President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday approved the constitution of the 13-member National Economic Council (NEC) — a constitutional body responsible for reviewing the country’s overall economic condition and formulating plans while ensuring balanced development and regional equity — under Article 156 of the Constitution. According to a notification from the Cabinet Division, the council includes Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and the four chief ministers. The council further includes four more members recommended by the chief ministers: Punjab minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Sindh Irrigation Minister…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
An Indian court on Friday granted bail to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in the latest of several defamation cases brought against him for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his party of corruption. Gandhi, 53, has faced numerous legal cases brought by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was last year briefly disqualified from parliament after a criminal libel conviction. He is one of several top opposition leaders to face criminal proceedings in cases they claim are politically driven by Modi’s government. The latest case stems from advertisements published by Gandhi’s Congress party accusing the BJP of corruptly taking commissions from infrastructure…
Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervaiz Malik informed the National Assembly on Friday that flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to Europe were expected to be restored soon. Responding to a calling attention notice regarding the ban on PIA flights by the UK and the European Union, he said, “A detailed action plan from Pakistan has been dispatched to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the verification process is currently underway.” He added: “We hope that the verification process will be completed within two to three months and flights to Europe will be restored.” The…
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi rebels have detained an unspecified number of aid workers, including United Nations staff, in an apparently coordinated sweep, a diplomatic source and a Yemeni NGO said on Friday. Eighteen aid workers were kidnapped in four Houthi-held parts of the country, the Yemeni Mayyun Organisation for Human Rights said, listing 10 workers from UN agencies. A diplomatic source said “more than a dozen” aid workers, including UN staff, were kidnapped on Thursday. The abductions underline the perilous task facing aid workers in Yemen, whose long-running civil war has precipitated one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. “The Houthi armed group…
LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in a new setback to his election campaign, apologised on Friday for leaving D-Day commemorations early. He said he left early to give an interview in which he attacked the main opposition party. Sunak’s decision not to stay at the event in northern France alongside other world leaders was met with dismay in the Conservative Party. Opinion polls suggest he faces the prospect of a heavy defeat in the national election on July 4. The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, remained in Normandy for the duration of events marking the 80th anniversary of the ‘D-Day’…
WASHINGTON: The United States may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons in coming years to “deter growing threats” from Russia, China and “other adversaries”, a White House aide said on Friday. Pranay Vaddi, the top National Security Council arms control official, made his comments in a speech on “a more competitive approach” to arms control that outlined a policy shift aimed at pressing Moscow and Beijing to reverse rejections of US calls for arsenal limitation talks. “Absent a change in adversary arsenals, we may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is…
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday expressed the hope that India’s new government would promote peace and address the Kashmir dispute, underscoring Pakistan’s commitment to regional stability. FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, while speaking at a media briefing, said, “We hope that India will take steps to create a conducive environment for advancement of peace and dialogue and resolution of long-standing dispute for the mutual benefit of the peoples of Pakistan and India.” Despite cobbling together the required numbers in Lok Sabha to form the government, BJP’s subdued performance in the polls means it will have to heavily rely on regional…
NEW YORK: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has added Israel’s military to a global list of offenders who have committed violations against children, Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan said, describing the decision as “shameful.” Erdan said he was officially notified of the decision on Friday. The global list is included in a report on children and armed conflict due to be submitted to the UN Security Council on June 14. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the decision would impact the country’s relations with the United Nations. Erdan said he was notified by Guterres’ chief of staff and posted a…
NEW DELHI: Indian President Draupadi Murmu invited Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi for the swearing in of the government on Sunday, after his election as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), this time including his own BJP lawmakers, on Friday. Addressing the NDA in his acceptance speech, Modi displayed all the bitterness he showed towards the opposition during his furious electioneering, particularly targeting the Congress party by name. The speech exuded a distinct sense that Modi had not abandoned the combative mode, ignoring the convention that such occasions are used to highlight the achievements of democracy. This could be because…
will experience a thrilling first on Sunday — a World Cup cricket match hosted in a US city between Asian powerhouses: rivals India and Pakistan. “India-Pakistan is the game everyone would like to watch, and… it’s happening in our backyard,” said Ajith Shetty, president of two local cricket leagues. “I’m very, very thrilled,” the Indian native told AFP on Friday. However, roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the pop-up stadium at Eisenhower Park on Long Island, fans interviewed in the bustling Little India neighborhood of Queens said they won’t be able to attend the game in person. “I asked about it, but it’s so expensive.…
