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Tag: PML-N

  • Nawaz ready to support COAS’s extension legislation, but has conditions: report

    Former prime minister (PM) has agreed to lend support for the legislation in army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s extension matter, but with a condition, The Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, former premier is flexible to supporting the Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI) government legislation to fix the army chief’s tenure but has reservations on giving a legal cover to giving extension to an army chief.

    The government reportedly before filing a review petition against the Supreme Court’s verdict in Gen Bajwa’s extension case tried to gain support of the opposition parties, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), for required legislation.

    “The government had approached us through intermediaries”, reports quoted unknown officials from two opposition parties belonging to the PPP and the PML-N.

    But after failing to gather ‘desirable support’ from them, the government after nearly a month decided to file review petition in the apex court.

    Reports also reveal that a senior legal advisor of the PML-N has said that most party lawmakers believe that by supporting the ruling government on the extension issue could potentially harm the party’s own narrative which it has adopted since the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif as PM on July 28, 2017.

    He furhter alleged that the government stage-managed the arrest of PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal and denied Maryam Nawaz permission to fly abroad to London after its failure to bend the PML-N and secure ‘unconditional support’ for the extension legislation.

    On the other hand, the PPP has reportedly set certain preconditions for supporting the legislation, which include proposed legislation on the NAB [National Accountability Bureau] law, the appointment of chief election commissioner, and elections reforms.

    On November 28, the Supreme Court had allowed the federal government to grant a six-month conditional extension to Chief of Army Staff (COAS). SC also directed the government to bring necessary legislation within six months’ time.

  • Rana Sanaullah case: Afridi says he has ‘footage, not video’

    State Minister for Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi on Wednesday said that following the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah, he had “used the word footage in his press conferences and not video”.

    The minister’s implication that there is a difference between “video” and “footage” came as he addressed a press conference following brutal trolling by people over his tall claims regarding evidence in the case against the PML-N leader who was granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday.

    Earlier, the minister had repeatedly defended the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) by claiming to have “pictures and video record” of Sanaullah’s arrest during which drugs were recovered from his vehicle. He had also said that the PML-N leader’s car “was monitored for three weeks before he was arrested”.

    Speaking to journalists a day after the PML-N lawmaker’s bail, Afridi said there was a lot of talk in the media about video evidence, and clarified that he had “always used the word footage and not video”.

    The minister also alleged that Sanaullah’s legal team was adopting delaying tactics in the drugs trafficking case and defended the decision to book the PML-N leader.

    “After the bail a perception was created in the media that Rana Sanaullah was innocent,” he said, adding that the PML-N MPA had only been granted relief and not been acquitted by the court.

    “This is a season of bails,” commented the minister, insisting that the ANF was a professional force.

    Afridi also clarified that he did not speak about the issue earlier as he was out of the country.

  • Govt may challenge Musharraf’s death penalty verdict: Babar Awan

    Govt may challenge Musharraf’s death penalty verdict: Babar Awan

    Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and promi­nent lawyer Babar Awan has claimed that the government was examining the option of challenging the conviction of former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, Dawn reported.

    According to the details, Babar during a press conference said that if it deemed appropriate, the PTI government could file an appeal while the convict could also challenge the decision of the special court.

    He also rejected the argument that the government being the complainant in the high treason case could not file an appeal.

    Awan recalled that former premier Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif had been disqualified on a federal government complaint and the government went in appeal after the change of regime, adding that the treason case against Musharraf had been filed by the former prime minister (PM) with the consultation of his brother, but they both were silent on the conviction.

    The PTI leader cited the case of slain PM Benazir Bhutto who had been convicted while she was abroad, saying that an appeal on her behalf was taken up by the then Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan who held that the appeal of a person convicted in absentia could be heard in his/her absence.

    Babar said that the appeal had been taken up and the judgement set aside.

    He also insisted that nobody should think of a clash between institutions as the government of PM Imran had a resolve to run the institutions within their constitutional and legal framework preserving their honour and dignity.

    A special court trying the ex-preisdent last week sentenced him to death for imposing a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, adding that it had found him guilty of high treason in accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

  • Musharraf’s exit: ‘PML-N was powerless after Raheel Sharif’s recommendation’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Pervaiz Rashid has said that former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf, who was recently sentenced to death in abstentia for treason, “was allowed to go abroad for medical treatment on the recommendation of then army chief Raheel Sharif”, and the government stood “powerless”.

    “We [the PML-N government] didn’t have the power to stop him,” said the former information minister, who was sacked in 2016 following the Dawn Leaks fiasco that revealed the details of a high level civil-military meeting discussing the issue of Pakistan’s banned outfits.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Rasheed has also claimed that Gen (r) Raheel Sharif wanted an extension in his tenure as the army chief, but the then government of prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif refused it.

    However, a former army general rejected Rasheed’s claims that the PML-N had turned down Gen (r) Raheel’s request for an extension in his tenure. “In fact, the PML-N government had offered to give Gen (r) Raheel a promotion by making him a field marshal,” Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib said while speaking to the TV channel.

    He added that Shehbaz Sharif and then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar wanted to give Gen (r) Raheel an extension in his tenure as the army chief. Shoaib said that Raheel had announced 10 months before his retirement that he would not take extension.

    “Raheel Sharif had an offer from Saudi Arabia,” the former military official said.

    In 2015, Saudi Arabia announced that it would form a new Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition force. Gen (r) Raheel Sharif was appointed the alliance’s chief in January 2017, months after his retirement as the army chief.

  • Explainer: Musharraf’s crime, punishment as per law

    Former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday was sentenced to death by a special court hearing the high treason case against him.

    The case was reigstered against the ex-dictator for imposing a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in 2013 under Article 6 of the counstitution.

    Here is what Article 6 says:

    “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.”

    The second clause of the article maintains that any person aiding, abetting or collaborating in the acts will also be considered guilty of high treason; while clause 2A states that an act of high treason cannot be validated by any court, including the Supreme Court (SC) and a high court.

    The last clause directs the parliament to provide for the punishment of persons found guilty of high treason, and according to the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973, the punishment is death or lifetime imprisonment.

    STATE OF EMERGENCY:

    On November 3, 2007, the then president and chief of army staff (COAS) Musharraf issued a proclamation of emergency, which held the constitution in a state of temporary suspension.

    While he later resigned as army chief 25 days into the emergency on November 28, the state of emergency and its responses are generally attributed to the controversies surrounding his re-election during the presidential election on October 6, 2007, including his holding of both offices of president and COAS at the time.

    Coming to power six years later, Nawaz Sharif had announced putting the former military ruler on trial for treason, saying the former president had committed treason by abrogating the constitution and should be tried under the law.

  • ‘Eight million people have gone below poverty line under PTI govt’

    ‘Eight million people have gone below poverty line under PTI govt’

    Pakistan’s renowned economist Dr Hafiz A Pasha has claimed that eight million people in the country have gone below the poverty line under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and another 10 million could slip below the same soon, Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, Dr Pasha in an article has said that due to low economic growth and double-digit food inflation the national poverty ratio, which was 31.3% in June 2018, would sharply jump to over 40% by June 2020.

    In simple terms, people living in poverty will increase from 69 million in June 2018 to 87 million by June 2020, indicating 26% increase in poverty in first two years of the PTI government.

    “The situation is very alarming due to an economic growth rate that is close to the population growth rate and an exponential increase in prices of perishable food items,” reports quoted Pasha as saying.

    The economist said that the government’s decision to simultaneously increase taxes, energy tariffs and devaluation of currency contributed to the increase in poverty.

    He said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government’s decision to keep the rupee-dollar parity stable kept the inflation under check adding that the incumbent government is implementing probably the toughest IMF programme of Pakistan’s history aimed at overpowering fiscal and external accounts challenges.

    Dr Pasha is the former finance minister of Pakistan and has also advised Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan at the time of building consensus on signing an IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar in response to Dr Pasha’s claims has said, “We do not have latest official poverty statistics,” adding that the country was exiting a severe balance of payments crisis which had its own implications.

    “The PTI government accelerated the poverty alleviation measures aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable people from the adverse impact of macroeconomic adjustments”, said the minister.

  • Firdous Awan sees opposition’s hand in Bajwa’s extension case

    Firdous Awan sees opposition’s hand in Bajwa’s extension case

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awaz has claimed that the mafia behind the petitioner who submitted the application against Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s extension is interlinked with the opposition parties.

    While talking during a talk show on a private news outlet, Firdous said that “PM Imran Khan has all the intelligence report, containing the information and facts about the mafia who wanted to get Gen Bajwa removed from COAS’s position and was involved in this issue”.

    PM’s aide while talking about the Army Act ammendent issue said that “Opposition parties are trying to use this opportunity as a bargaining chip and is trying to pressurize the government with their statements against this legislation [due to be passed in parliament].

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    She also said that the mafia’s involvement in this matter can also be gussed by the fact that “when Supreme Court suspended COAS’s extension notification, the stock market suffered a severe blow”.

    The Supreme Court November 26 had suspended the notification confirming the extension of Gen Bajwa for another three years, saying that the “prime minister has does not have the power to extend the tenure of the army chief”.

    Later after hearing the case for two days the court announced its short order allowing Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to remain the Chief of Army Staff for another six months, during which the parliament will legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief.

  • Pakistan repays $1 billion Sukuk bonds issued by PML-N govt

    Pakistan repays $1 billion Sukuk bonds issued by PML-N govt

    Pakistan has successfully reapaid a foreign debt of over $1 billion, shaking up the country’s foreign currency reserves on the day Moody’s rating agency upgraded Islamabad’s credit rating outlook to from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’, Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, Pakistan on Monday has paid back around $1 billion on maturity of five-year international Sukuk.

    “We paid over $1 billion including interest payment at the maturity of a Sukuk today (Monday),” reports quoted SBP’s official as saying.

    Pakistan had earlier launched a $-denominated Islamic bond worth $1 billion with a five-year tenure in the international bond market in November 2014, during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government’s tenure. The sovereign bonds were issued at a rate of 6.75%.

    The bond got matured in November 2019 and accordingly, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has repaid $1 billion, borrowed to build the foreign exchange reserves.

    A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western finance, also commonly referred to as “sharia compliant” bonds. Since the traditional Western interest-paying bond structure is not permissible, the issuer of a sukuk sells an investor group a certificate, and then uses the proceeds to purchase an asset, of which the investor group has partial ownership. The issuer of the sukuk bond must also make a contractual promise to buy back the bond at a future date at par value.

    The said payment from the SBP’s foreign exchange reserves will be reflected in the next weekly forex report. However, the reports reveal that with this repayment, the SBP’s reserves will most likely slip below $7 billion.

    Moody’s in its report has highlighted that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserve adequacy remains low, adding that that foreign exchange reserve adequacy will take time to rebuild.

    At the time of launching the Sukuk, the bond fetched bids amounting to $2.3 billion, five times higher than the actual target set by the government.

    The government had planned to raise $1-2 billion in fresh foreign debt before the Sukuk payment was made.  The floating of new Sukuk and Eurobond has remained pending for long.

    At the time of launching the Sukuk bond, it fetched bids amounting to $2.3 billion which is five times higher than the actual target set by the government.

    The government had planned to raise $1-2 billion in fresh foreign debt before the Sukuk payment was made. The floating of new Sukuk and Eurobond has remained pending for long.

  • Imran trying to save Buzdar by bringing back Shehbaz’s favourite bureaucrats: report

    Imran trying to save Buzdar by bringing back Shehbaz’s favourite bureaucrats: report

    Former Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif’s rule is back in the province without him as the massive bureaucratic reshuffle, ordered directly by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, has brought back the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief’s team, contradicting the narrative of his own government against Shehbaz’s alleged corruption.

    According to The News, all key positions in the new set-up have been given to Shehbaz’s blue-eyed officers, who were responsible for development and governance during the now PML-N president’s ten-year rule in Punjab.

    Most of these officers were responsible for key projects, which are identified by PML-N and Shehbaz, suchas the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT), Multan Metro, underpasses and other mega projects of Lahore besides the Nandipur Power Project and others. More than a dozen officers, now brought back to deliver for CM Usman Buzdar’s government, were directly working with Shehbaz at the CM Secretariat.

    However, with their fingers, crossed many in the bureaucracy wonder if Buzdar would be able to lead this team of go-getters like Shehbaz successfully did in the past.

    The new bureaucratic team being marketed as panacea for all the ills of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Punjab, is led my Major (r) Azam Suleman — the new chief secretary who has been the secretary of the most lucrative provincial department, Communication and Works (C&W), for five years under Shehbaz.

    The former Punjab CM took so much interest in development that he never appointed a C&W minister and directly interacted with the secretary. Azam was instrumental in execution of mega projects in Punjab, especially Lahore, and is reputed to be a tough no-nonsense officer and Shehbaz’s blue-eyed.

    According to reports, Shehbaz had such great liking for Azam that even after his promotion to BS-22, he was retained as the additional chief secretary (ACS) (Home) for five years — longest tenure ever. Strangely, at that time, the PTI used to blame him for the 2014 Model Town massacre.

    Bureaucrats like Nabeel Awan, Abdullah Sumbal, Nadeem Mahboob, Javed Qazi and Sajid Dahl — all reputed ace officers of the administrative services, who served Shehbaz’s immediate team — have also been given key positions in the recent reshuffle.

    Nabeel has been posted as the health and livestock secretary, Sumbal as finance, Nadeem as housing, Qazi as local government, while Dahl has been appointed as the higher education secretary.

    Similarly, a number of former principal staff officers (PSOs) like Sumair Syed, Amara Khan, Ahsan Waheed and Naseem Sadiq, who were given key portfolios by Shehbaz, have now been brought back by the PTI government to mainstream administration.

    Sadiq has been appointed as Dera Ghazi (DG) Khan commissioner, Syed as the director general (DG) of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Khan as the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) DG and Waheed as Sahiwal commissioner.

    Captain (r) Mahmood, who was responsible for the Nandipur Power Project and Lahore horticulture — two of Shehbaz’s favorite subjects — is now the new Rawalpindi commissioner.

    Capt (r) Saif Anjum, whom Shehbaz trusted with the Irrigation Department for three years, has been made Lahore commissioner, Momin Agha, another blue-eyed of Shehbaz and who served as his information secretary as well as the Faisalabad commissioner, has been posted as ACS (Home).

    The ec-Punjab CM’s Finance Secretaries Shaukat Ali and Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh have been placed on most important positions of Punjab ACS and Planning and Development (P&D) chairman, respectively. Abdullah Sumbal, who was appointed as Lahore commissioner by Shehbaz, is the finance secretary.

    Capt (r) Asadullah, who executed the Multan Metro project, is the new C&W secretary while Babur Tarar, who was Sahiwal commissioner, health secretary and cooperatives secretary under Shehbaz, will be a senior member of the Board of Revenue (BoR) in the new setup.

    Iftikhar Saho — another well-reputed officer — who was P&D secretary under Shahbaz for almost five years and was responsible for all development across the project, has been appointed as the principal secretary to CM Buzdar.

    A senior retired bureaucrat said that by bringing back the entire team back, the PTI government had contradicted its own mantra of corruption under Shehbaz.

    Another feature of the latest reshuffle is that many officers considered close to Buzdar or the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, have been sidelined.

  • Musharraf treason case: Special court refuses to obey IHC’s order to halt verdict

    Musharraf treason case: Special court refuses to obey IHC’s order to halt verdict

    The special court overseeing former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s high treason case has refused to accept Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order to halt the verdict due Thursday, a private media outlet reported Thursday.

    According to reports, the special court has said that they “are not bound to accept IHC’s order” that on Wednesday had stopped it from issuing a ruling in the case filed against Musharraf by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government for the imposition of an extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

    The special court was set to announce the ruling in the treason case Thursday, however, the IHC, which was hearing petitions filed by former president Musharraf and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to postpone it, had told the court to not announce the verdict just yet.

    It had also directed the special court to admit the arguments of all parties in the case before announcing the ruling and ensure a fair trial.

    MUSHARRAF TREASON CASE:

    The PML-N government had in 2013 filed the treason case against Musharraf over the president’s imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

    Earlier this year, head of the prosecution, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, tendered his resignation. In his resignation letter sent to the interior secretary, Sheikh expressed his inability to proceed with the case after the imminent change of government at the centre.

    Akram was appointed as the head of the prosecution in the case in November 2013, by the then ruling PML-N.

    Musharraf was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.

    On March 18, 2016, the former president left the country for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the exit control list (ECL) on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC).

    A few months later, the special court had declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his continuous inability to appear.

    Later, his passport and identity card were also cancelled on orders of the apex court.