Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sou­ght a summary from fina­nce and petroleum ministries to suggest a reduction in petroleum prices in the wake of falling global crude oil rates and a few days ahead of Punjab by-elections. “I have ordered the ministries of petroleum and finance to pass on the reduction in the prices of POL [petroleum, oil and lubricant] …

KARACHI: Six people were killed in rain-related incidents in the city on Friday when the Pakistan Meteorological Department recor­ded up to 97.4 millimetres (close to four inches) of rains that piled misery on citizens and caused flooding in many areas due to terrible civic infrastructure in the city. With fifth the successive day of raining when Karachi received heaviest of …

ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Abdul Qadir Patel on Friday announced that the top most management of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) had been suspended. However, the move shocked many in the health fraternity as the minister suspended the administrative head of the hospital without even seeking an explanation from the clinical head of the hospital, who …

GUJAR KHAN: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said the PML-N had put its political future at stake to drive the country out of the crisis, and six to eight months were required to stabilise the economy. He said the government was taking hard decisions as the exchequer was empty before the new government took over. …

QUETTA: Traffic between Quetta and Kandahar was suspended on Friday after a landslide at Khojak Pass on the Quetta-Chaman national highway in the wake of heavy rains and flash floods. Trade and other commercial activities with Afghanistan were affected as a result and a large number of trucks carrying transit goods were seen stranded in the Shella Bagh area of …

ISLAMABAD: Unbridled power to prime minister in determining the constitutional and fundamental right of his party parliamentarians would result in a culture of civil dictatorship, observed Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail of the Supreme Court in his dissenting note on the presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63A of the Constitution. The apex court, in its verdict by a majority of …

The Lahore High Court heard on Saturday — a public holiday — a petition seeking to either quash 18 cases filed against detained journalist Imran Riaz Khan, or consolidating them all into a single first information report (FIR). Justice Ali Baqar Najafi took up the petition, which was moved by lawyers Shazib Masud, Mian Ali Ashfaq, Rana Abdul Maruf Khan …

ISLAMABAD: The country reported 693 Covid-19 cases on Friday, with the national positivity rate touching 3.28 per cent, according to official statistics. The data released by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) showed that 21,137 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours. The number of patients on critical care remained unchanged at 165. However, the city-wise positivity ratio …

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Saturday blamed former prime minister Imran Khan for the “spurious and mala fide” drugs case against him and said that he had spoken to Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa about the Anti-Narcotics Force’s (ANF) role in this regard. Sanaullah was arrested in the case in July 2019 under the previous PTI government by the …

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said that he will not seek criminal charges against PTI supporters who heckled him at a restaurant in Bhera yesterday, pointing out he had left the matter in the “people’s court” but lamented the “culture of hatred” that he said was introduced by Imran Khan. Iqbal was jeered at and heckled …