Category: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and the National Heritage & Culture Division have organised a calligraphic exhibition and artist talk called “The Call of the Divine,” which features the works of Razwan Baig, Shazian Baig and Shanzay Baig, at the National Art Gallery, Islamabad. The exhibition showcases a blend of traditional and modern calligraphy, highlighting Quranic verses and Pakistani culture. The artists, part of the renowned Baig family, have exhibited their work internationally and are recognised for their contributions to Pakistani art. The chief guest at…

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has moved closer to formalising a framework for the annual performance evaluation of high court judges, with a key committee reaching broad agreement on proposed rules aimed at setting measurable standards under Article 175-A (20) of the Constitution. A meeting of the JCP committee, led by Justice Aamir Farooq, was held on Tuesday to deliberate on the draft rules. Other members of the committee include Mansoor Awan, Ali Zafar and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative Ahsan Bhoon. The meeting continued for more than…

ISLAMABAD: A grave case of alleged negligence occurred at Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital, where a woman admitted for lung treatment lost her life due to a wrong medical procedure. Instead of performing a biopsy on the lungs of a woman suffering from a pulmonary disease, doctors mistakenly carried out a biopsy on her liver. The matter was exposed after the samples sent to a private laboratory revealed the shocking truth. The relatives of the deceased patient have filed a formal application with the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory…

ISLAMABAD: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Tuesday that terrorists had found a “conducive environment” in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which he linked to the province recording the highest number of attacks over the past year. Addressing a wide-ranging media briefing at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the chief military spokesperson said the state’s stance on eliminating terrorism was unequivocal and asserted that the menace would be crushed decisively through the use of force and without compromise. He rejected narratives portraying Pakistan as a “powerless state”,…

ISLAMABAD: A group of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, along with politicians from other parties, on Wednesday proposed a series of confidence-building measures, including the formation of high-powered negotiation teams comprising government and opposition representatives, to help lower the country’s political temperature. The proposals were outlined in a joint declaration issued by the National Dialogue Committee (NDC), an initiative launched by former PTI leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Imran Ismail and Mahmood Moulvi. The NDC convened a national conference to initiate a dialogue process aimed at bringing the government and opposition to…

RAWALPINDI: Ten more members of the executive body have been elected unopposed in the annual elections of the District Bar Association Rawalpindi. Earlier, Library Secretary Kashif Hussain and Auditor Muhammad Nazakat were also elected unopposed. The newly elected unopposed executive body members include Huriya Saeed, Aleema Khalid, Nahid Nazir, Hasan Nawaz, Hanan Irfan, Syed Zainul Abideen, Faheem Zafar, Muhammad Rizwan, Mudassar Mahmood, and Wajahat Zohur. Election Board Chairman Sajid Ilyas Bhatti said a projection meeting will be held today, Thursday, January 8, during which candidates for president, secretary, vice president,…

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the State Bank of Pakistan and commercial banks to further simplify and expand credit mechanisms for SMEs, new businesses and small farmers amid terming improved access to finance a top government priority for economic growth and inclusion. He made these remarks while chairing a high-level review meeting on facilitation of loans for SMEs, small farmers here, a Prime Minister’s Office statement said. He emphasized that priority financing should be ensured for service providers to promote innovation in the agriculture sector.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reportedly given the go-ahead to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to proceed with negotiations between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), sources said on Wednesday, a significant development in efforts to cool political temperatures. Parliamentary sources said that the government side has agreed to take part in the talks at the speaker’s request. However, discussions will only be held with PTI’s elected representatives, while no engagement is planned with unelected party figures. Despite the government’s readiness, the sources said, no PTI leader…

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in talks to convert about $2 billion of Saudi loans into a JF-17 fighter jet deal, two Pakistani sources said, deepening military cooperation months after the two nations signed a mutual defence pact last year. The talks underscore how the two allies are moving to operationalise defence cooperation at a time when Pakistan is facing acute financial strain and Saudi Arabia is reshaping its security partnerships to hedge against uncertainty about U.S. commitments in the Middle East. The mutual defence deal was signed following Israel’s…