Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari formally launched the Benazir Hunarmand Programme at a ceremo­ny held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called on President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday during his visit to attend the 51st session of OIC CFM and discussed matters of bilateral and regional interest. He was accompanied by Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. During the meeting, the FM Dar underscored the profound importance that Pakistan accords to its enduring bilateral relations with Turkiye. Both the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen and diversify the longstanding brotherly cooperation between the two countries. The leaders expressed strong condemnation of the continued Israeli attacks in blatant violation of fundamental principles of international law, reiterated support for Iran’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and its right to self-defense under the UN Charter, agreed to continue diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation, and urged the international community to play its part in restoring peace and stability...

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Saturday approved key amendments to the Finance Bill 2025, including tax relief for low-income salaried individuals, a reduction in the super tax rate, and an increase in the cash withdrawal threshold for non-filers. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, chaired by MNA Naveed Qamar, carried out a clause-by-clause review of the Finance Bill 2025 — a departure from previous years when only one or two sessions were typically held. The committee also reviewed amendments to the Islamabad Capital Territory (Tax on Services) Ordinance 2001, and recommended their approval by the National Assembly. A major proposal endorsed by the committee is the reduction of the income tax rate from 2.5pc to 1pc for salaried individuals earning between Rs600,000 and Rs1.2m annually. Additionally, the committee supported a 0.5pc cut in the super tax on the corporate sector. Cash withdrawal limit In banking, the committee approved increasing the daily cash withdrawal l...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif on Saturday directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs to formulate a detailed ac­tion plan with timeline for the next year’s Hajj without any delay.

• Rules initiation of criminal proceedings unlawful without investigative audit and show-cause notice • Says taxes should be imposed reasonably and without discrimination ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Saturday barred the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from arresting or initiating criminal prosecution to recover tax due from defaulters without prior determination of their tax liability. “We have no hesitation to conclude that without investigative audit or issuance of show-cause notice or providing opportunity to explain the matters, registration of FIR, initiation of criminal proceeding and arrest of registered person is without jurisdiction and lawful authority,” observed Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi in a judgement he authored. Justice Abbasi was a member of a three-judge SC bench, which was seized with a number of appeals against judgements of Lahore, Sindh and Islamabad high courts. The controversy at hand revolves around determining the legality of pre-trial steps including arrest and detention of individ...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Turkiye on Satur­day reaffirmed their commit­ment to further deepen and diversify the longstanding broth­erly cooperation between the two countries.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Saturday said that India’s illegal announcement to hold the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance constitutes a clear violation of international law, the provisions of the treaty itself, and the fundamental principles governing inter-state relations.

• Six terrorists killed in police operations • Bodies of four men, including two soldiers, found in Mardan PESHAWAR / QUETTA: Six security personnel were martyred and as many terrorists gunned down in attacks and operations across Khyber Pakht­unkhwa and Balochistan, officials confirmed on Saturday. Meanwhile, the bodies of four men, including two army personnel, were found in Mardan. In Swabi, two police personnel were martyred on Friday midnight when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire, according to Swabi District Police Officer Azhar Khan. The martyred policemen were on duty in the Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate police station and had stopped to drink water at a hotel when two assailants on motorcycles opened fire. Videos shared on social media showed the cops, Zahid Khan and Jamaluddin from Gadoon Amazai region, sitting on chairs when the attackers opened fire. Their funerals were held at Shahmansoor Police Lines. Mardan Regional Police Officer Najeebur Rehman, DPO Khan, SP Investigation Iftikhar Ali ...

ISLAMABAD/LAH­ORE: A court in Islamabad on Saturday acquitted several senior PTI leaders, including its chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, in two protest-related cases from last year, while in Lahore, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was granted post-arrest bail in a May 9, 2023, riots case. Islamabad Judicial Mag­istrate Shahzad Ah­med anno­unced the verdict after reserving it earlier in the day, accepting the acquittal applications filed in case numbers 425 and 498 registered with the Karachi Company Police Station. The protest in question was organised on April 26, 2024, and moved from the office of PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen towards the Karachi Com­pany, reportedly in violation of Section 144 and other legal provisions. During the proceedings, PTI leaders Shoaib Shaheen and Muhammad Ali Bukhari appeared before the court, while exemption pleas on behalf of Barrister Gohar and Omar Ayub were submitted and duly accepted. The defence counsel argued that the case had ...

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar Saturday met with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, Murat Nurtleu, on the sidelines of the 51st OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Istanbul.

• Standing committee recommends 50pc raise in govt employees’ pay, 20pc increase in pension • Tax exemptions sought for individuals earning Rs1.2m annually ISLAMABAD: As the government struggles to balance its revenue and expenses, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue has recommended a 50 per cent increase in government employees’ salaries, raise in pensions, removal of import duties on solar panels and a significant cut in levies on small vehicles. The committee, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, has put forward more than 200 recommendations, including 48 general proposals, 133 changes to the Finance Bill 2025 and 21 related to the Public Sector Development Programmes. The recommendations were presented in the upper house on Saturday and subsequently forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration. The recommendations only have an advisory value and the government is not bound to follow them. Recommendations The Senate committee has proposed a 50pc salary increase for government emp...

Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) has strongly condemned Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remarks refusing to reinstate the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), terming them a “brazen disregard” for international agreements and legal norms.

• Income tax for Rs50,000-Rs100,000 monthly salaries cut to 1pc • Solar panel import tax slashed from 18pc to 10pc • Opposition criticises lack of transparency on Senate finance committee report • Shibli Faraz says economy running unsustainably on loans ISLAMABAD: Under fire from parliamentarians and business leaders over a clause allowing tax officers to detain suspected evaders, Finance Minister Muha­mmad Aurangzeb told the Senate on Saturday that more safeguards have been added to the law to prevent misuse of authority. Speaking during the Senate debate on the Finance Bill 2025, Mr Aurangzeb said that detailed consultations were held with Senators Saleem Mand­viwalla and Farooq H. Naek, resulting in clearer and more balanced provisions, which will be shared during his upcoming speech in the National Assembly. The rollback follows strong push-back from business lobbies and both parliamentary committees, which argued that the original clause — allowing officers to detain suspects without external approval — ...

ISLAMABAD: The pre­sence of poliovirus has been confirmed in seven distri­cts across all four provinces. The Regional Refer­ence Laboratory for Polio Era­dication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) tested sewage samples from nine districts, of which seven were found positive for the presence of poliovirus. A sewage sample from an area is the basic parameter used to identify the presence of the virus in an area. It determines if polio vaccination campaigns were resulting in the desired immunity among children. An NIH official said wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was detected in sewage samples collected from Gwadar, Quetta, South Waziristan Lower, South Waziristan Upper, Rawalpindi, Larkana and Mirpurkhas. The two negative samples were collected from Pishin and Lahore. The official explained that if the virus is found in sewage, it is called a positive sample and whenever a child is paralysed with the virus, it is called a positive case. After the virus is detected in sewage samples, polio campaigns are he...

At least eight people were killed Saturday when a hot-air balloon with 21 passengers caught fire in southern Brazil, a state governor said. It was the second fatal balloon accident in the vast South American country in less than a week. “Eight fatalities and 13 survivors,” Santa Catarina state governor Jorginho Mello said on X. […]

KARACHI: A series of violent incidents unfolded in Karachi within a few hours as three robbers were killed and a citizen was injured in different engagements in the metropolis, ARY News reported, citing police. A citizen, identified as Subash Chand, was injured due to gunfire during a robbery attempt near Sea View, the police said. […]

Famous YouTuber MrBeast has revealed the unexpected and ‘depressing’ effects of completing a two-week water-only fast. Known for his extreme challenges and huge giveaways on YouTube, MrBeast took on this new task to test how his body would react, but the outcome was far from what he expected. MrBeast, who boasts over 400 million YouTube […]

ISLAMABAD: Khurram Shehzad, Adviser to the Finance Minister, stated that the federal government has successfully resolved Pakistan’s long-standing issue of circular debt through a historic Rs1.275 trillion Islamic financing agreement with 18 commercial banks, ARY News reported. Khurram Shehzad made the announcement, hailing the development as a foundation of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif administration’s major […]

Fordow, Natanz, Esfahan hit in successful air raid; Trump signals strength and calls for peace

BEIRU: A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday. The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s […]