Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The French government has decided to provide a soft loan of 130 million euros (Rs19.5 billion) for the Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project. Economic Affairs Divi­sion Secretary Noor Ahmed, Ambassador of France Marc Barety and Country Direc­tor of the French Development Agency (AFD) Jacky Am­prou signed the credit facility agreement here on Tuesday. The Executive Commit­tee of …

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee has decided to consider abolishing special courts and merging them with normal courts to avoid controversies. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Special Committee on Law Reforms that was presided over by its convener Farooq H. Naek and held in the Parliament House on Tuesday. It was attended by senators Rana Maqbool Ahmed …

KARACHI/MINGORA: The administrative judge of antiterrorism courts on Tue­s­day remanded a Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) activist in police custody for questioning till Jan 25. Police produced Alamzeb Mehsud before the court and contended that he along with around 15 nominated and over 250 unknown accomplices had allegedly used provocative language against state institutions during their speeches at the behest of …

LAHORE: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday approached the Lahore High Court for grant of bail in the Ashiyana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme case, 47 days after an accountability court sent him on judicial remand. Under the law, a suspect can seek bail soon after being sent on judicial remand by the trial court. Mr Sharif was …

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a complete ban on conversion of residential and amenity plots into commercial spaces in Karachi and directed the authorities concerned, including cantonment boards, to review all such conversions allowed by them in the provincial capital. A two-judge SC bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed also barred the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) from …

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party’s parliamentary leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sardar Hussain Babak on Tuesday asked the government to investigate the alleged harassment of a family by security personnel in Khaisor village of Mirali tehsil in North Waziristan. Mr Babak, who is provincial general secretary of the party, submitted a call-attention notice to the KP Assembly, drawing the attention …

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday formed a combined investigation team (CIT) to probe alleged ‘fake’ bank accounts and money laundering suspicions against top Pakistan Peoples Party leadership, bankers and players in the real estate business. The CIT, which is an internal NAB mechanism, was formed by the bureau’s chairman, retired Justice Javed Iqbal, in a high-level meeting held at …

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday continued debate on the Sahiwal tragedy for a second consecutive day as opposition members reiterated their demand for a parliamentary committee to oversee the investigations, alleging that the Punjab government was trying to cover up the “cold-blooded murder” of three members of a family by personnel of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). Also read: Fake encounter in Sahiwal …

KOHAT: The Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) has asked hundreds of defaulting and unregistered private organisations to pay their share of pension so that the helpless and heirs of deceased persons can get the government facility at the time of need. Thousands of private employees are deprived of the pension facility provided by the EOBI due to lack of awareness …

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) lawmakers on Monday termed the attitude of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government at Centre and in Punjab ‘negative’ in their respective constituencies and asked the party leadership to decide the fate of the ruling coalition. These views were expressed at a meeting attended by PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz …