Category: Pakistan

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced resumption of direct flights to Toronto, Canada.

A PIA spokesman said on Monday that Canadian officials had allowed PIA to resume flights to Toronto. Operations had earlier been restricted to cargo only on Pakistan to Canada routes due to surge in Covid-19 cases. However, other travel related advisories pertaining to Canada will remain in place, he said.

In the first phase, PIA will start three direct flights per week from Pakistan to Toronto. The airline will be following strict standard operating procedures (SOPs), the PIA chief executive officer (CEO) assured the Canadian government.

It is worth mentioning here that PIA has vaccinated its entire crew and ground staff against Covid-19 and now vaccination of all airline employees is underway. Its the first airline in the region to do so, the spokesman said.

LAHORE: As the national water supplies dropped by more than 50 per cent last week, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Monday rang alarm bells: shortage will plummet to 30 to 35pc if the situation persists for over a week.

According to Irsa’s data, the national river flows on Monday dropped to 223,000 cusecs from 456,000 cusecs on June 13 – a drop of over 50pc. The biggest plunge was recorded in River Indus, from 225,000 cusecs to 97,800 cusecs.

“Irsa has started drawing additional water from both Tarbela and Mangla dams, compromising their filling prospects, but has not started passing on the shortage to the provinces,” said Irsa spokesman Khalid Idrees Rana. But it can only hold this additional supply for the next 10 days. If the situation does not improve by then, the entire country would feel the pinch.

Against these inflows, Irsa is supplying 273,100 cusecs nationally (107,000 cusecs to Punjab, 149,000 to Sindh, 14,000 to Balochistan and 3,100 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) without slashing the provincial share. For this purpose, it is maintaining 155,000 cusecs release from Tarbela and has increased Mangla release from 25,000 cusecs to 55,000 cusecs.

KARACHI: Two dog handlers have been arrested as pet dogs attacked and injured a senior lawyer in Defence, it emerged on Monday.

As a lawyers’ body demanded immediate action and proper investigation into the case, a senior police officer told Dawn that the police had taken action by arresting two servants/handlers of the dogs after lodging FIR.

“Some arrests have been made in the case,” said South SSP (Investigation), Imran Mirza. The officer added that concerted efforts were under way to arrest a suspect, Daniyal who has fled while his father, Humayun Khan, has already got bail from a local court. The officer revealed that they have also incorporated Section 324 pertaining to attempted murder in the FIR apart from other relevant sections.

The police and lawyers said that senior advocate Mirza Akhtar Ali, who is father of advocate Taimur Ali Mirza, was injured on the road. He was passing through the area in DHA when Daniyal was standing outside his home along with two pet dogs when the hounds attacked the lawyer on June 16.

LAHORE: In a money laundering probe that involves a sugar mill owned by the Sharif family, PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)  to face an inquiry.

The notice sent to the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly had asked for a response to Rs25 billion allegedly having been sent to accounts of low-grade employees of the Ramzan Sugar Mill. A questionnaire of 20 items was sent via his advisor and Shahbaz was asked to send responses along with his signature.

The FIA had summoned Shahbaz at 11am, however, the Opposition leader arrived for the inquiry at 11:47am.

A five-member FIA team questioned him for half an hour, with Director FIA Punjab Zone-1 Dr Rizwan leading the interrogation.

Security was beefed up outside the FIA offices prior to Shahbaz’s appearance. A large crowd of PML-N supporters gathered outside the building.

As Shahbaz was leaving, officials called him again for a second time, sources said, adding that it was not clear on whose instructions and why he was summoned again. He was questioned for half an hour more. FIA officials refrained from commenting on the matter.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, speaking to media on the occasion, said the Opposition leader had been summoned due to the “FIA-Niazi nexus”.

“FIA’s office is Imran Khan’s office now, just like NAB’s office was established at Prime Minister House. But now, after the fall of the NAB-Niazi nexus, the FIA-Niazi nexus has come into play,” she added.

Starting today, CNG stations across Sindh will remain closed for a week, announced the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on Tuesday. The closure comes amid a shortage in supply.

The CNG stations will re-open from 8am on Tuesday, June 29. Sameer Najam Al Hussain, the coordinator of the Sindh zone of the All Pakistan CNG Association, says the decision comes after they received a notification of gas supply closure for an indefinite period.

The budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 recently gave rise to concerns about a price hike for CNG. Concerns rose due to a proposed general sales tax on LNG by the government.

The All Pakistan CNG Association said the imposition of new and additional taxes of LNG will increase the price of CNG from Rs6 to Rs9 per kilogramme.

ABU DHABI: In a battle of nerves, Peshawar Zalmi triumphed over defending champions Karachi Kings in the first Eliminator of the Pakistan Super League’s sixth edition at UAE’s Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Peshawar defeated Karachi by five wickets in their 176-run chase — knocking the Imad Wasim-led side out of the tournament. Zalmi will now meet Islamabad United in eliminator 2 on June 22. The winner of the match will qualify for the final, where they will face off against Multan Sultans.

For Zalmi, openers Hazratullah Zazai and Kamran Akmal had taken them to 49 before Noor Ahmed drew first blood. Ahmed removed Kamran Akmal for 13 in the fifth over of Zalmi’s innings.

Zazai who was hitting the Kings’ bowlers all over the ground completed his half-century from 23 balls in the seventh over. The Afghan was hitting so cleanly that Kings star bowler and fellow countryman Ahmed was also looking clueless against him. Peshawar lost their second wicket from the last ball of the 10th over. It was Thisara Perera that removed Imam-ul-Haq to put Zalmi two down. In the 12th over, Perera removed the dangerous Zazai for 77 and put Zalmi three down.

The removal had slowed down the runs for Peshawar and they needed 44 runs from the last 30 balls. And in the 18th over, Peshawar lost Khalid Usman who was bowled by Mohammad Ilyas. At that point, Zalmi needed 21 runs in 16 balls. In the 19th over, Mohammad Amir removed Shoaib Malik to give some hope to his Karachi side. When Malik was dismissed Zalmi required 13 runs from 10 balls. After the end of Amir’s over. Zalmi needed seven runs in the last six balls to secure a win. However, West Indian Sherane Rutherford guided his team to the finishing line with one ball to spare.