A trainer aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed near Mardan, making it the second one in less than a week. According to a press release, the PAF trainer aircraft crashed on a routine training mission near Takht Bhai. The pilot safely ejected the aircraft before it fell. Board of inquiry has been ordered by Air Headquarters to determine the cause of accident.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has reportedly ordered the establishment of a massive 40-acre software city in the country’s capital, Islamabad. In a meeting held with high-profile officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Khan discussed various ways to strengthen country’s IT sector and shared his vision to boost the nation’s IT exports to $10 billion over the long term.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will meet in Paris for five days to decide on Pakistan’s grey list fate, staring on February 16. In October 2019, the FATF had decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list till February, giving it time to implement the FATF’s 27-point action plan. Pakistan is on its grey list because of deficiencies in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorist Financing regulations.
The sale of illegal cigarettes in the country has increased significantly since the imposition of the Federal Excise Duty (FED), according to a quarterly report released by the State Bank of Pakistan. The output of the official cigarette industry declined by 35.5% due to the increase in FED as it pushed the consumers towards cheaper alternatives in the form of counterfeits and cigarettes smuggled from abroad.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday fixed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s plea seeking her removal from the Exit Control List (ECL) for hearing on February 18. A two-member bench of the LHC headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi will hear the plea. Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh will be the other member of the bench.
NAB has summoned PPP head Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday (February 13) in the Joint Venture Opal 225 case. The bureau’s Rawalpindi branch has asked him to bring all Zardari Group records from 2008 to 2019. He has also been asked for a list of the company’s board of directors. NAB says an on-paper company was used to pull out Rs1.22 billion from fake accounts.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to introduce another Rs. 15 billion relief package to counter the uncontrolled inflation in the country. It was decided during a meeting that Rs. 15 billion will be used to provide an uninterrupted supply of household commodities to utility stores across the country. Along with that, the district and city administrations will be mobilized to keep a check on the prices of grocery items to curb price manipulation.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government will announce on Tuesday measures to reduce the prices of basic food items. The premier said in a series of tweets that he understands the difficulties people have to go through due to inflation in the country. He also mentioned that the government is investigating the rise in sugar and flour prices.
At least 70 people were arrested and 50 cases were registered across Faisalabad in the past 24 hours for flying kites in the city despite a ban. As several people get killed or injured every year during the festival, the city police started a campaign against kite flying. The police conducted operations across the city to arrest people involved in flying kites and confiscated more than 200,000 kites.
There are 18 social media gangs such as Triple Three and Tiger Gang that threaten and rob people are operating in Rawalpindi, according to the police. There are 35 to 40 members on average in each gang of ages between 18 and 25 having no previous criminal record, with Triple Three being the largest of all with 250 members.