Karachi

The Sindh High Court directed DIG Police, East to submit an inquiry report on the complaint of a woman against the registration of fals

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Pakistan News

Karachi: With the introduction of Al-Islami Saving Takaful Plan, Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited (DIBPL) became the first Islamic bank to launch

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Karachi

Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the power crisis in the country would be resolved in a year-and-

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ISLAMABAD: All the educational institutions of Sindh and the NWFP province including Azad Kashmir will remain closed till October 24 following the bombings at Islamic University of Islamabad. But, the Punjab government announced to close indefinitely all the educational institutions.

In the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Fatima Jinnah University, Barani, Allama Iqbal Open University, FAST University and Bahria University will remain closed till Sunday.

A meeting held here with Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa in chair, decided to keep all the educational institutions closed till further orders.

According to Sindh government announcement, all private and government institutes of the province will remain closed till October 24.

Announcements regarding keeping the universities closed tomorrow (October 21) have been made by Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad and the chancellors of universities in the province.

Azad Kashmir Education Secretary announced that all the educational institutions including Azad Kashmir University will remain closed till Sunday.

Balochistan education minister said all the educational institutions will remain closed till Sunday. However, all the educational institutions being run under Defence Ministry and those established in the cantonment area have already been closed for a week.

The sources privy to Interior Ministry said threats have been received to target the educational institutions especially those being run under Pakistan Army.

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Pakistan News

NEW DELHI: The ailing wife of Pakistani former star cricket player Waseem Akram has been admitted to hospital in India due to abject illness meanwhile, Waseem called nation for offering pray for health of his wife, Geo news reported Tuesday.

According to sources, Waseem Akram, in his message to nation, has called for prays for the early recovery of his wife (Huma Waseem) from illness.

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BRUSSELS: NATO?s 28 member states must quickly endorse US Gen Stanley McChrystal?s recommendation to send reinforcements to deal with the escalating i

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday clubbed a petition seeking relief under Section 7 of the NRO with the other petitions regarding the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) pending before the court as the matter was now before the parliament.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja heard appeal of a former DSP Mahar Mohammad Baqir against rejection of his relief plea under the NRO.

The police official had been booked on corruption charges by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Counsel for the appellant prayed to the court to grant relief to his client under the NRO, adding that under Section 7 of the Ordinance, relief could be granted in corruption cases registered before 1999.

The Chief Justice said that the apex court has received several letters of death row prisoners seeking relief under the NRO.

Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja observed that it was a very important issue before the court as the Constitution has granted equal rights to all citizens.

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LAHORE: Former Test cricketer Ijaz Ahmed has been appointed coach of the Pakistan Under-19 cricket team here on Tuesday.

Sources said that he has been appointed for a period up to the World Cup next year.

Ijaz has already coached Pakistan A team and he has also been a member of the national selection committee. But after assuming the charge of the coach, he will no more be the selector and thus the number of the selection committee members has become four while two of them are co-operated members.

The first assignment of Ijaz Ahmed is the under-19 tournament to be held in Sri Lanka where Pakistan will play with hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The three-nation series will begin from November 25.

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a comparative report from the government regarding pricing mechanisms for petroleum products in the international and local markets.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Jawwad S Khwaja heard two identical petitions of PML-N leader Zafar Iqbal Jhagra and PPP leader Rukhsana Zuberi against the “unjust” increase in petroleum prices and adjourned the case till October 29.

Acting Attorney General Shah Khawar and counsel for ZafarIqbal Jhagra, Ikram Chaudhry, appeared before the court while oil companies were represented by their counsel Khalid Anwar.

The court asked Secretary Petroleum to place an explanation before the court by next date of hearing regarding the pricing mechanism.

During the course of the proceedings, the Chief Justice also sought explanation of the formula determined by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) about pricing mechanism of petroleum products.

The Chief Justice observed that there was no justification to increase prices of petroleum products when its prices were on decline in the international market.

“Under which principle billions of rupees in taxes are being received on petroleum products,” he said.

He said it is correct that the governments cannot run without imposing taxes but “imposing so many taxes on one product is unjustified.”

The Chief Justice said that three months had passed but the Bhagwandas Commission Report has not so far been submitted before the Cabinet.

Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, counsel for Iqbal Zafar Jhagra submitted that benefit of decreasing oil prices in international market was not passed on to the consumers.

The Chief Justice directed Secretary Petroleum Salim Mehmoodto submit the monopoly list of quota of Liquid Petroleum Products (LPG).

He questioned that why only three to four persons had been monopolized in giving the LPG quota. He said that the government should decentralize the LPG quota.

He asked as to why locally produced oil products had been linked with the international market, adding that only petrol and diesel were imported while the rest of the products were locally produced.

Secretary Petroleum informed the court that the government imports 83 percent petroleum products while just 17 percent were locally produced.

Khalid Anwar, counsel for Oil Companies said that the previous government had given the quota of LPG to some influential people and it had been pointed out in the Bhagwandas Commission report.

He said that the government agreed with the report but so far no practical step has been taken.

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LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board?s Women Wing has announced the domestic calendar for the season 2009-10.

The season will begin in the current month with the Under-19 Regional Inter-District Tournament which will be played at the Regional headquarter in October and November.

In December, the first Shaheed Benazir Bhutto T20 Women Cricket Tournament will be held and the National Under-19 Women Championship will be played in January next year.

The Regional Inter-District Tournament Senior will be played at all regional headquarters while the National Women Cricket Championship will be held in Lahore in March and April and regional coaching sessions will also be held during this period.

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