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Tag: PTI

  • Gandapur announces heading to LoC, leading from front if war breaks out

    Gandapur announces heading to LoC, leading from front if war breaks out

    As tensions soar on either side of the border, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has announced heading to the Line of Control (LoC) and leading from the front if a war breaks out.

    Heavy troop movements reportedly continue along the LoC in both Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) after India revoked Article 370 of its constitution last Monday.

    The move that snatched away the disputed territory’s autonomy, can lead to the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and ultimately result in the transformation of the region into majority-Hindu.

    READ: Articles 370 and 35A explained

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Gandapur on Friday eulogised those who had laid their lives for the Kashmir cause and said that if India imposed war, he would be in the forefront in fighting the occupying forces.

    “The entire nation stands in solidarity with Kashmir and if needs be, I will head to the LoC to fight the war,” the minister added.

    In an earlier statement, Gandapur had said that Kashmir was the country’s jugular vein and every Pakistani was ready to fight for it till death. He had further said that the country’s armed forces were ready to befittingly respond to any Indian misadventures.

  • Fawad shuts up Indian major who pointed out PTI-PML-N clash

    Fawad shuts up Indian major who pointed out PTI-PML-N clash

    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”.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    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:

    Responding to the Indian major’s tweet, Fawad wrote:

    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.

  • Naya Pakistan: ‘Gold Boy’ gangster visits police station to see locked-up friend, gets arrested

    Naya Pakistan: ‘Gold Boy’ gangster visits police station to see locked-up friend, gets arrested

    One of the country’s most notorious gangsters, Zafar Khan Supari, nicknamed ‘Gold Boy’ for flaunting gold jewelry and weapons, has been arrested by the police for “obstructing official work”.

    In the episode, which somewhat proves that Supari has lost the power and respect he once enjoyed owing to his strong political clout, the Gold Boy and his friend were locked up by the R.A. Bazaar police in Rawalpindi.

    According to the details, Supari’s friend and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) activist Asad Numberdar tried to hit a rickshaw with his car near a police picket on Harley Street.

    The rickshaw driver, who was going from Lal Kurti towards Bakr Mandi, asked Numberdar why did he do it, following which the latter lost his temper, cocked a pistol and pointed it at the rickshaw driver identified as Sajjad.

    When the personnel on duty at a police picket saw him pointing a pistol at the distraught man, they jumped into action and overpowered Numberdar, who was later brought to the R.A. Bazaar police station and locked-up there.

    It wasn’t later that notorious gangster Zafar Supari walked into the precinct to meet his friend, however, he too was thrown behind bars on charges of obstructing official work.

    According to The Express Tribune, Supari has also been booked in cases of protecting wanted criminals and proclaimed offenders in his locality, besides posing with illegal firearms on social media.

    Numberdar has served a prison sentence for the murder of Raja Shoaib, a nephew of ex-Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat. Police will produce both arrestees before a judge to seek their physical remand for further investigation.

  • ‘Won’t let Nawaz enjoy AC, TV in jail’: Imran at ‘largest’ gathering of Pakistani-Americans

    Claiming that former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif eats homemade food in his air-conditioned jail cell with television, PM Imran Khan has said that he will ensure the “criminal” does not receive such treatment.

    The premier, who is currently in the United States (US) on a three-day official trip, said this while addressing around 30,000 Pakistani-Americans at Washington DC’s Capital One Arena.

    The gathering was termed as the “largest” in the community’s history by those present at the jampacked venue with 20,000 official seating capacity.

    “Nawaz Sharif wants food from home in jail, he wants air conditioning in jail. But in a country where half the population has no air conditioning or TV, what kind of punishment would this be?”, the premier questioned.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “When I return, I’ll make sure there is no air conditioning or TV for Nawaz Sharif who is a criminal. I know Maryam [Nawaz] Bibi will make some noise, but I say to her, return the money. It’s as simple as that,” he added.

    Continuing his tirade against Nawaz, PM Imran alleged that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo was “propped up” by a military dictator.

    “Nawaz was propped up by military dictator. Shehbaz Sharif was propped up because he was his brother. Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal became leaders on the basis of some piece of paper that left the party behind to them. Similar stories with other parties,” he said.

    Targeting his political rivals, the premier reiterated that the government had started seizing their undeclared properties because they had “looted the country when they were in power”.

  • PTI leader installs VVIP bathroom at ministry

    PTI leader installs VVIP bathroom at ministry

    Despite slogans of austerity and claims of bringing an end to Pakistan’s VIP culture, ministers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government have installed biometric machines outside bathrooms of the Ministry of Industries and Production for top-ranking officers. The ministry comes under Abdul Razak Dawood who is Adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan for Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production, and Investment of Pakistan.

    According to reports, only an additional secretary or an officer above the rank can use these ‘VVIP’ bathrooms. Those who are of the same rank from another ministry can also use these washrooms.

    Meanwhile, the bathrooms for the rest of the people working there allegedly don’t even have soaps or other basic toiletries.

  • PTI govt reluctant to get Peshawar BRT investigated

    PTI govt reluctant to get Peshawar BRT investigated

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has opposed the formation of a committee to investigate the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has reported.

    As per the details, treasury members of the KP Assembly have opposed the opposition’s proposed suggestion to form a house committee to probe the long-pending project.

    The chair, however, has admitted the question for a full debate under Rule 48 of Assembly Procedure, reports said.

    “The government would not form a parliamentary committee unless it was aimed to facilitate people and provide them relief,” KP Law Minister Sultan Khan said on the floor of the provincial assembly during question hour.

    He rejected the allegations of corruption in BRT and said that public funds had been utilised on the project in a “judicious and transparent” way.

    The minister was responding to a question raised by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator Nighat Orakzai, who argued that public money had been “deliberately misused” in the project.

    According to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released earlier this month, the KP government significantly deviated from the original, agreed design and used inferior quality material in the Rs70 billion Peshawar metro bus project putting lives and assets at risk in the process.

    The inferior quality construction could damage the project’s reputation at the international level, warned the lender that had approved a $335 million (Rs53 billion) loan for the project in mid-2017.

    PESHAWAR METRO:

    The Peshawar metro is rather infamous for its incompletion as the authorities concerned have failed to meet deadlines time and again. The government has now issued yet another deadline for completion of the much-delayed project, saying that it will be operational by the end of current year.

    The KP government and the project’s execution agency had earlier promised to open the project, launched in October 2017, within six months on April 20, 2018. However, the deadline was missed.

    The project managers kept changing the launch dates from May 20 to June 30 to December 31 in 2018 to March 23, 2019. The project’s cost has also jumped to Rs68 billion from earlier Rs49 billion.

  • PTI declares critical media coverage as ‘treason’

    PTI declares critical media coverage as ‘treason’

    In another episode of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) alleged bars on press freedom, critical media coverage has been linked to potential “treason”.

    The PTI, on its official Twitter handle, has fired off over two dozen tweets in English and Urdu, lambasting the press for coverage that criticises the government and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, which it deemed “anti-state”.

    “Freedom of expression is [the] beauty of democracy. Expressing [the] enemy’s stance is not freedom of speech, but treason against its people,” read one tweet.

    “Media houses and journalists must take care that in their quest for criticism on state, they intentionally or unintentionally do not end up propagating enemy’s stance,” it added with the hashtag ‘#JournalismNotAgenda’.

    The tirade comes two weeks after an interview of former president Asif Ali Zardari was stopped from being aired shortly after it started on a private news channel.

    It was followed by an interview of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, a vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), being “forcefully” taken off air soon after it was run.

    https://twitter.com/nadeemmalik/status/1149336805516464129

    “Just came to know Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s interview has been stopped forcefully just [a] few minutes after it started live,” tweeted show host Nadeem Malik.

  • VIDEO: PTI leader showered with dollars, euros, riyals upon arrival in hometown

    VIDEO: PTI leader showered with dollars, euros, riyals upon arrival in hometown

    Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) leader Sohail Zafar was showered with foreign currency notes as he reached his hometown on Sunday.

    According to reports, the leader was welcomed with euros, United States (US) dollars and riyals besides Rs5,000 currency notes by the party’s local leadership in Gujranwala, over his appointment as Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) chairman.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs6TfGVxoNI

    It was Zafar’s maiden visit to his hometown since the appointment by PTDC Board of Directors last month.

    Cheema’s caravan entered the boundary of his hometown Machike Sandhuan when PTI leader Shahid Iqbal Naghra showered him with foreign currencies, whereas the party members received him by dancing and tossing flower petals, reports said.

    Party workers were also reported to be collecting the currency notes on the ground as was seen in the video that went viral on social media.

  • PTI leader ‘who inserted iron rod into driver’s rectum’ becomes HR focal person

    PTI leader ‘who inserted iron rod into driver’s rectum’ becomes HR focal person

    Mir Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Lund, who allegedly violated his poor driver by inserting an iron rod into his rectum, has been appointed as a human rights focal person by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    According to a Human Rights Ministry notification dated July 10, Minister Shireen Mazari has appointed Lund as a focal person on the issues of human rights in Sindh.

    “He shall assist the office of the federal minister on the issues of human rights while keeping liaison with relevant stakeholders,” the notification read.

    While the appointment is “purely voluntary without the ministry bearing any expenses”, the news has taken social media by storm owing to the gross violation allegedly committed by Lund in April.

    Lawyer and activist Mohammad Jibran Nasir was among the first to point out.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzyDlAyna1P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    THE ASSAULT:

    As per the details, a van driver named Allah Rakhio was allegedly assaulted and meted out inhumane punishment in Sindh’s Ghotki district on the orders of his employer, Lund, and his three relatives.

    According to the victim’s son, Zahid Hussain Rakhio, his father had a disagreement with Shafiq Lund, following which he was called to Iftikhar’s residence where he was mercilessly beaten up by Shafiq, Rafiq Lund and Mumtaz Ali Lund in Iftikhar’s presence.

    Injured Rakhio called Hussain, who took him to the hospital, where he received eight stitches on his private parts. A video of Rakhio lying on his back on a stretcher and narrating his ordeal was also widely shared over the internet.

    FIR AGAINST LUND:

    A First Information Report (FIR) against Iftikhar, Mumtaz, Shafiq and Rafiq on the victim’s complaint was filed at the Khanpur Mahar police station.

    The FIR was filed under sections 324 (attempt to commit qatle amd), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 143 (punishment for being a member of unlawful assembly).

    Hussain, however, claims that police have not yet made any arrests and are trying to brush the incident under the carpet.

    Picture of the victim published with his consent

  • PTI MPA seeks ‘corrective surgery and appropriate measures’ for transgender kids

    PTI MPA seeks ‘corrective surgery and appropriate measures’ for transgender kids

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Shahina Karim on Wednesday submitted in the Punjab Assembly a resolution to safeguard the rights of transgender children, ARY News reported.

    “Most of the times during childbirth, the kid is not transgender, but is presumed so,” the resolution read.

    “Such a child can be assigned gender after corrective surgery and appropriate measures so that they too can spend life like a man or a woman,” the resolution stated further.

    The move comes amid rising numbers of transgender persons’ killings across the country. Just last week, a 19-year-old transgender woman was found “riddled with bullets” beside a river bank.

    The teenager’s father and uncle were arrested for her murder.