KARACHI: Even after Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP)?s directives and government?s orders to sell sugar at Rs40 per kilogram all across country, people find it hard to buy sugar as it has disappeared form markets in many cities, Geo news reported on Tuesday.
For fear of raids being carried out from the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) to recover hoarded sugar bags, the wholesalers and retailers have either shifted sugar stocks to unidentified places or reduced stocks to quarter, sources said.
The General Secretary of Karachi Retailers and Grocers Association (KRGA) Fareed Qureshi told Geo news the retailers are in limbo, as they cannot sell sugar at more expensive rate than that of purchase price so they are afraid of purchasing new sugar stocks.
Meanwhile, Chairman KRGA Anees Majeed said wholesalers and retailers have a joint stock of 70,000 ton sugar which they bought at Rs44 per kilogram and now feel difficult to sell the same at Rs.40 a Kg.
Likewise, sugar has also gone extinct from markets in Lahore due to government?s crackdown on sugar mills meanwhile, markets in NWFP have also met the identical fate coupled with notification issued from government following SCP orders on sale of sugar at Rs40 a Kg.
Sugar is being sold at Rs50 per kg across Balochistan especially in Quetta as there seems sugar mafia to have completely overpowered poor people due to negligence of government.
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PESHAWAR: The NWFP assembly protested against Wapda for demanding the provincial government to pay one billion rupees and the opposition members staged walkout from the house.
The NWFP assembly discussed on Tuesday the issue relating the Wapda?s demand of payment worth Rs1 billion from the provincial government.
Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) member Shazia Aurangzeb drew the attention of the house to the matter on Point of Order.
The opposition members also held the Wapda?s demand as unwarranted, urging on the power authority to first pay the arrears of NWFP government.
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DIR: Ten suspected militants, including a close lieutenant of the outlawed Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad, surren
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ISLAMABAD: The senior Punjab Minister Raja Riaz said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will decide the future of Local Bodies System cum consensus of all four provinces, Geo news reported Tuesday.
The minister stated this while talking to Geo news here after holding sitting with PM Gilani.
He said I support similar Local Bodies System in all four provinces, hoping for positives measures to be taken by PPP government soon.
?The development funds shall be spent on minimizing the problems of province?, he claimed adding, ?Matters pertaining to political and administrative affairs of Punjab came during discussion with PM?.
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Pakistan News
KARACHI: Pakistani stocks ended up on Tuesday in healthy turnover as foreign investors bought energy and banking shares on expectation of strong corporate results, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’’s (KSE) 100-share index .KSE rose 155.16 points, or 1.64 percent, to end at 9,643.11 on turnover of 205.6 million shares.
The index has gained 64.4 percent this year after losing 58.3 percent in 2008.
“There was a lot of foreign interest in exploration companies and banking stocks,” said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at brokers” at Arif Habib Ltd.
Among the most active companies, Bank Alfalah, volume leader, rose 7.94 percent to 13.59 rupees, NIB Bank gained 1.65 percent to 5.53 rupees while Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd., the heaviest weighted stock, ended 4.99 percent higher at 112.44 rupees.
Dealers said the market also rose as a facility that would allow investors to buy shares on leverage had won approval.
Directors of the stock exchange met on Monday and approved margin trading which now has to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
In the currency market, the rupee ended slightly firmer at 83.26/31 to the dollar compared with Monday’’s close of 83.30/35. Dealers said the rupee was expected to come under pressure because of payments for imports.
The rupee has lost 5 percent this year after sliding 22.12 percent in 2008.
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LAHORE: Punjab Governor Salman Taseer Tuesday said the foreign tours by President Asif Ali Zardari are meant for augmenting national exports, so that optimal foreign exchange remittances could be earned.
He said this while talking to a delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association at Governor House here.
Federal Minister for Textile Rana Farooq Saeed was also present on the occasion.
Punjab Governor said President Zardari?s measures for the progress of national economy are appreciable and he is advocating trade with the whole world.
Salman Taseer said MD Sui Gas and officials of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) have been directed to minimize load shedding for the textile industry.
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KARACHI: Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has reissued the tender inviting bids to sell 2,30,000 tons exported wheat in local market, Geo news reported on Tuesday.
According to TCP spokesman Khizr Hayat, the tender of wheat to be sold in local market was scheduled to be opened on September 29 but was canceled two days earlier on September 27 owing to unknown reasons.
Moreover, the reissued tender will now be opened on October 14 as another such tender on sale of 100,000 tons of exported wheat, scheduled to be opened on September 27, has not been finalized thus far, he divulged.
TCP had received bids on sale of former tender from 100 to 227 dollars per ton, he added.
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Rawalpindi
The number of ?sasta tandoors? would be increased from 12,000 to 20,000 in the province, said Chairman Chief Minister?s Sasti Roti S
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LONDON: England cricket star Andrew Flintoff and football legend Gary Lineker dove for cover when Taliban insurgents attacked a British military base
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Pakistan News
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said the government would spare no effort to alleviate poverty and improve socio economic conditions in Balochistan.
Talking to a delegation from Balochistan led by Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani, he said the Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan set up by the government had finalized its report and recommendations which would be announced by the Prime Minister after consultation with other political leaders and stakeholders.
The President said the people of Balochistan had been neglected in the past thus creating a sense of deprivation among the people of the area.
He said the government of Pakistan Peoples Party was focusing on political harmony, economic development and improving law and order situation of this province as its main priority.
?We are committed to alleviate the sense of deprivation of the people of Balochistan and bring the province at par with other parts of the country,? he said.
The President said in his address to the parliament, he had called for giving a thought to amnesty to political exiles for promoting political harmony.
The PPP, he said, had also publicly apologized to the people of Balochistan for the excesses done to them in the past regardless of which government was in power.
Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani apprised the President of various development activities being undertaken in the province.
The delegation appreciated the President for his keen interest to resolve the problems and issues of the people of Balochistan.
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