Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Ministry of Finance to increase superannuation age limit of civil servants and early retirement of dead wood within two days. Current superannuation age of civil servants is 60 years, but due to increase in average life expectancy to 69 years, at least three years can be added to retirement age.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has appreciated the PPP-led Sindh government’s decision to set aside a Rs1 billion fund for the welfare of HIV infected patients. He also advised all other provinces to follow Sindh’s example. In a tweet, he lamented the negative role of media to highlight selected stories and overlooking the incidents taking place in other provinces.
Mohammad Akhtar – the cricket fan, who had travelled three hours to enjoy the Pakistan vs Australia match, was captured looking utterly disappointed as Asif Ali dropped a fairly easy catch. Akhtar’s expressions became fodder for a viral meme. People on social media used it to express their disappointment for everything from cricket to politics to every daily life matter.
The facility of registration of one mobile phone on one international passport will soon be revoked by the government. The decision has been taken to generate additional revenue as well as to stop the misuse of the baggage rule after the DIRBS system, that aims to curtail smuggling of mobile phones failed to achieve the desired results.
While meeting Chairman of Pakistan Tourism Board, Zulfiqar Bukhari, the Chairman of The Virdee Foundation, Peter Virdee, stated that over 500 million GBP (Rs. 96.5b) will be donated to Pakistan by Sikh businessmen to develop religious tourism. The meeting was organised between the two sides at Rembrandt Hotel, London, to discuss religious tourism and establishment of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.
The government, in order tighten the grip around offshore tax-evaders, have proposed that concealment of offshore assets worth above Rs100,000 would be deemed an offence punishable with imprisonment up to seven years or fine up to 200% of tax evaded amount or both. Names of individuals, who have evaded tax worth above Rs. 2.5m, will also be published in media.
As 240 passengers on board the British Airways’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner, holding Pakistani and British flags, are set to land at the Islamabad airport on Monday, June 3 at 9:25am, the British High Commissioner Thomas Drew has recorded a message for travellers from both countries by saying that the airline’s resuming operations is a testament to Pakistan’s improving security situation.
At least eight infants died in the children’s ward of District Headquarters Teaching Hospital Sahiwal in the last 24 hours. Sahiwal DC, Zaman Wattoo, informed the authorities that infants lost their live because of abnormally high temperature in ward caused by malfunctioning AC. The DC recommended biomedical engineer Luqman Tabish be suspended for his failure to fix the AC issues.
While the news of appointment of State Minister Zartaj Gul’s sister as Director NACTA is still circulating in the media, media source were able to unearth the appointment letter of Special Assistant to PM Mr. Naeem ul Haq’s Nephew, Shiraz ul Haq, as Director Regional Headoffice in NADRA. Earlier today, Naeem ul Haq strongly condemned nepotism via his tweet.
Official letter pointing to preferential treatment has caused controversy, as State Minister Zartaj Gul’s sister, Shabnam Gul, has been appointed NACTA’s director. Shabnam was serving as an assistant professor at LCWU in Grade-18, before her appointment as the director of key counter-terrorism body of the country. The official letter was written by Samiul Haq, Principal Staff Officer of Zartaj Gul.