Tag: Govt

ISLAMABAD - There is a visible difference in the country's policy on drone attacks and the political and military leadership of the country is on the same page on the matter, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security Mian Raza Rabbani said on Tuesday. He was briefing reporters after an in-camera meeting of the parliamentary committee. "The matter of drone attacks is a sensitive issue and there is a visible difference in

ISLAMABAD - Once in-charge after winning the next general elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf would teach the present rulers how to deal with generals and to run the state affairs properly, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday. "We will teach the so-called leaders how to control the generals and also to stop the drone attacks" Imran said at a joint press briefing with the representatives of British human right organization "Reprieve" here at National Press Club. He said the

ISLAMABAD - The government plans to explore rain fed (Barani) areas for enhancing cotton cultivation as the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has offered complete financial support for boosting the cotton production to 20 million bales during the next few years. According to an official source, the offer was made by the conglomerate of textile exporters at the meeting of the specially formed committee to enhance cotton production. APTMA representatives stressed enhancing

LAHORE - Cement makers will support the re-enforcement of the Supervised Clearance System (SCS) while the government should resolve hurdles in the export process especially in the case of business with Afghanistan; this was stated in a statement issued by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers' Association (APCMA) today.
The APCMA spokesman categorically denied any wrongdoing on the part f the members and said that as a representative of cement manufacturing units across Pakistan,

TOKYO - The Japanese government on Tuesday urged "heartless" people, local authorities and businesses not to discriminate against evacuees from the area around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The call came after some evacuation centres demanded radiation-free certificates from people who lived near the plant, and following reports that hotels have turned them away and their children have been bullied.
"I cannot stress enough how regrettable it is that some heartless people

KARACHI - The Sindh High Court restricted the Sindh government on Monday from removing those officials, whose posting on absorption was declared illegal by the same court, till April 29. Allowing a request of the officials including Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, a bench headed by Justice Shahid Anwar Bajwa ordered the provincial government not to follow the SHC's prior directive till the given date.
Earlier on April 14, the SHC had declared two dozen government high ranking officers'

ISLAMABAD - After senior lawyer Kamal Azfar was withdrawn as counsel for the government in a review petition against the Supreme Court (SC)'s verdict on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), Advocate-on-Record (AOR) Raja Abdul Ghafoor has also submitted an application seeking withdrawal, to be considered by the 17-member full court scheduled to resume hearing on the petition today (Monday).
Ghafoor's application is likely to be accepted, and the new AOR Zafar Abbas Naqvi

KARACHI - The Sindh government has procured 19,744 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat by the 7th of this month from 15 districts against its target of 1.3 million MT for the year 2010-11 - an indication that the province could be headed towards a wheat shortage crisis. The procurement process in the province had started on March 25.
According to details, the government has acquired 5,456MT wheat from the Hyderabad region against the target of 265,000MT. This includes 3,666MT from

ASTANA - The United States government has never told the Indian government directly that it does not want the Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline to be built. "They have said it isn't a good thing in public," Hindustan Times quoted high level sources as saying Sunday.
"But never to us directly - possibly because they know the answer they would get."
India is still interested in the Iran-Pakistan pipeline, said the sources. The barriers to its creation lie in the region

KARACHI - The Sindh government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, is fully determined to resolve the issue of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) amicably and regularise lower grade staff of the Education Department, Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) Sindh Women Wing Information Secretary Sharmila Farooqui said in a statement issued on Saturday.
"We should give due respect to the teachers' community because they play a great role in national

LAHORE - The government has replaced Advocate on Record in the NRO case, reported a private TV on Saturday. Advocate on Record Raja Abdul Ghafoor has been replaced with Zafar Abbas Naqvi.
Earlier, the government had prevented Kamal Azfar from following the case. A 17-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will resume hearing on the case on Monday.

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday again issued notice to the federal and Punjab governments for April 26 on a petition challenging removal of US national Raymond Davis' name from the Exit Control List (ECL) without obtaining consent of the LHC.
Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey filed the petition requesting the court to seek explanation from former federal law minister Senator Dr Babar Awan, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Additional District and Sessions Judge

ISLAMABAD - The government filed an application in the Pakistan Bar Council's (PBC) Disciplinary Committee on Friday requesting it to initiate proceedings against senior lawyer Kamal Azfar for professional misconduct, as he appeared in the Supreme Court (SC) on behalf of the government in a review petition against the SC's verdict on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
The application said that Latif Khosa had replaced Kamal Azfar in the NRO review petition on October 6

ISLAMABAD - Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik Friday told the National Assembly that the government was taking all possible steps to ensure safe travelling on the Parachinar Road which had recently been opened after two years as a result of a peace agreement between two local tribes belonging to different sects.
He was replying to a call attention notice raised by Noor ul Haq Qadri, Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, Zafar Beg Bhittani and others regarding attack on passenger vehicles

ISLAMABAD - The government on Thursday unveiled its energy conservation plan for the year 2011, which it claimed would save between 1,000MW to 1,100MW in six months until September, as power shortfall increased to 3,135MW from 2,965MW.
Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar informed the National Assembly that the government had finalised an energy conservation plan to combat the power shortage during the next six months. Qamar said that a two-pronged policy had been devised

ISLAMABAD - Following Dr Babar Awan's resignation as federal law minister, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry asked the government on Thursday to fill the vacant ministerial slot to ensure that the Law Ministry was represented at the Judicial Commission (JC)'s meeting on Saturday. The CJP, who is also chairman of the JC, ordered that Awan's resignation be brought to the notice of principal secretaries of the president and prime minister, as well as the cabinet

ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly Standing Committee on House and Library expressed its reservations on Thursday with the security arrangements at Parliament House and Government Hostel. Committee members discussed security arrangements at Parliament House and the hostel and told Islamabad police to take stern measures to ensure foolproof security for both. The committee also told the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to make the arrangements necessary for the provision of shade and