Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday said political consensus on issues of vital national importance was imperative for leading the country on the path of progress. In a meeting with British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner in the Parliament House, Mr Ashraf said the government had taken measures to take the country out of the present …

LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought assistance of the armed forces to conduct by-polls in different constituencies of national and provincial assemblies in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as for both phases of local government polls in Sindh. In a letter to Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday, Chief Election Commissioner …

ISLAMABAD: Covid-19 rears its ugly head again as the country has reported the highest number of cases over the past around 80 days, with the positivity ratio in Karachi and Hyderabad surpassing 10 per cent. National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) member Dr Shahzad Ali Khan said the rising number of cases showed that effectiveness of the vaccine was reducing …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday decided to continue giving subsidy to the poor and low-income groups on five essential items — wheat flour, sugar, ghee/edible oil, pulses and rice — in the next fiscal year. The subsidy was given by the PTI government. Under the decision, the poor segments of society would get the five items at subsidised …

ISLAMABAD / GILGIT / PESHAWAR: As rain-triggered landslides have blocked a major road at multiple locations in the upper parts of the country between Gilgit and Skardu, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned the departments concerned to remain alert in the wake of a series of heavy rains in the country from Monday to Wednesday that may cause further …

A six-member medical board has been formed to perform a post-mortem examination on the body of lawmaker and television personality Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain on June 23 to determine the “actual cause of death”. The development comes after a Karachi judicial magistrate ordered authorities to conduct a post-mortem on the televangelist’s body. Following Hussain’s sudden death on June 9, the police had said an …

The US dollar continued to set new records on Tuesday as it rose to Rs212 against the local currency during early morning trade in the interbank market. According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the rupee depreciated by over Rs2 to reach an all-time low of Rs212 against the dollar from Monday’s close of Rs209.96. Yesterday, the greenback appreciated by a …

A day after President Arif Alvi refused to give his assent for the second time to a piece of legislation seeking to clip the vast powers of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi rejected the notion on Tuesday that the NAB reforms bill was designed with the aim to close ongoing graft cases against the PML-N leadership. “Cases …

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan and provincial authorities on a petition of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan against delimitation process for local government constituencies and demarcation of towns in Karachi. MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui along with other party leaders petitioned the SHC stating that the delimitation and town demarcations …

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday reserved its verdict in the much-delayed prohibited funding case — previously referred to as the foreign funding case — against the PTI. The case, which was filed by party founding member Akbar S Babar, has been pending since Nov 14, 2014. Babar, who is no longer associated with PTI, had alleged serious financial irregularities …