Tag: Ministry

KABUL - A suicide attacker in an army uniform has been killed after entering the Afghan defence ministry in Kabul, a security source speaking anonymously told AFP, confirming local media reports Monday.
"He has not detonated, he has been shot. His suicide vest is still on him," the source said. However, local television reported that three people had been injured in the attack.
A separate military source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that three

ISLAMABAD - In the upcoming cabinet extension phase, newly-elected Senator Dr Asim is likely to get the portfolio of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, which is currently under the charge of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani while Makhdoom Shahabuddin's portfolio of Textile Ministry could also changed to minister for Foreign Affairs.
A source in the government told Pakistan Today that newly unopposed-elected Asim, who is recognised for his closeness with President

LAHORE - The Ministry of Textile has proposed rationalisation of textile chain and opposed a decline in all tariffs to 10 percent, Pakistan Today has learnt. The Ministry believed that anomalies in the textile and clothing tariff structure exist, which point to the fact that government must understand the importance of greater tariff protection.
Documents reveal that the government will aim to bring all tariffs down to a maximum rate of 10 percent.
Contrarily, even

ISLAMABAD - In what appears to be a damage-control move amidst criticism over the devolution of HEC by certain quarters, the Finance Ministry on Saturday assured HEC of releasing Rs 7.7 billion soon, a day after refusing to do so.
A senior official at HEC said the Finance Ministry assured HEC that the ministry had decided to release withheld Rs 7.7 billion of HEC and the commission would receive the fund in the next two days. The funds were earlier withheld by the ministry in

ISLAMABAD - The Ministry of Religious Affairs is all set to present the draft of Hajj policy-2011 before the Federal Cabinet for final approval as it has already been discussed in the Senate and National Assembly Standing Committees on Religious Affairs.
This year, according to draft of the new policy, around 179,256 intending pilgrims will be sent to Saudi Arabia for performing the religious obligation under both the government and private Hajj schemes.
After getting the

ISLAMABAD - Senior consultant to the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, Arif Chaudhry on Friday wrote a letter to the District Magistrate Islamabad seeking certified copy of the statement of Masood Mahmood, an 'approver' in the case of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB).
In a one-page letter to the District Magistrate Islamabad, Arif Chaudhry stated that FIR No. 402 was registered against then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on November 11, 1974

KARACHI - Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza said at a reception in his honour hosted by the Timber Merchant Association here at PPP offices on Thursday that he was disappointed because the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had asked for a very low price to stay in the coalition: (depriving him of) his ministerial portfolio.
Mirza said he had applied for a leave to go meet his daughter three months ago, which had been approved now, a statement that ran contrary to earlier ones where

ISLAMABAD - Learning its lesson from the young doctors' strike and on the special directive of the presidency, the Ministry of Health has moved a summary to the prime minister office for starting evening classes in all medical colleges to raise the number doctors.
Officials from the health ministry said this here at the meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Health on Thursday. Secretary Incharge Health Nargis Sethi while briefing the meeting said that in first phase

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Chaudhry on Monday allowed the Law Ministry to inspect the record of murder case against former Prime Minister Zulifkar Ali Bhutto.
An application was submitted to the LHC registrar Abdus Sattar Asghar, stating that a presidential reference has been filed in the Supreme Court to revisit the verdict which the PPP claimed was judicial murder. It was further stated that the government needed to inspect the record so it could assist

ISLAMABAD - Recommending that Ministry of Environment should be retained by the federal government, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Environment Monday said that devolution of the ministry to the provinces would make implementation of international treaties in the country difficult.
The standing committee meeting was held with Raja Muhammad Asad MNA in the chair here on Monday. The Ministry of Environment is to be devolved to the provinces in the third phase of the

ISLAMABAD - Around Rs 27 million of the public exchequer was used for fuel and maintenance of 53 vehicles and inland tours of the top officials of the Ministry of Environment during 2008-10, the Upper House was told on Friday. According to details, over Rs 8 million were spent on fuel and more than Rs 3 million on maintenance of 53 vehicles of the main ministry, which excludes all attached departments, during 2008-9, while over Rs 8.5 million was spent on fuel and Rs 4 million on the

ISLAMABAD - Setting aside objections raised by the Registrar's Office, the Supreme Court on Monday accepted for regular hearing a petition against the devolution of the federal Ministry of Education to the provinces under the 18th Amendment and issued notices to the parties concerned. The petition was filed by senior educationists Chaudhry Sadiq Ali, former director of Model Colleges (Islamabad), and Dr Abdul Razzaque Memon, former principal of Dawood College of Engineering and

ISLAMABAD - Because of the rainy spell earlier this year, the inhabitants of Islamabad are facing an intense pollen season. Usually allergy patients suffer from the middle to the end of March, however this year the rains delayed the shedding of paper mulberry pollens, which intensified the problem. With the advent of spring in the federal capital, the number of pollen allergy patients visiting the city's hospitals and clinics increased significantly.
Pakistan Institute of

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani urge his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh to hold a "meaningful and result-oriented" dialogue on Kashmir and other bilateral disputes during his upcoming visit to India to watch the Cricket World Cup semi-final on March 30, said a Pakistani official, as a three-member delegation of the Interior Ministry led by Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry left for New Delhi from the Wahga Border on Sunday.
The delegation was

LAHORE - The Indian External Affairs Ministry may have inadvertently caused some of the confusion over a hoax call to President Asif Ali Zardari that escalated tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks in 2008, Indian newspaper The Hindu reported on Wednesday. Pretending to be India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the caller had conveyed threats of an imminent military response to the attacks, said the newspaper. Exactly a year later,

ISLAMABAD - Around seven departments of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower will not be devolved to the provinces and would remain the federal subject, an official told Pakistan Today on Saturday. "There are seven major wings of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower that will not be devolved to the provinces. They include Overseas Employment Corporation, National Training Bureau, Directorate of Workers Education, Pakistan Institute of Manpower and Human Resource Department," Arslan

ISLAMABAD - On the directives of National Assembly Standing Committee on Health, Ministry of Health here on Friday conducted a crackdown against spurious drugs and cancelled registration of 283 drugs and rejected application for 17 others.
A decision to this effect was taken in the 230th meeting of the ministry's Drugs Registration Board a few days back. These drugs were found either substandard, adulterated or not in conformity with the Drugs Act 1976.
Last month, the