Pakistan

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday said the local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad would be held on Jan 15 (tomorrow) as per schedule, rejecting the demand of the Sindh government to postpone it over security threats to political leaders. An official handout signed by the ECP spokesperson stated the ECP’s decision while directing the Sindh …

Gwadar police on Friday arrested Haq Do Tehreek (HDT) leader Maulana Hidayatur Rehman after he showed up at a local court — four days after he announced that he was heading to Gwadar to surrender.   A heavy police contingent was present at the court today to arrest Rehman over charges stemming from the killing of a policeman by unidentified assailants …

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over what it termed was “poor performance of the National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC)”. “The performance of the NCRC is zero. The commission had opportunities to perform but nothing was done. “It has been three years since the Zainab Alert Bill was passed and if the rules of …

ISLAMABAD: The government has no plans to sell Roosevelt Hotel in New York and is instead seeking a joint venture for a mixed-use development. This was revealed by the Privatisation Commission in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation on Thursday. The commission said the terms of reference for the process have been sent to the aviation division …

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan may initiate the process to dissolve the provincial assembly as and when the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly is duly notified, a senior cabinet figure told Dawn on Thursday, an assertion later confirmed by PTI leader Asad Umar. The KP government spokesman, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, said that legally, it took at least 48 hours …

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has asked provincial departments and the district administration officials in Murree to coordinate with each other so that tourists and locals remain safe during snowfall. Punjab Secretary Tourism Asia Gul along with Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Saqib Manan reviewed the arrangements made for the convenience of tourists in Murree. The arrangements were to be made by the …

ISLAMABAD: PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry has sought action against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the prime minister’s aide on interior and legal affairs, Attaullah Tarar, for allegedly confessing that they were using geofencing to track PTI lawmakers’ location. In a statement issued by the party’s central media department in Islamabad on Thursday, Mr Chaudhry said the practice was in open …

GWADAR: The top military commander in Balochistan has said that Gwadar’s security would be completely entrusted to the police and Levies Force in the next three to four months, and the armed forces would be confined to their stations and not be seen in the city. Speaking at a gathering in Gwadar on Thursday, Lt Gen Asif Ghafoor, commander of …

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 …