Current Final

Category: National

  • Bilawal announces protest against ‘stolen’ GB polls

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has alleged irregularities in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections, saying the results were manipulated to favour the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — leading on 12 seats as per the initial results.

    In a tweet, the PPP chairperson announced to join a demonstration in the region against the “stealing of elections”.

    “My election has been stolen. I will be joining the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in their protest shortly,” said the opposition leader in a tweet.

    The statement followed a series of tweets by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who claimed the PTI was able to bag more seats because of alleged pre-poll rigging. She claimed the PTI has no support in GB and its electoral victories would be a result of alleged rigging done by “selectors”.

    The PML-N candidates were forced to switch their loyalties and join the PTI, she said, adding despite the support of the state machinery, the party failed to gain a simple majority.

    PTI AHEAD OF PPP, PML-N:

    According to the initial results, the PTI and its allies are set to form a new government for the next five years in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. Unofficial results showed the PTI and its allies were leading, clinching half [12] of the contested seats.

    Official results are expected to be announced today as election authorities said they were facing difficulties in collecting results from several far-flung mountainous areas due to heavy snow and rain.

    The PTI and its allies, according to the initial results, are in the lead with at least 12 of the 24 seats being contested in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

    At least four independent candidates projected to win are most likely to join the PTI to form the government.

    The two other main contenders — the centre-left PPP and centre-right PML-N, which won the 2015 elections in the region — have cried foul, accusing the election authorities of “rigging”.

    The chief election commissioner, however, denied the charge, advising the opposition parties to contact the commission if there are any irregularities.

  • Control room established in Lahore to monitor smog

    Control room established in Lahore to monitor smog

    The Ministry of Climate Change has set up a smog control room in Lahore to regularly monitor smog that causes health problems to people in different areas of the province during the winters.

    The other objective of the Control Room was to have a constant check on smog Air Quality Index (AQI) in the province during coming days.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said the process to fight smog has begun.

    He said there would be a regular check on crop burning, transport and industrial emissions, brick kilns and cross-border emissions which are the main sources of smog production.

    Malik Amin said that farmers have been provided with much-needed technology to help them avoid burning of crop residue and instead convert the residue into organic fertilizer to enhance the fertility of their farmlands.

    He said technology is also being introduced across the country under the government’s project for Mechanized Management of Rice Crop Residue for which thirty billion rupees are being spent for payment of 50,000 units of rice straw shredder.

  • Maulana Tariq Jamil breaks silence on what he took to officiate ‘Pakistan’s most expensive wedding’

    Maulana Tariq Jamil breaks silence on what he took to officiate ‘Pakistan’s most expensive wedding’

    Renowned preacher Maulana Tariq Jamil has rubbished claims that he received a hefty amount to officiate what is being dubbed as “Pakistan’s most expensive wedding ceremony”.

    The Master Tiles-Jalal Sons wedding from earlier this month has been making headlines for its extravagant style and featuring several Pakistani celebrities in addition to a troupe of foreign gymnasts.

    “By the tawfīq of Allah, I have traveled around 6 continents to preach the message of Allah and I have been preaching the life of our Prophet ﷺ to the Ummah for a very long time. The hurdle in our advancement is our moral decline,” Jamil said in a Facebook post.

    “My message for those who accused me of taking money for performing Nikāh is that in the journey of preaching the message of Allah I have performed Nikāh of thousands of boys and girls for the sake of Allah,” he added.

    Jamil went on to say that Sheikh Mahmood of Master Tiles was an old friend of his. “How can I take money for performing Nikāh of his daughter on his invitation? May Allah protect us all from distrust and false accusations.”

    Earlier, it was reported that the preacher was paid Rs1 million rupees (Rs10 lacs) for his services.

    The claim had come as owner of Master Tiles landed on the Federal Board Revenue (FBR) radar for spending Rs2 billion on the wedding ceremony.

    A probe was conducted by the FBR into the “service providers involved in the lavish arrangements” to detect possible tax evasion. The document shared by the FBR said that Rosa Blanca Country Club, the venue of baraat located on Raiwind Road in Lahore, was paid Rs150 million for the premises.

    It, however, was just the tip of the iceberg.

  • Karachi wedding hall owners reject new COVID-19 SOPs

    Karachi wedding hall owners reject new COVID-19 SOPs

    Karachi’s wedding, banquet and lawn owners have rejected the new COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) rolled out by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) after a sharp surge in cases.

    The Karachi Marriage Hall, Lawn, Banquet Owners Association held a press conference at the press club on Saturday to denounce the government’s decision to ban indoor weddings.  

    The association said thousands of employees and other businesses linked with weddings will be affected due to more restrictions and bans. 

    The president of the association said that wedding hall owners and their thousands of employees had already faced severe financial problems when all the halls were closed between March 13 and September 15 during the lockdown period.

    The association members said that when halls reopened after September 15, they did not get business as most people prefer not to get married during Muharram and Safar, which took place after the halls were reopened. 

    The association said that there are around 800 wedding halls only in Karachi and that the living of 50,000 people and their families are linked to these halls. 

    “Around 70 to 80% of our employees work on daily wages,” he said, adding that the earning of such employees depended on daily wedding events.

    The association pointed out that there are roughly 13,000 wedding halls in the entire country, with which 650,000 labourers’ livelihoods are directly linked. Fifty percent of the city’s industries, the association highlighted, were directly and the rest of the 50% were indirectly linked to wedding halls. 

    “With the closure of the wedding halls due the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of labourers will be directly or indirectly affected,” said the association’s president. 

    The government had itself failed to limit the number of people attending its political gatherings and implement the SOPs, stated the association.

    “We want to bring this into your knowledge that wedding halls is the only industry which didn’t get any relief from the government since the lockdown of March 13,” said Raees. 

    He requested Prime Minister Imran Khan, the chief justice of Pakistan and army chief to look into the miseries of the wedding hall owners and their employees.

    “We demand SOPs be drafted for wedding ceremonies after taking us on board,” he said.

  • PTI leads GB polls amid rigging allegations

    Amid allegations of rigging, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies are set to form a new government for the next five years in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, according to initial results late Sunday.

    Although Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz Khan told reporters that the election authorities have not officially announced any results, local media and unofficial results showed the PTI and its allies were leading, clinching half of the contested seats.

    Official results are expected to be announced Monday as election authorities said they were facing difficulties in collecting results from several far-flung mountainous areas due to heavy snow and rain.

    The PTI and its allies, according to the initial results, are in the lead with at least 12 of the 24 seats being contested in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

    At least four independent candidates projected to win are most likely to join the PTI to form the government.

    The two other main contenders — the centre-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and centre-right Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), which won the 2015 elections in the region — have cried foul, accusing the election authorities of “rigging.”

    The Chief Election Commissioner, however, denied the charge, advising the opposition parties to contact the commission if there are any irregularities.

    The PPP, which is likely to clinch three to four seats, said its workers had staged a sit-in outside several polling stations where it claimed the results were not being announced in an attempt to favour the PTI candidates.

    Meanwhile, the candidates belonging to the PML-N and the JUI-F were leading in one constituency each.

    Several activists and police personnel were injured after PTI and PPP supporters clashed in Skurdu district, local broadcaster Geo News reported.

    NO SURPRISE

    The PTI’s victory would come as no surprise to many as voters have previously sided with the party that has been in power in Islamabad.

    The first two elections were won by the PPP and the PML-N while they were in power in Islamabad in 2009 and 2015 respectively.

    Over 700,000 voters cast ballots for 23 of the 24 seats up for grabs in the region’s Legislative Assembly, according to election authorities.

    Voting for one seat was postponed after the death of a candidate.

    Gilgit-Baltistan is a strategic area for Pakistan, bordering China and serving as a key route for the multibillion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

    Formerly known as the Northern Areas, Gilgit-Baltistan is located at the confluence of the world’s greatest mountain ranges – the Karakoram, the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush and the Pamir.

    Before the end of British colonial rule and the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, the region was part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Rich in history, culture and natural beauty, the area, which also remained a centre of rivalry between the Russian, British and Chinese empires, has been a paradise for trekkers and adventure tourists for centuries.

  • Sindh CM tests positive for COVID-19

    Sindh CM tests positive for COVID-19

    Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has tested positive for coronavirus as Pakistan reports over 2,000 infections for the third consecutive day.

    According to a statement issued by the chief minister’s office, CM Murad got tested for COVID-19 on Friday after catching a mild fever. “After the test, I went into isolation on doctor’s advice,” said the chief minister.

    CM Murad said he is asymptomatic apart from the fever.

    On Saturday and Sunday, the country saw over 2,000 cases and 2,400 cases respectively, which means more than a 20 per cent increase in cases. These numbers are the highest since July. Seventeen people lost their lives to the coronavirus on Saturday as per the data from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). 

    Meanwhile, the prime minister will chair a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) today to chalk up a strategy to curb the increasing number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan. The meeting will take decisions about early and extended winter vacations in educational insitutions.

    Amid an increase in the infections, the NCOC had suggested a ban on public gatherings of all sorts, including a ban on indoor dining. The committee had allowed only takeaways and outdoor dining at restaurants till 10 pm, while suggesting closure of all cinemas, theatres and shrines with immediate effect.

  • Locals want share of Chinese investment boom as GB heads to polls tomorrow

    As night falls on a remote mountain road in Gilgit-Baltistan, Ijazul Haq, 22, is keeping his grocery store open longer than usual, hoping to cash in on a frenzied electoral campaign that has brought the nation’s interest upon this otherwise neglected region.

    Political parties are trying to sway voters in GB, an impoverished, remote and rugged mountainous part of the larger Kashmir region that is also claimed by India. The country’s top politicians have turned up here to stump, vowing to build multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects, and end decades of disenfranchisement.

    Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders Afghanistan and China, is the gateway of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure plan. But the region has so far reaped few rewards.

    “Look at this road we have, it takes 4.5 hours to get to a decent hospital from here. If they fixed the road it would take 1.5 hours,” said Haq, who lives in Thawoos, a tiny hamlet in the district of Ghizer.

    Locals fought pro-India forces and opted to join Pakistan in 1948. But since then Gilgit-Baltistan has not been granted full inclusion by the Pakistan constitution, over fears doing so would jeopardise Islamabad’s international stance that all of Kashmir is disputed territory.

    The local assembly, for which the November 15 elections are being held, has few powers. National Assembly and Senate have no representation from Gilgit-Baltistan, and the region receives only a fraction of the national budget.

    This month Prime Minister Imran Khan said he would provide provisional provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan, giving it greater political representation, but no timeline has been given.

    The announcement came a year after India changed the status of the portion of occupied Kashmir, taking away some of the region’s privileges. India rejects Khan’s plan to change Gilgit-Baltistan’s status, and it calls the election there an exercise to cover up Pakistan’s occupation of the region.

    Imran’s plan is not the first time locals have heard promises of being granted constitutional rights: in 2016 then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proposed to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province as well but shelved plans after pro-Pakistan leaders in Indian-occupied Kashmir denounced the decision.

    “We’ve long said we want to be part of Pakistan, but they push us away,” said Yawar Abbas, a local leader with the Gilgit-Baltistan Awareness Forum, which seeks to alter the region’s constitutional status.

    Abbas says locals are in limbo, unable to enjoy the same rights as other Pakistanis, but also unable to enjoy autonomy.

    Graves of fallen soldiers marked by Pakistani flags dot the Ghizer district, which has the country’s highest per-capita rate of military recruitment.

    “There is rampant poverty here, and for many of us there is no other way to earn a living than joining the military,” said Haq, whose brother serves in the navy.

    In the winter, when the glacial melt that powers the small hydroelectric dams dotting the region slows, locals often have no power for 20 hours a day.

    The CPEC project was supposed to bring development to the region, but that has not happened, residents believe, because of the lack of local representation at national levels.

    New roads, two hydroelectric power plants, a fiber-optic internet line, and a special economic zone to boost industrial activities have all been proposed as part of the CPEC project, but none have been materialised so far.

    The only substantial project from the much-touted China-Pakistan partnership has been the construction of the Karakoram Highway, completed decades ago.

    Like most other candidates, Jamil Ahmed, has promised voters he would seek to draw more investment from China.

    “CPEC is going through here, we are the gateway, we are the door to China. So if someone opens the door for you, you should put something at the doorstep as well,” said Ahmed, a candidate with the Pakistan Peoples Party.

  • VIDEO: Firdous, Azma come to blows after on-air fight

    VIDEO: Firdous, Azma come to blows after on-air fight

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azma Bukhari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan had traded barbs at a Geo News show earlier this week, forcing the host to end the programme.

    However, their disagreement did not end even after the show, as both politicians almost came to blows on the news channel’s premises. The PML-N leader can be heard saying that she would slap Firdous for using abusive language towards her.

    A person present at the scene of the brawl told The Current that things got uglier when Firdous was about to hit Azma. However, the staffers intervened to placate the CM’s aide and the Punjab lawmaker.

    The fight between the politicians started after Azma took a jab at PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur for making sexist remarks against PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz in a rally in Gilgit-Baltistan last week. This didn’t go down well with Firdous, who criticised the PML-N for being corrupt among other things.

    The politicians also accused the rival parties of stealing people’s mandate and kept on arguing even after the show ended.

    Responding to Azma Bukhari’s allegations, Firdous — who was appointed as chief minister’s information aide last week — said Nawaz Sharif was in cahoots with the military establishment in past. She gave examples of IJI [Islami Jamhoori Ittehad] — an alliance funded by the powers-that-be against then PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in the late ’80s.

    The CM’s aide also referred to a Supreme Court judgement in the Asghar Khan case. She asked how did Nawaz Sharif become the prime minister for three times?

    Responding to claims that Imran Khan was a ‘selected’ prime minister, Firdous said Nawaz had become the PM after going through the same process — getting a two-third majority in parliament.

    “Whose mandate did he steal to become the PM?” Firdous asked Azma, saying they didn’t question the results when their party had won the elections.

  • ‘Marry three widows and I’ll get you a fourth wife… one 16yo, two eight-year-olds or four four-year-olds’

    ‘Marry three widows and I’ll get you a fourth wife… one 16yo, two eight-year-olds or four four-year-olds’

    Renowned religious leader Mufti Tariq Masood has come under fire over a sermon wherein he is endorsing child marriages and paedophilia, guaranteeing his followers a minor bride as their fourth wife if they marry three widows or divorcees.

    “Change my name if I don’t get you a fourth and virgin wife after you marry three widows or divorcees,” he was heard as saying in an undated video doing the rounds on social media.

    https://twitter.com/Shehzad89/status/1327342661620129792

    “Mufti Tariq Masood will find you a 16-year-old or two eight-year-olds or four four year-olds,” he tells his followers after which they, as well as the cleric himself, start laughing.

    The video surfaces as Pakistan reports over 90 rape cases within a single month, most of which involved minors.

    The latest case that shook the entire nation remains that of a four-year-old who, along with her mother, was repeatedly subjected to sexual assault in the Kashmore district of Sindh.

    The minor girl is currently admitted to a hospital battling for her life.

    Meanwhile, here’s what Twitterati have to say about Mufti Tariq’s statement:

    https://twitter.com/nishaa_z/status/1327358024663638022

    Have something to add to the story? Let The Current know in the comments.

  • PM wants to ‘kiss forehead’ of Kashmore ASI over exemplary courage in arrest of rapist

    PM wants to ‘kiss forehead’ of Kashmore ASI over exemplary courage in arrest of rapist

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has called Kashmore police senior superintendent police and assistant sub-inspector and lauded their action in the recovery of a 4-year-old minor held by an alleged rapist.

    In a tweet, the prime minister said that he spoke to ASI Mohammad Bux Buriro to appreciate him and daughter’s “exemplary initiative & courage in the arrest of Kashmore rapist”. He said he wanted to kiss his forehead and embrace him for his courageous action.

    The premier said the nation was proud of the father-daughter duo, adding the ASI through his actions enhanced the prestige of the provincial police. “Next week we are bringing a stringent, holistic anti-rape ordinance closing all loopholes,” the PM added.

    The Kashmore police had nabbed Rafique Malik — who was later killed in an alleged shootout — for allegedly raping a woman and her daughter hailing from Karachi. Malik had allegedly promised the woman a job at a toll plaza in Kashmore, and raped her when she visited him a week later, looking for work.

    The woman approached the Kashmore police, accusing the suspect of sexual assault. She said the suspect handed her over to another man, Khairullah Bugti, after the assault, who also raped her and took her daughter hostage.

    “The woman told police that the suspect held her minor daughter hostage, saying he would only let her go when she brought him another woman from Karachi,” reported Dawn newspaper.

    In order to nab the alleged rapist, the Kashmore police came up with a plan, wherein the ASI agreed to use his minor daughter as bait to make the arrest. The police successfully arrested Malik, who then led them to the address of Bugti.

    During a raid at Bugti’s hideout, Malik was killed in an alleged shootout between the police team and Bugti. “As soon as the accused Rafique Malik along with police reached at the spot, the co-accused Khairullah started firing in which Malik died and co-accused [was] arrested with weapons,” the Larkana DIG quoted by Dawn said.