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  • VIDEO: Masked men on unregistered vehicle seek dismissal of judges who sentenced Musharraf

    VIDEO: Masked men on unregistered vehicle seek dismissal of judges who sentenced Musharraf

    At least two masked men on an unregistered vehicle have been spotted in Sialkot, putting up banners seeking dismissal of judges who convicted former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf last week.

    A special court trying the ex-preisdent had last week sentenced him to death for treason. While analysts had hinted at a possible rift among institutions over the death penalty for former army chief Musharraf, the detailed verdict of the case had drawn ire of many after one of the judges proposed public hanging.

    A week later, a video going viral over the internet has shown masked men putting up on Sialkot’s Khawaja Safdar Road some banners demanding dismissal of the judges who sentenced Musharraf.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/BdTamiz/status/1208788091454054401

    “We’ve been told to do so,” they can be heard as saying when asked about the person or organisation behind the banners, and do not specify who were the orders from.

  • VIDEO: Teenage Shah speaks of dedicating five-wicket haul to late mother

    VIDEO: Teenage Shah speaks of dedicating five-wicket haul to late mother

    Fast bowler Naseem Shah who took a five-wicket haul in the last Test match against Sri Lanka, got emotional during a press conference while telling about how he wanted to dedicate this achievement to his mother but since she has recently passed away, he will now be dedicating it to his father.

    Naseem Shah has become the youngest fast bowler to claim five wickets in a Test match. He picked up the wickets of Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embduldeniya and Vishwa Fernando to finish with 5/31 in 12.5 overs.

    Pacer Shah — aged 16 year and 311 days — has also surpassed his countryman Mohammad Amir who had in 2009 claimed five wickets against Australia at the age of 17 years 257 days at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

    Pacer Naseem’s mother had passed away in November while he was in Australia awaiting his Test debut. Shah later decided not to fly back home and stayed in Australia after consulting with his family members who advised him not to come back.

    Pakistan on Monday had claimed an historic 263-run victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Karachi and it took the team only three overs and just 15 minutes to wrap up the game.

    It was Pakistan’s first Test victory on home soil in over 13 years; their last victory in Pakistan also came in Karachi, against West Indies in November 2006.

  • Pakistan wrap up historic series win at home in just 15 minutes

    Pakistan wrap up historic series win at home in just 15 minutes

    Three overs on the final day was all it took for Pakistan to seal a 263-run victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Karachi on Monday, International Cricket Council (ICC) reported.

    It was Pakistan’s first Test victory on home soil in over 13 years; their last victory in Pakistan also came in Karachi, against West Indies in November 2006.

    Naseem Shah, the 16-year-old, resumed the day on 3/31, and went on to dismiss Lasith Embuldeniya and Vishwa Fernando in his consecutive overs to seal the victory, with Yasir Shah claiming the big wicket of Oshada Fernando, the opener, who finished on 102.

    The two wickets meant Shah ended with 5/31 – his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket – and with Shaheen Shah Afridi, the 19-year-old, claiming a five-for in the first-innings, the Test has been a good one for the young Pakistani pacemen.

    Sri Lanka were in the Test for the first two days. They bundled out Pakistan for 191 in the first innings, and then posted a lead of 80. However, thereafter, it was all Pakistan.

    Centuries from Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali and Babar Azam helped the home side post 555/3 declared in the second innings, and bogged down by the weight of runs, the Sri Lankan batsmen crumbled.

    They were reduced to 212/7 by stumps on the fourth day, with Oshada’s century and Niroshan Dickwella’s half-century their only displays of resistance, and on resumption on the fifth morning, they just weren’t allowed to muster a fightback.

    The series victory means Pakistan move up to No 3 on the ICC World Test Championship table, with 80 points from their four matches. Sri Lanka are level on points after four matches as well, but are fourth on the table due to their inferior runs-per-wicket ratio.

  • ‘Pakistan has got its act together’: Indian cybersecurity praises DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor

    ‘Pakistan has got its act together’: Indian cybersecurity praises DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor

    India’s cybersecurity chief on Saturday stressed the need for a unified public relations command for the three wings of the armed forces to ensure an upper hand in the narrative warfare with Pakistan, which, he opined, has “got its act together” through its Director General Inter Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor.

    According to a report in India Today, National Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Rajesh Pant (retd) while speaking at a seminar said the three wings of the armed forces have their own public relations officers and “they are going in different ways”.

    “When are we going to have our own equivalent of the DGISPR,” he is reported to have said, adding, “The (Indian armed forces) services have their own PRs and they are going in different ways.”

    Pant remarked that Pakistan has got “its act together” in narrative warfare because of DG ISPR.

    Elaborating further Pant said, “When they (DGISPR) conduct narrative warfare, let’s say in the case of Kashmir, the message they send to Europe is that human rights are being infringed. When they engage with Islamic nations they tell them that Islam is under threat. And what they told Southeast Asia is that there is a regional instability.”

    “So, they seem to have got their act together,” he concluded.

    Meanwhile, General Asif Ghafoor also took to social media to share his reaction.

  • The Current Quiz: Which chief justice of Pakistan are you?

    The Current Quiz: Which chief justice of Pakistan are you?

    With Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khan Khosa retiring and Justice Gulzar Ahmed being sworn in as the new top judge, The Current brings for you a personality quiz to find out which of the most popular CJPs are you.

    [forminator_quiz id=”42802″]
  • I only watch wrestling on TV: judge who wants Musharraf hanged at D-Chowk

    I only watch wrestling on TV: judge who wants Musharraf hanged at D-Chowk

    Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Waqar Ahmed Seth, who on Thursday made headlines for his damning remarks in Gen (r) Pervez Mushrraf’s treason case judgement, has said that the only thing he watches on TV is wrestling.

    The PHC CJ, who was a part of the three-judge special court trying the former military ruler for treason, had a day earlier drawn ire of people on both mainstream and social media for proposing Musharraf’s public hanging.

    Both the government and the army had expressed “anger” over a specific paragraph 66 of the detailed judgement and termed it “unlawful”, “inhuman” and “unconstitutional”.

    Para 66 of the verdict read: “We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict [Pervez Musharraf] and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk [in front of the Parliament House], Islamabad, Pakistan, and be hanged for three days.”

    With the government deciding to move the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and file an appeal against the verdict during a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) strategic committee, chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan after his telephonic conversation with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, a lawyer, Advocate Moazzam Butt, on Friday praised Justice Seth for staying calm despite all the backlash.

    “It’s impressive how calm you are,” the lawyer said to Justice Seth as the latter heard a case at the PHC, Express News reported.

    Responding to the lawyer’s praise, the judge said that nothing had happened until he left home earlier in the day. “I don’t watch TV… I only watch wrestling,” he was quoted as saying.

  • Muslim world should build its own market, technologies: Malaysian PM at summit skipped by Imran

    Muslim world should build its own market, technologies: Malaysian PM at summit skipped by Imran

    Muslim-majority countries should build their own markets and produce their own technologies to become self-sufficient, Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Mahathir Mohammad has said during the ongoing Kuala Lumpur Summit that was skipped by Pakistan.

    “There are 1.7 billion Muslims. Obviously this is a big market if we decide to source our needs from Muslims and Muslim countries. Then we enrich ourselves,” he said while stressing the importance of technological and industrial progress in national development.

    According to Anadolu Agency, the Malaysian premier said that Muslim countries did not have enough products by themselves and had to source most of their needs from other countries, as a result of which money flowed out.

    “When money flows out, we become poor. But if we source, the things that we need from Muslim countries, then obviously our wealth will stay within the Muslim community, and we become richer,” he said.

    “That is why among the things that should solve problems of Muslims is to build a market and produce the things and source them from each other but it is important we learn how to produce our own things,” he added.

    He underlined that Muslim nations “will forever be playing catch-up” with the rest of the developed world “if we do not start creating and developing our own technologies.”

    “We have no choice but to start working on this,” he said.

    The three-day Kuala Lumpur Summit is ongoing in the Malaysian capital with the attendance of hundreds of government officials and representatives from civil society and business sectors from across the Muslim World.

    While the Malaysian premier’s statements are much similar to those made by his Pakistan counterpart, Imran Khan, Islamabad has pulled out of the conference over concerns it could “divide” the Muslim world.

    Pakistan’s Gulf allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had earlier expressed reservations over the country joining the summit, following which Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had confirmed that neither he nor PM Imran would be attending the summit.

    “Pakistan pulled out of the summit due to concerns by Saudi Arabia that the meeting could create a new bloc that would rival the existing 57-member state Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” he had said.

  • BJP offers Indian citizenship to Musharraf after death sentence

    BJP offers Indian citizenship to Musharraf after death sentence

    Amid the ongoing protests across India against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, a senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tweeted on granting “fast track” citizenship to former Pakistan president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, who has been sentenced to death for treason.

    “We can give Musharraf fast track citizenship since he is from Daryaganj and suffering persecution. All self-acknowledged descendants of Hindus are qualified in a new CAA to come,” Subramanian Swamy tweeted Thursday.

    On Tuesday, a special court in Pakistan had sentenced the former military ruler to death in the long-drawn high treason case against him.

    Meanwhile, for the past one week, widespread protests are taking place across India over the newly enacted CAA that provides citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who face religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and arrived before December 31, 2014.

    The new law has been deemed anti-Muslim for being discriminatory.

  • PIA suffered losses worth Rs32.7bn in first half of 2019: report

    PIA suffered losses worth Rs32.7bn in first half of 2019: report

    Pakistan International Airline (PIA) and its subsidiary, PIA Investments Limited, continue to bleed massively due to a variety of reasons, ranging from mismanagement to lack of transparency and weak audit controls by independent auditors as well as the auditor general of pakistan, Profit reported.

    According to reports, PIA’s before tax unaudited six-month loss for the period January-June 2019 stands at Rs32.746 billion, which, after taxation, is expected to be in the range of Rs38-39 billion. Although PIA revenue generation in this period has risen by 44pc in terms of Pak Rupee, it does not reflect the actual revenue since almost 55-60pc of its revenue is earned in hard foreign currency through sales at its various international outlets and travel agents.

    Rupee devaluation as compared to 2018 is in the range of approximately 39-40pc, while the cost of fuel has increased by over 19pc. PIA route miles decreased as compared to 2018.

    According to the annual report of PIA for 2018, the national flag carrier registered a total loss of Rs. 59.685 billion. It was the highest ever loss for PIA since the years 2008-2011 when it was headed by Ijaz Haroon and Nadeem Yousafzai, the former MDs who were allegedly involved in financial embezzlements causing losses of billions to the national exchequer.

    Mismanagement, lack of transparency, and weak audit controls remain the underlying reasons that impede PIA in becoming a profitable organization.

    Since 2015, PIA Investments Limited, a subsidiary of PIA, has also registered losses while the senior management continues to enjoy all kinds of perks and bonuses. Dr. Najeeb Samie, the current MD of PIA Investments Limited, was set to retire in 2015. However, because of his connections, Dr. Najeeb managed to receive extensions in his retirement. Dr. Najeeb is a member of the board of directors of HBL and also serves as a director in several tourism entities in France and the USA.

    Perhaps that is why the meetings of the board of directors of PIA Investments Limited have always been held in either New York or Paris and never in Pakistan. Not only is this a violation of rules of PIA Investments Limited but it also prevents the Auditor General of Pakistan to be a part of these meetings. In the meeting of the board of directors, a summary of the accounts in the past 6 months, pricing mechanisms, and quantification of the expenditures of the organization were discussed.

    Moreover, since the days of Ijaz Haroon, unqualified individuals have been appointed as Chief Internal Auditors. The primary requirement for an individual to be installed at this post is that they must be a qualified Chartered Accountant. So far, MBA graduates and audit diploma holders have been chosen to conduct internal audits of the PIA.

    The board of audit hasn’t met in 2019. Audit experts have expressed serious concerns that no meeting of the Audit Board of PIA has been held yet.

    The only positive point in the report is that PIA’s revenue increased by 44% during the first six months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. However, nearly 60% of this revenue was earned in foreign currency through international sales. The revenue from January to June was hit by a 40% rupee devaluation and a 19% increase in the cost of fuel in comparison to H1 2018.

  • What’s next for Trump and who can replace him?

    What’s next for Trump and who can replace him?

    United States (US) President Donald Trump has been impeached for abuse of power in a historic vote in the House of Representatives, setting up a Senate trial on removing him from office after three turbulent years.

    By a 230 to 197 vote in the Democratic-majority House, the 45th US president on Wednesday became the third occupant of the White House in American history to be impeached.

    But what happens next and who can replace Trump if the Senate convicts him?

    According to AFP, the stage is set for the US president’s trial where the party of defendant Trump gets to set the rules and some senator, who will be jurors, are already delivering their verdicts.

    Trump is expected to stand trial in the Republican-led Senate beginning in early January, and if convicted, he will be removed from office. While it would be an unprecedented outcome, it looks like a highly unlikely conclusion.

    THE TRIAL:

    If the procedures used in the 1868 and 1999 Senate trials of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton are repeated, Democratic prosecutors will enter the Senate to read out the charges against Trump.

    “All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment,” the Senate sergeant at arms will admonish. This is the official who notifies the White House by summons that the president has been charged.

    After that the 100 senators — 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats — will sit in judgement on one of the world’s most powerful men.

    To remove him from office, 67 of them have to find him guilty — highly unlikely, given the Republicans’ numerical strength.

    Their numbers also mean they get to decide if witnesses can be called, and which ones, how long prosecutors can take to present their case and how long the trial will last. If the Senate doesn’t want to try Trump at all, it can simply dismiss the case, by a simple majority vote.

    And given Trump’s political hold over his party, the rules can be dictated by the White House itself.

    WHO CAN SUCCEED TRUMP?

    In the unlikely event that the Senate convicts and removes Trump from office, Vice President Mike Pence would become president and complete Trump’s term, which ends on January 20, 2021.

    The 48th vice president of the US has previously also served as the 50th governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 and a member of the US House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013.

    He is the younger brother of U.S. representative Greg Pence.