Current Final

Tag: PML-N

  • ‘Not just one’: How many properties does Dar have?

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar doesn’t own just one property as claimed by him in a BBC News show.

    The politician, who is in self-imposed exile for three years now after graft charges were brought against him, owns at least 20 properties in and outside Pakistan. According to the NAB documents and government officials, the N-League senior leader owns a house in Lahore in addition to seven plots.

    In Islamabad, the former finance minister owns six acre of land, three plots in AlFalah Housing Society, and two plots in Parliamentarian’s Enclave. He also has a plot in the Senate Cooperative Housing Society.

    He also has six bank accounts on his name.

    Dar and his wife Tabassum Ishaq have three land cruisers, two Mercedes and one corolla in their name.

    During the interview, Dar had claimed that his sons owned a villa in Dubai, but NAB says that Dar also owns two apartments in the United Arab Emirates as well as two luxury vehicles. He also has investments in two companies in Pakistan and three abroad.

    DAR ON HARDTALK:

    Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N fight against the government, and NAB.

    During the show, the host asked Dar: “Is it your contention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no integrity? To this, Dar responded that NAB has lost its integrity. “It is an institution that has been used against political opponents.”

    Dar said the prime allegation in the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team report on which the Supreme Court directed NAB to file a reference against him was that he didn’t file his tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years i.e. 1981-2001. Dar said as a chartered account, he had never missed filing his tax returns while living in the UK and North America, as he called these “blatant allegations”.

    At this the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”

    Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”

    “How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.

    Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.

    However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

  • PML-Q leadership calls on Shehbaz to condole death of mother

    PML-Q leadership calls on Shehbaz to condole death of mother

    In an apparent thaw of frosty ties, a delegation of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid led by Pervaiz Elahi called on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and vice president Maryam Nawaz to condole the death of Shamim Akhtar.

    Akhtar, the mother of Sharif brothers, died in London last month due to respiratory complication and her body was brought to Pakistan last week. Nawaz Sharif, who is in self-imposed exile in London, couldn’t come back due to “health reasons”.

    Whereas, the Punjab government released Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz on parole to attend the last rites of the Sharif family matriarch.

    According to media reports, the PML-Q delegation that called on Sharifs comprised Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi, Moonis Elahi and Kamil Ali Agha.

    On the other hand, Maryam Nawaz, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were also present in the meeting.

    The meeting between the two parties come at a time when the anti-government campaign against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — an ally of PML-Q– spearheaded by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is in full swing.

    A report in The News had claimed that there have been “informal contacts between the PML-Q and PML-N for cooperation in the Punjab Assembly against the PTI for quite some time”.

    The PML-Q is also unhappy with PTI over certain unfulfilled promises and had also skipped a luncheon organised by the prime minister last month. The PM had subsequently visited the PML-Q senior leader Chaudhry Shujaat — who is gravely ill — to salvage the alliance.

  • PDM protesters break into sealed jalsa venue ahead of joint opposition’s gathering

    Workers and leaders of joint opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Saturday broke into the venue of the alliance’s Multan gathering to be held on November 30, which had reportedly been sealed by the administration.

    According to reports, the district administration had placed 30 containers around the venue, Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh, with more being brought in to block roads leading to the city and police deployed outside.

    As per the details of Saturday’s incident, a rally led by sons of former prime minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gillani, namely Ali Haider and Ali Musa, overpowered law enforcement to enter the venue. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers led by local party leaders also accompanied the PPP stalwarts.

    The episode saw several scuffles between opposition workers and the police on different routes leading to the stadium where the rally was headed. A final scuffle broke out right outside the venue where hundreds of cops were discharging their duties.

    Unconfirmed reports of casualties — both police personnel and political workers — are pouring in.

    A senior PPP leader confirmed to The Current that Gillani brothers have taken control of the venue and a welcome camp is also being setup at the stadium. “They refuse to leave until the gathering has been held on Monday.”

    To a question, they said the people of Multan are overjoyed to have with them the late former PM Benazir Bhutto’s daughter, Assefa Bhutto-Zardari, who’ll be replacing her coronavirus positive brother and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

    Earlier, more than 200 workers of PDM constituent parties were arrested and raids were being conducted to arrest more. The lists of workers, particularly from the PML-N and PPP, were provided to respective police stations.

    The arrests had come after the government vowed to not let opposition “put people’s life at risk” by holding a gathering amid the second wave of COVID-19.

    As the opposition claims the government is using the virus outbreak to stop the PDM from holding its rallies against “the fascist regime”, PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah has declared that the Multan rally will be held at all costs.

    Talking to the media outside the party’s Model Town secretariat in Lahore, he said if the government did not de-seal Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh, the entire city of Multan will become the venue of the public meeting.

    He said the first phase of the PDM’s anti-government protests will be completed by holding the last event of the series in the Punjab capital on December 13, and the next phase will begin after the alliance leadership devises a new strategy.

    “We stand united against the government,” he said.

  • Firdous Ashiq destroyed for saying Sharifs ‘parceling mother’s body to Pakistan through cargo’

    Twitterati are training guns at Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar’s aide Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan for saying that the Sharifs were “parceling the body of their mother back to Pakistan through cargo”.

    Begum Shamim Akhtar, 90, breathed her last in London on Sunday and her dead body is being brought back to Pakistan. According to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb, her funeral prayers will be offered on Saturday at the Sharif Medical City in Raiwind.

    “It is painful to see how those who used chartered flights to transfer cuisines are now parceling their mother’s body back to the country through cargo,” she was heard as saying during an informal media talk.

    With the government spokesperson also tweeting the same, her statement didn’t set very well with a number of netizens, who said:

    https://twitter.com/FatimaButt135/status/1331549114551717888

    Meanwhile, Qul would be held on November 29 which would be attended only by members of the Sharif family.

    PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and President Shehbaz Sharif have appealed to the people and workers to offer Fateha for their mother on the day of Qul in their respective areas.

  • 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.

  • Locals want share of Chinese investment boom as GB heads to polls tomorrow

    As night falls on a remote mountain road in Gilgit-Baltistan, Ijazul Haq, 22, is keeping his grocery store open longer than usual, hoping to cash in on a frenzied electoral campaign that has brought the nation’s interest upon this otherwise neglected region.

    Political parties are trying to sway voters in GB, an impoverished, remote and rugged mountainous part of the larger Kashmir region that is also claimed by India. The country’s top politicians have turned up here to stump, vowing to build multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects, and end decades of disenfranchisement.

    Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders Afghanistan and China, is the gateway of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure plan. But the region has so far reaped few rewards.

    “Look at this road we have, it takes 4.5 hours to get to a decent hospital from here. If they fixed the road it would take 1.5 hours,” said Haq, who lives in Thawoos, a tiny hamlet in the district of Ghizer.

    Locals fought pro-India forces and opted to join Pakistan in 1948. But since then Gilgit-Baltistan has not been granted full inclusion by the Pakistan constitution, over fears doing so would jeopardise Islamabad’s international stance that all of Kashmir is disputed territory.

    The local assembly, for which the November 15 elections are being held, has few powers. National Assembly and Senate have no representation from Gilgit-Baltistan, and the region receives only a fraction of the national budget.

    This month Prime Minister Imran Khan said he would provide provisional provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan, giving it greater political representation, but no timeline has been given.

    The announcement came a year after India changed the status of the portion of occupied Kashmir, taking away some of the region’s privileges. India rejects Khan’s plan to change Gilgit-Baltistan’s status, and it calls the election there an exercise to cover up Pakistan’s occupation of the region.

    Imran’s plan is not the first time locals have heard promises of being granted constitutional rights: in 2016 then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proposed to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province as well but shelved plans after pro-Pakistan leaders in Indian-occupied Kashmir denounced the decision.

    “We’ve long said we want to be part of Pakistan, but they push us away,” said Yawar Abbas, a local leader with the Gilgit-Baltistan Awareness Forum, which seeks to alter the region’s constitutional status.

    Abbas says locals are in limbo, unable to enjoy the same rights as other Pakistanis, but also unable to enjoy autonomy.

    Graves of fallen soldiers marked by Pakistani flags dot the Ghizer district, which has the country’s highest per-capita rate of military recruitment.

    “There is rampant poverty here, and for many of us there is no other way to earn a living than joining the military,” said Haq, whose brother serves in the navy.

    In the winter, when the glacial melt that powers the small hydroelectric dams dotting the region slows, locals often have no power for 20 hours a day.

    The CPEC project was supposed to bring development to the region, but that has not happened, residents believe, because of the lack of local representation at national levels.

    New roads, two hydroelectric power plants, a fiber-optic internet line, and a special economic zone to boost industrial activities have all been proposed as part of the CPEC project, but none have been materialised so far.

    The only substantial project from the much-touted China-Pakistan partnership has been the construction of the Karakoram Highway, completed decades ago.

    Like most other candidates, Jamil Ahmed, has promised voters he would seek to draw more investment from China.

    “CPEC is going through here, we are the gateway, we are the door to China. So if someone opens the door for you, you should put something at the doorstep as well,” said Ahmed, a candidate with the Pakistan Peoples Party.

  • VIDEO: Firdous, Azma come to blows after on-air fight

    VIDEO: Firdous, Azma come to blows after on-air fight

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azma Bukhari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan had traded barbs at a Geo News show earlier this week, forcing the host to end the programme.

    However, their disagreement did not end even after the show, as both politicians almost came to blows on the news channel’s premises. The PML-N leader can be heard saying that she would slap Firdous for using abusive language towards her.

    A person present at the scene of the brawl told The Current that things got uglier when Firdous was about to hit Azma. However, the staffers intervened to placate the CM’s aide and the Punjab lawmaker.

    The fight between the politicians started after Azma took a jab at PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur for making sexist remarks against PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz in a rally in Gilgit-Baltistan last week. This didn’t go down well with Firdous, who criticised the PML-N for being corrupt among other things.

    The politicians also accused the rival parties of stealing people’s mandate and kept on arguing even after the show ended.

    Responding to Azma 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 a two-third majority in parliament.

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

  • PML-N ready to talk with establishment ‘on one condition’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has hinted at opening up a dialogue channel with the military establishment while ruling out any backdoor negotiations.

    In an interview with BBC Urdu, the PML-N leader said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership would consider talking to army generals but the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will have to go home first.

    She claimed that the establishment approached a number of her party leaders, but no one has approached her directly with an offer to sort things out. She said the PML-N respects the army as an institution, but it has no authority to transgress beyond its role enshrined in the constitution.

    According to Maryam, there will be no secrecy in talks with the army generals, everything will take place in front of the people of Pakistan.

    Responding to her critics who said the PML-N’s anti-narrative was harmful to the party, Maryam said the anti-establishment line that the party has adopted has attracted thousands of people across Pakistan. The massive gatherings in Gujranwala, Karachi, and Quetta are proof of the PML-N’s popularity, she added.

    In a comment on the interview, Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the PML-N only wants an end to the cases against its leadership.

    In a tweet, he said if the PML-N is not willing to talk to the military or the government, then it is difficult for him to comprehend their narrative.

  • Did you know Usman Buzdar is a crorepati?

    Did you know Usman Buzdar is a crorepati?

    After both the upper and lower houses of the parliament, details of assets and liabilities of Punjab Assembly members have also been released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), according to which, Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar is a millionaire or crorepati with his 10 immovable properties alone amounting to Rs35 million (Rs3.5 crores).

    According to details, while some members of the provincial assembly also own offshore properties, others run businesses besides owning agricultural lands.

    It has also emerged that CM Buzdar, on top of his 10 immovable properties, also has a 14-kanal bungalow in Taunsa Sharif and four kanals in Dera Ghazi Khan. His spouse, on the other hand, owns three pieces of land, whereas Buzdar himself also owns agricultural land in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan besides three tractors, two vehicles and Rs7.7 million (Rs77 lacs) in his bank account.

    Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi owns three properties worth Rs69.4 million (6.94 crores). He also has shares in three properties and owns a house each in both Lahore and Islamabad. The former CM also has shares in the Zahoor Palace Gujarat, has Rs9.9 million (Rs99 lacs) capital in a flour mill and Rs13.5 million (Rs1.35 crores) unsecured debt.

    On top of this, he has Rs12.7 million in his bank account while his wife has assets worth Rs93.1 million in her name, including jewelry worth Rs2.1 million.

    The assets of Hamza Shehbaz, who is the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly, are worth Rs414 million (Rs41.4 crores). He owns Rs30 million (Rs3 crores) of agricultural land given by his brother Suleman Shehbaz, and has invested Rs130 million (Rs13 crores) in the country.

    Hamza also has Rs10 million (Rs1 crore) in his bank account.

    Provincial Minister Aleem Khan and his wife have properties worth Rs159.2 million (Rs15.9 crores). His daughter and wife have assets worth Rs7.8 million (Rs78 lacs) in England and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and stock shares worth Rs117.7 million (Rs11.77 crores).

    Aleem also has an unsecured loan of Rs1.21 billion and owns three luxury cars worth Rs32.1 million (Rs3.21 crores) in addition to 65 tolas of gold. He also has Rs10 million (Rs1 crore) cash and Rs139.1 million (Rs13.91 crores) in his bank account.

    Punjab Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan owns two properties worth Rs8.5 million (Rs85 lacs) while he and his spouse have a total of Rs7.9 million (Rs79 lacs) in their bank account.

    Provincial Minister Raja Basharat owns more than Rs29.3 million (Rs2.93 crores) assets, while Provincial Minister Raja Rashid Hafeez owns more than Rs111 million (Rs11.1 crores) assets.

    The documents also state that Ejaz Khan of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has total assets of only Rs274,000 (Rs0.27 million) and no car or jewelry or businesses at home or abroad. The lawmaker with the least assets and liabilities is Sajida Yousuf, who has only Rs217 in her bank account. She has no car, no jewelry and no property at home or abroad.

  • VIDEO: Cameras were installed in Maryam Nawaz’s jail cell, bathroom?

    VIDEO: Cameras were installed in Maryam Nawaz’s jail cell, bathroom?

    Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz has claimed that cameras were installed in her jail cell and bathroom during detention in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases against her and other members of the Sharif family.

    In an interview on Wednesday, Maryam said that she has been to jail twice and if she revealed the details about how she and other female inmates were treated during detention, “they” will find no place to hide their faces.

    Maryam is currently leading PML-N’s election campaign for the November 15 Gilgit-Baltistan election.

    “I don’t want to hide behind these incidents at all. I’m struggling today, so I don’t want to show that I was affected; I don’t want to cry today that I have been abused,” she said.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The PML-N vice president added that if her door room could be broken, if she can be arrested in front of her father for speaking the truth, if cameras can be installed inside her jail cell and bathroom, and if she can be targeted personally, then no woman in Pakistan is safe.

    “Be it in Pakistan or elsewhere, a woman cannot be weak,” she said.

    MARYAM IN JAIL:

    On July 6, 2018, Maryam was sentenced to seven years in jail by the NAB on corruption charges in the Avenfield reference case.

    The court had held that trust deeds presented by Maryam before the apex court were fake and had been tampered with. As a result, she was disqualified from contesting elections for 10 years.

    The next day, Maryam announced that she would return to Pakistan on July 13 to file an appeal against the decision. The same day, NAB announced to arrest her and Nawaz Sharif upon their arrival in Pakistan.

    She, along with her father, was taken into custody on July 13 upon their arrival at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport and were airlifted to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.

    On July 26, she challenged her sentence in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and filed a petition for bail. The next day, the court rejected her request for release on bail and adjourned the hearing till the end of the 2018 general election on July 25.

    While she was released following the suspension of the verdict against her father, husband and herself by the IHC, Maryam was once again arrested in August 2019 over Chaudhry Sugar Mills corruption charges; this time upon her arrival at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore to see Nawaz, who was serving his sentence in a separate corruption case.

    In November 2019, Maryam was released on bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC).