Current Final

Tag: politics-stories

  • UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    At least three fundraisers in the United Kingdom (UK), planned with former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar and Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, have been cancelled owing to “lack of public interest”.

    According to The News, I am Pakistan Worldwide Movement (IAPWM) had announced the “awareness dinner galas” in Birmingham, London and Manchester to raise funds for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams with Nisar and Vawda.

    However, the three events to be held on June 24 at Piccadilly Banquetting Suite, Birmingham; June 21 at Royal Nawab Restaurant, London; and Royal Nawab in Manchester on June 23 were cancelled due to “lack of public interest”.

    Nisar has been in London for over two weeks now and dates of the events were announced in consultations with him as well as Vawda, however, the response from the local chapter as well as the community groups led to the events being cancelled, the report said.

    “Ex-CJP Saqib Nisar made London travel plans with his family to attend the fundraising events and to watch the ICC World Cup, but upon arrival, the organisers told him that the events had been cancelled due to lack of interest from the members of the public,” The News quoted sources as saying.

    The report further said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aide Aneel Musarrat “didn’t show any interest in the event unlike previously when he took lead in arranging a fundraiser when Saqib Nisar was the chief justice”.

    Vawda, on the other hand, said he failed to attend the events because “he was busy with the budget session and other commitments”.

  • Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Among many other Pakistani female military and staff officers is Major Fozia Parveen, who is making the country proud by serving the United Nations’ (UN) Peacekeeping Force.

    Taking to social media, Pakistan’s Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, lauded Major Fozia’s services as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.

    “We are proud of our female (and male) peacekeepers who serve in UN missions. Major Fozia Perveen is serving in the UN Mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP), seen here on a patrol in the Buffer Zone. Picture thanks to the UN, [sic]” she said in an Instagram post.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMeC8_h_mI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Pakistan earlier crossed the target set by the UN from zero to 15 per cent deployment of female military and staff officers in the peacekeeping mission within just 18 months.

    “We believe, increased participation of female peacekeepers, and encouraging more women to take up mediation roles helps in the stabilisation and reconstruction phases of conflicts,” Lodhi had said earlier in April while participating in a debate on ‘Women in Peacekeeping.’

    Maleeh Lodhi herself is the first woman to hold the position of Pakistan’s representative to the UN. Previously, she has served as the country’s envoy to the Court of St James and twice as its ambassador to the United States (US).

  • Army builds girls’ school in place of TTP militant Hakimullah Mehsud’s headquarters

    Army builds girls’ school in place of TTP militant Hakimullah Mehsud’s headquarters

    Pakistan Army has rebuilt a girls school for higher secondary education where once existed the headquarters of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant Hakimullah Mehsud, a private media outlet reported.

    The school, located in the Orakzai Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Kohat division, was completely destroyed during the war on terror and later converted into the headquarters of Mehsud, who was the deputy to TTP commander Baitullah Mehsud.

    With the war abated after years of unrest, Pakistan Army has rebuilt the school at the same spot.

    The TTP has been a strong adversary of the idea of sending girls to schools. The militant group claims “educating women goes against Islam”.

    In 2012, Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist Malala Yousafzai was also shot by the Taliban after advocating for girls’ education using a pen name, bringing global attention to the group’s violent threat on the nation’s young women.

  • ‘Qatari emir brokering deal for Nawaz, Maryam to leave Pakistan’

    ‘Qatari emir brokering deal for Nawaz, Maryam to leave Pakistan’

    Senior journalist and analyst Arif Nizami has said that Qatar is reportedly brokering a deal between the government and former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to secure the latter’s release.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Nizami said that Qatar was an old friend of Pakistan and previously involved in securing Nawaz’s release when former military dictator General (r) Pervez Musharraf had arrested him after the 1999 coup.

    “When Musharraf came into power and detained Nawaz, the emir of Qatar was the first person to initiate the process for his release,” he said.

    Nizami added that up to 90 per cent of the deal had been processed to let the former PM and his daughter Maryam live in London, while sources had informed him that the “recent visit of the emir of Qatar was also linked to this task”.

    Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had arrived in Pakistan earlier this week and announced $3 billion worth of new investments in the country. He had also announced that Qatar may invest another $12 billion later on.

    “Sources have claimed that Nawaz’s health is not stable and according to his daughter Maryam, he has already suffered a stroke thrice,” Nizami said further.

    He claimed that under the deal, Nawaz will be allowed to pay the fine to secure his release so that he and his daughter can go and live in England. “Shehbaz and Hamza will stay here to run the party affairs and face cases leveled against them,” Nizami added.

  • Indian MP wants Abhinandan’s facial hair declared country’s ‘national moustache’

    Indian MP wants Abhinandan’s facial hair declared country’s ‘national moustache’

    An Indian parliamentarian has demanded that Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s gunslinger moustache be declared the “national moustache of India”.

    “Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman should be awarded and his moustache should be made the national moustache,” Indian National Congress (INC) leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was quoted as saying by India Today.

    On February 27, the IAF pilot was captured after Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down two Indian jets for intruding into Pakistan’s territory.

    Pakistan, as a goodwill gesture, had handed over the captured pilot to Indian authorities at Wagah border on March 1.

    According to Indian media reports, the opposition party’s leader has now argued that the pilot should be given a national honour “for his bravery”.

    Earlier, the shot down and captured Indian pilot’s facial hair had become the talk of the town as India hailed him as a “war hero”.

  • Over 2,000 Afghan families told to vacate Mansehra refugee camps for CPEC security

    Over 2,000 Afghan families told to vacate Mansehra refugee camps for CPEC security

    As many as 2,397 Afghan families living in Mansehra have been served a final notice to vacate their refugee camps for the security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), ARY News reported.

    According to reports, Mansehra Assistant Commissioner (AC) Talat Fahad has directed the refugees to leave the three camps situated in the area latest by June 30.

    “The decision has been taken to ensure the security of CPEC”, the AC said in a notification issued in this regard.

    According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan is hosting over 1.4 million Afghan refugees, making the country the second largest host of the refugee population in the world.

    Some refugees have been living in Pakistan for three generations. They have established their business here while some of them have married locals and been deeply integrated into Pakistani society.

    The interim stay of Afghan refugees extended by the Pakistani government is coming to an end on June 30, and Minister of State for States and Frontier Region Shehryar Khan Afridi has affirmed that the country supports voluntary repatriation.

    In a recent meeting, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR have agreed to launch an awareness programme to enable Afghan refugees to make a decision to voluntarily return with Pakistan’s facilitation.

  • ‘Data of around 45,000 Pakistanis stolen to unlock smuggled mobile phones’

    ‘Data of around 45,000 Pakistanis stolen to unlock smuggled mobile phones’

    Identity credentials of around 45,000 international passengers have been stolen to unlock smuggled mobile phones since the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) launched its crackdown on illegally-imported devices.

    This was revealed by PTA and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while briefing a federal cabinet meeting presided by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan last week, a private media outlet reported.

    The authorities informed the cabinet that travel documents such as passport, CNIC copies etc of around 44,943 resident and overseas Pakistanis were stolen and misused to unlock the smuggled phones since the implementation of PTA’s Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).

    According to PTA, 986,000 mobiles phones were received for registration, out of which around 656,000 were registered under FBR baggage rule exemption with no tax while around 33,000 mobile phones were registered under the duty paid category.

    PTA says that with the implementation of DIRBS, a significant increase has been seen in the legal commercial import of mobile phones. The authority hopes the system will give more dividends towards the elimination of smuggled phones.

  • Calling PM Imran ‘selected’ banned in parliament

    Calling PM Imran ‘selected’ banned in parliament

    Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) Qasim Suri has barred lawmakers from using the word “selected” to address Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, a private media outlet reported.

    According to reports, during the NA session held Sunday, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan protested against the premier continuously being referred to as “selected” in the house.

    He said that addressing PM Imran as “selected” was a breach of the privilege of the house as he was an elected representative.

    Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan, who was presiding over the session, then banned the use of the word, saying that each member had entered the house through votes of the people and the word came as an offence to the house.

    Lawmakers of opposition parties have time and again referred to the premier as “selected” for they allege the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of coming to power after “stealing the mandate of the people”.

  • PM’s special assistant confuses Sachin Tendulkar for Imran Khan

    PM’s special assistant confuses Sachin Tendulkar for Imran Khan

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Affairs Naeemul Haque has confused former Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar for PM Imran Khan.

    “PM Imran Khan 1969,” Haque wrote while tweeting a monochrome picture of a batsman raising his bat.

    The problem? The picture was actually that of Indian cricketing legend Tendulkar and not the Pakistani premier.

    It wasn’t later that Twitterati pointed out the blunder and started trolling PM Imran’s aide.

    https://twitter.com/DavidGillWho/status/1142187389017894913
    https://twitter.com/username_needed/status/1142352453637038081

    Naeem, also a co-founder of the PTI, has served as the party’s central information secretary and president of PTI Sindh.

  • Govt drops plan to make PM House a research university

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has dropped its earlier plan of converting the Prime Minister’s (PM) House into a research university and instead an “emerging technologies and engineering” university will be established.

    As per the details, the new idea will be materialised at a cost of around Rs30 billion and the university will be headed by former Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman Dr Attaur Rahman.

    “The proposal to have a policy institute at the PM House has been abandoned on my advice and rather an emerging technologies and engineering university will be set up in the vacant area of the venue,” Dr Rehman told a local English daily.

    Earlier, the Education Ministry had completed the process of making the PM House a research university, named as “Islamabad National University”, in the first phase.

    The university was to be constructed on 30 acres of land acquired from the polo ground, stables and mountains of the PM House in the second phase.

    Reports had said that a research institute was to be made initially which was to be further given the status of a university.