As the finale of drama serial ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’ approaches and its fever only heightens, politicians appear to have submitted themselves to the hit TV show’s popularity as well, which was proven by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Bahali Committee leader Dr Farooq Sattar.
“I was asked what I had with me now that I was neither an MNA nor a party head, to which with my hand on my chest I replied, ‘Mera Yeh Bharam Hai, Mere Paas Tum Ho’,” he can be heard as saying while addressing a public gathering in Karachi, in a video doing rounds over the internet.
The video shows the ex-MQM-P leader quoting the lyrics of the hit drama serial’s OST as he points towards the crowd.
Sattar, a former convener and leader of the MQM-P, was removed by the Rabita Committee in February 2018. The same day, he dissolved the committee and called for fresh intra-party election to elect new leader of the party. In March 2018, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) removed him as the convener of the party.
A few days later, Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the decision of the ECP and reinstated Sattar as the convener, but in June 2018, removed Sattar as the same. On November 9, 2018, for violating party discipline, his basic membership of MQM-P was revoked.
In the 2018 general election, Sattar lost in both the constituencies he contested from: NA-245 Karachi East 4 and NA-247 Karachi South 2.
A woman has accused CNBC journalist Hadley Gamble, who interviewed Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, of wearing a short dress “to seduce” the Pakistani premier.
“Could her dress have been any shorter? In Davos no less where it’s -6 degrees. Is she interviewing him or trying to seduce him? [sic]” Doreen Kiani tweeted along with a clip of PM Imran’s interview to the American media outlet.
Earlier, PM Imran roundly rejected the notion being projected by US officials that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was some sort of a debt trap for Pakistan.
Speaking to Gamble during the interview, he said Pakistan was grateful to China as it had helped the country in difficult times by making investments. “We were at rock bottom when the Chinese [government] came and rescued us,” the PM said.
Responding to a question, the premier rejected the impression that CPEC had made Pakistan ‘indebted’ to China and pointed out that Chinese loans accounted for only 5-6 per cent of Pakistan’s total loan portfolio.
“CPEC envisages cooperation in different sectors, including technology transfer in the agriculture sector,” he said.
The premier also spoke of the Kashmir issue, his meeting with United States (US) President Donald Trump, Pak-US ties and tensions that continue to soar between Washington and Tehran.
It is not a secret that women get unequal treatment in the Pakistani society. Their rights are infringed, their labour is not recognised, and they are underpaid.
The enlightened class, mostly students, who take interest in social and political issues have now started to raise their voice for women rights.
Last year when the poster of Aurat March was released, it received lots of comments, ranging from sexists jokes to rape threats.
Despite the overwhelming backlash, the Aurat March will be organized on the 8th March of 2020. This time here is what they are fighting for.
Economic Justice:
The exploitation of women working in formal and informal industries should be liberated from capitalistic exploitation. Also, a safe working environment as per the workplace act 2010 should be ensured by providing a harassment-free environment.
Environmental Justice
Apart from women rights, they also demand protection for animal rights, clean drinking water, and recognization of women role in the production of food.
Accountability against violence
The activists demand an immediate end of gender-based violence against women and minorities in the online and offline world.
There should be strong accountability against the state repression against women and transgenders. Moreover, they demand strong implementation of anti-harassment laws in workplaces to make offices and public spheres a safe place for suppressed genders.
Police brutality
Police reforms acts should be implemented to curb the abuse of power by state institutions. The activists also stand in solidarity with the victims of police brutality like the family of Naqeebullah Mehsud or Sahiwal massacer.
Enforced disappearances
The state should immediately halt the unlawful practice of abducting people unlawfully as it is the gravest violence of human rights. Women have also been disappeared and a huge number of families have suffered because of the state violence.
Inclusion
The public spaces should be made friendly for disabled people, their efforts should be recognized. People with less visible disabilities like chronic and mental illnesses should be recognized and victims should be accommodated.
Reproductive justice
They petition the government to amend the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 and the minimum age should be raised from 16-18.
The women and suppressed gender should have total autonomy over their bodies and quality reproductive and sexual health facilities should be made accessible to women and genders.
Access to public space
They demand safe access for women in public space and streets for their social and political activities. They also demand affordable and inclusive public transport and clean public toilets for women.
Furthermore, there should be no moral policing against women.
Anti-war
They believe that war is a business and no one wins except corruption, and it further strengthens hatred and masculinity that deeply divides society. Moreover, they argue that the Kashmir issue is deliberately created by the stakeholders of power for their vested interests.
Kashmiris should be given the right for self-determination and the violence of the state and non-state actors should be condemned. As feminists, they denounce warmongering, militarization, and politics of destruction – they will keep their activism against it.
Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based international non-governmental organisation combating global corruption — on Thursday released a new report, according to which, the country under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has witnessed more corruption in 2019 than it did in the outgoing year of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
According to TI’s global report on the 2019 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), while Pakistan’s ranking dropped from 117 to 120 in 2019, the CPI score also dropped from 33 to 32.
Here’s what Twitterati have to say about the report that was to determine if corruption in the country under the PTI government has decreased as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s promised accountability drive continues against opposition lawmakers and government officials.
So this happened… According to Transparency International’s global Corruption Perception Index, Naya Pakistan actually got *worse* than Purana Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/NKZ6w0qFZK
BREAKING: Transparency International, Berlin’s global report 2019 released. Shows Pakistan more corrupt than before. As against 2018 Pak’s ranking dropped from 117 to 120 in 2019. CPI score also dropped from 33 to 32. Since 2010, this is 4 the 1st time Pak did worse than before.
Despite rhetoric, both Score and Ranking of Pakistan on TI Corruption Perception has taken a hit during 2019. Score decreased from 33 to 32 and ranking further plummeted from 117 to 120. https://t.co/2p0rOTPis8
— احمد بلال محبوبAhmedBilalMehboob (@ABMPildat) January 23, 2020
Transparency International releases rankings – Pakistan’s rank falls – more corrupt than before https://t.co/ZnhmCPgryE
Pakistan witnessed slight improvement in the 2018 CPI, scoring a point higher than in 2017 but remaining unchanged in the rankings.
According to Geo, the country scored 33 out of 100 on the index — one point better than its score of 32 in the previous year. Its ranking, however, remained unchanged at 117 out of 180 countries, same as 2017.
TI’s annual report on CPI is formulated on the basis of input from 13 international agencies. In the case of Pakistan, however, the assessment of eight agencies is taken into account. These include the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service; the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; the IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey; and the Varieties of Democracy project’s findings.
Pakistan in the last 10 years (since 2010) has improved its index score from 23 in 2010 to 33 in 2018. In 2016 and 2017, Pakistan maintained the same score, 32, which in 2018 increased to 33. However, never in these last ten years has Pakistan been assessed to have performed negatively as compared to the previous year.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has accused Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah of “murdering at least 18 people” and called him a “criminal out of the gutter”.
The remarks were made by the premier as he last week addressed YouTubers from across the country at an event called “Digital Pakistan”. It was the first in series of interactive sessions to be held between government officials and digital publishers as well as content creators to work on developing a positive image of the country.
“Our fight is against people like Rana Sanaullah, who is a criminal from the gutter. People from his own party say he has killed 18 people, which too is debatable… he must’ve murdered more [people] than that,” PM Imran said as he spoke of social media’s role in today’s politics.
WATCH VIDEO:
Earlier, he said that PML-N trolls had left no stone unturned in slandering Bushra Bibi even though she had nothing to do with politics. “Maryam Nawaz, on the other hand, runs a social media cell of her own. But we never did any such thing against [the late] Kusloom Nawaz.”
Even though Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar is continuing as the provincial chief executive, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has practically taken over the slot — with its leaders holding crucial meetings and reportedly preparing a roadmap for power-sharing and distribution of development funds, a private media outlet has claimed.
According to reports, PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi has held a crucial meeting with Punjab Chief Secretary (CS) Azam Suleman Khan and prepared a roadmap for power-sharing and distribution of development funds in the province. Moonis had also hinted at it while speaking to a private media outlet earlier this week.
The power-sharing decision has seriously disturbed CM Buzdar, who has complained about it to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Jahangir Tareen, the report said. It added that development funds worth Rs20 billion would be released for PML-Q parliamentarians’ constituencies, and the party would also be authorised to give instructions to the bureaucracy directly.
Tareen has reportedly accepted all PML-Q demands about power-sharing that they had made in a meeting held earlier this month, and directed the Punjab CS to prepare a roadmap in this regard, with the help of Moonis. “I even could not sleep the whole night because of this worrying situation,” the report quoted a disturbed Buzdar as telling Tareen, who is a close aide of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
On the other hand, the report added, PML-Q office bearers say “it was just the beginning”. “We don’t want to remove [Usman] Buzdar, but we can’t sacrifice the entire party and voters for this friendship. So we will try our level best to maintain each other’s integrity.”
‘FAKE NEWS’:
Reacting to the report, the Punjab government has dubbed it as “baseless and factually incorrect”.
As per the details, Punjab government spokesperson Musarrat Cheema, through a series of tweets, said that the government is “considering legal action against reporter and news outlet for such malicious reporting”.
“PTI and PML-Q have a good working relationship in Punjab and we are determined to work for the prosperity of our province under CM [Buzdar],” she tweeted.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Accountability Shahzad Akbar has been accused of getting removed at least two top-tier civil servants, including Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Saifullah Dogar, in a bid “to assist his brother grab land” in Mandra town ofthe district’s Gujjar Khan tehsil.
According to sources, the tussle began when British-Pakistani Jawad Sohrab Malik, who is the nephew of Federal Minister for Privatisation Muhammad Mian Soomro, accused Murad Akbar, the brother of PM Imran Khan’s aide, of attempting to illegally occupy his land in the town near the Grand Trunk (GT) Road.
They said Malik’s late grandfather had purchased over 10 kanals of land in the town back in 1986 and built on it a flour mill a year later, which still stands there. “A watchman was also hired to look after the said piece of land as its succession to the heirs has not yet been made and it is still in the name of Malik’s deceased grandfather.”
‘MURAD AKBAR WANTS TO GRAB LAND’:
Sources close to the lawmaker’s nephew told The Current that his supervisor on January 14 called Malik to inform him that six or seven people had arrived at the site claiming they had purchased two kanals of it. “Malik told him [the watchman] to approach the police and file a complaint against the intruders’ attempt to forcibly take possession of his land,” sources said, adding that the unidentified persons fled as soon as they saw police reaching the scene.
A report quoted Malik as saying that three days after the incident, nearly 50 people sent by Murad arrived at the venue with bricks and other construction material. Once again the supervisor called him to inform what was going on. “A senior police officer and assistant commissioner of Gujjar Khan also arrived at the site uninvited to ensure these people take the possession of the land,” he said.
Malik said a case was filed by Murad in a civil court in 2015, claiming the ownership of two kanals of land, and got a favourable decision ex-parte in 2018. “The deceased grandfather was made the respondent and notices were deliberately sent to wrong addresses so that the one-sided proceedings are held.”
He further said he was scared that by using government machinery, Murad would take possession of the land by force, leaving him in the lurch. “To avoid this, I got stay orders from a civil court and the ADCR.”
Sources claimed that as the tussle continued, Additional District Collector Revenue (ADCR) Rizwan Qadeer also reported that Murad’s ownership was forged and the transfer of land was fake, allegedly upsetting Imran’s aide Shahzad. The report was approved by the DC, following which the Rawalpindi police chief was ordered to use force to ensure transfer of the two kanals of land to Murad.
“The cop, however, refused to intervene saying that it was a civil matter and police couldn’t interfere,” sources said, adding that in the meantime, DC Dogar was reprimanded by powerful circles and transferred along with the ADCR in what was “ironic misuse of authority” by the premier’s aide on accountability.
OTHER SIDE OF STORY:
A friend of Shahzad Akbar, who presented the SAPM’s version but clarified he “wasn’t his spokesperson”, told The Current that the cabinet member had been stopped to issue any statement over the episode by the premier himself.
He asserted that succession of the land had not been carried out because of the disputes within the Malik family, and shared documents and footage to support his claims.
According to documents provided by Akbar’s friend, Murad had bought 17 marlas of land in Moaza Bucha of Gujjar Khan’s Khasra # 473 on main GT Road in April 2005. He later also purchased another 23 marlas of land from the same khasra on June 9, 2008, the documents claimed.
In 2009, he gave an application to the revenue office of Gujjar Khan for partition and possession of his land, he claimed. “After 10 years of hectic litigation, in April 2018 the Gujjar Khan revenue office finalised the partition suit and divided Khasra # 473 into two, making Murad exclusive owner of Khasra 473/1 measuring 40 Marlas,” as per the documents.
After giving him possession, the revenue office also sectioned partition mutation number 2849 dated May 31, 2018 declaring exclusive and legal owner and possessor of Khasra number 473/1. Murad got demarcated the dimensions of his land on Jan 13, 2020 before starting construction and consigned demarcation report in Tehsil Office, Gujjar Khan, they claimed.
The source claimed Malik visited the Gujjar Khan Revenue Office on January 13-16 escorted by police officials deputed for squad duty of Soomro.
On January 17, when labourers were working on Murad’s alleged land to construct boundary wall, the minister’s official escort number GAE 538 with uniformed police officials reached the spot.
A private Vigo UC-1-ICT, allegedly registered in the name of Malik, with armed guards reached the scene and threatened labourers of consequences and asked them to stop the work.
Murad claimed that Somroo called Mandra station house officer (SHO) and ordered him to intervene. The Gujjar Khan Revenue Department after examining the documents of both sides decided that Murad, being “legal owner”, is within his right to build the wall.
Somroo and Shahzad Akbar have reportedly spoken to each other about the dispute, but wide differences exist as both fully support the claims of their relatives and are unwilling to budge from their respective stands. Both the leaders were contacted for a comment, however, they were unavailable.
Malik, however, denied the claims made by the aide of Akbar, saying his family was the rightful owner of the property. He also claimed that he was not present at the scene when the incident took place.
OFFICERS BEAR THE BRUNT:
Meanwhile, an official notification, a copy of which is available with The Current, showed that two civil servants who have been removed from office include Rawalpindi DC Saifullah Khan Dogar and ADCR Rizwan Qadeer.
Sources said the two officials, who were also allegedly reprimanded by Shahzad, were let go due to alleged misuse of authority owing to the high-level power struggle between the two top members of the federal cabinet.
Saifullah was transferred on January 20 and replaced with Capt (r) Muhammad Anwar-ul-Haq, while Rizwan Qadeer was transferred two days earlier. An assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in Gujjar Khan has also been transferred reportedly due to the dispute.
Shahzad Akbar’s friend, however, says that the removal was merely a co-incidence. He also hinted at another case pertaining to a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senator, being the reason behind the transfer of the Rawalpindi DC.
None of the said officers were available for a comment.
In what appears to prove the rumoured rift between certain leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has called out Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan for her “illiterate” remarks regarding Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar.
The SAPM had said that those criticising CM Buzdar were criticising Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and it would be “the premier’s failure if the provincial chief executive of Punjab failed”.
“Why?” Fawad said while quoting Awan on a private media outlet’s talkshow Monday night. “I’d say it is an illiterate comment,” he said, to which the anchor asked if the minister was sure about what he was saying regarding a colleague.
“Whoever says such a thing… it’d be a dumb thing to say,” Fawad maintained, adding that Buzdar was to held accountable for his performance and PM Imran for his own.
WATCH VIDEO:
To this, the anchor said that the premier was accountable for both his performance and that of CM Buzdar.
Continuing to train guns at the Punjab CM, Fawad urged Buzdar to step aside, and said the federal government could not deliver effectively without the support of the provinces.
Raising questions over the performance of the Punjab government, the minister said that they had made promises with the people of change and accountability and good governance ahead of general election, but unfortunately nothing had changed in Punjab.
He maintained that around 62 per cent of the total budget went to provinces but they were not delivering appropriately. Fawad added that the federal government was doing whatever it could for the masses.
Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplaces Kashmala Tariq has said that insisting someone for tea or food is tantamount to harassment.
According to reports, Tariq, while speaking to students and faculty members of Baqai Medical University Karachi about workplace harassment on Monday, said that repeatedly sending greetings to someone if they hadn’t responded the first time, was also harassment.
— Federal Ombudsperson-Protection Against Harassment (@fospah) January 20, 2020
“When someone is harassed, especially women, their parents start fearing what the society would think. We must put an end to this mindset of fear,” she was quoted as saying.
Tariq explained that Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) also protected men’s rights and shared how only five cases a month was the frequency back when she took charge. “Now around 60 cases get reported every month,” she added while sharing how her department had contributed to restoring people’s confidence.
To a question, she said while 80-90% of harassment cases were reported by women, men were also harassed, but mostly by other men.
Tariq had last year also said that harassment is not limited to sexual assault only and could be of any kind. “If anyone is insisting for tea, it also comes in the form of harassment.”
She had explained later:
I said unwelcoming n unwanted text messages n stalking on social media is also harassment. And then I gave examples. Media shall not take just one line out of context pls.
“I said unwelcoming n unwanted text messages n stalking on social media is also harassment. And then I gave examples. Media shall not take just one line out of context pls [sic].”
In a dig at the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker and former prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has suggested people to stop eating roti in order to bring the country out of the persisting wheat crisis.
Speaking to journalists at the accountability court, where he was presented by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scandal case against him, Abbasi said that people were only facing the consequences for electing the PTI to power.
“What can they do other than not eating roti anymore?” he asked in response to a query regarding the wheat crisis that grips the country amid provincial and federal governments’ blame game.
To another question about PM Imran Khan’s statement that his “salary wasn’t enough”, Abbasi said that the premier should give himself a pay raise.
Earlier, an accountability court extended judicial remand of the ex-premier till February 4 in the LNG scandal. During the hearing, the court also sought report on the arrest warrant of absconder Shahid Islam from NAB.
The judge remarked that indictment proceedings cannot be carried out due to one absconder.
