan’s sisters, Noreen Niazi and Uzma, after they met their brother in Adiala Jail on Tuesday. Mr Khan’s third sister, Aleema, was not allowed to meet her brother. Talking to …
ISLAMABAD: The PML-N led federal government was trying to paint a rosy picture of the economy in the finance bill, but in reality, the country was trapped under the burden of inflation, heavy taxation, unemployment and frustration, PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Syed Ali Zafar told the Senate on Monday. Taking part in the budget debate, the PTI leader said: “Every …
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday said that Pakistan and the US will continue to strengthen their economic partnership as both sides agreed to advance negotiations on reciprocal tariffs through constructive engagement, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Pakistan faces a potential 29 per cent tariff on its exports to the US due to a $3 billion trade surplus with the …