ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday turned down the pleas of ex-premier Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to suspend their seven-year sentences in the Iddat case. Additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka announced the verdict today, which had been reserved on Tuesday. On February 3 — days before the general elections — an Islamabad court …
ISLAMABAD; Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday reiterated his invitation to the opposition, including the PTI, for open dialogue for the “betterment of the country”. In a brief speech in the lower house of the Parliament today, the prime minister regretted that his repeated offers for the Charter of Economy following the 2018 elections were never responded in a positive manner. “Come, …
ISLAMABAD: Building on recent engagements between Pakistan and China, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday gave the greenlight to relocate Chinese industries to Pakistan as part of joint ventures between the two countries’ companies. Chairing a meeting to discuss matters of the Board of Investment (BoI), the prime minister said that promoting both local and foreign investment in Pakistan was among the …
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday said that a resolution passed by the US House of Representatives in support of democracy in Pakistan stemmed from an “incomplete understanding” of the country’s political situation and electoral process. In a significant display of bipartisan support, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution expressing robust support for democracy in Pakistan …
WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Wednesday said that no country should face the kind of terrorist attacks Pakistani people have suffered from, adding that Washington has a shared interest with Islamabad in combating threats to regional security. On Saturday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign — originally titled Operation Azm-i-Istehkam but later rebranded as Vision …
WASHINGTON: In a significant display of bipartisan support, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution expressing robust support for democracy in Pakistan by an overwhelming 368-7 vote. Lawmakers supporting resolution HR 901, titled ‘Expressing support for democracy and human rights in Pakistan’, claimed that the approval highlighted the United States’ commitment to promoting democratic values globally. The resolution — …
ISLAMABAD: As a Supreme Court judgement — that resulted in the PTI losing its election symbol over a failure to conduct intra-party polls — continued to come under fire during a full court hearing on the matter of reserved seats, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa took exception to what he termed “snide remarks” against the verdict, saying that whatever happened was PTI’s own …
LAHORE: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday explicitly laid down the government’s expectations from the judiciary with regards to ‘Vision Azm-i-Istehkam’ — which has been dubbed a “reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign” by the government — saying that the courts should not provide any relief to those arrested as part of this action. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, …
ISLAMABAD: Taking part in the budget debate in the National Assembly, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday called for efforts to create a political consensus to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as lawmakers from the opposition parties, while decrying their alleged political victimisation, questioned huge budgetary allocations for various institutions, including the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the …
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed on Tuesday that the federal budget for next year was prepared in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His remarks came as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced significant amendments to the proposed finance bill for 2024-25. “We had to prepare the budget jointly with the IMF” because of the prevailing circumstances and ground realities, the prime minister …