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calmed down on Sunday, with a Rangers detachment that was sent to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from Kohala having been withdrawn.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 …
ISLAMABAD: Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has strongly reacted against the stopping of lawyers and litigants from entering the courts due to a nationwide strike call issued by the top lawyers’ bodies, terming it as “obstruction of justice”. Sources privy to the development told Dawn that Justice Sattar wrote a letter to the three-judge administrative committee, drawing attention to the issue of …
ISLAMABAD: The Tehreek Tahafuz Aayeen-i-Pakistan, a multi-party coalition of opposition parties launched earlier this year, has decided to launch another nationwide campaign for the “restoration” of the Constitution, with power shows expected in Karachi and Faisalabad. In April this year, the six-party alliance had decided to kick-start a countrywide movement for the rule of law and chose Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its …
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad granted on Saturday presidential immunity to head of state Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane and Toshakhana references. Accountability court Judge Nasir Javed Rana issued a written decision on the president’s petition and halted all proceedings against Zardari. The judgment noted that the president sought immunity as per Article 248 (2) of the …