Stricter visa policies for foreign madrassah students
KarachiThe stay of thousands of foreign students studying at madrassahs in the country is under threat again, now that the visa policy has rep
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Rs 2300 bln budget for 2008-09 announced
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Naveed Qamar unveiled the federal budget for year 2008-09 with a total outlay of 2300 billion rupees in the parliament, which is 29.7 percent higher than the budget of the outgoing financial year.According to the budget document, the expenditure of 2.01 trillion has been estimated. The government targeted to generate net tax revenues of 1.25 trillion rupees through Federal Board of Revenue, showing an increase of 23.1 percent over this fiscal year. Total resources available for the expenditure will be 1.84 trillion rupees against 1394 billion available in the outgoing financial year. The budget deficit likely to remain at 4.7 percent of the GDP or 582 billion rupees.The federal government has allocated 549 billion rupees for the Public sector development programme. The federal government will do 149 billion of bank borrowing coupled with the non-tax revenue receipts of 427.8 billion rupees, during the year. The government will receive net capital receipts of 221.3 billion rupees as well.A total of 929.5 billion rupees will be spent on the general Public service. In the budget 296.1 billion rupees have been provided for defence needs showing an increase of 7.6 percent. Another 201.2 billion rupees have been made available for economic affairs. For public order and safety affairs 26.8 billion have been provided. For education 24.6 billion rupees have been allocated. 5.5 billion rupees have been allocated for education sector in the country. The country will spend 4.8 billion rupees on social protection and 1.4 billion rupees on housing and community projects. Allocation of funds A meager 0 .2 billion rupees have been allocated for the environment protection.
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Pakistan News
PSDP allocation increased by 20pc
ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday announced Rs549.7 billion for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for FY2008-09, with a special allo
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Budget slammed as anti-people
LAHORE THE general public has blasted the Federal Budget 2008-09 and termed it anti-people while expressing fear that it will further increase
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Budget cuts subsidy, broadens tax net
ISLAMABAD: The PPP government on Wednesday presented its first budget for the fiscal year 2008-09 in the National Assembly with an outlay of Rs2.010 t
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Pakistan accuses US forces of deliberately killing paramilitary in border strike (McClatchy Newspapers via Yahoo! News)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— A U.S. airstrike that killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops on the border with Afghanistan has dealt a new blow to already strained U.S.-Pakistani military relations.
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PBF meets to work out mindgame plan
KARACHI: The Board of Directors of the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF) will be meeting here later this week to work out a strategy to complement the
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Jam Sadiq Bridge cracks, traffic diverted indefinitely
KarachiThe Jam Sadiq Ali Bridge was closed to traffic for an indefinite period when cracks developed Wednesday evening on a portion of the bri
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Pakistan says NATO strike killed government troops (McClatchy Newspapers via Yahoo! News)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— Pakistan on Wednesday accused U.S.-led NATO forces of killing 11 paramilitary troops in an “unprovoked” and “senseless” air strike Tuesday night on their post just inside Pakistan’s mountainous border with Afghanistan.
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Pakistan News
India will not sign CTBT, says Manmohan
NEW DELHI: India will not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) that prevents it from conducting further nuclear tests and impinges on its sovereignty, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday. Addressing new recruits of the Indian Foreign Service at a function, the prime minister also stressed that the nuclear deal India had signed with the US protected its “national interests”.”Despite the fact that we are not a signatory to the NPT (Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty), and we have also said that if the CTBT came into being we will not sign it, there is no pressure from the US on India to sign the NPT or any other international arrangement of that sort to enter into nuclear cooperation for civil energy,” Manmohan Singh said.Though it has not signed the CTBT, India has put a moratorium on further tests since the nuclear tests at Pokhran in May 1998. The Left parties and opposition parties have warned that if India signs the nuclear deal with the US, it would be prevented from conducting further tests.The prime minister’’s remarks on the nuclear deal that has run into stiff opposition from the Left parties appears to be another attempt to clear some of the apprehensions.”For the first time we got the US to appreciate that India is a nuclear weapons state, that India has the right to develop nuclear power to protect its strategic interests, and that it is a decision that must be made by the people of India not subject to any international supervision or any international interference,” Manmohan Singh added.
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