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Tag: home-politics

  • Numbers’ game: Opp likely to defeat govt in Senate showdown

    Numbers’ game: Opp likely to defeat govt in Senate showdown

    All eyes are on the upper house of the parliament on Thursday as senators from opposition parties, in a first, attempt to oust through a no-confidence motion its chairman, who enjoys the support of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led ruling coalition.

    According to the numbers’ game, the joint opposition is in a comfortable numerical position to turn the tables on the senators from treasury benches and remove Sadiq Sanjrani.

    The opposition parties, in the 103-member house, enjoy the support of 67 senators while the governing alliance has the backing of 36 members.

    The chairman can be removed by the majority of the total membership, and so, the support of at least 52 senators will be required to carry the no-trust motion.

    OPPOSITION:

    The opposition alliance in the upper house comprises of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 30 senators, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) with 20, Mir Hasil Khan’s National Party (NP) with five members, Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) with four senators, Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) of Mehmood Achakzai with four and Asfandyar Wali’s Awami National Party (ANP) with one member.

    With the inclusion of two senators from Jamaate Islami Pakistan (JIP) and an independent senator, the tally stands at 67. However, PML-N’s Ishaq Dar has still not taken oath and the two belonging to JIP have reportedly decided to abstain from the proceedings.

    GOVERNMENT:

    The government alliance, on the other hand, is in a weaker position, with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) 14 senators. Its ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has five, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) has eight and Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) have one senator each in the house.

    Seven independent senators also sit on the government benches.

    While the opposition alliance is apparently in a stronger position, the primary condition remains that all opposition members, in the secret ballot, cast their votes in the favour of the consensus nominee that is Bizenjo.

  • PM Imran’s US trip cost taxpayers Rs11 million

    PM Imran’s US trip cost taxpayers Rs11 million

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s visit to the United States (US) has cost the national treasury around Rs11 million ($67,180), it was revealed Thursday.

    According to the breakdown of expenses released by the government, Rs1.35 million were spent on accommodation for PM’s 27-member delegation, while the PM chose to stay at Pakistan Embassy.

    An amount of Rs92,120 were incurred on transport, Rs142,000 on gifts, Rs6,075,800 on airfare, miscellaneous expenditures stood at Rs1,287,460, tips at Rs706,001 and meals at Rs1,389,077.

    There was no TA/DA for any official and the ministers accompanying PM Imran.

    WAY LESS THAN NAWAZ, ZARDARI’S EXPENSES:

    The premier set an example of simplicity and austerity by saving millions of rupees of the national exchequer as he spent much less than the visits of former PM Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

    His spendings were 11 times less than Zardari and eight times less than Nawaz, who spent $752,688 and $549,853 on their visits to the US, respectively.

    Earlier, PM Imran travelled to the US on a commercial flight instead of a special aircraft. He stayed at the residence of Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington DC instead of a 7-star hotel, while he bore his family’s expenditure himself.

    His visit was termed a success owing to the mammoth crowd he pulled at Washington’s Capital One Arena and his meeting with President Donald Trump wherein the two leaders forged good chemistry.

  • ‘Pakistan Post entering $34.2bn logistics market, expecting investment up to $1.5bn’

    ‘Pakistan Post entering $34.2bn logistics market, expecting investment up to $1.5bn’

    Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed has said that Pakistan Post was entering the country’s logistics market, which at present is worth $34.2 billion and is growing at a rate of more than 18 per cent per year.

    “Pakistan Post is expecting up to $1.5 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on public-private partnership model for its capacity building in the logistic sector,” Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) quoted the minister as saying.

    FDI is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country.

    Within past one year, Pakistan Post has introduced revolutionary initiatives, including Electronic Money Order (EMO) at doorstep, Mobile App, E-Commerce and Same Day Delivery services, to improve efficiency and expand its network across the globe.

    According to Pakistan Post Director General (DG) Dr Naseer Ahmed Khan, the national postal operator is adopting new communication and information technologies to move further.

    He said that on the special directives of the federal minister, Pakistan Post has initiated inclusive measures to develop a better perception of its services among the public by ensuring timely delivery of mail, money and other articles.

  • PTI govt excludes ‘most corrupt govt of last 19 years’ from its investigation: report

    PTI govt excludes ‘most corrupt govt of last 19 years’ from its investigation: report

    The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has excluded from its probe the country’s “most corrupt government of the past 19 years” as it investigates foreign loans obtained by previous governments, The News reported.

    As per the details, the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government has formed a high-powered commission to probe Rs24,000 billion loans acquired during the past 10 years.

    While the PTI is only focusing on the last 10 years of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) governments, last 19 annual reports of Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based global watchdog — show that corruption was at its peak in Pakistan during General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s military rule.

    According to The News, TI, which publishes annual Global Corruption Barometer and Corruption Perception Index (CPI) to give a comparative listing of corruption worldwide, shows more corruption in Musharraf’s tenure as compared to the latest of the two former ruling parties.

    The least corruption in terms of the best CPI score was attained by Pakistan in 2018, the year which was shared by the rule of the outgoing PML-N, caretaker setup and the PTI.

    Although the last tenure of the PPP was generally dubbed the most corrupt in the country’s history, the TI annual reports record shows that the lowest score during the last PPP regime has been 24 out of 100 (2.4/10) in 2009 as against 21 under Musharraf.

    It means that the last PPP tenure’s lowest score is three points better than Musharraf’s lowest score.

    HIGH-POWERED COMMISSION:

    The ruling PTI recently formed a high-powered commission, headed by National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) Deputy Chairman Hussain Asghar, to probe the soaring loans piled up over the past 10 years.

    The 12-member commission includes officials from NAB, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

    According to a government notification, the federal government would hire national and international experts to conduct forensic audits of investment and expenditure of the past governments during the last 10 years.

    The commission will have to submit interim reports of progress every month and a final report within six months.

    It would also probe all development projects, kickbacks and contracts during 2008-2018. Embezzlement of government funds and alleged corruption in the development projects would also be investigated.

  • ‘Looted’ Rs2.1bn recovered as plea-bargain of Zardari’s co-accused accepted

    ‘Looted’ Rs2.1bn recovered as plea-bargain of Zardari’s co-accused accepted

    The National Accountability (NAB) has recovered a whopping amount of Rs 2.12 billion in the fake accounts case against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

    According to reports, NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has accepted the plea-bargain request of two accused — Technomen Kinetics (Pvt) Ltd directors Asif Mehmood and Arif Ali — involved in collusive bidding, exorbitant rates, corruption and corrupt practices in power generation projects of Sindh.

    The final petition for plea bargain will be submitted in the accountability court, NAB has said, adding that the suspects – along with the provincial officials – were involved in corruption through fake auctions.

    In the last hearing of the case in an accountability court, the physical remand of three accused, who had applied for a plea bargain, in the fake bank accounts case was extended till July 31.

    During the hearing, the judge had directed NAB to wind up the case against them as soon as possible. The bureau’s investigation officer had told the court that the requests of the accused were under process with the department.

    The anti-graft watchdog has already arrested 25 suspects in the fake bank accounts case that pertains to transactions of hundreds of millions of rupees to Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur’s private companies allegedly through fake bank accounts.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://youtu.be/nhF3zuKC-J4
  • Pakistani driving licences to be valid in UAE

    Pakistani driving licences to be valid in UAE

    Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed has said that an authority will be set up to issue driving licences that will also be valid in the Gulf states.

    Addressing the launching ceremony of an e-billing system for the National Highway Authority (NHA), the minister said that a delegation will leave for Dubai in a week or so for the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities on acceptance of Pakistani driving licences in the Gulf states.

    The minister said he read in a news report that the UAE government had inked a similar agreement with another country, Dawn news reported.

    “Obtaining a driving licence in the UAE is a gigantic task, but once the agreement is signed, our drivers holding the local driving licence will have more job opportunities in the Gulf states as they will have no need to get another licence there,” he added.

    He said offices of the driving licence authority will be established all over the country.

  • PM Imran unfollows Hamid Mir on Twitter, journalist says he’s ‘honoured’

    PM Imran unfollows Hamid Mir on Twitter, journalist says he’s ‘honoured’

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has unfollowed veteran journalist and analyst Hamid Mir on Twitter, a development that Mir says is no less than an “honour”.

    The episode that follows Mir’s anti-government tirade ever since his interview of arrested former president Asif Ali Zardari was taken off the air, has left the micro-blogging website divided as people argue if it proves the premier’s “inability to take criticism”.

    It surfaced on social media on Monday evening through an account called Siasat Bot that keeps track of the Twitter handles of major politicians and political parties.

    Earlier, Mir’s video had also gone viral on social media wherein he demanded his arrest which was termed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters as propaganda against the government under the guise of freedom of media.

    Following this, supporters of the ruling PTI had been carrying out a campaign against the journalist who has now been unfollowed by the premier on Twitter.

    PM Imran reportedly had 19 followers before clicking the “unfollow” button on Mir. The 18 accounts that he still follows include those of organisations that he himself heads, such as the PTI, Shaukat Khanum Hospital and Namal University.

    The other accounts he follows include that belonging to his party’s senior leaders.

    Mir himself took to Twitter to indirectly address the development. Retweeting an old post, he shared how “he had become unfavorable to PTI after he started criticising them”.

    Speaking to a private news website, Mir said that he was “honoured” to be unfollowed by the chief executive of the country.

  • WATCH: Video shows Pakistan Army aircraft crashing in Rawalpindi

    WATCH: Video shows Pakistan Army aircraft crashing in Rawalpindi

    Moments after at least 17 people, including five military personnel, lost their lives when a plane of Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Mora Kalu in Rawalpindi, a video of the tragic incident has surfaced.

    According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the aircraft was on a routine training flight when it crashed around 2 am, but there was no immediate word on the cause of the accident or the type of aircraft involved.

    Two pilots were among those killed in the incident, the military’s media wing said, adding that it also resulted in 12 fatal civilian casualties and injuries to 13 others.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Lt Col Saqib, Lt Col Wasim, Naib Subedar Afzal, Hawaldar Amin and Hawaldar Rahmat were the military personnel who lost their lives.

    Soon after the crash, a massive fire broke out that engulfed several houses in the locality.

    Rescue teams of 1122 and Pakistan Army immediately reached the site and started the rescue operation. 

    ISPR added, rescue officials had extinguished the fire caused by the crash and moved the injured to a local hospital.

  • Rowing boats, making weapons: Modi to feature on Discovery Channel’s ‘Man vs. Wild’

    Rowing boats, making weapons: Modi to feature on Discovery Channel’s ‘Man vs. Wild’

    Prime minister (PM) of neighbouring India, Narendra Modi, will be seen in a never-seen-before avatar on August 12 when he ventures into his country’s wilderness along with Bear Grylls, the host of Discovery Channel’s popular show “Man vs. Wild”.

    The Discovery Channel has issued a statement saying the special episode featuring survivalist and adventurer Grylls and shot in the Uttarakhand’s Jim Corbett National Park, will be a “frank and freewheeling journey”.

    In a clip of the show that was shared by Grylls on his Twitter account, PM Modi can be seen riding a small dinghy down a river along with the adventure travel show host.

    In another scene, the Indian premier is seen welcoming Grylls to India and holding up a weapon carved out of bamboo and other material collected from the forest and saying, “I will keep this with me for you.”

    To this, Grylls replies with laughter, “You are the most important man in India, my job is to keep you alive.”

    “For years, I have lived among nature, in the mountains and the forests. These years have a lasting impact on my life. So when I was asked about a special show focusing on life beyond politics and that too in the midst of nature I was intrigued to take part in it,” Modi said while speaking about the show.

    He added that the show was a “great opportunity to showcase to the world India’s rich environmental heritage and stress on the importance of environment conservation and living in harmony with nature”.

  • PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi has fled country, media reports claim

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, who was handed life imprisonment in the ephedrine case last year, has reportedly left the country and is currently residing in the United States (US).

    According to media reports, Abbasi is living with a former PML-N leader at his residence in Alexandria, Virginia and plans to stay out of the country “until the situation in Pakistan improves”.

    A trial court had sentenced Abbasi to life in prison back in July 2018, after he was found guilty of illegally selling 500kg of ephedrine — a medication and stimulant used to prevent low blood pressure during spinal anesthesia — to narcotics smugglers.

    The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government will investigate the alleged allocation of a quota for the production of 9,000kg of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies — Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical Limited.

    According to the rules, a company cannot be allocated a production quota of more than 500kg of the drug, a limit fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

    The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had eventually registered a case in June 2012 against nine suspects, including Abbasi. He was accused of obtaining the controlled chemical for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010.

    However, instead of using it for medicinal purposes, Abbasi sold it on to narcotics smugglers. A fine of Rs1 million was imposed on the PML-N leader along with the life sentence. Seven other accused were acquitted in the case.

    Abbasi’s sentence was suspended by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in April this year.