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Tag: Nawaz Sharif

  • Nawaz won’t accompany mother’s body to Pakistan

    Nawaz won’t accompany mother’s body to Pakistan

    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.

    “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.

  • Gen (r) Raheel Sharif says he never wanted an extension

    Gen (r) Raheel Sharif says he never wanted an extension

    Former chief of army staff (COAS) General (r) Raheel Sharif has rubbished reports regarding him seeking an extension in his tenure as the top military commander, denying the claim by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that the party was being victimised for refusing him the same.

    According to The News, the issue of the very popular former military bigwig recently cropped up again after former PML-N leader Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch said that he was told by then prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif that Gen (r) Sharif had repeatedly approached him to get an extension but to no avail.

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

    “It was a great disappointment for me as I had expected Raheel Sharif to retire gracefully like a true soldier,” he had said as several PML-N leaders also drew links between the reported civil-military tussle from ex-PM Nawaz’s government as well as Dawn Leaks and Panama Papers scandals.

    According to reports, General (r) Sharif was contacted through Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shuaib, who quoted the former as saying that following a meeting with the then premier and other key PML-N leaders, when he was leaving the meeting room of the PM’s Office, he was approached by Shehbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar.

    Gen (r) Sharif told Lt Gen (r) Shuaib that Shehbaz and Nisar had said that they wanted to give him an extension. According to Lt Gen (r) Shoaib, the former army chief replied that he did not want an extension because he had already announced several months ago that he would not continue to stay in office after his three-year term.

    According to Gen (r) Sharif, as narrated by Lt Gen (r) Shuaib, the PML-N leaders insisted that since he had performed well as the COAS, the country was still engaged in its fight against terrorism and there was a need to bring peace to Karachi, the government, therefore, wanted him to continue.

    Lt Gen (r) Shuaib said that according to Gen (r) Sharif, when the army chief again showed his reluctance, he was offered the slot of field marshal, which he again declined as he was not interested in getting a post where he would become a mere figurehead with nothing to do. It is claimed that the PML-N leaders then told Gen (r) Sharif that the government would consider empowering the post of field marshal.

    He told Gen (r) Shuaib that he had never on his own discussed any such issue with anyone.

    The report quoted an informed PML-N leader as saying that Shehbaz and Nisar had even visited Nawaz in London, where he had gone for his open-heart surgery, to press for an extension fearing that otherwise martial law could be imposed. Even then, Nawaz is believed to have refused to give an extension.

  • PM claims to have intelligence on Nawaz’s ‘treason’

    PM claims to have intelligence on Nawaz’s ‘treason’

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed to have intelligence on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, alleging that former ambassador to the United States (US) Hussain Haqqani was “running Nawaz’s communication strategy”.

    Speaking to a private media outlet on Thursday, the premier was referring to the former PM’s recent speeches in public meetings of his party and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) during which he had accused the army establishment of orchestrating his ouster.

    Nawaz had gone on to name the Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chiefs and said that there was “a state above the state”.

    Reacting to his political rival’s statements, Imran on Thursday accused Nawaz of trying to create rifts within the armed forces by encouraging army personnel to “rebel against” the military leadership.

    “When they say that the [military leadership] is bad and the rest of the army is good; is army a democratic party that would move a no-confidence motion? You [Nawaz] are telling the army to launch a coup, to rebel [against the leadership]. Can there be a bigger [form of] treason?”

    When asked if the government would take up a treason case against Nawaz, the premier did not give a clear answer and said, “Treason cases are hard to prove.”

    He said that he had information on Nawaz’s activities but added that “court cases cannot be filed on agencies’ reports”.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “A person who is sitting outside in a Mayfair luxury flat bought with stolen money is telling the army [personnel] to rebel. He is also trying to drive a wedge in the judiciary by taking the name of one judge saying he is good while another, who was a chief justice and gave the Panama judgement against him, was a bad judge.”

    “Imran Khan is a Bollywood villain but Nawaz is a democrat. The person who grew up in Ziaul Haq’s lap is a democrat today, while Imran Khan who started his party from scratch, who mobilised people to come to power is an army puppet!”

    “Nawaz Sharif suits India, not Imran Khan.”

  • VIDEO: On-air fight between PTI’s Firdous, PML-N’s Azma goes viral

    VIDEO: On-air fight between PTI’s Firdous, PML-N’s Azma goes viral

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azma Bukhari had engaged in a verbal spat during a talk show, as both sides accused each other of stealing people’s mandate in the general elections.

    The show host tried to calm the duo down, but his attempts remained futile.

    Responding to Bukhari’s allegations, Firdous — who was appointed as chief minister’s information aide last week — said Nawaz Sharif was in cahoots with the military establishment in past. She gave examples of IJI [Islami Jamhoori Ittehad] — an alliance funded by the powers-that-be against then PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in the late ’80s.

    The CM’s aide also referred to a Supreme Court judgement in the Asghar Khan case. She asked how did Nawaz Sharif become the prime minister for three times?

    Responding to claims that Imran Khan was a ‘selected’ prime minister, Firdous said Nawaz had become the PM after going through the same process — getting 2/3 majority in parliament.

    “Whose mandate did he steal to become the PM?” Firdous asked Azma Bukhari, saying they didn’t question the polling when their party had won the elections.

  • ‘Notification rejected’: Nawaz refuses to trust army probe

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has refused to accept an inquiry report pertaining to the involvement of the Rangers and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials in the arrest of Capt (r) Safdar, saying the report shied away from naming the “real culprits”.

    In a tweet, the former prime minister, who has been in s self-imposed exile in London for almost a year now for medical reasons, termed the report as a “cover-up”.

    “Inquiry report on Karachi incident is a cover-up scapegoating juniors and shielding the real culprits. Report “Rejected”,” the ousted premier tweeted.

    It may be noted here that only Nawaz Sharif from the PML-N has commented on the inquiry report.

    As for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), its spokesperson Mian Iftikhar Hussain termed the development in the inquiry “a victory of the democratic forces”. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, also welcomed the report.

    In a statement on Tuesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said that the court of inquiry constituted to redress the grievances of the Sindh IG, on the orders of COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, had been completed.

    “The court of inquiry has established that on the night of Oct 18/Oct 19, officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of the desecration of Mazare Quaid [Jinnah’s mausoleum],” read a statement issued by the military’s media wing.

    “They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law. Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned officers decided to act, rather overzealously,” the ISPR statement had said.

    “They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to the misunderstanding between the two state institutions.

    “Based on the recommendations of the court of inquiry, it has been decided to remove the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ,” the statement had added.

    KARACHI INCIDENT:

    Last month, the ISPR had said the army chief had taken notice of and ordered an immediate inquiry into the “Karachi incident”, Dawn reported.

    At the time, the ISPR did not specify which incident it was referring to. However, the statement came minutes after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Gen Bajwa and ISI Director General (DG) Faiz Hameed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the PML-N leader, who was in Karachi for an anti-government rally of the joint opposition.

    On October 19, Safdar, who was staying at a hotel with his wife, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, was arrested for “violating the sanctity of Jinnah’s mausoleum” by raising political slogans at the venue, surrounded by hundreds of party workers.

    Following Safdar’s arrest, a purported voice message by PML-N leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair was shared by a journalist in which Zubair alleged that the IG was kidnapped and forced to register the FIR [First Information Report] against Maryam, her husband Safdar and 200 others for violating the sanctity of the tomb.

    In the audio clip circulating on Twitter, Zubair said that Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah confirmed to him that police were pressured into making the arrest. “When they [police] refused to do that, Rangers kidnapped [the IGP],” Zubair had said.

    Maryam had also alleged that the Sindh police chief was forcibly “taken to the sector commander’s office and asked to sign on the arrest orders”.

    The statement by the military’s media wing comes days after PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said that the inquiry into the “alleged abduction” of the Sindh IG and additional IG, and the “storming of Maryam’s room” had not been made public despite Gen Bajwa’s “personal assurance”.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Nawaz naming Gen Bajwa in Gujranwala jalsa ‘shocked’ Bilawal

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has distanced himself from a statement by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif accusing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa of “hijacking elections”.

    The PPP chief alluded to remarks made by Nawaz during a rally in Gujranwala held by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) last month. During the speech, the former PM had called out Gen Bajwa and ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed for alleged manipulation of election results.

    In an interview with BBC Urdu, Bilawal said the statement “shocked” him because the use of such language during the public gathering was unprecedented. “But if Nawaz Sharif names these generals, he must have evidence to back these claims up,” said the PPP chief, adding that hopefully, the PML-N supreme leader would bring forward relevant evidence.

    The PPP chief said the PDM was not in favour of naming generals, so a consensus was reached to use the term “establishment”. However, it is Nawaz Sharif’s right to call these people out if he wants to, added Bilawal.

    He said the deployment of the military inside and outside the polling was wrong, so was the dam fund campaign of former chief justice Saqib Nisar in the lead-up to the polls. “So, due to the prevalence of such activities, we can not say Imran was brought to power by an individual.”

    The PPP chief also shot down reports regarding his party’s lack of interest in the PDM. He said the PPP stood by the commitments made at the time of the formation of the joint opposition alliance.

  • Shahid Khaqan Abbasi ‘approached with offer to form government’

    Former prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has claimed that during his time in jail over corruption allegations, he was approached with an offer to form a government.

    “I told the messengers to go and talk to party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif instead,” the former premier said while speaking to The News.

    Avoiding naming the messenger, Abbasi added that both Nawaz and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would not be willing to be part of any dialogue leading to the setting up of what he termed “another hybrid government”.

    He reiterated his stance for an inter-institution dialogue for the sake of a better future for Pakistan, and added that Nawaz would be ready to be part of a meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders.

    Abbasi said that Nawaz Sharif’s recent speeches were not meant to humiliate anyone but to identify the problems and fix them for the sake of a brighter future and in the interest of the people of Pakistan.

    To a question, he said that it was his personal view that an inter-institution dialogue was the only way forward for the country.

    When asked if Nawaz would agree to such an idea, he responded in the affirmative and said that the PML-N supremo had no personal agenda or grudge with anyone but wanted to address the fundamental wrongs of the system, which could only be corrected through a meaningful dialogue process.

    He said that the purpose of the opposition’s current public mobilisation campaigns was to pave the way for a meaningful dialogue process.

    He explained that neither Nawaz nor the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is against institutions; instead, they only refer to the mistakes of certain individuals holding responsible positions.

    READ: Ex-PM Abbasi speaks about meeting on economy with Gen Bajwa

    Once again referring to Nawaz’s recent speeches, he said that although the PML-N supremo had named the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chiefs, the purpose was not to humiliate them but to point out what went wrong.

    He said that all the stakeholders should sit together for the greater good of the masses instead of focusing on personal issues and grudges.

    Regarding the PML-N’s contacts with the establishment, he said that politicians and the establishment have always maintained contacts but after the recent episodes, where such contacts were revealed in a scandalous manner, the trust level for such interactions was dashed. At times, these contacts are made in the best national interest, he said, but the manner in which such meetings were recently portrayed, has compelled the PML-N to stop such interactions.

    Abbasi maintained that currently there was no contact between the PML-N and the establishment and such contacts could not be restored before the revival of trust between the two sides.

  • ‘Vijay Mallya sent back’: Fawad’s blunder on Nawaz’s extradition called out on air

    ‘Vijay Mallya sent back’: Fawad’s blunder on Nawaz’s extradition called out on air

    A blunder by Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry was called out by the host of the show he had appeared on to talk about the extradition of deposed prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, who was last year allowed by the government to travel abroad to seek medical treatment despite his conviction in corruption cases.

    As per the details, Fawad, who was speaking to journalist Shahzad Iqbal during the latter’s show on Geo News, was asked if the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was hopeful that its efforts to get Nawaz extradited would bear fruit.

    “India is a prominent power with influence and you agree. But we have the example of Indian businessman Vijay Mallya who is accused of corruption worth Rs90 billion and has been convicted in the contempt case against him. They [Indian authorities] have time and again been requesting the British authorities to extradite Vijay Mallya but to no avail,” Iqbal said.

    Indian businessman and former lawmaker Mallya is the subject of an extradition effort by New Delhi to bring him back from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. Mallya is a former owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team. He is also one of the four prominent business magnates of India on the lives of which the 2020 Netflix original documentary web-series “Bad Boy Billionaires” focuses.

    Citing another example, the journalist spoke of former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, who too was allowed to seek treatment abroad despite his conviction in a grenade attack case from 2004 on top of financial crimes accusations, and was never sent back by the UK regardless of Bangladeshi authorities’ requests.

    “You are absolutely right but Vijay Mallya was recently extradited. What you are saying is right and that was why I was against permitting Nawaz to travel abroad,” Fawad said in response to Iqbal who appeared shocked over the minister’s ill-informed claim regarding the Indian businessman’s extradition.

    “I haven’t read anything about Vijay Mallya’s extradition. The case is in the Supreme Court. Who told you this?” the journalist asked.

    Attempting to brush it off, Fawad said he had read “something somewhere” and thought Mallya had been extradited, and told the journalist to take a look, over which Iqbal requested the minister to share the source with him. “I will also read it because as far as I know, Vijay Mallya has not yet been extradited.”

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The minister’s err moment was followed by both Iqbal and Fawad telling each other to “Google it”.

    Here’s what The Current discovered when we Googled it:

    “The Indian government has been informed that there is a ‘confidential legal matter’ without whose resolution the extradition of embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya is not possible to India from Britain, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday, adding that India is not a party to that matter. The MEA also said that Mallya’s avenues for appeal against extradition have already been exhausted and that India is in touch with Britain on the issue of his extradition to India,” reads an early October report by the Deccan Chronicle.

    The same has been reported by multiple Indian media organisations, including dailies such as the Hindustan Times and The Hindu.