Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Public hanging unavoidable for the beasts who molest children: Faisal Javed

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator, and Information and Broadcasting standing committee chairman, Faisal Javed tweeted, “Let’s once again reiterate that building consensus on the public hanging of molesters is inevitable.”

    Faisal further added that the people who are proven guilty of molesting children are actually beasts and not humans.

    “These savage beasts must be made an example out of,” said Javed.

    Last week, almost all the women lawmakers of the National Assembly, both from treasury and Opposition benches, unanimously demanded public hanging of all rapists.

  • Ansar Abbasi wants Islamabad police to arrest a couple for a photoshoot

    Journalist Ansar Abbasi has requested Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqat to arrest two models who posed in front of Quaid’s portrait on Expressway Islamabad, Propergaanda reports.

    “The DC Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat is requested to arrest the couple, who displayed extreme obscenity in public in the federal capital,” wrote Ansar tagging DC Islamabad to which Ansar replied, “Anyone with any information may please share with us.”

    Talking to The Current, lawyer and noted commentator Reema Omar said that if the police or Ansar Abbasi want to push a case against the two, they could use one Pakistani law, “There is an old provision in the penal code, which has been there from colonial times, that criminalises obscenity in public places (section 294). It is very vague and has overboard provisions.”

    “It is unclear if the law has been used before or how the courts have interpreted obscenity.”

  • Shahzad Akbar ‘pardons’ Nazir Chohan for ‘putting his and his family’s lives at risk’

    Shahzad Akbar ‘pardons’ Nazir Chohan for ‘putting his and his family’s lives at risk’

    Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar has forgiven Punjab MPA Nazir Chohan, reports Geo News.

    It was reported that Akbar stamped a written reconciliation document, which said, “There will be no objection on the bail of Nazir Chohan.”

    Akbar said Chohan had admitted his mistake and apologised.

    A video message was released wherein Chohan stated that he had raised questions about the faith of Akbar and sought his explanation. “Akbar has now given his statement that he completely believes in the finality of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH),” he said.

    https://twitter.com/arshdchaudhary/status/1421545557013708809

    The PM’s aide had earlier asserted that Chohan ran a “fake campaign” against him, “putting his life, as well as those of his family at risk”.

    “I lodged a complaint to the police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as a common citizen,” Akbar had said.

    “Chohan was arrested as a consequence of allegations proving true against him during investigations, and I hope that I will get justice,” he had added.

  • Pakistan hits one million Covid-19 vaccination doses per day: Asad Umar

    Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar announced on Tuesday that Pakistan had hit the target of administering one million Covid-19 vaccination doses in a day.

    The minister took to Twitter and said, “Happy to report that the target we had set for 1 million vaccinations in a day was crossed yesterday with 10 lakh 72 thousand vaccinations.”

    “All federating entities contributed with Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Islamabad all doing record numbers. Amazing performance by all involved,” tweeted Umar.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan also confirmed the milestone and congratulated “all who have made this happen”.

    According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 31,929,581 doses of Covid vaccines had been administered across Pakistan as of Monday, with 1,072,342 doses administered on August 2.

  • ‘PML-N will not give up its fight against the violators of Constitution’: Nawaz Sharif

    ‘PML-N will not give up its fight against the violators of Constitution’: Nawaz Sharif

    Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif says that his party will continue its fight against the violators of the Constitution.

    Nawaz Sharif, who is in London for medical treatment since 2019, posted a series of tweets and reaffirmed his party’s stance.

    “This struggle is not for winning or losing seats (in AJK polls) but for freedom from the transgressors and violators of the Constitution and standing on the right side of history without compromising on our self-respect,” tweeted Sharif.

    Nawaz Sharif said that the people who are suffering due to inflation, poverty, and unemployment, are raising their voice in the streets to get rid of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). They are also decrying the PTI government for raising the prices of flour, sugar, ghee, and medicines, Sharif added.

    The PML-N leader further said that nobody will believe in PTI’s victory where they secured 26 seats in AJK elections with 600,000 votes, while PML-N got six seats with 500,000 votes.

    “The results of AJK and Sialkot elections came out before the public way before these elections were held,” added Nawaz.

    He said that such things will also be exposed in the coming days.

  • ‘PML-N is not to be blamed for the defeat in 2018’: Abbasi refutes Shehbaz’s claim

    ‘PML-N is not to be blamed for the defeat in 2018’: Abbasi refutes Shehbaz’s claim

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says that the PML-N is not to be blamed for the defeat in the 2018 general elections.

    He said the PML-N walked into the elections on the basis of its best five-year performance.

    Khaqan Abbasi, while speaking on Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, refuted the claims of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.

    A day prior to Khaqan’s interview, Shehbaz had asserted that Nawaz Sharif would have been elected prime minister for a fourth time if the PML-N leaders had made a strategy based on consensus in the pre-2018 election period.

    Khaqan proposed a setting up of a truth commission to dig into what happened in the 2018 elections and the harm it has caused the country.

    Shahzeb Khanzada pointed out the ongoing confusion within the PML-N and said that the party presidency is in the hands of Shehbaz Sharif who supports “reconciliation” while the party narrative is being given by Maryam Nawaz who has an aggressive approach towards politics and advocates “resistance”. He further added that with this scenario, it seems likely that Nawaz Sharif has created this confusion.

    Abbasi said politics does not see either resistance or reconciliation. Politics is catered through principles instead. Shehbaz has always supported running the country in accordance with the Constitution, he said.

    Shahzeb asked that Shehbaz calls the criticism on the military an emotional statement while the party calls this criticism a policy statement.

    Commenting on Shehbaz’s remarks about criticism of the military leadership by Nawaz, Abbasi said Shehbaz only meant to explain Nawaz’s remarks. He said Shehbaz also mentioned that Imran Khan too had spoken against the army before coming into power, adding that the PML-N supremo did not criticise the army as a whole.

    He repeated his demand that a truth commission needs to be set up, saying it is the only way to dispel the confusion. The [former] chiefs of the ISI and army bring facts to light by writing books and giving interviews and the situation leads to more confusion, he added.

    The former premier said that there is a single narrative of Nawaz Sharif and the party, adding that Nawaz always wants every institution to function within its constitutional limits and the country to be run as per the Constitution. No compromise is possible on law and the Constitution, Abbasi said.

  • Journalists lash out at new PEMRA directives on how to cover natural calamities

    Journalists lash out at new PEMRA directives on how to cover natural calamities

    Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued new directives to news and current affairs television channels, on the recent coverage of torrential rain and urban flooding in the country.

    The notice issued by PEMRA says: “It has been observed with grave concern that while reporting/airing news/ footages on natural calamities, torrential rains, and flooding, news channels generally rely on videos which are widely circulated on digital platforms such a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp instead of mobilising their own field teams for providing actual /real-time footages to the viewers, which is not only the responsibility of the channels but also mandated.”

    The statement further said that these “sloppy videos” create “unnecessary panic and fear” not only among the inhabitants of the cities being reported but for the loved ones living across the country or even abroad.

    The authority said, ” All satellite TV channels are once again directed to produce their own footages/packages and train their reporters/ news teams to be vigilant, responsive and active and cover each event/ occasion themselves so that viewers could get real-time factual information rather than relying on videos available on social media platforms.”

    Journalists lashed out at the new PEMRA directives.

    Jounailt Shahzad Iqbal tweeted, “Ruling party #PTI & Govt use social media for narratives but social media footages of rain in Islamabad that killed two people can’t be used?”

    Iqbal further wrote, “It will also mean media won’t be able to air any footage of atrocities in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) or attacks on Palestinians by Israeli forces because we don’t have our reporters in the field.”

    Journalist Amber Rahim Shamsi wrote, ” Every channel in the world uses eyewitness footage from emergencies/disasters/conflict zones. It’s a bizarre directive until you realise the motive – keep TV channels on a tight leash when it makes the government look bad.”

    Journalist Zebunnisa Burki criticised the new directive and tweeted, “Pemra seems to have gone completely off the rails.”

    Journalist Benazir Shah questioned, “Guess PEMRA has not heard of ‘citizen journalism.’ If a video has been verified by channel why can it not be aired?”

  • Zahir Jaffer can’t be killed in a police encounter because of active Islamabad ladies: Sheikh Rasheed

    Zahir Jaffer can’t be killed in a police encounter because of active Islamabad ladies: Sheikh Rasheed

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Monday said that they [government] cannot have the Noor Mukadam case suspect, Zahir Jaffer, killed in a police encounter. He was addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

    Rasheed sarcastically said that the “active ladies in Islamabad” and “large social media” have ruled out the possibility of an extrajudicial killing.

    The interior minister added that the investigation is complete and the forensic test has been conducted. He said that all the evidence has been provided to the court. He hoped that the court will hand down a death sentence to Zahir Jaffer.

    A local court in Islamabad on Monday sent Zahir Jaffer, the key suspect in the Noor Mukadam murder case, to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

  • Nawaz would have been PM in 2018 if PML-N had a different strategy: Shehbaz Sharif

    Nawaz would have been PM in 2018 if PML-N had a different strategy: Shehbaz Sharif

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif says Nawaz Sharif would have been elected prime minister for a fourth time if the PML-N leaders had made a strategy based on consensus in the pre-2018 election period.

    Shehbaz was responding to a question by Saleem Safi on Geo News programme, ‘Jirga’, about whether or not he was offered prime ministership before the 2018 elections on the condition that he would abandon his brother Nawaz Sharif and niece Maryam Nawaz. 

    When asked why was he failing to convince Nawaz Sharif and Maryam of the need for reconciliation, Shehbaz Sharif said he believed in “natural reconciliation”. Shehbaz said he wanted everyone to set aside their personal egos and join hands to eradicate poverty from the country. He further added that every matter in the party is decided with consultation, and his viewpoint is known to everyone. 

    The former Punjab chief minister said he was offered the prime ministership twice over the last couple of decades, adding that one of these offers was made by former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and later, by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. 

    He said no single individual or a single institution was responsible for a weak democracy in the country, and “everyone is a culprit” [Is hamam me sab nangay hain].

    Shehbaz Sharif said that Imran Khan had failed to deliver despite being provided all-out support by the establishment. 

    Shehbaz Sharif rejected the notion that he was about to resign from the party’s presidency, describing it as “fake news”. 

    A report in Daily Jang published last week stated that Shehbaz was angry after his strategy for the Azad Kashmir elections was ignored, resulting in the party’s loss. Thus, he threatened to quit party leadership. “When I was finally allowed to speak during the budget session, after four days of chaos [in parliament], I said the budget is a fake one since the people’s pockets are empty. Similarly, just like the budget, this news report is also fake.”

    Shehbaz said that PML-N is his home and that Nawaz Sharif, every party leader, worker, and women [leaders] over the past 40 years have played their role in building the party. He also rejected the accusation that he helped his brother flee the country, saying that it was propaganda.

  • Amnesty International calls upon Pakistani authorities to grant permission to Aurat March Faisalabad

    Amnesty International South Asia has called upon Pakistani “authorities to grant Aurat March Faisalabad all necessary permissions and provide them security”.

    “The right to peaceful assembly is protected by all major human rights conventions and the Constitution of Pakistan,” added the statement.

    ‘Aurat March’ in Faisalabad was called off on Sunday, reportedly due to pressure from the municipal administration, which refused to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to the organisers, reports Dawn.

    As per some people on social media, Assistant Commissioner Faisalabad did not grant the permission to hold the march.

    https://twitter.com/ayeshaanaz/status/1421793166425006116

    However, journalist Benzair Shah asked Assistant Commissioner Faisalabad City Ayub Bukhari about the reported news to which he replied, “I don’t give permissions, the deputy commissioner (DC), who is my boss, will give permission. If they [the organisers] get permission, well and good.”

    He also denied giving any comments on Noor Mukadam’s murder.