Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari congratulated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday after a resounding victory by the PML-N in PP-84 by-election. In a statement tweeted by the PPP’s official Twitter handle, Bilawal Bhutto congratulated Sharif on PML-N’s win and also added that the “consistent wins by the Opposition show clearly how disillusioned people are with the PTI and its anti-people policies. The people of Pakistan continue to give their verdict against PTI, but the selected govt refuses to listen.”
The consistent wins by the Opposition show clearly how disillusioned people are with the PTI and its anti people policies. The people of Pakistan continue to give their verdict against PTI, but the selected govt refuses to listen.
Shehbaz Sharif responded to this tweet by thanking Bilawal. “There is no doubt that the by-election results represent an overwhelming rejection of the anti-people policies pursued by the PTI government,” tweeted Sharif.
Thank you, Bilawal. There is no doubt that the by-election results represent an overwhelming rejection of the anti-people policies pursued by the PTI government.
The last few months have seen the leaders of the PPP and PML-N indulge in a war of words, both online and offline. In March, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz tweeted about a ‘substitute being fostered’, which some say was a dig at Bilawal Bhutto after Asif Zardari had asked Mian Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistanduring a meeting of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
No rough day at all particularly when you know what’s happening & why. Tbh,the one who should be really worried is the Selected bcoz he is being seen as a ‘spent force’ & his substitute is being fostered. Btw, I am not liking the tweet but responding directly 😜 @CherieDamour_https://t.co/P4adReJD9Q
When Bilawal was later asked whether Maryam’s comment was about him, he said that if he wanted to comment on the PML-N’s vice-president, he would have asked his party’s vice-president to comment on it.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Moazzam Sher Kallu has won the PP-84 Khushab by-election with a significant margin. Kallu came out on top with 73,081 votes and retained the seat that was vacated after the death of PML-N lawmaker Malik Muhammad Waris Kallu in March.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Hussain Baloch was the runner-up with 62,903 votes. Kallu’s margin of victory is 10,178 votes.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the public and winning candidate Moazzam Sher Kallu. “The people of Khushab have rejected the wheat and sugar thieves,” Sharif was quoted
پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) کے صدر اور قائد حزب اختلاف شہبازشریف کی پی پی 84 خوشاب میں انتخابی فتح پر عوام اور پارٹی امیدوارملک معظم کلو کو مبارک
خوشاب کے عوام نے بھی آٹا چینی چوروں کو مسترد کردیاہے
الحمداللہ عوام اس خدمت کا اعتراف کررہی ہے جو مسلم لیگ (ن) نے اپنے دور میں کی تھی
Maryam Nawaz celebrated the Khushab victory on Twitter. She said “people in every city have declared Nawaz Sharif’s victory” and derided those who wanted to “minus Nawaz Sharif”.
ہر شہر میں عوام نے نوازشریف کی فتح کا اعلان کر دیا ہے۔ ہر صوبے سے نوازشریف کے بیانیہ کی تائید عوام کے حق حکمرانی کی فتح ہے نوازشریف کو مائنس کرنے والو! دیکھو اللّہ کے کام! صرف نوازشریف رہ گیا ہے باقی سب مائنس ہوچکے ہیں۔ pic.twitter.com/Tb04OSI2D2
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) May 5, 2021
“Look at the works of Allah! Only Nawaz Sharif is left [standing], while everyone else has been cut out,” added Maryam.
A total of eight candidates stood in the race. Besides the PML-N and PTI candidates, PPP’s Ghulam Habib Ahmed was in the running, as well the banned TLP’s Asghar Ali. The independents included Amjad Raza, Aurangzeb, Imran Haider Khan, and Ilyas Khan Azad.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said in a statement that “no untoward situation of law and order has been reported at the polling station”.
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated the President PML-N Shehbaz Sharif, for the win in PP-84 by-polls.
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party @BBhuttoZardari congratulates President Pakistan Muslim League-N @CMShehbaz, for the win in PP-84 Khushab by-polls.
Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the nation earlier today, giving a detailed update on the prevalent security situation in the country. He said that he decided to do this after the tense situation last week.
PM said Pakistan is the only country to have been made in the name of Islam. “I have travelled the entire Pakistan. Our people love the Prophet (PBUH) with all their heart. Whenever there is anything blasphemous, we do not tolerate it. Any Muslim in any part of the world gets hurt by such blasphemous content. We are no different.”
PM Khan said that last week, the TLP tried to show as if it loves the Prophet (PBUH) more than others. “What the TLP wants, we also want — i.e. no blasphemy against our Prophet (PBUH),” but he stated that the approach is and should be different to dealing with the issue.
“TLP has demanded that the French Ambassador should be sent back, ” the PM said, “we have a different approach from them but our (government’s) goal is the same.”
He repeatedly stated that he understands the way western countries think and nothing we do in our country will change the way the West thinks. “I understand the West and this approach will not help. The West has made this an issue of freedom of speech and this (riots in Pakistan) will not make a difference to France.”
He then stated the loss of life and property that the violent riots had caused in Pakistan. “Four police officers lost their lives and 800 were injured, ” Khan stated, “40 police cars were burnt and millions of rupees in damages were caused to personal properties.” He also stated that many oxygen cylinders were not able to make it to corona patients due to the riots.
He then explained his approach to the nation. “Our rupee is finally stabilising, our economy is getting better. When we send France’s ambassador back, we break relations with the European Union (EU),” he emphasised, “Which means we lose our textile exports to the EU. This means we lose jobs and poverty will increase. We will lose, not France.”
He explained that he had been developing his approach since 2019 when he first addressed the United Nations and told the world that the actions of the West hurt the Muslim world. Therefore, he suggests that the Muslim world come together and in a united front, state that blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is unacceptable. He went on to say that if the West does not stop hurting Muslim sentiments – like they have for the Jews and the Holocaust – then the Muslim world should boycott trade with the West.
“We tried to explain this to TLP,” Khan said, “We were in discussions with them and said we can bring this up in the assembly. But we realised they were preparing for something else and soon thereafter, they announced that they would do a dharna. Which is when our discussions with them stopped.”
Khan also made a pertinent point as to the riots affecting Pakistan and no one else. “The crime happens somewhere else, and we hurt ourselves? How does that make sense?” he asked, “We need to come together. Our economy is getting better. The country is going in the right direction. This is not the time to hurt our country.”
PM Khan also gave the example of former PM Nawaz Sharif not raising his voice against Salman Rushdie and his blasphemous book, ‘The Satanic Verses’. “I am speaking up against blasphemy done by the West but former PM Nawaz Sharif did not when Salman Rushdie’s book came out.”
PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal later tweeted that the book did not in fact come out during the tenure of Sharif. It came out in 1988. Sharif came to power in 1990.
عمران نیازی کو نواز شریف اور مسلم لیگ ن فوبیا ہے- سلمان رشدی نے توہین آمیز کتاب 1988 میں لکھی تھی اسوقت نواز شریف وزیر اعظم نہیں تھے- PMLN نے ایسی کوئی حرکت نہیں کی جیسی عمران نیازی اور انکی جماعت 2017 میں کر رہے تھے- PTI نے مذہب کارڈ پہ میرے خلاف الیکشن لڑا اور ہارا-
Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who has emerged as a strong political leader in the past couple of months, recently talked about the hardships faced by her father, asking everyone to name any other person who has suffered as much as he has.
73 سال میں ایک شخص بتادیں جس نے نوازشریف جتنی تکلیفیں برداشت کی ہوں؟مریم
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has directed the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter to continue preparations for the March 26 long march to Islamabad, reports said Thursday.
A letter was written to the party’s KP leadership on Fazl’s directives, directing the leaders not to slow down the preparations. The letter said the long march has only been postponed until Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) makes its decision on the march.
Nine of the 11 component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) are ready to participate in the long march while PPP has sought time to make a final decision concerning en masse resignations, the letter said.
The development comes two days after the opposition alliance announced to postpone the long march after PPP linked its resignations from the legislative assemblies with deposed prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif’s return — a condition PML-N termed out of the question.
“Nine parties [of PDM] were in favour of resignations along with the long march but PPP had expressed some reservations,” Fazl told reporters on Tuesday, adding the PPP would discuss the matter during its upcoming central executive committee (CEC) meeting.
A day earlier, Fazl held a telephonic conversation with Nawaz and urged him to return to Pakistan, saying with top PML-N leadership living abroad in self-exile, it was difficult to execute decisions taken by the opposition alliance.
After spending a year in prison, Nawaz, 71, secured a conditional bail in November 2019 to travel to London on the pretext of medical treatment and has since refused to return.
His party insists that despite being summoned by the courts, which declared him a proclaimed offender in multiple corruption trials, the former premier will only return after the completion of his medical treatment.
With differences apparently coming to the fore among ranks of the opposition alliance as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) seems to be stepping back from confrontation, a statement by former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has raised quite a few eyebrows.
Talking about the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Tuesday meeting, Nawaz told reporters in London that the long march “was set to be held on its time”, but the PPP had sought time to discuss the issue of the resignation in its Central Executive Committee (CEC) due to “reasons you already know”.
He, however, dodged a question pertaining to the possibility of a deal being struck, “a consequence of which could be delays in joint opposition’s anti-govt plans, as sought by the PPP time and again over the past several months”.
Earlier in the day, PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari urged the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo to return to Pakistan to strengthen the PDM.
The two senior leaders spoke during the meeting of the anti-government alliance, wherein the former president told Nawaz that he must be ready to go to jail if they wish to fight against the establishment.
Zardari said that he remained in jail for 14 years. He urged the PML-N supremo to return to the country at the earliest. He complained that PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar did not come to Pakistan to cast his vote in the Senate election.
“The struggle against the establishment should be aimed at achieving democratic stability, instead of settling personal scores,” Zardari told the meeting.
Nawaz, who attended the meeting through video link, was told that he needs to return whether the PDM moves forward with a long march or a no-confidence motion. Zardari further said that Nawaz’s presence was extremely important to secure support from Punjab.
Speaking to Nawaz about the idea of mass resignations, Zardari maintained that such a move would only help PM Imran Khan and the members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
He further stated that no move would be made to divide the parties of the PDM, emphasising that their war is within the parliament, not from the mountains.
“When you return to Pakistan, we will hand over our resignations to you,” Zardari added, urging both Sharif and Dar to return.
Defending her father, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz stressed that her father’s “life is in danger” and questioned how he could return under the circumstances.
“Does Zardari sahab guarantee that my father’s life will not be in danger in Pakistan?”
Maryam then reportedly said that she is there “of her own accord”.
“Just like you are on video link, so is Mian sahab,” she said.
She said that Nawaz’s life is “threatened under NAB custody” and that he had suffered “two heart attacks while in jail”.
While the episode has “exposed” cracks within the opposition alliance which analysts say have now been there for a long time, reports claim Zardari later apologised to Maryam.
“It was never my intent to have you apologise. I merely considered myself a daughter to you and complained as Bakhtawar or Aseefa would,” Maryam reportedly told the former president.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari has reportedly asked former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan in the ongoing meeting of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
According to reports, Zardari asked Sharif to return to Pakistan while discussing the resignations from the assemblies. He also said that “if we have to fight together, then we have to go to jail together as well”.
“I have spent 14 years in jail,” said Zardari. He also complained about Ishaq Dar not returning to Pakistan for the Senate elections. Zardari asked both Sharif and Dar to return to the country, saying that if they return to the country, then the PPP will submit its resignations to Nawaz Sharif.
Zardari said that if the opposition resigns from the assemblies now, it will strengthen Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as the establishment.
Sources say that Maryam Nawaz has said her father’s life is under threat. She asked Asif Zardari to give a guarantee that nothing will happen to Nawaz Sharif upon his return.
Later, after the meeting, core members of the PDM including Maulana Fazl ur Rahman, Maryam Nawaz and Yousuf Raza Gilani addressed a press conference in which they confirmed Zardari’s request.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and head of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday alleged that his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif is being threatened by some elements in the establishment that if she doesn’t stop, they will “smash” her.
Besides Prime Minister Imran Khan, the PML-N chief also named three senior army generals.
پاکستان کے جمہوری نظام اور اخلاقیات کو پاؤں تلے روندتے ہوئے آپ اس حد تک گر چکے ہیں کہ پہلے آپ نے کراچی میں چادر اور چار دیواری کو پامال کیا، رات کے وقت مریم نواز کے ہوٹل کے کمرے کا دروازہ توڑا اور اب انہیں دھمکی دے رہے ہیں کہ اگر وه باز نہ آئیں تو انہیں SMASH کر دیا جائے گا۔ pic.twitter.com/TEjUS3xHI2
The company hired by Pakistan to trace assets of the Sharif family in London, Broadsheet LLC, has ended up paying £20,000 (Rs4.5 million or Rs45 lacs) to the Sharifs in the lawsuit before the London High Court, GeoNews reported.
According to reports, Broadsheet has made the payment for the settlement of the Sharif family’s legal costs after having withdrawn the Avenfield Apartments attachment application for the seizure and sale of four Avenfield Apartments in the Broadsheet vs Pakistan/National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case.
Lawyers acting for the Sharif family have confirmed that the payment has been received in their bank account whereas Broadsheet’s lawyers have also confirmed making the payment.
Sharing the development on Twitter, Maryam said those who had gone to identify corruption, ended up paying Rs4.5 million to save themselves.
نواز شریف دشمنوں کو پھر ذلت آمیزشکست ہوئی۔کرپشن پکڑنے گئے تھے 45لاکھ دے کر جان چھڑوائی۔نواز شریف نے کہا تھا میں اپنا معاملہ اللّہ پر چھوڑتا ہوں۔اللّہ اپنے بندوں کی حفاظت خود کرتا ہے۔عمران اوراسکے حواریوں کو بھی جرمانے ادا کرنے ہوں گے جو خزانے سے نہیں ذاتی جیبوں سے نکلواۓ جائیں گے pic.twitter.com/fhqQvbQwQh
“Nawaz Sharif had left it up to Allah,” she tweeted, adding that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and his team will also have to “pay their fines” that will be from their own pockets and not the treasury.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in London for more than one year due to medical reasons, will be without a passport now after it expires tonight.
Meanwhile, the interior minister in a presser said that the former premier’s passport will not be renewed and that the government could issue an emergency travel document on his request for returning back to the country.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has tried all means to bring Nawaz back but without any success. PM Imran had announced that he would go to the UK himself to bring Nawaz back. His statement was followed by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed saying that only Allah can bring Nawaz Sharif back. But eventually, the government decided that it won’t renew the passport of the ex-PM in an attempt to force his hand.
Another reason that Nawaz cannot approach the authorities for the renewal of his passport is being on the Exit Control List. As per the law, a person whose name is on the no-fly list cannot apply for the renewal of his passport. However, Nawaz Sharif can return to the country anytime, as reiterated by Sheikh Rasheed.
So what options do Nawaz have? Will he take asylum in the UK or come back voluntarily? Or the UK government will accept Pakistan’s request for his extradition?
At present, it is all good for Nawaz.
The ex-PM has a ten-year visa and he doesn’t need permission to stay in the UK. But just in case, a person can stay in the UK for up to 18 months in case of medical treatment. For the British government, the only point of concern is legalities at the time of entry to the country, said a report in Dawn.
In addition to the medical reasons, the former premier has two more options: dependency law and investment option.
In the UK, dependency law applies to people over 65 and Nawaz Sharif is 71. The ex-PM can invoke the law if needs be. Given his age and frail health, the dependency law can be invoked and Nawaz can stay in the UK as a dependent of Hassan Nawaz — an established businessman.
And the third option is business plans. With a certain amount of investment, anyone can stay in the UK for a certain period of time.
So Nawaz Sharif, even though his passport is expired, can stay in London for a comfortable amount of time. Just like Dar, whose passport was not renewed but he was allowed to stay in the UK because he’s not on the negative list of any security agency and there is no adverse report against him.
