Investigative Journalist Ahmad Noorani was called a ‘traitor and an India agent’ by a private TV channel after he published a report about the massive growth in the assets of PM’s Special Assistant Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa. In a tweet, Noorani said the ARY News flashed his pictures and called him an Indian agent, resulting in death threats.
Frustrated by the lack of action by departments concerned, residents of DHA and Clifton, Karachi gathered outside the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) office to protest against the post-rain situation in the two localities. The protesters, carrying placards and chanting slogans, demanded that the drainage system in the areas be improved and roads be repaired and made from scratch.
The Foreign Office has strongly condemned recent incidents in Sweden and Norway in which copies of the Holy Quran were reportedly burnt, stating respect of religious beliefs is “critical for global peace and prosperity.”. “The rise of such Islamophobic occurrences goes against the spirit of any religion. Freedom of speech can’t justify religious hatred,” Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri posted on Twitter.
The religious affairs ministry has decided to enact a new legislation regarding the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and frame a law regarding the Hajj and Umra in order to provide legal cover to the matters related to the pilgrimage. The proposed legislation suggested that no one would be allowed to announce the moon sighting on their own and violators will be fined and punished.
An anti-terrorism court has convicted three leaders of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) in a new case of terror financing registered by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). ATC-III Presiding Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar announced the verdict against Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Hafiz Abdul Salam and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki and awarded a collective imprisonment of 16-and-a-half years to Iqbal and Salam while one-and-a-half-year jail term to Mak
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that he has reviewed the plan by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to clear Karachi’s nullahs and riverbeds and that work on it will begin by September. The federal minister revealed on Twitter that the work will be completed within one year and will “solve problem of Karachi drowning ever time it rains heavily”.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has announced that electric buses will operate in Pakistan from this year. The minister took to Twitter to share a Strategic Alliance Agreement between Daewoo Express and Skywell Automobile, China, according to which an electrical vehicles value chain will be set up in Pakistan.
Religious seminaries in the province of Sindh will now be registered by the government’s Education Department to formally recognise their academic services. The Sindh government would soon adopt a separate law for proper control and regulation of the religious seminaries, like the case of schools and colleges in the province. This decision was taken at a meeting of provincial Apex Committee of Sindh.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world with cases of Polio endemic as Africa was declared free of wild polio on Tuesday. All 47 countries in the WHO’s Africa region have eradicated the crippling viral disease, the last polio case was recorded four years ago in Nigeria. Although thousands of people across Africa still live with the effects of the disease.
According to Bloomberg, the rebound that’s helped make Pakistan equities Asia’s best performers since the end of March isn’t done yet. Pakistan’s KSE-100 Index is up 36% from the end of March, the best rebound among major Asian equity indexes for the period. The central bank’s aggressive cutting of interest rates this year has reduced the double-digit returns from fixed income and bolstered the bullish case for equities.