Current Final

Category: National

  • 2018 vs 2020: Is Karachi done with Imran’s PTI?

    After a rather troubled polling day, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has managed to secure a comfortable win in Karachi’s PS-88 Malir by-election for a seat in the Sindh Assembly, unofficial results issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have revealed.

    But does that mean that the people of Karachi are done with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) amid economic among other challenges faced by the country?

    According to journalist Ajmal Jami, that might be the case, at least in Malir, and here’s why…

    The PPP was the only party that not only retained the number of votes received in the 2018 general election, but went on to secure even more.

    The PPP secured 24,251 votes in the 2021 by-election as compared to 22,561 in 2018, whereas the PTI and its allied Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) received merely 4,870 votes against 2018’s 16,386 and 2,635 votes against 5,207, respectively.

    Hardliner Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which had received 7,694 votes in 2018, bagged only 6,090 this year.

    Earlier, polling for the PS-88 by-election — that was slated to be a hot contest between the PPP and PTI — was marred by allegations of vote rigging, violence and intimidation as all contesting parties traded charges against each other.

    The winning candidate, PPP’s Yousuf Murtaza Baloch, is the son of Murtaza Baloch, the former minister for human settlement.

    The seat fell vacant after Murtaza died of COVID-19 in June last year.

  • Sri Lanka cancels PM Imran’s address to parliament to ‘appease India’: foreign media

    Sri Lanka cancels PM Imran’s address to parliament to ‘appease India’: foreign media

    Sri Lanka has cancelled Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to its parliament scheduled for Feb 24 after reservations that it could sour ties with India, reported Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Express.

    PM Imran is set to arrive in Colombo on Feb 22 on a two-day visit. He is expected to address the parliament of the South Asian nation during his visit. Pakistani leaders, including presidents Ayub Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, addressed the Sri Lankan parliament in 1963 and 1975. 

    However, days ahead of the address, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had written to the government, seeking a postponement of the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The newspaper reported that the speaker said that he was unable to ensure full attendance in parliament on the occasion.

    Daily Express, quoting unnamed but “reliable” sources, claimed that “sections of the government had reservations about the decision to have the Pakistan prime minister address the Sri Lankan parliament as it could sour relations with India”.

    “The sources believe India might apprehend the Pakistani leader would raise the Kashmir issue in his address,” it reported.

    According to English language daily, the Pakistani Prime Minister is coming to Sri Lanka to strengthen ties with the only South Asian nation with which it has consistently close and good ties. It is undeniable that Sri Lanka-Pakistan relations have been cordial and strong right from the late 1940s when both got independence from Britain.

    Sri Lanka is eagerly waiting for Pakistan’s help to garner the support of Muslim countries in the 47-member UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in which a hostile resolution against it is likely to be introduced in March. The resolution is expected to call for Sri Lanka’s reference to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

  • Families of two accident victims pardon Kashmala’s son

    Families of two accident victims pardon Kashmala’s son

    Families of two out of four men who lost their lives after being hit by a vehicle of Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women Kashmala Tariq on the Srinagar Highway, pardoned her son and driver on Tuesday.

    According to the media reports, the families submitted affidavits to the court of Additional District and Session Judge, Mohammad Sohail Fazil during the hearing of a plea for bail-before-arrest obtained by Ms Tariq’s son.

    The investigators had asked the court to cancel the bail and give physical remand of the accused but the counsel for the accused borrowed time till afternoon and brought the families of the two deceased, Farooq Ahmed and Adil, who submitted affidavits separately.

    As per the information on affidavits, “The car was driven not by Ms Tariq’s son but by the driver. They do not want any legal action against her driver and her son.”

    It further added, “For the sake of Allah, we have no objection over the release of her driver and son on bail, quash the case and discharge them from the case.”

    Later, the court issued an order stating that parents of deceased Farooq Ahmed and Adil Abbasi got their affidavits submitted.

    During the hearing, they were asked to come up one by one, and contents of the affidavits were read and explained to them in Urdu. All of them verified the contents and thumb impression on it.

    The parents had firmly stated that they had pardoned the accused and have no objection if they are released on bail.

    To nullify the case completely, affidavits from the families of the other two deceased and the two injured persons are also required, said the judge.

  • Bakery owner kills labourer, burns his body in bakery oven

    Bakery owner kills labourer, burns his body in bakery oven


    Police on Tuesday found the bones of a missing man from the oven of a bakery.

    As per the details, the 40-year-old labourer, namely Syed Jan Agha Kochi, was murdered, after which his body was burned in a huge oven at a bakery owned by suspect Malik Safeer near Dari Chowk in Khalabat Township.

    Police recovered the victim’s bones from the kiln and arrested the bakery owner Safeer.

    According to reports, the victim worked at a junkyard. He went missing on Sunday evening. His family registered a complaint at a police station and also posted on social media.

    Saddar Circle DSP Sajjad Khan constituted a team under Khalabat SHO Ali Farman to start the search for the missing man. Police found out Kochi’s daily routine after speaking his family, neighbours and shopkeepers close to his junkyard.

    All the clues hinted that somehow the baker was involved.

    A police team searched the bakery and its premises. To their horror, they found human bones inside the kiln, SHO Farman said.

    Police arrested the bakery owner and took him to the police station for the inquiry. Safeer confessed to his crime after police interrogated him, saying it was a monetary clash.

    Safeer had first shot and killed the victim and then stuffed the body inside the huge oven in which he used to bake bread, buns and biscuits. He kept using the same oven that had a corpse in it for making bread and then selling it to his customers.

    The suspect also told the police about the murder weapon. The police squad found a pistol and an empty shell. They also found the victim’s cellphone and other belongings.

    SHO Farman said that samples of the remains of the body will be sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Peshawar for DNA test. The forensic experts will also give a report on the murder weapon, he said.

  • Malala calls out PM Imran, army over escape of ex-Taliban spokesperson

    Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has asked Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and the army as to how did former Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan escaped Pakistan’s custody.

    “This is the ex-spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who claims responsibility for the attack on me and many innocent people,” Malala tweeted after a Twitter handle “impersonating the former TTP spokesperson” threatened her.

    “He is now threatening people on social media,” Malala said further, after which she went on to ask the military’s media wing and PM Imran as to how did the Ehsan even escape.

    While the tweet by Ehsan, which Malala was responding to, has been deleted as a consequence of account suspension by Twitter, in it the ex-TTP mouthpiece had asked her father and her to return to Swat, saying they still “owe a massive debt”.

    Ehsan is infamous for issuing claims of carrying out TTP attacks and has been linked to some of the country’s most deadly incidents of terror. These include the massacre of children at Army Public School (APS) Peshawar, bombing at a park in Lahore on Easter in 2016, and the targeting of Malala.

    He surrendered to authorities in 2017 and later gave interviews to a Pakistani TV channel, leading to criticism and controversy that a terrorist was given airtime. It angered many in the country who believed he was being pampered by authorities after years of helping lead a violent insurgency.

    Ehsan mysteriously escaped custody in February 2020, which, according to SAMAA, was also confirmed by the army.

    While the now-suspended Twitter handle bearing Ehsan’s name was rather active, it has been dubbed as a fake one by many, including PM Imran’s focal person on digital media, Dr Arslan Khalid, who reacted to Malala’s statement.

    “It’s a fake account @Malala and there is zero tolerance for extremism in Pakistan,” he tweeted.

    However, Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai responded to Dr Khalid, saying that they know for sure that the account belonged to Ehsanullah Ehsan.

  • Matric-pass MPA to head KP’s law ministry

    Matric-pass MPA to head KP’s law ministry

    After the resignation of Sultan Muhammad Khan from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has appointed Akbar Ayub Khan, who already holds the local government portfolio, as the new law minister of the province.

    Sultan, who had joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf after quitting the Qaumi Watan Party, was asked to step down from his post by Prime Minister Imran Khan and the KP CM after he was seen in a leaked video taking bribes ahead of Senate 2018 elections.

    Akbar Ayub now has two portfolios. But the problem with this appointment is the minister’s educational qualification: he has not studied beyond grade 10. Geo reported that Akbar Ayub was given the additional charge of the law ministry because of his “vast experience in parliamentary politics”.

    KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai reportedly said that Akbar is a veteran politician who knows how to run a ministry. “I am sure he will do well as the law minister,” Yousafzai added.

    This is not the first time Yousafzai had to defend his colleague over the latter’s academic credential. Last year, he defended the appointment of Ayub as the education minister, saying: “One should not question Ayub’s capabilities solely due to the fact that he had not studied beyond matriculation level.”

    Last year in Jan, Akbar was made the KP education minister. According to reports at the time, KP provincial assembly’s official website showed that Ayub’s educational qualification was matric. The same had been listed in an affidavit submitted by the minister, which also stated his occupation as a businessman and a landlord.

  • Pakistan, IMF agree on reforms for release of $500m

    Pakistan, IMF agree on reforms for release of $500m

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan on Tuesday reached a staff-level agreement over reforms that will lead to the release of around $500 million in funds, the IMF and the finance ministry said.

    The package strikes an appropriate balance between supporting the economy, ensuring debt sustainability and advancing structural reform, the fund said in a statement.

    “Pending approval of the Executive Board, the reviews’ completion would release around US$500 million,” the IMF said.

    Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh also confirmed the agreement on Twitter, saying that “overcoming the challenges created by the pandemic has required concerted effort”.

    “This is a good development for Pakistan,” he added.

    In a statement, IMF said that Pakistan’s progress under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) had been temporarily disrupted by the shock of the pandemic.

    “The Pakistani authorities remain committed to ambitious policy actions and structural reforms to strengthen economic resilience, advance sustainable growth, and achieve the EFF’s medium-term objectives,” the statement noted.

    Last month, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Reza Baqir had said that Pakistan was in talks with the IMF to put the financial support programme back on track.

    “We hope to have good news for the market and the world that we are putting the programme back on track,” Baqir had said.

    Last year, staff from the IMF and Pakistani authorities reached an agreement to pave the way for a disbursement of $450m in IMF funds pending approval from the global lender’s executive board.

    Pakistan and the IMF have been working to implement IMF-supported economic reforms, in particular tax collection, aimed at stabilising the economy and shoring up a yawning fiscal deficit.

    Pakistan entered a $6 billion IMF programme in 2019.

  • First lady’s friend among PTI’s Punjab candidates for Senate

    First lady’s friend among PTI’s Punjab candidates for Senate

     

    At least 29 candidates, including a close friend of the first lady, have filed their nomination papers for 11 Senate seats in Punjab with the elections scheduled to be held on March 3.

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has nominated 10 candidates: Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Muhammad Khan Madni, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Robina Akhtar, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, Aon Abbas, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Ejaz Hussain Minhas, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary and Neelam Irshad Sheikh.

    While on seats reserved for women, three candidates are fielded by PTI, including Farhat Shahzadi who is reportedly a close friend of First Lady Bushra Bibi.

    Following criticism, PM’s aide Shahbaz Gill defended the selection of Farhat Shahzadi, saying she is a part of the PTI and has been an active political workers for many years. She is a covering candidate and it is her right, he added.

    On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League has put forth Mushahid Ullah Khan, Pervaiz Rasheed, Saiful Malook Khokhar, Afnan Ullah Khan, Saud Majeed, Zahid Hamid, Sajid Mir, Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman and Irfanul Haq Siddiqui for the Senate polls.

    The Pakistan People’s Party (7 lawmakers in the house) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (10 legislators) have pitched one candidate each: PPP’s Azeem-ul-Haq Minhas and PML-Q’s Kamil Ali Agha.

    An aspirant for a general seat in Punjab requires votes of at least 53 provincial legislators.

    For the two Senate seats reserved for women, there are five candidates in the run: Zarqa Suharwardy, Farhat Shahzadi and Neelam Irshad Sheikh backed by the PTI; while two, Saadia Abbasi and Saira Afzal Tarar, are from the PML-N.

    There are three nominees for the Senate seats reserved for technocrats/Ulema. Two of them — Syed Ali Zafar and Atta Ullah Khan — belong to the PTI, whereas Azam Nazeer Tarar is a PML-N nominee.

  • Ex-PTI leader says was ‘offered Senate chairmanship to drop foreign funding case’

    Ex-PTI leader says was ‘offered Senate chairmanship to drop foreign funding case’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding member Akbar S Babar, who also filed a case against the PTI over illegal funding in 2014, claimed that a friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan offered him the Senate chairmanship if he agrees to withdraw the foreign funding case against the PTI.

    “A friend of Imran Khan offered me the post of chairman Senate,” he said, adding that he had “rejected all offers since I am on a noble purpose”.

    According to the former PTI leader, he had been threatened and cases had been filed against him for pursuing his case against the party over illegal funding.

    Meanwhile, the PTI has termed the allegations of Babar as baseless. In a statement, the PTI said that Babar was not offered any kind of position by the PTI. “He is blackmailing the party for the last eight years and no leader of the PTI has contacted him nor made any such offer. It is an attempt by him to raise his political stature.”

    FOREIGN FUNDING CASE:

    Meanwhile, the PTI has disowned the statement of its central finance secretary wherein he claimed that the funds from the United Arab Emirates were transferred to the accounts of four of its paid employees.

    Last week, a document submitted to the ECP revealed that the PTI employees were authorised to receive donations from within and outside Pakistan. The document, quoted by Dawn, had revealed the names of employees that included PTI’s telephone operator Tahir Iqbal, computer operator Muhammad Nauman Afzal, accountant Mohammad Arshad and office helper Mohammad Rafiq.

    Subsequently, an application was filed by Akbar S Babar, demanding all the personal front accounts of four PTI employees be requisitioned from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to ascertain the scope of the illegal fundraising.

    However, in a response filed before the ECP’s Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, the PTI stated the “respondent does not own such statement made by any of the office-bearers of PTI”.

    This is not the first time that the PTI has disowned a statement. Earlier, its counsel in the ECP had rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement wherein the premier agreed to the open hearing of the foreign funding case.

  • ‘Imran govt received loans worth Rs15,000 Arab’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz has accused the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of seeking whopping Rs15,000 Arab (Rs15,000 billion) in loans while “not laying down a single brick, and launching only failed projects”.

    “The [government] took loans of Rs15,000 billion but did not lay a single brick,” Maryam reportedly said while addressing a rally in Wazirabad as part of the election campaign for PP-51.

    Alleging that the metro bus project started by the PTI government had also failed, she asked the crowd whether any of them had gotten a job from the 10 million jobs promised by the government or a house from the 5 million houses pledged at the start of its regime.

    She said the government had accused her of playing the “Punjabi card” after she raised her voice for the province, but said she would continue to speak for Punjab as well as other provinces being “the daughter of Pakistan”.

    “But when it comes to snatching Punjab’s bread and aata and rise in the price of Punjab’s sugar, Maryam will stand with Punjabis with her heart and soul,” she said.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Maryam, speaking in Urdu interspersed with Punjabi, said farmers, labourers, daily wage workers, traders and businessmen were all frustrated today and could not afford basic utilities and food items.

    She called upon the “selectors” not to “make the mistake” of helping to bring the PTI into power again, saying: “I feel bad when people bad-mouth the selectors because after all, the institution is ours.”

    “The country has been worn out but my dear selectors, don’t do this with Pakistan again,” she said, referring to the PTI coming into power. “Do your own work that the Constitution has assigned to you, don’t interfere with people’s work.”

    Although things are broken, Maryam said, “Nawaz Sharif will come and everything will be fixed.”

    The PML-N leader alleged that electricity in the country was expensive because “those financing Imran Khan’s expenses deliberately imported expensive LNG”.

    The PML-N leader asked the administration of Daska and Wazirabad to serve the people and the law instead of the premier.

    “I say to Wazirabad police and administration […] I know that you yourself are frustrated [but] the nation is looking at you; if you instead of serving the country and the people try to serve anyone else, try to steal the vote and make a lost person win, then remember, Imran Khan came once but now at least Punjab won’t let him come [to power] again.”

    She said the next government in Pakistan and Punjab will be “of Nawaz Sharif”.