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Tag: PTI

  • Round Three: Sheikh Rasheed to meet TLP workers tonight

    Round Three: Sheikh Rasheed to meet TLP workers tonight

    At 10 PM tonight, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and Religious Affairs Minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri will, yet again meet workers of the recently banned Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) for a third round of talks.

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that the second round of talks had ended earlier today.

    The first round, led by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, had taken place yesterday after which 11 police hostages were released by the TLP. The first talks took place after a day of clashes between workers and the police.

    Although Prime Minister Khan, in his address to the nation, clearly said that the approach taken by the TLP to the French backing of blasphemous cartoons is wrong, the TLP has put forward four demands. They want the French ambassador to be sent back to France, the part chief Saad Rizvi to be released, the ban on the party to be removed and the arrested workers to be released. PM Khan has clearly stated that his approach, which includes uniting the Muslim world should be adopted by the country, and that the TLP is trying to show that they ‘feel more passionate’ about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) which is not true.

    It remains to be seen what happens in the meetings between the TLP and the government. However, PM Khan mentioned that the violent protests done by the banned party had led to the killing of four police officers, 800 officers injured, 40 police cars destroyed and millions of rupees lost in the destruction of private property.

  • Cabinet reshuffle, again

    Cabinet reshuffle, again

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has had another cabinet reshuffle this past week. The news of another reshuffle was doing the rounds for some weeks and finally it was announced on Friday, April 16. Except for one new but expected addition, all other portfolios have been given to already serving cabinet ministers. Only their portfolios have been changed.

    Hammad Azhar, who had just been appointed the finance minister less than three weeks ago after the ouster of Hafeez Shaikh, has now been removed and given the portfolio of energy. Shaukat Tarin, who served as the finance minister in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regime, has been appointed as minister for finance. He has been given the additional charge of revenue as well. Tarin is the fourth finance minister under the current regime and the second ex-PPP finance minister after Shaikh. Asad Umar was originally appointed the finance minister by PTI before being removed unceremoniously after a few months into his tenure whereas Hammad Azhar’s stint as finance minister was the shortest of all in this government. Tarin will be finance minister for at least six months and then the government will have to get him elected for him to remain in the ministerial position. Tarin has been extremely critical of PTI’s economic management. We will have to wait and see how he turns around the economy.

    Omar Ayub has been made the minister for economic affairs; he was previously energy minister. Khusro Bakhtiar, who held Ayub’s portfolio has now been given the portfolio of industries and production – a portfolio held earlier by Hammad Azhar, who now has Ayub’s portfolio. If this does not make your head hurt, do not fret for we now have Fawad Chaudhry back as the Information Minister while his ministry – Science & Technology – has been given to former information minister Shibli Faraz. Musical chairs, much?

    Fawad Chaudhry was an asset as the information minister when the PTI government came to power but he was replaced by Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. Shibli Faraz later replaced Firdous. Chaudhry is the fourth – yet the original – information minister. When Chaudhry took on the science ministry, he brought his ministry to the limelight by starting many new projects. One of Chaudhry’s feats was his tussle on moonsighting for Ramzan and Eid with Mufti Muneeb. Chaudhry won in the end through his use of technology. Unfortunately, the new science minister Shibli Faraz thinks that moonsighting and the use of technology for this should not be the science ministry’s concern. We hope that Faraz will not rollback all the good work done by Chaudhry.

    We also hope that we will not need a new finance minister or a new information minister anytime soon.

  • Govt’s ‘Rehmatul-Lil Alameen Scholarship’ to also cover non-Muslims

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has launched the Rehmatul-Lil Alameen scholarship program for underprivileged students, Radio Pakistan has reported.

    As per details, a budget of 27.93 billion rupees has been approved for this national-level program which will be used over the next five years. The program will be implemented in 129 public sector universities across the country.

    Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Islamabad, PM Imran said the scholarship will be available to all Pakistanis including non-Muslims, adding that the federal government will annually provide Rs 5.5 billion for 70,000 scholarships. 

    PM Khan said that under the scholarship program a total of 350,000 scholarships will be provided in five years at a cost of Rs 28 billion.

    He further said that the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also separately provide scholarship to the students.

    Read more – Pakistanis appreciate PM Imran for ‘Koi Bhooka Nahi Soye Ga’ programme

    The premier asserted that the government is especially focusing on the education sector with the aim that “our youth learn from the Sunnah of Hazrat Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wa Salam Khatim-un-Nabiyeen“.

    Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said the Rehmatul-Lil Alameen Scholarship is a nationwide program and will be implemented in 129 universities across the country.  He said fifty percent scholarships will be given to women whilst two percent to specially-abled persons.

    Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry and Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also announced the news on social media, encouraging those eligible to apply for it.

    The provinces are also separately pursuing the Rehmatul-Lil Alameen Scholarship program. In Punjab, one billion rupees has been approved for this scholarship program annually, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has allocated Rs 427 million for it.

  • Punjab govt rushes to Tareen’s support amid reports of rift with PTI

    The Punjab government has said that disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen is an important pillar of the party and had worked hard to form the government of Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar.

    Speaking to Geo News, Special Assistant to Punjab CM Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had come to power on the manifesto of the supremacy of law and a corruption-free Pakistan.

    Awan, while responding to a question on accountability, said all those PTI leaders and ministers who were accused of corruption had returned to their positions after getting themselves cleared from the charges.

    The spokesperson dismissed media reports claiming that the government is taking revengeful action against Tareen.

    Tareen is facing charges of corruption in the sugar scandal and multiple cases have been filed against him.

    Amid his ordeal, reports had claimed the sugar baron was defecting to rival Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

    While the claims have been rubbished, any truth to the same could serve a severe blow to the ruling PTI, especially in Punjab where Buzdar is in power owing to the support of a number of loyal-to-Tareen MPAs.

    The PTI leader, after appearing in court on Wednesday, had said that his loyalty to PM Imran was being tested, but that he is not parting ways with the PTI.

    While responding to a question, Awan said that Tareen would never take a step that would harm PTI and that he had played an important role in forming the Buzdar government and taking forward the policies of the PTI government.

    “Jahangir Tareen will never want to see PTI getting weak on the political front. In pursuance of PM Khan’s mission he was active as a soldier,” she added.

    Meanwhile, the Punjab government has reportedly prepared a list of the PTI members who were in contact with Jahangir Khan Tareen.

    CM Buzdar is set to hand over the list to the premier, which would be followed by a final decision on said lawmakers’ fate.

    Tareen loyalists maintain that he also played a major role in securing PM Imran the recent vote of confidence and without his support, the government is struggling owing to a thin majority in Punjab.

  • SC rejects PTI’s appeal; Daska re-polling order by ECP upheld

    SC rejects PTI’s appeal; Daska re-polling order by ECP upheld

    The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regarding re-polling in NA-75 Daska’s entire constituency.

    A three-member bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial gave a short order upholding the earlier order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for re-polling in NA-75.

    Celebrating the SC’s decision, Maryam Nawaz tweeted that it had once again been proven that the government had tried to rob the votes of the people of Daska. She said that only re-polling is not enough. “Those who robbed the votes will have to be made answerable.”

    Reacting to the same, Punjab chief minister’s aide Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that they respected the apex court’s judgement and the PTI would win again.

    The development comes a day after PML-N demanded re-polling in 109 ‘controversial’ polling stations of the NA-75 Daska, if not the entire constituency.

    In February, the ECP had announced that new elections will be held in NA-75 after its returning officer alleged irregularities during the by-polls in a report submitted to the commission.

  • VIDEO: Model, baffled federal minister in hot water over out-of-turn vaccine allegations

    VIDEO: Model, baffled federal minister in hot water over out-of-turn vaccine allegations

    The Natio­nal Com­mand and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided to conduct a probe to reveal facts regarding the video clip wherein family members of Federal Minister for Hou­sing Tariq Bashir Cheema were seen allegedly getting vaccinated out of turn.

    Model Iffat Omar could also be seen in the video.

    Cheema belongs to the Pakis­tan Mus­lim League-Quaid (PML-Q) that is an ally of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    “We have learnt that a number of seg­ments of society are involved in such practice. People are vaccinated and they are included in the list of hea­lthcare workers. Du­­r­ing a meeting of the NCOC it was decided to first inqu­ire that whether the family members of the minister were vaccinated in Islam­a­bad or Punjab,” federal Mi­n­i­s­ter for Planning and Deve­l­o­p­ment Asad Umar said while talking to a news channel.

    On Tuesday, Cheema came under fire after video clips surfaced on social media showing him and some people of less than 60 years of age being vaccinated.

    He maintained that a team of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) had visited them to administer vaccine during a clinical trial, however, he seemed rather baffled while speaking to a private media outlet on Tuesday night.

    https://twitter.com/zarahatkay_dawn/status/1376980858364657667?s=21

    According to Umar, unfortunately it is the psyche of the people that they try to grab things by violating the law. “However on the other hand we have examples that President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi waited for his turn and got the jab when it was due,” he said.

    Dawn quoted Umar as saying during the NCOC meeting that it was decided that the Punjab government, in case the people were vaccinated in Punjab, would take action and if they were vaccinated in Islamabad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Secretary Health Aamer Ashraf Khuwaja would take action.

    Meanwhile, an official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said that unfortunately a large number of people were being vaccinated without being in the queue.

    They maintained that Cheema had dragged UHS in to diffuse the situation.

  • Kubra Khan hits back at media outlet for misreporting her comments

    Kubra Khan has hit back at a local media news outlet for misreporting her comments about un-following Prime Minister Imran Khan on Twitter. Khan, in an interview, had shared that she unfollowed PM Khan (and Hamza Ali Abbasi) on Twitter because she didn’t want any political updates.

    Read more – ‘Masterstroke’: Celebrities, cricketers jubilant over PM Imran’s Vote of Confidence

    Sharing the misreported news on Twitter, Kubra said: “I am and will always one of the biggest supporters of [PM] Imran Khan.”

    “I don’t need to follow him on “social media” to show my support,” said the actor further, adding: “But thanks for adding the negative connotation?”

    Earlier, during the 2018 General Elections, Kubra had said that if she had the option to vote, “it would be no other than PTI.”

    Meanwhile Kubra follows only four people on Twitter: Vasay Chaudhry, Gohar Rasheed, Iqrar ul Hassan Syed and Fahad Mustafa.

  • Contempt case against ECP possible, warns govt

    Contempt case against ECP possible, warns govt

    Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has said that the government will begin contempt proceedings against the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), including the chief election commissioner (CEC) if they do not resign from their posts.

    Addressing a press conference along with Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar on Tuesday, Fawad said that the government is working with the Attorney General of Pakistan and will go for contempt of court proceedings against ECP officials. He warned that the ECP officials should step down themselves or legal options will be exercised.

    Earlier, the government had demanded election commission officials to resign and reconstitute the election body as it “failed to act as a neutral umpire”. 

    Meanwhile, ECP has sent notices to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its own scrutiny committee to appear before the watchdog on March 22 to explain their stance over keeping secret the foreign funding documents of the ruling party.

  • Shahbaz Gill egged and inked in Lahore

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s aide Dr Shahbaz Gill was egged on Monday upon his arrival at the Lahore High Court (LHC).

    According to reports, the premier’s aide on political communication was also subjected to inking besides the two eggs that were hurled at him.

    “This ink is of their kaalay kartut [misdeeds],” said Gill while reacting to the incident.

    “Maryam [Nawaz], next time you do something like this, I will come to your house and wash my face there,” said Gill, adding: “We are Imran Khan’s followers, we will not take revenge. We will, instead, teach you values.”

    He maintained that the government could react to the incident but it won’t stoop down to the perpetrators’ level.

    Gill had earlier alleged that he has been informed that PML-N workers are planning an attack on him at LHC.


  • Opposition ready to challenge Sanjrani’s win in Senate

    Opposition ready to challenge Sanjrani’s win in Senate

    The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is all set to challenge the rejection of seven votes that were cast in favour of Yousaf Raza Gilani as per news reports. Sadiq Sanjrani bagged 48 votes in the election for the slot of Senate Chairman while Gilani bagged 42 votes. Seven votes cast in Gilani’s favour were rejected due to a technicality.

    The seven votes that were rejected had stamps on the candidate’s name but were inside the box. Senator Farooq H Naek said that the presiding officer does not have the right to reject “our vote if it has been stamped inside the box and on the candidate’s name”. Presiding officer Muzaffar Hussain Shah explained why those votes were rejected.

    It was pointed out that the written instructions in the Senate Hall were different from the reasons being given by the presiding officer.

    Former Secretary to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Geo News that the votes should have been valid and this decision can be challenged in the Supreme Court.

    Meanwhile, government senators say it was clearly stated in the Instruction Book how to vote and that these votes were wasted deliberately.