Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz MPA Rahila Khadim Hussain has been caught stealing electricity in Larex Colony, Mughal Pura, Lahore.
According to a newspaper clipping shared by journalist Mansoor Ali Khan on Twitter, MPA Rahila is involved in stealing electricity over Rs500,000 with a fake meter that is installed at her house.
The clipping further reveals that the authorities from eastern circle area under direction’s from Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) Chief Mujahid Parvez conducted the raid in Angoori bagh’s sub-division with superintendent Engineer Muhammad Rasheed and caught MPA stealing electricity.
An audit by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) into the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service has failed to find any irregularities in the process of the project’s development, The Express Tribune reported Monday.
According to reports, a team led by Punjab Works director-general (DG) conducted the audit, and PAC has so far reviewed some 53 audit papers while the Special Departmental Accounts Committee (SDAC) has reviewed around 97.
However, the authorities have found no evidence of corruption so far.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government last year in September had ordered the audit of all the metro bus projects started by the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi-Islamabad.
Jailed ex-prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif had laid the foundation of the 23 km project in March 2014.
The project in twin cities initially was estimated to cost Rs44.8 billion, however, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had revised the cost of project downwards by Rs285.4 million to Rs44.56 billion.
Net losses faced by Pakistan’s State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) rose to mammoth Rs191.5 billion during the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, The Newshas reported.
According to reports, during FY2014-15, Pakistan’s SOEs were running into net profits of Rs52 billion, but they later turned into net losses of Rs44.7 billion during FY2015-16, followed by whopping losses of Rs191.5 billion — witnessing a record surge by over 330 per cent — in just one year.
A report, prepared and released by the Ministry of Finance, admitted that among the top loss-making public sector entities were the National Highway Authority (NHA) by incurring that of Rs 133.488 billion, followed by Pakistan Railways (PR) with losses worth Rs40.702 billion and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) with Rs39.5 billion.
Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), that is now being revived through a public-private partnership, also clinched a spot among the top ten loss-making SOEs for suffering those worth Rs 14.852 billion during FY2016-17.
Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) and Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) were also among the entities that faced the most losses.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President (VP) Maryam Nawaz’s response to a journalist’s query, as she reached an accountability court on Friday, has gone viral over the internet.
The PML-N leader was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. A day later, Maryam was brought to court by NAB authorities who sought her 15-day physical remand.
As she spoke to media persons after appearing before the court, a journalist asked the PML-N VP as to what built up to “people not liking her” and if it dated back to the Dawn Leaks fiasco or something that followed.
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“[It’s] because I do not polish boots,” the PML-N VP replied. “And I consider [it] a bad thing [to do].”
The PML-N leader further said she believed that representatives of the people should be respected. “Running the country is the representatives’ job. I will raise my voice against anyone who violates constitutional boundaries,” Maryam added.
“This is what people don’t like.”
In response to another question, Maryam accused the government of “using state machinery to victimise political opponents”.
“They fear Maryam Nawaz. Selected is after me, his government is after me, there are restrictions on media,” she said, adding that the government was also trying to restrict opposition parties from holding public rallies.
“But none of that worked. To compete with Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, they needed to be put behind bars,” Maryam maintained.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Punjab lawmaker Uzma Zahid Bukhari on Friday beat up a Punjab police constable as a scuffle broke out between party workers and cops outside the accountability court in Lahore.
As per the details, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities had brought PML-N Vice President (VP) Maryam Nawaz, who was arrested Thursday, to the court in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
With PML-N leaders and workers gathering outside the court to express solidarity with the detained VP, enraged party activists were seen pelting stones at the police, reportedly resulting in injuries to one of the cops.
This led to the scuffle during which Uzma Bukhari was seen thrashing a constable. A video available with The Current, shows the cop approaching her from behind and allegedly groping her, as a reaction to which the PML-N leader gives him a sound beating.
While authorities or party sources have not yet reacted to the episode or confirmed what followed the incident, another video shows Uzma being shifted to the hospital in an ambulance.
Meanwhile, the court has reserved its judgment on NAB’s appeal for a 15-day physical remand of Maryam Nawaz.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President (VP)
Maryam Nawaz on Thursday was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau
(NAB), media reports said.
According to reports, Maryam had arrived at Lahore’s Kot
Lakhpat jail to see her incarcerated father, former prime minister (PM) Nawaz
Sharif, when she was taken into custody by NAB officials.
The PML-N leader has reportedly been taken into custody in
the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case against members of the ex-PM’s family.
Earlier, the PML-N VP had also been sent a
questionnaire inquiring about the case details, including questions on how and
where the shares were divided since the inception of the mill in 1985.
NAB officials say that Maryam had failed to satisfy the
bureau during her last appearance before an investigation team. She had tried
to lead the inquiry officials “astray with unnecessary and abstruse information
in a sitting that lasted for 45 minutes”.
The evidence against the owners of the sugar mills had
surfaced during an investigation against ex-Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz
Sharif and his sons Hamza and Salman in money laundering and income beyond
means cases.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has shut up an Indian army veteran who attempted to highlight the divide between ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
A war of words had erupted between Fawad and PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan as the joint session of the parliament continued for the second day on Wednesday.
The ruckus in the parliament had started after the PML-N leader condemned the government for having failed to take Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi head-on.
It was at this juncture when Fawad began to disrupt his speech, prompting Mushahid to ask the speaker to “put a leash on Fawad”.
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Even though Speaker Sadiq Sanjrani urged them both to not indulge in cross-talk, the PML-N senator continued addressing the minister, “I had left you tied at home… I had put a leash around your neck before coming to parliament.”
The two leaders then traded “shut up” barbs with each other.
Pointing out the clash, an ex-officer of the Indian army, Major (r) Gaurav Arya, took to Twitter and wrote:
Mushahid Ullah Khan calls Federal Minister @fawadchaudhry a dog. Says “I had tied you up at home and you are here”. These pearls of wisdom were exchanged in Pakistan’s Parliament.
— Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) August 8, 2019
Responding to the Indian major’s tweet, Fawad wrote:
Dear Gen Guarav. Mushadullah is my prob, if he abused me its hardly a reason for Indian extremist to be happy about it, what matters is open your EAR’S and Listen #KashmirBanayGaPakistanhttps://t.co/NCulsbxzu0
The tweets come amid tensions rising on either side of the border over the Kashmir dispute. Indian government on Monday had snatched away the Muslim-majority region’s autonomy by revoking Article 370 of the constitution.
The move has attracted a strong reaction from Pakistan as Kashmiris fear that it could pave way for Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.
The National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail.
Ismail, who was taken into custody from outside the courtroom after his pre-arrest bail plea was rejected, was wanted in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case in which ex-prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan was also arrested last month.
The arrest comes a month after the PML-N leader was granted bail by the Sindh High Court (SHC). Earlier, a NAB team had also raided his residence in Karachi, but Ismail had evaded arrest and the bureau had to return empty-handed.
After the expiration of his bail, Ismail had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
LNG CASE:
The apex court in September 2018 had directed NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Abbasi, Ismail and others for alleged corruption in the LNG contract.
According to NAB, the contract allegedly cost billions of rupees to the national exchequer. In January 2019, NAB had interrogated Ismail in the same case.
NAB documents show that the contract for LNG import and distribution was awarded to Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013, in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Attaur Rehman has been accused of raping, recording and blackmailing a university student in Multan, The Express Tribune has reported.
According to reports, the Punjab Assembly lawmaker was sexually assaulting the girl for over 11 months and was blackmailing her on the basis of the video he had recorded of the victim’s ordeal.
The police, under political influence, initially refused to lodge a complaint despite repeated attempts made by the victim, reports said and added that she was a first-year student at National College of Business Administration & Economics (NCBAE) in Multan.
Due to studies, she relocated from Lahore to Multan over a year ago and had been working at Pakistan Human Development Foundation (PHDF), a local non-government organisation (NGO) run by the accused lawmaker.
The accused took her to an undisclosed location, around 11 months back, in the guise of office work, where he allegedly raped and filmed her.
Rehman later threatened her of dire consequences if she refused to obey him.
The victim has filed an application with a local magistrate for her medical examination and attached medical records of the hospital she was recently admitted to after sodomy.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, who was handed life imprisonment in the ephedrine case last year, has reportedly left the country and is currently residing in the United States (US).
According to media reports, Abbasi is living with a former PML-N leader at his residence in Alexandria, Virginia and plans to stay out of the country “until the situation in Pakistan improves”.
A trial court had sentenced Abbasi to life in prison back in July 2018, after he was found guilty of illegally selling 500kg of ephedrine — a medication and stimulant used to prevent low blood pressure during spinal anesthesia — to narcotics smugglers.
The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government will investigate the alleged allocation of a quota for the production of 9,000kg of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies — Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical Limited.
According to the rules, a company cannot be allocated a production quota of more than 500kg of the drug, a limit fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had eventually registered a case in June 2012 against nine suspects, including Abbasi. He was accused of obtaining the controlled chemical for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010.
However, instead of using it for medicinal purposes, Abbasi sold it on to narcotics smugglers. A fine of Rs1 million was imposed on the PML-N leader along with the life sentence. Seven other accused were acquitted in the case.
Abbasi’s sentence was suspended by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in April this year.
