National 

Dec 16: The Supreme Court of Pakistan held that Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa would stand retired after six months unless parliament allowed him extension of tenure by amending the relevant army laws.

Dec 16: A European group the ‘EU DisinfoLab’ uncovered a network of obscure NGOs and think tanks that assist over 200 ‘fake’ news outlets managed by an Indian network to influence the European Union and the United Nations with content critical of Pakistan.

Dec 16: King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa conferred upon Prime Minister Imran Khan the Gulf state’s highest civil award ‘The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance’.

Dec 16: Dr Muhammad Khawar Jameel took oath as Federal Insurance Ombudsman.

Dec 16: The annual Jhal Magsi desert rally concluded with Nauman Saranjam clinching the first position.

Dec 16: Malaysian car manufacturer Proton delivered X70 to Pakistan government as per promise made by Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Prime Minister Imran Khan during his visit to Pakistan in March last year.

Dec 17: The three-member bench of the special court—headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and comprising Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC)—found former military ruler Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf guilty of high treason and handed him a death sentence under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Dec 17: Pakistan was ranked the third worst country in global rankings for gender equality in Global Gender Gap Report 2020. Pakistan was just ahead of Iraq and Yemen, a ranking of 151 out of 153 countries.

Dec 17: The government announced that it would not attend the Kuala Lumpur Summit at any level.

Dec 17: Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry, the 8th chief of the Pakistan Air Force, passed away. He served from March 3, 1972 to April 15, 1974.

Dec 17: Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the Global Refugee Forum. He warned delegates that one of the biggest refugee crises is about to take place because of recent actions by the Indian government. He said India’s revocaton of Kashmir’s special status on Aug. 5 aims to change the demographics of the region from a Muslim-majority to a Muslim-minority state, which is likely to provoke a refugee crisis that will dwarf previous ones.

Dec 17: Nida Dar of Pakistan was named in ICC Women’s T20I squad for her outstanding performance in ICC events.

Dec 19: Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the appointment of Ms Aisha Farooqui as the new Spokesperson of Foreign Office.

Dec 19: The Executive Board of the IMF completed the first review of Pakistan’s economic performance and approved $452 million second tranche under the Extended Fund Facility.

Dec 19: Planning and Development Board, Punjab, and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) signed Technical Cooperation Agreement 2020.

Dec 20: Veteran British-Pakistani politician and first Muslim elected as councillor in the United Kingdom, Bashir Maan passed away at the age of 93.

Dec 20: The Trump administration approved the resumption of military training facilities for Pakistan to “improve bilateral cooperation on shared priorities”.

Dec 20: The president reconstituted the Council of Common Interests by inducting Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar and Power Minister Omar Ayub as its members.

Dec 21: Opening batsman Abid Ali became the first Pakistani to score centuries in each of his first two Tests.

Dec 21: Justice Gulzar Ahmed was sworn in to serve as the 27th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

Dec 22: British Pakistani boxer Hasnan Ali won the title of England & Wales Champion.

Dec 22: Renowned writer and poet Amjad Islam Amjad received Turkey’s prestigious Necip Fazil International Culture and Art Award.

Dec 23: Pakistan’s first home Test series in 10 years–against Sri Lanka—concluded with the hosts standing victorious 1-0.

Dec 24: Dr Moeed Yusuf was appointed Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning.

Dec 24: SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan announced 8th Wage board award for journalists.

Dec 24: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) appointed Farrukh Hussain Khan its CEO.

Dec 24: The federal cabinet gave approval to the removal of 820,165 beneficiaries from the BISP database, describing them as “undeserving”. The data revealed that out of those removed from the programme, more than 140,000 were those who or their spouses were government employees.

Dec 25: The first street library in Pakistan, with over 600 books on different subjects, was inaugurated in Karachi.

Dec 26: Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed the petition filed against Ibrarul Haq’s appointment to the post of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society’s (PRCS) chairman.

Dec 26: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, was awarded the 2020 J. Clifford Wallace Award by the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in recognition of his extraordinary career as a judge and a jurist.

Dec 26: Stage, film and TV actor Ashraf Rahi died. He was 66.

Dec 27: The government made drastic changes in the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 through a presidential ordinance.

Dec 27: The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra rolled out its first batch of eight dual-seat JF-17 aircraft.

Dec 28: Google honoured acclaimed singer Iqbal Bano with her Doodle on what would have been her 81st birthday.

Dec 30: PM Imran Khan launched the Sehat Insaf Card facility for the transgender community, the first in the country’s history, to provide succour to the most vulnerable segment of society.

Dec 31: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan retired after he reached superannuation.

Dec 31: Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh became Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice.

Dec 31: UBL became the only bank to win the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) “Top Companies of the Year” Award for three consecutive years (2016-18).

Dec 31: The federal cabinet approved Shahid Salim Khan as regular Managing Director of OGDCL for three-year tenure.

Dec 31: Senior professionals from the broadcast media formed a 16-member executive committee to run the affairs of the newly-established Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND).

Jan 01: The federal government transferred Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Dr Mohammad Naeem Khan and replaced him with Sanaullah Abbasi.

Jan 01: Phase two of the much-touted China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement came into effect. The new phase will allow Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313 new products to the Chinese market with zero duties.

Jan 02: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed announced an allocation of $200 million to support SMEs in Pakistan.

Jan 03: At the conclusion of the 23rd Pak-Iran Joint Border Commission meeting in Quetta, both countries signed an agreement to jointly resolve border issues, including terrorism, unlawful trade, drugs smuggling, illegal border crossing and human trafficking.

Jan 04: Renowned Pakistani mountaineer from Skardu, Mohammad Ali Sadpara, along with French climber Marc Batard, scaled Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps—considered deadliest in the world.

Jan 05: Syed Safwanullah, a former federal minister, leader of the MQM and intellectual, passed away.

Jan 05: KP’s health minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan was replaced by Shahram Tarakai.

Jan 06: Russia finally provided Pakistan a sanction-free structure for the strategic North-South Gas Pipeline. The construction work is likely to start somewhere in June-July this year with an estimated cost of over $2 billion.

Jan 06: In order to combat the menace of drugs and child abuse and to create awareness among parents and teachers about how to protect children from the menace, Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a mobile application called “Zindagi” (life) which can be used for lodging complaints against drug abuse. 

Jan 06: The sixth bilateral “Exercise Sea Guardians 2020” between Pakistan Navy and China’s People’s Liberation Army (Navy) started.

Jan 06: Pakistan’s promising youngster Mohammad Hamza Khan outclassed Yusuf Sheikh of England to win the U-15 title at the British Junior Open Squash Championship.

Jan 07: Atif Bajwa was appointed the President of Bank of Punjab. Mr Bajwa has previously been associated with Bank AlFalah, MCB Bank and Soneri Bank as well as RBS and CitiBank.

Jan 07: Sibtain Khan, the PTI MPA from Mianwali, took oath as minister in the cabinet of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for second time.

Jan 07: The National Assembly passed the bills meant to empower the prime minister to give extension to the three services chiefs.

Jan 07: Justice (r) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, who served as Chief Election Commissioner, Sindh governor, law minister, attorney general and a Supreme Court judge, died. He was 91.

Jan 07: The well-known business magazine Forbes declared Pakistan among the top 10 “under-the-radar” travel destinations for 2020.

Jan 08: Former international weightlifting champion Mohammad Javed Butt breathed his last. He was 82.

Jan 08: Dr Fouzia Saeed was appointed director general of Pakistan National Council of Arts.

Jan 08: Two new ministers—Iqbal Wazir and Malik Shah Mohammad—were inducted into provincial cabinet of KP.

Jan 08: The federal government appointed Akbar Hussain Durrani the federal secretary for Information and Broadcasting in place of Zahida Parveen.

Jan 09: President Dr Arif Alvi conferred Nishan-i-Imtiaz (Military) on Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza for his illustrious services for defence of the country.

Jan 09: Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered the overhaul of the country’s public diplomacy and information policy for effective projection of national narrative abroad by improving the skill set and orientation of ambassadors and their subordinate diplomatic and media staff at all the missions abroad.

Jan 09: Pakistan asked a US federal court to pause Tethyan Copper Co. Pty Ltd’s bid to enforce a $6 billion arbitral award while it looks to have the award nixed.

Jan 09: PM Imran Khan inaugurated Pakistan’s largest skills development programme ‘Hunarmand Jawan’.

Jan 09: President Arif Alvi signed three bills; the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act, 2020, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Act, 2020 and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Act, 2020 into law.

Jan 09: The KP government and the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) signed an agreement for extending a grant of up to Rs429.695 million to strengthen and expand emergency rescue services in 17 districts of the province through Rescue 1122.

Jan 09: Apart from declaring forced conversions as un-Islamic and unconstitutional, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) announced that several sections of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, were against the norms of Shariah and even described them as below human dignity.

Jan 09: The European Union (EU) refused to take part in a rare diplomatic visit to India-Occupied Kashmir because they would not be allowed to meet detained local politicians.

Jan 10: Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund won the prestigious Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks Award for the fourth consecutive year.

Jan 10: The National Assembly passed Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, 2019, which envisages establishment of Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Agency (ZARRA) where child missing case will be reported and it will generate an automatic alert.

Jan 10: Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the newly constructed Azakhel dry port, completed at a cost of Rs510 million, in KP’s Nowshera district.

Jan 10: The country’s 10 banks signed an agreement to establish Pakistan Corporate Restructuring Company Ltd.

Jan 10: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) announced to extend its One-Stop-Shop (OSS) facility for company registration in Balochistan and KP.

Jan 12: Balochistan’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) declared emergency in Mastung, Qila Abdullah, Kech, Ziarat, Harnai, and Pishin districts after a spell of heavy rain and snowfall across the province.

Jan 12: MQM-Pakistan convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui resigned as federal minister for information technology.

Jan 13: The Lahore High Court (LHC) declared unconstitutional all actions taken by the previous government against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, including the filing of a complaint on high treason charge and the formation of a special court as well as its proceedings, leading to the abolition of the death penalty handed down to him by the trial court on Dec 17.

Jan 13: The principal of the Police Training School in Rawat, SP Abrar Hussain Nekokara, killed himself in his office.

Jan 13: The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) appointed Dr Asad Hafeez the first vice chancellor (VC) of the Health Services Academy (HSA).

Jan 13: Army thrashed Karachi United to clinch the 12th National Women’s Football Championship title.

Jan 14: The 6th Exercise Sea Guardians 2020 between Pakistan Navy and China’s Navy ended.

Jan 14: Promising Ahsan Ramzan outclassed top seed Umer Khan to clinch the Jubilee Insurance National U-18 Snooker Championship title.

Jan 15: The National Assembly passed a bill allowing establishment of University of Islamabad.

Jan 15: KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan launched e-ticketing and payment system for depositing traffic fines and driving licence fee in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Jan 15: Pakistan batsman Babar Azam was named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year for the second time in his career.

Jan 15: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held a meeting on Jammu and Kashmir and reviewed the situation in the India-occupied valley.