Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been in London for over a year due to health concerns, will not able to accompany his deceased mother to Pakistan owing to poor health and other reasons.
Shamim Begum, the Sharif family matriarch, breathed her last in London on Sunday due to a chest infection at the age of 89. The death prompted PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz to abandon a joint opposition rally in Peshawar and return to Lahore.
Maryam, who complained about the government’s apathetic attitude in a tweet, also shared that she would ask her father Nawaz Sharif not to come back to Pakistan.
کسی حکومتی شخص میں اتنی انسانیت نہیں تھی کہ مجھ تک دادی کی وفات کی اطلاع پہنچا دیتے۔ میں نے میاں صاحب کو درخواست کی ہے کہ بالکل واپس نا آئیں۔ یہ ظالم اور انتقام میں اندھےلوگ ہیں جن سے کسی بھی قسم کی انسانیت کی توقع نہیں۔
“I have requested Mian sahab not to come back [to Pakistan] at all. These are tyrants, these are the people hellbent on exacting revenge, and no humanity is expected from them,” Maryam Nawaz wrote on Twitter.
Furthermore, a report published in The News also claimed that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not be coming back with the dead body on the advice of his doctors. “Nawaz Sharif has been advised by doctors not to travel because of his ailing health,” the report quoted PML-N leader Ishaq Dar as saying.
It may be noted here that the PML-N supreme leader was taken to a hospital last week after his condition deteriorated due to kidney pain.
According to the report, the body will be brought back to Pakistan sometime later this week after the issuance of the death certificate.
Meanwhile, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif along with his son Hamza Shehbaz has also applied for parole to attend the funeral of his mother. Subsequently, the Punjab government granted permission to attend the last rites of Shamim Begum. The father-son duo is in jail on suspicion of corruption.
France on Sunday objected to a statement by Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari equating President Emmanuel Macron’s new measures to counter “Islamist separatism” in France with the anti-semitic policies of Nazi Germany, however, the issue was later resolved when both sides held dialogue after a false claim in the cited news article came to light.
Earlier this week, Macron issued a “charter of republican values”, detailing a series of steps aimed at purging France of what he declared as “radical Islam”. One of the measures made it necessary for school-going children to wear an identification number that would be used to ensure they are attending school.
Mazari, who apparently understood that the identification number would be issued exclusively to Muslim children, censured the move, saying through the new measures, “Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews” in Nazi Germany.
“Muslim children will get ID numbers (other children won’t) just as Jews were forced to wear the yellow star on their clothing for identification,” she added linking to an online article.
Responding to the tweet, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs on Sunday issued a statement, calling the minister’s remark “insulting […] blatant lies, loaded with an ideology of hatred and violence.”
The rather unceremonious statement asked Pakistan to “return to the path of dialogue based on respect.”
The publication later amended the article and issued a clarification stating that the law mentioned in the article applies to all children in France, not specifically Muslim children.
The embassy also sent a series of tweets to point out the mistakes in the article.
In response to the French envoy’s message, Mazari deleted her tweet and issued a clarification on Twitter and admitted her mistake. “The French Envoy to Pak sent me the following message and as the article I had cited has been corrected by the relevant publication, I have also deleted my tweet on the same,” she tweeted.
Responding to the minister’s tweet, the French Embassy thanked Mazari for the clarification and apology, and wrote that “freedom of expression and debates are essential in democracies, based on verified and accurate facts.”
Macron on Wednesday unveiled the bill and asked Muslim leaders in France to agree to its instructions as part of a broad clampdown on so-called “Islamic extremism”. He gave the French Council of the Muslim Faith 15 days to work with the interior ministry.
The bill includes measures which include: restrictions on home-schooling and harsher punishments for those who intimidate public officials on religious grounds; giving children an identification number under the law that would be used to ensure they are attending school and a ban on sharing the personal information of a person in a way that allows them to be located by people who want to harm them.
Parents who break the law could face up to six months in jail as well as large fines, it said.
The draft law — which Macron said will strengthen a 1905 law separating Church and state in France — will be discussed by the French cabinet on December 9.
The new bill comes on the heels of three separate instances of terrorism following the publication of blasphemous caricatures by Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly best known for vulgar irreverence, and Macron’s insistence on defending the act in the name of freedom of expression.
Following the publication of these cartoons and Macron’s defense of it, relations between France and the Muslim world grew sour as tens of thousands of Muslims in several countries joined protests, burned effigies of Macron, chanted anti-French slogans and called for a boycott of French goods.
The nephew of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Manzoor Wassan was killed before being burnt along with his vehicle, disclosed an autopsy report.
Bilawal Wassan, who was an assistant sub-inspector posted in Khairpur, was found dead a couple of days ago near Shah Abdul Latif University police station in Bhargani.
The post-mortem report revealed that ASI Wassan was burnt posthumously to make his death look like a traffic accident. “His hands and legs had been cut and there were fractures in his skull and ribs,” the post-mortem report quoted by Geo News said.
According to the news channel, the Sindh police have so far detained two suspects — friends of the deceased.
One of them, Faraz Rajput, was taken into custody from Karachi. Rajput, upon investigated, told the police that the unidentified body in the car was that of Wassan.
The Wassan family spokesperson said this was a planned murder. He said the police officer was first killed and later his vehicle was burnt to cover up evidence.
The funeral prayers of Bilawal Wassan offered at his native village Haji Nawab Wassan, which was attended by Manzoor Wassan, Nawab Wassab, Munawar Wassan and other people of the area.
Renowned cleric and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi passed away on Thursday.
Earlier it was reported that he was suffering from high-grade fever for the past couple of days, which had led to speculations if he was suffering from COVID-19.
The same was claimed by journalist Mubashir Zaidi, who quoted a hospital spokesperson.
While TLP leaders have confirmed reports of Rizvi’s passing, conflicting reports claim that the cleric was not suffering from any illness.
Meanwhile, condolences are pouring in over social media as people say they “forgive” the late religious leader who was known for his aggressive speeches besides promotion of extremist element in the religio-political landscape of the country.
He had just earlier this week led a protest rally in the federal capital against the publication of blasphemous cartoons by a French satirical magazine.
Things had taken an ugly turn when participants of the protest-turned-sit-in had clashed with law enforcement.
The law and order situation had been dealt with by the government after accepting the protesters’ demands.
As he announced a programme to facilitate industrialisation in Faisalabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan said he hoped one day Manchester would say that Faisalabad has overtaken it in terms of industrial progress.
Addressing a ceremony attended by the businessmen on Wednesday, the PM said: “If Faisalabad, once known as Pakistan’s Manchester, had kept up its current pace of industrial development, it would have left even Manchester behind.”
According to the prime minister, it said it was the government’s job to facilitate industrialisation and the business community.
“We are now working on how we can aid the business community and investors so that jobs are created. So this cycle can only continue when we [remove] hurdles for the industrial class,” he added.
The PM said in the ’60s Pakistan was used as an example for the developing world, adding that several countries, such as Malaysia and South Korea, borrowed its first five-year programme. “People now go to Dubai for their vacations but the sheikhs used to come here.”
The PM also commented on the local government system, saying successful cities around the world function “like countries”. He said that the modern cities were self-sufficient, unlike Faisalabad that depended on the provincial government for funds to fix roads, build hospitals.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, his principal secretary Azam Khan and special aide on accountability Shahzad Akbar have been accused of facilitating the sugar barons under the guise of the sugar inquiry commission, helping them made over Rs400 billion in profits.
The claim was made by former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) deputy director Sajjad Bajwa, who was appointed by the premier to probe the malpractices in the industry, following a hike in the prices. Bajwa was later suspended for sharing classified information with the sugar millers before being dismissed from the service last week.
According to a report in BBC Urdu, Bajwa said he was removed from the post because of some “influential personalities” in the federal cabinet who turned against him after he questioned the role of the government departments in the smuggling of the commodity.
“During the investigation, I suspected the smuggling of sugar to Afghanistan and raised questions about the role of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in the sugar business,” he alleged.
“Due to these questions, the decision to remove me from the duty was taken a long time,” the ex-deputy director, who was dismissed from the agency last week, claimed.
Responding to the claims of Bajwa, SAPM Akbar said there was no truth to these claims. “PM has nothing to do with the matter,” he said, adding that he did not even know Sajjad Bajwa.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, irked by “insubordination” of his cabinet members, said he was being “being forced to act like a chief minister” and now he would “act like one”.
The chief minister made these comments during a meeting of the Punjab Cabinet after Education Minister Murad Raas interrupted the CM in the middle of the meeting over the removal of a civil servant.
Dawn reported that Murad earned the chief ministerial ire when he objected to the removal of Punjab School Education Department Secretary Sara Aslam, saying she was transferred a day earlier without taking him into confidence. CM Buzdar, however, took an exception to the remarks and responded in a “harsh tone”.
“Is the issue big enough to raise in the cabinet meeting, especially when it was not on the agenda?” Buzdar was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Buzdar did not stop at this, he went on to warn his ministers about their behaviour. “I am aware of who was doing what and who is conspiring against whom. I am being forced to act like a [strict] chief minister and now that is what you people are going to get,” the CM reportedly said.
According to reports, Ansar Majeed Niazi — minister for labour and human resource — also got his share of scolding for crossing lines with CM Usman Buzdar.
Nazir Ahmed, the member of House of Lords in England, has resigned from the House a day before a report by Lords Conduct Committee recommended his expulsion for using his position to take advantage of “vulnerable” women.
According to the report published on Nov 17, Lord Nazir breached the code of conduct for “failing to act on his personal honour” over sexual assault and exploitation.
Lord Nazir was earlier accused of exploiting his position to pursue intimate relationships with vulnerable women who asked him for help.
His retirement was also confirmed by Geo News. Lord Nazir has “decided to retire from the House of Lords after 23 years of service”, it reported
According to Geo, the UK Parliament confirmed to Lord Nazir that his retirement allocation had been approved under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 “as of 14 November 2020”.
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS:
In March 2019, BBC said that Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham “took advantage” and began a sexual relationship with her after she approached him for assistance. However, Lord Ahmed, 61, denied acting “inappropriately”.
According to the report, Tahira Zaman, 43, approached Lord Ahmed in February 2017 through a mutual friend, hoping he would help get the police to investigate a Muslim faith healer who she felt was a danger to women.
Zaman told BBC Newsnight that Lord Ahmed said he wrote a letter to the Metropolitan Police Commander Cressida Dick about her concerns. “She then alleges that he repeatedly asked her for dinner.”
BBC said that the woman “finally agreed and weeks after the dinner, she contacted him about her case and he invited her to his east London home”.
“He was saying I’m beautiful,” she told Newsnight.
“The pair went on to have sex on numerous occasions. She accepts the relationship was consensual but said: I was looking for help and he took advantage of me. He abused his power,” as per the report.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is likely to appoint lawyer Naeem Bukhari, who represented Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Panama Papers case against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, as the chairman of the Pakistan Television (PTV).
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has proposed that Bokhari should be nominated as the PTVC board chairman, a report in Pakistan Today claimed.
The ministry has asked the federal cabinet to keep the composition of the PTVC Board to eight members, with three independent stakeholders.
In Sept 2020, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared the appointments of PTV chairman Arshad Khan and independent members of the board of directors illegal while directing the government to fill the vacant slots in accordance with the law.
Bukhari, who has worked as an anchorperson and commentators on PTV for decades, had joined PTI in June 2016. At the time, he called Imran Khan the “only political leader who had the courage to speak the truth”. Bukhari also represented Imran when he went to the Supreme Court against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif following the Panama Papers leak.
The pleas that were later admitted by the apex court which disqualified Nawaz Sharif for being “dishonest” under Article 62 (1)(f).
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also hired the services of Bukhari as a special prosecutor to take up cases against close confidants of Sharif brothers — former Lahore Development Authority chief Ahad Cheema and former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has 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.
Islamabad, however, will never establish relations with the “Zionist” state until a just settlement of the decades-long Palestinian issue, the prime minister reiterated.
Except for the US, the PM refused to name other states, saying Pakistan has good relations with these countries. “Are they non-Muslim or Muslim countries that have been putting pressure on you?” the anchorperson asked in an attempt to get a clear answer.
“Leave this [question]. There are things we cannot say. We have good relations with them (countries),” the premier replied.
It may be noted here the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recently established ties with Israel, whereas other Muslim states, including Saudi Arabia, are also weighing options to normalise ties with Tel Aviv.
Israel, he observed, has had a deep influence in the US, which is another country pressurising him to recognise Israel. “The pressure is because of Israel’s deep impact (influence) in the US. This (influence) was in fact extraordinary during the Trump’s stint,” he maintained.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Foreign Office termed the report a “fabrication”. According to the statement: “The prime minister had stressed that Pakistan’s policy in this regard was rooted in Quaid-e-Azam’s vision. The prime minister’s remarks are an unequivocal reaffirmation of Pakistan’s position on the subject, leaving no room for baseless speculation,” it added.
Responding to queries about reports in certain section of the media claiming that the Prime Minister said Pakistan was under U.S. “pressure” to recognize Israel, the Spokesperson rejected the reports as fabrication.@SMQureshiPTI@ForeignOfficePk
