Six people have been killed in floods precipitated by torrential rains across northeast India and neighbouring Bangladesh that inundated the homes of more than a million others, officials said on Wednesday. Monsoon rains cause widespread destruction every year, but experts say climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events. Disaster authorities in India’s northeastern state of Assam said four people had died over the past day, bringing the number of people killed there over successive downpours since mid-May to 38. In Bangladesh, landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed two people including a Rohingya refugee early…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
LAHORE: An election tribunal comprising Justice Anwaar Hussain of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday allowed time to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to furnish polling records of the constituencies of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Federal Minister for Privatisation Abdul Aleem Khan. A legal counsel for the ECP appeared before the tribunal and sought time to produce the complete records of the constituencies, including certified copies of Forms-45, 46 and 47. The tribunal allowed the request and adjourned the hearing of the election petitions against the chief minister and the federal minister till July 25. Earlier, the…
ISLAMABAD: An Indonesian flying school has offered training facilities to pilots of Pakistan International Airlines. The offer came from the CEO of Mitra Aviation Perkasa and Perkasa Flying School of Indonesia, Septo Sudiro, who is visiting Pakistan. His visit is aimed at strengthening the civil aviation cooperation between Indonesia and Pakistan, including pilots’ training. “As far as I know, there are currently around 25 Indonesian pilots working in various Pakistani airlines. My company is able to provide highly skilled aviation workers from Indonesia to meet the needs in Pakistan, including pilots and aircraft engineers,” Mr Sudiro told the Indonesian Charge…
ISLAMABAD: Lashing out at the federal government for delaying the issuance of a no-objection certificate (NOC) for holding a public meeting on July 6 in Tarnol, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Tuesday announced that they would hold a record-breaking public gathering at the designated place, come what may. They said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Maryam Nawaz had held public gatherings and sit-ins without any obstacles during the PTI’s tenure but they were not being allowed to hold the meeting. This announcement was made during a press conference by senior PTI leaders, including Additional Secretary General Firdous Shamim Naqvi,…
ISLAMABAD: Justice Aalia Neelum is set to make history as the first woman to rise to the position of chief justice of the Lahore High Court, after the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) unanimously approved her elevation, on Tuesday. The JCP, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, approved her elevation after considering the nominations of three judges for the position of LHC chief justice, including Acting Chief Justice Shujaat Ali Khan and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi. The JCP also unanimously recommended the elevation of Justice Shafi Siddiqui as chief justice of the Sindh High Court to fill the…
LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-backed opposition in the Punjab Assembly has announced boycott of the house proceedings and decided not to become a part of its standing committees, holding its parallel session in a tent outside the assembly building. “We’ll neither become a part of any house proceedings, nor of its committees,” opposition leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar told a press conference here on Tuesday. He said they were forced to take the step in protest against the suspension of 11 opposition lawmakers for 15 sittings of the house, and pledged to continue the boycott until the sanction is not withdrawn. Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed…
ISLAMABAD: Just a day after one of the allies of PML-N-led coalition, ANP, demanded re-elections in the country, senior ANP leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour met President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed with him overall political and security situation. According to a press release issued by the Presidency on Tuesday, the president during the meeting emphasised importance of collaboration among all political parties to address national issues and achieve political and economic stability. He said consensus among all political parties on major national issues was indispensable. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of ANP, which enjoys close relations with PPP, on Monday demanded…
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday dispelled the impression of any forward bloc in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and asserted that a decision regarding the PTI deserters was yet to be taken. After the trial proceeding in £190 million corruption reference in which the court granted post-arrest bail to his wife, Bushra Bibi, Mr Khan said there was “no major differences” among the party leaders. But he admitted a division among some party leaders and said he would talk to them during their routine visit to Adiala jail on July 4. Referring to the US Congress resolution on Pakistani election, he said national and…
ISLAMABAD: As the issue of reserved seats meant for the Sunni Ittehad Council continued to polarise the full court, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Tuesday equated the ‘doctrine of necessity’ with the ‘justice principle’, saying successive military takeovers had been legalised in the past using the same principle, as embodied in the maxim ‘Salus Populi Supreme Lex Esto’ (the welfare of people should be the supreme law). The CJP made these comments during full court proceedings on petitions moved by the SIC against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision to deny it the reserved seats for women and non-Muslim lawmakers. According to…
ISLAMABAD: A divided house of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Tuesday announced a countrywide strike for July 5 to protest the imposition of 0.5 per cent advance turnover tax in the budget, although the government has conceded its mistake and assured withdrawal of the controversial tax. As a precautionary measure, however, the government on Tuesday directed oil marketing companies (OMCs) to ensure the availability of sufficient stocks of petroleum products at company-owned or company-operated and other sites associated with the OMCs to avoid any disruption of the supply chain and inconvenience to the general public and industry in case…
