Tag: Issue

KARACHI - The Sindh government has refused to issue weapons licences to private schools, reportedly due to the huge number of institutes operating in the metropolis. After the twin blasts at the Islamic University in Islamabad, the Sindh home secretary had agreed with management representatives of private schools that the institutions would be allowed to keep licensed arms for ensuring safety of students and staff and take strict security measures on their own.
However, the plan

ISLAMABAD - After a strong protest by the religious parties over the issue of American national Raymond Davis, who shot dead two people in Lahore last month, the civil society has also come up with the same demand that he should not be handed over to the United States and treated according to the law of the country.
The civil society members on Wednesday staged a demonstration in front of Parliament House Islamabad, which was attended by a large number of people, including

ISLAMABAD - Taking strong exception to the growing US pressure for the release of its citizen Raymond Davis, who was arrested last month in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis, Islamabad has conveyed to Washington that its repeated demands are proving to be counterproductive and are complicating the issue.
Pakistani authorities are highly perturbed that the Obama administration is least bothered about the rising anti-American sentiments in Pakistan, especially the rage after the

LAHORE - The issue of Raymond Davis is "very sensitive and should be resolved maturely", Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Sunday. He said everybody should be careful about the matter as it was sub judice.
"Foreign countries are approaching Pakistan in this regard through diplomatic and congressional channels to resolve the issue, but we have advised them to contact the country's court," he said. He said the re-sizing of the federal cabinet would take place in line with

ISLAMABAD - The contentious issue of Raymond Davis, a US citizen currently detained in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis, caused uproar in the Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday when spokesman Abdul Basit declined to answer queries on the vital matter leading to a walkout by the reporters and an abrupt end to the ministry's weekly briefing.
Reporters anxious to dig out information and know the exact stance of the Foreign Ministry on the status of Davis, who is dubbed as diplomat by

ISLAMABAD - The issue of Raymond Davis, our mole said, worried President Asif Zardari the most and he visibly looked flustered while chairing the meeting of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)'s core committee on Tuesday night as he shared with his close aides the enormity of external and internal pressure he was faced with after the Lahore incident.
"It is a difficult situation," the president was quoted as saying while referring to the arrest of the American citizen who had

ISLAMABAD - Education Minister Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali on Tuesday said that implementation committee had assured the education ministry that it would review its decision to keep the curriculum issue with the federal government. While talking to journalists after the annual sports day of Islamabad college for Girls F-6/2, he said the ministry had raised the issue of curriculum with Raza Rabbani led Constitutional Reforms Committee for several times and it had assured them to review the

KARACHI - The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) would organise a consultative meeting on Tuesday (today) at the Regent Plaza to discuss the issue of mangrove deforestation and reclamation of precious lands in Keamari and Bin Qasim towns. Marine ecology experts, oceanographers, environmentalists, forest conservationists, citizens, human rights and political activists would attend the meeting.
Sindh Environment Minister Sheikh Muhammad Afzal, secretaries of environment and forest

KARACHI - Interpol has been requested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for the issuance of arrest warrants against "all corrupt elements" who have escaped the country in the past for trial before a Pakistani court of law, claimed the Agency's Sindh Director Muazzam Jah at a press conference on Thursday.
Jah demanded that the Pakistan Steel Mills provide the FIA with names of all those involved in the corruption case of Rs 22 billion. He said that although the FIA

ISLAMABAD - Interior Affairs Minister Rehman Malik has said that the weapon smuggling issue would be taken up with Afghanistan as illegally imported arms were being used in terror incidents in Pakistan.
Outside the Parliament House on Tuesday, he the minister told reporters that terrorism could not be countered in a more effective way until and unless smuggling of weapons from Afghanistan was not stopped.
"Pakistan wants support from Afghanistan to eliminate terrorism from

LAHORE - A two-member committee consisting of Government College University (GCU) Vice-Chancellor Dr Khalid Aftab and University of Engineering and Technology (UET) VC Lieutenant General (r) Muhammad Akram will present its report on issue of the University of Education (UoE) to the Punjab CM today (Tuesday) after meeting with the varsity administration.
On Monday, Insaaf Students Federation (ISF) activists and UOE students held a protest against termination of varsity teachers.

ISLAMABAD - Disappointed with Leader of the Opposition Nisar Ali Khan's move to scandalise the issue of construction of parliamentary lodges for political point-scoring, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has decided to lave the matter to parliament and the National Assembly speaker.
"The prime minister will speak on this issue in the National Assembly today to explain why this projected had been undertaken," a source close to the prime minister told Pakistan Today. He said that

ISLAMABAD - The country's religio-political parties are planning to give masses a call for long march against the "government's inaction to remove apprehensions and confusion on the fate of blasphemy law". Liaqat Baloch, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Sahibzada Abu Alkhair Muhammad Zubair, Qari Zawar Bahadur and Maulana Amjad Khan, all important religious leaders, in telephonic conversations with one another on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over the

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court on Friday issued notice to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for early-hearing of appeal of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar who has challenged the penalty of one-and-a-half-year ban and a fine of Rs7 million imposed on him by an appellate tribunal constituted by the PCB.
In this case, the then LHC Chief Justice on July 3, 2008, had allowed Shoaib Akhtar to participate in national or international cricket by suspending the ban on his playing cricket.
The

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to uphold human rights in his country, saying it could prove key to China's future success.
"The US welcomes China's rise as a strong, prosperous and successful member of the community of nations," Obama said as he welcomed Hu to the White House.
But straying into the contentious issue of human rights, Obama added, "History shows that societies are more harmonious, nations are more

LAHORE - All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Gohar Ejaz has urged the Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF) manufacturers to rise to the occasion and resolve issues relating to availability of raw material to the textile industry.
He said Pakistan is the only country with odd fibre-mix at the ratio of 80 percent cotton and 20 percent Man Made Fibre (MMF) against world proportion of 40 percent cotton and 60 percent MMF. Consequently, he said, the textile industry has

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani and Russian authorities will meet next month to resolve the issue of refusal of Russian authorities to allow Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)'s 32 flights to cross Russia's airspace.
According to a source in the ministry of defense, the Russian authorities had desired to hold a meeting with Pakistani authorities after the latter warned that in case permission was not granted to PIA, the Russian designated carrier, Aeroflot, will not be allowed to