Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was infor­med on Thursday that various factors, including recent floods and Covid-19, delayed the construction of the Mohmand and Diamer-Bhasha dams for at least nine months to a year. In addition to the natural disasters, development funds have also not been released by the government to help ameliorate the equity injections on part of Wapda for …

ISLAMABAD: The office of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) on Thursday informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that Rs19 billion of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) had been illegally distributed among 143,000 government officials. During the scrutiny of the audit report of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, a member of the …

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected the Sindh government’s request to postpone local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions, and ruled that the polls will be held on Jan 15 as decided earlier. The decision was taken by the ECP members during a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja at its headquarters in …

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have just been branded ‘two juveniles’ who cannot deal with the real world. This claim has been made by Newt Gingrich, the Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Mr Gingrich believes, “It is the home movie coverage of a train wreck. Loving friends are interviewed about the horrible experience Meghan and Harry …

KARACHI: The heirs of the victims of Ali Enterprises Baldia factory fire and representatives of labour organisations expresses serious concerns over the pact of International Labour Organisation (ILO) with an insurance company regarding compensation money given by a German brand for the heirs. They have rejected by terming it ‘non-transparent’ during a press conference called at the Karachi Press Club here on …

LAHORE: In contrast with its calls for the establishment to stay out of politics, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Wedn­esday announced that it would lodge a complaint with the army chief against the “pressure” tactics being allegedly used by some people in the military. The PTI would inform the army chief that some of his colleagues were pressurising party MPAs …

LAKKI MARWAT: The Awami National Party’s Lakki chapter organised a rally in Naurang town here on Wednesday against runaway inflation on the call of party’s provincial president Aimal Wali Khan. ANP’s district president Malik Ali Sarwar Khan led the rally, which was taken out from the party’s office and converged near the old railway crossing after passing through different bazaars. …

KARACHI: In a sign of much-propagated merger of its factions, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) staged a power show on Wednesday to protest against the holding of Jan 15 local government polls on current delimitation and threatened to leave the ruling coalition if its demands were not met. Almost all estranged leaders belonging to different factions participated in the …

National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Chairperson Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto on Thursday criticised officials of the National Commission for the Rights of Child (NCRC) over its “zero” performance on matters relating to children’s rights. In a committee meeting, Dr Bhutto, along with other Senate members expressed concern over children in the commission not receiving compensation for their work …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has turned down a request for static deployment of troops outside the polling stations during the local government polls scheduled to be held in Karachi and Hyderabad on Jan 15. Through a letter, the Ministry of Interior on Wednesday informed the Election Commission of Pakistan that the ECP’s request seeking additional deployment of Army and Rangers …