Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Court ends ‘assets beyond means case’ against Dar after five years

    Court ends ‘assets beyond means case’ against Dar after five years

    An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday ended proceedings in an assets beyond means case against Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Ishaq Dar.

    During the hearing, Judge Mohammad Bashir remarked that “After the [National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022], this case does not fall under the jurisdiction of this court.”

    “We can neither announce a decision in favour of NAB nor can we issue a decision in favour of the suspect. The trial against Ishaq Dar ends here,” Judge Bashir said.

    In August, the National Assembly passed the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, which sought to exclude private transactions from the scope of NAB.

    Following the amendment, accountability courts withdrew 50 major corruption cases, including the case against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, and former Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Hamza Shahbaz.

    The case

    In 2017, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) registered a case against Dar, accusing him of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income.

    Following the case, he went to London and remained there for five years until September when he returned to Pakistan and took up charge of the finance ministry.

  • ECP decides to hold local govt polls in Karachi, Hyderabad on Jan 15

    ECP decides to hold local govt polls in Karachi, Hyderabad on Jan 15

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday has announced that local bidy government (LG) elections would take place on January 15, 2023, in Karachi and Hyderabad.

    Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja — who headed the five-member bench, announced the verdict that the commission had reserved on November 15.

    LG elections in the two divisions were originally scheduled for July 24, but have been put off thrice since then, primarily because of the Sindh government’s request that it didn’t have required police officials as they were busy with flood relief operations.

    The polls were first put off to August 28, then to October 23, and then indefinitely, before the Sindh government on November 10 said it had postponed the polls on its own for 90 days prompting criticism from the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

    Today’s development comes days after the Sindh High Court (SHC) had instructed the electoral watchdog to issue the schedule for local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad within 15 days, adding that the polls should preferably be conducted within 60 days.

  • Toshakhana case: Court records ECP official’s statement against Imran Khan

    Toshakhana case: Court records ECP official’s statement against Imran Khan

    A District and Sessions court in Islamabad on Tuesday heard the statement of an official of the Election Commission Pakistan’s (ECP)—District Election Commissioner Waqas Malik—during the hearing of a Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

    The proceedings were initiated on an ECP complaint after the commission found him guilty of “false statements and incorrect declaration” in his election papers and disqualified him for concealing information about Toshakhana gifts he received during his tenure as prime minister.

    During the hearing, the district election commissioner said he had been authorised to pursue the case. He added that the ECP is an independent institution that functioned under the Constitution and ensured that corrupt practices are curtailed.

    Malik further said members of the National Assembly submitted their returns to the ECP annually. Similarly, Khan also submitted his returns from 2018 to 2021, he said.

    After listening to the statement, the court adjourned the hearing till December 8.

    Last week, the ECP sent the reference to court, asking it to proceed against Imran under criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister. The commission seeks a three-year jail term and imposition of fine as the punishment.

  • COAS appointment notification to be issued by Nov 26 says Khawaja Asif

    COAS appointment notification to be issued by Nov 26 says Khawaja Asif

    Khawaja Asif, Minister for Defence, said Monday that the notification for the appointment of the next chief of army staff (COAS) would be issued by November 26 before the end of the tenure of the outgoing chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa – who retires on November 29.

    Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly (NA) on November 21, Asif said his ministry had received a letter from the Prime Minister, asking for initiation of the appointment process on Monday, which had been forwarded to General Headquarters.

    He said the summary, along with the service dossiers of the senior-most lieutenant generals proposed for elevation and appointment as chief of army staff and chairman joint chiefs of staff committee, was likely to be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office within two days.

    Appearing on Geo News programme “Capital Talk” on November 21, the minister said, “The appointment process for the highest offices in the Pakistan Army has commenced today.”

    “Once the matter [the appointment issue] is settled, the political leaders should join hands, sit together, and talk so that the appointment is not politicised in the future,” he emphasised.

    When senior journalist Hamid Mir asked Khawaja Asif as to why Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), chose November 26 as the date for his long march, the minister stated that Khan might be considering that President Dr Arif Alvi would not approve PM Shehbaz’s recommendation for the COAS.

    Lashing out at Imran Khan for “causing damage” to the honour and prestige of state institutions after being ousted from office, Asif said, “Today, an institution [army] is categorically stating that it has decided to give up its political or unconstitutional role and has made the announcement that it will play its constitutional role of defending the motherland, but Imran Khan has made their neutrality a curse.”

  • Nawaz, Maryam leave with family for European trip

    Nawaz, Maryam leave with family for European trip

    Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, her brother Hussain Nawaz and her son Junaid Safdar have reached an unspecified European country on Sunday night, reports Geo News.

    The Sharif family will visit five European countries in the next ten days.

    Three years after her passport was confiscated, Maryam Nawaz travelled to London in October to spend time with her father and the rest of her family.

    According to media reports, Nawaz Sharif wants to return to Pakistan soon while his trusted circle discusses a possible return date for the former Prime Minister.

    He has been living in London since 2015 when he was granted an eight-week bail on medical grounds and was allowed to travel to London for treatment for four weeks.

  • Ishaq Dar takes notice of ‘illegal, unwarranted’ leak of Gen Bajwa’s family’s tax records

    Ishaq Dar takes notice of ‘illegal, unwarranted’ leak of Gen Bajwa’s family’s tax records

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday took notice of the “illegal and unwarranted” leakage of tax information of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family members.

    An official statement from the Finance Division states, “This is clearly a violation of the complete confidentiality of tax information that the law provides.”

    This statement comes a day after a report by investigative news website FactFocus, which cited alleged tax returns and wealth statements, claimed that the COAS’ family had amassed billions of rupees in the last six years.

    “In view of this serious lapse on the part of to-date unknown functionaries, the finance minister has directed the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Revenue, Tariq Mehmood Pasha, to personally lead an immediate investigation into the violation of tax law[s] and breach of Federal Board of Revnue (FBR) data, affix responsibility and submit a report within 24 hours,” the handout said.

    According to the FactFocus report, the current market value of the known assets and businesses of the army chief, both within and outside Pakistan, amounted to Rs12.7 billion.

    The report also shared the alleged wealth statements of Gen Bajwa and his family from 2013 to 2021.

    According to the publication, it was unable to obtain data about assets in the name of Gen Bajwa’s two sons.

    FactFocus has claimed that after the publication of the story, the traffic on its site was “disrupted” and the website had been “banned”.

  • Process for the appointment of new COAS begins today

    Process for the appointment of new COAS begins today

    Khawaja Asif, Minister for Defence, confirmed on Monday that the process for appointing the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and the new chairman joint chiefs of staff committee (CJCSC) has started today.

    Setting aside speculations that had been raging since weeks, Asif confirmed that the Prime Minister’s (PM) Office had received a summary in this regard.

    “The process of appointing [officials] to Pakistan Army’s highest positions has started today; God willing, the appointments will be made soon as per the constitutional requirements,” the minister said in a tweet.

    Talking with media, the minister said that the process of appointing the army chief would be completed by November 25, and the summary would be moved within a day or two.


    “There is no deadlock over the appointment of the army chief. Once we receive the summary, we will discuss the names — probably five or six senior-most officers,” he said.

    Asif had earlier said that the name of the new COAS will be revealed by Tuesday or Wednesday.

    Discussing the all-important appointment on Geo News’ programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath”, the defence minister said that the process to appoint a new head of the armed forces would start on Monday.

    During the show, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that the change of command ceremony would be held on November 29. He also predicted that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) long march would suffer a severe blow the day the appointment decision was finalised.

  • US affirms that both Pakistan and India are “global, valuable partners”

    US affirms that both Pakistan and India are “global, valuable partners”

    The United States of America has once again reaffirmed the importance of Pakistan and India for the superpower, stating that India is a global partner while Pakistan is a valuable partner in a sensitive region.

    Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department, Vedant Patel, said at a briefing, “India is an invaluable partner, not just in the region but as it relates to a lot of the United States’ shared priorities across the world.”

    Commenting on Pakistan, another US official stated: “The United States values our long-standing cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests.”

    In recent statements, US officials have insisted that they no longer see Pakistan from India or Afghanistan’s perspective.

    In a recent report published by the Hudson Institute, it has been noted that several aspects of the US-Pakistan relationship had changed over the last decade.

    “Most importantly, a US-India entente has emerged, and a peer rivalry between China and the US is developing,” the report stated, underlining how a US desire to contain China had strengthened its ties with India.

    It is pertinent to mention that since Biden came into power and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, US-Pakistan relations have been standing on the edge of a precipice.

  • ’85 per cent of provincial budget is spent on govt employees’ salaries’: CM Balochistan

    ’85 per cent of provincial budget is spent on govt employees’ salaries’: CM Balochistan

    Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, the Chief Minister of Balochistan, has raised alarms on the financial difficulties that the province is facing.

    He said that 85 per cent of the provincial budget is spent on the salaries of government employees, leaving the provincial government with little funds to spend on development projects.

    Speaking at an event in Quetta on Friday, he said, “We are far behind other provinces of the country as far as development projects are concerned due to lack of resources and funds to develop the province.”

    The chief minister highlighted that before 2010, Balochistan used to get very little share in the National Finance Commission Award (NFC) award on the basis of population, with the government barely able even to pay the salaries of its civil servants.

    However, he said, the situation has improved a little now, however, the budget still doesn’t fulfill the needs of the province.

    It is pertinent to mention here that Balochistan was severely affected by the recent floods. The province has lost about a half million head of livestock in the floods.

  • Risk of violence in PTI long march, police tells IHC

    Risk of violence in PTI long march, police tells IHC

    There is a risk of violence during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) long march, the federal police stated in a report submitted to Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    Citing PTI leader Amin Ali Gandapur, the report says, “He has threatened that they [protesters] will gather at Islamabad with arms and persuaded its [PTI] workers to bring their weapons during the long march at Islamabad”.

    Moreover, it stated that some PTI leaders had extended death threats to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and PTI chief Imran Khan has admitted that some of his supporters were armed with pistols during the party’s May 25 march.

    The report alleged PTI workers usually participated in the march on vehicles, motorcycles and cranes and “spread terror amongst the public”.

    The police, in its report, also detailed precautionary measures taken by them ahead of the long march, including ensuring that no procession or activity by a political party was allowed into the Red Zone, the extension of Red Zone, imposition of Section 144 in the capital and a ban on displaying, carrying or bringing firearms in the Red Zone.

    Currently, the PTI is marching toward the capital and has sought approval from the authorities to stage a protest/sit-in there.