Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Civil society groups campaigning against smoking on Thursday presented a new tobacco tax reforms model, and decried the tax collecting body for surrendering to the multinational cigarette manufacturers. The new taxation model was presented by Malik Imran Ahmad belonging to ‘Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ in collaboration with Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), …

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday informed the Sindh Assembly that the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) had collected Rs44.36 billion in the first six months of the fiscal year 2018-19. Answering lawmakers’ queries during Question Hour in the assembly, he said that the SRB had collected Rs38bn during the same period in 2017. The CM, who …

LAHORE: The Punjab government promises a uniform curriculum at least for primary schools in the province next year. “A uniform curriculum for primary schools in the province will be introduced by March 2020,” Schools Education Minister Murad Raas told the Punjab Assembly here on Thursday. He was responding to a written question in the House. He said the curriculum would …

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board chairman Muhammad Akram on a contempt petition, questioning his failure to not include a chapter on fundamental rights in the textbooks for primary and secondary schools. Justice Ayesha A Malik in 2015 had directed the board’s chairman to hear the point of view …

KARACHI: The Sindh legislature on Saturday passed a resolution, unanimously expressing its immense displeasure over the reduced gas supply to Sindh, warning Islamabad to end the “unconstitutional” gas loadshedding, or face a protest to be launched by everyone living in the province. The legislature also unanimously passed The Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Bill, 2018 with the aim to widen …

ISLAMABAD: The federal and Sindh governments on Thursday disagreed on shared financing of the Rs46.5 billion Nai Gaj dam but formed a committee to further scale down its estimated cost. A meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) constituted a committee comprising senior representatives of the government of Sindh and the federal ministries of planning and water resources to …

ISLAMABAD: Official representation from the government of Sindh was absent at the first meeting of the National Curriculum Council (NCC) on Wednesday, held to develop a consensus on introducing a uniform system of education in the country. Neither the Sindh education minister nor the education secretary attended the meeting, and sources in the PPP have said the move to convene …

KARACHI: While not ruling out extremism as a motive, the police authorities on Wednesday hinted at narrowing down the scope of investigation into last month’s murder of Ali Raza Abidi, former MNA and leader of a faction of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, when they claimed to have found leads suggesting that the party’s London- and South Africa-based members were in the …

KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Wednesday dismissed an application seeking to halt the proceedings of Perween Rahman’s murder trial until an order was passed by the Supreme Court on her sister’s plea for re-investigation of the case by the Federal Investigation Agency. Earlier, the same court had dismissed an application moved by the slain activist’s sister pleading to summon and …

CHARSADDA: As part of the ongoing efforts to find a political settlement to the four decades long war in Afghanistan, a delegation of Afghan government called on Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan here on Wednesday. Afghanistan’s High Peace Council Chairman Mohammad Omar Daudzai was heading the delegation that also included Afghan Ambassador Atif Mashal, said a statement issued …