Current Final

Category: Others

  • Indian police raids Amnesty International’s offices to quash reporting on Kashmir

    Indian police raids Amnesty International’s offices to quash reporting on Kashmir

    Indian officials have raided the offices of renowned human rights group Amnesty International (AI) on trumped up charges of foreign funding from the United Kingdom that violate local law, Geo News reported.

    According to the details, it is widely believed that the investigation into the funding sources of the respected human rights group is a pressure tactic being employed by the government of Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to stop the group from highlighting grave human rights violations in Indian held Kashmir (IoK).

    Reports revals that officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the offices of AI India in Bengaluru and New Delhi after direct complaints from the home affairs ministry. Amnesty was accused of the same offence last year.

    The Amnesty group in a statement said, “Over the past year, a pattern of harassment has emerged every time Amnesty International India stands up and speaks out against human rights violations in India”, referring to their campaigns for IoK. 

    Back in September, Amnesty International had launched the “LetKashmirSpeak” campaign and called on Indian PM Modi to lift the inhumane military curfew in held Kashmir that has crippled the lives of millions of Muslims since August.

    New Delhi had earlier revoked the constitutional autonomy of IoK on August 5 this year and imposed a military curfew in the area, imprisoning millions of people. Thousands of ordinary citizens were detained after the move.

    The detained included former chief ministers and the mayor of Srinagar. Widespread allegations of torture and abuse of these detainees by the Indian security forces were published by the international media in the following weeks, as India showed no signs of easing restrictions.

  • DG ISPR thanks Lala for praising his efforts for Pakistan

    DG ISPR thanks Lala for praising his efforts for Pakistan

    Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) took to social media to thank Shahid Khan Afridi aka lala for praising his efforts for Pakistan.

    In a recent interview with The Current, the interviewer asked Shahid Afridi ‘one word for DG ISPR’, to which lala replied “My relation with Asif Ghafoor is quite old and Asif bhai is doing a great job MashaAllah. He is a patriotic man. There should be people like him. And i think it is a good thing how he interacts with the public. I think it is a good thing”

    https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1195043876467290112

    Watch the complete interview here:

  • Asad Umar returns to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet

    Asad Umar returns to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet

    Former federal minister for finance Asad Umar, who was sacked for poor performance, on Monday was re-inducted to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s cabinet as the minister for planning, development and reforms.

    According to Special Assistant to the PM for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Khusro Bakhtiar was handed the petroleum portfolio instead, which was earlier held by Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

    “A notification, in this regard, will soon be issued,” she tweeted.

    In April this year, hours after Umar was shown the door, the former finance minister had said that he was removed by the premier because of his “performance” at the post in the last eight months.

    The ex-federal finance minister, who is a close aide of PM Imran, had also said that he wasn’t disappointed over the decision. “Since taking the job, I’ve worked my socks off, even my family says I’m burn out.”

    Umar had further said that as soon as he was told to leave his post his stress levels nose-dived. “You can’t imagined how relaxed I am right now.”

    On another query that if his stint as the finance minister would be deemed a failure, Umar had said he would leave that for time to decide. He was replaced by Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

  • ‘I am a dharna expert’: Prime minister belittles Fazl’s Azadi March

    ‘I am a dharna expert’: Prime minister belittles Fazl’s Azadi March

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Monday called himself a “dharna [sit-in] expert” as he boasted of his 126-day lockdown of the federal capital from 2014 and belittled that of Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) which ended within two weeks.

    Addressing the groundbreaking of the Hazara Motorway Phase II in Havelian, the premier called JUI-F’s 14-day sit-in a “circus” and added that the protesters could not even stay for a month in the capital.

    He reiterated that would not spare “a single corrupt person” in the country no matter how they tried to “blackmail” the government and added that he “did not care about votes, but feared God and the hereafter”. “My message [to all my opponents] is that my God has trained me for challenges. I know how to win and how to face defeat. And I know how to stand back up after I have been defeated.”

    Warning opposition leaders against ganging up on him, the premier also trained guns at his political nemeses, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

    While PM Imran said that Shehbaz was “trying to be Nelson Mandela” — former South African president and peace activist who spent 27 years in prison due to his political struggle — he also mimicked Bilawal in an attempt to troll the PPP chief for his rainwater gaffe.

    “When it rains, water pours down. When it rains more, more water pours down.”

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “Bilawal’s theory shocked even the most remarkable scientists like Einstein,” the premier said further and assereted that the PPP chairman claimed to be a liberal “but he was liberally corrupt”.

    BILAWAL STRIKES BACK:

    It wasn’t later that Bilawal reacted to PM Imran’s remarks in a tweet.

    He said that he was neither liberal nor corrupt or a hypocrite. “I am a visionary and progressionist who has been in politics for more than a year,” he said, adding that the premier was a 70-year-old who had been exercising “selected” politics for more than 20 years.

    “Imran Khan’s identity by U-turns, hypocrisy and being a puppet,” Bilawal wrote.

  • ‘Imran’s best interests at heart,’ says Elahi amid Punjab chief ministership rumours

    ‘Imran’s best interests at heart,’ says Elahi amid Punjab chief ministership rumours

    Amid rumours that Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader and Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi “will soon be replacing Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar” as the provincial cheif executive, the former has clarified his statements that made headlines for criticising Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    During an interview, Elahi had last week said that PM Imran should let former premier Nawaz Sharif fly out of the country since he was gravely ill. His remarks had come while the Imran-led government, before the Lahore High Court (LHC) ruling that allowed Nawaz to travel abroad, had decided to not let the former premier travel abroad without paying a whopping Rs7 billion in indemnity bonds.

    “Whatever I said about Nawaz was for Imran Khan’s own good,” Elahi said Monday as he clarified that no one could create a misunderstanding between his party and the government.

    Elahi also said that he had contacted Maulana Fazlur Rehman to save the country from descending into political chaos.

    He was part of the government’s negotiating committee that held talks with Fazl when the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief brought thousands of protesters to the H-9 venue in Islamabad and demanded PM Imran’s resignation.

    Though Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak was heading the committee, Elahi and his cousin, Chaudhry Shujaat, held talks with the JUI-F chief during the protest to present the government’s demands.

  • Railways staff destroys all my hard work: Shiekh Rasheed

    Railways staff destroys all my hard work: Shiekh Rasheed

    Federal Minister for Railways Shiekh Rasheed has blamed the railway staff for destroying his efforts that he has done for the betterment of railway, Geo reported.

    According to the details, the minister has said that due to increasing number of accidents, railway staff always waste his efforts, adding that such accidents should be avoided.

    He said, “I had done a lot about education in Pakistan, adding that soon there will be four universities in Rawalpindi.

    At least 74 people were killed and dozens injured on Thursday after cooking gas cylinders exploded near Rahim Yar Khan’s Liaqatpur area.

    The Tezgam train was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi when the gas cylinder carried by a passenger exploded, killing and injuring passengers. The fire destroyed three of the train’s carriages, including two economy class carriages and one business class carriage.

    The railways minister had also announced a Rs1.5 million compensation for the families of the deceased in the Tezgam incident and Rs0.5 million for those injured.

  • What could be in Nawaz Sharif’s air ambulance?

    What could be in Nawaz Sharif’s air ambulance?

    Lahore High Court (LHC) has allowed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for four weeks for medical treatment, saying the duration could be extended based on medical reports.

    As per reports, an air ambulance will arrive on Tuesday morning to transport Nawaz Sharif to London. Nawaz’s physician, Dr Adnan Khan took to social media to announce that the former premier was scheduled to travel to London within 48 hours once he’s clinically stabilized.

    What is an air ambulance?

    Air ambulance is an aircraft that is equipped to fly as an intensive care unit (ICU).

    A medically staffed and equipped air ambulance provides medical care in flight while a non-medically equipped and staffed aircraft simply transports patients without a care in flight. All medical equipment and medications are selected to fit the needs of the patient that is being transported so it can differ from patient to patient.

    Common equipment for air ambulances includes medications, ventilators, ECGs (a test that measures the electrical activity of the heartbeat) and monitoring units, CPR equipment ( a life-saving technique that is used when someone is suffering from any emergency issue such as cardiac arrest, heart attack or drowning), and stretchers.

    The equipment in each air ambulance can include everything from breathing apparatus and monitoring systems, pacemakers and defibrillators (devices that restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock to the heart) to blood transfusion equipment and a comprehensive supply of medication. The flight crew includes pilots and a medical team that will be able to meet patient needs.

    What Nawaz Sharif’s air ambulance will include?

    Dr Adnan tweeted that Nawaz’s ambulance would be equipped with a fully functional and staffed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as well as an operation theater. A team of doctors and paramedics headed by an Intensivist would also be there for Nawaz.

  • Imran’s adviser all praise for PML-N; says previous govt’s policies boosted economy

    Adviser to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood, has given the credit of Pakistan’s improved rating in World Bank’s (WB) Ease of Doing Business Index to the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government and its good policies.

    Pakistan has jumped up 28 places on the index and secured a place among the top 10 countries with the most improved business climate — a development that will greatly improve its image abroad.

    Pakistan carried out six reforms that helped improving its ranking from 136 to 108, according to the WB’s annual flagship report, ‘Ease of Doing Business 2020’, released last month. It turned out to be the sixth global reformer and first in South Asia that brought ease in doing business in the past one year.

    Praising the PML-N in what is being termed as challenging his own premier’s policy statement, Dawood has said that it was the previous government’s good policies that helped the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) carry out the said reforms.

    “Ease of doing busniess started improving under the previous government and their efforts helped us make even better. It’s not just us… look how the power crisis has been overcome. All of it wasn’t done within a single year,” he can be heard as saying in a video doing rounds over the internet.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    According to The Express Tribune, the WB monitors a country’s business related regulations on 10 benchmarks that are as broad as from starting a business, to getting electricity connection, securing construction permits, paying taxes, dispute resolution, business insolvency and protecting minority shareholders’ rights. All these areas are closely looked at by the global investors before they take decisions on making investment.

    The report measures how close each economy is to the best global practices in business regulations.

    On the measure of absolute progress towards best practices, Pakistan has improved the score to 61 from 55, suggesting the country did some remarkable work this time around and built on the reforms introduced in the previous year as well.

    International investors consult the report and the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum before taking decisions on investment plans.

    While India remained top among South Asian nations, up 14 spots to 63, Pakistan also made a mark by climbing 28 positions and securing a place among the top 10 global business climate reformers and improving 28 positions in a year.

    “This rise is significant and made possible by collective and coordinated actions of the federal government and provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab over the past year,” said the WB Country Director for Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu.

  • Sindh High Court reminds PCB of players’ sheesha controversy, seeks answer

    Sindh High Court reminds PCB of players’ sheesha controversy, seeks answer

    The Sindh High Court (SHC) has resent a notice to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on a petition regarding its inaction against former national team skipper Shoaib Malik and other cricketers for violating team rules, Geo News reported. 

    Prior to a crucial match against arch-rivals India at the World Cup 2019, batsman Malik was snapped at a cafe in London along with two other players — Wahab Riaz and Imamul Haq, as an unidentified person consumed sheesha on their table. 

    According to the details, petitioner Abdul Jalil Marwat had claimed that the players were spotted consuming sheesha at a cafe in England the night before the match with India on June 16. 

    He further alleged that Malik, Wahab and Imam performed poorly, perhaps as a result of their disregard for rules and regulations, which resulted in Pakistan’s loss.

    After the cricket board had failed to take any action against these players, Marwat had requested the court to direct the PCB to explain why the players were not punished for violating the team management rules and regulations.

    A division bench of the high court, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, observed that no one had appeared in court on behalf of the PCB despite the issuance of notice.

    The court has now resent the notice to PCB through a district and sessions judge in Lahore and adjourned the hearing of the case till a later date that is yet to be determined. 

  • ‘Help me’: Altaf Hussain looks towards Modi for support

    ‘Help me’: Altaf Hussain looks towards Modi for support

    Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain has reportedly requested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help him by giving him and his companions asylum and financial help.

    According to a report in The News, Hussain made his request in his first ever public speech after the police relaxed his bail conditions.

    In the speech, watched online by thousands of people, the MQM leader said he would like to travel to India because his forefathers are buried there.

    “If India’s Prime Minister Mr Modi allows me to come to India and provides me asylum with my colleagues, I am ready to come to India along with my colleagues because my grandfather is buried there. My grandmother is buried there and thousands of my relatives are buried there in India. I want to go to India to their graves.”

    Hussain, in his speech, alleged that his assets, house and offices were taken over in Karachi after August 22, 2017. He asked the Indian PM to help him with money if he could not provide him asylum.

    In fact, Altaf even supported the decision of the Indian Supreme Court in the disputed Babri Mosque case saying that Modi’s government has the “right to establish Hindu Raaj (rule)” and if Indian politician Asaduddin Owaisi and others did not like India, they should migrate to Pakistan.

    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.

    He is due to stand trial in June 2020 and passport remains with the UK police as part of his bail conditions and he is not allowed to apply for any travel document unless permitted by the court.

    Lawyers were now assessing whether Hussain has breached his bail conditions by asking Modi to let him stay in India while he awaits the trial of his case.