Month: April 2018

13 After a long round of negotiations with the Punjab government, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Friday early morning called off its protest in Lahore and other cities. Life in Lahore was disrupted on Thursday when TLP leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his workers to “come out on streets” until the party’s demands were met. The workers had choked the provincial capital’s major roads while smaller protests were also held in other cities of Punjab, including Sialkot, Sahiwal, Gujranwala, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Chunia, Multan, Faisalabad and Muzaffargarh. The announcement to end…

The Supreme Court on Thursday barred the government from proceeding with privatisation of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) without its permission. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar passed the order while hearing a case pertaining to a suo motu notice against sales of national assets on lower prices. Irked by the heavy losses of the national flag-carrier and its proposed privatisation, the chief justice said that he may constitute a judicial commission to calculate and redress the losses incurred upon the airline. “Who is responsible for the loss of Rs360 billion?…

Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday alleged once again that three members of the joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe his family’s business dealings abroad were “are our worst political opponents”, and expressed fears that Adiala Jail was already being prepared for him. Sharif, along with his daughter Maryam, made the remarks after appearing before an accountability court in Islamabad in a reference concerning his family’s Avenfield properties. “Bit by bit, the reality of the JIT’s investigative report is being revealed,” he said in his customary talk with the media…

 Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday directed the last two chief ministers of Balochistan — Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Nawab Sanaullah Zehri — to appear before the apex court and explain what they did for the improvement of governance in the province during their respective tenures. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the CJP, was hearing cases at the court’s Quetta registry regarding the plight of public hospitals and medical colleges, and a doctors’ strike in the province. “Three chief ministers came during one tenure…