National

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday was the scene of a uproar after a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislator made a derogatory comment against the Sindh government, while the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) reciprocated in the same coin.
The tense situation arose when the coalition partners - the PPP and PML-N - charged each other with corruption and some PPP lawmakers staged a token walkout from the House over the presence of Prosecution Secretary Rana Maqbool in the

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday submitted in the Supreme Court a list of top 50 people and companies whose loans worth Rs 62.66 billion were written-off by public and private banks in the last two years.
A three-member Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday was hearing a suo motu case on waiving off of bank loans worth Rs 256 billion during the period from 1971

WASHINGTON: The CIA's expanding operations in Pakistan have taken "a serious toll" on the Al-Qaeda network, the spy agency director, Leon Panetta, has told US media.
But he said it remained unclear whether the effort had prevented a possible terror plot against European cities, the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying Tuesday.
Referring to stepped up operations, Panetta said the effort is "taking a serious toll" on Al-Qaeda's capabilities. "The basis for that increased

As the law and order situation in Karachi deteriorates, threatening the PPP-MQM marriage of convenience and with the animosity between the PPP and the PML-N in the Punjab and in the centre also intensifying the rumour mill has once again started churning out reports of an impending change and that next two weeks are critical.
Though the PPP believes it can continue to govern the province of Sindh where even without the MQM it has simple majority in the assembly, the coalition in

ISLAMABAD: Former railways minister Lt General (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi has formally approached President Asif Ali Zardari, ISI Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha and some parliamentarians to get his position cleared in the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club scam.
In a letter titled 'Twisted facts and lies versus reality', addressed to 32 people, including the president, the ISI director general, Senate Chairman Farooq H Naik and PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Qazi

ISLAMABAD: Perturbed over the inclusion of civil nuclear deal in Pakistan's agenda for the Pak-US strategic dialogue, the Obama administration asked the government in Islamabad not to raise the vital issue during the parleys prior to the commencement of the dialogue but Pakistan would still bring up the issue.
"Owing to its concerns over nuclear proliferation, the US told Islamabad days before the commencement of the strategic dialogue that any discussions on the Pak-US nuclear

LAHORE: The Afghan government has been in reconciliation talks for months with members of a Taliban faction closely tied to the Al Qaeda and responsible for lethal attacks on coalition forces and bombings inside Kabul, according to a member of the Afghan parliament, a foreign news agency reported.
The parliamentarian, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said President Hamid Karzai's government had been in direct contact with Jalaludin Haqqani, the

ISLAMABAD: All roads will lead to the Supreme Court today (Thursday) where a 17-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will announce its verdict on the 18th Amendment challenged by more than 16 petitioners.
The court would also define and determine the exact ambit of the SC authority for reviewing the mechanism approved by parliament. All parties concerned would appear before the court on notice.
Earlier on September 30, the larger bench had

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday directed Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza to ensure peace in Karachi "at all costs".
He was talking to Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza at the Presidency.
A source in the PPP informed Pakistan Today that the trio discussed various options to restore normalcy to the country's financial hub. "Mirza proposed the imposition of curfew in some areas of

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday ruled out calling in the army to control the spiralling violence in Karachi, while reports poured in that the government was considering a potential surgical operation in the country's bleeding financial capital.
TV channels quoted sources in the Sindh Home Department as saying that the government could launch a focused surgical operation in the city to restore order, but a final decision on the issue would be

ISLAMABAD: Irrespective of the fact that almost all the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) judges have resigned, no contempt notice has yet been issued against General (r) Pervez Musharraf and the four governors, who had administered the oath to the PCO judges in blatant violation of the apex court verdict of November 3, 2007.
Of the four governors, the governors of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are still holding their offices and no court has passed any order against them so

KARACHI: In a bid to settle the long running dispute between the Sindh government and the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation (HESCO) over outstanding dues of Rs27 billion; the two entities have composed field committees to properly scrutinize the details of the case.
The field committees, constituted of officials of both the Sindh government and HESCO, would evaluate the electricity bills issued to the sub-department of the provincial government in various districts excluding

ISLAMABAD: Investigations into the Air Blue plane crash in Islamabad on July 28 are making no headway despite passage of some months and people fear that the probe might not reach a conclusion, Pakistan Today has learnt.
"Members of the investigation team have so far been unable to find the cause of the deadly crash that resulted in the death of 152 passengers on board the ill-fated plane early this year," a senior government official said, seeking anonymity. "More disturbing

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday restored sixteen lawmakers' membership as they filed statements of their assets and liabilities.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Joint Secretary Afzal Khan said that Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan Justice(R) Hamid Ali Mirza had restored membership of sixteen lawmakers, including four MNAs and twelve MPAs, who were suspended on Monday.
The MNAs whose membership was restored included Jamiat-e-Ulema

LAHORE: The Obama administration is giving final touches to a security assistance package totalling $2 billion over five years to help Pakistan fight extremists on its border with Afghanistan.
The aid is expected to be announced later this week when officials are in Washington to hold high-level strategic talks, US officials and diplomatic sources told CNN. The package aims at addressing the country's insistence that it does not have the capability to go after terrorists and

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has directed the Pakistan People's Party to take all-out measures to keep the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the coalition.
The president was chairing a meeting of the PPP Core Committee on Tuesday that took stock of the current political and economical situation of the country and decided to carry on with the new party strategy adopted around two weeks ago. The meeting discussed in length the violence in Karachi, the judiciary-executive

KARACHI: Leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) called for the army while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said it was considering various options, after 30 more people were killed in fresh violence in the financial hub of the country on Tuesday.
At least 13 people were killed when gunmen attacked Shershah Kabari Market in the evening, bringing the toll from a series of killings surrounding a by-election to nearly 50. The market is a