Pakistan

A special plane of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) left for China on Sunday to bring back the first batch of the 500,000 vaccine doses that China had promised to provide to Pakistan earlier this month, according to a statement by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). The NCOC has already decided upon a “comprehensive strategy” for the administration of the …

Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak issued a clarification on Sunday saying he was “indebted” to Prime Minister Imran Khan, a day after his speech in which he claimed that Imran Khan’s “government could not function even for a day if he (Khattak) wanted it [not to]”. In the video of his speech to a gathering in his native town of …

ISLAMABAD: Even before discussing the matter in the party’s Central Executive Com­mittee and four days before a meeting of the heads of the 10-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Move­m­e­nt, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) vice president Sherry Rehman declared on Saturday that her party would “reject” the government-proposed constitution amendment bill for open balloting in Senate elections when it would be put to …

PTI activist and chairman of the Insaf Lawyers Wing Advocate Shahid Naseem Gondal passed away at the Military Hospital Rawalpindi on Saturday night due to complications arising from the novel coronavirus, party leaders and his family confirmed. Gondal was also serving as the Chief Legal Adviser of the Capital Development Authority. According to his nephew, Ihteshamul Haq Matoo, the PTI …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday rejected a demand of the industrial sector for continuation of gas supply to their captive power plants by suspending its recent decisions but promised to facilitate fresh electricity connections and improved power supplies. According to an official statement, this was the outcome of a meeting at the ministry of energy’s petroleum division. The meeting was attended by …

LAHORE: The issue of government’s failure to spend Covid-19 funds reverberated in the Punjab Assembly, when Rabia Nusrat raised it and provincial minister for finance Hashim Jawan Bakhat told the House that the Punjab government was looking at ways to spend it. The minister told the House that Rs1.16 billion had been collected in the fund and the money was …

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has reversed its last week’s decision to refer a case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) about a housing society launched by Punjab senior minister Aleem Khan. The decision came after meetings with the National Assembly speaker on Thursday and in the wake of a ‘stay’ order given by the Supreme Court against the …

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has decided to extend the ongoing Covid-19-hit academic session till July instead of March with new classes to commence from Aug 2. Through a notification dated Jan 28, the FDE has intimated its 423 educational institutions about the change in the academic calendar. The notification said the summer break this year would start …

RAWALPINDI: While the number of active cases and hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients has significantly dropped in the district, the chief of Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) and its allied hospitals foresees a surge in cases once universities and other educational institutions open next week. Talking  RMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Umer said: “Though the surge will be mild, there is …

ISLAMABAD: An accused in Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) corruption reference has turned approver against the programme’s former chairperson Farzana Raja. The accused Salman Khalid filed an application with the accountability court seeking instruction to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman for giving him pardon on account of his consent to become approver in this case against the other accused. The …