Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Cellular subscriptions in Pakistan crossed the 183 million mark by the end of March 2021 from 178.97m in January, figures shared by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday showed. Mainly owing to pressures from the education sector in the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns, authorities have been expanding internet infrastructure in the country for more than a year. Broadband …

KARACHI: The Sindh government is set to take a major leap in the ongoing nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive by opening a massive facility at the Expo Centre on Sunday (today), said to be the largest in the country, where an estimated 25,000 people could be inoculated in a day with round-the-clock service to be offered to visitors registered by the …

LAHORE: In its detailed verdict on the post-arrest bail petition of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering reference, a Lahore High Court full bench has observed that the former chief minister of Punjab faces no allegation of receiving kickbacks or having ill-gotten money. “Interestingly, the NAB has categorically admitted before us that petitioner is …

LAHORE: Citing ‘procedural hiccups’, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday stopped opposition leader and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif from leaving the country for London, causing a fresh round of bickering between the PTI government and the party led by the Sharifs. The PML-N was quick to blame Prime Minister Imran Khan for ‘using FIA’ to create hurdles in the …

RAWALPINDI: As per the directives of the government to impose Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), all shops and markets were closed for a week on Saturday. Traders in Raja Bazaar and adjoiningmarketsin the garrison city kept their shops closed. In the morning, however, shopkeepers in Bara Market tried to open their shops but they had to pull down the shutters …

ISLAMABAD: The role of sessions judges is being probed in connection with a multimillion rupees cash scam in the district courts of the federal capital, an audit report of Islamabad High Court (IHC) has revealed. The audit report on accounts of IHC and district courts from Sept 9, 2015, to Sept 9, 2020, pointed out Rs10.8 million embezzlement from case …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICTA) Administration has recruited two transgender persons in its office on daily wages. Lubna and Nadra were allowed to work as semi-skilled worker in local government and rural development (LG&RD) department of ICTA, said a notification issued by Deputy Commissioner office. The development to this effect came after Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat had made …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday continued attacks on the economic policies of the PTI government and said the only thing Prime Minister Imran Khan had struggled for 25 years, was to push every Pakistani under Rs175,000 debt. He said in a statement that the PTI government had been running a “farcical campaign” of self-reliance and …

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) completed recounting of votes cast at the 276 polling stations of the NA-249 constituency on Saturday — the third consecutive day of the exercise — in which PPP candidate again emerged as winner. On April 29, the day of the polling, PPP candidate Qadir Khan Mandokhail had obtained 16,106 votes while Miftah Ismail …

• ECP authorised to seek technical help to enable overseas Pakistanis to cast their votes • Govt confident of securing parliamentary nod to ordinance within 120 days • ECP warns of serious repercussions if law is passed in haste ISLAMABAD: In what appears to be a hasty move, the government on Saturday promulgated a presidential ordinance authorising and binding the …