This may sound a bit drastic to many interested parties and vested interests and some may say I have gone out of my mind, but the fact is that Pakistan and its critical institutions have collapsed and it is now time for a major, immediate, almost earthshaking, political and administrative renovation effort, to get back control before everything spins out of hand.Read More »The immediate agenda to get Pakistan out of this mess
The government has slapped increased tax rates as well as advance tax on motor cars in the budget 2014-15.
Up to 850 cc, the proposed advance tax stands at Rs 10000 for both return filers and non-filers. For 851 cc to 1000 cc, the proposed tax rate is Rs 20000 for filers and Rs 25,000 for non-filers.
For 1001cc to 1300cc, the government has proposed tax rate of Rs30,000 on filers and Rs40,000 for non-filers. For 1301 cc to 1600 cc, the proposed tax rate is Rs 50000 for filers and Rs 100,000 for non-filers.Read More »Pakistan Budget 14-15: New tax rates on cars, vehicles
Minimum wage increased from Rs10,000 to Rs11,000 Minimum pension raised from Rs5,000 to Rs6,000 10 per cent ad-hoc relief for government employees Grade 1-15 officers to be provided Rs1,000 fixed medical allowance Economic growth has… Read More »Salient features of Pakistan budget 2014-15
Growth rate less than the targeted 4.4% but highest in six years at 4.14%
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Monday that the country could provisionally achieve 4.1 percent growth target for the outgoing year, and termed the 4.4 percent GDP growth rate target for fiscal year 2013-14 as over-stretched.
Launching the Economic Survey for the year 2013-14 at a press conference at the premises of the Finance Ministry, the federal minister said the GDP growth rate was less than the targeted 4.4%, but it was for the first time in six years that the country had entered the territory of four percent growth in the fiscal year 2013-14. And, the GDP growth rate would be increased by one percent during the next three years, rising to 7% in 2017. Similarly, the industrial growth has been recorded at 5.84% as against 1.37% last year, he added.Read More »Pakistan Economic Survey 2013-14
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: Google will build a car without a steering wheel. It doesn’t need one because it drives itself. The two-seater won’t be sold publicly, but Google said on Tuesday it hoped by this time next year, 100 prototypes would be on public roads.
Though not driving very quickly the top speed would be 40 kilometres per hour the cars are a natural next step for Google, which already has driven hundreds of thousands of miles in California with Lexus SUVs and Toyota Priuses outfitted with a combination of sensors and computers.Read More »Google to build driverless car
Asma Ali Zain
The advice also applies to frequent travellers who can get the vaccine even before they travel, according to a health ministry official.
Expatriates travelling to Pakistan from the UAE and planning to stay there for more than four weeks should be vaccinated against polio at least four weeks prior to travel, the UAE Ministry of Health has recommended as per the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) temporary requirements.Read More »Going to Pakistan? Check your polio shot status
Three groups of students from different branches of PakTurk International Schools and Colleges got first position worldwide and won two gold medals in an international climate contest held in Kenya. They also bagged third position globally in a science competition held in Indonesia and bronze medal in world’s largest science fair that took place in the US.
Muhammad bin Aslam and Naqi Raza of Lahore and Alam Khatoon and Vishah Nazim of Islamabad won first position and two gold medals while competing in the Golden Climate Project Olympiad in Nairobi, Kenya. Read More »Pakistani students win gold medal in international contest
A renowned defence strategist has urged Pakistan to consider developing a second strike nuclear capability strategy to counter rising challenges.
Dr. Maria Sultan, Director General of South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University, Islamabad presented her new theory termed as “Integrated Strategic Equivalence” at the three-day International Conference on Nuclear Deterrence and Emerging Dynamics in South Asia and attended by senior experts and strategists. Read More »Pakistan urged to develop second strike N-capability strategy
Ayaz Amir
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) report which forms the basis of the Musharraf treason trial would be rejected by an area magistrate (the lowest magistrate in the judicial hierarchy) in the normal course of things. And were even a half-competent high court judge be asked to examine it, chances are he would recommend eggs and tomatoes in a public square for the authors of this inquiry. Such is its high calibre.
To think that this intellectual labour has led to the treason trial, and the trial is one of the major reasons for the souring of relations between the Nawaz Sharif (NS) government and the army, shows once more how from small beginnings great consequences can flow.Read More »Course correction for Pakistani democracy
After much hesitation, the prosecution in retired general Pervez Musharraf’s high treason case finally submitted the ‘inquiry report’ before the special court on Wednesday, which astounded many for its omissions instead of what it contained.
Unpredictably, the report finds that Musharraf was solely responsible for imposing the 2007 emergency; those who did agree to speak to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) have also blamed the former dictator.
Soon after coming into power, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had set up a Joint Investigation Team to conduct an inquiry into the emergency and those responsible for it. The JIT’s report has till now been kept secret and was not handed over to Musharraf’s defence team till Wednesday.Read More »Musharraf treason inquiry report remarkable for its omissions