Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Pakistan should not issue rhetorical statements against FATF: European diplomat

    Pakistan should not issue rhetorical statements against FATF: European diplomat

    Daniel Ferrie, a spokesperson for the European Commission, says financing terrorism and preventing money laundering are European Union’s (EU) top priorities, reports Geo News.

    The EU spokesperson was asked why Pakistan has been placed on the Finance Action Task Force (FATF) grey list despite implementing 26 out of 27 points.

    “You may have noticed that many of the steps we have taken in recent years are important not only for the European Union but also for the world,” he said.

    A diplomat based in Europe told Geo News that such a statement is not serving Pakistan and was rather received negatively by European capitals.

    Pakistan recently raised a question about whether FATF is a technical or political body.

    He said such statements are “not only counterproductive but also harmful to Pakistan’s interest”.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi recently said it needed to be looked into whether FATF was “being used for political purposes”, adding that “some powers desire to keep the sword of FATF hanging over Pakistan”.

  • Not concerned by the contacts between India and Afghan Taliban, says Moeed Yusuf

    Not concerned by the contacts between India and Afghan Taliban, says Moeed Yusuf

    National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf while speaking on Dawn News programme ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’ said that India should be ashamed of meeting the Afghan Taliban  after having supported operations against the insurgent group for a long time.

    Yusuf was responding to the Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s recent stopovers in Doha to meet with the Taliban leadership twice in the last three weeks.

    “I want to ask this: with what [moral] standing did this Indian high-level official meet [the Taliban] there? Did they not feel ashamed?” Yusuf said when asked how Pakistan viewed the India-Taliban meetings.

    “[The Indians] kept having the Taliban killed daily and kept giving funds for operations against them and today they have reached there to have talks,” he added.

    Yusuf said the meetings were “a matter of shame” and not a strategic move.

    He emphasised that the Taliban, whom the Indians had met, were also “not stupid”, saying he was not concerned by the contacts between India and the insurgent group amid the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    “You should also ask what response the [Indians] got from the [Taliban],” he added.

    Speaking about Pakistan-India relations, the NSA said there were no backdoor talks or dialogue between the two countries for now.

    ‘’India contacted us [and said] that they wanted to fix [relations] and we told them we desired the restoration of pre-August 2019 status of Indian-occupied Kashmir; besides, our policy is based on the ease of life for Kashmiris,’’ he stated.

  • NCOC recommends indoor dining at 50 per cent occupancy for vaccinated individuals only

    NCOC recommends indoor dining at 50 per cent occupancy for vaccinated individuals only

    The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) said Monday it has allowed restaurants to operate at 50 per cent indoor capacity only for vaccinated individuals.

    These decisions will be implemented from July 1-31, with a review on July 27.

    Markets and business activities will continue till 10pm. However, essential services — petrol pumps, pharmacies, medical facilities, vaccination centre, milk shops, tandoors, and takeaways — are allowed to operate 24/7.

    Restaurant and hotel management would institute a mechanism for checking the vaccination certificates of guests and will also ensure vaccination of respective management and staff, the NCOC said, adding that takeaways will be allowed 24/7.

    400 people have been allowed to attend outdoor marriages, while indoor marriages have been permitted for only vaccinated individuals, with a cap of 200 people.

    Cinemas are allowed to re-open with strict Covid protocols for vaccinated individuals only till 1am.

    Cinemas’ management will institute a mechanism for checking vaccination certificates of visitors and will also ensure vaccination of respective management and staff.

    Shrines are allowed to re-open at the discretion of federating units, while adherence to strict Covid SOPs.

    Continuation of normal working hours for public and private offices with 100 per cent attendance.

    Public transport is allowed to operate with 70 per cent occupancy with strict Covid SOPs. Railway services are allowed to operate with 70 per cent occupancy.

  • Sindh Assembly: PTI lawmakers bring charpoy to mark ‘funeral of democracy’

    Sindh Assembly: PTI lawmakers bring charpoy to mark ‘funeral of democracy’

    There was a ruckus in the Sindh Assembly when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members disrupted the ongoing session after opposition leader, Haleem Adil Sheikh, was denied permission to address the assembly.

    Haleem Adil Sheikh requested to speak first but Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani denied him permission, saying the scheduled business would be carried out first and members would be allowed to speak on their points of order later, reports Dawn.

    This caused the Opposition members to protest against the Speaker. Amid the sloganeering, some of the protesting members brought a folding charpoy into the House, marking ‘funeral of democracy’ in the Sindh Assembly.

    “Jamhooriyat ka janaaza hai, zara dhoom se nikle” (It is the funeral of democracy, should be taken out with fanfare).

    Speaker Siraj Durrani said this was an insult to the House.

  • In-camera briefing for lawmakers on Afghanistan, national security

    In-camera briefing for lawmakers on Afghanistan, national security

    Speaker National Assembly (NA) Asad Qaiser has summoned a session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on July 1 at 3pm for a briefing on the latest regional situation in light of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    Speaker Asad Qaiser will chair the in-camera meeting. The meeting will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Pakistan. Leader of the Opposition in NA Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other lawmakers will attend the meeting. Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak will also be part of the in-camera meeting from the government’s side. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani will also attend the meeting as well as other parliamentarians.

    Bilawal Bhutto tweeted that he had demanded on the floor of the house that the parliament be briefed on the Afghanistan situation by the relevant departments and institutions. “We welcome Speakers decision and will participate in NSC committee meeting on the topic.”

  • Hostile intelligence agency involved in Lahore blast: CM Buzdar

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar in a press conference has said that the blast in Johar Town, Lahore, was carried out by a “hostile intelligence agency”. CM Punjab said that terrorists involved in the attack have been arrested.

    “It was found that a hostile intelligence agency was involved, which provided financial help to this network,” said CM Buzdar.

    “The Punjab government established an investigation team. I am satisfied to tell you that the investigation was started by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the suspects were identified within 16 hours. In four days, the terrorists were arrested in raids in the country.”

    CM Punjab also thanked all law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) for their efforts and termed the arrests of the suspects in the blast as a “big success”.

    “I want to inform you that the Punjab government has traced all high-profile cases in the province and arrested their suspects,” added Buzdar.

    A powerful blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.

  • ‘DID NOT go to Israel’: Zulfi Bukhari denies reports of secret visit to Israel, again

    ‘DID NOT go to Israel’: Zulfi Bukhari denies reports of secret visit to Israel, again

    Former Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari has denied going to Israel again, after Israel Hayom — an Israeli national Hebrew-language daily newspaper and news website — claimed on Monday that Zulfi Bukhari paid a brief visit to Israel in the last week of November 2020. The reported cited an unnamed source in Islamabad. Zulfi Bukhari tweeted that he did not go to Israel.


    This is Bukhari’s second denial regarding an alleged visit to Israel, months after Middle East Monitor claimed in a report that an adviser of PM Imran Khan visited Tel Aviv in November on his British passport. Middle East Monitor later apologised to Zulfi Bukhari for misreporting. “We accept Mr Bukhari’s refutation of the claims made in the report and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused,” concluded the letter dated December 23.


    Today, Zulfi Bukhari tweeted: “DIDNOT go to Israel. Funny bit is Pakistani paper says I went to Israel based on ‘Israeli news source’ & Israeli paper says I went to Israel based on a ‘Pakistani source’-wonder who this imaginative Pakistani source is.” He further added,” Apparently, I’m the only one who was kept out of the loop.”

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan asked for a clarification from the government despite Zulfi’s denial.

    In November 2020, PM Imran Khan had said that the United States and some Muslim states, which he cannot name because of good ties with them, have been pressuring Pakistan to recognise Israel. However, PM Khan reiterated that Pakistan will never establish relations with the “Zionist” state until a just settlement of the decades-long Palestinian issue.

  • UK health secretary resigns after kissing his colleague amid lockdown

    UK health secretary resigns after kissing his colleague amid lockdown

    United Kingdom (UK) Health Secretary, Matt Hancock resigned from his position on Saturday after being filmed kissing his colleague, in breach of coronavirus social distancing rules.

    The former secretary in his letter of resignation wrote to the British Prime Minster Boris Johnson “owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down”. The PM said he was “sorry” to receive the resignation, reported BBC.

    The 42-year-old, reportedly, was under a great deal of pressure from his fellow Conservative party members when a local tabloid revealed that he is having an affair with Gina Coladangelo, a friend from his days at Oxford University who he hired as an adviser in March last year. Mr. Hancock has also ended his 15-year marriage.

    Hancock routinely appeared on television urging Britishers to follow strict rules. Earlier this month plans to ease lockdown in England further got delayed because of concerns over the Delta variant of Covid.

    Recently, the country’s former finance minister Sajid Javid has been appointed as the new Health Secretary. He was born to Pakistani immigrant parents in 1969, who are originally from Toba Tek Singh, Punjab.

  • ‘PM calling OBL a martyr was a slip of the tongue’: Fawad Chaudhry

    Prime Minister Imran Khan referring to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a “martyr” last year was a “slip of the tongue”, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry clarified in Geo News programme, ‘Jirga’.

    “Pakistan has voted in the UN on the war on terror [against militants], we are a voter on a [UN] list that declared Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda terrorists,” said Fawad Chaudhry.

    “Pakistan has sacrificed the most in the war against terrorism,” Chaudhry added.

    In an interview with Afghanistan’s Tolo News, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi skipped a question when asked if Osama bin Laden was a martyr. Qureshi paused for a few seconds and then said, “I will let that pass.”

    Senior Afghan journalist Lotfullah Najafizada had originally asked Qureshi about PM Khan calling Osama bin Laden a martyr. The foreign minister responded that the PM was quoted out of context. “Out of context. He was quoted out of context. And, a particular section of the media played it up.

    When asked to comment on why the foreign minister hesitated in answering a question on the premier’s statement on bin Laden, Fawad Chaudhry said Shah Mahmood Qureshi wanted to put the issue behind him and move forward.

    Addressing the National Assembly in June last year, PM Khan recalled how the Americans had conducted an operation in Abbottabad and “killed Osama Bin Laden — martyred him”.

  • ‘Some powers desire to keep the sword of FATF hanging over Pakistan’: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi questioned the decision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) of keeping Pakistan on its “increased monitoring list”, also known as the grey list, after the country completed 26 out of the 27 points under the action plan given by the financial watchdog.

    Qureshi said there was “no room” to keep Pakistan on the grey list after it had implemented nearly the entire action plan, according to a report by Radio Pakistan.

    The foreign minister said it needed to be looked into whether FATF was “being used for political purposes”, adding that “some powers desire to keep the sword of FATF hanging over Pakistan.”

    Qureshi made it clear that whatever steps Pakistan took were in its own interests. He said it is in our interest to stop money laundering and terror financing.

    A day earlier, FATF President Dr Marcus Pleyer said Pakistan would remain on the grey list till it addresses the single remaining item on the original action plan agreed to in June 2018 as well as all items on a parallel action plan handed out by the watchdog’s regional partner — the Asia Pacific Group (APG) — in 2019.

    “Pakistan has made significant progress and it has largely addressed 26 out of 27 items on the action plan it first committed to in June 2018,” he said at a virtual press conference after the financial watchdog’s five-day plenary meeting.