Current Final

Category: Politics

  • ‘World should not repeat the mistake of disengaging with Afghanistan’: Shah Mahmood to Antony Blinken

    ‘World should not repeat the mistake of disengaging with Afghanistan’: Shah Mahmood to Antony Blinken

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had a meeting with the United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York.

    This is the first meeting between the two top diplomats. Their meeting focused on Afghanistan.

    FM Qureshi said that a new political reality had emerged in Afghanistan, and that “while the Taliban should be held to their commitments, the international community has a moral obligation to help the Afghan people deal with the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.”

    He hoped that the world would not repeat the mistake of disengaging with Afghanistan as it did in the 1990s.

    Secretary Blinken appreciated Pakistan’s support for the evacuation of US citizens and other nationals from Afghanistan and its continued efforts for peace in the region.

    He added: “Pakistan has long desired high-level contacts with the US leadership, particularly after the collapse of the US-backed government in Kabul.”

  • PM Imran Khan to address UNGA on Kashmir, Afghanistan issues today

    Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) today. His speech is going to focus on raising his voice against Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir and speak about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

    The prime minister will speak at 1:30am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) on September 25 [4:30 pm, September 24, Eastern Standard Time]. As per reports, the prime minister is seventh on the list of speakers to address the UNGA today in the afternoon session.

    The premier’s policy address will serve to enhance Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach and engagement with its international partners and key institutions.

  • ‘My friends are dead,’ Iraq war veteran blasts former US President Bush in public

    ‘My friends are dead,’ Iraq war veteran blasts former US President Bush in public

    Mike Prysner, a veteran of the United States invasion of Iraq, in a viral video publicly called out the former US President George W. Bush.

    The video has been making rounds on social media since late Monday. “You lied about Iraq being a threat. You sent me there in 2003. My friends are dead just because of you,” shouted Prysner who was interrupted by Bush telling him to “sit and behave.”

    https://twitter.com/trtworld/status/1440714591323897862?s=20

    “You need to apologise,” Prysner managed to add before being forcibly removed by staff.

    An individual from the audience stood up and said to the former president, “You made a nightmare for my family. One million Iraqis are dead from your war. You should be in prison.”

    https://twitter.com/JebSprague/status/1440484351322378250?s=20

    Approximately 200,000 civilians have died from direct war-related violence caused by the US in Iraq. According to the Washington Post, about 6 in 10 civilian deaths occurred at the hands of coalition forces from 2003 to 2011. There were 4,431 total deaths of American forces as per the US Department of Defense website.

    In March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein.

  • Video: Zahir Jaffer skims through challan against him, next hearing Oct 6

    The prime suspect in Noor Mukadam case, Zahir Jaffer and six other suspects appeared in court today for the hearing of the bail petitions filed by Zahir Jaffer’s parents Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, Geo News has reported. As per details, the Islamabad High Court will indict 12 persons in the Noor Mukadam case on October 6.

    Noor’s father, Shaukat Mukadam’s lawyer Advocate Shah Khawar, said in court that as per the provisions of the presidential ordinance, the murder case should be held in a special court.

    A Twitter user shared videos of Zahir and his father Zakir Jaffer coming to the district and sessions court of Islamabad for the hearing. Zahir Jaffer and Zakir Jaffer were presented with the police challan today. In one of the videos, Zahir can be seen “skimming it without reading it through.”

    https://twitter.com/umerzaibb/status/1440942068973572099?s=21

  • ‘I saw my world falling down’, PML-N’s Hina Butt opens up about divorce, being a single mom

    Hina Pervaiz Butt, Member Punjab Assembly (MPA) from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has opened up about her divorce, being a single mother and how she became a politician.

    Hina shared a video on her Instagram telling her story, “Every vital voice is an ordinary voice to start with. My voice was no different.  Like many women, I fantasised about a ‘living happily ever after’ fairytale based on an ideal marriage. But this was not to be. I ended up a single mother in a culture that considers divorce a taboo and fails to provide a support system for someone who has gone through it.”

    “I saw my world falling down like a house of cards. But with great despair comes great strength. I felt an energy in me, and I knew I needed to channelise it into something productive,” she added.

    “I decided to complete my studies, and after getting a degree in business administration, I took the entrepreneur route and started a fashion business. At no point in my life had I thought that I would be a working woman, but here I was running a brand that gained prominence in very little time,” Hina added.

    Talking about her political career, Hina said, “So I ventured into a field beyond my wildest imagination: politics. A place where my voice can actually make a difference. I got elected as a member of our provincial assembly and contributed to legislation for women’s empowerment and protection.”

    “Getting here was tough. Being in politics added to my credentials, but now I am on the receiving end of patriarchal hate not only from opposing parties but sadly, sometimes from my very own people.”

    The Current interviewed Hina Pervaiz Butt in 2019 in which she talked about attending jalsas with Maryam Nawaz, fashion and her famous resolutions.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zby_FGTjO1g&ab_channel=TheCurrent

  • ‘Fake govt, fake vaccination certificates,’ Maryam Nawaz reacts to Nawaz Sharif’s ‘vaccination’ in Lahore

    “Just like this fake government, its vaccination record and entry data for vaccines is also fake,” said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz when asked about the issue of fake vaccination data for Nawaz Sharif uploaded by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) portal. Maryam said she is concerned that the wrong entry of vaccination data can be an international embarrassment for Pakistan.

    Maryam was talking to the media after she appeared before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a case against her conviction in Avenfield reference.

    Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London for medical treatment, has received first dose of Sinovac vaccine in Lahore as per the data uploaded on NADRA portal. As per reports, this false information was entered using Nawaz Sharif’s CNIC at Government Kot Khawaja Saeed Hospital.

  • Nawaz Sharif in London receives first dose of Sinovac in Lahore

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London for medical treatment, has received first dose of Sinovac vaccine in Lahore as per the data uploaded on National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) portal. As per reports, this false information was entered using Nawaz Sharif’s CNIC at Government Kot Khawaja Saeed Hospital.

    As As per the official information available on NADRA portal, Nawaz Sharif was administered the first dose of Sinovac on Wednesday, September 22 and he is due to receive the second dose next month.  

    The Punjab health department has taken the notice of this fake entry.

    Nawaz has been living in London since November 2019 after he was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment.

  • Daily Mail yet to submit evidence in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case

    Daily Mail yet to submit evidence in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case

    The Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publishers of The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, are yet to submit evidence in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case after seven months of delay, reports Murtaza Ali Shah for Geo News.

    Earlier this year in February, Justice Sir Matthew Nicklin of the London High Court ruled that the article by reporter David Rose carried the highest level of defamation (Chase level 1 – the highest form of defamation in English law) against both Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law Ali Imran Yousaf.

    The Daily Mail has asked for three extensions, citing [previous] continuing travel restrictions and Pakistan’s Red listing as its team was unable to visit Pakistan to collect evidence, as per sources. However, now that the ban has been lifted, the Mail’s lawyer’s third extension is going to end in a few days.

    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 his son-in-law Ali Imran Yousaf “stole British taxpayers’ money” given to Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) set up to help the victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

  • Fifth-lowest growth rate in South Asia as inflation continues to rise in Pakistan: Asian Development Bank

    Fifth-lowest growth rate in South Asia as inflation continues to rise in Pakistan: Asian Development Bank

    The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday projected that inflation in Pakistan would remain the highest in the region at 7.5 per cent, and the economy would grow by 4 per cent – the fifth-lowest growth rate among seven South Asian nations, contradicting the government’s claim of lowest prices in the country, reported Shahbaz Rana for The Express Tribune.

    Pakistan’s “economy is expected to continue recovering in the fiscal year 2021-22, with real GDP projected to rise by 4 per cent”, according to the ADB report.

    It was the fifth-lowest economic growth rate in the region as the economic growth rate in the Maldives (15 per cent) and India (7.5 per cent) remain the highest in the region. Bangladesh is projected to grow at 6.8 per cent and Nepal at 4.1 per cent in 2022, according to the ADB.

    The ADB said that the 4 per cent growth rate was contingent on the resumption of structural reforms later in the year in an ongoing programme under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility.

    “The economic outlook is clouded, however, by high uncertainty because it is closely tied to the course of the pandemic in Pakistan and globally.”

    The ADB has also cautioned about a further increase in prices in Pakistan, provided the Pakistan-IMF deal collapses.

    “Risk of inflation higher than forecast derives from any unusual increase in oil prices or from potential currency depreciation in the wake of any early winding down of the ongoing IMF programme,” said the ADB.

  • PM Imran Khan summoned by Lahore court in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case

    PM Imran Khan summoned by Lahore court in Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation case

    A Sessions Court in Lahore summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan over a defamation lawsuit filed by the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif.

    Additional District and Sessions Judge Mudassar Farid Khokhar fixed October 6 for the appearance of the parties personally or through their counsel for further proceedings in the suit filed in 2017.

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president has claimed in his petition that the premier has “falsely accused him of offering money to him to stay silent in the Panama Papers case.”

    Sharif’s petition pleads that the baseless and defamatory statements by PM Khan, which were widely circulated by the media, lowered the integrity of Shehbaz and caused him extreme mental torture, agony, and anxiety. The court has been requested to issue a decree for recovery of Rs 10 billion as compensation for the publication of defamatory content in favour of the plaintiff.

    “PM Imran Khan’s allegation damaged my reputation,” stated Shehbaz in the petition.

    In his written statement, Prime Minister Khan states that one of his friends told him that someone known to him and also the Sharif family approached him with an offer to pay billions of rupees if he could convince him (Khan) to stop pursuing the Panama case.

    “Just imagine how much money he offered me to be silent — Rs10 billion! If he can offer me this much money, just imagine how much he could offer to others. That is why if we don’t maintain public pressure on this issue, then after two months it will be dragged to the next year,” Khan had claimed.

    In an interview televised following the statement, Khan had refused to reveal the name of the person who made the offer but did state that this person was close to the then Punjab chief minister.