Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia made a case on Wednesday for setting up a credible regulatory environment to attract funds for infrastructure development in the country. There are opportunities for private sector participation in infrastructure projects, which are being developed under the PPP mode, like on roads, ports and power, Ahluwalia told global investors.
Former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N said four of its leaders --- Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Mahtab Abbasi, Rana Tanveer Hussain and Khawaja Saad Rafique -- would rejoin the PPP-led cabinet.
Paksitan's People's Party nominee Fehmida Mirza, a loyalist of slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto, was on Wednesday elected the first woman Speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. 51-year-old Mirza, who has been thrice elected to Parliament, won 249 of the 324 votes cast by the newly-elected members of the National Assembly.
Twenty-six people were killed when a bomb went off in the parking lot of the Federal Investigation Agency office, while four people, including two children, were killed in a separate blast in Lahore's Model Town residential area.Hours later, unidentified gunmen opened fire at a passenger train here, killing four persons and injuring three others, police said.
Three new victors -- the Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Awami National Party have shown their majority many days ago, but President Pervez Musharraf is playing delaying games and using secret agencies to break the majority party PPP from the PML faction of Nawaz Sharif.
All the behind the scenes drama and the between the lines intrigue from Pakistan, a day before the presidential poll.
Some elements in an intelligence agency were using their links in the PPP and the media to establish that Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan is trying to become a candidate for the position of either the prime minister or the president through the PML-N. But their efforts to create a rift between the two opposition parties, which are planning to form a coalition government, failed.
The names of PPP's Punjab Province president and formal Federal minister Shah Mehmood Quereshi, senior leader Yousuf Reza Gillani and firebrand lawyer Aitaz Ahsan were also doing the rounds for the top post.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari overcame pressure and enticement from President Pervez Musharraf's camp and the United States to not align with former premier Nawaz Sharif's party, to form a coalition government with the PML-N, a media report said on Friday.
India on Tuesday said it was for peace and stability in the region and hoped that democratic institutions and processes had consolidated in Pakistan.
Railways initiate project for ad revenues of Rs 4,000 cr.
Outlook for the Economic Survey (2006-07) also suggests a promising improvement in infrastructure development.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif does not rule out the possibility of forming a national government, including representatives of rival PPP, even if his party wins the coming elections.
A single-judge bench of the Sindh high court gave the verdict in response to a review petition filed by the PPP leader's lawyer. The court acquitted Pakistan's former high commissioner to Britain Wajid Shasmul Hassan who was also an accused in the case.
Pakistan's ruling coalition on Monday appeared to be on the verge of a split after the PPP failed to reach an agreement with its key ally PML-N on the contentious issue of reinstating dozens of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during last year's emergency. Three days of talks in London between Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and their close aides ended in deadlock on Sunday due to differences on the modalities fo
The government plans to establish 30 mega food-parks in different parts of the country through the public-private partnership (PPP)-route and special purpose vehicle modes.The public-private partnership route or special purpose vehicle mode would be adopted for these parks, he added. The centre planned to set up the parks from this year on, he said.
The idea of modernising railway stations under a PPP arrangement was aired several years ago by the then railway minister, Lalu Prasad, who visualised attracting Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) investment in 22 stations.
Plans to offer up to 10% of project cost as bonus to highway contractors, compared to 5% at present
Santosh Kamath, partner (infrastructure and government services), KPMG in India, expects an extension of a tax holiday for the sector.
More than 50 startups have graduated from Startup Village's Physical and Virtual Incubation Programme and eight startups from Digital Incubation
Clad in a black traditional sherwani, Gillani, the country's 25th prime minister and the first premier from the Pakistan People's Party who is not a member of the Bhutto family, was administered the oath by Musharraf in the central hall of the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency in Islamabad. The ceremony was delayed by almost an hour as Gillani had gone to Karachi on Monday to attend the wedding of his son and had to rush back to the federal capital on Tuesday.
A senior police official probing the suicide attack on former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto's convoy in Karachi has been removed in the wake of objections raised by her Pakistan People's Party. DIG (Investigation) Manzoor Mughal, who was heading the probe, has applied for leave and will no longer be handling the probe, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
Asif Ali Zardari's remarks that the Kashmir issue should be put on the backburner drew mixed reactions on Monday with the ruling Congress-PDP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir saying it was positive but separatist leaders voiced their dismay. Zardari had said that India and Pakistan should set aside the Ksahmir issue to focus on other key issues.
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, for the second successive day at a Washington, DC, news conference said that if she returns to power she would make available Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to the IAEA.
Pakistan People's Party chief Benazir Bhutto's return will bring political stability to the country, according to Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
The meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi drew mixed reactions in Pakistan, with most of the political parties accusing Sharif of failing to highlight Kashmir but the media was generally positive.
The economies of China and India are 40 per cent smaller than previously thought, according to new estimates published by the World Bank this week.
Bhutto had earlier said that her party would contest the polls 'under protest', while Sharif has backed the All Parties Democratic Movement's decision to boycott the polls.
4,000 dialysis units to be set up across India, government working on providing free basic healthcare to BPL families.
A host of factors including the reform measures taken by the government and decline in global oil and commodity prices have led to lower inflation, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.
Bhutto says she can recognise the man who was carrying the infant and has asked television channels channels to provide her with footage of the rally.
The Pakistan government has said that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto will convey her final plan of return to the country on Tuesday. The government has been asking the Pakistan People's Party chief, who is living in a self-imposed exile, to delay her return scheduled for October 18. A minister clarified that the government has no intention to block her on return as a better understanding already existed between the PPP and the government.
A host of companies have been lined up by the disinvestment department as candidates for stake sale.
Aides of President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto will be holding a final round of talks in the United Arab Emirates from Tuesday to "devise a strategy for the coming general election," a media report said. The talks were earlier scheduled after Eid-ul-Fitr, but after Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and PML-N president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain ruled out any truck with the PPP for the polls, the meetings were urgently arranged.
Private hospitals, nursing homes and diagnostic centres will soon require mandatory registration with the government.
The Commerce and Industry Ministry has circulated a draft Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations.
The Railways could tie up with technical institutions for introducing railway-oriented subject for graduation and skill development.
"Papa, I've been shot," were the last words of a 15-year-old boy who died after being struck by a stray bullet from aerial firing as frenzied celebrations rang across Pakistan over its cricket team's Champions Trophy triumph.
A leader said Bhutto and her husband's frozen wealth, including both inland and offshore bank accounts as well as assets, is worth $1.5 billion.
With the Union government clearing the way for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the railways, the Railway Board is devising a plan for operations, maintenance and construction projects.
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