Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Rana Sanaullah acquitted in narcotics case by Lahore court

    Rana Sanaullah acquitted in narcotics case by Lahore court

    A special court in Lahore on Saturday acquitted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in a narcotics case filed against him during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s tenure.

    In his plea filed today, Sanaullah argued that the case against him was “concocted, devised and fabricated”.

    The minister urged the court to acquit him of the charge “in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”.

    Sanaullah was arrested in 2019 by the Anti-Narcotics Force’s (ANF) Lahore team while he was travelling from Faisalabad to Lahore.

    The ANF claimed to have seized 15 kilogrammes of heroin from his vehicle. A special team of the force had also arrested five others, including the driver and security guards of the PML-N leader.

    He was twice denied bail by the trial court, however, the Lahore High Court ordered his release on December 24, 2019.

  • Sanaullah says Azam Swati ‘maligned’ army, judiciary, not govt

    Sanaullah says Azam Swati ‘maligned’ army, judiciary, not govt

    Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanauallah has said that the cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati were a part of “political revenge”, adding that Swati did target the army and judiciary but not the government.

    Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the Minister said that the government has got nothing to do with the cases against Swati.

    “If we wanted to frame [PTI leaders] in court cases or treat them the way they treated us, we would have had them charged with the possession of heroin,” he said, referring to the case made against him under the PTI government.

    Sanaullah added that cases are being filed against them in accordance with the law. “Recently, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) cancelled cases against Azam Swati. On the other hand, we have fought our cases for years,” he said.

  • Bushra Bibi’s bestie Farah left Pakistan right after Khan was removed as PM

    Bushra Bibi’s bestie Farah left Pakistan right after Khan was removed as PM

    Farah Khan, a close friend of former First Lady Bushra Bibi, left Pakistan nearly 20 days after former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was removed from power, it has been revealed.

    Farah left the country on April 29 on a private jet owned by a private firm in Pakistan, reports Naeem Hanif for Samaa News, 19 days after Imran Khan was removed through a no-confidence motion.

    The news report has revealed that on her way out of Pakistan, she was accompanied by two people— Zainab Bashir and Muhammad Zoraiz Malik. According to the news outlet, Farah most likely used one of her foreign passports to travel out of the country.

    It is pertinent to mention that Farah is the prime suspect in Toshakhana reference.

    Last month, Dubai-based businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor claimed that he had bought an expensive Graff set— gifted to Imran Khan by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2019— through former accoun­ta­bility minister Shahzad Akbar and Farah Khan. He said that he had paid the equivalent of $2 million in cash for the set.

    Earlier, The News reported that Farah’s wealth grew exponentially within the first three years since former PM Khan formed his government. Her total declared assets grew four times from Rs231 million in 2017 to Rs971 million in 2021.

  • ‘Preparations to welcome Nawaz Sharif underway’: Sanaullah

    ‘Preparations to welcome Nawaz Sharif underway’: Sanaullah

    Federal Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah, has said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has started preparations to welcome home party supremo Nawaz Sharif.

    Sanaullah has claimed that the former Prime Minister would return to the country to lead PML-N’s election campaign the day election schedule is announced.

    The interior minister reiterated that general elections in Pakistan will be held in October next year as the government refused to succumb to pressure through dissolution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab assemblies.

    Sanaullah dared Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to stop vacillating and dissolve KP and Punjab assemblies. He reiterated that polling will be held within three months.

    “We will beat you in Punjab elections, and you will not find any place to hide your face,” he challenged PTI chief.

  • IK should say sorry to PM Shehbaz after Daily Mail’s apology, PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb

    IK should say sorry to PM Shehbaz after Daily Mail’s apology, PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, on Thursday, talked about the apology issued by the British newspaper Daily Mail, saying that the paper had failed to produce even a single piece of evidence in the court to prove its allegations against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif.

    The federal minister also said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and the former advisor on accountability, Shahzad Akbar, levelled baseless and false accusations against the Sharif family.

    Aurangzeb added that they did it to satisfy their egos.

    Moreover, she pointed out that Imran Khan handed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference to Daily Mail. Hence, an apology should be tendered by Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar, not just the British newspaper. She asked that they should now apologise to PM Shehbaz and the nation. The minister also alleged that David Rose, the Daily Mail journalist who wrote the now-deleted story, conspired with Imran Khan against Shehbaz Sharif.

    The statements have come forward after Daily Mail tendered an apology to the premier and withdrew all allegations of corruption against him and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf.

    The case:

    In July 2019, renowned media law firm Carter-Ruck sued British newspaper The Mail on Sunday, online news site Mail Online and its journalist David Rose on behalf of Shehbaz Sharif for publishing a “politically motivated” article. The story, published on July 14, 2019, had suggested that Shehbaz and Yousaf “stole British taxpayers’ money” given to Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) set up to help the victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

  • Balochistan High Court orders cancellation of all FIRs against Azam Swati

    Balochistan High Court orders cancellation of all FIRs against Azam Swati

    The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Friday ordered that all first information reports (FIR) registered against Senator Azam Swati of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for his controversial tweets against senior military officers should be cancelled.

    Five FIRs were registered in Balochistan against Swati for tweeting against army officials.

    Balochistan police had arrested the PTI senator last week from Islamabad, detaining him in their custody after a local court in Quetta approved the law enforcement agency’s request for a physical remand.

    The court has directed police to quash all FIRs registered against the senator in the province and release him if he was not booked in any other cases.

    Swati was first arrested by the FIA on charges of posting controversial tweets about the armed forces in October and was later released on bail.

    The senator has since alleged that he was tortured in custody and demanded the removal of two military officials, one of whom he used foul language against in his tweet on November 26.

    On November 27, the FIA arrested Swati for the second time over a “highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets […] against state institutions”.

  • Daily Mail apologises to PM Shehbaz for ‘error’ in 2019 article

    Daily Mail apologises to PM Shehbaz for ‘error’ in 2019 article

    Daily Mail tendered an apology to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif while withdrawing all allegations of corruption against him and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf.

    In an article published on July 4, 2019 Daily Mail had accused the Premier of “stealing British foreign aid money”.

    The British publication also removed the said article, written by David Rose, from all platforms of Mail publishers.

    The United Kingdom-based publication has failed to prove the allegations levelled by its journalist David Rose in an article against Premier Shehbaz about the alleged misappropriation of public funds.

    Since the publication of the report, Shehbaz Sharif has maintained that he was not involved in any wrongdoing and also approached a court in the United Kingdom (UK) challenging the allegation — resulting in an apology from the newspaper.

    Apology from the Daily Mail

    In a clarification published on its website today, the British publication said: “In an article concerning Mr Shahbaz Sharif entitled ‘Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims’ published on 14 July 2019 we reported on an investigation by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau into Mr Sharif and suggested that the money under investigation included a not insubstantial sum of British public money that had been paid to the Punjab province in DFID grant aid.”

    It said that the premier “has never been accused by the National Accountability Bureau of any wrongdoing in relation to British public money or DFID grant aid”.

    “We are pleased to make this clear and apologise to Mr Sharif for this error,” Daily Mail added.

    What did the article say in 2019?

    In July 2019, UK’s Daily Mail newspaper accused Prime Minister Shehbaz of “embezzling tens of millions of pounds of public money and laundering it in Britain’”

    The report, quoting Pakistani investigators, claimed that “some of the allegedly stolen money came from DFID-funded aid projects”.

    The report — titled “Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims, asks DAVID ROSE” — said the newspaper was given exclusive access to “some of the results of a high-level probe ordered by [then] prime minister Imran Khan”.

  • ‘Iss tarhaa ki audio college ke bachay bhi bana lete hain’: Zulfi Bukhari responds to audio leak

    ‘Iss tarhaa ki audio college ke bachay bhi bana lete hain’: Zulfi Bukhari responds to audio leak

    Sayed Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide of Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has denied the authenticity of an audio recording between him and former First Lady Bushra Bibi which surfaced online earlier in the day.

    In a tweet, he said that he has neither bought or sold any watches. “Earlier, it was being said that watches were sold to a person named Umar Zahoor through Farah Gujjar. But when a legal notice was served [to Zahoor], a new story popped up that I have sold the watches”, he said.

    Bukhari went on to say that “even college students can make such cut-copy-paste audio”.

    He also demanded that a forensic audit of the audio should be immediately conducted and he is “ready to pay for it”.

    Prior to this, the audio got leaked, in which Bushra Bibi can be heard allegedly discussing selling Toshakhana watches with Bukhari. According to the clip, Bushra asks Zulfi to sell her husband’s watches as they are of no use to him. Zulfi Bukhari can be heard agreeing with his party chairman’s wife.

    It is pertinent to mention here that this is the second time that Bushra Bibi’s audio got leaked. Earlier in the year, another alleged leaked audio of the former First Lady came to light in which she could be heard saying, “Khan Sahib told you to run a hashtag of treason. I have been getting calls from people that your social media was very active but after a week, it is not. You should have been very active nowadays.”

  • US warns Taliban of action if terrorists ‘regroup’ in Afghanistan

    US warns Taliban of action if terrorists ‘regroup’ in Afghanistan

    The United States (US) has warned of action if the superpower sees “international terrorists regrouping in Afghanistan” while saying that US’ broader goal was to make sure that “terrorists and others aren’t able to use Afghanistan as a launch pad for attacks on Pakistan.”

    US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, in a press briefing, stated: “We also have capabilities when it comes to counterterrorism in the region that does not leave us entirely beholden to the Taliban.”

    He also mentioned the killing of the al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri by a US strike in August this year to prove the superpower’s capabilities to act against terrorists.

    The spokesperson also added that the Afghan Taliban had been “either unable or unwilling to live up to the commitments that they’ve made in a number of areas.”

    Answering a question, Price said, “Of course, we’ve seen other groups also active. You mentioned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), among others. We are determined to work with our partners in the region, including Pakistan, to do what we can to take on the threat of terrorism in the region, and certainly the threat of terrorism that extends well beyond the region.”

    Terming Pakistan an “important partner”, Price said that the US values its bilateral relationship with the country. “We welcome opportunities to expand cooperation in areas that are of mutual interest to us and to Pakistan. That, of course, does include when it comes to counterterrorism”, he added.

    Earlier this week, Pakistan’s Head of Mission to Kabul Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani escaped an assassination bid in Afghanistan. Last month, a suicide attack— for which TTP claimed responsibility— rammed a police escort for a polio vaccination team in Quetta.

  • ‘Didn’t buy any watch, don’t have anything to do with this’: Watch shop owner distances himself from PTI claims

    ‘Didn’t buy any watch, don’t have anything to do with this’: Watch shop owner distances himself from PTI claims

    The owner of a small shop at the center of the Toshakhana scandal has distanced himself from the narrative given by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership about the sale of state gifts.


    PTI has argued that the Master Graff wristwatch which was gifted to its Chairman Imran Khan when he was the Prime Minister, was sold to a retail business store by the name of “Art of Time” in Islamabad.

    Among the gifts alleged to have been sold by the former Premier is a bejewelled Master Graff wristwatch that was gifted to the PTI chief by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

    A multi-millionaire Dubai-based businessman, Umar Farooq, has said that he bought the precious watch from Imran Khan’s trusted family friend Farah Gogi after paying a hefty amount of $2 million in cash.

    The receipt of the sale of this same special edition watch to “Art of Time” was deposited by the former premier himself before the Cabinet Division.

    Earlier today, an audio recording of former First Lady Bushra Bibi has surfaced online.

    In the brief clip, Bushra Bibi can be heard allegedly discussing selling Toshakhana watches with Zulfi Bukhari, a close confidant of her husband.

    As soon as the audio was leaked, Mohammad Shafiq, the owner of “Art of Time” in a video statement, distanced himself from the controversy.

    “I neither bought any watch nor have I got anything to do with this matter,” said Shafiq in a video. He added that propaganda was going against him —tying him to purchasing the watch.

    “Neither is that my shop’s bill (receipt), nor is that my signature. Even that handwriting is not mine. My business stamps and other things have been used unlawfully,” Shafiq shared.

    He added that he was hoping the matter would die down by itself —which was why he did not respond to any questions being raised.

    Shafique warned of legal action [against the propagandists] if he was dragged deeper into the matter.