Current Final

Category: Politics

  • Maryam says over 95 per cent PML-N lawmakers have submitted resignations to her

    Maryam says over 95 per cent PML-N lawmakers have submitted resignations to her

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said that out of 160 Punjab lawmakers, 159 MPAs have submitted their resignations to the party leadership in line with the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) strategy to ramp up pressure on the government.

    Speaking to reporters ahead of her visit to Sindh to participate in a rally organised by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to mark Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary, Maryam said the deadline given to the lawmakers to turn in their resignations was Dec 31.

    She said the only provincial lawmaker who hasn’t submitted her resignation letter is currently battling for her life after she was put on a ventilator.

    Speaking about the National Assembly members, she said over 95 per cent MNAs have sent in their resignations to her. According to Maryam, the lawmakers will submit their resignations till 31st to the party leadership and the PDM will subsequently decide when to send them to the respective speakers.

    Maryam said the lawmakers will not defy the party line, as they know that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has “no future”. She added that attempt to damage the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) also backfired because people have become politically aware.

    Speaking about her uncle and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, the de-facto PML-N chief said that Shehbaz has always been loyal to his brother Nawaz Sharif. Shehbaz would have been the prime minister of the country instead of “incompetent” Imran Khan had he betrayed his brother at the behest of the powers-that-be, said Maryam.

    Maryam also rubbished the reports of any potential “grand dialogue” between the government and the opposition. She said there will be no talks with the government and Imran Khan will have to go home.

  • Journalist Saleem Safi claims Zardari, Bilawal are becoming ‘taabedar’

    Journalist Saleem Safi claims Zardari, Bilawal are becoming ‘taabedar’

    Senior journalist Saleem Safi has accused Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership, especially Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and father Asif Ali Zardari, of trying to reach a deal with the establishment.

    Responding to the statement of Murtaza Wahab — the spokesperson to the Sindh CM — that Sindh IG Mushtaq Mahar was not kidnapped, Safi said such statements by the PPP leadership gave away its alleged secret dealings with the government and the powers-that-be. It also shows that they are on their way to becoming “taabedar”.

    Alluding to the statement, he asked is there still any doubt left regarding the duplicity of the PPP in the anti-government alliance? According to the journalist, the PPP will oppose the mass resignations and long march in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) meeting on Jan 2 and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will likely endorse the PPP.

    Safi claimed that the meeting of the government spokesperson held earlier this week also decided to “go easy on the PPP”. The government has decided to target Maulana Fazlur Rahman and his party, he said, adding that a strategy has been finalised in this regard. He claimed that decision to be lenient to the PPP speaks volume about the secret talks.

    Safi also accused Bilawal and Zardari of becoming “tabedaar (obedient)” and said that Maulana should clear things up with the PPP and PML-N leadership before it’s too late.

    The word ‘taabedar’ was first used by Maryam Nawaz as she used it to refer to Prime Minister Imran Khan for being “obedient to his selectors”.

  • Benazir’s death anniversary: Fazl refuses to attend PPP rally in Garhi Khuda Baksh

    Benazir’s death anniversary: Fazl refuses to attend PPP rally in Garhi Khuda Baksh

    Amid speculations of rifts in the Pakistan Democratic Movement, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman has declined an invitation by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to attend a rally in Garhi Khuda Baksh on Dec 27.

    Instead of Fazl, who also heads the PDM, a five-member delegation of the party will attend the gathering that marks the death anniversary of slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto, reported Dunya TV.

    The refusal to attend the gathering by Fazl comes at a time when the JUI-F is facing internal turmoil following the expulsion of its top leaders, including Maulana Sheerani, who questioned the JUI-F’s commitment to the party.

    Similarly, the JUI-F and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are not happy with the PPP. They believe that the PPP was in contact with the powers-that-be to reach a deal. “Both parties are not reacting to this development because of the alliance, but the PPP has been told that if it wants to gain results via backdoor talks, it can go ahead,” said a senior journalist recently.

    Meanwhile, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has reached Naudero House to attend the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. The PPP chief will stay in Naudero for three days and will address a rally in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on December 27.

    PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz will also attend the rally on the invitation of Bilawal. Both opposition leaders will hold a meeting at Bilawal House, Naudero.

  • Daniel Pearl case: US ‘deeply concerned’ over court’s decision to release suspects

    The US State Department has said that it’s “deeply concerned” over the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision to release the suspects in the Daniel Pearl murder case.

    “We are deeply concerned by the reports of the December 24 ruling of Sindh High Court to release multiple terrorists responsible for the murder of Daniel Pearl. We have been assured that the accused have not been released at this time,” said the State Department in a series of tweets in response to the ruling of the high court.

    According to the State Department, the US government has been following this case closely. “We continue to stand with the Pearl family through this extremely difficult process,” it said, adding that it would continue to honour Pearl’s legacy.

    On Thursday, the high court asked the Sindh government to release the suspects, including prime accused Omer Saeed Sheikh, who were convicted by an anti-terrorism court in 2002 for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The court had also ordered the government to place their names on the no-fly list.

    However, the federal government said that it would challenge the ruling and that the suspects would remain behind the bars till the decision on its review appeal.

    The family of the slain US journalist also denounced the high court’s decision. Pearl’s parents said that they refused to believe that the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people will “let such a travesty of justice tarnish the image and legacy” of Pakistan.

    Pearl was working on a story about religious extremists in Pakistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, when he was kidnapped in Karachi.

  • Shehbaz ‘endorses national dialogue’ in meeting with govt ally

    Shehbaz ‘endorses national dialogue’ in meeting with govt ally

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif is in favour of a dialogue with the government instead of mass resignations and long marches, said a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) after a meeting with him in prison.

    Muhammad Ali Durrani, the PML-F secretary general, called on Shehbaz at Kot Lakhpat Jail to hold “fruitful discussions” on the political scenario of the country. Durrani, who is an ally of the government, said he visited the PML-N chief on the directions of his party president Pir Sibghatullah because the “political leadership of the country wanted to see the nation united”.

    He said the purpose of this visit was to assert the need for talks, functioning of parliament, and end a deadlock between the opposition and the government to avert en masse resignations and march on Islamabad. He told reporters that they also discussed the union of all factions of the Muslim League.

    According to Durrani, the factions of the Pakistan Muslim League and the like-minded people should join hands — a suggestion endorsed by Shehbaz.

    He also said that his visit to the jail was for a “national cause” and he met Shehbaz, not other party leaders, because he was the “president”. In an apparent reference to Maryam Nawaz, who is the de-facto president of the PML-N, Durrani said at this point there was no need to meet “sidekicks” as Shehbaz will soon have the control of his party.

    The PML-N president, who represents the moderate group in the party, is in prison over graft charges. In his absence, the party is being run by Maryam Nawaz.

  • Middle East Monitor apologises for report on Zulfi Bukhari; Israel confirms ‘no ties with Pakistan’

    Middle East Monitor apologises for report on Zulfi Bukhari; Israel confirms ‘no ties with Pakistan’

    Not-for-profit press monitoring organisation Middle East Monitor has apologised for a report claiming that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s aide Zulfi Bukhari visited Israel, whereas a minister in Tel Aviv has also clarified that the country in Asia that could soon normalise relations with his country is not Pakistan.

    As per the details, Bukhari, who is the premier’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis, tweeted some documents, including a letter by the news media outlet wherein it had categorically acknowledged the reporting error and apologised.

    “We have removed the offending item,” the letter read, saying that it had been sourced from several foreign media outlets.

    “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.

    The development was followed by an Israeli cabinet minister also confirming that there was a fifth Muslim-majority country in Asia that was likely to soon normalise relations with Tel Aviv, but it was not Islamabad.

    Speaking to the Israeli news outlet Ynet TV, Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis acknowledged that there is a potential for two more countries to normalise relations with Israel. He predicted that “there will be an American announcement about another country that is going public with the normalisation of relations with Israel and, in essence, with the infrastructure for an accord — a peace accord”.

    One of those countries is reportedly in the Gulf, but he ruled out Saudi Arabia, therefore leaving many to believe it could be Oman. The other country is further to the east of Israel towards Asia, and is a “Muslim country that is not small”.

    Okif dismissed the possibility of it being Pakistan, however, which many have suspected following PM Imran Khan admitting that “friendly” nations had been pressuring Islamabad to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.

    Those “friendly” nations are thought to be Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the UAE earlier this week that the country “will not and cannot establish a relationship with Israel until a concrete and permanent solution to the Palestine issue is found”.

    The attributes described by Okif leave Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh as the only remaining Muslim-majority countries that are “not small” and do not already have open ties with Israel.

  • Long march can wait: PML-N to contest by-polls, Senate election

    Long march can wait: PML-N to contest by-polls, Senate election

    In spite of calls for mass resignations and long march towards Islamabad by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair has said that his party will take part in the by-polls to be held in February.

    Speaking in a TV show, Zubair said the party has also decided to take part in the Senate polls — a U-turn on the party’s earlier policy of mass resignations. He further said the decision to march on Islamabad will be taken in the light of the by-polls.

    It may be noted here that the PML-N has already hinted at a delay in the long march due to the “cold weather”. Its Punjab president Rana Sanaullah said that the much-hyped march will be held in March, instead of Jan or Feb, when the weather will be favourable.

    Separately, the National Assembly speaker has decided to accept the resignations of two PML-N lawmakers, Muhammad Sajjad Awan and Murtaza Javed, prompting protests from the said lawmakers.

    According to Awan and Javed, the resignations — dated Dec 14 and written on their official letterhead — were not sent to Speaker Asad Qaiser.

    These resignations were sent to the party leadership and it would be their decision if they wanted to forward these letters to the speaker, the lawmakers said, adding that the speaker has no authority to “verify” their resignation letters at this point.

    On the other hand, the NA Secretariat said that these resignations would be accepted automatically if the lawmakers failed to appear before the speaker within a week.

    Earlier this month, Lahore’s Khokhar brothers of PML-N handed over their resignations from respective assemblies to the party leadership.

    MNA Malik Afzal Khokar and MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar had submitted their letters amid talks of mass resignations by opposition lawmakers in a protest against the government.

  • Govt mulls Rs3.3 hike in power tariff to meet IMF demand

    Govt mulls Rs3.3 hike in power tariff to meet IMF demand

    The government is likely to hike power tariff by Rs3.30 per unit in line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions to get the programme rolling that has been suspended since Feb 2020.

    Daily Jang quoted a senior government official, saying the increase in the power prices will be made before the start of the next year and the government will take measures to take the masses into confidence over the move.

    The IMF bailout was availed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2019 to provide crucial support to fast depleting foreign exchange reserves. But the package was suspended at the start of this year.

    Pakistan has to return $4.4 billion on account of foreign commercial loans during the current fiscal year for which it desperately needs the money from the monetary fund. It has also already returned $2bn to Saudi Arabia and will return $1bn soon to clear the Saudi debt.

    Earlier this week, Pakistan secured a $1.7 billion (Rs272 bn) debt relief agreement to help offset the financial headwinds sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

    The deal provided a moratorium on debt payments for large swathes of the current fiscal year and help ease the cash-strapped country’s massive financial obligations.

    “The Government of Pakistan has successfully negotiated and concluded rescheduling agreements with 19 bilateral creditors, including members of the Paris club,” the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement.

  • ‘Pakistan’s governance system has become corrupt’

    The governance system in Pakistan has become corrupt, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah said Thursday.

    He expressed the belief that people do not even have access to “cheap and speedy justice.”

    According to Geo, he was hearing cases against the rising number of crime in Islamabad, obstacles in the delivery of justice, issues pertaining to naval farms and housing societies.

    Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar also appeared before the court.

    Pointing out the flaws in the justice system, Justice Minallah said district courts, which are meant to deal with the problems of the common man, had never been anyone’s priority.

    In response, the PM’s adviser said he has already briefed Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding the matter.”

    You are the adviser on accountability, so I suggest you go to the accountability courts yourself and examine the conditions there,” Justice Minallah said.

    “The judges in those courts do not even have the staff for dictation. There is a lot of work pressure on those courts, but there is an acute dearth of staff.”

    The chief justice added that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has repeatedly stressed courts to hear cases on a daily basis, adding that judges are “ready to work day and night if the executives cooperate with them.”

    “You should visit the accountability courts and brief the prime minister about the situation,” Justice Minallah told Akbar.

    Responding to the judge’s remarks, Akbar said he has been appearing in the same courts for quite some time, adding that the situation in courts did not worsen overnight and it took 40 years of neglect to reach the current stage.

    “Advisers do not have executive authority, we can only provide suggestions,” Akbar said. “We will do whatever we can to improve the conditions of special courts.”

  • PM Imran says had no idea how to run govt for first three months

    PM Imran says had no idea how to run govt for first three months

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has said when his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), came to power it virtually had no idea how to run the government and it took them at least three months to understand the state of affairs.

    Addressing a special ceremony to sign ‘Performance Agreements of the Federal Government for the Year 2020-21’ in Islamabad, the PM said the new government shouldn’t assume power without preparation. “From the outside, it looked different compared to what is actually happening within the system,” the PM said.

    “When the PTI came to power, it took us three months to understand things and form our team,” he said, adding that Pakistan needed to review its systems. “We’re gradually learning things.”

    According to the premier, this system that keeps the incoming governments in the dark about the state of affairs must be changed. “We need to tweak it, so a new setup can be given enough time to learn the ropes after a comprehensive briefing by the outgoing government,” he said, adding that the first thing was that we should review the system and after once your team was made, then it should be given full time to prepare.

     Imran said it was his habit to look at everything in his life to see what could be done better or improved.

    “We have two-and-a-half years left to make the government’s performance better. We no longer have any excuses. It’s time for us to perform… It’s time for performance now. We need to put pressure on ourselves to perform and our ministers also need to put pressure on themselves to improve performance as well,” he added.