Tag: topnews

  • Buzdar beats Shehbaz in social sector reforms, increases education budget to Rs89.8bn

    Buzdar beats Shehbaz in social sector reforms, increases education budget to Rs89.8bn

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar has beaten his predecessor Shehbaz Sharif in reforming the social sector, as an amount of Rs89.8 billion has been earmarked for the provincial education sector.

    As per the details, presenting the provincial budget on Friday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government enhanced the education budget, which under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) rule stood at Rs52.35 billion.

    In its last provincial budget for the fiscal year 2017-18, the outgoing PML-N government had allocated Rs52.35 billion for school education and Rs28 billion for providing basic facilities at government schools.

    An amount of Rs6.03 billion had been fixed for the construction of new classrooms in Punjab schools.

    According to the budget presented by the Buzdar administration, health stands second in the social sector with Rs47.5 billion. Water supply & sanitation will gain Rs22.4 billion, local governments Rs6.3 billion, social welfare Rs1 billion and women development Rs0.8 billion.

    Meanwhile, Rs350 billion have been allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2019-20, which stood at Rs635bn under the Shehbaz administration in 2017-18.

  • Private bank fires employee for abusing journalist on Twitter

    Private bank fires employee for abusing journalist on Twitter

    A private bank has fired an employee for abusing journalist Hasan Zaidi during a Twitter spat earlier this week.

    As per the details, the bank’s Financial Reporting Unit head Fazeel Tajammul was fired after Zaidi reported him for abusing.

    Tagging the bank in his tweets with screenshots of Tajammul’s abusive remarks, Zaidi had urged the bank to take action against him.

    Zaidi also shared multiple similar tweets by the bank employee, which took the micro-blogging website by storm with people urging the bank to sack Tajammul.

    The campaign followed an official statement from the bank, wherein it announced having taken the “appropriate action” against Tajammul.

    Meanwhile, Twitterati are criticising Zaidi as well as the bank for the move, calling it unfair.  They allege that the journalist “used his influence to get Tajammul sacked”.

    Some are also seeking Zaidi’s removal for some of his abusive remarks.

    https://twitter.com/azbkt1122/status/1139393829193179136

    Tajammul, for the time being, has deactivated his Twitter handle.

  • Budget 2019-20: Expenses worth Rs2.3 million a day proposed for PM’s Office

    Budget 2019-20: Expenses worth Rs2.3 million a day proposed for PM’s Office

    Funds worth Rs860.28 million have been allocated for the Prime Minister’s (PM) Office in the federal budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, the Ministry of Finance has said.

    According to the proposed allocation, PM Office’s daily expenditure stands at Rs2.36 million (Rs2,356,931) at 365 days a year, which contradicts the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s earlier claims of reducing expenses for austerity.

    The proposal to spend over Rs2 million a day from taxpayers’ money comes just months after dozens of cattle and excess luxury cars of the PM House were auctioned to save money.

    The development had come after PM Imran Khan, in his first address to the nation on August 19, announced the austerity drive and vowed to cut down on government expenses.

  • Rs410m approved for maintenance of two VVIP aircraft as PTI touts austerity

    Rs410m approved for maintenance of two VVIP aircraft as PTI touts austerity

    The federal government has approved an additional amount of Rs410 million for the repair and maintenance of two VVIP Gulfstream aircraft said to be in use of President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, The News reported.

    The supplementary grant, that comes as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) touts austerity to lessen the burden on the national treasury, was sanctioned in March 2019 by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).

    It has now been reflected in the budget document for formal approval by the parliament.

    The report further said that the Defence Production Division is responsible for the maintenance of these aircraft, however, ECC had failed to resolve differences between Ministry of Defence Production and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) regarding the transfer of said funds.

    Directorate General Defence Procurement had purchased the two VVIP aircraft (one brand new and one used) at a cost of $58.55 million ($58, 550,924) in September 2005 on the directions of Ministries of Finance and Defence.

  • ‘Amir confessed to spot-fixing after Afridi slapped him’

    ‘Amir confessed to spot-fixing after Afridi slapped him’

    Mohammad Amir confessed to spot-fixing only after then ODI captain Shahid Afridi had slapped him, former all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has claimed.

    “He [Afridi] told me to leave the room and after a while, I heard the sound of a slap. Later, Amir told the whole truth,” Razzaq said while speaking to a private media outlet on Wednesday.

    Spilling the beans on Pakistan’s ill-fated tour of England in 2010, a scandal that tarnished the image of Pakistan cricket, Razzaq also said that Salman Butt was involved in corruption much before the saga.

    “Butt was deliberately getting out and playing dot balls much before the scandal broke out in England,” the former all-rounder said, also blaming the then PCB management for “bringing a bad name to Pakistan cricket”.

    Butt, Amir and Muhammad Asif were the three players eventually banned for a minimum of five years in early 2011 by the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal after they were first suspended in September 2010.

    All three have now returned to playing cricket after completing their five-year bans. But only Amir has been picked for the national team and is currently competing in the World Cup.

  • VIDEO: ‘PTI govt paying media houses to like them?’, Hamid Mir trolls Faisal Vawda

    VIDEO: ‘PTI govt paying media houses to like them?’, Hamid Mir trolls Faisal Vawda

    Senior journalist Hamid Mir has trolled Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda for claiming that “anti-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)” media houses had started liking the government after financial benefits.

    Speaking on Mir’s show, Vawda on Tuesday said that media outlets, known for their alleged affiliation with opposition parties, were now highlighting achievements of the PTI government as they had been “provided with ease of doing business”.

    “It wasn’t our job, but we fought against lay-offs in the media industry. We made doing businesses easy by giving them [media houses] budgets,” he said.

    When Mir asked if he meant the government had paid media houses any money, Vawda agreed, saying the PTI had “paid them against government advertisements”.

    It wasn’t later that both Mir and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan broke into laughter.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Senior journalists have time and again expressed concerns over the state of Pakistani media ever since the PTI government took reins of the country.

    With cuts in government advertisements, a shakeout has been triggered and hundreds of thousands of media workers have gone jobless. Some journalists have also accused the PTI of using “stoppage of government ads to media as a weapon”.

  • VIDEO: PM Imran spotted dancing ‘to mock opposition’ during budget session

    VIDEO: PM Imran spotted dancing ‘to mock opposition’ during budget session

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has been spotted dancing on the floor of the National Assembly, in what appears to be an attempt to mock the opposition.

    As per the details, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Tuesday presented its first federal budget while members of opposition parties recorded a strong protest against PM Imran.

    They raised slogans, held placards and wore black armbands during Revenue Minister Hammad Azhar’s budget speech.

    As the minister concluded presenting the budget, the premier was seen being escorted out of the house, waving his hands in the air — suggesting he was least bothered about the ruckus.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Earlier, a Rs7 trillion austerity budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 was presented by the PTI government. It received severe criticism from opposition parties who termed the budget “anti-people”.

  • Sheikh Rasheed calls Naeemul Haque ‘sick’ for criticising VIP culture

    Sheikh Rasheed calls Naeemul Haque ‘sick’ for criticising VIP culture

    Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed has called Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aide Naeemul Haque “sick” for criticising VIP culture and ministers who “have police squads accompanying them”.

    “Naeemul Haque is sick. Pray for him,” Rasheed said when asked to comment over PM’s special assistant on political affairs’ remarks during a press conference on Saturday.

    Earlier, Haque had tweeted to criticise protocol being used by VIPs and ministers.

    “A large number of VIPs and ministers are still promoting VIP culture by having police squads accompany them everywhere,” he had said, adding that it was against the directives of the premier.

    “Police squads are allowed to only those who face a real threat to their lives. This practice must stop.”

    The war of words is being termed as another episode of the tussle that is allegedly continuing between elected and non-elected members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

    Elected members, including Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry, have time and again expressed their concerns over the “interference of non-elected members in affairs of different ministries”.

  • Indian anchor claims ‘aliens behind IAF aircraft disappearance’

    Indian anchor claims ‘aliens behind IAF aircraft disappearance’

    The mystery of Indian Air Force’s (IAF) missing AN-32 transport aircraft has taken a rather comical turn as an Indian anchor has said that “extraterrestrials may be behind its disappearance”.

    As per the details, search is still on for the plane that went missing near the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh last week with 13 people on board.

    With Indian media starting to criticise the government for failing to trace the aircraft despite using all-out resources, a new theory has claimed possible alien abduction.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    On Saturday, IAF had announced a reward of Rs500,000 to anyone providing information about the missing transport aircraft.

    Indian authorities have launched a massive search operation to locate the disappeared plane but to no avail so far.

  • VIDEO: ‘Hand govt over to Popalzai so Peshawar metro can be completed’, KP minister roasted

    VIDEO: ‘Hand govt over to Popalzai so Peshawar metro can be completed’, KP minister roasted

    Ruete Hilal Committee chief Mufti Muneebur Rehman has roasted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government for seeking Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai’s appointment in his place so as to “end the moon-sighting controversy”.

    Popalzai is an Islamic cleric and head of the private moon-sighting committee at the historic Qasim Ali Khan Mosque in Peshawar.

    With his announcement on Monday that the moon of Shawwal had been sighted in KP and Eidul Fitr will be celebrated on June 4, Provincial Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai suggested Popalzai’s appointment as the moon-sighting committee chairman, replacing Muneeb “to end the controversy”.

    “Eid is celebrated on one day all over Pakistan except a certain area of KP. We should stop this from happening. Mufti Popalzai has claimed to have sighted the moon and his claims have proven to be true a few times,” Yousafzai said.

    He added that Mufti Muneeb “should be rested for a while and Mufti Popalzai should be made the head of the moon-sighting committee”.

    Reacting to the statements, Mufti Muneeb said that Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai can’t be enrolled in the government, but the “government can be given under his control”.

    “Then everything that faces delay can be done beforehand. 24 hours before the deadline,” he said.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “The Peshawar metro project undertaken by the KP government should be given under Poplazai’s supervision so that it can meet timely success,” he said with implied sarcasm.

    The federal government has already announced that according to the Met Office, the moon will be sighted in the country on Tuesday and eid will be celebrated on Wednesday (June 5).