ISLAMABAD: One person was injured and a policeman narrowly avoided serious injury during two shoot-outs between police and suspects that took place in the capital during the last 48 hours. According to the police, one of the encounters occurred in I-15. The Criminal Intelligence Agency received information about a gang of robbers active in Jhangi Syedan and its surrounding areas, they said. Vigilance was mounted there and a police team deployed to arrest the gang. The team spotted three people on a motorcycle enter Service Road Motorway. On suspicion, the three were signalled to stop, but they abandoned the motorcycle…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: Academic activities remained suspended in the capital’s public-sector schools on the first day after the winter break as the protesting teachers and the federal government failed to reach any agreement on the Local Government Ordinance 2021. When the schools reopened on Monday, the teaching and non-teaching staff continued their boycott of classes and announced that their strike would continue till the government deleted section 166 of the ordinance. Under the section, government schools will be placed under the yet-to-be-elected mayor who will regulate the system. On the call of an action committee, heads of schools attended a general body…
ISLAMABAD: The capital on Monday reported 113 cases of Covid-19, including 95 of the Omicron variant. In the last 24 hours, 3,785 tests were conducted among contacts of the positive cases and suspects out of which 64 males and 49 females tested positive with the positivity rate of 2.98pc. Officials said 36 cases were reported in the age group of 20-29, 31 in 30-39, 11 in 50-59, 10 in 10-19, nine in 60-69, eight in 40-49, three each in 0-9 and 70-79 and two in 80 and above. Likewise, 12 cases were reported from Rawat, 11 from Lohi Bher, eight…
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday ordered capital authorities to seal off today Monal Restaurant and take control of the Margalla Greens Golf Club built on encroached land, also declaring illegal the military’s claim to 8,000 acres of Margalla Hills National Park. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the order to Islamabad Capital Territory Chief Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed while hearing a case related to encroachments in the national park. “This court will protect the wider public interest,” the judge said. The climate change secretary, who was present during the hearing, called for Islamabad’s master plan to be made…
ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday appreciated administrations of three urban districts — Kalat, Karachi South and Islamabad — for achieving targets of vaccinating maximum population. Moreover, three districts of remote areas — Orakzai, Neelam and Tharparkar — have also achieved maximum vaccination targets despite difficult terrain and limited resources. Meanwhile, the national positivity rate of Covid-19 has further risen to 3.66 per cent as 1,649 infections and three deaths were reported over the past 24 hours. Karachi again reported highest positivity of 15.52pc, Lahore 7.53pc, Gilgit 6.67pc, Peshawar 3.51pc, Mirpur 3.23pc, Hyderabad 3.18pc and Islamabad…
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday gave Pakistan Navy 72 hours to remove valuable or removable equipment from the site of its sailing club which it will demolish as per the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). In another development, the CDA also informed the naval authorities that its farming scheme on Simly Dam Road had been declared illegal and the civic agency has decided to take over the land. Through a notice, the CDA stated: “It is hereby directed that valuable and removable equipment from the site be removed within 72 hours after issuance of this…
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again said that his government’s relationship with the military was ‘exceptional’ and the opposition’s narrative regarding a rift between the government and the military was ‘dead and buried’. In an apparent response to his detractors, the PM told a meeting of party spokespersons on Monday that “civil-military relations are unprecedented these days”. The prime minister had shared similar views during a meeting with a journalist last week. When asked — in the context of rumours of a possible deal between the PML-N and military to send his government packing — whether he felt threatened from…
ISLAMABAD: The family of Rana Mohammad Shamim, the former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan, has called for a probe into the ‘revelations’ made by him in his affidavit and also sought action against some federal ministers and television anchorpersons for ‘defaming’ him. Chief Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear the petition on Tuesday (today). Anum Ahmed Rana, the daughter-in-law of the ex-chief judge, and her children — Mohammad Hamza Rana and Areeba Ahmed Rana — jointly filed the petition in the IHC on Monday. The court has already initiated contempt of court proceedings against Rana Shamim,…
ISLAMABAD: In an interesting development, the election commission scrutiny committee’s report on the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding shared with both the parties on Jan 4, does not include eight volumes of the documents and bank statements requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The documents concealed by the committee include all original 28 bank statements and year-wise details of foreign funds transferred to the PTI’s accounts between 2009-13. These crucial pieces of evidence have been kept confidential as per the committee’s own desires expressed on page 83 of its report that states that “the Committee is of the considered…
Billie Eilish and Finneas won Golden Globe on Sunday night for their Bond theme, ‘No Time To Die’. Eilish took home the win for Best Original Song at tonight’s not-televised 2022 Golden Globe Awards. The music sensation, 20, won for her James Bond theme song, No Time To Die – from the film of the same name – which she co-wrote with her musician brother, Finneas O’Connell, 24, and recorded in a bedroom studio. The duo beat out Beyonce, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Van Morrison, Carole King and Jennifer Hudson. Eilish – who wrote the ballad when she was 17 – is…
