Current Final

Category: Politics

  • PM believes his popularity is rising, opposition is propagandising inflation

    PM believes his popularity is rising, opposition is propagandising inflation

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said the opposition was just propagandising inflation as all economic indicators were highlighting a positive trend, The News reported.

    He expressed these views while chairing a meeting to review the overall political situation in the country as well as the government’s media strategy. Imran directed his economic team to highlight the successes achieved by the government in the media.

    He said the political leaders responsible for the current economic mess were misleading the masses to save their face and politics. He maintained that it was due to the policies of the previous governments that the masses were suffering, say media reports.

    “We have overcome the effects of their economic decisions after two years of work and finally the economy is witnessing stability,” he added. The premier said the benefits of growing economy would soon be shifted to the masses.

    “The economic team should tell the masses as to how the previous governments ruined the economy,” he said.

    The premier added that the public gatherings in Swat and Hafizabad had once again proved that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoyed the confidence of masses.

    “PTI will also clean sweep the Gilgit-Baltistan elections as the support of the people at the rallies prove the rise in our popularity,” he said.

  • Islamabad High Court requested to bar Imran from saying ‘Naya Pakistan’

    Islamabad High Court requested to bar Imran from saying ‘Naya Pakistan’

    A petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has sought a ban on Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s use of the term “Naya [new]” with Pakistan.

    “The word ‘Pakistan’ and the flag of Pakistan are protected by the constitution and any alteration to them is a clear violation of the same”, petitioner Tariq Asad, who is a lawyer of the Supreme Court (SC), has said seeking ban on what has become a trademark of the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    Members of the PTI, including Imran Khan, had widely used the term “Naya Pakistan” while seeking votes ahead of the 2013 and 2018 general elections, highlighting the party’s aim to revamp the system if handed reins of the country.

    According to Gulf News, the petitioner has maintained that the PM has frequently been referring to “Riasate Madina [State of Madina]” while sharing his vision of a welfare state that again is without context and in contrast to the unique history of Pakistan.

    Justice Amir Farooq of the IHC, in this regard, has issued notices and sought a reply from the respondents, including the Law Ministry secretary, principal secretary to the PM, information secretary and the chairperson of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

    Asad has maintained that PM Imran has disgraced the national integrity giving Pakistan a nickname as “Naya Pakistan”.

    “Imran Khan having altered and distorted the name of Pakistan as ‘Naya Pakistan’ is inter alia violation of Article 1 and Article 5 of the constitution and fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973,” said the petitioner.

    The premier, as per the petition, has also made an insignia i.e. of a flag of Naya Pakistan Housing & Development Authority which is different from the national flag of Pakistan.

    The petitioner maintains that the new insignia of the Naya Pakistan Housing & Development Authority comprises green and red colours and there is no white colour that is a representation of minorities. Speaking to Gulf News, Advocate Asad said that by omitting the white colour from the housing authority’s insignia, the government authorities had implied the scheme was not meant for the non-Muslims.

    In his prayer, the petitioner has requested the court to restrain the government functionaries, including the members of parliament and cabinet as well as the PTI workers and opposition parties, from patching and using the word “Naya“ with Pakistan or calling this state “Naya Pakistan”.

    The court has also been requested to issue orders to PEMRA to restrain television channels from airing the said word with Pakistan.

  • Military officials to brief parliamentary leaders on national security

    Military officials will this week be briefing parliamentary leaders from both the National Assembly (NA) and Senate on national security issues.

    According to a statement issued by the NA, the military officials will brief the parliamentarians in a meeting called by NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, who will also be the chair. It will take place in Committee Room Number 2 at 2 pm on Wednesday.

    According to the NA’s Twitter account, invitations have been sent to PTI’s Parliamentary leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, MMA’s Asad Mahmood and PML-Q’s Tariq Bashir Cheema.

    Furthermore, BNP-M’s Akhtar Mengal, MQM’s Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddqui and BAP’s Khalid Hussain Mangi have also been invited.

    The NA also said that invitations have been sent out to GDA’s Ghous Bakhsh Khan Mehar, Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and ANP’s Amir Haider Azam Khan.

    From Senate, invites have been sent to Mushahidullah Khan, Sherry Rehman, Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Mir Akber Ahmed, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haderi, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Sirajul Haq, Sitara Ayaz, Dr Jahanzaib Jamaldini, Anwar ul Haq Kakar and Aurangzeb Khan.

    The NA further said that federal ministers Pervaiz Khattak, Ijaz Ahmed Shah, Ali Amin Gandapur, Shafqat Mahmood, Asad Umar, Shibli Faraz. PM’s adviser Babar Awan and SAPM Dr Moeed Yusuf have also been asked to attend the session.

    Meanwhile, Attorney General Khalid Javed, interim CM of GB Mir Afzal, AJK President Masood Khan and AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider have also been sent special invitations.

  • IN PICTURES: India celebrates Kamala Harris’ win

    Kamala Harris has made history as the first female, first black, and first Asian-American US vice-president-elect, and Indians are overjoyed.

    According to reports, people at Kamala’s ancestral village in southern India, celebrated her victory by bursting crackers, distributing sweets, and offering prayers of gratitude. People hailed her achievement as historic and a “proud moment” for the country.

    Some Indians also celebrated by laying rangoli designs in front of their houses.

    After the victory, Kamala’s sister Maya Harris, said that their mother, Shyamala Gopalan, “would have been beyond proud today.”

    Harris also paid tribute to her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, an Indian immigrant, in her victory speech.

    Harris’ uncle, academic Balachandran Gopalan, said his late sister would have been proud of her daughter and that the family would converge in Washington from across the United States and from India, Canada and Mexico to witness her historic inauguration.

    “Her mother would have been very happy. She would have asked Kamala to continue what she’s doing,” the 79-year-old academic told AFP as a huge media contingent crowded outside his home.

    “Can you think of any other country where a first-generation immigrant would go to the highest office… It’s a lot of firsts. And at a major time in US history. And that she’s there as VP means a lot.”

    Gopalan added that he had further hopes for his trailblazing niece – including a presidential run.

    Kamala Harris was born on October 20 in 1964, in California. Her late mother Shyamala Gopalan migrated to the US from Tamil Nadu at the age of 19 to study at the University of California, while her father, Donald J Harris, moved to the US from Jamaica.

    Harris has often spoken about how her Indian grandfather, who was among millions of people who joined India’s independence movement, has shaped her values and helped inspire her ideals of justice.

    Meanwhile, several Bollywood celebrities including Sonam Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut also expressed their joy over Harris’ win.

  • ‘She is counting minutes’: Melania to divorce Donald Trump?

    Donald Trump, who recently lost his presidential re-election campaign to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, could soon find himself facing divorce proceedings, it has emerged. 

    British tabloid Daily Mail quoted a former aide to the first lady of the United States (US), Omarosa Manigault Newman, as saying that the 15-year marriage of Trump and Melania Trump is over and the latter is “counting the minutes until he is out of the office and she can divorce him”.

    “If she [Melania] were to try to pull the ultimate humiliation and leave while he’s in office, he would find a way to punish her,” he said when asked as to why did Melania not divorce Trump earlier.

    The report quoted another former aide, Stephanie Wolkoff Senior, who was the advisor to the first lady, as saying that Trump and Melania had separate bedrooms in the White House and a “transactional marriage”.

    Back in 2016, Melania had burst into tears when Trump won the presidential election as, one friend said, “she never expected him to win”. However, Melania waited five months before moving to Washington from New York allegedly because their son, Barron, had to finish school.

    However, Wolkoff said Melania was negotiating an agreement so that Barron could have an equal share of Trump’s fortune. “Now, four years later, she is going forth with her plan.”

    Reports also say that Trump’s inner circle, including his wife Melania, wants the 45th US president to accept his loss and concede defeat to President-elect Biden and exit the office “gracefully”.

  • Raheel Sharif asked Nawaz Sharif for extension thrice, says ex-general

    Former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif had asked then prime minister Nawaz Sharif to extend his tenure as the chief of army staff thrice, revealed former minister Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch in a talk show.

    Baloch, who was a SAFRON [ministry of states and frontier regions] minister during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, recently parted ways with the party over its supreme leader Nawaz Sharif’s aggressive stance towards the military establishment, especially the incumbent army chief.

    During the TV show, the retired general claimed that as per Nawaz Sharif the former COAS had requested him for an extension thrice. “It was a great disappointment for me as I had expected Raheel Sharif to retire gracefully like a true soldier,” he added.

    Last week, Baloch decided to bid goodbye to the Nawaz league for allegedly speaking against the army. He said that he was leaving the party with “heavy heart” over anti-army rhetoric of the PDM leadership. The ex-general was referring to the speeches made by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership during its rallies.

    “I am a product of the army and cannot stand by the narrative of disobedience since it would be extremely injurious to the country. I have taken the decision of parting ways with heavy heart,” said the retired general who had also served as Corps Commander in Quetta.

  • SC releases Geo chief Mir Shakil on bail

    Jang group CEO Mir Shakilur Rahman, who was in jail for almost one year in a graft case, has been released on bail by the Supreme Court.

    As the top court took up the bail plea of the editor-in-chief of the Jang/Geo group on Monday, the bench accepted the petition, asking the media mogul to submit surety bonds worth Rs100 million.

    Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had dismissed his post-arrest bail petition in a case relating to a property transaction that took place 34 years ago. After which, he moved the SC.

    Mir Shakil was called to the NAB office in Lahore in March for submitting his answers to the questionnaire attached with a call-up notice; however, he was detained. A reference was also approved against him and other accused by the NAB chief earlier this year.

  • Maryam owes her beauty to taxpayers’ money, Gandapur claims

    Maryam owes her beauty to taxpayers’ money, Gandapur claims

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Ali Amin Gandapur has claimed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz “owes her beauty to cosmetic surgeries performed at the expense of taxpayers”.

    Speaking in a public gathering, the lawmaker went on a sexist tirade against the PML-N vice president. He said the PML-N leader became “beautiful” by spending tax money on her alleged plastic surgeries.

    Addressing the people in the crowd, he said you people could also look like “Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt if you spend even a fraction of amount spent by Maryam on her facial surgeries”.

    Previously, in a Twitter post, Gandapur had made sexist comments about PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Maryam Nawaz. In a post, he had said Bilawal is a man without any “masculine attributes” whereas Maryam was a woman who didn’t have “feminine qualities”.

    In past, the PTI ministers have targetted Maryam for being a woman, but this is the first time that someone has claimed that she underwent cosmetic surgery.

    Last month, Information Minister Shibli Faraz in an unfounded criticism said that “shoes, dresses and makeup do not make one a leader”.

    Maryam owed her career to dynastic politics and thought of herself as the late prime minister (PM) Benazir Bhutto, he had said.

    “Benazir was a well-educated lady […] shoes, dresses and makeup do not make you a leader. To be one, you need to live like a common person,” he said in his tirade. Maryam has time and again been criticised for her luxurious lifestyle and rather expensive dresses, footwear as well as accessories.

  • Bilawal’s opposition to Nawaz’s narrative is fine with Maryam

    Bilawal’s opposition to Nawaz’s narrative is fine with Maryam

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has come forward to defend Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari after comments made by the latter stirred controversy regarding his party’s role in the joint opposition alliance.

    In an interview to BBC Urdu, the PPP chairman said he didn’t agree with PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif over his decision to name the army generals during a rally in Gujranwala.

    Bilawal said the statement “shocked” him because the use of such language during public gatherings was unprecedented.

    The statement was taken by many as an indication that the PPP would jump the ship and leave the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — a joint opposition alliance — in a lurch. The impression, however, was contested by the PPP leadership, as it expressed commitment to the anti-government alliance.

    Responding to these reports, PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz said the statement made by Bilawal didn’t stand in contrast to the narrative peddled by the PDM. She said attempts to create rifts in the PDM will fail, adding that the party has no issues with the PPP chief’s remarks.

    Previously, the rumours regarding the PPP’s role in PDM started making rounds in the mainstream and social media after Capt (r) Safdar, Maryam’s spouse, was arrested from his hotel room by the Karachi police.

    The PPP had distanced itself from the arrest, demanding an inquiry into the episode. The arrest was dubbed by the PDM leadership as an attempt to damage the multi-party alliance.

  • US Elections 2020: Jemima, Greta Thunberg troll Trump

    With the results of the US Elections 2020 yet to be announced, people are killing time and anxiety by turning to jokes and memes. Jemima Goldsmith, who has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and his policies, trolled him by sharing the White House version of ‘Mujhe Kyun Nikala‘ — a phrase coined by Nawaz Sharif.

    In the video shared by Jemima, a man who looks like Trump can be seen sitting on an inflatable exercise ball, surrounded by a group of children. Another man, who resembles vice-president Mike Pence, seems to be pulling Trump off the exercise ball while the Trump impersonator yells that he doesn’t want to go.

    https://twitter.com/Jemima_Khan/status/1324452569566109697?s=20

    Similarly, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg trolled the president over a tweet of his in which he called for the vote count to be stopped.

    Responding to the latter’s tweet, the teenage climate activist used Trump’s own words against him.

    “So ridiculous, Donald must work on his anger management problem, and then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Donald, Chill!” wrote the 17-year-old.

    Thunberg finally got her revenge against Trump after he criticised Time magazine’s decision to name her ‘Person of the Year’.

    Meanwhile, earlier in 2016, Jemima dressed up as Melania Trump being groped by her husband, Donald Trump, for the UNICEF Halloween Ball in London. Jemima decided to pull over the anti-Trump costume after a video of Trump got leaked in which he was explicitly talking about groping women and making horrifying statements over abuse.

    As counting votes continues in critical swing states in the US, Trump has been spreading misinformation and demanding that vote counting stops.