ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party was in open disarray on Thursday over whether it would proceed with a mass march on Islamabad this weekend, after one of its senior figures suggested the protest could be called off in exchange for concessions the party’s official spokesperson said were never on the table.
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Dar meets Saudi, Turkish counterparts in New York; military chiefs set to convene over Houthi threat
ISLAMABAD: Deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, met his Saudi Arabian and Turkish counterparts in New York on Friday to take stock of progress on turning their three-way defence pact into a working institution, as Saudi Arabia contends with an intensifying wave of missile and drone attacks from Yemen’s Houthi movement.
IMF demands 174 law changes from Pakistan before next payout
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan must rewrite 174 provisions across its legal code to satisfy the International Monetary Fund, a bill that touches everything from state-enterprise governance to sugar prices and lays bare how deeply the Fund’s $8.4 billion lending program now reaches into the machinery of government.
Pakistan cuts petrol for third day, diesel for fourth as oil retreats on Iran-US talks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan lowered pump prices on Thursday for a third consecutive day on petrol and a fourth on diesel — cutting the two fuels by 84 paisas and Rs2.63 a liter, respectively, as global crude continued to retreat from its September highs even though Iran-U.S. talks at the United Nations General Assembly broke up without a joint statement.
Federal government to take Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Supreme Court over new police law
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has announced it will mount a legal challenge in the Supreme Court against a new law passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet that would hand the provincial government sweeping new powers over the police force, in an escalating confrontation between Islamabad and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf administration in Peshawar.
Four refiners sign $5 billion upgrade deal after seven-year delay
ISLAMABAD: Four of Pakistan’s five oil refiners signed binding agreements with the government on Thursday to spend roughly $5 billion over five years upgrading their plants, ending a stalemate that stretched nearly seven years and blocked one of the country’s largest planned industrial investments.
Police officer martyred, three hurt in Peshawar gun battle
PESHAWAR: A police officer has been killed and three of his colleagues wounded after gunmen opened fire on a counter-terrorism raid on the outskirts of Peshawar, in an operation that authorities say thwarted a major suicide bombing plot.
Rangers deployed, motorways shut, Islamabad sealed ahead of PTI march demanding Imran Khan’s release
ISLAMABAD: The government has authorised the deployment of Pakistan Rangers across Islamabad Capital Territory and several districts of Punjab, running from 20 September to 5 October, in anticipation of a nationwide protest called by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party founded by the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. The move comes as major motorways linking the capital to the rest of the country remain closed, supporters and relatives of Khan are held in detention, and the government and opposition trade accusations over secret talks that neither side will fully confirm.
PM Sharif meets Iran’s president in New York to save collapsed peace deal
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sat down with Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York on Thursday, resuming a diplomatic effort that has become one of the few remaining threads connecting Washington and Tehran after months of war, air strikes and a naval blockade that shows no sign of lifting.
Power utility K-Electric’s rate battle ends in defeat
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority won a bid to keep in place a steep cut to K-Electric Ltd.’s power tariff, a decision that preserves close to 200 billion rupees in savings for the government and deals a setback to a utility already grappling with a bank-led liquidity squeeze.