Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Govt seeking new powers to control media by setting up PMDA: Human Rights Watch

    Govt seeking new powers to control media by setting up PMDA: Human Rights Watch

    As part of its crackdown on freedom of expression, the government is seeking broad new powers in the garb of the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), says Human Rights Watch (HRW).

    “The government claims an ordinance setting up the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) would replace the ‘fractured’ regulatory environment and fragmented media regulations currently in place. The proposed PMDA would bring all media in Pakistan – print, television, radio, films, and digital media – under one regulator,” HRW said in its statement.

    The PMDA law would grant new unchecked powers to the government-controlled regulator by setting up special “media tribunals” that will have the power to impose steep fines for media organisations and journalists who violate its code of conduct or publish content it deems to be “fake news”.

    The proposed law would also increase government control by allowing government officials to be appointed to key positions.

    With journalists under relentless attack for doing their jobs, the Pakistan government needs to stop trying to control reporters and instead start protecting media freedom, added HRW.

    Earlier this month, the representatives of media organisations rejected the proposed PMDA and termed the concept as an unconstitutional and draconian law against freedom of press and expression and a step toward imposing state control to regulate all segments of media under over-centralised body.

    The major stakeholders believe that the proposed PMDA is an attempt to tighten the government’s control over the media from one platform and ignores the fact that print, electronic and social media are separate entities, each with their own defined features.

  • Taliban reassure that TTP will not be given permission to operate in Afghanistan against Pakistan: Rashid

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Monday that the Afghan Taliban had reassured the government that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would not be given permission to operate in Afghanistan against Pakistan.

    While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Rashid said that some of the TTP members such as Maulvi Faqir Mohammad had been released by the Taliban after their takeover of Kabul on August 15, further adding that the government was in complete contact with the Taliban on the matter.

    “The Afghan Taliban have reassured [us] that Afghanistan’s land will not be allowed to be used in any case by the TTP,” said Rashid.

    He said Pakistan desired peace in Afghanistan since peace in one country was related to peace in the other.

  • Taliban fighters head to capture Ahmad Shah Massoud’s Panjshir Valley: Reports

    Taliban fighters head to capture Ahmad Shah Massoud’s Panjshir Valley: Reports

    Taliban claimed that hundreds of their fighters are heading to the Panjshir Valley, reported Al Jazeera. Panjshir Valley is known as the area of Ahmed Shah Massoud’s Northern Alliance and is one of the few parts of the country not yet controlled by the newly-emerged Taliban setup. However, there has been much resistance going on between the groups since the Taliban’s takeover.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera, Taliban leader Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, said, “If we can defeat superpowers, surely we can provide safety to the Afghan people.” He is also a veteran of the Afghan-Soviet war.

    However, Ahmad Massoud, son of the slain hero of the anti-Soviet resistance, Ahmad Shah Massoud, told Reuters by telephone: “We want to make the Taliban realise that the only way forward is through negotiation but his supporters are ready to fight if Taliban forces try to invade the valley.”

    Earlier, Massoud was given four hours to give up Panjshir Valley, where Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh is in hiding, as per reports.

    Unconfirmed reports say the Taliban have reached the valley.

  • ‘India should refrain from using Afghan soil against Pakistan’: Hekmatyar

    ‘India should refrain from using Afghan soil against Pakistan’: Hekmatyar

    “India should refrain from using the Afghan soil against Pakistan to take revenge for Kashmiris’ struggle in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” said former prime minister of Afghanistan and Hezb-e-Islami chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

    In an exclusive interview with Radio Pakistan’s Special Correspondent Bilal Mehsud in Kabul on Sunday, Hekmatyar said that India should focus on its internal issues instead of issuing statements about the future of Afghanistan.

    Hekmatyar said an inclusive government comprising all the other political groups was the need of the hour. “Such a government could stop further bloodshed in Afghanistan and steer the war-ravaged country out of the present crisis.”

    Hekmatyar also praised Prime Minister Imran Khan’s long-term stance on peace and a negotiated settlement of the Afghan issue. He said he hoped there would soon be a government in Kabul, which would be acceptable to the Afghan people and the international community.

    “The Afghans have grown tired of the long conflict and fighting and now they want to bring peace and stability to their war-torn country and collectively work for its reconstruction and progress,” said Hekmatyar.

    Hekmatyar further added, “Our enemy can cast a negative impact on the Afghan peace process but the United States (US) and other forces had no right to interfere in the Afghanistan issue. It is the sole prerogative of the Afghan people to decide about their future.”

    However, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan has no objection to India and Afghanistan developing cordial relations, further clarifying that Islamabad was not focusing on any one particular group in Afghanistan, reported Geo News.

  • Get rid of Chairman Senate, we will topple Buzdar govt: PML-N tells PPP

    Get rid of Chairman Senate, we will topple Buzdar govt: PML-N tells PPP

    The Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) says it is ready to support a no-confidence motion to overthrow the government provided the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) comes up with a workable proposal.

    “We’re ready to support the PPP’s idea for dislodging the PTI government through a no-confidence motion but it should put forward a workable proposal for this purpose,” said PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal, reported Dawn.

    If PPP brought a successful no-trust motion against the Senate chairman, then the PML-N would follow suit by moving a no-confidence motion in the Punjab Assembly, where the PPP has only six seats, said Iqbal.

    Iqbal said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman was “dancing to the tune of the government” because the latter had some (objectionable) video clips of the NAB chief.

    He challenged the NAB chairman to ask retired general Asim Saleem Bajwa as to how he had gathered assets worth millions of dollars through his salary.

    Regarding Prime Minister Imran Khan’s image of “Mr Clean”, the PML-N leader said he was living in a one kanal rented house and was paying more income tax than the premier who lives in a 300-plus kanal palace.

    Iqbal asked PTI supporters to explain this oddity to the masses.

  • Ban sources responsible for spreading obscenity and nudity demand ulema

    Ban sources responsible for spreading obscenity and nudity demand ulema

    Religious scholars (ulema) have condemned the rape of a girl in a seminary in Rawalpindi and demanded that perpetrators of such detestable crimes should be given punishment in public through speedy trial, reported Dawn.

    In a joint declaration issued after attending a consultative meeting, ulemas expressed grief over the rising incidents of child abuse and women harassment in Pakistan and said that the prime minister and chief justice of Pakistan should take immediate action against the culprits and order their speedy trials.

    They urged the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), and Ministry of Information to block porn websites and pornographic and nude content and advertisements on social media.

    The joint declaration said that the rules of Shariah are clear for both men and women. It is obligatory for both men and women to cover themselves properly and avoid obscenity and nudity. Shariah does not allow a man to touch or harass a woman, the declaration said.

    The joint declaration said that the rising incidents of abuse and harassment of boys and girls and the state of fear and intimidation prevailing among women demand from all sections of society, especially the government and judiciary, to ban and close all such sources responsible for spreading obscenity and nudity in society.

  • IHC suspends plot allotments to judges in Islamabad

    IHC suspends plot allotments to judges in Islamabad

    Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah suspended allotment of plots to the capital’s judiciary in sectors F-14 and F-15, observing that this award of land was a conflict of interest, reported Dawn.

    The court also issued a notice to the attorney general and sought an explanation from the Ministry of Housing and Works on the policy of distribution of plots among a few segments of society.

    Justice Athar Minallah was hearing a petition filed by property owners in villages Thalla Syedan and Jhangi Syedan in Islamabad district against the acquisition of their land.

    During the hearing of the matter, Justice Minallah remarked: “It has been reported that the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority had recently held a ballot for allotment of plots in F-14 and F-15. The list indicates that virtually every judicial officer of the district courts of Islamabad, who are expected to resolve and adjudicate upon the grievances and rights of the affected landowners, is a beneficiary.”

    “It, prima facie, raises serious questions regarding conflict of interest because the plots are given to the beneficiaries at substantially lower prices than the current market rates and thus each beneficiary has a financial interest,” said Justice Minallah.

    “Moreover, astonishingly the list also includes those judicial officers who have been dismissed on account of misconduct or corruption,” added Justice Minallah.

    Justice Minallah observed that the judicial officer who was convicted and sentenced by this court was also one of the beneficiaries.

    As per the record of the FGEHA, three sacked additional district and sessions judges — Pervaizul Qadir Memon, Raja Khurram Ali Khan, and Jahangir Awan — were allotted a Kanal plot each in F-14 and F-15 while two former civil judges, Adnan Jamali and Amir Khalil, were given plots measuring 14 marlas each in these sectors.

    Last week, two special assistants to the prime minister (SAPM), judges of the superior judiciary, and top bureaucrats were among those who had been allocated residential plots in Islamabad’s F-14 and F-15 sectors.

    Judges of the superior judiciary, as well as those of the subordinate judiciary, and a few journalists had been placed in Category I — plots measuring one Kanal.

    While the judges of all the provincial high courts have been allotted plots in F-14 and F-15, not a single judge from the Islamabad High Court was among the applicants.

  • Twitter slams Geo News’ anchor for sexist remarks

    A Geo News news anchor, Zohaib Hassan responded to Analyst Mehmal Sarfraz’s analysis on the ongoing situation of the women not being safe in the public spaces.

    Mehmal Sarfraz said that all women are feeling unsafe in the country and more needs to be done for their protection. To which the presenter said that, “You are making a sweeping statement.”

    Many journalists and other social media users took to Twitter to call out the presenter for his remarks.

  • Bakhtawar Bhutto demands men be banned from public spaces

    Bakhtawar Bhutto took to Twitter to express her outrage, demanding that all men should be banned from public spaces.

    In a series of tweets, Multimedia Journalist Sabin Agha shared the horrors of her experience of being harassed at Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi on August 14, a few years ago.

    “Some 100 odd frustrated boys & men attacked me & my cameraman at Mazar-e-Quaid. My cameraman and his camera were shoved back & forth/ but I was manhandled. I was groped on every part of my body. My hair was pulled from the back & both sides. My clothes & dupatta were pulled by men,” wrote Sabin.

    “At one point someone tried to wrap my dupatta around my neck to choke me, all the while groping me with hysterical laughs and every existing cussword hurled at me,” further added Sabin.

    “I went to police van standing at the doorstep of Mazar Quaid, who watched the entire episode. I asked them why did they not come to help. Police response: “bibi hum 4 hay aur wo 150. Hum kese rok sktay thy. Ap ayee kiyun [Madam, we were four in number and they 150 in total. How could we possibly have stopped them? Why did you come here?],” wrote Sabin.

    Reacting to the journalist’s experience angry Baktawar Bhutto demanded that “all men should be banned from public places”.

    “Another harrowing experience – witnessed by police who refused to help despite their ability to call for backup as well as use weapons to disperse the crowd. We need more women to safeguard women,” wrote Bakhtawar.

    Recently, three women were harassed in three separate incidents on Aug 14, which sparked outrage on social media.

  • Taliban flags spotted at Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad, immediately removed by police

    The flags of the Afghan Taliban was found hoisted on the rooftop of a Jamia Hafsa madrassah located in the heart of the capital, Dawn News has reported. I

    Islamabad officials while speaking to Dawn News said “four to five white flags of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan were found hoisted on the rooftop of Jamia Hafsa in G-7/3.”

    “The flags were spotted after Zuhr prayers and shortly the capital administration and police were informed about it,” they said.

    Deputy Commissioner Islamabad in a tweet said that the administration have removed the flags.