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Posts tagged as “goverment”

Pakistan: In need of a Scrum Master: op-ed

by Najm us Saqib in The Nation, Jan 23, 2023……Is Pakistan a poor country? The answer is no. Look around and see if you come across anyone without a cell-phone. Somehow, food is available for everyone as there is no emerging food crisis. Secondly, the dreadful macroeconomic figures do not seem to correspond with those invisible but estimated figures of the informal economy. If society truly reflected the reported macroeconomic situation, you would already have…

Pension office short of Rs20 billion as liabilities soar amid drop in revenues

by Prithvi Man Shrestha in The Kathmandu Post, Jan 23, 2023The Pension Management Office is facing a shortfall of around Rs20 billion to distribute pensions in the current fiscal year with the government allocating far less budget than required. As the government failed to increase the budgetary allocation in line with the salary increment announced through the budget, the Pension Management Office has a shortfall of resources. The government increased the basic salary of public…

Protecting Journalists

Edit in The Nation, Jan 23, 2023The federal government’s revelation in the Senate on Friday, that as many as 42 journalists have been killed in Pakistan over the last four years, is extremely troubling. It is clear that journalism and all those who practice it have come under increasing threat ever since the PTI government took office, but 42 in just four years shows how the state has completely failed this profession. Compare this number…

RSP and RPP chip away at Madhesh parties’ bargaining power

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Jan 21, 2023The newcomer Rastriya Swatantra Party’s unexpected success and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s impressive comeback in the November elections have sharply curtailed the Madhesh-based parties’ bargaining power in ongoing power-sharing negotiations. Among the Madhesh-based parties, so far only the Janamat Party has joined the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and it too is not happy with its share in the Cabinet. Janamat Party chair CK Raut’s…

Bangladesh bans top publisher from book fair for dissident works

report in Prothom Alo, Jan 20, 2023A leading Bangladeshi publisher known for its works by dissident writers said Thursday it had been banned from the country’s leading book fair, in the latest government clampdown on its critics. The Ekushey Book Fair is organised by the Bangla Academy, the government’s state-run literacy agency, and is a major event on the local cultural calendar. Leading Bengali writers gather in the capital Dhaka each February to discuss their…

Broken pledges behind fresh wave of terror, says Imran

Report in Dawn, January 19th, 2023• Blames former army chief for current political, economic instability; claims he’s not in contact with new military leadership• Says govt will be forced to hold polls in AprilKARACHI: Former prime minister Imran Khan once again apportioned blame for the recent resurgence of terrorism in the country on the unwillingness of the current government to abide by the commitments made by the previous regime, saying that despite an agreement among…

by Arifa Noor in Dawn, January 17th, 2023

The writer is a journalist.What next, is the question on everyone’s minds now that Imran Khan has crossed the Rubicon. Despite the reservations of those around him, as well as the scepticism of those without, the PTI and the PML-Q have dissolved the Punjab Assembly. Khan’s party, the parliamentarians as well as his allies who were said to be the Trojan horse placed there by the establishment, have all gone along with him. Despite the…

Baffling logic: edit in Business Recorder, Jan 16, 2023

It is astounding that former prime minister Imran Khan still thinks that the best way to deal with the so-called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has declared a war on this State, is through engagement. In his speech on Tuesday to a seminar organised in Islamabad by his party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, he said his government had planned to resettle at least 5,000 TTP fighters and their families in the erstwhile tribal areas with the…

President promises full implementation of 13A in few years

report in the Morning, Jan 16, 2023President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that the Government is considering the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution within the next few years. “We are looking at full implementation of the 13th amendment within the next few years,” he said, while attending the State Thai Pongal Festival held at the Jaffna Durga Hall yesterday (15), the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. He added that the Social Justice Commission…

Woes of country mounting with bailout delay, Sri Lanka tells international forum report in Daily Mirror, Jan 15, 2023

As Sri Lanka continues to face delays in securing the much sought-after bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government admitted this week that the situation is becoming increasingly difficult for the people of the country. State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe told an international forum on Thursday that while all is on track to firm up the relief package, the current economic crisis is impacting individuals and businesses in the island nation. “.……

Dahal to visit India in first foreign trip

by Anil Gir in The Kathmandu Post, Jan 15, 2023.Government officials have started preparations for Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s visit to India in the near future with the prime minister saying on Saturday that he would make New Delhi his first port of call after taking up the executive job in December-end. Speaking with some editors and journalists at Baluwatar, Dahal said the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi was coordinating with relevant offices and officials in…