Current Final

Category: National

  • Shahid Khaqan Abbasi ‘approached with offer to form government’

    Former prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has claimed that during his time in jail over corruption allegations, he was approached with an offer to form a government.

    “I told the messengers to go and talk to party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif instead,” the former premier said while speaking to The News.

    Avoiding naming the messenger, Abbasi added that both Nawaz and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would not be willing to be part of any dialogue leading to the setting up of what he termed “another hybrid government”.

    He reiterated his stance for an inter-institution dialogue for the sake of a better future for Pakistan, and added that Nawaz would be ready to be part of a meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders.

    Abbasi said that Nawaz Sharif’s recent speeches were not meant to humiliate anyone but to identify the problems and fix them for the sake of a brighter future and in the interest of the people of Pakistan.

    To a question, he said that it was his personal view that an inter-institution dialogue was the only way forward for the country.

    When asked if Nawaz would agree to such an idea, he responded in the affirmative and said that the PML-N supremo had no personal agenda or grudge with anyone but wanted to address the fundamental wrongs of the system, which could only be corrected through a meaningful dialogue process.

    He said that the purpose of the opposition’s current public mobilisation campaigns was to pave the way for a meaningful dialogue process.

    He explained that neither Nawaz nor the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is against institutions; instead, they only refer to the mistakes of certain individuals holding responsible positions.

    READ: Ex-PM Abbasi speaks about meeting on economy with Gen Bajwa

    Once again referring to Nawaz’s recent speeches, he said that although the PML-N supremo had named the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chiefs, the purpose was not to humiliate them but to point out what went wrong.

    He said that all the stakeholders should sit together for the greater good of the masses instead of focusing on personal issues and grudges.

    Regarding the PML-N’s contacts with the establishment, he said that politicians and the establishment have always maintained contacts but after the recent episodes, where such contacts were revealed in a scandalous manner, the trust level for such interactions was dashed. At times, these contacts are made in the best national interest, he said, but the manner in which such meetings were recently portrayed, has compelled the PML-N to stop such interactions.

    Abbasi maintained that currently there was no contact between the PML-N and the establishment and such contacts could not be restored before the revival of trust between the two sides.

  • Islamabad Club pays govt Rs3 per acre in rent

    Islamabad Club pays govt Rs3 per acre in rent

    The Islamabad Club that stretches over 352 acres of land leased to it by the government over half a century ago pays only Rs3 per acre (an acre is equal to 8 kanal) as rent.

    The lease agreement signed between the club administration and the government 53 years ago was supposed to be renewed after 10 years, but that never happened, a report in Daily Jang said.

    These details were revealed after a citizen moved the Pakistan Information Commission seeking details about the club.

    The application filed under the Right to Information Act by a citizen sought information on the finances of the club, its properties, members among other things. At this, the club administration said that it was not bound to provide the required information to the applicant.

    The matter was then taken to the Pakistan Information Commission that asked the club to provide the said information as it was built on land leased by the government.

    Islamabad Club administrator Ahmad Nawaz Shukhera told the PIC that the club was not run by the taxpayers’ money as it sustains itself through membership fees.

    He also said that the club was not bound to provide the required information because the application was not a member of the club.

    When asked about the government funding, Sukhera said the club was built on land leased by the Capital Development Authority and it pays an annual rent of Rs14,700 for the 352-acre piece of land. The rent disclosed by the administration means that the club pays merely Rs14,700 for the massive tract of land i.e. Rs3 per acre.

    According to the website of the Islamabad Club, it was established in the year 1967 to provide recreational and sports facilities to the government servants, diplomats and other inhabitants of Islamabad.

    It was initially registered as a limited company, titled “The Islamabad Club” under the Companies Act of 1913.  “In 1978, through the Presidential Ordinance No. XXXIII of 17th July 1978, the Club ownership was resumed by the Government of Pakistan and the Company was dissolved. Since then, Club is operating under the said Ordinance (Club Ordinance),” the website adds.

    In Sept 2019, Pakistan Today reported that the club was found involved in “irregularities such as illegal appointments, illegal investments, operating of illegal bank accounts, illegal membership and the construction of buildings without government approval”.

  • PTI govt to auction gifts, including golden gun, Rs1.7 crores watch, Rs1.4 crores diamond set

    PTI govt to auction gifts, including golden gun, Rs1.7 crores watch, Rs1.4 crores diamond set

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is set to auction various items from the Toshakhana of the Cabinet Division.

    Toshakhana is a word of Persian origin that literally translates into “treasure-house”. In Mughal ruled India, Toshakhana was a place where princes stored gifts and emblems of honour that they received for their posterity, whereas in modern times, it is where gifts received from foreign dignitaries or countries are kept.

    The items being auctioned by the government range from an L.U. Chopard watch worth Rs17.5 million (Rs1 crore and 75 lacs) and a Rolex watch worth Rs3.5 million (35 lacs) to a Rs600,000 gold-coloured gun.

    A diamond set worth Rs14.827 million, which includes a necklace costing Rs8.3 million (83 lacs), earrings worth Rs966,900, a Rs382,300 ring and a Rs5.17 million (5.1 lacs) bangle, is also being auctioned.

    The items will be available only for the officers of the federal government and armed forces to bid on when the auction starts on November 4, a Cabinet Division notification said.

    TOSHAKHANA REFERENCE:

    Meanwhile, a corruption case involving the Toshakhana is also ongoing.

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has accused former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif of getting cars from ex-PM Yousaf Raza Gillani in an illegal way.

    While an accountability court has ordered to seize properties and assets, including cars and bank accounts, of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in the said case, NAB says Zardari only paid 15 per cent cost of the said cars and that too through fake accounts.

    “Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also gifted him [Zardari] cars when he was serving as the president,” a NAB prosecutor told the court last month, claiming that Zardari kept these cars for personal use instead of submitting them to the Toshakhana, which is must as per law.

  • National Assembly body approves bill securing leave for fathers on birth of child

    National Assembly body approves bill securing leave for fathers on birth of child

    The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice has approved a bill allowing one-month paternity leave to fathers on the birth of their child.

    According to reports, the bill says the mother will get a six-month leave and the father will be eligible for a leave of one-month on the birth of their first child. On the birth of the second child, the mother will get a four-month leave and the father will get a one-month leave.

    The father will also get a one-month leave for their third child’s birth and the mother will get a three-month leave.

    The bill that will be applicable only in Islamabad also states that the father will be able to get paternity leaves for the birth of the first three children only.

    “The law will apply to all government and non-government institutions in the federal capital,” said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Shazia Marri.

    Taking to Twitter, the lawmaker from Sanghar said the bill was moved by Senator Quratulain Marri, her sister, a year ago.

    “Extremely happy and immensely proud to share that two important bills moved by Senator Quratulain Marri have finally been passed by the NA standing committee on Law & Justice after their passage from Senate,” she wrote.

    Under the laws applicable to the provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, mothers are granted a maternity leave of 12 weeks. In contrast, Sindh allows for a maternity leave of 16 weeks.

    According to Section 4 of West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance, 1958, the maternity leave is awarded with full pay. The qualifying condition is that the women must be working in enterprise at least four months prior to the date of delivery of her child.

    The Senate had in January this year passed the Maternity and Paternity Leave Bill, 2018, which made it mandatory for employers to grant paid maternity and paternity leave to employees.

  • Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri throws PPP leader out of NA session

    Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri throws PPP leader out of NA session

    In a bid to enforce order in the National Assembly amid a ruckus, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri directed Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Agha Rafiullah to leave the house for “disrupting the session”.

    The house witnessed pandemonium after the opposition leaders started protesting the deputy speaker’s refusal to allow the opposition lawmakers to make speeches on point of order.

    Geo News reported PPP leader Agha Rafiullah Awan initiated cross-talk when the treasury benches started discussing the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) rallies.

    At this, he was told by Suri not to disrupt the house. However, instead of backing down, Rafiullah approached the desk of the deputy speaker and demanded his right to speak. Suri, who was chairing the session in the absence of Speaker Asad Qaiser, got irked by the attitude of Rafiullah and told him to leave the house.

    In a video, Agha Rafiullah can be seen arguing with the deputy speaker, while Suri can be heard asking the sergeant to escort the lawmaker out of the National Assembly.

    After the lawmaker was told to leave the premises, PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf issued an apology on Rafiullah’s behalf and asked the deputy speaker to review his decision.

    However, Suri refused to agree and told the PPP leader to advise his colleague to leave the house. “If Rafiullah leaves the house for a while and then apologise upon his return, he can be allowed to sit here,” a visibly irked Suri told Ashraf.

    However, the PPP leader had not left the house on the deputy speaker’s directives, prompting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Khan to read out a clause of the rules and regulation that stated a member could be suspended over non-compliance with the speaker’s directives.

    The minister said it was imperative upon the lawmaker to comply with the ruling of the speaker for the sake of the sanctity of parliament.

    Finally, the PPP lawmaker, joined by his colleagues, agreed to leave the house for a few minutes.

  • Another Peshawar BRT bus malfunctions

    Another Peshawar BRT bus malfunctions

    Days after the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transport resumed services after a month-long hiatus, another one of its buses broke down near Firdous Station, Peshawar, on Wednesday.

    Dunya News reported that a crane was called by the authorities to remove the bus from the track after it malfunctioned midway.

    This is not the first a BRT bus broke down. Last month, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had to order an investigation after multiple BRT buses caught fire. The TransPeshawar, the government-owned company set up to manage bus operations, temporarily suspended the service in the wake of these fires.

    A subsequent report had revealed the fire incidents in the buses were caused by the malfunctioning of a motor controller installed between hybrid batteries and electric motors.

    However, after a thorough investigation, the bus service was resumed on Oct 24, after 38 days. A statement issued by the TransPeshawar at the time said that the service was launched on Saturday morning and would continue from 6am to 10pm.

    It said it had also launched express bus service, which would begin from Chamkani and make stops at Sardar Ghari, Lahori Adda, Hashtnagri, Malik Saad, Khyber Bazaar, Dabgari Garden, Saddar Bazaar, Peshawar University, Mall of Hayatabad and Karkhano Market.

    The BRT bus service was launched on Aug 13 by Prime Minister Imran Khan amid much fanfare. However, it was suspended on Sept 16 in the wake of four fire incidents in buses.

  • VIDEO: Leopard spotted near Margalla Hills in Islamabad

    VIDEO: Leopard spotted near Margalla Hills in Islamabad

    Tourists spotted a leopard roaming around Margalla Hills road late Tuesday night while they were enroute to Daman-e-Koh.

    A video recorded by one of the travellers shows the leopard walking on the side of road, hide in the bushes then come back to the road. 

    As per reports, the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board said that the leopard belongs to Margalla Hills National Park. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg9Hwgx3ZGE

    Read more – Fact Check: Did a leopard really attack a pet dog in Islamabad?

    Authorities said the wild cats often make their way to the roads late at night and warned people travelling to Daman-e-Koh and Pir Sohawa to be careful. Leopards often make their way out on roads late at night.

  • ‘Only Turkey, not even China, supported Pakistan at FATF,’ Indian media reports claim

    ‘Only Turkey, not even China, supported Pakistan at FATF,’ Indian media reports claim

    After the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to keep Pakistan in the grey-list till February, Indian media reports have claimed that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey was the only country to back Pakistan at the plenary meeting of the global anti-money laundering watchdog while China bailed out.

    The FATF, also known by its French name, Groupe d’action financière, is an intergovernmental organisation that combats money laundering. In 2001, its mandate was expanded to include terrorism financing.

    Pakistan was placed on the FATF’s grey list in 2018 whereas in February 2019, the country had secured an extra four months to complete the plan after missing 13 of the 27 targets set by the global watchdog.

    According to reports, Turkey, during October 23’s plenary, proposed a special visit to Islamabad to make an onsite assessment of the Imran Khan government’s implementation to plug holes in its legal framework to curb terror financing.

    READ: ‘Successful implementation’: Hammad Azhar says FATF blacklisting off the table

    The suggestion was seen as an effort to let Pakistan off the hook for now and immediately place it on the white list but was not supported by any other country, including allied China and Malaysia.

    “Out of 27 points, we have implemented 21 points given by the authorities concerned regarding FATF, ” Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar said while talking to a private television channel after the watchdog decided to retain Pakistan on its grey list.

    Except India, every country had appreciated the efforts of Pakistan for satisfying the people dealing FATF, he added.

    BLACKLISTING OFF THE TABLE:

    In a statement, FATF urged Pakistan to complete an internationally agreed action plan by February 2021. FATF said Pakistan had now reached 21 targets out of 27 set for it in 2018 when Pakistan was placed on FATF’s “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over terrorism financing.

    But Pakistan still needs to demonstrate that law enforcement agencies are identifying and investigating the widest range of terrorism financing activity, FATF said.

    The watchdog also asked Islamabad to demonstrate that terrorism financing probes resulted in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

    “FATF acknowledged that any blacklisting is off the table now,” Pakistani federal minister Hammad Azhar tweeted.

    Azhar, who leads Pakistan’s delegation at FATF plenary meetings, said the forum’s discussions were focused on how Pakistan could be supported in meeting its targets before a formal review in the middle of next year.

  • ‘Modi has decided when India would be at war with Pakistan, China’

    Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Uttar Pradesh (UP) unit chief Swatantra Dev Singh has claimed that Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has “decided” on a time when India would be at war with Pakistan and China.

    A minister in UP Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, Swatantra Dev Singh made the remark during an event at the home of BJP’s Sikanderpur lawmaker Sanjay Yadav.

    In a video clip of Swatantra Dev Singh’s remarks, the BJP’s UP chief draws parallels between the abrogation of Article 370 in held Kashmir, construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid once stood, and the ongoing India-China military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

    “Like the decisions on Ram Mandir and Article 370, PM Narendra Modi has decided when there would be war with Pakistan and China,” news agency PTI quoted Swatantra Dev Singh as saying in a video posted on social media by Yadav.

    The BJP leader’s controversial remarks come amid an intense standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies in eastern Ladakh. Both countries have held multiple rounds of diplomatic and military talks to achieve disengagement in the region.

    However, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement on Sunday contradicts the remarks made by Swatantra Dev Singh. While reiterating that India is seeking an end to the border tussle with China, Singh had said that New Delhi will not allow anyone to take away “even an inch” of Indian land.

    Launching an attack on the BJP-led Centre, Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor tweeted:

    “Amazing. So the PM (who will not even name the state that has encroached upon our land) is planning a war against an Unnamed Enemy, over territory he claims has never been taken, on a date that only he knows? So is this what he meant by “minimal government”!?” he said while referring to Swatantra Dev Singh’s remarks.

  • Coronavirus: Antiviral drug to now be sold at Rs9,244 in Pakistan

    Coronavirus: Antiviral drug to now be sold at Rs9,244 in Pakistan

    In a major relief to coronavirus patients, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on Monday reduced the price of Remdesivir, the first and only approved treatment for COVID-19 in the United States (US), by Rs1,629 to Rs9,244.

    In a notification, DRAP said that the price of Remdesivir injection has been slashed by Rs1,629, adding that the antiviral drug will be sold at Rs9,244 across the country.

    The regulatory authority warned that strict legal action will be taken against those who are selling the drug at higher prices.

    It is pertinent to mention that remdesivir has reportedly proved effective against the novel coronavirus and the federal cabinet had approved to reduce the price of the antiviral drug last month. In May, US pharmaceutical company Gilead had allowed Pakistan to produce the antiviral drug in the country.

    Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are once again at rise in the country as 707 new infections were reported across the country on Sunday-Monday, lifting the national tally of infections to 328,602, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

    Three patients, who were under treatment in hospitals, died during the aforementioned period, according to the latest update shared by the NCOC. The figure of patients recovered from the virus has reached 311,075. There are now nearly 11,000 active cases in the country.

    About 26,492 tests were conducted across the country on Sunday. Around 311,075 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan. Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 328,602 cases were detected, including Sindh reporting 143,836, Punjab 102,875, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 39,043, Balochistan, 15,810, Islamabad, 1,902, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 3,846, and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) has reported 4,180 cases.

    A total of 4,290,545 tests have been conducted so far, while 735 hospitals are equipped with COVID-19 facilities. About 559 patients admitted to hospitals across the country are said to be in critical condition.

    Meanwhile, as many as 71 healthcare staff working at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 30 days.