Page 13 - Pakistan Government

Perform or perish: Pakistan PM Shehbaz tells new cabinet members

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said a deep surgery is required to pull the cash-strapped country out of the economic crisis and urged his Cabinet members to either perform or perish. The prime minister inducted 19 members into his Cabinet earlier in the day, ending the tenuous wait for the completion of government formation in the country. Addressing the maiden cabinet meeting, Shehbaz said Pakistan is facing massive challenges and a deep surgery is required to pull the country out of the economic crisis. Taking stock of the issues and problems affecting the economy and the country, the prime minister asked his Cabinet members to perform or perish, saying that the time is now or never. Shehbaz said the government should take difficult decisions and that too without wasting any time. Deep surgery is needed as antibiotics will not work, he said. Shehbaz said bringing inflation under control is the biggest challenge, however, the government together with the provinc

Pakistan PM Sharif picks Ex-JPMorgan banker Aurangzeb as finance minister

Aurangzeb was chosen over other possible candidates, including longtime Sharif ally Ishaq Dar and ex-central bank governor Shamshad Akhtar

Pak Prez administers oath to 19-member Cabinet recommended by PM Sharif

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday administered the oath to 19 members of the Cabinet of the newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, ending the tenuous wait for the completion of government formation. The oath-taking ceremony was held in the President's House and was attended by Prime Minister Sharif among others. Those who took oath included Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Azam Tarar, Rana Tanvir, Mohsin Naqvi, Ahad Cheema, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Riaz Prizada, Qaiser Sheikh, Shaza Fatima, Aleem Khan, Jam Kamal, Amir Muqam, Awais Leghari, Atta Tarar, Salik Hussian and Musaddiq Malik. The portfolio of the new minister will be announced later. Aurangzeb will likely be the finance minister, Dar as the foreign minister, and Khawaja Asif the defence minister. Azam Tarar will be the law minister, Atta Tarar as information minister, Musaddik Malik as petroleum minister, Mohsin Naqvi as interior minister and Ahad Cheema as minister for Kashmir ..

Pakistan's ruling PML-N, coalition partner PPP may scrap caretaker system

Pakistan's ruling PML-N party and its coalition partner PPP have reached a consensus to abolish the caretaker system and reform the politically volatile and cash-strapped country's electoral system, a media report said on Saturday. Three-time ex-premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and ex-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have eliminated the need for a caretaker government, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. The two parties agreed that the outgoing government's head will remain in office until the new general elections, and the prime minister's cabinet will be dissolved after completing its term, while the premier will continue to serve. The PML-N and PPP have also endorsed the drafting of legislation for electoral reforms to make the electoral process "simple and easy", the report said It added that both parties will take other parties into confidence on the proposed reforms. The PML-N-led alliance is also aiming

Voting begins in Pak's presidential election: Asif Ali Zardari set to win

Voting began on Saturday in the Presidential elections in Pakistan in which Asif Ali Zardari is set to be elected for a second time. Asif Ali Zardari, the 68-year-old joint candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Sunni Ittehad Council's candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai, 75, are vying for the office of president. The voting began at 10 am and will continue till 4 pm. The new president would replace the incumbent Dr Arif Alvi, whose five-year term ended last year. However, he has continued since the new electoral college was not yet formed. According to the Constitution, the president is indirectly elected by an electoral college comprising federal and provincial lawmakers.

Setback to Imran Khan as IMF refuses to interfere in Pak electoral dispute

This comes after incarcerated former PM Imran Khan penned a letter to the IMF, urging the global lender to give the poll results a thorough once-over before cutting any new cheques for Islamabad

Grand Democratic Alliance in Pak announces boycott of presidential election

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) earlier on February 21 declared that they would begin a protest against the suspected rigging of polls

As a woman, it was hard 'to 'make space' in father's PML-N: Maryam Nawaz

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who scripted history when she became the first woman to occupy the post in any province of Pakistan, on Friday said she had to work "quite hard" for more than a decade to make space for herself in the ruling PML-N, a party founded by her father Nawaz Sharif. Speaking at an event to mark Women's Day in Lahore, she said, As this has been a very male-dominated party historically, I also had to work quite hard for 12-13 years to make space for myself. But if I am standing here, it is a message for every woman, mother and daughter, that if you want to do something, then being a woman cannot be an obstacle in fulfilling your dreams and mission, she was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper. Maryam, 50, who is considered a political heir to Nawaz Sharif, took oath as the chief minister of Punjab on February 26 reportedly as part of a deal worked out with the blessings of the powerful Pakistan Army when the three-time former premier's Pakistan Muslim ...

Shehbaz set to return as Pak's PM after old-guard parties form coalition

Sharif was prime minister until parliament was dissolved in August in the leadup to elections, and he handed power to a caretaker government

PPP's Sarfraz Bugti elected Balochistan Chief Minister

Months after stepping down as the caretaker interior minister, Pakistan Peoples Party's Sarfraz Bugti was on Saturday elected unopposed as the new chief minister of the restive Balochistan province. Bugti, who recently joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and enjoyed the support of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), submitted his nomination papers with Assembly Secretary Tahir Shah on Friday, Dawn News reported. PPP leader and former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and PML-N leader Nawab Gangeez Khan Marri proposed his name. No other candidate filed nomination papers till 5 pm on Friday. Bugti's nomination papers were accepted after scrutiny by the secretary, who also announced that he had been elected unopposed. The official announcement of Bugti's election as the leader of the House will be made during the assembly session on Saturday. Bugti is also expected to be administered the oath later in the day by Balochis

Pakistan dismisses US directions on probing alleged election rigging

Pakistan has dismissed the US suggestion to probe discrepancies in the February 8 general elections, asserting that it will not succumb to external dictates. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch in her weekly press address on Friday categorically said that "no country could give directions" to Pakistan, an independent and sovereign nation. We believe in our own sovereign right to make decisions about Pakistan's internal affairs, Dawn News quoted Baloch as saying in reply to the comments made by her US counterpart regarding allegations of misconduct in the controversy-marred general elections. Earlier this week, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said any claims of interference or fraud should be fully and transparently investigated per Pakistan's laws and procedures. On another occasion, Miller said: Concerning investigations into reported irregularities, we want to see those investigations proceed [and] wrapped up as soon as possible.

Newly-elected lawmakers of Pak's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly sworn in

Newly-elected lawmakers of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly were sworn in on Wednesday, with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party in poll position to form the provincial government for the third consecutive time. Outgoing Speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered the oath to the 113 provincial lawmakers elected to the Assembly on general seats, Geo News reported. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has a total strength of 145 members, including 10 women and four minorities elected against reserved seats. The allocation of the reserved seats has not been notified as the matter is currently being heard by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Meanwhile, elections were postponed on two general seats in the province due to the candidates' deaths in constituencies.

Talks to form cabinet in Pak's Punjab province under CM Maryam Nawaz begins

Consultations for the formation of a Cabinet in Pakistan's Punjab province under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz have started within the ruling PML-N with her father and party supremo Nawaz Sharif holding talks with allied parties. In the first phase, a 20-member Cabinet is likely to be formed this week, according to a media report on Wednesday. The PML-N leadership also held talks with its allied parties PPP, PML-Q and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), which are also expected to get ministries in the cabinet in the second phase. Maryam, 50, is the first woman chief minister of a province in Pakistan's history. The meeting was chaired by three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who surprisingly nominated his younger brother to be the prime minister when a coalition federal government was formed. Senior PML-N leaders Rana Sanaullah, Pervaiz Rashid and Marriyum Aurangzeb are expected to be accommodated in the provincial cabinet. Sanaullah and Rashid are expected to be inducted as

Cash-strapped Pakistan says IMF conditions for $1.2 billion tranche met

Pakistan has met the IMF's benchmarks for maintaining the status quo in the energy sector in an outcome that may help to get the next loan tranche of USD 1.2 billion, officials said, ahead of the visit of the global lender's review mission to the cash-strapped country. The Ministry of Energy officials said they have met the end-December targets related to containing the flow of circular debt below Pakistani Rs 385 billion, timely increase in the electricity prices, and slowing the increase in line losses, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. The IMF would review the implementation of these targets during the loan negotiations under the second review of the USD 3 billion bailout package. The IMF's review mission might visit Islamabad by the end of this month or early next month, provided the government formation at the federal and provincial levels is complete. Citing sources, the paper said that against the condition to restrict the flow of the circular debt to Pakistani Rs 385

Highlights: Car securing route for CM Yogi's cavalcade meets with accident

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Iran forces kill Jaish al-Adl militant commander, his companions in Pak

In the latest development, Iran's forces, in an armed clash, attacked a militant group, one month after the two countries conducted air strikes on each other

Pak govt announces Section 144 as assembly set to convene inaugural session

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam have announced plans to stage a protest

Three injured in blast in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Three persons were injured when an explosive device planted on a motorbike detonated in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, police said. The incident occurred at Darazinda area of Dera Ismail Khan district. The blast originated from a motorbike laden with explosives that was parked in front of a hotel. The explosion resulted in injuries to three passersby in the vicinity, police said, adding that one of the injured persons is in critical condition. Heavy contingents of police rushed to the site and cordoned off the entire area following the blast.

Who will be new finance minister to be the first challenge in Pakistan

Pakistan's political impasse may end with the formation of a coalition government but its economic worries may linger on primarily due to the dilemma of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party over the appointment of the finance minister of the cash-strapped country. In January, the cash-strapped country received over USD 700 million second tranche from the Washington-based global lender under the existing USD 3 billion SBA agreed towards June last year when Pakistan was slowly drifting towards default. Earlier this week, US-based Fitch Ratings one of three leading global rating agencies said in its report that a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal to succeed the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), expiring in March this year, was key to Pakistan's credit profile. Pakistan has not completed the last USD 6.5 billion IMF bailout package, and therefore, the first task of the new finance minister will be to sit with the Washington-based global lender to get the last loan tranche of USD

Independent candidates to join rightwing Sunni Ittehad Council: Imran's PTI

Reversing its earlier decision, jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's beleaguered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Monday said that the party-backed 92 independent candidates, who won the February 8 elections, will join the rightwing Sunni Ittehad Council. The party had earlier decided that its members elected to the National Assembly and the Punjab provincial assembly would join Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM), a Shia party. Those elected in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) would become part of Jamaati-e-Islami (JI), which is a hardline Sunni religious party. The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is an alliance of Islamic political and religious parties in the Muslim-majority country which represents followers of the school of Sunni Islam. "Our candidates in the National Assembly, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies will join the Sunni Ittehad Council," Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said while addressing a press conference along with leaders of the MWM and SIC. "