Current Final

Category: Politics

  • ‘PDM on mind’: Firdous breaks tiles with a punch

    Punjab Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan recently broke a stack of tiles with a punch.

    Firdous, who participated in a ceremony organised by Mashal-e-Rah Foundation in Lahore, said she broke these tiles with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on her mind. According to the CM’s aide, the PDM has been throwing punches at Imran Khan’s government, so now this was her response to them.

    As she broke the tiles to pieces, she was applauded by the host and the people who had gathered to watch Firdous’s feat of strength.

    Firdous is not the one to shy away from a fight. Last month, she had an altercation with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Azma Bukhari on a TV show. The argument between the two politicians lasted well after the show and Firdous almost hit Bukhari. But, the staffers intervened to placate the CM’s aide and cooled things down.

    Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was appointed as the Punjab CM’s aide months after she was removed from the federal cabinet as PM Imran’s aide on information. She replaced Fayyazul Hassan Chohan in the Punjab cabinet.

  • Ex-general says establishment not responsible for deaths of Rizvi, two judges

    Amid rumours that the military establishment has something to do with the deaths of radical cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Seth, and accountability judge Arshad Malik, retired general Ghulam Mustafa said that the establishment doesn’t have anything to do with these deaths.

    In a video posted on YouTube, he said it was concerning that people were paying heed to the ideas that were detrimental to Pakistan.

    He said people should need to think before they go public with such ideas, urging the youth on social media not to go far in support of ideas for the sake of others. “This can come back to haunt you or your family,” the ex-general added.

    Rizvi died the previous month a day after the TLP protesters and government reached an agreement following a day-long sit-in at Faizabad. The TLP wanted the government to take action against France, such as the boycott of products and the expulsion of its envoy, over blasphemous cartoons. His death had led to speculation that it may not be due to natural causes.

    Last month, PHC CJ Waqar Seth also breathed his last due to COVID-19. The judge made headlines for his stern ruling wherein he said ex-general Pervez Musharraf must be hanged for subverting the constitution, and if he dies before his body should be hanged at D-Chowk for three days. The judge also struck down dozens of sentences awarded by the military courts on the basis of lack of evidence.

    And Arshad Malik, the judge who sentenced ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Al-Azizia reference, too died this week due to COVID-19. Last year, PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz along with top party leadership, held a press conference, wherein she said that Malik was coerced to give a verdict against Nawaz. She played a purported video of Malik to back her claims. The judge was subsequently dismissed, though he contested the veracity of videos.

  • ‘Not just one’: How many properties does Dar have?

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar doesn’t own just one property as claimed by him in a BBC News show.

    The politician, who is in self-imposed exile for three years now after graft charges were brought against him, owns at least 20 properties in and outside Pakistan. According to the NAB documents and government officials, the N-League senior leader owns a house in Lahore in addition to seven plots.

    In Islamabad, the former finance minister owns six acre of land, three plots in AlFalah Housing Society, and two plots in Parliamentarian’s Enclave. He also has a plot in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society.

    He also has six bank accounts on his name.

    Dar and his wife Tabassum Ishaq have three land cruisers, two Mercedes and one corolla in their name.

    During the interview, Dar had claimed that his sons owned a villa in Dubai, but NAB says that Dar also owns two apartments in the United Arab Emirates as well as two luxury vehicles. He also has investments in two companies in Pakistan and three abroad.

    DAR ON HARDTALK:

    Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N fight against the government, and NAB.

    During the show, the host asked Dar: “Is it your contention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no integrity? To this, Dar responded that NAB has lost its integrity. “It is an institution that has been used against political opponents.”

    Dar said the prime allegation in the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team report on which the Supreme Court directed NAB to file a reference against him was that he didn’t file his tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years i.e. 1981-2001. Dar said as a chartered account, he had never missed filing his tax returns while living in the UK and North America, as he called these “blatant allegations”.

    At this the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”

    Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”

    “How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.

    Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.

    However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

  • PTI issues list of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ journalists, deletes tweet after backlash

    PTI issues list of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ journalists, deletes tweet after backlash

    In another attack on press freedom, an official Twitter handle of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Lahore issued a list of ‘bad’ journalists on social media, calling them “anchors/mediamen building narratives for the corrupt”.

    “Let take these name loud and clear,” read the tweet with hashtag ‘HardTalkNotCapitalTalk’.

    A little context of the tweet: the said hashtag started trending on social media site after an interview of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ishaq Dar, wherein he was grilled by Stephen Sackur in his characteristically inquisitorial style.

    The trolls subsequently took to Twitter to celebrate the humiliation meted out to Dar and launched attacks on Pakistani mediapersons, especially Hamid Mir who hosts Capital Talk on Geo, for ostensibly being ‘too lenient to the corrupt’ Sharifs and other opposition politicians.

    So, who are these ‘bad journalist’ accused by the ruling party of promoting ‘corrupt narratives’? According to the list, Hamid Mir, Asma Shirazi, Naseem Zahra, Najam Sethi, Talat Hussain, Mansoor Ali Khan, Gharidah Farooqi, Javed Ch, and Saleem Safi are the ‘bad journalists’.

    Most of the mentioned journalists are critical of government policies and other transgressions.

    ‘GOOD JOURNALISTS’

    But the PTI Lahore account also shared a list of journalists who they thought were “fighting the war of truth and justice” i.e. “good journalists”.

    These journalists are Imran Khan, Maleeha Hashmey, Sabir Shakir, Kashif Abbasi, Ghulam Hussain, Sami Ibrahim, Shifa Yousafzai, Mooed Pirzada, Abdul Qadir, and Waqar Malik.

    The official handle asked its followers to “appreciate brave and bold journalists fighting the war of truth and justice” instead of the ‘bad’ journalists who promote corruption.

    The journalists and media organisations took exception to the tweets by the official handle of the PTI’s Lahore chapter. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemned the “vicious attacks of PTI trolls against these brave women journalists”.

    The list was also condemned by Mansoor Ali Khan, who said such lists put journalists in the harm’s way. Whereas Amber Rahim Shamsi commented on the list of “good journalists”, saying: “When those in power become comfortable with a journalist, it’s because the journalist isn’t asking uncomfortable questions.”

    Subsequently, a member of PTI social media issued “apologies”, saying it was done by a “regional account”.

    According to Human Rights Watch, “In Pakistan, arbitrary arrest, detention, and baseless criminal prosecutions are used as instruments of press censorship” among other things.

    In Aug this year, women journalists released a joint statement on attacks on women in media in Pakistan, which said that vicious attacks through social media were being directed at women journalists and commentators in Pakistan, making it incredibly difficult for them to carry out their professional duties.

    In the following month, daughter of late poet Fahmida Riaz, in protest against the alleged abduction and torture of journalists and writers by the state, declined the presidential award that the government had announced for her late mother.

  • PML-Q leadership calls on Shehbaz to condole death of mother

    PML-Q leadership calls on Shehbaz to condole death of mother

    In an apparent thaw of frosty ties, a delegation of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid led by Pervaiz Elahi called on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and vice president Maryam Nawaz to condole the death of Shamim Akhtar.

    Akhtar, the mother of Sharif brothers, died in London last month due to respiratory complication and her body was brought to Pakistan last week. Nawaz Sharif, who is in self-imposed exile in London, couldn’t come back due to “health reasons”.

    Whereas, the Punjab government released Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz on parole to attend the last rites of the Sharif family matriarch.

    According to media reports, the PML-Q delegation that called on Sharifs comprised Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi, Moonis Elahi and Kamil Ali Agha.

    On the other hand, Maryam Nawaz, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were also present in the meeting.

    The meeting between the two parties come at a time when the anti-government campaign against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — an ally of PML-Q– spearheaded by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is in full swing.

    A report in The News had claimed that there have been “informal contacts between the PML-Q and PML-N for cooperation in the Punjab Assembly against the PTI for quite some time”.

    The PML-Q is also unhappy with PTI over certain unfulfilled promises and had also skipped a luncheon organised by the prime minister last month. The PM had subsequently visited the PML-Q senior leader Chaudhry Shujaat — who is gravely ill — to salvage the alliance.

  • Army’s intervention in politics detrimental to country, says ex-ISI chief

    Army’s intervention in politics detrimental to country, says ex-ISI chief

    Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani has said that the meddling of the military in the political affairs, though a reality, was “detrimental to the country”.

    In an interview with BBC Urdu, the former general said whether the army should intervene in politics or not is a debate that has led us nowhere. “Our experience tells us that whenever the military intervened, the political parties ostracised staged a comeback,” Durrani said.

    “Gen Ayub Khan was supposed to keep Zulfikar Ali Bhutto out, but he staged a comeback and got elected. After Ziaul Haq, Benazir Bhutto came to power.”

    The same thing happened during the regime of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. “The two parties which he thought should be kept out – PPP and PML-N –were elected to power. So, this political engineering is harmful,” he said.

    “Imran Khan’s biggest problem is the impression that he did not come to power by himself and that he came with a khaki burden. Some people don’t learn from history because they say we will create our own history,” Durrani added.

    The former general also talked about challenges faced by Pakistan on external and internal fronts.

    “If you ask me challenges from outside, I would say Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey pose new challenges,” he said. The former ISI chief went on to say that “India has not always been the biggest threat to us”.

    “The country is facing three types of challenges: economy, political instability, and social cohesion,” he said.

    “There are some areas like Balochistan where there is unrest among people who feel politically alienated and deprived. The economy is in bad shape…. The government’s credibility is bad because people believe it has been brought into power by the military,” he said.

    He also opposed the changing of status of Gilgit-Baltistan which, he said, will be a blow to the Kashmir cause.

    “When I was looking after the affairs of Kashmir, a close friend of mine, Yusuf, explained to me that the day we made the mistake of changing GilgitBaltistan status, it would be a big blow to our Kashmir cause,” he said but did not explain who Yusuf was.

    “You may give more rights to G-B, if you want to, but it should not be forcibly made a province of Pakistan,” said Durrani, while commenting on recent government promises of giving Kashmir the provincial status.

  • Ex-PM Jamali passes away

    Ex-PM Jamali passes away

    Former prime minister (PM) Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali passed away at the age of 76 on Wednesday.

    The former premier was battling for life on Sunday after being placed on a ventilator following a heart attack and severe breathing problems.

    The senior politician was under treatment at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi for the respiratory complications.

    MNA Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali said that the former PM had suffered a heart attack on Friday.

    He said that Mir Zafarullah Jamali was immediately shifted to a local hospital in Chak Shahzad and later moved to the AFIC in Rawalpindi, where he breathed his last on Monday.

    PM JAMALI:

    Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali served as the 15th PM of Pakistan from 2002 until his resignation in 2004.

    Originally a supporter of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamali emerged from the politics of Balochistan under military governor Rahimuddin Khan during the 1970s.

    He was also affiliated with the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

  • Lawyers take to Lahore streets with guns to celebrate victory in bar polls

    Lawyers take to Lahore streets with guns to celebrate victory in bar polls

    Multiple videos of the Lahore-based lawyers have emerged, wherein they can be seen doing aerial firing on the streets of the city to celebrate the victory of their candidate in the Punjab Bar Council elections.

    In the un-dated videos that are being circulated in Whatsapp groups and social media, the lawyers can be seen firing indiscriminately while the police officials looked on.

    They had all sorts of guns — and ammunition, enough to take down an army. AK47s, M-16, G-3s — all prohibited bore weapons — can be seen in the video along with different models of handguns.

    https://twitter.com/TassawarBajwa_/status/1333655495123611650

    Aerial firing is banned in Pakistan, and people involved in this practice can be booked under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.

    Following the outrage on social media, Civil Lines police booked several unidentified lawyers on the charge of aerial firing. Police, however, said it will go ahead with the probe once the lawyers are identified.

    On Nov 30, The News reported that Kamran Bashir Mughal, Sadiq Irfan Tarar, Adeeb Aslam Bhindar, Muhammad Ahmed Qayyum and Hafiz Abdul Naeem and 11 others had won the Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) elections held on 16 seats in Lahore.

    A low turnout was seen in the election for 75-member house of Punjab Bar Council (PbBC), the provincial regulatory body of the legal fraternity, on Saturday for a five-year term of 2020-25 apparently due to Covid-19 pandemic, it reported.

  • Hamid Mir responds to critics over Capital Talk-HARDTalk comparisons

    A day after BBC HARDTalk host Stephen Sackur grilled former finance minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar over his alleged assets, people on social media are calling out Pakistani anchorpersons over their failure to conduct such ‘hard hitting’ interviews for whatever reasons.

    One journalist who remained the target of this criticism was Geo’s Hamid Mir, who hosts Capital Talk, a primetime TV show. The social media users claimed that if Dar was appearing on a Pakistan talk show he wouldn’t be having such a hard time, as most of these journalists are on the alleged payroll of these politicians.

    One wrote: “Ishaq Dar thought BBC HardTalk was going to Geo Capital Talk and Stephen Sackur as shrewd as Hamid Mir I told you Stephen Sackur was going to skin Ishaq Dar and he did just that!”

    Responding to critics, Hamid Mir tweeted that he also wanted to pose these questions to PML-N leader Ishaq Dar, but he cannot because Pakistani journalists/channels are not allowed to give coverage to Dar due to a Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) ban.

    He also questioned the logic of this ban. He said the local media cannot interview Dar, but they can broadcast his interview given to BBC, what kind of ban is this?

    DAR ON HARDTALK:

    Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N fight against the government, and NAB.

    During the show, the host asked Dar: “Is it your contention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no integrity? To this, Dar responded that NAB has lost its integrity. “It is an institution that has been used against political opponents.”

    Dar said the prime allegation in the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team report on which the Supreme Court directed NAB to file a reference against him was that he didn’t file his tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years i.e. 1981-2001. Dar said as a chartered account, he had never missed filing his tax returns while living in the UK and North America, as he called these “blatant allegations”.

    At this the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”

    Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”

    “How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.

    Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.

    However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

  • Fact Check: Dozens of people have died in NAB custody

    Fact Check: Dozens of people have died in NAB custody

    Claim: Several people have died under NAB custody

    Fact: At least 12 people who died in NAB custody have been reported on by mainstream media

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar has not only claimed that dozens of people died in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) but also told HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur to “Google it”.

    Speaking to BBC, he brought the journalist’s attention to the human rights condition in Pakistan. “What’s happening in Pakistan… dozens of people have died in NAB custody.”

    When Sackur asked him if he was claiming that people had died during detention by NAB, Dar reiterated his claim and told the presenter to head to Google to verify it.

    https://twitter.com/WaraichHaider/status/1333666178250788864

    But is there any truth to the claims made by the ex-finance minister?

    Amid conflicting reports, NAB maintains that not even a single person has died in its custody, at least not because of torture and in recent times.

    One of the most recent cases remains that of the former chief executive officer (CEO) of the University of Sargodha’s Lahore campus, Mian Javed Ahmed, who was in Camp Jail in connection with a NAB inquiry.

    He died in prison reportedly of cardiac arrest in late 2018. With pictures of his dead body still in handcuffs sending shockwaves across the nation, NAB said the teacher was not in the bureau’s but in judicial custody.

    Earlier in 2004, the then NAB chairperson had ordered an inquiry into the death of a former divisional engineer of PTCL, Agha Mohammad Sajjad, who died in NAB custody.

    A NAB spokesperson had said the former PTCL official who was taken into custody on the charges of corruption from Lahore was brought to NAB police station, where he suffered a heart attack. The official died on the way to hospital, he had said and rejected allegations that the death was caused by torture.

    Former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Sehar Kamran, however, says that “NAB custody is worse than the United States’ (US) infamous military jail, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp”.

    The scattered data of alleged rights violations by NAB was compiled by Kamran in a brief she reportedly sent to Federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari among other authorities concerned earlier this year.

    According to the brief, 11 NAB suspects, minus Mian Javed, have lost their lives while in custody or “as a direct result of the harassment by the agency”.

    Aslam Masood

    Aslam Masood, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Omni Group, was arrested through Interpol when he was boarding a flight from London to Jeddah in October 2018. He was subsequently extradited to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia in February 2019. He died of a cardiac arrest on August 17, 2020 while in NAB custody.

    Engineer Aijaz Memon

    Aijaz Memon, an executive engineer serving in Sindh government’s Works and Services Department, was accused of misappropriation of Rs90 million development funds for Jacobabad. He was kept in the Sukkur Central Prison, where he suffered a heart stroke, and passed away during treatment at the local Civil hospital on May 31, 2020, less than three months after being placed in NAB custody.

    Advocate Zafar Iqbal Mughal

    Advocate Zafar Iqbal Mughal was a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and district bar member from Layyah. He was detained by NAB authorities on October 11, 2019, in a bogus housing scheme case (a non-registered housing colony on 254 acres in Layyah). He remained in NAB custody for 86 days and after severe deterioration of health, he was transferred to the hospital only four days before death. He died in NAB custody on January 6, 2020, a few days before his hearing scheduled for January 17, 2020.

    Raja Asim

    Raja Asim was arrested in the stock exchange corruption case on March 26, 2014. After five years in custody without sentencing, his case remained inconclusive, while other accused individuals in the same cases were not pursued. Due to delayed provision of healthcare/medication for
    pneumonia, Raja Asim passed away in NAB custody at the age of 42. His death was declared after a delay of five days.

    Brigadier (r) Asad Munir

    Former Military Intelligence officer and prominent defense analyst Brig (r) Asad Munir committed suicide after the emergence of media reports that NAB had decided to file a reference of abuse of office against him. His body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his apartment in Diplomatic Enclave on March 16, 2019.

    He left a suicide note, addressed to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), seeking action against NAB’s conduct against those who have not even been convicted.

    Muhammad Nasir Sheikh

    Muhammad Nasir Shaikh, additional director (land) of KDA was arrested by NAB on November 27, 2015, for alleged China-cutting and land grabbing. With his death in April 2019, he became the second KDA official held without prosecution and to pass away in custody.

    Professor Dr Tahir Amin

    Professor Dr. Tahir Amin, a renowned educationist, international relations expert and the vice chancellor of Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan was accused of nepotism and financial malpractice. NAB chief initiated a probe against him on the complaint of a former colleague. Under tremendous stress, he also made an abortive attempt to commit suicide and later died of a heart attack on April 5, 2019.

    Qaisar Abbas

    Qaisar Abbas was arrested in Nandipur Power Project Case on August 30, 2018, he was shifted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) after complaining of chest pain. He passed away on October 1, 2019.

    Chaudhry Arshad

    Chaudhry Arshad, chairperson of Members Welfare Committee of Ministry of Commerce Employees Cooperative Housing Society (MOCECHS), was arrested by the anti-graft watchdog over charges of corruption allegedly leveled by corrupt officials with nexus of land mafia.

    According to reports, Chaudhry Arshad was under severe pressure to sign documents in a bid to occupy the housing society when he suffered a heart attack and passed away on August 7, 2018.

    Muhammad Saleem

    Muhammad Saleem, deputy director (revenue) of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) was apprehended by NAB in September 2017 in connection with LDA commercialisation fee corruption case on the basis of an anonymous complaint.

    Despite suffering from liver disease, he was sent to Camp Jail on judicial remand by an accountability court. When his health deteriorated, he was shifted to Services Hospital where he died in NAB custody on December 24, 2018.

    Abdul Qavi Khan

    Abdul Qavi Khan, another KDA officer was arrested on November 27, 2015, he was accused of illegal construction and sale/purchase of plots in a housing scheme named “University Hill Villas”. He died under mysterious circumstances at Central Jail Karachi.

    “NAB’s little respect for human rights is widely known. The extent to which human rights are violated by NAB can only be established by documentation, a process in which this institution is obviously not interested. Surprisingly, NAB victims too have not attempted a record-based assessment of this important institution’s performance. In this situation a fact sheet prepared by former senator Sehar Kamran can only be welcomed. The first shocking fact presented in this report is that NAB is allegedly responsible for causing 12 deaths,” writes human rights champion IA Rehman.

    VERDICT: TRUE