Current Final

Tag: dg ispr

  • Army postpones Defence Day ceremony in solidarity with flood victims

    Army postpones Defence Day ceremony in solidarity with flood victims

    The Pakistan Army on Wednesday (August 31) postponed the Defence Day ceremony — to demonstrate solidarity with flood-affected Pakistanis. The ceremony is held every year on September 6 at GHQ in Rawalpindi.

    The announcement was made by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Major General Babar Iftikhar, in a tweet from his twitter account.
    “In solidarity with the flood-affected people of Pakistan, central ceremony at GHQ to commemorate Defence & Martyrs Day on 6 September has been postponed,” he wrote.


    “Pakistan Armed Forces shall continue serving our brothers and sisters struck by unprecedented floods,” he added.

    Devastating floods have left Pakistan reeling, with the death toll now standing at 1,191. According to the data issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 422 people have lost their lives in Sindh, 253 in Balochistan and 264 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

    It has been estimated that nearly one-third of the country is submerged in flood waters with more than 30 million people displaced from their homes. The raging waters have also wrecked havoc on the country’s infrastructure, with a number of roads, houses, schools and bridges damaged by the floods.

    The armed forces are engaged in rescue and relief operations along with provincial and federal administrations.

  • Hurtful and derogatory comments on social media unacceptable: ISPR

    Hurtful and derogatory comments on social media unacceptable: ISPR

    The military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday condemned a social media campaign after the tragic Pakistan Army helicopter crash in Balochistan during a flood relief operation. Six military personnel were martyred in the tragic incident.

    “The regretful social media campaign after the unfortunate helicopter crash on August 1 has caused deep anguish and distress among Shuhada families and rank and file of the armed forces,” said the ISPR.

    “While the whole nation stood with the institution in this difficult time, certain insensitive quarters resorted to hurtful and derogatory comments on social media, which is unacceptable and highly condemnable,” said Director General (DG) ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar.

    Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, DG ISPR emphasised that this should not happen and that the elements spreading negative propaganda and rumours should be rejected.

    “Insensitive behaviour is unacceptable and should be condemned at every platform,” added DG ISPR.

    “We have been distressed since the accident on August 1. The propaganda has caused immense pain, particularly to the families of the martyrs.”

    “The derogatory and insensitive remarks were very hurtful. Especially when everyone was grieving. It was necessary to say this because we know everyone is standing with the Pakistan armed forces and supporting us. It is because of this support that the Pakistan Army is standing and is serving the nation day and night. Our people and their support are our pride,” said DG ISPR.

    “We need to look into these things in our society. The way campaigns start on social media is not right. We collectively need to dismiss and reject such elements from our society,” said DG ISPR.

    DG ISPR was also asked about reports and rumours if President Dr Arif Alvi’s absence from the funeral of the martyred military personnel was because he was stopped by families of the Shuhada from attending due to the “false and negative propaganda created by social media trolls”.

    “I think it is better that I don’t comment on this,” responded Maj Gen Babar.

    ‘Unnecessary controversy’: President Alvi

    President Dr Arif Alvi clarified his absence from the funeral of the martyred military personnel and tweeted, “There is unnecessary controversy on why I did not attend Janaza of the Shaheeds recently.”

    The president said that he is taking the opportunity to condemn, in unequivocal terms, the despicable tweets by those who are “neither aware of our culture [nor] our religion”.

    President Alvi said that he has called hundreds of families, attended funerals, and visited them to offer his condolences — stressing that he does not keep away during such occasions.

    “When the family members have cried, I have cried. There is no doubt in my mind that Pakistan is safe only because of their ultimate sacrifices. That is what makes me proud of Pakistan.”

    However, his tweets did not specify why he did not attend the funeral.

  • Former DG ISPR Asif Ghafoor appointed Commander XII Corps Quetta

    Former DG ISPR Asif Ghafoor appointed Commander XII Corps Quetta

    Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Asif Ghafoor has been appointed as the Commander XII Corps (Quetta). Ghafoor replaced Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali, who was martyred in a helicopter crash in Balochistan earlier this week.

    Lt Gen Ghafoor was currently serving as the General Officer Commanding Okara. He previously served as the Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) from 2016 to 2020.

    The military’s media affairs wing, ISPR, said in a statement: “In his new role, he is replacing Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, who embraced shahadat (martyrdom) in a helicopter crash due to bad weather during flood relief operations in Lasbela, Balochistan, on 1 August 2022 (Monday).”

    A Pakistan Army aviation helicopter on a flood relief operation in Lasbela, Balochistan, went missing on Monday (August 1) at 5:30pm when it lost contact with air traffic control (ATC). On August 2, a Pakistan Army aviation helicopter that went missing in Balochistan was found and all six Pakistan Army personnel on board embraced martyrdom.

    Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali was supervising the flood relief operations in Balochistan when the helicopter crashed.

     

  • ‘Soft intervention’ by the Establishment due to political crisis: report

    ‘Soft intervention’ by the Establishment due to political crisis: report

    In an exclusive conversation with Geo News, senior journalist Ansar Abbasi revealed that the establishment is considering holding elections in October.

    “A soft intervention by the establishment between the government and the Opposition has raised the prospect of early talks and general elections in the country in October,” said Abbasi.

    In view of the current political and economic instability, the establishment is considering persuading the politicians for negotiations as in the past, but the final decision in this regard has to be taken by the politicians, said Abbasi on Geo News.

    Abbasi further said that after the unconditional intervention of the establishment between the government and the Opposition, talks between the political parties are likely to begin soon and the prospect of general elections in October is starting to look clear.

    DG ISPR has denied the news of an intervention: Kamran Khan

    However, senior journalist Kamran Khan tweeted that Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar has denied the news of a ‘soft intervention’.

    “In a conversation with me, DG ISPR General Babar Iftikhar has strongly denied the news regarding the military leadership’s interest in any political issues, including initiating a political dialogue. He has requested that the media should refrain from such rumour-mongering,” tweeted Kamran Khan.

    Imran Khan ready for talks, likely to write a letter to President Alvi: Suhail Warraich

    Senior journalist Suhail Warraich revealed that in a meeting with PTI Chairman Imran Khan yesterday (July 22) along with senior journalist Mujib-ur-Rahman Shami, it was discussed that politicians should hold talks on three important issues.

    “Number one, elections, including election reforms. Number two, the economic agenda, and number three, the army chief’s appointment. These are the three things that should be discussed before the next elections. Imran Khan is ready for talks. There is a likelihood that he may write a letter to the president, who can then invite all parties for discussions.”

    Suhail Warraich further said that all stakeholders now feel that such discussions should be held between all political parties.

  • ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Aisha Gulalai Wazir has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, demanding the apex court to take suo motu notice of the anti-army campaign being run “by PTI Chairman Imran Khan”.

    In the letter, she demanded the court to put Khan’s name on Exit Control List (ECL), for a treason case to be registered against him and that he and his party should be banned.

    Gulalai argued that Khan is “shamelessly” dragging the army into politics. “Criticising it [army] for being neutral, maligning it, threatening with dismembering the country, waging civil war and creating anarchy in the country, if the army stayed neutral,” she added.

    Furthermore, she said, “Acting like a mafia, Khan and his party through social media teams are running shameful, abusive and vulgar social media trends against Pakistan army, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar.” Along with these allegations, she also attached screenshots as proof.

    Gulalai also alleged that they [Khan and PTI] are using some mainstream media channels and journalists for their propaganda.

    The former PTI member also pointed out that in this way Khan is trying to “instigate the masses” against the armed forces. Moreover, she said, “Khan is threatening the state that he will disclose the security secrets of Pakistan.”

    She also alleged that the provincial government recruited social media influencers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with Rs736 million from public funds.

    Giving the reference of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain — who is banned due to hate speech — and Member National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazie, Gulalai wrote that if their hate speech cannot be allowed who actually “never went to such an extent”, Khan “should be no exception and above law”.

    Who is Aisha Gulalai Wazir?

    In 2017, Gulalai quit PTI and alleged that her then-party Chairman Imran Khan had sent her inappropriate text messages but she did not reveal any other details to support her allegations.

    According to her, she is not the only one who faced this and claimed many women in the party are facing similar issues.

  • ‘All pending cases would have been solved by December 2022’: former special assistant to Khan

    Former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Accountability Brigadier (Retd) Musaddiq Abbasi said that all the pending cases of politicians would have been solved by December 2022. Abbasi was SAPM to Imran Khan.

    Speaking on Express News‘ political programme‘ Kal Tak‘ with anchorperson Javed Chaudhry, the former special assistant revealed that he was working to make amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) 1898 so that all the cases could be streamlined. According to him, when he took over the office as SAPM, he discussed it with Khan and he agreed.

    Moreover, talking about pending cases of Nawaz Sharif and other politicians, he clarified that all the cases would have been decided either in their favour or against them.

    On the show, Abbasi who is also the former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) director-general, talked about the recent amendments to NAB law. He said that the bureau is almost closed. It is pertinent to mention that the incumbent government through the new amendments has limited the powers of NAB.

    Abbasi also termed the allegations by Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir’s revelations as baseless. Dastagir alleged that in November when a new army chief would have been appointed by Imran Khan, the new chief would have violated the Constitution and would have helped Imran Khan make false cases against his opponents in order to disqualify them.

    Earlier, Dastgir said, “This is based on information. Imran Khan and his followers would have stayed in power for 15 years. The entire Opposition would have been disqualified. He [Imran Khan] was of the point of view that he will remove everyone and will not spare anyone.”

    Replying to Dastagir, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar said that he believes that Dastagir is lying but is still waiting for Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations’ (ISPR) statement because these are very serious allegations and the military spokesperson should respond to them.

  • ‘DG ISI told NSC meeting he sees no conspiracy’: Asad Umar

    Former Planning Minister Asad Umar said that the Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum told the National Security Committee (NSC) that he did not see a conspiracy against former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    “DG did not produce any document in the meeting to support his claim. It was all verbal,” said Umar while speaking on Dunya News programme, ‘On The Front with Kamran Shahid’.

    He was responding to a question about DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Babar Iftikhar’s presser denying a conspiracy to oust Khan, saying the army spokesman had only said that the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) and all services chiefs were present in the meeting and he did not say what their opinion was.

    The former minister also said the ISPR chief had said the ISI DG told the meeting he did not see a conspiracy and it was true that he had said that. But, he said, he did not present any detailed report or document to verify his findings in the NSC meeting.

    He said there had been no document other than the cipher presented in the meeting.

    No conspiracy or evidence of any kind against the then government: DG ISPR

    The military’s spokesperson on June 14 expressed regret over the propaganda initiated against the army and the military leadership on social media.

    DG ISPR once again reiterated that no conspiracy was hatched to oust Khan. He said that the military leadership was present in the NSC meeting and the participants were clearly briefed by the intelligence agencies.

    “[They were] briefed that there was no conspiracy or evidence of any kind [against the then government], nothing like that happened. Participants were told in detail that there was no evidence of any conspiracy,” said the DG ISPR.

    Did not issue political statements

    Later on June 15, Major-Gen Iftikhar said that he “did not issue political statements” when he commented on the outcome of the NSC meeting.

    DG ISPR said he did not make any “political statements”, rather it was a clarification on behalf of the services chiefs of the Pakistan armed forces.

    DG ISPR further said that the services chiefs had provided detailed input in the meeting and they had presented information based on intelligence reports, not mere speculation or opinion.

    “This cannot be considered as someone’s opinion; it was a proper briefing based on intelligence reports,” he said.

  • Who is responsible for getting Pakistan off the ‘terror watch list’?

    Who is responsible for getting Pakistan off the ‘terror watch list’?

    After years of relentless hard work, Pakistan finally received a positive response from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The country is finally close to its removal from the global money-laundering and terrorist financing watchdog’s ‘grey list’. This for sure is a huge win for the country. This was made possible after countless days and nights our officials worked to bring Pakistan one step closer to being removed from the grey list. But here’s the twist. Who should be crowned for the FATF success? Many people are declaring it as their own victory.

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan credited his government for this achievement. Khan congratulated former Energy Minister Hammad Azhar who was the main man working on FATF. On the other hand, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also congratulated the nation and appreciated the performance of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and the members of her team. According to Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, the premier made a telephone call to the army chief and “lauded his decision to set up the core cell at the GHQ”. Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Babar Iftikhar termed the development “a great achievement” and gave credit to the “civil-military team” and mainly to the core cell set up at the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi for it.

    Though there is no doubt that the road to success in terms of FATF has been a long one for Pakistan, let us not forget that many have done a lot of hard work to bring the country to this point. But this recent episode of many claiming credit for our success at FATF has raised one question: Can we as a nation stand united and be able to celebrate the major wins together, keeping aside our political and personal differences? The answer, for now, seems, ‘no’. The recent political scenario has divided the nation so much that even conversing on a simple topic that involves politics ends up in a heated argument. Does one wonder where have the days of critical thinking and constructive debate gone? We can only hope that Pakistanis — be it politicians, think-tankers, policymakers or the common citizen — be able to celebrate Pakistan for its glory and wins.

  • ‘Never want to slip into this again’: Hina Rabbani Khar on FATF grey list

    ‘Never want to slip into this again’: Hina Rabbani Khar on FATF grey list

    Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Saturday addressed a press conference following the announcement by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

    “Pakistan’s positive and speedy progress was greatly appreciated and welcomed by FATF members,” she said. “All action plans items have been ticked off, largely addressed, and nothing is pending.”

    “It marks the beginning of the end process that will eventually culminate in the exit of Pakistan from FATF’s grey list, InshaAllah and hopefully forever,” added Khar.

    “Pakistan is one step away from exiting the grey list,” she added. “I also want to stress that Pakistan’s cooperation with FATF and the international community is grounded in our strategic objective of strengthening our economy and improving its integration in the international financial system.”

    Talking about the requirement of on-site visit Khar said, “When you authorise a country’s removal from the grey list, the first step is to authorise an on-site technical evaluation, which has been done in this plenary.”

    “Never again will we want to be part of any list that will require us to divert our attention from our national requirements to [international] reporting requirements. We never want to slip into this again. This is the biggest lesson,” she said while talking about lessons Pakistan had learned during meetings with FATF.

    The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced on Friday (June 17) that it has begun the process of removing Pakistan from the grey list. FATF monitored Pakistan for four years and now the financial watchdog has expressed its satisfaction with Pakistan’s performance. The announcement comes after FATF’s four-day plenary session in Berlin.

    “Pakistan has substantially completed its two action plans, covering 34 items, and warrants an on-site visit to verify that the implementation of Pakistan’s AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained,” said a statement by FATF.

    However, Pakistan will be placed out of the grey list once the FATF team would conduct an on-site visit of Pakistan.

    Director-General Inter Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) in a tweet termed the development as a “great achievement”.

    The tweet further added: “Core cell @ GHQ which steered the national effort & civil – military team which synergised implementation of the action plan made it possible, making Pak proud, COAS.”

    Hina Rabbani Khar tweeted: “Congrats Pak! FATF declares both Action Plans complete. Intl community has unanimously ack our efforts. Our success is the result of 4 yrs of challenging journey. Pak reaffirms resolve to continue the momentum and give our economy a boost. Well done Pak Team FATF. Pak Zindabad!”

    Pakistan was placed on FATF’s grey list in 2018.

  • PTI’s Asad Umar responds to DG ISPR’s recent interview

    PTI’s Asad Umar responds to DG ISPR’s recent interview

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General-Secretary Asad Umar in a press conference along with former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari demanded the formation of a judicial commission on the alleged “foreign conspiracy” to oust former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan from power.

    Umar said that it would be better for the army and the country if the Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General (DG) Major-General Babar Iftikhar doesn’t find it necessary to interpret political affairs again and again.

    Umar said Khan will again write to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to constitute a judicial panel and hold a transparent inquiry into the matter.

    “It was a clear threat. It was written that if the no-confidence motion fails, Pakistan would have to pay the price and if Imran Khan is shown the door, then Pakistan will be forgiven.”

    He said that it is the people’s right to know the facts and who was behind the move.

    Umar said that the party still wants this to be investigated by a judicial panel and an open hearing conducted.

    “[The] DG ISPR is right in saying that some of the military leadership representatives actually said that they cannot see any evidence of a conspiracy. Most of the civilian leadership said there was a conspiracy,” Umar said.

    Ever since Imran Khan said ‘absolutely not’ to the air bases, the conspiracy started: Mazari

    Meanwhile, Mazari said, “Ever since Imran Khan said ‘absolutely not’ to the air bases, the conspiracy started.”

    Mazari asked why the US diplomats met PTI MNA Noor Alam Khan.

    “We are compiling a list of who the US envoy met in Pakistan. Why did the ambassador meet Raja Riaz? Was it to discuss foreign affairs?”

    Military’s opinion on national security issues is not final word: Asad Umar

    Umar on Tuesday while speaking on Hum News political talk show with anchorperson Meher Bokhari said, “At the outset, you were asking me a question that since it is a matter of national security so the army has a final word on the issue, [but] with due respect, I don’t agree with this.”

    Umar’s comments were relevant to DG ISPR’s statement that no conspiracy was hatched to oust Khan. He said that the military leadership was present in the National Security Council (NSC) meeting and the participants were clearly briefed by the intelligence agencies.

    “[They were] briefed that there was no conspiracy or evidence of any kind [against the then government], nothing like that happened. Participants were told in detail that there was no evidence of any conspiracy,” said the DG ISPR.