Budget 2018-19

  The Saudi money will help Pakistan shore up its foreign reserves, which have been shrinking. Pakistan’s currency bounced back on Wednesday to gain 2.48 rupees against the US dollar in intra-day trading, after long-time ally  Saudi Arabia  announced a support package of $4.2 billion, traders and bankers said. The Saudi money will help  Pakistan  shore up its foreign reserves, which have been shrinking. The rupee closed the previous session at 175.60 against the dollar. It had depreciated around 13.6 per cent since May. “The rupee appreciation is result of the Saudi funding announcement, widely seen as a positive surprise much needed to bolster the external account,” Saad Hashemy, executive director at BMA Capital, said. Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday $3 billion to support Pakistan’s foreign reserves, as well as extending financing of oil derivatives trade for a total of $1.2 billion during the year, Pakistan’s Information Min­ister Fawad Chaudhry s...

  Khan said thousands of Pakistanis were killed because the Taliban and its affiliates saw them as an ally of the US Pakistan Prime Minister  Imran Khan  has said the US war against terrorism was “disastrous” for Pakistan as Washington used Islamabad like a “hired gun” during their 20-year presence in Afghanistan. “We (Pakistan) were like a hired gun,” Khan said in an interview with CNN. “We were supposed to make them (the US) win the war in Afghanistan, which we never could.” Khan said that the US’ invasion of Afghanistan proved to be “disastrous” for Pakistan. He said thousands of Pakistanis were killed because the Taliban and its affiliates saw them as an ally of the US. “The Taliban hold all of  Afghanistan  and if they can sort of now work towards an inclusive government, get all the factions together, Afghanistan could have peace after 40 years. But if it goes wrong and which is what we are really worried about, it could go to chaos. The biggest humanitari...

  Pakistan People’s Party Sindh chapter announced holding protests against   Imran Khan ‘s government at the district-level in the Sindh province from June 3 to June 15 against acute water shortage The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sindh chapter on Monday announced holding protests against Imran Khan’s government at the district-level in the Sindh province from June 3 to June 15 against acute water shortage. It also said that the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) in this regard had done injustice by curtailment of gas to the residents of the province, reported The News International. The decision to this effect was made by the executive committee of the PPP Sindh chapter. PPP Sindh President  Nisar Ahmed Khuhro  chaired the meeting. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Khuhro said they would not be silent anymore about the excesses being committed by the federal government and IRSA against the province. It was announced that protest demonstrations would...

  Pakistan’s textile sector is “disappointed” by the government’s decision to not allow the import of Indian cotton and has said that buying cotton from the neighbouring country is the need of the hour Pakistan’s textile sector is “disappointed” by the government’s decision to not allow the import of Indian cotton and has said that buying cotton from the neighbouring country is the need of the hour to avert big loss to textile exports.Pakistan Apparel Forum chairman Jawed Bilwani on Thursday said the rejection by the country’s cabinet of the Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) proposal would convey a negative message to foreign buyers as the cotton yarn was not available in the country, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported. The textile export sector has been continuously demanding duty-free import of cotton yarn from all over the world, including India, to avert any big loss to textile exports.Pakistan’s federal cabinet on Thursday back-tracked on the Economic Coordination Co...

  Prime Minister Imran Khan led-government on Sunday increased the price of petrol by up to Pakistani Rupees 2.70 per litre Prime Minister Imran Khan led-government on Sunday increased the price of petrol by up to Pakistani Rupees 2.70 per litre. “The federal government increased the price of petrol by up to Rs 2.70 per litre for the next 15 days of February 2021,” ARY News reported citing Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance. Prime Minister Imran Khan approved Rs 2.70 per litre increase on petrol and Rs 2.88 per litre on diesel. Meanwhile, the price of kerosene oil is increased up to Rs 3.54 per litre while the rate of light diesel was jacked up to Rs 3 per litre. According to ARY News, the new petroleum prices from February 1 will be – petrol: Rs 111.90, diesel: Rs 116.07, kerosene oil: Rs 80.19, and light diesel: Rs 79.23…

  Imran Khan took to Twitter to respond to Indian media reports of an exchange on the WhatsApp messaging service between popular Indian TV anchor Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta Pakistan’s prime minister reacted angrily Monday to media reports of a text exchange between an Indian TV anchor and a former media industry executive that suggests a 2019 Indian airstrike inside Pakistan was designed to boost Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chances for re-election. Imran Khan took to Twitter to respond to Indian media reports of an exchange on the WhatsApp messaging service between popular Indian TV anchor Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta, the former head of a TV rating company. The purported text exchange three days before the airstrike indicates Goswami had prior knowledge of the attack and that it was designed to drum up support for Modi in his re-election bid in pending parliamentary elections. Goswami, a firebrand anchor who is Indian Republic TV’s co-owner and editor in chie...

  She further said that this disease does not go away by wearing masks, and has to be thrown out Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Monday likened the novel coronavirus to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Prime Minister Imran Khan. “The disease called COVID-19 came to the world recently, but it had already spread in Pakistan in 2018,” she said while addressing a public gathering in Gupis, Gilgit-Baltistan, reported Geo News. She further said that this disease does not go away by wearing masks, and has to be thrown out. The PML-N vice-president, who is on a seven-day election campaign ahead of the Gilgit-Baltistan elections scheduled for the coming Sunday, said it “pained her to take the name of a person like Imran”. She added that Khan and his party of ‘turncoats’ is the name of the disease spreading through Pakistan today, and added the  Imran Khan  does not deserve the stature of Prime Minister’s Office. “The solutio...

  The blast occurred at the seminary in Dir Colony in interior Peshawar city A powerful bomb blast ripped through a seminary in northwest Pakistan’s Peshawar city just after the morning prayers on Tuesday, killing at least seven children and wounding over 70 others, senior police officials said. The blast occurred at the seminary in Dir Colony in interior Peshawar city. A bag filled with explosive materials was kept close to wall of the seminary by some unknown person which went off, killing 7 children and injuring over 70 others, superintendent of police in Peshawar city Waqar Azeem said. He said the bag is believed to have had an IED device that went off when the children started filling in the seminary. An official from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said 4 to 5 kilogramme explosives were used in the blast. Most of the children who died and were injured in the bast were aged between 7-11 years, the official said, adding that many of them were from Afghanistan. The hospit...

  Pakistan summoned the French ambassador in Islamabad as anger spread on Monday over President Emmanuel Macron’s reaction to the murder last week of a French teacher by an Islamist Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called on Facebook to ban Islamophobic content on its platform, warning of a spike in radicalisation amongst Muslims, hours after he hit out at the French president for “attacking Islam”. Pakistan summoned the French ambassador in Islamabad as anger spread on Monday over President Emmanuel Macron’s reaction to the murder last week of a French teacher by an Islamist Khan, in an open letter posted on Twitter on Sunday, said “growing Islamophobia” was encouraging extremism and violence worldwide, especially through social media platforms. “I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam on Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” Khan said. “One cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these...

  Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday spoke to his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering and underscored the importance Pakistan attaches to its ties with Bhutan Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday spoke to his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering and underscored the importance Pakistan attaches to its ties with Bhutan. Khan highlighted the significance of regular bilateral contacts and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. The two leaders discussed matters of mutual interest, including COVID-19, according to a statement by the PM Office.  Imran Khan  also extended an invitation to the Bhutanese prime minister to visit Pakistan. He commended measures taken by the leadership of Bhutan to contain the coronavirus pandemic. He highlighted the adverse economic impact of COVID-19 on the developing countries, for which he had also called for the Global Initiative on Debt Relief. Appreciating the Bhutanese model of tourism promotion and conser...

  Pakistan is unlikely to exit the Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) grey list as it has been unable to comply with six of the 27 points in the global watchdogs action plan, according to reports The FATF had given Pakistan a total of 27 action plan obligations for completely checking terror financing of which so far it has cleared 21 but has failed in some of the key tasks. The obligations included action against two of India’s most wanted terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed. Besides, FATF has strongly noted the fact that there was sudden disappearance of the names of more than 4,000 terrorists from its original list of 7,600 under Schedule IV of its Anti Terrorism Act. The Paris-based global watchdog is holding its virtual plenary session on October 21-23. It will take the final call on  Pakistan’ s continuation on its grey list after a thorough review of Islamabad’s performance in fulfilling the global commitments and standards in the fight against money launde...

  On September 20, the leaders of 11 major Opposition parties announced the formation of the Pakistan Democratic Movement Over 450 workers from Pakistan’s Opposition parties have been booked in Lahore and other areas of the Punjab province ahead of the first grand anti-government rally by an Opposition alliance formed to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan. On September 20, the leaders of 11 major Opposition parties announced the formation of the  Pakistan Democratic Movement  (PDM) and launch of a three-phased anti-government movement under an “action plan” starting with countrywide public meetings, protest demonstrations and rallies before a “decisive long march” towards Islamabad in January 2021. The first anti-government rally is scheduled on Friday in Gujranwala city, some 80 kms from Lahore, followed by another rally on October 18 in Karachi, in Quetta on October 25, Peshawar on November 22, Multan on November 30 and then a rally in Lahore on December 13. The Opposition ...

The bodies of the mother and toddler daughter of a local journalist were found in a nullah in the city   NAGPUR MURDER CASE : The murder of the mother and daughter of a journalist in Nagpur has been solved by the local police, which on Monday said that it has solved the killing 12 hours after the crime was committed. Usha Kamble (50) and one-year-old Risha were killed on Saturday evening and their bodies were put in a gunny bag and thrown into a nullah at Bhadura in Dighori, in Nagpur, at around 11 in the night, police said. Kamble and Rashi, mother and daughter of local scribe Ravikant Kamble, were missing since Saturday evening, police added. How and why the crime was committed Joint Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodkhe told news agency PTI that Ganesh Rambaran Shahu (26), a resident of Pawanputra Nagar area, was arrested, adding that the victim and Shahu had fought over chit fund money on Saturday evening at the latter's house. In the course of the ...

65-year-old Pakistani leader Imran Khan wore a dark blazer over a traditional white shalwar kameez   Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has tied the knot for the third time, his party said on Sunday, confirming his marriage to a woman local media call a “faith healer”. Khan, who captained the Pakistan team when it won the Cricket World Cup in 1992, wed Bushra Maneka (Watto) in a low-key ceremony in the eastern city of Lahore. Khan has previously referred to Watto, a mother of five, as his ‘spiritual adviser’ and someone whose guidance he valued. Khan’s previous two marriages, particularly when he wed his first wife, British socialite Jemima Khan, captivated international tabloids as well as local media in the deeply conservative Muslim nation of 208 million people. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the deputy chairman of Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) party tweeted: A photo of the couple released by PTI showed Khan, 65, wearing ...