Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on July 21, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.
Foreign Ministry’s approval of $25,000 for bathroomdecor
It has been reported by Daily Jang that the Foreign Ministry has approved $25,000 for the decor of bathroom of Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN). An amount of $50,000 has already been spent on the renovation of the official’s residence.
‘Judges ko phone kr k marzi k faislay lenay walay‘
Daily Jang has quoted Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed as saying,“Judges ko phone kr k marzi k faislay lenay walay humein jamhooriyat ka dars de rahay hain.”
‘Peeth mein chura ghonpnay wala Shehbaz’
According to Daily Jang, Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan has said, “Barray bhai aur bhateeji ki peeth mein chura ghonpney walay Shehbaz Sharif pr Bilawal aitebaar krnay se hichkacha rahay hain.”
His statement came as PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday spoke to each other over the phone and discussed the prevailing political situation and the possibility of holding an All Parties Conference (APC) after Eid.
Following are some of the best snippets from Urdu newspapers on July 16, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.
‘Noon League ne PIA ko naa baich kar ghalti ki‘
According to Daily Jang, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Khawaja Asif has admitted in a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Privatisation that“Noon League nay pichley daur mein PIA ko naa baich kr ghalti ki”.
Daily Dunya has reported that Islamabad High Court (IHC), while hearing a petition filed against special assistants to the prime minister (SAPMs), has remarked that, “Wazir-e-Azam ka muawin wohi ho sakta hai jo mutalka shaubay [department] ka maahir ho.” The court ruled that if an answer was not submitted at the next hearing, unilateral action will be taken.
‘Benazir ki waseehat’
It has been reported by Daily Dunya that Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has demanded that the late former PM Benazir Bhutto’s will be presented before the nation.
As a war of words continues between ruling PTI’s leaders from Sindh and members of the PPP-led provincial government, Zaidi has alleged that a handwritten “unverified” note was presented by the PPP to hand the reins of the party to the family of the deceased PM while “fooling the nation” and “ruining Sindh”.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Rukhsana Kausar has tabled a resolution in the provincial house of Punjab seeking a ban on beard styling and action against men with fashionable beards as well as their barbers.
According to Kausar’s resolution, beard is the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and legislation to decide strict action against those who shape beards in fashionable styles is needed.
The resolution contends that any kind of styling of the beard is a “grave sin”, and it is an “insult to the beard”. The resolution calls for strict action against those “who make fun of beard”.
“When I see youngsters on the streets and in the markets with different designs of beard in the name of fashion, I feel hurt, because that is against the teachings of Islam,” she told a private media outlet.
Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry has also reacted to the resolution in the Punjab Assembly.
یہ خاتون سپر مسلمان بننے کی دوڑ میں سب کو پیچھے چھوڑ گئی ہیں، کیسا کیسا ہیرا بیٹھا ہے ایوانوں میں ان کے ہوتے ہوئے اسلام کو کسی بیرونی سازش سے کوئ خطرہ ہی نہیں۔۔ خود ہی کافی ہیں۔۔۔ pic.twitter.com/H9ZPFMZDnN
This is not the first time that beard designing has been a priority of the ruling elite as barbers have time and again been “strictly barred” from styling customers’ beards in different shapes or clipping them into designs in areas of rural Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan.
KP police in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda had in 2019 detained at least four barbers for styling customers’ beards during an unofficial ban imposed by a local traders’ union that had termed such beards “un-Islamic”.
Following are some of the best snippets from Urdu newspapers on July 15, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.
‘Horn Bajaao Hukmaraan Jagaao’
According to Daily Dunya, the Pakistan Association of Tour Operators has become part of traders’ protest movement “Horn Bajaao Hukmaraan Jagaao”. Launching the movement, trade union member Naeem Mir said,“Agar hukoomat horn se naa jaagi tou taajir baraadari hukoomat ka band bajaa de gi”.
‘Faisal Vawda kis ka kis se manaazra krwa rahay hain’
According to Daily Dunya, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has accepted Federal Minister Faisal Vawda’s challenge of a debate on the economy. PML-N stalwart and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair has said that Dr Waqar Masood, who is Pakistan’s longest-running secretary of finance, was part of the PML-N government’s economic team for five years.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s finance aide Hafeez Shaikh, on the other hand, was a part of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government. “Faisal Vawda kis ka kis se manaazra krwa rahay hain!” he maintained.
‘Jiyalo ko cheeni choro ko jawaab dena khoob aata hai’
Daily Jang has reported that Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab, in response to Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan’s verbal attacks against PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has said that“Jiyalo ko cheeni choro ko jawaab dena khoob aata hai,” taking a dig at the government members in Punjab over their alleged involvement in activities that had led to a sugar crisis earlier this year.
Veteran actor and television host Tariq Aziz passed away in Lahore on Wednesday.
He was 84 years old and was admitted to a private hospital last night after he fell critically ill. The cause of his death, however, has not yet been ascertained.
Born in 1936 in British India, Aziz received his early education in Jalandhar (now in India) before starting his career at Radio Pakistan in Lahore. When state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) started its broadcast in 1964 from Lahore, he became the first male news announcer of the country.
In 1974, Aziz started the first-of-its-type game show, Neelam Ghar, from PTV. The show went on to register unprecedented heights. It was later rebranded as Tariq Aziz Show in 1996 before finally renamed Bazm-e-Tariq Aziz in 2006.
Aziz also tried his luck in movies. He starred in Insaniyat (1967) alongside Waheed Murad and Zeba, following which he played a leading role in Haar Gaya Insaan.
He received the Pride of Performance award in 1992 for his services.
TARIQ AZIZ VS IMRAN KHAN:
Unprecedented fame as a radio and television personality was, however, not it for Aziz who also went on to contest general elections in the 90s.
He was active in student politics during his college days and had joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 1970. In those days, Aziz was called a “firebrand socialist” known for charging up crowds with revolutionary slogans at Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s rallies. However, later he parted his ways and went back to the entertainment world. In 1996, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and was later elected member of the National Assembly from Lahore.
Imran Khan, after founding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996 fielded himself from multiple seats in the 1997 general elections.
Only from Lahore, Imran contested from NA-94 and NA-95 seats where he suffered defeats at the hands of Tariq Aziz and then PML-N president Nawaz Sharif, respectively.
He received 4,595 votes against Aziz’s 50,227, paving way for Aziz’s election to the Lower House.
Aziz was also one of the political activists who were charged with attacking the Supreme Court of Pakistan building in 1997.
American blogger Cynthia Ritchie has doubled down on accusation and claimed that she had been harassed by multiple political leaders during her time in Pakistan.
In an interview with a local news outlet, she revealed detailed of alleged harassment by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwarts Yousaf Raza Gillani, Makhdoom Shahabuddin and Rehman Malik.
She said that after Osama bin Laden was killed, Malik, who was the interior minister at the time, asked her to visit the minister’s enclave to discuss her visa. She added that she agreed because some officials told her that “real business is done out of the office”.
Cynthia said that when she visited the minister’s enclave, she was welcomed with flowers and was offered a drink. “About a drink and a half into my visit, I felt dizzy and the next thing I remember is he getting me to sit down and I was in his bed,” she claimed.
She also claimed that Malik’s driver helped her dress up and told her that they wanted her to distance herself from the NGO she was working in since it was run by Azam Swati’s daughter and the politician had recently joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
She said that the driver put 2,000 pounds into the car with her and made her take it with her. She added that the Malik also gifted her a mobile phone which was used to spy on her.
She said that she was also harassed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and they stole her ‘Emerging Pakistan’ idea.
She further said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had been more civil and she has more respect for them than she has for the PPP.
Responding to a question, Cynthia denied working for intelligence agencies.
When the interviewer contacted Gillani and Shahabuddin, both denied the allegations.
Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and lawmaker Rana Sanaullah was on Wednesday morning intercepted by police off Lahore’s The Mall. He, however, refused to step out of the vehicle and let the officials check it in the absence of media, The Current has learnt.
According to sources, the PML-N stalwart was stopped by the police in the Regal Chowk area of the provincial capital in connection with the arrest of party president and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) since Tuesday had been attempting to arrest Shehbaz in the assets beyond means case against him. The bureau had, however, failed to trace the PML-N chief despite raiding his Model Town and Jati Umra residences among other locations.
Wednesday’s incident took place before a Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench granted pre-arrest bail to Shehbaz till June 17.
“I will not let you check my vehicle in the absence of media because I fear being framed for carrying drugs once again,” Sanaullah, who had earlier been arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), told the cops who stopped him to check if Shehbaz was also present in the vehicle.
The ANF had last year detained the lawmaker after accusing him of carrying a cache of drugs in his vehicle and for “supplying it to drug dealers”.
After months-long incarceration, Sanaullah had been granted bail amid lack of evidence. He had then accused the ANF of planting the drugs in his vehicle for the registration of a “bogus” case against him.
A team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) accompanied by police on Tuesday reached the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif to once again arrest him, this time in the assets beyond means case.
Videos available with The Current showed a contingent of police’s anti-rioting force also reaching the PML-N chief’s Model Town residence in Lahore to make the arrest that comes after Shehbaz, being a cancer survivor, once again avoided appearing before the anti-graft watchdog amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The teams, however, had to return empty-handed as the leader of opposition in the National Assembly (NA), who has also sought pre-arrest bail in the case, was not at home.
The teams were headed to the Sharif family’s Jati Umra residence near Raiwind by the filing of this report.
PRE-ARREST BAIL AND THE CASE:
Earlier in the day, Shehbaz filed a bail plea in the Lahore High Court (LHC) to avoid arrest in the assets beyond means and money laundering cases against him, which is to be taken up by the court tomorrow (Wednesday).
NAB had summoned the PML-N president to record his statement in both cases today (June 2) as the bureau needs Shehbaz’s statement to bring the cases to their logical conclusion.
It had also provided the ex-Punjab chief minister (CM) with a detailed questionnaire as per its standard operating procedure (SoPs), which the PML-N says was submitted by the younger Sharif’s lawyers.
However, Shehbaz on Monday filed a petition in the LHC requesting the court to grant him bail before arrest in both the cases “in the interest of justice”. He requested that he might also be admitted to ad-interim pre-arrest bail till the decision of the petition.
The petitions said the power to arrest was permissive and not obligatory and the arrest was not desirable even in most heinous offences so long as the accused cooperated and kept joining the investigation.
According to The Express Tribune, The PML-N president contended that on October 31, 2017, a complaint was made to various authorities including NAB chairman against management of the public limited companies in Punjab. The complaint claimed that the companies were incorporated and operated in violation of the Constitution and law.
On November 15, 2017, NAB director general (DG) ordered an inquiry into the complaint “in a slipshod and mechanical manner, without application of judicious mind”.
On January 10, 2018, the director general passed an order under section 18(C) of NAO 1999 for an inquiry into against management/officers/officials of Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC), management /owners of M/s Lahore CASA Developers (JV) and officers/officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in Lahore’s Ashiana housing scheme.
Shehbaz said the above-said order was passed on the basis of an anonymous complaint and neither the complaint nor the order for inquiry mentioned the name of the petitioner or his office “yet under its cover”, NAB officials embarked upon “a fishing and sniffing expedition” against him.
On October 5, 2018, when Shehbaz appeared before a NAB team in response to call up notice in the matter of Saaf Paani Company but he was arrested in Ashiana case.
During his 64 physical remand, the PML-N chief was also arrested in Ramzan Sugar Mills/Construction of Sullage Carrier case. He was still in NAB’s custody when NAB authorized yet another inquiry against the petitioner and others in assets beyond means case.
Later, the petitioner was granted bail after arrest in both the above said cases but just after one week’s time of his bail, NAB put his name in the Exit Control List (ECL) – the country’s no-fly list.
“The petitioner assailed the above said memorandum February 21, 2019 before this court and his petition was allowed.” He contended that NAB served him another call up notice requiring his appearance before the CIT on April 17, 2020.
Shehbaz said he did not appear before NAB team in view of his ill health and the lockdown. Later NAB again issued call up notice requiring his presence on April 22, 2020.
“However, hectic efforts were made and a comprehensive reply was submitted within time with an assurance of personal appearance after the holy month of Ramazan subject to lifting of the lockdown.”
Later, the petitioner appeared before the CIT whereupon he was interrogated for about 2 hours, however, he could not be confronted with any evidence worth name on record to show any act of commission or omission by him to attract the mischief of any offence under NAO 1999.
“That now the petitioner has again been served with a call up notice for June 2, 2020 requiring his personal appearance and written reply before CIT,” it added.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Latif has claimed that former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar secretly facilitated the 124-day-long demonstration jointly organised by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in 2014 against the PML-N government.
Latif, who was part of a three-guest panel at anchorperson Hamid Mir’s show on Monday, said that Nisar released the “violent protesters” who attacked the parliament and state-owned broadcaster Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV).
According to him, Nisar facilitated the entrance of protesters in the heavily guarded Red Zone that houses the president and prime minister houses in addition to several other highly-sensitive secretariats.
“Nisar’s disagreement with Nawaz Sharif’s GT Road rally was also part of his plan. He continuously opposed the party policy on certain important matters and today we all know about his current political standing and reputation,” Latif said.
WATCH VIDEO:
It merits a mention here that since his association with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the mid-80s, Nisar was Sharif’s go-to man in matters involving the country’s powerful establishment — until he fell out of favor as a result of his advocacy of a non-confrontational policy with the military following Sharif’s judicial ouster in 2017.
Hailing from a respected military family himself, Nisar had allegedly played a key role in the appointment of retired General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of the Army Staff in 1998.
Amid government’s efforts to amend the 18th Amendment that turned Pakistan from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic, which the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) cannot do without the support of opposition parties owing to its strength within the parliament, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in collaboration with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has prepared a draft of proposed changes in NAB Ordinance and shared it with power brokers which, if incorporated, will undo the conviction of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for now.
According to The News, a Lahore-based businessman who was in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) until recently, is a go-between in this process as he is equally close with the power brokers. In a meeting arranged at his place on April 24, a draft was prepared. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi represented PML-N and Farooq H Naek was from the PPP side.
While Abbasi says he did not attend any such meeting, a picture of the same showed him present there. It has also been learnt that Nawaz is not up for amendments and insists on scrapping the anti-graft body altogether.
Former premier Abbasi has not only confirmed the preparation of a new draft, but also said that he offered a set of recommendations aimed to reform NAB and they were incorporated in the draft. However, he dispelled the impression that the draft has either been shared with apolitical players or is being used as a bargaining ploy on the 18th Amendment.
A PML-N leader, however, was quoted as saying that Abbasi has been given the task at his own desire to mend the fences through a common friend as the channel used during the amendment to the Army Act had now become dysfunctional.
According to reports, the draft indicates that it will be beneficial for the entire political class in general and for Nawaz in particular — Nawaz, who was thrown out as the country’s chief executive through the instrument of disqualification. The proposed amendment under question is related to section 15 of the ordinance dealing with disqualification. In sub-section (a), reads the proposed change, the words “forthwith cease to hold public office” shall be omitted and substituted by “cease to hold public office after the appeal process against his conviction has been exhausted”.
Presently, disqualification comes into effect with conviction from a trial court whereas the proposed change suggests it be actualised only after the entire appeal process is exhausted.
In addition, the burden of proof has been proposed to be shifted on NAB, unlike the present practice where the accused has to prove that the allegations leveled against him or her are untrue. Likewise, the proposed change requires that an offence should form part of NAB jurisdiction only when public money equivalent to Rs1 billion or above is involved. Remand duration has been proposed to be limited to 14 days instead of making it extendable up to 90 days.
Among other proposed rules, NAB chairman’s power has also significantly been curtailed in the proposed draft. His term has also been cut to three years from four.
The arrest of an accused has been linked with his/ her non-cooperation and it has been proposed that the chairman’s power to order arrest should be delegated to the court along with prescribed criteria as to when arrests can be ordered by a judge. NAB is required to formally inform an accused about the nature of charges along with a set of questions the investigators want him/ her to answer, according to the proposal.
Likewise, entire interrogation shall be video-recorded and the accused is entitled to have an attorney of choice during the course of interrogation, according to the proposed amendment. NAB is required to focus on the charges it leveled instead of opening new fronts and there must be no supplementary challan unlike the present practice, the draft revealed.
Public office holders have also been proposed to be redefined as this definition should be limited to those holding executive powers; parliamentary secretaries and lawmakers must not fall in this jurisdiction. As per the proposal, decisions made by the cabinet or a statutory policy-making body can’t be called into question by NAB that would also be required to complete any investigation within a period no longer than six months.
Likewise, NAB can’t recommend placing anyone on the no-fly list once the accused has been granted bail.
