ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser Dr. Moeed Yusuf Friday met Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman and told her that the international community should engage with the interim Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. NSA Moeed Yusuf held a meeting with the State Department's number two, who arrived Thursday in Pakistan on a two-day official visit. After the visit of the CIA Director William J Burns, Sherman is the senior-most US official to visit Pakistan. During the meeting, bilateral issues and the evolving situation in the region after the Taliban takeover were discussed. The two also exchanged views on economic cooperation, trade, and the security situation in Afghanistan. "The international community needs to engage with Afghanistan's new interim government," Moeed Yousaf said. Yusuf told Sherman that Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir were leading the region towards further instability. Earlier on Thursday, during a weekly press briefing, Foreign Off...
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been asked by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to take additional taxation measures in the shape of income and sales taxes and regulatory duty (RD) to pull up the annual tax collection target from Rs5.8 trillion to Rs6.3 trillion. This new demand by the IMF comes during the ongoing virtual talks in the context of losses incurring on the account of non-collection of petroleum levy of over Rs600 billion during the current fiscal year, The News reported. The government will have to take additional revenue measures on the FBR front to bridge the gap that surfaced on account of non-collection of petroleum levy, an official was quoted as saying by the publication. What else has the IMF suggested Pakistan do? Another recommendation by the IMF is to increase the base price of the electricity tariff to the tune of Rs1.40 per unit to curtail the surge in circular debt. Pakistani authorities have made quarterly adjustments to the power tariff, but if...