Pakistan

KARACHI: The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has revived a condition for used car imports that proved controversial last time it was introduced. The condition is that payment of duties and taxes for all car imports be made in foreign exchange to be directly remitted from abroad by the person importing the vehicle. Most used cars are imported in Pakistan under …

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has vague symptoms of pain in both arms, particularly at night, and numbness of toes, says a three-member special medical board which examined him at Kot Lakhpat jail. Following the examination of Mr Sharif and considering whole clinical situation and unavailability of previous medical record, the board has recommended more investigations [tests], including TROP-I, …

ISLAMABAD: Asserting that rebidding for the Rs309 billion contract of Mohmand dam project should be allowed to ensure transparency in the award of the contract, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif on Friday requested Speaker Asad Qaisar to form a parliamentary committee to investigate the matter. However, Mr Qaisar did not accept the demand for a …

LAHORE: Speaker Pervaiz Elahi has asked the health minister to disaffiliate medical colleges from the Gujrat and Sargodha universities, which the Shahbaz Sharif-led government opened without any spadework and the required support. In Gujrat University, Mr Elahi said the medical college was opened in two blocks of the varsity’s purpose-built building and it could not function to anybody’s satisfaction level. …

DADU: Sindh Chief Min­is­ter Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was free to visit the province whenever he desired so but the political situation emer­ging after certain statements and moves of PTI ministers and lawmakers had created doubts about the motive behind his visit. He was speaking to local reporters in Bhan Syedabad town, …

ISLAMABAD: Former foreign minister Khurshid Meh­m­ood Kasuri has criticised outgoing Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar’s judicial activism and frequent use of suo motu power. In an open letter to incoming Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, the former foreign minister said on Thursday: “I do not doubt the integrity, legal acumen or well-meaningness of outgoing Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, but, …

ISLAMABAD: Terming the Sup­reme Court’s decision to give control of Karachi’s three major hospitals to the federal government an “attack” on the 18th constitutional amendment, Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday declared on the floor of the National Assembly that they “will not let anyone snatch the rights of the provinces”. “We have not yet seen the detailed court …

KARACHI: As the federal government plans a new body to regulate the print, electronic and social media, the police authorities in Sindh have developed a technical team under its anti-terror wing that has started monitoring all digital platforms amid their growing use for “promotion of ideology of hatred, anti-state activism and militancy”, a senior official said on Thursday. The fresh …

ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry on Thursday informed the National Assembly that the government did not intend to revisit the process of registering international non-government organisations (INGOs). The ministry was responding to a question by Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shazia Marri about the government’s plans to ease the process of registering INGOs. In its written reply, the ministry stated that …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday accorded approval to a freshly proposed presidential order enshrining framework for governance of Gilgit-Baltistan, directing immediate promulgation of the order. In a landmark judgement announced in the open court, the SC asked the president to promulgate the order on the advice of the federal government in any case within a fortnight. “No amendment shall …