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  • GHQ allows PTI to use Parade Ground for jalsa

    GHQ allows PTI to use Parade Ground for jalsa

    The Staff Duties Directorate at the General Headquarters (GHQ) Rawalpindi on Friday permitted the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to organise its jalsa at Parade Ground in the federal capital.

    PTI Central Secretariat President Ali Nawaz Awan was informed that permission to use Parade Ground had been granted by the GHQ.

    A letter issued to Awan by the deputy commissioner said: “With reference to clause xlii mentioned in the NOC, you are hereby intimated that permission to use the venue i.e Parade Ground, Islamabad has been granted by the concerned quarters.”

    The NOC was given on the condition that the public gathering shall not disturb or disrupt the fundamental rights of the citizens of Islamabad and adjoining areas nor shall it block Islamabad Expressway or any other road. The gathering shall end at midnight.

    The permission shall only be valid for July 2. It was reiterated that Section 144 had been imposed on the gathering of persons within a one km radius of the Red Zone and the organisers will ensure that no participant entered there.

  • ‘What has my Mum got to do with Pakistani politics?’ Jemima lashes out at PML-N for staging protest again

    ‘What has my Mum got to do with Pakistani politics?’ Jemima lashes out at PML-N for staging protest again

    The ex-wife of former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Jemima Goldsmith, lashed out at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for organising a protest outside her 88-year-old mother’s house this weekend.

    In a tweet on Thursday, she said, “What the hell is wrong with these people (PML-N)? Another mass demonstration was announced outside my 88-year-old mother’s house this weekend.”

    She pointed out that this is the third time that such a protest is being organised outside her mother’s home. She called out the ruling party members for dragging her mother into Pakistani politics: “What has my Mum got to do with Pakistani politics? It’s disruptive for her and a total waste of police time.”

    Jemima tweeted after the PML-N announced a protest in response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) call to gather in Hyde Park on July 2 and then march to Nawaz Sharif’s London residence.

    Since the removal of Imran Khan through a vote of no-confidence, several times PTI protested in London outside PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s residence. Similarly, PML-N workers have protested in front of Goldsmith’s residence and her mother’s in response.

    Back in April, a video shared by Jemima on Twitter showed a man threatening to break into a bedroom in her house. She had stated that her children were being targeted by protesters and that she was facing anti-semitic abuse on social media.

    After the incident, the act was widely condemned on social media as people were of the view that Jemima is not related to Pakistani politics anymore and she shouldn’t be dragged into this matter.

    It is pertinent to mention that after her divorce from Khan, Jemima moved to London and since then she has been living there with her sons.

  • Will Punjab select its new CM today?

    Will Punjab select its new CM today?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved the Supreme Court (SC) to challenge Lahore High Court’s verdict to recount the votes cast in the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) elections excluding the votes that were cast by 25 dissident PTI lawmakers.

    The SC accepted PTI’s plea for an immediate hearing earlier in the day and formed a three-member bench. The hearing is currently underway by the bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial.

    During the hearing, PTI’s lawyer Babar Awan requested to wait for seven days for the election process. To this, the court questioned, “Do you want Punjab to remain without a Chief Minister for seven days?”

    Moreover, the apex court has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to send notice to five reserved seats. As in the petition, PTI pointed out that lawmakers on five reserved seats in the Punjab Assembly had still not been notified in accordance with the LHC’s earlier directives.

    PTI leader and former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry announced the development on his Twitter handle. He said, “An appeal has been filed in the SC against the decision of the LHC. It is hoped that the SC will hold a hearing today in view of this crisis and the session of the Punjab Assembly will be adjourned.”

    The petitioners urged the court to remove Hamza as CM and requested to issue directives for holding a “free and fair” election for the post of the province’s chief executive. Moreover, they requested the court to suspend the election process till the pendency of their petition.

    In the petition, the party also said that some of their Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) are currently not in Pakistan as they have gone to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. The party also argued that many PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) members are busy with political campaign in their constituencies for the upcoming by-elections in Punjab.

    The magic number required to show the majority is 186. According to the verdict of the LHC, after recounting the votes today (Friday), the tally of the incumbent CM Hamza Shehbaz will come down to 172 votes after the exclusion of 25 votes of PTI dissident MPAs. The session will take place today at 4pm as per the LHC order.

    ‘Going to Supreme Court over LHC decision on Punjab CM polls’: Imran Khan

    On Thursday, LHC accepted the appeals of PTI filed against the election of CM Hamza and ordered a recount of votes with the exclusion of the 25 defecting party members who voted for him.

    A five-member larger bench of the LHC headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan announced the verdict.

    After the verdict, Former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said that the party would be going to the apex court tomorrow (Friday) and challenge the verdict.

    Verdict:

    As per the verdict, the votes will be recounted and the candidate securing a majority of votes will be declared the chief minister of Punjab.

    Article 130(4) of the Constitution of Pakistan governs the election of chief ministers, under which there is an obligation of a majority of 186 votes.

    Hamza will no longer be the chief minister if he doesn’t retain the required majority after the exclusion of 25 votes, while the second round of polls will be held as per Article 130(4) in case no one gets the majority after a recount.

    Reactions:

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Attaullah Tarar said that the PML-N is happy and content because it has the required numbers. He said that the PML-N has 177 votes, which means a majority of nine votes even if the dissidents’ votes are not counted.

    “The court neither nullified the previous elections nor ordered fresh elections,” Tarar said.

    The politician said that PTI is unable to understand what the verdict states “in English”.

    Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “The decision of the High Court has further aggravated the political crisis in Punjab. There are many flaws in this decision.”

    Hamza Shehbaz was elected CM Punjab on April 16 with 197 votes, while PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) candidate Pervaiz Elahi received no votes.

  • Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Zardari to be new neighbours?

    Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Zardari to be new neighbours?

    Former President Asif Ali Zardari has reportedly bought two bungalows of 14 kanal in one of the elitist areas of Gulberg in Lahore, reports The News.

    According to media reports, discussions to purchase another bungalow of 6 kanal for residential purposes in Lahore are ongoing. This bungalow is situated in front of PPP’s rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s house near Gaddafi Stadium.

    If the deal finalises, Zardari and Qureshi would become neighbours. It is pertinent to mention that Qureshi left PPP in 2011 after almost two decades of serving under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto. Since then, he is on bitter terms with PPP.

    Zardari and his son Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s current residence in Baharia Town in Lahore will be converted into a farmhouse.

    Earlier, the former president hinted at buying a residence in Gulberg so that he can hold more meetings with people, as it gets difficult for people to come to his residence in Bahira Town.

    Stronghold in Punjab

    According to Geo Urdu, Zardari is currently in Islamabad. However, he will later visit Lahore and hold meetings to discuss the political crisis in Punjab.

    Prior to this, the PPP co-chairman claimed that his party will form the next government in the Centre after winning the next general elections.

    “The next government (in the Centre) will be the PPP’s. I promise if I get a chance to return to power, I will turn around Pakistan 110 degrees. The PPP has the capability to help the country negotiate all the challenges,” said Zardari.

    Talking about politics in Punjab, Zardari said, “The PPP has to sacrifice its politics to save Pakistan. I will myself look into the party affairs in Punjab and ensure its revival here.”

    “We will strengthen our party in Punjab and ensure we get our fair share in the province,” he said.

    Criticising former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Zardari said that the policies of the “anokha laadla” (favourite) had caused price hike and inflation in the country.

    The PPP is currently ruling Sindh, where it is in power for the third time in a row, while it is also a major stakeholder in the incumbent federal government.

  • IK sold three watches to local dealer gifted to him as PM for Rs37 million

    IK sold three watches to local dealer gifted to him as PM for Rs37 million

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan reportedly sold three luxury watches worth more than Rs154 million to a local watch dealer in Islamabad. The watches were gifted to him by visiting dignitaries from Gulf countries when he was Prime Minister (PM), reports The News.

    By selling these watches, Khan earned a whopping amount of Rs37million. According to the news report, instead of buying these watches from Toshakhana with his own money, Khan first sold the watches and then deposited 20 per cent of each in the government treasury.

    It has been revealed that these gifts were never deposited in Toshakhana. These watches were supposed to be submitted to Toshakhana as per the laws that restrict any head of the state to possess the gifts they receive from officials of other countries.

    The most expensive watch among these three was assessed at Rs101 million. However, Khan had declared he sold it for Rs51 million and deposited the 20 per cent of its sales money, which is Rs20 million, in the government treasury, thus earning a whopping Rs31 million. The watch was sold on January 22, 2019.

    By selling a Rolex Platinum watch gifted by a member of a royal family from a Gulf island, Khan almost earned Rs4.5 million profit in November 2018, two months after it was gifted to him.

    Another Rolex watch gifted by a dignitary from the same Gulf island was sold by the former PM. This time Khan made Rs1.5 million profit from this deal.

    It is pertinent to mention that these watches are in addition to the ones reported earlier in the media.

    In April, PM Shehbaz Sharif revealed that Khan took gifts worth Rs140 million from Toshakhana and sold them in Dubai.

    Earlier, responding to the Toshakana controversy, Khan had said they were his gifts, so it was his choice whether to keep them or not.

  • ‘Khan is complaining about institutions being neutral since he cannot win otherwise’: Bilawal

    ‘Khan is complaining about institutions being neutral since he cannot win otherwise’: Bilawal

    Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and said that he is complaining about the institutions being neutral since undemocratic parties like his cannot win otherwise. Bilawal’s comments were in response to the allegations made by PTI after the first phase of local body elections held in Sindh.

    “The beneficiaries of rigging are complaining before you. They cannot win. Imran Khan is complaining about our institutions being neutral since undemocratic parties like his cannot win otherwise. This is why today they are running a movement for our institutions to play a controversial role instead of a neutral and constitutional one,” said Bilawal addressing the National Assembly (NA) today (June 29).

    “Like Imran Khan, there are a few parties, politicians, and puppets in Sindh who are helped and made to come forward in a dictatorial rule. They were hoping, like Khan, for our institutions to not be neutral but controversial,” said the foreign minister.

    “When our institutions started becoming neutral, be it the Election Commission, the courts, or other institutions who used to take interest in elections, these people started panicking,” said Bilawal.

  • ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Aisha Gulalai Wazir has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, demanding the apex court to take suo motu notice of the anti-army campaign being run “by PTI Chairman Imran Khan”.

    In the letter, she demanded the court to put Khan’s name on Exit Control List (ECL), for a treason case to be registered against him and that he and his party should be banned.

    Gulalai argued that Khan is “shamelessly” dragging the army into politics. “Criticising it [army] for being neutral, maligning it, threatening with dismembering the country, waging civil war and creating anarchy in the country, if the army stayed neutral,” she added.

    Furthermore, she said, “Acting like a mafia, Khan and his party through social media teams are running shameful, abusive and vulgar social media trends against Pakistan army, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar.” Along with these allegations, she also attached screenshots as proof.

    Gulalai also alleged that they [Khan and PTI] are using some mainstream media channels and journalists for their propaganda.

    The former PTI member also pointed out that in this way Khan is trying to “instigate the masses” against the armed forces. Moreover, she said, “Khan is threatening the state that he will disclose the security secrets of Pakistan.”

    She also alleged that the provincial government recruited social media influencers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with Rs736 million from public funds.

    Giving the reference of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain — who is banned due to hate speech — and Member National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazie, Gulalai wrote that if their hate speech cannot be allowed who actually “never went to such an extent”, Khan “should be no exception and above law”.

    Who is Aisha Gulalai Wazir?

    In 2017, Gulalai quit PTI and alleged that her then-party Chairman Imran Khan had sent her inappropriate text messages but she did not reveal any other details to support her allegations.

    According to her, she is not the only one who faced this and claimed many women in the party are facing similar issues.

  • Sindh local govt elections turn into a bloody ground with two deaths

    Sindh local govt elections turn into a bloody ground with two deaths

    The first phase of Sindh local government in 14 districts has been completed. According to unofficial results, the provincial ruling party Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is ahead of all the parties with the highest number of winning candidates as 885 out of 946 representatives were already elected unopposed when the polling started.

    The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) came second, independents third, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) fourth, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) secured the fifth position.

    According to media outlets, several complaints of missing ballot papers and changes in the election symbols were reported from many districts of the province, which eventually led to chaos.

    However, the provincial government ruled out such a possibility and described the demand as an “escape” from Opposition parties after they “failed” to field candidates in all districts, reports Dawn.

    Voting started at 9am and ended at 5pm on Sunday. The elections in the rest of the districts of Sindh will be held next month, i.e. July 24.

    Violence at the scene:


    During the election polling when clashes broke out between political parties, it led to deaths and multiple injuries. Two people, including the brother of a PTI candidate, were killed and at least 20 people were injured.

    PTI’s divisional president from Tando Adam, Mushtaq Junejo, said, “I can confirm the death of Qaiser, the brother of our party’s candidate Asghar Gandapur in Tando Adam.” The candidate was contesting in ward-13 of the Tando Adam municipal committee.

    In Nawabshah, the situation became tense when a group of armed people attacked social security. Later, the group fled the polling station along with the election material.

    Kashmore was among the most-affected districts in terms of violence.

    In Durrani Mahar, reports were received that around 10 polling staff members were kidnapped. However, the issue was resolved and police tried to cover up the issue as the polling staff was only released after successful negotiations between the police and the kidnappers.

    Misprinting of ballot papers:



    On Sunday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that some districts had incorrect candidate names printed on the ballot papers. In a tweet, the ECP said that polls in these regions would be postponed and a new schedule would be presented for them.

  • Man caught installing spy device in Khan’s bedroom

    Man caught installing spy device in Khan’s bedroom

    Staff at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s Bani Gala residence on Saturday night caught a man red-handed while installing a spy device in his bedroom.

    ARY News reported that an employee of Bani Gala was paid to install a device in the former prime minister’s bedroom. However, the spying attempt was foiled after another employee informed the security team about the installation of the device.

    PTI leader and the chief of staff of the former premier, Dr Shahbaz Gill, handed over the suspect, an employee of Bani Gala, to the police.

    Shahbaz Gill claimed, “An employee – who cleans the former premier’s room – was paid to install a spy device,” terming the act ‘ heinous and unfortunate’.

    “Our people are being threatened to get information. Such shameful acts should be avoided,” he added. The PTI leader further said that the ‘arrested’ employee has made several revelations – which he refused to share at the moment.

    Many from PTI have been asserting that Imran Khan’s life is in danger. “In this regard, we have informed all relevant agencies, including the government,” Gill said.

    However, Islamabad police said that a media person had handed over the alleged spy to the police but the suspect was not able to speak properly.

    “The suspect could not be identified as he cannot speak properly. It has been decided that a medical test will be conducted on him to ascertain his physical and mental condition. The suspect was kept in Bani Gala house for a day. The person who handed over the suspect to the police has not provided any evidence or proof of spying. Police are investigating the matter and will soon reach the conclusion,” said the police.

  • PM Shehbaz in Karachi: What is he planning to do today?

    PM Shehbaz in Karachi: What is he planning to do today?

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has arrived in Karachi today (Saturday) on a day-long visit.

    During this visit, he will meet a delegation of leaders of the government’s allied party Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

    According to Geo News, the premier will discuss the MQM-P’s agreement with Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).

    When former PM Imran Khan was ousted, an agreement was signed to confirm MQM-P leaving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) coalition and joining hands with the then-opposition parties [PML-N, PPP, JUI-F and others]. The MQM-P decided to part ways with PTI almost a week before the no-confidence motion against Khan and announced its final decision on March 30.

    Other than this, discussions on the census, electoral reforms and upcoming local body elections will also take place between PM Shehbaz Sharif and MQM-P.

    PM Shehbaz also paid a visit to Nawabshah to offer condolence to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari on his mother’s demise.

    The premier’s first stop was Pakistan Naval Academy Manora where he attended the passing out parade of the 25th Short Service Commission.

    In his speech during the ceremony, PM Shehbaz expressed happiness over witnessing women cadets in the passing out parade.

    On Friday, PM Shehbaz made a visit to the port city of Gwadar.