ISLAMABAD: Journalists were injured during a clash between two rival groups inside the National Press Club (NPC) on Thursday. Recently, the NPC held its annual election after which one of the groups (Azad Panel) accused their rival (Journalist Panel) of rigging. On Thursday, Azad Panel announced to conduct a referendum over the election. Leaders, members and activists of the panel gathered outside the club while members of the winning Journalist Panel were inside. Police were called to maintain law and order and they were deployed outside the club. In the afternoon, both groups started chanting slogans against each other which…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: As many as 42 people succumbed to the Covid-19 disease over the last 24 hours — the country’s highest daily death toll since Oct 6, when 46 people died in a single day. Besides, as the country continues to grapple with the fifth wave of Covid-19, driven by the Omicron variant of coronavirus, 98,333 patients are in quarantine — either at their homes or elsewhere. According to data released by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Thursday, 5,830 people tested positive and 42 succumbed to the virus over the last 24 hours. The national positivity rate was…
ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) held its selection board meeting on Thursday which finalised the name of a candidate for the post of executive director (ED) but withheld the appointment since the matter is sub judice in the Lahore High Court, said a statement. The post fell vacant in October 2018 after the resignation of the then ED Dr Arshad Ali. “As a petition regarding the selection board is pending in the Lahore High Court (LHC), HEC will announce the appointment of its executive director after LHC’s decision,” read the statement. The LHC while hearing a petition filed by…
ISLAMABAD: A proposed amendment in the civil service rules could affect as many as 20,000 civil servants, a parliamentary body was told on Thursday. The matter came up before the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat during discussion on the ‘The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2021’ moved by Senator Afnan Ullah Khan in the sitting held on Jan 17, 2022, The proposed amendment bars civil servants from holding dual nationality and suggests a timeline for dual national civil servants to relinquish their foreign nationality. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan was of view that government servants should…
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday directed the Punjab government to ensure an effective and public welfare-oriented local government (LG) system in the province. Presiding over a meeting on the upcoming local bodies elections in Punjab, he said a functional LG system was the guarantor of national development. The prime minister stressed the need for ensuring effectiveness of the local government system through representation of all segments, particularly women, youth, farmers and businessmen. The prime minister was quoted as saying: “With an efficient LG system, majority of the civic problems can be solved.” He was of the view that…
ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties on Thursday expressed serious concern over the rising incidents of terrorism in the country and termed these the result of the non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government. A number of opposition leaders belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in separate statements, while condemning the recent terrorist attack on camps of the security forces in Nushki and Panjgur areas of Balochistan, called for implementation of NAP in letter and spirit. According to ISPR, terrorists attacked security forces’ camps at two locations, Panjgur and Nushki,…
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled on Thursday that the allotment of plots on subsidised rates to top judges, lawyers and bureaucrats was illegal, and ordered the federal government’s real estate entity to initiate housing schemes for the general public. An IHC division bench consisting of Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued the landmark judgement on identical petitions related to the allotment of plots by the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) in sectors F-14 and F-15 of Islamabad. The verdict declared the FGEHA project in both sectors as well as the upcoming sectors F-12…
The Peshawar High Court on Friday suspended a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold the second phase of the local government polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 27, and directed the electoral watchdog to instead hold the polls after Ramazan (April) due to the rough weather forecast in various parts of the province next month. The PHC’s Abbottabad bench issued the directions while hearing a petition filed by a citizen who contended that various districts in the province would be shut by heavy snow in March, following which the voters would struggle to reach polling…
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar on Friday rejected Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s claim that the ceasefire arrangement on the Line of Control (LoC) was holding because India had negotiated from a “position of strength”. The 740-km LoC had seen unprovoked artillery shelling and firing from across the dividing line until February last year when India and Pakistan recommitted themselves to the 2003 ceasefire, bringing relief to the lives of the affected population. On Thursday, Indian Army Chief Naravane said the ceasefire continued to hold because India had negotiated from a position of strength, according to…
Kanye West is going all out for girlfriend Julia Fox on her birthday. The couple was joined by some of Fox’s friends in New York City to ring in the Uncut Gem star’s 32nd bash. The group gathered for dinner at Lucien after which Ye “not only gave Julia a Birkin, about three of their friends got their own too,” a source tells E! News. The bags are said to be worth $30k (£22k) each. “They were all really excited but the friends seemed really happy and surprised,” the insider shared, adding that Ye “is definitely trying to impress her…
