Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik hoped that the loadshedding situation across the country will get better in the second half of July.

    Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation of more power outages next month.

    Musadik further said that Pakistan is trying to import coal from Afghanistan. He said the major reason behind electricity loadshedding is the water shortage in dams, while the other reasons include coal price hikes and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shortage in the international market.

    “Only 5,000 MegaWatts (MW) of electricity is being generated instead of 9,500 MW,” he said.

    On Monday, residents of Karachi came out on the streets due to the persistent loadshedding in their areas. The protests continued for more than 24 hours.

    Interestingly, the government has pledged to decrease loadshedding several times. Earlier this month, PM Shehbaz instructed the power authorities to reduce loadshedding throughout the country to two hours. However, the situation remained the same.

  • Pakistan decides to ease visa regulation policy for Afghans

    Pakistan decides to ease visa regulation policy for Afghans

    In a federal cabinet meeting held on June 28, the government decided to ease the visa regulation policy for Afghans to encourage bilateral trade with Afghanistan in the hopes that this would benefit both the country’s economies.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif was presiding over the federal cabinet meeting.

    PM Shehbaz issued orders that six-month multiple-entry visas be given to the transporters from Afghanistan. The interior ministry has been given the power to extend this period to one year.

    A sub-category will also be introduced under the work visa category in the online visa system. The visa applications will be assessed on the basis of their existing passports and nationalities instead of their country of origin.

    The federal cabinet noted that this decision comes in an effort to promote bilateral trade with Afghanistan.

  • ‘High hopes from youth and women’: Khan reveals plan for 2 July rally

    ‘High hopes from youth and women’: Khan reveals plan for 2 July rally

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan revealed his plans to lead the July 2 protest at the Islamabad Parade Ground against the “imported government” in a meeting of the party’s political committee.

    Khan said that he had high hopes from the youth and women of the country, urging them to register for the “tiger force”. He said that the youth and women were now politically more mature than ever, as is evident from their reaction against the ousting of his government.

    The meeting also had PTI’s Central Secretary General Asad Umar, Pervez Khattak, and Aamir Mehmood Kiyani in attendance.

    This is Khan’s second call for a protest since Azadi March.

  • Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Residents of Karachi came out on the streets in the late hours of Monday to protest against the unannounced and prolonged load-shedding in their areas.

    On Tuesday morning, the police used tear gas and baton-charged protestors in an effort to disperse the crowd, which resulted in a clash between the two.

    According to Dawn, the demonstrators have been protesting since last night, burnt tyres, and blocked the road for traffic, which has caused traffic problems.

    The chairman of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Aslam Pakhali said that over 100 shipping containers carrying mangoes and potatoes are worth an estimated Rs250 million were stuck in traffic since Monday evening.

    https://twitter.com/nshz22/status/1541682874750947328?s=20&t=OIuOxKPZe5onCToMDfxlBw

    According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asif Bughio, electricity in several areas of Lyari has been suspended since 4pm yesterday (Monday). He claimed that the police tried to negotiate with them but they attacked the law enforcers with stones.

    Their protest has continued for more than 20 hours now.

    According to media reports, in Karachi’s Gadap Town, the load-shedding time has gone up to 18 hours in a day. Similarly, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Surjani Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and other areas are seeing power outages of 14 hours or more.

    Following the incidents, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh contacted K-Electric Chief Executive Moonis Alvi. He noted that load-shedding has made the lives of people miserable.

    “Due to persistent load-shedding, the security situation is deteriorating,” he told the KE official.

    A day earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation that they might face increased load-shedding in the coming month of July.

  • Lahore High Court considering holding Punjab CM elections again

    Lahore High Court considering holding Punjab CM elections again

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) is considering the polls for the Punjab chief minister’s (CM) slot again, the court remarked on Tuesday while hearing the case challenging CM Hamza Shehbaz’s election, reports Geo News.

    The court while hearing the arguments from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) counsel asked how a political crisis would be avoided if matters are taken back to the Punjab Assembly session on April 16 and polls are held again.

    “In this case, the same presiding officer will hold the polls who was on duty during the April 16 polling,” the court said.

    The court adjourned the hearing till 10am on June 29.

    Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in his plea challenging Hamza’s election maintained that Hamza does not have the number of votes required to be elected as the chief minister in light of the Supreme Court’s order.

    Hamza was elected as chief minister of Punjab in a session of the Punjab Assembly in complete ruckus on April 16, 2022.

  • ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Aisha Gulalai Wazir has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, demanding the apex court to take suo motu notice of the anti-army campaign being run “by PTI Chairman Imran Khan”.

    In the letter, she demanded the court to put Khan’s name on Exit Control List (ECL), for a treason case to be registered against him and that he and his party should be banned.

    Gulalai argued that Khan is “shamelessly” dragging the army into politics. “Criticising it [army] for being neutral, maligning it, threatening with dismembering the country, waging civil war and creating anarchy in the country, if the army stayed neutral,” she added.

    Furthermore, she said, “Acting like a mafia, Khan and his party through social media teams are running shameful, abusive and vulgar social media trends against Pakistan army, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar.” Along with these allegations, she also attached screenshots as proof.

    Gulalai also alleged that they [Khan and PTI] are using some mainstream media channels and journalists for their propaganda.

    The former PTI member also pointed out that in this way Khan is trying to “instigate the masses” against the armed forces. Moreover, she said, “Khan is threatening the state that he will disclose the security secrets of Pakistan.”

    She also alleged that the provincial government recruited social media influencers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with Rs736 million from public funds.

    Giving the reference of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain — who is banned due to hate speech — and Member National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazie, Gulalai wrote that if their hate speech cannot be allowed who actually “never went to such an extent”, Khan “should be no exception and above law”.

    Who is Aisha Gulalai Wazir?

    In 2017, Gulalai quit PTI and alleged that her then-party Chairman Imran Khan had sent her inappropriate text messages but she did not reveal any other details to support her allegations.

    According to her, she is not the only one who faced this and claimed many women in the party are facing similar issues.

  • ‘Ultimate goal is self-reliance’: PM Shehbaz on Pakistan receiving $2bn from IMF

    ‘Ultimate goal is self-reliance’: PM Shehbaz on Pakistan receiving $2bn from IMF

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif was informed by Finance Minister (FM) Miftah Ismail that Pakistan could receive Rs2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    “Miftah Ismail sent a message this morning saying that Pakistan will receive not $1 billion but $2 billion from the IMF. I told him in response, Alhamdulillah, but our ultimate goal is self-reliance,” said PM Shehbaz while addressing the “Turn Around Pakistan” conference.

    The premier’s address comes shortly after Ismail confirmed Pakistan has received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the seventh and eighth reviews.

    The draft MEFP is a prerequisite to paving the way toward striking a staff-level agreement.

    PM Shehbaz said that although the Opposition created much political drama in recent weeks, he will ask whether it is the “choosers” that are now going to receive $2 billion or “the other word”, referring to beggars from the phrase “beggars can’t be choosers”.

    “There is no shortage of anything in Pakistan and there are experts in every field,” said PM Shehbaz, before lamenting that “billions of dollars are buried in Reko Diq but we have not earned a single penny”.

    “It is a pity that the country’s development and prosperity have not been achieved,” he said.

    Addressing the conference before PM’s speech, Ismail said that when he messaged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about the development, he replied: “Well done. But remember our ultimate goal is self-reliance. That will be our legacy,” Miftah said, quoting PM Shehbaz.

  • Twitter withholds accounts of journalists Murtaza Ali Shah, Rana Ayyub, and C J Werleman’s in India

    Twitter withholds accounts of journalists Murtaza Ali Shah, Rana Ayyub, and C J Werleman’s in India

    Twitter in India has withheld accounts of journalists Murtaza Ali Shah, Rana Ayyub, and C J Werleman.

    Murtaza Ali Shah, a Pakistani reporter for Geo News, told The Current, “I am not sure what really happened but I received an e-mail from Twitter yesterday informing me about the withholding of my account in India. Whenever I posted or covered a story relevant to India or Khalistan, Sikhs For Justice, or Kashmir freedom movement and shared it on Twitter, I was informed by the latter that India has reported my tweet.”

    “Twitter at the time did say that there was no violation seen in tweets [relevant to India]. This happened last year. I suppose this is the reason as to why my account has been withheld in India” said Shah, who is a Kashmiri by origin and hails from Azad Kashmir.

    Rana Ayyub, a Muslim-Indian Indian journalist took to her Twitter account and said, “Hello Twitter, what exactly is this?”

    The notice from Twitter read, “In order to comply with Twitter’s obligations under India’s local laws, we have withheld the following account in India under the country’s Information Technology Act, 2000.”

    Werleman is a journalist who writes on Islamophobia and other issues regarding the Muslim communities. His account got suspended before Ayyub.

    Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemning the act tweeted, “Twitter complying with Indian government’s directive to withhold journalist @RanaAyyub’s tweet and block columnist @cjwerleman’s account in India are part of an unacceptable new trend of censorship on social media. This must stop! Journalists voices are essential for a democracy.”

    The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Wednesday took up the issue of blocking the official Twitter accounts of Pakistani embassies and other noted personalities by India.

    The Foreign Office spokesperson has said that India had withheld access to the Twitter handles of Pakistan’s embassies in Iran, Turkiye, Egypt, and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

    The spokesperson said that social media platforms must abide by the applicable international norms.

    “We are urging Twitter to restore immediate access to our accounts and ensure adherence to democratic freedoms of speech and expression,” the spokesperson remarked.

  • APS survivor takes charge as Oxford Union President; Shehbaz, Alvi congratulate

    APS survivor takes charge as Oxford Union President; Shehbaz, Alvi congratulate

    Ahmad Nawaz, survivor of the Pakistan Army Public School (APS) massacre, has assumed his responsibilities as President of the Oxford Union. He was selected for the post earlier this year. He announced the development in a tweet.

    “Immensely proud to have finally assumed my duties as the President of Oxford Union,” he wrote.

    “In my time as President, I look forward to having world leaders debate the most pressing issues, empowering young people through this platform & upholding freedom of speech,” added Ahmad.

    President Arif Alvi congratulated Ahmad Nawaz and said that the youth of Pakistan are his greatest hope. “We must register that despite all setbacks Pakistan will keep on shining and rising.”

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a tweet also congratulated Ahmad.

    “Ahmad Nawaz, who survived the horrific attack on APS Peshawar, has become President of the prestigious Oxford Union. He has set an example worthy of emulation by our youth. Pakistan is proud of you, Ahmad,” he wrote.

    Ahmad moved to Britain in 2014 after the worst militant attack on an Army Public School, killing 150 people. His younger brother was martyred in the attack.

    Ahmad escaped death by pretending to be dead when the terrorists were roaming the school building. Ahmad Nawaz was taken to Birmingham for treatment after being shot in the arm.

  • ‘Will never compromise on defence and security of Pakistan’: PM Shehbaz

    ‘Will never compromise on defence and security of Pakistan’: PM Shehbaz

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif expressed commitment to restoring the role of provinces in the National Action Plan (NAP), which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had allegedly ignored, in a meeting on 26 June.

    The 20-point NAP was drawn up after the December 2014 terrorist attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar.

    Sharif was of the view that the increase in terrorism was due to the ignorance of the NAP.

    “This role of the provinces will be restored that remained missing during the last four years,” said the PM.

    “Ensuring law and order is essential for restoring the national economy and development in the country. The fight against terrorism would continue till its elimination,” said Shehbaz. He further pledged to never compromise on the defence and security of Pakistan.

    He said that the entire country was united in the effort to eradicate terrorism, standing behind the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies.

    The meeting also reviewed the steps taken to eliminate the source of terror financing and relevant laws.