Day: March 1, 2018

A total of 87,813 intending pilgrims were selected through a transparent computerised balloting on Thursday to perform the religious obligation under the Government Haj Scheme 2018. Minister of State for Religious Affairs Pir Aminul Hasnat Shah conducted the balloting process. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said: “Keeping in mind the growing restlessness among applicants and the uncertainty about reimbursement of payment, the ministry had requested the federal cabinet to proceed with the lottery under a 50 per cent quota, following which the balloting took place and the lucky winners…

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An independent candidate backed by the ruling PML-N on Thursday comfortably cruised to victory in a by-election on a Senate seat vacated after the disqualification of former senator Nehal Hashmi. Dr Asad Ashraf bagged 298 votes in the 368-member Punjab Assembly — where the polling for the by-election took place — defeating Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Dr Zarqa Suharwardi-Taimur, who managed to obtain 38 votes. Ashraf had submitted his papers for the election as a PML-N nominee but was declared an independent candidate after a Supreme Court verdict restrained Nawaz Sharif…

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GILGIT: The National Accountability Bureau on Wednesday arrested three officials of Gilgit-Baltistan agriculture department for their alleged involvement in embezzlement of over Rs20 million through bogus bills and advertisements. NAB personnel arrested Nizamudin, GB deputy director agriculture, Sir Syed Ahmad, drawing and disbursing officer, and cashier Shah Zareen from Gilgit. According to a press release issued here, the accused misused their authority and embezzled the amount by processing bogus bills on the basis of fake advertisements, fake documents etc from various heads of the agriculture department in Diamer, during their…

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Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday extended support to Kabul’s proposed political process seeking to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate political group, and said Pakistan is ready for one-on-one talks with the Afghan Taliban. Asif’s statements come a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the second Kabul Process conference offered recognition of the Taliban as a political group and asked the group to take part in peace talks “to save the country”. The offer adds to a series of signals from both the Western-backed government and the Taliban suggesting a…

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A report submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday regarding television anchor Dr Shahid Masood’s claims about 6-year-old Zainab’s killer states that all 18 of the revelations made by Masood were false and baseless. The anchorperson had claimed during a late night show that Zainab’s rapist and murderer, Imran Ali, was a member of a pornography gang, which also includes a Punjab minister. During earlier hearings of the case, Masood had also told the court that the suspect has 37 foreign accounts. His claims about the bank accounts, however, were…

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