Current Final

Category: Politics

  • ‘Dhokha’: Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s son says Elahi betrayed family by joining hands with IK

    Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s son Chaudhry Shafay Hussain has said that his father’s cousin— Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi—betrayed the family by backing out of an agreement made with the current ruling coalition at the last minute.

    In an interview with ARY News, Chaudhry Shafay recalled the entire incident, recalling that Elahi asked Chaudhry Shujaat to convince Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to give Elahi the Chief Minister’s seat. However, at the last minute, he switched over to Imran Khan.

    When asked what reason did Elahi give for backing out of the deal, Shafay said that he said former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa asked him to join hands with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). However, Shafay Hussain said Elahi should have told the party chief about the telephone call from Bajwa.

    According to Shafay, former president Asif Ali Zardari said he convinced PDM leadership including Nawaz Sharif to grant Elahi the top seat after clearing many obstacles.

    Shafay also addressed Moonis Elahi’s “sofware update” statement about Chaudhry Shujaat, terming it ‘inappropriate’. “One should not say something of this sort about the one who taught you politics,” he opined.

    Shafay accused Moonis of playing his own politic. Political families work together and Moonis doesn’t want that, Shafay said about his cousin.

    He also hinted at expelling some Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) from the party.

  • ‘Benazir ke sandwich khanay unkay college jata tha’: Imran Khan

    ‘Benazir ke sandwich khanay unkay college jata tha’: Imran Khan

    A clip from a two month old interview of Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has gone viral on social media. In the interview, Imran Khan narrates his memories with former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benzair Bhutto when they were both studying in London.

    Journalist Haroon Rasheed interviewed Imran Khan in October and asked him about the food in Oxford. In response, Khan said, “I remember that I was hungry all the time in England’s winters. We used to have three meals in Pakistan, breakfast, lunch, evening tea and dinner. Then my mother used to give me milk.”

    Khan said that when he went to England, he would get hungry again as soon as he ate in the dining room. “This hunger would take over the time,” he recalled.

    Imran Khan then said that Benazir Bhutto, who was also studying in another college in Oxford at the time, would hold an open house on Sunday. “She was contesting union elections. I was friends with Benazir. An Indian friend, Vikram Mehta, used to be with me. We both used to go to Benazir’s college because we would be hungry,” added Khan.

    “Benazir was living in great splendor and used to make sandwiches herself, which we would go and eat,” he told Haroon Rasheed.

  • Plans of long-term caretaker govt in pipeline, claims journalist

    Plans of long-term caretaker govt in pipeline, claims journalist

    News anchor Meher Bokhari in her programme ‘Program Hum Meher Bokhari Kay Sath’ on Hum News has claimed that a crucial meeting has taken place where plans of installing a long caretaker government in Pakistan have been discussed.

    She said that considering the worsening economic conditions in the country, the caretaker government can be in place for six months or even two years, emphasising that the situation has slipped out of politicians’ hands.

    During her show, she pointed out that the incumbent government has failed to steer the country out of the economic crisis, despite making promises to do so. Moreover, she said that since the takeover of the coalition government, the dollar value rose exponentially, plunging the country into economic disaster.

    She highlighted Pakistan’s failure to get the next International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) tranche and the reluctance of friendly countries to help Pakistan.

    Reacting to the journalist’s claims, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Fawad Chaudhry termed it a “stupidity”, stressing that the “country’s crisis is more political than economic”.

    In a tweet, he said that these are “schemes” to keep Imran Khan out of politics but are not in Pakistan’s favour. Terming general elections as the only solution to the country’s problems, he added that PTI will resist the move of forming a technocrat government.

    However, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday assured the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) that the country will not default but admitted that the economy is in a “tight position”.

    “It’s been three months since I took charge. We hear every day that we will default. How will there be a default? There is no chance that Pakistan will default,” the finance minister said.

    It should be noted that the financial situation in the country is perilous with inflation at the highest levels in recent years. A day earlier, the price of gold rose by Rs4,500 to a fresh all-time high of Rs182,700 per tola. The price of gold has increased by more than Rs20,000 per tola since the beginning of December.

  • ‘Bajwa helped Imran get NRO for Bani Gala house’: PML-N’s Malik Ahmad Khan

    ‘Bajwa helped Imran get NRO for Bani Gala house’: PML-N’s Malik Ahmad Khan

    Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Malik Ahmad Khan has alleged that the former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had helped to give a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to save him from disqualification in the Bani Gala case.

    According to Malik, the-then Chief Justice Saqib Nisar was influenced by Gen Bajwa to decide a case about Imran Khan’s Bani Gala residence case in his favour. Later, Khan was declared Sadiq and Ameen by the court.

    The News contacted the former chief justice who denied the story, he said that it’s all “rubbish, total bullshit and completely baseless.” Justice (retd) Nisar insisted that he was never influenced while dispensing his judicial duties directly or indirectly by the-then Army Chief. Nisar said that the entire locality of Bani Gala was illegally built. His verdict was about the regularisation of all properties in the locality as they could not be razed to the ground.

    Malik said that the PTI Chairman should come forward and say under oath that he had not been given a NRO in the Bani Gala residence case when it was being heard by the court of the-then CJP Justice (retd) Nisar.

    The SAPM while speaking on Channel 92 political talk show, ‘Breaking Views with Malick’, said that he had all the evidence about how and when it happened, who were the characters involved, and who sent messages to whom. When asked by the anchor if Malik Ahmad Khan was saying that the then army chief had influenced the-then Chief Justice of Pakistan to decide IK’s Banigala house case, Malik Khan said, “I stand by it, I have all the evidence.” He further said that the collateral victim of this case was Jehangir Khan Tareen.

    It is pertinent to mention here that Malik Ahmad Khan was among those Leaguers who had been close to the retired army chief. Malik Ahmed Khan had also been occasionally meeting the-then army chief.


  • Stab in the back? PTI, PML-Q’s MPAs contact PML-N’s Opposition ahead of no-confidence against CM Elahi

    Stab in the back? PTI, PML-Q’s MPAs contact PML-N’s Opposition ahead of no-confidence against CM Elahi

    Several members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) have approached the Opposition in Punjab Assembly ahead of the no-confidence session against Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi, reports ARY News.

    According to the news outlet, a total of 11 lawmakers contacted the Opposition and they reportedly planned to skip CM Elahi’s trust vote session.

    Earlier, senior Vice President of PTI, Fawad Chaudhry, announced that Elahi will get a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly before January 11.

    Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan has already summoned a session of the assembly on Jan 11.

    The magic number required to show a majority in the assembly is 186. However, it has been claimed by PTI that the coalition government in Punjab has the support of 187 lawmakers.

    If the news is to be believed, the joint alliance of Punjab will have the support of 176 members on the day of no-confidence session.

  • ‘Baitho apni kursi par’: Bilawal advises Imran to come back to parliament

    ‘Baitho apni kursi par’: Bilawal advises Imran to come back to parliament

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari advised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday to come back to the Parliament.

    In an address to mark the 15th death anniversary of his mother, former Prime Minister (PM) Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, he said, “This is your last warning. Come back to parliament and sit in your seat. If you call yourself democratic, play your role.”

    Bilawal also offered Khan a dialogue on the matter of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and elections if he comes to parliament.

    Referencing the long marches and protests by PTI, he said that the party’s actions are bad for the people of Pakistan.

    “In any other country, politics and rallies would have come to a halt after the havoc wreaked by the floods. But even in the midst of a catastrophe, the fight for Punjab kept on, and [Imran’s] long march did not stop,” he said.

    Talking about the alarming rise in terrorism, the minister slammed Imran for “bending his knees in front of the terrorists” without asking the public or the parliament.

    Moreover, he claimed that Imran is once again trying to pressurise the establishment to meddle in politics.

    At the start of the address, Bilawal talked about his mother, vowing to take Benazir Shaheed’s mission forward and achieve it within the next 15 years. He urged his supporters to join the party in this mission.

  • ‘Who will wipe my tears’: Twitter reacts to column about ‘General (Bajwa) Sb ki roohani azmatein ‘

    Journalist Javed Chaudhry has written an article about his meeting with Former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa. In the article he wrote that he met Bajwa on December 22.


    Describing how the former head of the military is spending his time after retirement, Chaudhary paints a very vivid description of the house. He said that General Bajwa’s wife has decorated the home with antiques that she had bought on cheap rates. He specifically remarks on the cleanliness of Bajwa’s house, seemingly impressed by it.


    We find out that the former COAS and his wife are like ordinary married couples, arguing over the AC thermostat.

    Moving on to serious matters, Chaudhary says that General Bajwa considers accepting the extension in his tenure as his biggest mistake and he feels very very sorry for it, but it is true that Imran Khan took this decision without taking him into confidence.


    “Woh chai bohot achi peete hain, cup mein cake rusk dabo kar khate hain aur apni iss saadgi ko enjoy karte hain.”


    The columnist says that he observed that General Bajwa is aggrieved over the narrative of Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq, the accusations of treason and the narrative of conspiracy. He said that he knows such details about his critics that if he spoke up, they will find nowhere to hide but he does not want to answer them and enjoy retired life with hid twin grandsons.

    Twitter is having all kind of reactions about the column. Have a look at some of them:
    https://twitter.com/mutafariq/status/1607699579968933889

  • ‘Not a Banana republic’: Ahsan Iqbal hits out at people saying that Pakistan is going to default

    ‘Not a Banana republic’: Ahsan Iqbal hits out at people saying that Pakistan is going to default

    Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal has hit out at speculation that Pakistan is going to default.

    Talking to Geo News’ programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada kay Sath‘, he said, “Pakistan is not Africa’s banana republic. We have a large economy. Voices saying that the country is heading towards default shouldn’t come from inside of Pakistan.”

    The federal minister said that when people were saying Pakistan is going to default in two weeks, the coalition government took tough decisions to pull the country out of danger.

    He also took a jibe at the rival party— Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)— accusing the former ruling party of building the narrative that Pakistan is going to default.

    “Even India is not speculating about Pakistan’s financial crisis but PTI and Imran Khan have launched a war against the country,” he pointed out.

    The federal minister also claimed that 80 per cent of Pakistan’s total debt was taken during Imran Khan’s tenure, which the current government has to handle now.

    He reiterated his government’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme but added that the administration is trying to minimise the burden on people as inflation is already at a historic high and Pakistan has just suffered a natural disaster that caused damages worth $30 billion.

  • After Islamabad and Balochistan, threat of terrorism reaches Karachi

    After Islamabad and Balochistan, threat of terrorism reaches Karachi

    The Sindh government has informed provincial police and DG Rangers that three banned organisations have planned major terrorist incidents in three major cities of the province—Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur.

    According to an official letter sent to the concerned authorities, the banned organisations include Baloch Revolution Army, Baloch Raaji Ajoi Sanga and Sindh Revolution Army.

    Moreover, the letter stated that the aforementioned organisations have also distributed arms and ammunition to their associated terrorists.

    On the other hand, Islamabad Police on Tuesday issued a “special security plan” after analysing the current security situation of the capital.

    The law enforcement agency said that at least 25 temporary security check posts have been established at different locations in Islamabad.

    Authourities will be using safe city cameras to record traffic at Red Zone entrances while the videos of metro bus service passengers will also be recorded.

    The police have also requested residents and foreigners to carry their identification documents.

    Since the suicide attack in Islamabad on December 23, multiple foreign missions including the United States (US) Saudi Arabia and Australia have advised their citizens and staff to limit their movement in the capital.

    Pakistan is facing a resurgence of terrorism since the militant Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called off its ceasefire with the government in late November.

  • ‘Imran Khan nay Pakistan ki izzat ko khaak mein mila diya’:PM Shehbaz

    ‘Imran Khan nay Pakistan ki izzat ko khaak mein mila diya’:PM Shehbaz

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan destroyed the respect that Pakistan had.

    Talking about the economic situation of Pakistan, PM Shehbaz said that when he took over as the premier of Pakistan, the country was on the brink of default.

    He said that the ruling coalition saved Pakistan from default with the help of friendly countries.

    The Premier said that the government will not tolerate rise in terrorist attacks and vowed to crush it by developing liaison between government and law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

    He assured the people of Pakistan that the coalition government will rescue them from economic quagmire.

    PM Shehbaz also accused Imran Khan’s government of neglecting the western route of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).