Tag: Pakistan

  • Khan video released asking if his ‘khitaab’ will be shown in the US

    Khan video released asking if his ‘khitaab’ will be shown in the US

    An exclusive video of former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has been released by 24News Channel, in which he can be heard asking if his virtual address be shown in the United States (US).

    The former PM was preparing for an address to overseas Pakistanis when he got curious about the broadcasting of his video.

    Upon asking, Khan was told that US residents would not be able to see the video because of the time difference between the two countries. Only Europe and England residents would be able to see his address, one of the people on set said.

    Khan, further can be heard saying that 20 minutes are enough for the address.

    It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wants the right to vote for Pakistani residents living abroad. On multiple occasions both Khan, his former ministers and party members made several addresses for Pakistanis living abroad.

  • Pakistan dispatches aid for flood-affected Afghans

    Pakistan dispatches aid for flood-affected Afghans

    Pakistan is delivering emergency aid commodities to Afghanistan, where severe rains and flooding killed several individuals and wrecked hundreds of residences.

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on April 7, revealed that Pakistan dispatched a C-130 plane to Mazar-e-Sharif with emergency relief supplies for Afghans affected by flash floods.

    According to Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), flooding and storms killed roughly 22 people and injured 40 others in 12 regions.

    On Thursday, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif remarked that Pakistan is with Afghan people in this challenging hour and will provide them with every possible help. He stated that the Afghan people will receive all available assistance.

    PM Sharif voiced grief over the loss of innocent lives in at least ten provinces of Afghanistan as a result of floods, and urged the international community to assist the Afghan people in the aftermath of the devastating floods in a country already suffering from a humanitarian and economic crisis.

    Read more: Turkey: Food prices surged by 89 per cent, transportation costs increased by 106 per cent

    He emphasised that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should step up efforts to help the Afghan people afflicted by the conflict through the Afghan Humanitarian Trust. PM Sharif suggested that the international world, particularly the United Nations, begin an assistance programme for Afghanistan to offer food, medical help, and shelter to the poor and homeless.

  • NEPRA hikes power tariff by Rs2.86 per unit

    NEPRA hikes power tariff by Rs2.86 per unit

    The National Electric Electricity Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has increased the power price by Rs2.86 per unit for the month of March 2022 due to Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) and also issued a notification in this regard.

    As per NEPRA’s notice, power consumers of Ex Wapda Distribution Companies (DISCOS) will be charged an increase of Rs2.86 per unit on account of FCA for March 2022 in their electricity bills for May 2022, resulting in an added strain of Rs29 billion on consumers, along with General Sales Tax (GST).

    The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had urged the administration to raise the electricity tariff by Rs3.16 per unit. Except for lifeline and K-Electric (KE) customers, the hike will apply to all consumer categories.

    Read more: Pakistan starts oil and gas production from Dhok Sultan DS X-1

    Moreover, the authority also announced Rs1.38 per unit increase for K-Electric customers. For the month of February 2022, Karachi Electric (KE) requested an increase of Rs3.45 per unit. The hike will be billed to electricity customers in May 2022, according to the announcement. Except for lifeline customers who use less than 100 units per month, the tariff increase would affect all KE customers.

  • State Bank announces a five-day work week for banks

    State Bank announces a five-day work week for banks

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday announced bank timings with five working days. The notification from the State Bank came after the federal government decided not to reinstate the Saturday weekly off, and decided to go with six working days with decreased working hours.

    According to a notification issued in this regard, banks will observe office hours from 9am to 5:30pm Monday to Thursday with a prayer/lunch break from 1:30pm to 2:15pm.

    On Friday, banks will observe timings from 9am to 6pm with a prayer/lunch break.

    The Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) offices will be open on Saturday, but the stock market and the business sector will operate on a five-day schedule and will be closed on Saturday.

    The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government implemented two-day weekly holidays in 2011 with the goal of conserving energy.

  • Pakistani mountaineer climbs world’s third-highest peak

    Pakistani mountaineer climbs world’s third-highest peak

    Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif has made history by climbing the world’s third-highest peak Kanchenjunga in Nepal. Shehroze is the third youngest in the world and the first from Pakistan to climb “Kangchenjunga”.

    Shehroze, said in a post on his official Twitter account, that he had climbed Kangchenjunga 8586m in Nepal at 3:05 pm PST. Youngest in the World! First-ever #Pakistani to raise Green Flag Ma Sha Allah.”

    Shehroze has already made two other world records. He is the youngest mountaineer in the world as he has conquered three highest peaks of the world including Everest (8849m), K2 (8611m) and Kanchenjunga.

  • ‘Rana, rethink decision’, PPP tells govt not to lodge case on Masjid-e-Nabwi incident

    ‘Rana, rethink decision’, PPP tells govt not to lodge case on Masjid-e-Nabwi incident

    Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has said that cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) should not have been lodged in Pakistan.

    According to Shah, action should only be taken against the people who took the law into their hands in Pakistan. He added that if somebody had shown disrespect to the sacred place, only Allah and His Prophet (PBUH) would punish him for that.

    Shah further said that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah should rethink the issue seriously. However, the interior minister defended the registration of cases against PTI leaders.

    In a tweet, Sanaullah said that there was no justification to not register a case against those who violate the sanctity of Roza-e-Rasool.

    Pilgrims were instigated under a plan, the minister said, adding that some of the people had travelled to Saudi Arabia from Britain. “There can be no forgiveness for what these people have done,” he said.

    Talking about the ongoing protest led by PTI Chairperson Imran Khan, Shah said that we will never object to Khan’s democratic right to protest.

    “Whoever wishes to bring millions of people in long march should not be barred and protesters should not be arrested for taking part in a peaceful protest. The government should be careful while issuing statements about PTI’s long march. It should take decisions with consensus as we are their partners in the coalition government,” added Shah.

    Last week, Faisalabad police registered a case under ‘blasphemy laws’ against the PTI chairman and over 150 others following the Masjid-e-Nabwi incident.

    Top leaders of the PTI and Imran’s close associates, including Fawad Chaudhry, Shahbaz Gill, Qasim Suri, Sahibzada Jahangir, Aneel Musarrat as well as Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and his nephew Sheikh Rasheed Shafiq were nominated.

  • 22-year-model allegedly killed by brother while visiting on Eid

    22-year-model allegedly killed by brother while visiting on Eid

    A model was killed in the name of honour in Okara, Punjab. Sidra, who was only 22, was allegedly murdered by her brother in Okara’s 51-R village. She was murdered by her brother while visiting her birthplace to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr.

    Police have registered a case on the complaint of the victim’s mother. Police have arrested the victim’s brother and have recovered the murder weapon.

    Hamza, the accused, used to forbid his sisters from modelling.

    This murder is believed to be the result of a violent argument between Sidra and her brother over the girl’s refusal to give up her modelling career.

    Qandeel Baloch, a social media star, was strangled to death in Multan in July 2016. Her brothers Waseem Azeem and Aslam Shaheen were accused of murdering her. A court in Multan sentenced her brother Wasim Azeem to life in prison for murdering his sister. Life imprisonment means 25 years in jail.

    Read more- Qandeel Baloch’s murderer released by court

    However, this year in February, the Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) acquitted Waseem Azeem.

  • Dr Murtaza Syed assumes charge as the new Governor State Bank of Pakistan

    Dr Murtaza Syed assumes charge as the new Governor State Bank of Pakistan

    With effect from May 5, Dr Murtaza Syed, the senior-most Deputy Governor and a former Deputy Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), became the new acting Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

    Prior to this, the federal government named Dr Syed as the Deputy Governor of the SBP for three years on January 27, 2020.

    Dr Syed has taken up the position in light of Section 10(2) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Act 1956 (amended), and has therefore succeeded Dr Reza Baqir, whose term ended on May 4, according to the notification.

    He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oxford’s Nuffield College and has more than 20 years of experience in macroeconomic research and policymaking, including 16 years at the IMF. He worked on IMF initiatives and monitoring of emerging markets and advanced economies such as the Eurozone, Japan, and Korea. Dr Syed also handled IMF training and technical support projects around the world, and between 2010 and 2014, he was the IMF’s Deputy Resident Representative in China.

    Dr Syed started his career as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Human Development Center in Islamabad, where he worked under former Finance Minister D. Mahbub ul Haq. Afterward, he worked for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a London-based public policy think tank, where he did research on company investment and employment behaviour, as well as evaluating Latin American anti-poverty programmes.

    Read more: Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves down by $328 million

    Dr Syed has produced papers on a multitude of macroeconomic topics, including fiscal and monetary policy, financial stability, economic crises, investment, demographics, poverty, and inequality, in addition to teaching public policy at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.

  • Shireen Mazari urges UN to stop Govt from misusing blasphemy law against PTI

    Shireen Mazari urges UN to stop Govt from misusing blasphemy law against PTI

    Former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari wrote a special letter to United Nations (UN) to stop the Pakistani government from misusing blasphemy law against former Prime Minister (PM) PM Imran Khan and his party leaders.

    According to Dawn, the letter has been addressed to the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, special rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, and special rapporteur on the freedom of religion and belief.

    The letter states that the country had been engulfed in a political crisis since PTI was ousted in the aftermath of [which PTI claims] is “regime change scheme” and replaced with a government led by Shehbaz Sharif, who has been named in “multiple money-laundering and corruption cases and is out on bail”.

    In the letter, Mazari pointed out major human rights violations conducted against Khan.

    “One: A complete blackout of media coverage by state-owned media as well as almost all private channels through a carrot (advertisements) and stick (establishment). In this connection, the government-controlled PTCL, which provides cable connections to cable operators, has denied this access to any private channel seen covering Khan’s massive rallies.”

    The second violation highlighted by Mazari was the registration of blasphemy cases against PTI leader in connection with the Masjid-e-Nabwi incident.

    According to her, it was not a planned incident. “To use the Madina incident as an excuse to file charges of blasphemy means endangering lives of Imran and party’s leadership,” the former minister wrote.

    She informed that one member of the NA from the PTI-allied party is already under custody on blasphemy charges.

    Last week, Faisalabad police registered a case under ‘blasphemy laws’ against the PTI chairman and over 150 others following the Masjid-e-Nabwi incident.

    Top leaders of the PTI and Imran’s close associates, including Chaudhry, Gill, Suri, Sahibzada Jahangir, Aneel Musarrat as well as Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq were nominated.

    The complainant— Muhammad Naeem, a resident of Faisalabad alleged the Masjid-e-Nabwi episode was a “planned and thought-out conspiracy” and supported his claims by referring to videos and speeches made by certain PTI leaders.

  • No more load shedding in Pakistan from today: Ministry of Energy

    No more load shedding in Pakistan from today: Ministry of Energy

    After long hours of power outages across Pakistan in the month of Ramzan, the Ministry of Energy has announced that power load-shedding has been reduced to zero from 5am today (Monday).

    In a tweet, the ministry said, “As per the promise made by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, load shedding in the country has been reduced to zero from 5am on May 1. The ministry has worked hard to add more than 2500 Megawatt of additional power to the national grid system.”

    “The ministry is constantly striving for uninterrupted power supply during the Eid holidays and beyond”, the tweet further said.

    In April, PM Shehbaz took notice of the situation and directed the concerned departments to reduce power outages by May 1. He said until the problem is resolved, he would not leave for China and would not allow anyone to relax.

    Last month, due to higher demand and reduced generation due to fuel shortages and reduced gas supplies to power plants, Pakistan experienced 6-10 hours of electricity load-shedding in various areas.

    As of April 25, generation was 17,976 Megawatt (MW), compared to the demand of almost 21,000 MW, indicating a significant discrepancy between demand and generation.