Pakistan

Finance minister says country’s economy grew 2.

COAS Syed Asim Munir visits forward positions along LOC, celebrates Eidul Azha with troops You have befittingly avenged loss of lives of innocent Pakistani civilians during war with India.

ISLAMABAD - The coalition government led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will present its second federal budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, with an estimated outlay of around Rs18 trillion, today (Tuesday).

LAHORE - Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif made phone calls to heads of governments and states of a number of Muslim countries on Eid ul Azha to exchange Eid greetings and conveyed well wishes for their prosperity and wellbeing.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed the immediate registration of all unregistered restaurants and marriage halls across the province as part of a broader push to expand the tax net without burdening the general public.

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday, citing the country’s vast potential for development, called for concerted efforts to build a robust and self-reliant national economy.

First Lady and MNA Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari has condemned the murder of teenage social media influencer Sana Yousaf in Islamabad, who was gunned down on the eve of her 17th birthday last week, saying that the incident should not silence girls and discourage from trying to achieve their dreams. Sana Yousaf was shot dead at her residence in Sector G-13 in the presence of her mother and aunt by an unidentified man who fled the scene. Police arrested the suspect Omar Hayat within a few hours who police claimed murdered Sana because she repeatedly refused his advances. Inspector General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said the suspect was arrested from Faisalabad within 20 hours of the incident. A local court approved a 14-day judicial remand of the prime suspect to facilitate his identification parade. Calling it a stark reminder of the violence women and girls face simply for asserting their rights, Aseefa extended her condolences to Sana’s family, the community in Chitral, and all those grieving this senseless loss. “Sana wa...

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced its intention to strongly oppose the upcoming federal budget through both parliamentary and public protests.

ISLAMABAD - The per capita income increased by 9.

The Senate is scheduled to meet today (Tuesday) at 6:00 pm at the Parliament House, with an eight-point agenda set for discussion.

ISLAMABAD - In a significant development for Pakistan’s revenue collection efforts, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has vacated stay orders in 270 tax-related cases over the past few months.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi met with Sheikh Dr.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Adviser on Information, Barrister Dr.

KARACHI: While the city continued to face a severe water crisis on Eid holidays, the dilapidated and outdated water distribution and supply infrastructure of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) once again played havoc with the University of Karachi (KU) after a 36-inch supply line burst, submerging the access to the cemetery on the campus on Eidul Azha. The leakage, being repaired, inundated a large portion of the road leading to the university’s graveyard. People were forced to wade through the ankle-deep water to reach the graves of their near and dear ones for paying homage, a common practice during religious festivals. Residents of the KU staff colony said that they had timely reported the leakage to the water utility, but it did not take immediate steps to plug the leakage. Had the water utility acted promptly, a large amount of water would not have been wasted, besides saving people from the ordeal they went through on the Eid days, the residents lamented. Earlier in April, a burst water m...

Russia carried out “massive” drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and port city of Odesa early on Tuesday, killing one person and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said, calling for further sanctions. Moscow has kept up its attacks on Ukraine, which has hit back with strikes deep inside Russian territory, while peace talks held over the weekend failed to yield a breakthrough towards ending the three-year war. Aside from an agreement to exchange prisoners, progress has stalled and Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire. “Russia lies every day about its desire for peace and attacks people every day. Time to impose sanctions. Time to support Ukraine with weapons. Time to prove that democracy has power,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, said on Telegram. A 59-year-old man was killed in the Russian strikes on residential buildings in Odesa on Tuesday, and at least four others were wounded, said Governor Oleg Kiper. “The enemy massively attack...

Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has approved the schedule for the upcoming sessions of the Lower House regarding the presentation and discussion of the Federal Budget for the fiscal year 2025-26.

The Trump administration on Monday ordered US Marines into Los Angeles and intensified raids on suspected undocumented immigrants, fueling more outrage from street protesters and Democratic leaders who raised concerns over a national crisis. Some 700 Marines based in Southern California were expected to reach Los Angeles Monday night or Tuesday morning, officials said, as part of a federal strategy to quell street demonstrations opposing the immigration raids, which are a part of a signature effort of President Donald Trump’s second term. Although their mission to protect federal personnel and property is temporary — filling the gaps until a full contingent of 4,000 National Guard troops can reach Los Angeles — the deployment is an extraordinary use of military force in support of a police operation, and it comes over the objection of state and local leaders who did not request help. Meanwhile, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry out even more operations to round up suspected immigrati...

• Major crops down 13.5pc amid water crisis, restricting agriculture and overall GDP growth • Industry, services underperform; large-scale manufacturing struggles for third straight year • Inflation drops to 4.6pc, a 60-year low, amid declining interest rates • Finance czar calls it ‘a gradual recovery’, promises ‘turnaround’ next year • GDP growth reaches 2.68pc, missing 3.56pc target ISLAMABAD: “Next year will be a turnaround story,” Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb promised on Monday as he unveiled the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 (PES) document, which highlighted widespread slippages across major sectors of the economy in the outgoing fiscal year. Reviewing the economy report card, the finance minister suggested that Pakistan’s performance should be evaluated in a global context rather than a historical one. He stated that while global economic growth has been on a declining trend, expanding 3.5pc in 2023, 3.3pc in 2024, and 2.8pc in 2025, Pakistan had progressed from a contraction of 0.2pc in 2023...

• Sales tax waivers jump almost 50pc to Rs4.25tr • Income tax exemptions surge 68pc to over Rs800bn ISLAMABAD: Tax exemptions granted by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) surged to an all-time high of Rs5.84 trillion in the outgoing fiscal year, marking a 51 per cent increase from Rs3.879tr a year ago, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 unveiled by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday. The unprecedented rise in tax concessions comes at a time when the FBR is grappling with significant revenue shortfalls, making this the second consecutive year of record-high exemptions. In FY24, exemptions skyrocketed 73.3pc. The cost of tax exemptions has gone up for the seventh consecutive year despite the government’s claim that exemptions would gradually decrease under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Tax exemptions refer to the revenues foregone by the state under various categories to different industries and other groups. This is mainly due to exemptions on raw materials and sem...

• Economic turmoil and lack of jobs have forced 3.2m citizens to leave the country, party leaders say • Alleges 30m people have fallen below the poverty line over the last three years • Blames the agriculture sector decline on ‘anti-farmer policies’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Monday criticised the government over the economic survey of Pakistan, alleging it reflected a bleak economic picture and the government’s poor performance, which they said pushed 30 million people below the poverty line in the last three years. At a press conference, the party’s information secretary, Sheikh Waqas Akram, flanked by Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub Khan, said the finance minister presented the survey “in an apologetic manner.” “Those who used to criticise 6.5pc growth rate during the PTI’s tenure were trying to defend their performance, which was worst,” Mr Akram said. Mr Akram said that while President Asif Zardari had promised to address the masses’ issues, poverty has instead increased. He claimed the to...