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Tag: Pakistan

  • ‘Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the PM of India’: Bilawal Bhutto tells Indian Minister

    ‘Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the PM of India’: Bilawal Bhutto tells Indian Minister

    Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari slammed Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi in response to his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s accusations about Pakistan perpetuating terrorism and sheltering Osama bin Laden.

    “I would like to remind Mr Jaishankar that Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the prime minister (of India),” said Bilawal at a press conference in New York on Thursday.

    “He (Narendra Modi) was banned from entering this country (the United States). These are the prime minister and foreign minister of RSS, which draws inspiration from Hitler’s SS,” he added.

    “In India, who perpetuates terrorism? Is it Pakistan? Ask the people of Gujrat; they will say it is their prime minister. Ask the people of Kashmir; they will say the butcher of Gujrat is now the butcher of Kashmir. I am not talking about some imaginary past; I am talking about today. They are not even attempting to wash the blood of the people of Gujrat from their hands for their own election campaign. Prime Minister Modi and his government have used their power to pardon the men who raped Muslims in Gujrat. The prime minister of India freed those rapists and terrorists.”

    “The Indian government does not believe in Gandhi’s ideology, but rather in the doctrines of his assassin,” said Bilawal.

    https://twitter.com/IbrarAMir3/status/1603491220566728727?s=20&t=RDyV6PKM20nB5RI-D5977w

    Jaishankar remarks on Pakistan came after State Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that India is a “rogue state” that projects itself as greatest victim of terrorism but is the perpetrator of it. Jaishankr said that Khar’s remarks reminded him of the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Islamabad more than a decade ago when she reminded Pakistan that “if you have snakes in your backyard, you cannot expect them to bite only your neighbours”.

    He claimed that Pakistan was “not great at listening to good advice … and now look what’s happening there. Today, it’s the epicentre of terrorism … and has its fingerprints over a lot of activities in the region and beyond”.

    Urging Pakistan not to blame others, the Indian minister asked: “How long Pakistan intends to practice [terrorism] and hide it by taking that debate elsewhere? Please clean up your act. Please try to be a good neighbour.”

    “We have lost far more lives to terrorism than India did,” said Bhutto-Zardari while pointing out that “India has been playing in the space” that has made it “very easy” to bracket Muslims with terrorism. “India has very skilfully blurred this line, making like us all are terrorists who are actually victims.”

    The Pakistani foreign minister noted that India has continuously perpetuated this philosophy, not just for Pakistan but Muslims in India too.

    The foreign minister said that Pakistan is proud of its achievements in the war against terrorism, as the country has taken concrete steps in connection with the National Action Plan for counterterrorism.

    He said that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) endorsed Pakistan’s measures taken to stem terror financing. Bilawal also said that it is wrong to blame the Muslim world for terrorism as terrorism doesn’t belong to any religion or region.

    He pointed out that terrorism has mainly targeted Muslims since 2001. Also, there were incidents where Chinese citizens were targeted in Karachi, he said.

    Highlighting the post-flood situation in Pakistan, the foreign minister said some areas of Balochistan and Sindh are still waterlogged. The massive flooding adversely impacted health, education and basic infrastructure.

    Assistance from the international community is crucial for Pakistan in coping with the challenge of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the victims, he asserted.

  • Soch Hai Apki: Which players are included in the PSL Season 8?

    Soch Hai Apki: Which players are included in the PSL Season 8?

    The draft of the season 8 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) took place in Karachi on Thursday. All six franchises selected their picks.
    Have a look at the complete squads of all the teams:

    Lahore Qalandars:

    Shaheeen Shah Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Kamran Ghulam,  Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Daniyal, Shawaiz Irfan, Jordan Cox, Jalat Khan

    Peshawar Zalmi:

    Babar Azam (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseeb Ullah, Jimmy Neesham

    Multan Sultans: 

    Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Joshua Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid, Arafat Minhas

    Islamabad United:

    Shadab Khan (C), Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Moeen Ali, Mubasir Khan

    Quetta Gladiators:

    Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Naveen ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Will Smeed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith, Ahsan Ali, Umaid Asif, Muhammad Zahid, Abdul Bangalzai, Aimal Khan, Martin Guptill, Omair Bin Yousuf

    Karachi Kings

    Imad Wasim (c), Haider Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Matthew Wade, Imran Tahir, James Vince, James Fuller, Andrew Tye, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Akhlaq, Irfan Khan Niazi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mohammad Umar

  • ‘General Faiz made Suleman Shahbaz flee from Pakistan’: Journalist Suhail Waraich

    ‘General Faiz made Suleman Shahbaz flee from Pakistan’: Journalist Suhail Waraich

    Senior journalist Suhail Warraich has claimed that Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, was sent out of Pakistan with the help of former Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG-ISI), General Faiz Hameed.

    In a candid conversation with journalist Fahad Shehbaz Khan, Warraich said that the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa was a good man, who did not make jail particularly tough for anyone, whether it was former President Asif Ali Zardari or Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif.

    Warraich further revealed that Gen Bajwa was never in favour of keeping these people in jail for long periods or of giving them pain when they were in prison. “Former PM Imran Khan wanted to give pain to the Opposition when they were in jail; he [Gen Bajwa] couldn’t do much but really helped everyone,” Suhail Warraich said.

    Fahad said that audio recordings of Hamza Shehbaz, Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif during National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody, were sent to General Faiz.

    Warraich elaborated that General Bajwa wanted to maintain his soft image. “He is one COAS who dealt with two governments and survived as well. He did not want anything to happen to Nawaz Sharif while he was in jail and hence he sent him to London.”

    The veteran journalist also confirmed that Shehbaz Sharif and General Bajwa were always on very cordial terms with each other.

  • Sahafi baradari rejects offer of housing society, accuses govt of bribing them for not reporting on RUDA

    Sahafi baradari rejects offer of housing society, accuses govt of bribing them for not reporting on RUDA

    Pakistani journalist community has come forward to reject the Punjab government’s offer of a journalists’ housing society to be built in the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA).

    On Wednesday, Pervaiz Elahi, the Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, allocated 700 kanals of land for the construction of a journalists’ housing society in RUDA.

    Taking to Twitter, Elahi said, “Another promise to the journalist community has been fulfilled. Ravi Urban Development Authority has allotted 700 kanals of land for Journalist Colony Phase 2 in its first phase.”

    He, further said that providing a roof for journalists is his top priority. “Plots were given to journalists in the previous period and still the promise of giving plots has been fulfilled,” he added.

    Right after the decision, Twitter was filled with tweets by journalists and human rights activists, jointly rejecting the scheme. They accused the government of bribing them with public money.

    Why are people against the allocation?

    The Ravi Urban Development Authority allegedly forcibly acquired farmland from farmers, destroying crops on hundreds of acres in the Ferozewala area.

    The farmers and landowners who have been victims of the project, accused the former premier Imran Khan of pushing the Pervaiz Elahi-led Punjab government to use force and arms for taking illegal possession of their land.

    In August 2020, the then prime minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the controversial real estate project.

  • Climate Change can lead to humanitarian crisis in 2023

    Climate Change can lead to humanitarian crisis in 2023

    The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released its annual Emergency Watchlist, highlighting the 20 countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2023.


    According to the report, climate change will accelerate humanitarian crises around the world in 2023, adding to issues created by armed conflict and economic downturns.


    As per the study, Somalia, Ethiopia and Afghanistan top IRC’s list of countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2023.
    David Miliband, President and CEO of the IRC said, “The Emergency Watchlist shows record levels of humanitarian need in 2022 and real peril ahead for 2023.

    “A year ago we diagnosed a global ‘System Failure’ – deficits in respect of state actions, diplomacy, legal rights and humanitarian operations that are driving the increased numbers of people in humanitarian need. Yet humanitarian need, forced displacement and food insecurity have all worsened since then,” he said. This system failure can be seen in this year’s figures: humanitarian need has jumped by 65 million people since last year, displacement has ballooned to over 100 million people.

    “The 2023 Watchlist reveals a need for a step change in the way the international community approaches humanitarian crises. At their heart, these are political crises, economic crises, security crises, and climate crises. But the erosion of guardrails meant to address these underlying issues means that humanitarian crises are spiraling. Aid as usual will not meet the moment. The nearly 340 million people who require aid in 2023 need more humanitarian funding for greater and better programs. But they also deserve more. They require a plan to break the cycle of runaway crises. This means new tools to protect people caught up in conflict, and a new commitment to confront – rather than compound- shared global risks,” he stated.

  • IMF expected to reach staff-level agreement with Pakistan soon

    IMF expected to reach staff-level agreement with Pakistan soon

    The country representative for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ester Perez, has called the conversations with the Pakistani government regarding the ninth review “productive.”

    “Discussions have enabled a revision to the macroeconomic outlook post floods as well as an in-depth evaluation of fiscal, monetary, exchange rate, and energy policies adopted since the completion of the combined seventh and eighth reviews,” said Perez.

    The chief of the IMF in Pakistan stated that the international lender is eager to continue discussions about policies that effectively address the requirements for assistance and recovery after the floods while also maintaining external and fiscal sustainability based on the available resources.

    Furthermore, a senior member of the Pakistani administration told The News that the IMF negotiations were doing well and that a staff-level agreement will likely be reached soon.

    The ninth review was scheduled for November 3, 2022, according to the IMF seventh and eighth review documents, which were published on the website at the end of September 2022.

    After discussions with Pakistani officials that ended on November 18, 2021, the executive board approved the sixth review on February 2, 2022. This delay was brought on by the inability to meet the ‘prior’ conditions.

    The proposed dates for the seventh and eighth reviews were set for March 4 and June 3, respectively, in the staff report that was made public following the approval of the sixth review. However, after talks that ended on May 25, 2022, the IMF executive board accepted the seventh and eighth reviews under the EFF on August 29. This delay was once again caused by the failure to meet the ‘prior’ standards.

  • India bans Pakistani OTT platform for web series against national security of India

    India bans Pakistani OTT platform for web series against national security of India

    The Indian government has banned the Pakistani OTT platform Vidly, after the release of the first three episodes of the series —“Sevak: The Confessions”.

    As per Kanchan Gupta, Senior Adviser at Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in New Delhi, the series is “determined to be detrimental to national security, sovereignty and integrity of India.”

    “Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, using emergency powers under IT Rules 2021, has issued directions on 12 December 2022 for immediate blocking of the website, 2 mobile apps, 4 social media accounts, and one smart TV app of #Pakistan-based OTT Platform Vidly TV,’ he said in a series of tweets.
    “Govt of India action against Pakistan-based Vidly TV follows the web-series “Sevak: The Confessions”, which was determined to be detrimental to national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, and public order in the country,” the tweet added.
    “Action against Pakistan-based Vidly TV follows the assessment that the provocative and wholly untrue web-series “Sevak” was sponsored by Pakistan’s info ops apparatus. First (of 3) episode was released on 26.11.2022, anniversary of Pakistani terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008,” it concluded.
    Sevak stars Amara Malik, Adnan Jaffer, Mohsin Abbas Haider and Hajra Yamin.

  • ‘I have seen people crying for Pakistan at Khana Kaaba’: Sheikh Rasheed breaks down

    ‘I have seen people crying for Pakistan at Khana Kaaba’: Sheikh Rasheed breaks down

    Former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that he saw people crying for Pakistan at Khana Kaaba in Makkah. He broke down while narrating the story on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’.

    “I have seen people crying for Pakistan in Hateem [a low wall originally part of the Kaaba]. People were screaming and crying under the door of the Khana Kaaba. This shows the pain people are carrying in their hearts for Pakistan,” said Rasheed.

    Talking about general elections, Rasheed said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government also thought that its government would complete its tenure but “people pulled the carpet from under their feet”.

    He also said that the sitting government will not do well in the upcoming elections. “All the sitting government is trying to do is cling to power. They will be terribly defeated by Imran Khan.”

  • ‘Apni hadd mein raho’: Male MNA reacts after female ministers unite to slam his remarks against Hina Rabbani

    ‘Apni hadd mein raho’: Male MNA reacts after female ministers unite to slam his remarks against Hina Rabbani

    Women Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) from treasury benches extended their support for State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, after Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) MNA Abdul Akbar Chitrali criticised her on the recent visit to Afghanistan.

    MNA Chitrali said that he was not against any female minister, but he believed that the government should have included some tribal elders in the Khar-led delegation that visited Afghanistan.

    Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman defended the decision, saying that if Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari decided to send a women delegation to [Kabul], he is correct in making this choice. “This is a message from Pakistan that this government and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) work and takes pride in promoting its women, protecting their rights and giving them representation,” she said.

    Quoting the example of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, the minister said she was the first elected woman prime minister of Pakistan and was highly praised across the globe.

    “This debate on gender difference has ended in the entire world, as to who is a man and who a woman. People are known for their performance and merit and not for their gender. Our women are excelling internationally and continuing to do so,” said the minister.

    Referring to the incumbent government, she said: “We, being coalition partners, are on one page and Khar’s visit to Afghanistan has projected the soft image of Pakistan.”

    Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also spoke up, asking that all parliamentarians, especially the male community, should encourage and acknowledge the competency of women ministers appointed on merit.

    “Hina represented Pakistan in Afghanistan. This is a moment of pride for the entire nation,” she said, rebuffing Chitrali’s objections.

    She said the Taliban rulers had no problem negotiating with Khar, who had taken up Pakistan’s concerns very well during her trip to Kabul.

    Right from Fatima Jinnah to Kulsoom Nawaz and Najma Hameed, she said, women had sacrificed to strengthen democracy in the country. They were all pride of Pakistan, she added.

    “This is a wrong impression from our side that such gender discriminations is happening in our own parliament, in Pakistan. I got emotional seeing Hina Rabbani Khar sahiba sitting at the table alongside the Afghanistan government doing the negotiations. We in Pakistan should be proud of her,” said Aurangzeb.

    Later, Chitrali took to the floor of the house and promptly got into a verbal dispute with Aurangzeb and PPP Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri said, “Don’t try to scare me. I am not scared of anyone. Who are you? Aram say betho [ Sit down]. We respect women, but they should remain within their limits.”

    Ayaz Sadiq then intervened, after which Chitrali offered an apology, stating that he was sorry if his remarks hurt anyone.

    He added that his comments were taken in a negative context as he did not mean what his colleagues thought he had said.

  • 765,000 people left Pakistan in 2022

    765,000 people left Pakistan in 2022

    765,000 people left Pakistan in 2022 to seek better educational opportunities outside the country, Waqas Ahmed reports for Express Tribune. Compared to the 225,000 departures in 2021 and the 288,000 immigrants in 2020, these numbers are almost quadruple.


    Almost 92,000 people in the list are doctors, engineers, informational technology experts and accountants by profession

    .
    “The effects of the deteriorating economic situation as well as political uncertainty have begun to affect the workforce of Pakistan,” a bureau official said while talking to The Express Tribune.

    “Hundreds of thousands of young men, including highly educated people, who are worried about inflation, unemployment and uncertain economic and political situation, are going abroad every year in search of employment,” he added.

    According to the documents, more than 92,000 graduates, 350,000 trained workers, and the same number of untrained labourers left the country in 2022. The documents additionally revealed that 736,000 individuals visited the Gulf states.