Pakistani Actress Laila Arrested in Multan

Pakistani Actress Laila

The actress was arrested after a producer Sheikh Naeem lodged a complaint with Cantt Police Station that Laila gave him a Rs220,000 cheque, which was dishonored. The application stated that the actress had borrowed the money from Sheikh.

Police conducted a raid at a local hotel and arrested Laila. The police said that the actress would be presented before a local court.

Talking to media, Laila said she had settled the issue with the producer but he got her arrested when she came to perform in Multan.

Later a verbal agreement was reached between the two parties and Laila was released from police custody. 

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New taxes to help reduce circular debt

Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said that implementation of new taxes would generate Rs 202 billion, which would help to reduce the circular debt.

Speaking at a post-budget press conference on Thursday, he added that the nation must move forward by keeping in mind the current situation.

By 2016, Dar said that the government aimed to reduce the fiscal deficit by four per cent, bring down inflation to single-digit level, as well as increase the GDP up to seven per cent and foreign remittances to $20bn.

The finance minister said that the government planned to eliminate the circular debt within 60 days, adding that it would do everything to bring the economy back on track and not allow the debts pile up.

Moreover, Dar said that the secret funds of the ministries and other government departments had been ended. Current non-salaried expenditures of the government would be slashed by 30 per cent.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister House budget, excluding salaries and allowances, was reduced by 44 per cent, while the PM Office’s budget was slashed to Rs396mln from last fiscal year’s Rs725mln, a reduction of 45 per cent.

The corporate tax was also reduced to 30 per cent from 35 per cent.

According to Dar, the government would save Rs40bn by employing these austerity measures. He added that the current economic problems were caused by the fact that the expenditures were higher than the income.

The finance minister said that the increase in the general sales tax was slight, while no new taxes had been imposed on the essential food items.

In a response to a question, Dar said that the funds allotted to a certain sector would only be utilised for that particular sector.

Finance Minister Dar further said that the government would attempt to move in the right direction, but the nation must bear the current problems for the sake of their future generations.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Secretary Finance Waqar Masood and other senior officials were also present at the press conference.

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Crickter Mohammad Asif loses spot-fixing appeal

Muhammad Asif loses spot-fixing appeal against his conviction in the Court of Appeal.

In their ruling, the judges said they were “not persuaded that there are any grounds, arguable or otherwise, for attacking the safety of the convictions of this applicant (Asif)”.

“The renewed applications are accordingly dismissed,” they added.

Fast bowler Asif, 30, was released from jail in May last year after serving half of a 12-month sentence for his part in a plot to bowl deliberate no-balls in a Test match against England at Lord’s in 2010.

Former captain Salman Butt was jailed for 30 months, while promising young bowler Mohammad Aamer was detained for six months in a young offenders’ institution.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) governing body also banned the trio from cricket for five years.

Asif and Butt both challenged the ICC bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but the Lausanne-based body in April rejected their appeals.

The spot-fixing plot, which was uncovered by the now-defunct News of the World newspaper, was one of the biggest scandals to hit cricket in years and also led to the conviction of their London-based agent.

The Court of Appeal rejected challenges by Butt and Aamer against their sentences in November 2011.

In his ruling Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, said the players had “betrayed the country which they had the honour to represent and betrayed the sport that had given them their distinction – and of course betrayed all the very many followers of the game throughout the world”.

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Bill Gates praises President Zardari

In a time when praising for the president is somewhat a dream, the richest person in the world Bill Gates praises Asif Ali Zardari efforts for polio eradication program.

Founder of Microsoft and co-chair of Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates views Pakistan, under Zardari’s leadership, develops a strong National Emergency Action Plan for polio eradication.

In a letter to the President‚ Gates says in a transition time, the president’s continued support to polio eradication and routine immunization is commendable.

“We must not allow the recent attacks on polio workers to undermine the great work being done in Pakistan,” he further said.

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Pakistan Budget 2013-2014 Govt presented

Government presented the budget for the year 2013-2014 worth of 3.591 trillion rupees in the parliament.

Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar presented the budget speech at the special budget session of the National Assembly.

He said the government inherited a battered economy and the average rate of inflation stood at 13 percent in last five years.

He proposed an increase in General Sales Tax (GST) from 16 percent to 17, a decision which is going to further raise the prices of commodities for the people already battered by the worst price hike.

As an austerity measure, Ishaq Dar proposed to bring down the expenditures of Prime Minister House expenditures by 45 percent, which he claimed will result in a national saving of Rs40 billion.

There will be a complete ban on purchase of new cars for PM house but the ban will not be applicable for law enforcement agencies and other inevitable requirements.

An increase of 10 percent has been proposed in the pension of retired government employees and the minimum monthly pension has been raised from Rs3000 to 5000.

The budget for next fiscal earmarks an amount of Rs75 billion under Income Support Program.

The tax exemption for luxury cars is proposed to be abolished while 1200 cc hybrid cars are being exempted form import duty. A concession of 25 percent has been proposed for 1800-2500 cc cars and 1200-1800 cc cars 50% duty reduction.

The Finance Minister said that the budget has been chalked out, in line with the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif‚ to ensure revival of the national economy.

GDP growth rate target for FY 2013-14 has been projected at 4.8 percent and revenue target at Rs2.475 trillion. The non-tax income will be Rs800 billion

The government has allocated Rs185 billion as power subsidy.

Ishaq Dar maintained that the circular debt amounting to more than Rs500 billion will be eliminated in 60 days.

The budget proposes to abolish the ministers’ discretionary funds.

The government will initiate a Prime Minister Laptop scheme in the days to come.

Customs duty on water filtration equipment is proposed to be decreased while the people works program renamed as Tamir-e-Watan Pakistan program.

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Imran Khan’s party wins revote in Karachi

Imran Khan 

Cricket hero Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party won a revote in an upmarket constituency of Karachi on Sunday, unofficial results showed, a day after gunmen killed a party leader, setting the stage for protests and counter-protests.

Khan blamed the killing of Zara Shahid Hussain on the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, which has a stranglehold on the city. Furious MQM leaders denied responsibility, condemned the killing and demanded a retraction from Khan.

The attack in the upscale Defense area, the family neighborhood of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, capped a bloody election campaign in which around 150 people were killed nationwide.

The May 11 general elections handed a landslide victory to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Imran's campaign electrified many Pakistanis, pushing the PTI from a marginal party to Pakistan's third largest.

But results from a handful of constituencies across the country are still uncertain amid accusations of vote-rigging. There is re-polling in a few others where security issues prevented voting.

Last week's election gave the MQM 18 of 19 national assembly seats in Karachi. Now the PTI has one seat, according to unofficial results.

Both the MQM, angry at the accusations, and the PTI have called for protests on Monday which often turn violent in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city. Karachi generates around half of the government's revenue and stability in the city is key to stability of the whole country.

Police said that two gunmen shot Hussain on Saturday outside her home in Defense.

"I hold (MQM leader) Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts," Khan, recovering in hospital from a fall during campaigning, said in a tweet.

"I also hold the British government responsible as I had warned them about British citizen Altaf Hussain after his open threats."

Altaf Hussain is accused of murder in Pakistan and leads his party remotely from exile in England. His party is designated a terrorist organization by Canada, a charge it strongly denies.

In recent days, he gave a speech which many Pakistanis felt was an incitement to attack political rivals. British police are investigating whether or not it constituted a hate speech.

Karachi, the nuclear-armed country's key port, is home to 18 million people. It typically sees about a dozen murders a day, a combination of political killings, attacks by the Pakistan Taliban and sectarian militant groups, and street crime.

Source

arabia.msn.com

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Actress Meera visits Imran Khan in hospital

Pakistani actress Meera, who has acted in two Indian movies, Wednesday visited cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan in hospital where he is admitted since being injured during an election rally.

The Lollywood actress inquired about the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief's health, Geo News reported.

Meera later told media persons that she had inquired about Khan's health, expressed her well wishes and congratulated him on his victory in the May 11 elections.

In March, Meera said she would contest during general elections against Khan for the National Assembly on the Justice Party platform.

In the past, she has been in the news regarding her marriage issues and rumours of affair with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar.

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Pakistan Elections 2013: NA-250 Karachi then and now

In the 2008 elections that were boycotted by PTI and its parent organization, Jamaat Islami, PPP’s Ikhtiar Baig was leading the polls at the time of closure. The rival contestant was Khushbakht Shujaat. Both candidates are urban-educated and well respected in their communities. Ikhtiar had a clear edge due to the cosmopolitan nature of the constituency. Like many of Karachi’s constituencies, the demographics of NA 250 represents people from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds. These are normally areas in which PPP thrives.

Closing polls showed Ikhtiar Baig with a clear and winnable lead. However, within the next 24 hours, PPP lost not just NA 250 but two other constituencies to the MQM. It was projected to win all three and was leading till close of polls. Some hue and cry was made and there were substantial allegations that Ikhtiar Baig might even have been attacked. However, in the end, PPP surrendered its claims in the larger interests of forming a national consensus government.

These politics of reconciliation and consensus do not appeal to our drawing room moralists and facebook revolutionaries that form the PTI cohorts today. However, these politics reflected ground realities and after a decade of military dictatorship, Pakistan could not afford to derail the transition to democracy. As always, the PPP sacrificed for the larger good.

Karachi has gone through hell in the last five years with MQM in the coalition. This would have paled in comparison with MQM on the outside looking in. A very important factor that always weakens PPP is the clear bias they face from the media and civil society. Until the recent second wind of the PTI in the months leading up to the current elections, significant sections of Karachi’s civil society settled for MQM as a realization of their bourgeoisie fantasies.

The elephant in the room is the fact that there are different standards for the PPP and MQM. One can slander and abuse PPP and its Bhutto and Zardari leaders to their hearts content and not fear any reprisals. MQM, to put it mildly, does not take too kindly to criticism and exposure.

In this backdrop, the new electoral player on the block, the PTI does seem to bring out another element of latent bourgeoisie fascism which might counter the latent ethno-fascist sentiment that appreciates MQM.

NA 250 2013 elections: Twitter Battle between Civil Society/PTI/Jamaat Islami and MQM ongoing

If MQM thought that they could get away with rigging in 2013 just as they did in 2008 and before, they were in for a rude shock. Thanks to the PPP giving full freedoms to a rabidly biased media, the landscape is not the same as it was in 2008. In 2008, Facebook was still new and Twitter was still evolving. Between technology and the legacy of a liberal PPP government that allowed full media freedoms, MQM’s recent efforts to rig NA 250 have been thoroughly exposed by PTI/Jamaat Islami and civil society.

It is a story for another day that the pre-poll rigging by the Judiciary, ECP and Taliban that went against MQM, PPP and ANP did not elicit even a fraction of the same outrage as MQM’s rigging in NA 250. However, two wrongs don’t make a right and the fact that this rigging has been exposed is a positive sign for the future. For PPP supporter’s, this election represents many moral victories even if it may not lead to an electoral victory. It gives the PPP a chance to reevaluate itself while also letting someone else (PTI?) take on the task of governing Pakistan.

Most importantly, it shows the way forward. Now PTI will have to grasp the reality that governing a country like Pakistan is not the same as mocking those who have sacrificed tremendously to create and maintain an evolving democracy. Let them come to grips with the MQM in Karachi whose electoral presence is nearly double that of their actual demographical vote bank. NA 250 is an important part of this lesson.

Courtesy

Criticalppp.com

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Taliban frees four Turk hostages

The Afghan Taliban has said that it had freed the remaining four of eight Turkish civilians detained last month, the Islamist group said in a statement, adding it hoped the gesture would improve ties with Ankara.

The eight were taken captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province when their helicopter was forced to make a “hard landing” last month. The first four were freed earlier this week.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan anticipates that relations with the Muslim nation of Turkey and its government will become close,” the Taliban said in a statement, using the formal name for themselves.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the four had been handed over to Turkish officials and were en route to the embassy in Kabul, he told reporters in Ankara.

Two pilots from Russia and Kyrgyzstan were also aboard the Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter when poor weather forced it to land near the Pakistani border on April 21. The Taliban on Monday said they were still alive and their fate was yet to be decided.

NATO-member Turkey has close, longstanding ties with Afghanistan, having been one of the first countries almost a century ago to recognise Afghan independence from Britain in 1919 and shortly afterwards to establish diplomatic relations.

 Source 

saach.tv

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Police restricts Altaf’s speeches London Met.

London’s Metropolitan Police has imposed temporary restriction on the speeches of Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain, Saach.Tv reports.

Saach.Tv learnt from credible sources that Metropolitan Police has written a letter to Pakistan Embassy and mentioned that Altaf Hussain cannot challenge the sovereignty and self-sufficiency of any country.

It is further stated in the letter that if Pakistani Embassy could submit video of Altaf Hussain as a proof to Metropolitan Police then strict action can be taken against him.

It is pertinent to mention that two days ago MQM Chief used unsuitable words for Pakistan during his speech and in reaction to his words hundreds of Pakistanis telephoned London Metropolitan Police and registered complaints against Altaf Hussain.

Courtesy

Saach.tv

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