ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported more than 7,000 cases of Covid-19 for the fifth consecutive day on Monday, with the national positivity rate averaging 11.53 per cent. Data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that 7,048 more infections were reported and 21 people succumbed to the virus during the past 24 hours. The number of patients on critical care stood at 1,423. According to a document available with Dawn, the positivity rate was recorded at over 10pc in 12 cities — Karachi, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Mirpur, Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Islamabad, Quetta and Muzaffarabad. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Medical Association…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to challenge in the Supreme Court a judgement of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) restoring Chairman of the Higher Education Commission Dr Tariq Javed Banuri to his post. “On consideration of the facts of the case, it has been decided to file and conduct CPLA on behalf of federation before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. You are nominated to act as Advocate-on-Record,” read a Law and Justice Division’s letter addressed to Anis Muhammad Shahzad, Advocate-on-Record. The letter issued on January 28 further stated: “Mr Aamir Rehman, Additional Attorney General, Islamabad, is nominated to represent the Federation…
LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supremo Altaf Hussain appeared at the Kingston-upon-Thames crown court on Monday to mark the first day of his trial centering on a terrorism offence. Mr Hussain was charged with inciting violence in an incendiary speech relayed from the United Kingdom to his followers in Pakistan on Aug 22, 2016. He was arrested and released on bail before charges were filed in 2019, three years after Scotland Yard launched an investigation into speeches made in the UK that allegedly encouraged violence in Karachi. Mr Hussain has pleaded not guilty to the charge filed under Section 1(2)…
WASHINGTON: The United States, Britain and Canada hit top Myanmar justice officials with sanctions on Monday on the one-year anniversary of a military coup. The US Treasury Department placed sanctions on Attorney General Thida Oo, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo and Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman U Tin Oo, whom it said were closely involved in the “politically motivated” prosecution of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Britain said it was imposing sanctions against Thida Oo, Tin Oo and a third person, U Thein Soe, chair of the country’s election Commission. “We are coordinating these actions with the United Kingdom…
ISLAMABAD: With Islamabad vying for price cut, the energy ministers of Pakistan and Turkmenistan met on Monday for discussions on two major energy import projects, including the way forward on execution of multi-billion dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Pakistan had already taken up with Turkmenistan the issue of gas price review and delivery point of gas under TAPI pipeline project in previous meetings. In the existing gas sales purchase agreement under TAPI, the gas delivery point is Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border but given the Afghan situation, Pakistan wanted a gas delivery point at the Pakistan-Afghan border. The ministers agreed to start…
ISLAMABAD: The State Department has been taking unusually long to process the agrément of Pakistan’s ambassador-designate to the United States, Masood Khan. The delay has triggered an impression of a pause in the process. Mr Khan, who served as Azad Kashmir’s president till last August, was nominated as ambassador to the US in November. He had previously served as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva and New York and as ambassador to China. Mr Khan was to replace the outgoing ambassador of Pakistan in Washington Asad Majeed Khan. The request for agrément for Masood Khan had been sent…
DAMASCUS: Syrian air defences confronted Israeli missiles targeting an area near the capital, Damascus, downing some of them, Syria’s state news agency reported on Monday. SANA cited a military source as saying the missiles came from the skies over eastern Lebanon, and targeted outposts in the vicinity of Damascus, resulting in material losses. No other details were immediately available, and there was no comment from Israel on the attack which occurred shortly after 3am in Damascus. Israel carries out raids on Syria mostly overnight. An opposition war-monitoring group said the strikes targeted arms depots of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in the…
A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her home country’s Covid-19 border policy said on Tuesday she will return home after her government finally offered her a pathway back. The government offer amounted to a backdown by New Zealand after officials had earlier insisted that Charlotte Bellis needed to reapply for a spot in the country’s bottlenecked quarantine hotels. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said Bellis had been offered a voucher for a room. “I will be returning to my home country New Zealand at the beginning of March to give birth to our baby girl,”…
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday asked elected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) representatives hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to learn from ‘mistakes’ committed in the first phase of local government elections in the province and increase public interaction before the second phase of the polls scheduled for March 27. Mr Khan would visit Bahawalpur division where he would launch the health insurance card facility on Tuesday for over 10 million residents of three districts namely Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar, according to an official announcement. Sources told Dawn that the prime minister opted to hold meetings at his hilltop palatial Banigala residence…
ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Monday passed a resolution against a “systematic campaign” being run to propagate presidential system of government in the country, warning that such a move would have “disastrous consequences” for the federation. Through the resolution, tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani on behalf of the lawmakers belonging to almost all opposition parties represented in the house, the Senate made a “resolve that it will preserve and protect the parliamentary form of government as envisaged in the 1973 Constitution”. The resolution was adopted by the house as it was not opposed by the treasury members. Leader of…
