Rawalpindi: Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) while conducting nine operations across the country managed to recover 125 kilogrammes of drugs and arrested 16 accused, said an ANF Headquarters spokesman here on Thursday.

He informed that 1.2 kg of heroin was recovered from a parcel booked for the UK at a courier office in Rawalpindi.

In two operations in Hayatabad Peshawar, six kg hashish, 1.4 kg heroin, 43,000 ecstasy tablets, 63,000 other intoxicated tablets, and weapons were recovered from the possession of three suspects including Afghan nationals.

In two operations near Turki Toll Plaza Jhelum, 208 bottles of liquor and 1.2 kg of hashish were recovered from four suspects.

628 grams of opium, 168 grams of heroin, 14.4 kg of hashish and 350 grams Ice were recovered from four suspects in two operations near No. 26 Chongi, Islamabad. Two kg of heroin was recovered from two accused netted in Kasur. One kg Ice was recovered from two suspects arrested in Multan.

Cases under the Anti-Narcotics Act have been registered against the arrested accused and further investigations are under process.

Islamabad: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday adjourned the hearing of the case of personal promotion on public development projects for two weeks.

According to the details, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa conducted the hearing.

During the hearing, the four provincial governments, including the federal government, assured not to promote personal publicity on public projects and to implement the decision of the Supreme Court.

In 2023, the Supreme Court had given a decision not to advertise personally on development projects.

In this regard, the Supreme Court called for affidavits from the four provincial governments including the federal government.

CJP Qazi Faez Isa ordered that every province is united on the issue of personal publicity, there is no opposition in any province on the issue of personal publicity.

During the hearing, Qazi Faez Isa asked about the numbers of law officers in Sindh. To which the provincial government lawyer replied that there are 80 law officers in Sindh.

Chief Justice Qazi Faez said that there is a battalion of 80 law officers in Sindh, while there is no permanent law officer in Islamabad.

Provincial law officers told that there are 18 law officers in Balochistan, four in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 86 in Punjab.

Chief Justice of Pakistan stated that there are 86 law officers in Punjab, the province with the largest population, but why there are 80 in Sindh.

The lawyer of the Punjab government replied that the number of law officers in Punjab is being reduced from 86 to 66.

Qazi Faez added said that every law officer of Sindh is being paid Rs0.5 million per month as salary which makes it 40 million rupess which is suffered by the people of Sindh. We don't get better support from the law officers in court. They appear through video link but there is distortion in the call. We don't want to interfere in government affairs, but tell us what sin the poor people have committed. We want to see strengthened democracy. Why is there personal publicity on public money projects? Even the staunchest political opponents are on the same page on the issue of personal publicity on public projects.

Islamabad: The federal government broke all records by borrowing Rs6 trillion from banks in 10 months.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the government has borrowed 5.96 trillion rupees (on cash basis) from the local banking sector in the first 10 months, i.e. from July 1, 2023 to 26th April 2024, which is 124% more than the loan of 2.66 trillion rupees during the same period last year.

The government repaid a net loan of Rs735 billion to the State Bank during this period. It is pertinent to mention that the government cannot borrow directly from the central bank under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mandate.

The loans taken from scheduled banks in the current financial year have already exceeded the Rs3.7 trillion loan taken in the entire financial year 2023.

Overall, the net debt of the public sector for budget support in the 10 months of FY2020-24 was Rs5 trillion, which was Rs.3.74 trillion in FY23.