Category: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The government is all set to pitch the draft of Islamabad Water Act 2024 in Parliament to get it passed to ensure sustainable quality water supply for domestic, agricultural, industrial, ecological, and other purposes with a mechanism to fully recover the cost of water under which the umbrella body of Islamabad Water Resources Commission (IWRC) would be established with the mandate to conserve, redistributing or otherwise augmenting water resources in Islamabad capital territory, a senior official of Water Resources Ministry told The News. “Waters in rivers and their tributaries,…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) senior leader Rana Sanaullah has said that the country would have been pulled out of the quagmire in the next two years if led by party supremo Nawaz Sharif. “The PMLN is taking a chance by forming a government that could succeed or fail as well,” he said while talking to host Saleem Safi in Geo News programme Jirga aired on Sunday.Sanaullah, the former security czar, said the only solution to get out of the crisis was that the PMLN secured a simple majority in…

ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister for information Fawad Chaudhry has said that the allegations against him are politically motivated and the NAB cases have no grounds. Fawad Chaudhry has been facing charges pertaining to misappropriation in construction projects including Lillah-Jhelum road in Jhelum. The National Accountability Burea (NAB) prosecutor claimed that the former minister adopted an illegal way to award contract to a contractor. He has sent his point of view to The News from jail via his brother Advocate Faisal Fareed. In his written statement, Fawad said he has been…

Lashing out at ongoing efforts to form governments at the Centre and provinces based on “rigged” election results, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman predicted that the “system” constructed on the weak foundation of the 2024 poll outcomes “would collapse”. “Establishment wants assemblies and people in them of their choice,” the political leader alleged while addressing a press conference alongside other party leaders in Peshawar on Tuesday. “We received information before the elections that it has been decided to reduce the JUI-F’s inclusion [in the assemblies]. Different styles of…

Authorities have advised people to avoid travelling through interprovincial highways as the thoroughfares in the upper parts of the country are likely to be affected by heavy rain and snowfall after a westerly system entered the country. Balochistan’s Chaman and its surrounding areas were hit by strong dusty winds on Sunday, under the effect of the rain-producing system. Meanwhile, areas including Qilla Abdullah, Jangle Pir Alizai, Saranan, Pishin and others received a wind storm. As a result, movement through Chaman Road was affected. The National Highway Authority (NHA) advised the…

KARACHI: The ceremony of newly-elected Sindh Assembly members’ swearing-in on Saturday (today) is set to take place as workers of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek staged protests against alleged rigging in the recently held general elections. The police also arrested 10 workers of the party including women who were protesting outside the Sindh Assembly. The law enforcement officials also baton-charged the protestors. The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), PTI and Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi), have announced they will stage a joint peaceful protest outside the Sindh Assembly…

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday declared putting the name of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and MNA-elect Asad Qaiser into the Exit Control List illegal and unconstitutional and ordered the relevant quarters to remove the name from the ECL forthwith. A two-member bench comprising Justice Shakil Ahmad and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah heard the petition filed by Muazzam Butt advocate. The petitioner’s counsel informed the court that his client Asad Qaiser was a former speaker of the National Assembly and a law-abiding citizen, who wanted to go for performing Umrah.…

As Pakistan came closer to see formation of an elected government, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Thursday said that the interim setup was leaving the country’s economy in a better condition than before. “The caretaker government always gave priority to national interests while taking policy decisions as it believed to work together for national stability and development,” the prime minister said while chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet at the PM office. He said the government had improved the national economy, saying: “We are leaving the country’s economy…

ISLAMABAD: After several parties and candidates raised doubts about the legitimacy of the 2024 election results, a non-government poll observer, Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct an audit of the vote outcomes and proposed a three-stage methodology. “The results of constituencies that have been duly challenged by political parties and candidates at the appropriate legal fora should be scrutinised,” the observer said in an official statement Sunday, urging the ECP to use data analytics and forensics to establish the legitimacy of…

ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan Friday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against his sentences in the cipher and Toshakhana cases. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder’s counsels Barrister Ali Zafar and Barrister Salman Safdar filed the appeals on behalf of their client, seeking to terminate his conviction in the two cases. The petitioner also requested the court to suspend his sentences and order for his release till the final judgments in his appeals. In the cipher case, the petitioner stated that being the prime minister he was not…