Current Final

Category: National

  • PTI takes ‘U-turn’ after Imran offers open hearing of foreign funding case

    PTI takes ‘U-turn’ after Imran offers open hearing of foreign funding case

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) doesn’t agree with Prime Minister Imran Khan over the open hearing of the foreign funding case against the party.

    On Jan 20, Imran addressed a ceremony in Waziristan, wherein he had called for the open hearing of the foreign funding cases against all political parties, including the PTI, to come clean.

    It seems that the PTI legal team doesn’t consider it as a good idea. According to a statement filed by PTI lawyer Shah Khawar in the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PTI has no plans to make its financial statement accessible and the statement of the PTI chairman was “misconstrued”.

    “The statement of party Chairman has been wrongly construed which is not tantamount to provide [sic] documents furnished by the answering respondents (PTI) and material collected by this scrutiny committee,” Dawn reported the lawyer as saying.

    The statement was filed in response to a plea submitted by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar — the petitioner in the foreign funding case. Babar had urged the ECP to make public the records of the PTI in the wake of the statement by the PM.

    Speaking to media, Babar said that PM Imran attempted to mislead the public by his statement. “The PTI has a poor record when it comes to transparency in the case,” he told reporters. Babar said that he and his lawyers would decide their future course of action after the committee’s order on Feb 9.

    The foreign funding against the ruling party case was filed by its founding member Akbar S Babar in 2014. The ECP had started fresh scrutiny of the PTI accounts — a process going on since March 2018.

    The PTI had admitted last month that its agents in the US might have been involved in the illegal funding without the knowledge of the party chief, Imran Khan.

  • Kashmala’s husband in custody after ‘reckless’ driving kills four in Islamabad

    Kashmala’s husband in custody after ‘reckless’ driving kills four in Islamabad

    Four people were killed while another was injured after a vehicle reportedly driven by the son of Federal Ombudsperson Kashmala Tariq rammed into a Mehran car on Kashmir Highway after it jumped a red light.

    According to report, Kashmala’s son Azlaan was also in the vehicle, but he fled the scene; however, her husband Waqas Khan was taken into custody and transferred to Ramna police station by the cops.

    Geo News reported that five speeding vehicles, part of Kashmala’s protocol, broke a traffic signal in G-11 and crashed into two vehicles. It also claimed that one of the vehicles had a government number plate. The ombudsperson’s son and husband were travelling with their protocol when the incident happened. The report said that Waqas, the husband, is in police custody.

    However, the FIR named Kashmala’s son as the driver of the vehicle that rammed into the car.

    The first information report said that five men, who came from Mansehra to Islamabad to take an exam for the Anti-Narcotics Force, were travelling in a Mehran which was hit by a Lexus at the G-11 traffic signal. The FIR alleged that the vehicle was driven by the son of the ombudsperson. A bike was also hit and the rider was taken to the hospital by the people who gathered at the site of the accident.

    The complainant, who was the only one to survive the crash, said when he was rescued, people who had gathered at the site were naming Tariq’s son as the driver of the car that hit them.

    Islamabad Police confirmed the accident but did not name the suspect. In a tweet, the police said a “tragic accident” took place at a signal in G-11 which resulted in the death of four people.

  • CM Punjab reportedly orders removal of Iqbal statue in Lahore park

    CM Punjab reportedly orders removal of Iqbal statue in Lahore park

    Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has reportedly ordered the removal of Allama Iqbal’s sculpture built by the gardeners of Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park.

    Photo Credits: Sikandar Ali Hullio Twitter
    Photo Credits: Sikandar Ali Hullio Twitter
    Photo Credits: Sikandar Ali Hullio Twitter

    According to the Focal Person on Digital Media to CM Punjab Azhar Mashwani, the Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA) will not remove the statue but will fix it so that it looks more like Iqbal.

    The structure drew the ire of social media users after pictures of it were widely circulated on social media.

  • After FIA, NAB too cannot probe BRT project

    After FIA, NAB too cannot probe BRT project

    The Supreme Court has stopped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from investigating alleged irregularities in the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had approached the apex court against a ruling by the Peshawar High Court wherein the court had asked NAB to probe the mass transit project over alleged corrupt practices that resulted in massive losses to the national exchequer.

    A three-member bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial set aside the decision of the high court, saying it was based on speculations.

    According to the petition filed in the high court, the project was transferred to the Peshawar Development Authority despite the formation of a special BRT cell in the provincial transport department that also hired staffers and consultants. The court had observed the project was not coordinated well, resulting in delay and loss of money. 

    This is not the first time that NAB has been barred from touching the BRT. In 2018, after the PHC asked NAB to probe the BRT project, then chief justice Saqib Nisar had suspended the decision in Sept 2018.

    In Feb 2020, an SC bench headed by Justice Bandial had stopped the Federal Investigation Agency to stop the BRT investigation. At this time, the KP government’s lawyer had alleged that the PHC had issued its verdict without any reasoning.

    PESHAWAR METRO:

    The BRT bus service was launched on Aug 13 last year by Prime Minister Imran Khan after much delay as it missed several deadlines.

    The KP government and the project’s execution agency had promised to open the project, launched in October 2017, within six months on April 20, 2018. However, the deadline was missed.

    The project managers kept changing the launch dates from May 20 to June 30 to December 31 in 2018 to March 23, 2019, but the project was finally launched in Aug 2020. Since then, multiple buses of the BRT have broken down or caught fire.

  • Iqbal’s sculpture in Lahore park built by gardeners as a tribute

    Iqbal’s sculpture in Lahore park built by gardeners as a tribute

    A new sculpture of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, erected at Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, is all social media can talk about ever since pictures of it emerged on Twitter on Monday. While the structure appeared to be an honest attempt to pay a tribute to the country’s national Poet and renowned scholar, netizens are not happy with the way it turned out.

    Several social media users demanded authorities to immediately remove the sculpture as they felt it was a “display of insult” rather than a tribute to the poet.

    https://twitter.com/The_Najeeb/status/1356506382061735938?s=20

    Several journalists, social activists and renowned personalities including Hamid Mir, Jamal Shah, and Jibran Nasir also criticised the government for its incompetence.

    Several users questioned why it was even allowed to be placed at the park.

    However, it later emerged that the statue was built by the gardeners of the park as a tribute to the great leader. Chairman Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Yasir Gillani shared this news on social media, saying that the gardeners prepared it on their own and the “authority did not pay a single penny” for it.

    Later, Focal Person on Digital Media to CM Punjab Azhar Mashwani also clarified that the sculpture was made by the gardeners of the park to express their love for Iqbal.

  • Arabic teaching compulsory in Islamabad schools after Senate okays bill

    Arabic teaching compulsory in Islamabad schools after Senate okays bill

    All primary and secondary schools in Islamabad are required to introduce the Arabic language as a compulsory subject after the Senate approved the Compulsory Teaching of the Arabic Language Bill 2020 on Monday.

    The bill presented by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Javed Abbasi was endorsed by all members of the upper house, except Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani who wrote a dissenting note. The bill will be implemented within six months.

    As per the bill, Arabic will be taught in schools in Islamabad from grades 1-5, while Arabic grammar will be taught in grades 6-12.

    Senator Abbasi said Arabia is “the fifth most spoken language in the world”, adding that it would also open up more job opportunities for Pakistanis in the Middle East. According to the senator, the Holy Quran is in Arabic and “we would not go through the problems we are currently facing had we understood the Holy Quran”.

    Parliamentary Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Muhammad Khan also agreed with Abbasi. He said the bill was in line with Article 31 of the Constitution that says: “Measures should be taken to spend our lives according to the Holy Quran and Sunnah.”

    According to Khan, learning Arabic was crucial to “become a good Muslim […] and understand God’s message”.

    However, PPP’s Rabbani said that legislation to make Arabic a mandatory language in schools was an attempt to “use Islamic for political purposes”. He further termed this an attempt to erase the diversity of Pakistan by imposing the foreign Arabic culture.

    “The Arab culture is not mine, [the] Indus Valley [Civilisation] is my culture,” he said, adding the Arabic language has nothing to do with Islam or Quran beyond being the language it was revealed in.

    In a response to The Current’s story on Instagram, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said that contrary to the media reports, the PPP opposed the said bill.

  • ‘Get vaccinated at your own risk,’ Punjab health minister tells people

    ‘Get vaccinated at your own risk,’ Punjab health minister tells people

    As Pakistan is all set to kick off its vaccination campaign, Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid has implied that the government won’t be responsible for the potential adverse effects of the coronavirus vaccines.

    According to The News, due to the reported side effects of the vaccines, the minister told people to get the vaccine at their own risk. “We will make the public aware of the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine,” she added while addressing a press conference in Lahore.

    “Although research on corona is still going on all around the world, news of deaths of some COVID-19 vaccine recipients in certain parts of the world is disturbing,” she was quoted by the news outlet as saying.

    The minister said that the vaccination campaign in Punjab will start tomorrow. “We have been conveyed by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) that all chief ministers shall simultaneously inaugurate a vaccination drive in their respective provinces,” she added.

    At least 11 people lost lives due to coronavirus while over 400 tested positive on Monday, the minister said, adding that there was lockdown in 18 areas in Lahore. Some areas in Gujranwala, Gujrat and other cities were also under lockdown and movement of 5,634 people was restricted, she disclosed.

  • MQM founder Altaf Hussain in ICU due to COVID

    MQM founder Altaf Hussain in ICU due to COVID

    Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain has been under treatment for nearly three weeks in Britain due to coronavirus.

    Altaf urged his followers to continue praying for him, saying he would speak to them again after recovering.

    “May Allah protect everyone from this disease, COVID-19,” he was quoted by a news media outlet as saying. The MQM founder also appealed to listeners to “take precautions and help each other” in the times of a pandemic.

    On Jan 23, the MQM from its official Twitter handle tweeted: “MQM founder leader Mr Altaf Hussain got ill. After the check-up, the doctor advised him to rest and suspend his political activities.”

    Britain has had one of the world’s highest Covid-19 mortality rates and has recorded more than 106,000 deaths — the worst toll in Europe. The country is currently under a third national lockdown as it battles new strains of the coronavirus.

    On October 10, Hussain was charged by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Services with the terrorism offence in a case related to his incendiary speech relayed from the UK to his followers in Pakistan in 2016.

    After the speech, a crackdown was launched against the MQM and the government sealed its headquarter, Nine Zero, in Karachi. Later, MQM leaders in Pakistan also distanced themselves from him and removed his name from the party constitution, resulting in the formation of MQM-Pakistan.

  • Senior journalist accuses close aide of PM of disrupting Pak-Qatar ties; Twitter is guessing who…

    Senior journalist accuses close aide of PM of disrupting Pak-Qatar ties; Twitter is guessing who…

    Senior journalist Arif Hameed Bhatti has accused a close aide of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of disrupting Pakistan-Qatar business ties.

    Speaking during a talk show on Saturday, Bhatti claimed that a cabinet member, who is also an advisor of the premier, visited Qatar and snubbed the government by asking to start personal business ties.

    He went on to claim that the issue was also discussed in the recently-held cabinet meeting.

    When the host of the current affairs programme, Paras Jahanzaib, asked Bhatti to name the advisor who visited Qatar and told the authorities to end business ties with the Pakistan government, Hameed seemed reluctant to answer, but Twitterati have not been holding back their guesses.

    What do they owe their guesses to? Well, this clip from the show…

    WATCH VIDEO:

    What do you think of the claims? Let The Current know in the comments below…

  • Osama bin Laden funded Nawaz govt in 1990s, says ex-envoy

    Osama bin Laden funded Nawaz govt in 1990s, says ex-envoy

    The government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was supported and funded by global terrorist Osama bin Laden at some point during the 1990s, said Pakistan’s former envoy to the United States Abida Hussain.

    In an interview with Samaa on Saturday, the former ambassador said that the claims that OBL supported Nawaz are true. She, however, added that the story of Nawaz-OBL relationship is a “complicated one”.

    Abida Hussain also talked about Pakistan’s nuclear programme, saying Nawaz Sharif was not aware of the developments regarding the project due to an unfriendly relationship with then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

    She said that the nuclear programme was completed in 1992 and not 1983, adding that Pakistan was under a lot of pressure from US envoys and lawmakers to roll back the programme.

    Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda chief who was killed by the US special forces in a midnight raid in Abbottabad in May 2011, was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that left over 3,000 people dead. These attacks resulted in the US invasion of Afghanistan — a 20-year-long conflict that has claimed countless lives.

    Bin Laden made headlines last year when PM Imran Khan called him a “shaheed” during a National Assembly session.

    https://twitter.com/ventdeInde/status/1276144510121148417

    “Pakistanis were deeply embarrassed when Americans killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. Shaheed kar diya [was martyred]. But what happened after that? The entire world hurled abuses at us. Our ally [the US] entered our country and killed someone without even telling us. It was a big humiliation,” he said before going on to describe the drone attacks as the second set of incidents that embarrassed the country.