Accountability court grants bail to Maryam Nawaz , husband
An accountability court on Monday granted bail to Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and her husband Captain Safdar, in connection with a reference prepared against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Read here about the legal gridlock that currently grips Pakistan.
Talking to reporters after her appearance before the court, Maryam said her family was being tried despite already receiving the punishment — the disqualification of her father Nawaz Sharif.
“These trials will last until the day of judgement unless something emerges in which he [Sharif] or anyone from his family is caught,” she said. “We are not among those who worry about arrests.”
Pakistan no longer dependent on US for military needs: PM Abbasi
Pakistan is no more reliant on the United States for military requirements and will reach out to others if one source [of military supplies] dries up, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbas said in an interview with the Arab News on Sunday.
“If one source dries up, we have no option but to go to another source. It may cost more, it may consume more resources, but we have to fight that war, and that’s what we emphasised to all the people that we met,” said the PM. “We have major US weapons systems in our military, but we’ve also diversified. We have Chinese and European systems. Recently, for the first time we inducted Russian attack helicopters.”
Pakistani tribesmen call for abolition of centuries-old law
Hundreds of people from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have rallied in the capital, Islamabad, calling on the federal government to implement legal and constitutional reforms in the northwestern region.
A group of FATA legislators led the October 9 rally in which participants called for the abolishment of a century-old legal code known as the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that is still governing FATA.
They also demanded the merger of FATA with the adjacent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Pakistan fights back in Second Test against Sri Lanka
Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed hit battling half-centuries on day four to thwart Sri Lanka and set up an enthralling finish to the second and final Test in Dubai.
Shafiq scored an unbeaten 86 while skipper Sarfraz was 57 not out as they lifted Pakistan from a perilous position at 52-5 to 198-5 at close, after being set a daunting target of 317.
Pakistan’s macroeconomic uncertainty rising: World Bank
Pakistan’s macroeconomic factors are far from encouraging and vehemently on the rise during the fiscal year 2017, according to the World Bank’s ‘South Asia Economic Focus Fall 2017‘ report. However, despite concerns about its weakening macroeconomic discipline, growth in Pakistan is expected to increase to 5.3pc during the current fiscal year and 5.8pc in 2019, the report said.
