Tag: Govt

ISLAMABAD - The opposition parties have decided that they will give a tough time to the government for disobeying verdicts of superior court in the future, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday.
Nisar said all opposition parties would also pressurise the government to clarify its position regarding drone attacks in the coming NA and Senate sessions. He demanded formation of a high-level judicial or a parliamentary commission to probe

NEW DELHI - India's government introduced a wide-ranging tax bill into parliament on Tuesday, but opposition to the move threatened to derail one what is one of the coalition's most ambitious reforms of its second term. In a sign of how corruption scandals are hindering the government, opposition lawmakers immediately forced an adjournment by demanding a debate on accusations Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lied to parliament about a cash-for-votes scandal. The Hindu nationalist

MUSCAT - About 100 Omani demonstrators set up tents on Tuesday in a district of the capital housing the main government ministries, demanding political reform. Protests against autocratic rulers sweeping the region have not spared conservative and usually tranquil Oman at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula whose Gulf Arab dynasty has long been backed by Washington. In power for 40 years, Sultan Qaboos this month began moves to cede some legislative powers to the partially

LISBON - Portugal's parliament will vote on the government's latest austerity measures on Wednesday, setting the stage for a potential collapse of the minority Socialist administration a day before a European summit. Prime Minister Jose Socrates has threatened to resign if the opposition fails to approve the measures. The main opposition Social Democrats (PSD) are refusing to back them and have begun to talk about snap elections, complicating the country's drive to avoid following

LAHORE - The Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam has accused the Punjab government of trying to influence the investigation against Moonis Elahi.
In a press conference at Muslim League House on Sunday PML-Q leader Kamil Ali Agha Kamil Ali Agha said the cases were registered against Moonis when he was away from Pakistan. He said that Moonis had returned to face the cases which showed that he had nothing to do hide.
Kamil alleged that FIA Additional Director Zafar Ahmad

KARACHI - The Sindh government has decided in principle to renege on promises of handing residential plots in Karachi and Hyderabad to flood-affected families in an attempt to further reconciliatory politics with coalition partners, especially the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Today has learnt.
The plan of not giving any plot districts to the flood hit people is just aimed at fulfilling the demands of the Sindh's coalition partner - Muttahida Qaumi Movement,

ISLAMABAD - The government remains ambivalent on reducing duty and other taxes on the import of bulletproof vehicles amid serious threats to the life of prominent politicians and religious leaders of the country from terrorists.
According to sources in the ministries of Interior and Finance, the proposal to reduce duty and taxes was forwarded by Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan a few months ago after he received threats when as a federal minister. Waqar, as privatisation minister, had

SANAA - Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday sacked his government in the face of massive protests demanding his resignation, the state news agency Saba reported. "The president has dismissed the government but asked the cabinet to remain in a caretaker position until a new one is formed," Saba said.
The announcement came as tens of thousands of people turned out in Sanaa earlier in the day for the funerals of many of the 52 people gunned down by Saleh

FAISALABAD - The Punjab government has unveiled a plan to carry out digital mapping of 36 districts of the province for the accurate identification of particular areas in each district.
The process will help the government have a precise area-wise study and planning of the infrastructure of urban and rural development in addition to its primary function of identifying, in minute details, the residential and commercial areas of the districts.
These views were expressed by

KARACHI - Sindh Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi on Saturday urged the citizens not to ignore the symptoms of tuberculosis (TB) because the ailment is extremely contagious and could be a threat for many healthy individuals.
Addressing the participants of a TB Awareness Walk - organised by the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) - Zaidi appealed to the people to avail facilities available at 1,000 treatment centres and 272 diagnostic

LAHORE - Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh Saturday said the provincial government had allocated one billion rupees for funding output-oriented research projects on high priority issues through Punjab Agricultural Research Board (PARB). He was delivering concluding remarks at an international seminar on 'Wheat Productivity Enhancement to Sustain Self Sufficiency' at Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI) Faisalabad. In the seminar agriculture scientists form

LAHORE - Dozens of government school students walked to support the recent anti-encroachment campaign on Saturday. The protectors raised banners, held placards and chanted slogans to denounce the encroachments that had caused difficulty for traffic and constricted public space. The rally started from Government High School Chistia Road, Islampura and ended at Government High School Mozang Road where the rally was addressed by Government High School Mozang Road Headmaster Syed Riaz

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said no government members were involved in vote-buying to win a confidence vote in 2008 and doubted the veracity of the claims, defying resignation calls over the issue.
The scandal over cash for votes is unlikely to immediately endanger Singh's government, but it increases the pressure on Singh already battling allegations of graft in cases ranging from grant of telecom licenses to apartments for war widows.
The

LONDON - Britain's Labour Party has claimed that the Tories' government does not want Muslims to live in the central London while the mayor of London has also described the housing reforms as 'draconian', saying it could lead to 'Kosovo-style' social cleansing.
Karen Buck, the shadow work and pensions minister, said the government's controversial plans to cut housing benefits were designed to force 'black, ethnic minority and Muslim women' out into the capital's poorer suburbs.

KARACHI - Federal government borrowed the enormous sum of Rs 393 billion for its budgetary support from July 2010 to March 2, 2011. In comparison to the corresponding period of last financial year, budgetary borrowings of the government reflected an increase of Rs 93 billion, or 31 percent in this fiscal. In the previous fiscal year, budgetary borrowings amounted to Rs 300 billion. The government has borrowed Rs 144 billion from the State Bank of Pakistan while Rs 265 billion has been

MANAMA - Bahrain on Friday demolished a monument at the capital's Pearl Square which had come to symbolise the kingdom's pro-democracy movement, as thousands of Bahrainis buried an activist killed in a crackdown on mainly Shia protesters that has angered Iran and raised tension in the world's largest oil-exporting region.
Mourners carrying pictures of activist Ahmed Farhan, killed on Wednesday, followed a car carrying his flag-covered coffin. No security forces were present, but

MBABANE - Thousands of Swazis marched on the prime minister's office on Friday in a rare protest to demand the resignation of the tiny southern African kingdom's government. Swaziland is in the grip of a serious financial crisis and civil servants fear they will not be paid this month after Africa's last absolute monarchy suffered a huge drop in income from the Southern African Customs Union. Protesters have drawn inspiration from uprisings in north Africa. Trade unions and opposition