Pakistan Today

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched a probe into the purchase of ATR-72 aircraft by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on an expensive dry lease for six years. The FIA has decided to issue notices to all those responsible for purchasing the PIA aircraft on an expensive lease, as it caused a loss of over Rs7 billion to the...

ISLAMABAD: The inquiry commission, which was tasked to probe the shortage of petroleum products during the month of June 2020, has raised serious questions over the performance of the special assistant to prime minister (SAPM) and petroleum secretary. The commission, in its report, has strongly recommended strict penal/departmental action against those involved in illegalities, especially in issuance of unlawful provisional...

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Monday that it has arrested three terrorists involved in the Rawalpindi bomb blast. A statement issued by the CTD said the militants admitted to carrying out four terrorist attacks in Pakistan and had planned to bomb the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE). It said the militants had financial links to terrorist organisations operating from...

LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday decided to utilise official rest houses for tourism purposes. In this regard, the Ministry of Irrigation handed over three of its rest houses to Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) after an MoU signing ceremony in Lahore. The memorandum of understanding was signed by PTDC General Manager (Operations) Asim Raza and Irrigation Chief Engineer Sheikh Moinuddin....

Pak-China border crossing at Khunjerab Pass will be opened tomorrow (Tuesday) for 10 days. According to an official notification, the border is being opened to evacuate stranded containers from China to Gilgit-Baltistan. Tourists will not be allowed to travel through border crossing during this period, it added. "Only loaded and stranded containers of traders and containers carrying hydropower machinery of a...

Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the officials concerned to prepare a comprehensive strategy to further expand the scope of Ehsaas Programme. The prime minister said this was talking to his Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation Sania Nishtar in Islamabad on Monday. Country Director World Bank Najy Benhassine was also present on the occasion. The PM was informed that the World...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has allocated the portfolio of Revenue Division to Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. A notification to this effect was issued on Monday. Consequently, Hafeez Shaikh will now be Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue. Earlier on December 11, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had sworn in as the federal finance minister. President Dr Arif Alvi had administered...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court resumed on Monday the hearing of a case related to the appointment of Air Marshal (r) Arshad Malik as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who headed the apex court bench, termed a report submitted by the national flag carrier in the court 'unsatisfactory', raising questions over its performance. Over...

ISLAMABAD: The drastic increase the prices of raw material has created a crisis-like situation in the struggling steel sector of Pakistan, as major players have been declaring heavy losses for the last two years, absorbing the impact of input costs without passing it on to the end consumers. "However, it is now becoming increasingly difficult for the steel sector to...

Pakistan will repay $2 billion loan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as per the repayment schedule. According to the people familiar with the matter, Pakistan is set to return $1 billion to Saudi Arabia in the current month, while the remaining $1 billion would likely be paid next year. Pakistan has arranged loans from alternate sources for repayment of...

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the government to immediately make public the commission's report on petroleum crisis. A report of the petroleum commission, which was formed to investigate the petroleum crisis earlier this year, was presented in the LHC. LHC Chief Justice Qasim Khan presided over the hearing, wherein the deputy attorney general of Pakistan presented arguments. Being asked...

Google services, including YouTube, Gmail and Google Drive, were restored for most users on Monday, following a global outage that affected thousands. Updating on its official Twitter handle, YouTube said: “We’re back up and running! You should be able to access YouTube again and enjoy videos as normal.” Update -- We’re back up and running! You should be able to access...

KARACHI: Bulls continued to charge relentlessly on Monday, with the indices accumulating gains all day long amid surge in market volumes. Global equity markets, on the other hand, displayed a mixed performance, whereas crude oil prices inched up from the previous close; WTI crude price appreciating 0.88pc to $46.98 while Brent crude oil price rising 0.96pc to $50.45 (3:50pm PST). "An...

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday would start the process for appointment of pertinent chief executive officers (CEOs) of power distribution companies (DISCOs) and approve the selection of managing directors of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL). In this regard, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan will preside over the meeting that has seven...

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Monday approved Rs1.11 per unit hike in power tariff on account of variations in fuel charges for the month of September 2020, putting a cumulative burden of Rs12 billion on consumers. The power regulator said that the authority, after incorporating the adjustments, has "reviewed and assessed an increase of Rs1.1 138/kWh...