Tag: Policy

PESHAWAR - Endorsing the national reconciliation policy of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, the Awami National Party leadership has floated the idea of Grand Jirga of leading Pakhtun tribal elders from both sides of the border.
"Terrorism is troubling the Pakhtuns on both sides of the Durand Line, therefore, the elders must realize their responsibilities for a way out," said senior nationalist politician Mohammad Afzal Khan on Sunday. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister

LAHORE - No federal government ever changed Pakistan's stance on the Kashmir issue, former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said on Saturday. He was addressing a seminar at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal Complex to highlight the Kashmir issue and express solidarity with the Kashmiris.
Aiwan-e-Iqbal Complex Chairman and Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami, former member of the National Assembly (MNA) Onaza Ehsan Butt, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Secretary General Liaqat Baloch, Allama Shafi Josh

LAHORE - Participants of the consultative workshop on "Formulation of National Policy for Home-Based Workers" on Friday discussed draft of the National Policy on Home-Based Workers and agreed to go ahead with it at the national level. The consultation was organised by the Labour and Manpower Ministry's Labour Welfare Wing in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UN Women.
The workshop was attended by senior officials of the Punjab Labour Department,

ISLAMABAD - The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) was informed that there would be no negative impact of the recent decision on the manufacture of local cars permitting the import of vehicles up to five years old.
The Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the meeting of the committee. An official source informed that the details provided to the committee said that the import of vehicles up to five years old was allowed in fiscal year 2007-08 in which

KARACHI - The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to keep its policy rate unaltered at 14 percent for the upcoming two months, February and March, of the current fiscal year. The decision came under special circumstances as the central bank is closely watching and expecting the country's political leadership to take responsible measures to jointly devise a strategy or agenda.
The central bank has allowed the cost of borrowing to stay at 14 percent following an agreement with

LAHORE - Politics of revenge has never been the Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) policy while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) history is full of retribution and victimisation of political opponents, PPP Punjab chapter office bearers said on Saturday reacting to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif's statement that the federal government wanted to implicate him and Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif in former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer's assassination case, said the PML-N that persecuted

LAHORE - To rein in escalating prices of locally manufactured cars, the government has permitted the import of five-year old passenger cars. Though the decision is made in the name of public interest, opinions on its actual impact vary widely. Industry experts are doubtful of its utility and believe it will adversely impact on the local car manufacturing and auto-vending industry, while car dealers term it a welcome step.
Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts Accessories

KARACHI - Though over two years of the announced three-year 'Strategic Trade Policy 2009-12' have passed, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) is yet to implement most of its trade initiatives. The ministry had announced that it would undertake various steps, as per the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF), in order to address economic challenges faced by Pakistan.
According to sources, the ministry was unable to initiate almost 12 new projects, for which around Rs 4.0 billion had

LAHORE - PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif on Sunday formed a committee to make proposals for celebrating the spring season and the basant. The committee will devise a policy for allowing kite-flying for celebrating the basant and other related activities.
Sardar Zulfikar Ali Khosa, senior advisor to the chief minister, will lead the committee, while Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Punjab Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Yousaf Salahuddin and Lahore commissioner will be its members.

LAHORE - The PCS Officers Association has rejected the policy of "downsizing" and "rightsizing" by the Punjab government and termed the move an attempt of the district management group to block their promotional aspects.
The Provincial Civil Service (PCS), the Provincial Secretariat Service (PSS) and the Provincial Management Service (PMS) officer bearers took the decision after a meeting on Monday chaired by its president Rai Manzur Nasir. All 50-members of the executive

LAHORE - Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) has implemented Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) tax policy reform through the Punjab government. REITs are mutual funds that utilise the pooled capital of a large number of investors to purchase develop and manage real estate assets. Units of a REIT fund are listed and traded on stock exchanges.
The REIT constitutes an ideal vehicle for small savers and other individuals wishing to invest in real estate while accessing the

ISLAMABAD - The ministry of commerce has initiated the framing of a comprehensive policy for the import of used cars by considering demand and the recommendations of all stakeholders. "We have to strike a balance between imports and local car production to normalise the prices and ensure that the end consumer stands to gains," a top official of the ministry has said.
It may be recalled that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had earlier given a green signal to the

KARACHI - Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Vice President Khalid Tawab has expressed serious reservations of the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) new Monetary Policy to be announced on January 29; it is anticipated that the discount rate will be raised by a further 50 basis points. He said that the SBP continues to operate a tight monetary policy despite clear evidence that such policy strangulates investment and trade in Pakistan and has hampered the

NEW DELHI - India has hit out at Pakistan for pursuing terrorism as an "instrument of state policy", saying such a strategy was "flawed and self-defeating".
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who is likely to meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Thimphu on the sidelines of a SAARC committee meeting, said "Some countries presume that they can pursue terrorism as an instrument of state policy without risks to themselves or to their standing in the international

LAHORE - In Punjab assembly's 22nd session Punjab Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman came under fire from opposition as well as government members on Monday for provincial government's new educational policy. Addressing the house the minister said that the government would review its policy relating to the rationalisation of the schools.
He said that the government had adopted rationalisation policy to run all small schools, which did not have proper staff or

LAHORE - Vegetable exporters have not received a great deal of relief from the federal government, as Islamabad has only allowed the export of onion with contracts settled before January 4. A six-member delegation of vegetable exporters and traders has left for Islamabad to voice their demands.
Lahore Anjumane-e-Arthian (a vegetable traders' body) President Chaudhry Muhammad Ejaz told Pakistan Today that the federal government had allowed the export of onions, which had been

LAHORE - Though most tax related laws in the country are being abused, no law is being flouted with the same frequency as "the personal baggage, transfer of residence and gift schemes (import of vehicles)".
Automobile manufacturers believe that it is not only causing a loss running into billions of rupees to national exchequer but also threatening the viability of the local automobile and vending industry. The recent decision of the federal government (which has been declared