Pakistan

LAHORE: A counsel for Farah Khan, a close friend of former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, submitted a reply to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the corruption allegations against her. The NAB is probing Farhat Shahzadi alias Farah Khan/Gogi and her husband in the income beyond means case. “A huge turnover amounting to Rs847 million has been …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directive that there should be no cut in the budget of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Monday brought a sigh of relief to vice chancellors (VCs) of public-sector universities. Following reports that in the upcoming fiscal year 2022-23, the finance ministry would allocate only Rs30 billion to the HEC against its demand for Rs104 …

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has decided to put in place unprecedented security measures – double to those made during Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s ‘Haqiqi Azadi March’ on May 25. The move came about after former prime minister Imran Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) Chief Minister Mehmood Khan approached the Supreme Court seeking permission for a fresh march to Islamabad. Although it …

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Mon­day condemned the Israeli forces action against innocent Palestinians in Al-Aqsa mosque compound and Pakistan Television (PTV) terminated the services of an anchorperson who recently visited Israel. The controversy about the recent visit to Isreal was raised in the upper house of parliament by Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed who dema­n­d­­ed that the nationality of those expatriates …

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that when PTI chief Imran Khan calls another protest march in the vein of the party’s Azadi March, he will use his province’s “force”. “When Imran Khan again gives a call [for another march] I am telling you that I will use Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s force,” the chief minister warned at a lawyer’s …

LAHORE: After a 24-day tussle and an exchange of many a summary between the president and prime minister, Dr Arif Alvi finally relented and signed off on the appointment of PML-N loyalist Balighur Rehman as the governor of Punjab, also paving the way for the formation of a provincial cabinet that was on hold for around a month since the …

A special court for the control of narcotic substances in Lahore on Tuesday stated that charges against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in a drugs case will be framed on June 25, and directed him to be present at the next hearing. The minister was arrested in July 2019 under the previous government by the Anti Narcotics Force that claimed to have recovered …

The federal government has repealed the civil service retirement rules that were introduced by the PTI in 2020, which the then-government said were aimed at improving the performance of the bureaucracy and state institutions through measures such as the forced retirement of “delinquent officials”. The previous rules entailed, among other things, the forced retirement of civil servants found guilty of corruption. It …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has hailed “exemplary” relations between Pakistan and Turkey, saying the countries support each other on all issues of core interest including the disputes related to occupied Kashmir and Northern Cyprus. He made the remarks in an interview with Turkish media outlet Anadolu Agency ahead of his three-day visit to the country. The prime minister left for Turkey today. During his trip, …

KARACHI: Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested one more suspect nominated in the murder case of 19-year-old student Jazlan Faisal, who was shot dead and his 20-year-old friend Shah Mir Ali was wounded allegedly by some youths after a scuffle. The victims had raised objections to the suspects’ reckless late-night bike-riding in Bahria Town Karachi on Wednesday. Malir SSP …