Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Oxford University expels Imran Khan from chancellor race

    Oxford University expels Imran Khan from chancellor race

    Former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s name has been excluded from the 40-candidate list for the prestigious position of Chancellor of Oxford University.

    Oxford University announced the list of qualified candidates on Wednesday morning in which the incarcerated founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, was not included.

    A leading United Kingdom (UK) firm had indicated that, based on Imran Khan’s imprisonment, he couldn’t run for chancellorship, as per university regulations.

    Previously, the ex-Prime Minister applied for the Oxford Chancellorship from prison after the university administration announced the election of a new chancellor for the Michaelmas term.

    The election is taking place after Lord Patten of Barnes announced his retirement for the 2023/24 academic year.

    “In the first round of voting, voters will have the opportunity to rank as many candidates as they choose. The top 5 candidates will go on to a second round, to take place during the Week 6 of Michaelmas Term (week commencing 18 November),” the university detailed the process.

    The elected chancellor will hold the post for a ten-year tenure.

    Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, is also contesting for the said post.

    Historically, the position has been held by distinguished figures, including politicians, diplomats, and other prominent public figures. The candidate is usually someone of considerable influence and standing in society.

  • Khawaja Asif reacts to Jemima’s Imran Khan plea

    Khawaja Asif reacts to Jemima’s Imran Khan plea

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has responded to Jemima Goldsmith’s post on X (formerly Twitter) concerning the health of the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi.

    Goldsmith, while alleging the incumbent government of misconduct towards Imran Khan in jail, wrote on X, “The Pakistan authorities have stopped all visits to him by his family and his lawyers. They have also postponed all court hearings.”

    The post sparked a strong reaction on social media.

    Responding to Jemima Goldsmith’s concern, Khawaja Asif said that Imran Khan was treated with constant leniency, adding that the incarcerated Khan had never shown mercy towards his opponents.

    Recalling the Imran Khan-led government’s aggressiveness towards the opposition, the Defence Minister claimed that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not even allowed to phone call his wife Kulsoom Nawaz when she was on her deathbed while the opposition leader was in jail without any allegation.

    Similarly, British Journalist Piers Morgan also reacted to Jemima Goldsmith’s post, “This is outrageous, and appalling. Please RT Jemima’s tweet to raise awareness of this shocking development.”

    Asif stated that Piers Morgan was disappointed over the case of a convicted prisoner in Pakistan but turned a blind eye to the plight of thousands of Palestinian hostages in Zionist prisons and the brutal genocide in Gaza.

  • PTI chief updates on Imran Khan’s health in jail

    PTI chief updates on Imran Khan’s health in jail

    Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Barrister Gohar Khan said on Tuesday that former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was in good health after doctor teams examined him.

    A team from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), including an ENT specialist and a medical specialist, visited Adiala Jail Rawalpindi and inspected Imran Khan’s health condition.

    Barrister Gohar Khan on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “We were informed a while ago that Alhamdulillah, Khan Saab is in good health and had exercised for an hour today. We shall get medical reports from them soon, and I will share with you, InshaAllah.”

    He also conveyed his appreciation to the PTI workers and supporters who had shown concern for the party founder’s well-being.

    The development came after PTI leadership postponed the protests at Islamabad amid the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at the federal capital after the assurance of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi that the doctors would examine the founder of PTI.

    In another tweet, the party chairman wrote, “He is otherwise fit & healthy and does not need any further medication at the moment.”

    However, the PTI founder’s personal physician, Dr Asim Yusuf, was not allowed to meet Imran Khan after waiting outside the Adiala jail for more than one hour and despite submitting their credentials to the security staff.

  • Punjab College ‘rape’ case: CM Maryam forms investigation committee

    Punjab College ‘rape’ case: CM Maryam forms investigation committee

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz has formed a high-level seven-member committee to investigate the alleged rape of a student at Punjab College in Lahore.

    The investigative committee chaired by Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman has been tasked to present findings of the alleged rape incident before the CM within 48 hours.

    The other members of the committee include the Secretary of Home Affairs, the Advocate General of Punjab, the Secretary of Higher Education, the Secretary of Special Education, and the Secretary of Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education.

    According to the notification, the committee will examine all elements, including the college administration’s initial response and the manner in which the police managed the situation.

    Earlier, social media reports claimed that a student of Punjab College’s Campus 10 in Lahore was subjected to rape by a college guard named Aun, prompting mass protests across the city.

    Meanwhile, In the wake of this incident, celebrities from the entertainment industry, such as Mahira Khan, Hania Aamir, Maya Ali, Dure Fishan Saleem, Yumna Zaidi, Bilal Abbas Khan and Amar Khan, stepped up to voice their concern. They all shared on their Instagram stories to support the protesting students and demand accountability from the authorities.

  • ‘You are in hiding, yet asking workers to come out’; Ali Amin Gandapur lambasts Hammad Azhar

    ‘You are in hiding, yet asking workers to come out’; Ali Amin Gandapur lambasts Hammad Azhar

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Hammad Azhar and Chief Minister (CM) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur exchanged fierce words on the decision to call off a party protest scheduled for October 15 in Islamabad, Geo News has reported.

    During a political committee meeting, Hammad Azhar insisted on holding the protest at Islamabad’s D Chowk during the SCO summit. In response, Ali Amin Gandapur said, “You are in hiding yet are telling workers to come out for the protest,” the Chief Minister reportedly said.

    “I came to Islamabad two times, but PTI’s Punjab leadership was out of sight. Our members of the provincial assembly are in custody, and provincial workers had to be saved,” Gandapur said.

    “Don’t blame us; hold the protest. I will lead from the Punjab side,” Hammad Azhar aggressively responded.

    The party’s senior members were divided on Sunday on the scheduled protest at Islamabad D Chowk on the same day on which the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit was to begin.

    Saner elements in the PTI group, including Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur and party Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, were in favour of calling off protests at Islamabad amid the SCO summit in Pakistan, Ansar Abbasi told Geo News.

    Moreover, former Speakers of the National Assembly, Asad Qaiser, Hamid Khan, Raoof Hassan, and Ali Muhammad Khan, were also against holding the protest on October 15 in Islamabad.

    Hammad Azhar, Shehbaz Gill, Khalid Khurshid, and Hafiz Farhat remained adamant about holding a protest at D Chowk, while Advocate Salman Akram Raja also endorsed the idea of protest.

    Shehbaz Gill and Hammad Azhar alike used the party’s social media to criticise the PTI groups who were resisting the decision to hold protests in Islamabad’s red zone.

    Chairman Barrister Gohar officially said that on the assurance of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, peaceful protests had been called off.

  • KP govt to implement Pashtun Qaumi Jirga demands: CM

    KP govt to implement Pashtun Qaumi Jirga demands: CM

    Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur has said that the provincial government will fully implement the demands of Pashtun Qaumi Jirga that fall within the domain of the constitution.

    Speaking on the provincial assembly floor on Monday, Ali Amin Gandapur said that Jirga’s recommendations will be discussed in the Full House Committee of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, The News reported.

    One by one, Pahtun Qaumi Jirga’s points would be discussed before before being sent to the federal government for implementation, the Chief Minister added.

    “We will not play politics or resort to point scoring but implement it for the sake of peace, prosperity and stability of our people and province,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Awami National Party (ANP) has made a recommendation unanimously before the Special Parliamentary Committee for deliberations to rename Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to “Pakhtunkhwa”, which neither political party rejected amidst the session.

    Earlier, President ANP KP Aimal Wali Khan claimed: “Khyber is our district and our Pass, and we value it, but a district’s name is linked to the province’s name.”

    “We don’t have any problem with it, however, since we were given an [Pashtun] identity so we should not be identified as KP or KPK,” he concluded.

  • ‘Judges advising political party to prepare for upcoming elections’

    ‘Judges advising political party to prepare for upcoming elections’

    Speaker of Punjab Assembly Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan claimed that certain senior judges are advising one political party to prepare for elections.

    Speaking at a press conference at the old assembly building on Monday, the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly said, “There is evidence that certain august members of the judiciary are encouraging a political party to prepare for elections.”

    “I have evidence that why a few articles of the constitution were suspended to benefit a party,” he added.

    Responding to the role of politics in judiciary, he said that politics in judiciary should end now.

    “There was lopsidedness in the court of former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial as a specific five-man bench would take up all important cases. There was lopsidedness in the another ex-CJP Saqib Nisar’s court,” Khan added.

    Lambasting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership for holding protests on the same day as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which is going to be held Today (Tuesday), he alleged that PTI’s protest has a foreign agenda.

  • Nawaz Sharif hopeful about meeting Narendra Modi soon

    Nawaz Sharif hopeful about meeting Narendra Modi soon

    Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday expressed his desire to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the near future to advocate for better relations with the neighbouring country.

    During an interview with an Indian journalist, Barkha Dutt, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Islamabad, Sharif said, “It would have been a great thing if PM [Narendra] Modi had also attended the SCO summit. I do hope that he and us will have an opportunity to sit together in the not-so-distant future.”

    Pak-India relations have gone through upheavals over the last few decades but the 2019 Indian decision to revoke the ‘special status’ of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir downgraded diplomatic relations between the two countries.

    Since then, Pakistan has made it a condition to reverse the decision before any talks of normalisation of relations between the two countries.

  • PTI calls off protest; doctors to examine Imran Khan

    PTI calls off protest; doctors to examine Imran Khan

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has postponed its protest scheduled for today, October 15, after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi formally contacted the party to ensure medical examination of jailed party founder Imran Khan this morning.

    PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed last night that PTI has postponed its D-Chowk protest scheduled for today as a breakthrough took place between his party and the government.

    Many within PTI, including Gohar and Ali Amin Gandapur, were critical of the protest because it coincided with the highly anticipated SCO summit in Pakistan.

    PTI drew criticism from business and economic experts as well, and the party was urged to reconsider its decision.

    Earlier, PTI’s spokesperson, Sheikh Waqas Akram, revealed that the party had placed a condition before the coalition government to call off its protest, demanding to allow Khan’s sisters and doctors to meet him at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, citing concerns over Imran Khan’s health.

    Initially, the PML-N rejected the proposal, with Senator Talal Chaudhry calling it “blackmail.”

    Geo News reported that a team of doctors from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) will visit Adiala Jail along with Khan’s personal physician to examine his health.

  • ‘PTI to continue protesting till Imran Khan’s release’

    ‘PTI to continue protesting till Imran Khan’s release’

    Information Advisor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif has said that his party’s protests will continue until the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, is released and charges against him are dropped.

    Express News reported that the Advisor declared that peaceful protest is their democratic and constitutional right.

    Lambasting the incumbent government, he states that an illegitimate government is trying to extend its rule by turning PTI protests into something like the Model Town incident of 2014.

    He emphasised that the country’s economic progress is impossible under authoritarianism and declared the national economy at a standstill mode.

    Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, in a press conference in Islamabad said that the terrorism in Karachi and the ‘political terrorism’ of PTI are similar.

    Meanwhile, PTI has set conditions for calling off its protest on October 15, asking that their leaders should be allowed a meeting Imran Khan, and his personal physician should be allowed to check up on him.