Author: newsdesk

  • Jail Bharo Tehreek: PTI leaders transferred from Adiala to Shahpur jail

    Jail Bharo Tehreek: PTI leaders transferred from Adiala to Shahpur jail

    The Punjab police have transferred leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Adiala jail to Shahpur jail.

    Those who transferred include Zulfi Bukhari, Fayaz ul Hassan Chohan among others who were arrested in Rawalpindi after they presented themselves for arrest before the police.

    Other than that, police moved 41 PTI activists from Adiala jail to Hafizabad jail.

    The move came after Adiala Jail was found occupied above its capacity.

    Earlier, Chohan claimed that the police van dropped him and others off on the way and left them there.

    PTI’s Jail Bharo Tehreek: Zulfi Bukhari, Fayaz Chohan arrested

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Zulfi Bukhari and Fayaz ul Hassan Chohan gave themselves up for voluntary arrests in Rawalpindi as part of the party’s Jail Bharo Tehreek (voluntary arrest movement) on Friday.

    A police prisoner van took them away from Committee Chowk. PTI leader Amir Kayani, Awami Muslim League chief and former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, and others reached Committee Chowk in Rawalpindi to voluntarily surrender to the police.

    While talking to the media in Rawalpindi, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that he will not give himself over for arrest but some leaders and some workers will give an arrest.

    On Thursday, PTI activists, led by their leaders, reached Central Prison Peshawar and stayed there till the evening, however, no one was arrested.

    In the evening, the sit-in staged by the party came to an end with PTI claiming that the police were reluctant to arrest them. They then announced that PTI chairman Imran Khan had ordered them to end the protest and sit in. They also announced that they would go to Rawalpindi for the campaign on Friday.

    Meanwhile, several petitions have been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking the recovery of leaders — including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Azam Swati – who were arrested on Wednesday and are serving time in jail.

    Because they wanted it: SMQ, Asad Umar in Attock, Rajanpur jail

    Leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday voluntarily gave themselves up for arrest to Lahore police as part of the party’s Jail Bharro Tehreek (voluntary arrest movement).

    In videos taken at the protest at Charring Cross, PTI leaders including Senior Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Senator Azam Swati and others can be seen wilfully climbing into a prison van.

    Later, PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said, “Around 500-700 PTI workers have given themselves up for arrest.” Chaudhry claimed that the police had arrived prepared with police vans but were “worried after seeing the thousands of people and are contemplating what they should do”.

    The arrests took place as part of the PTI’s Jail Bharo Movement. Following the arrests, PTI Chairman Imran Khan summoned a meeting of his legal team at his mansion in Zaman Park, Lahore. The meeting aims to thrash out a legal strategy for obtaining bail for the arrested PTI leaders.

    A day earlier, the police confirmed that the number of people arrested is around 80, including central leaders of the PTI. However, now according to the list of accused detained in Central Jail in Lahore, the number is 77.

    Following are the names of PTI leaders who were arrested and the jails they have been transferred to.

    Omar Sarfraz Cheema (District Jail, Bhakkar)

    Asad Umar (District Jail, Rajanpur)

    Shah Mahmood Qureshi (District Jail, Attock)

    Muhammad Azam Khan Swati (District Jail, Raheem Yar Khan)

    Murad Ras (Central Jail, Dera Ghazi Khan)

  • ECP de-notifies Khan from six National Assembly seats

    ECP de-notifies Khan from six National Assembly seats

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has de-notified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan from six seats of the National Assembly (NA) that the former Prime Minister won last year in by-elections.

    According to a notification issued by the commission, Imran has been de-notified from the NA-22 Mardan-III, NA-24 Charsadda-II, NA-31 Peshawar-V, NA-108 Faisalabad-VIII, NA-118 Nankana Sahib-II, NA-Korangi Karachi-I seats. These seats are now vacant.

    In October, Khan had broken a record by winning six out of seven seats of NA against candidates of various parties that are part of the ruling coalition.

    Later, he also won NA-45 (Kurram seat), the only seat he is left with after ECP’s notice.

    The PTI chairman broke his own record of victory on five seats which were the most by a single candidate in any election.

  • Gas and cigarette prices push Pakistan’s weekly inflation to 41%

    Gas and cigarette prices push Pakistan’s weekly inflation to 41%

    According to official data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Pakistan’s weekly inflation has remained high, with an increase of 2.78 per cent week-on-week and 41.54 per cent year-on-year for the seven-day period that ended on February 23.

    The latest figures of the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) reveal that the rise is due to an increase in gas prices for Q1 (108.38 per cent), cigarettes (76.45 per cent), bananas (6.67 per cent), chicken (5.27 per cent), sugar (3.37 per cent), cooking oil 5 litre (3.07 per cent), vegetable ghee 2.5kg (2.79 per cent), vegetable ghee 1kg (2.20 per cent) and prepared tea (1.09 per cent).

    The government of Pakistan almost doubled the gas charges for up to 3.3719 mmBtu to secure the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) approval for the $1.1 billion tranche out of the $6.5 billion bailout package under the Extended Fund Facility. Previously, the rate was Rs147.57, which now stands at Rs295.

    The PBS attributes the YoY increase in SPI to the rise in prices of onions (372.03 per cent), cigarettes (164.71 per cent), gas charges for Q1 (108.38 per cent), chicken (85.65 per cent), diesel (81.36 per cent), eggs (75.81 per cent), rice irri-6/9 (75.41 per cent), rice basmati broken (74.16 per cent), bananas (72.22 per cent), pulse moong (70.39 per cent), petrol (69.87 per cent), tea (62.76 per cent), pulse gram (57.02 per cent), bread (55.36 per cent), pulse mash (53.90 per cent) and LPG (52.59 per cent). However, there was a decrease in the prices of tomatoes (67.93 per cent), chilli powder (7.42 per cent) and electricity charges for Q1 (6.64 per cent).

    Analysts had predicted that inflationary pressures would intensify due to tax measures and adjustments in electricity, petroleum and gas prices made by the government to unlock the IMF programme.

    Consumers have been facing the burden of rising prices of essential kitchen items, particularly edibles. The average price of 1kg broiler chicken was Rs469.81 during the week under review compared to Rs446.29 last week. For the groups spending up to Rs17,732; Rs17,733-22,888; Rs22,889-29,517; Rs29,518-44,175; and above Rs44,175; WoW SPI increased 2.42, 2.86, 2.32, 2.18, and 3.10 per cent respectively.

    The YoY SPI for the expenditure groups went up 37.81, 39.80, 40.95, 41.94, and 42.98 per cent respectively. For the week under review, SPI was recorded at 241.29 points against 234.77 points registered last week and 170.47 points recorded during the week ended February 24, 2022.

  • Video: Shehnaaz Gill stops her performance in respect of Azaan

    Video: Shehnaaz Gill stops her performance in respect of Azaan

    Shehnaaz Gill, famous for being part of Big Boss, delayed a performance in respect of Namaaz. In a viral video she can be seen receiving an award for Digital Personality of Year before which the presenter asked her to sing a few lines.

    “It feels so nice. No one else deserved this award better than you. Please sing a few lines, just anything. Whatever you have in your heart, just sing those few lines. Your fans are waiting eagerly for you to sing. I have requests saying people won’t eat unless Shehnaaz sings.”

    As she heard the Azaan, Shehnaaz quickly stopped singing, stood still, and bowed her head in respect. Only once the Azaan was finished did Gill start singing again.
    “Should I sing an unreleased song,” she asked. But when told to do so, she said, “No, that cannot be. No, I will sing a song that is already out.”

    People on social media are praising the female singer turned actor for this act.

  • More audio leaks of judges coming soon, claims journalists

    More audio leaks of judges coming soon, claims journalists

    Veteran journalists Azaz Syed and Umar Cheema have claimed on their YouTube show “Talk Shock” that more audio leaks which have the potential to plunge the country into further crisis, might surface soon.

    The two journalists discussed the recently leaked audio recordings which allegedly feature former Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Pervaiz Elahi talking about a sitting Supreme Court (SC) judge. The two journalists said that according to their well-informed sources, there are some audio leaks that may release soon.

    Syed said that some of the recordings are also related to former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar.

    However, both of them clarified that the information is not confirmed yet.

    Azaz added that judges’ phones are not being taped and highlighted that the recording of someone’s call is highly immoral and condemned the audio leaks.

    Moreover, they thoroughly discussed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s heavy criticism of the judiciary, claiming that government might know about the contents of the upcoming audio leaks.

  • Indian-Pakistani couple brought together by Ludo ends up in jail

    Indian-Pakistani couple brought together by Ludo ends up in jail

    Married couple Muhammad Singh Yadav from India and Iqra Jeewani from Pakistan were both arrested in Bangalore for forging fake documents and citizenship cards to help Jeewani stay in the country.
    Yadav (21) was working as a security guard at an IT organization in Bangalore, while Jeewani was a student from Hyderabad, Pakistan. Both met in 2020 while playing the online game Ludo where they fell in love, and then were in a long distance relationship.
    However during this time, Jeewani was being pressurized by her parents to get married, but the two of them knew that given the political tensions between India and Pakistan, they won’t be able to be together.
    Both Jeewani and Yadav decided to travel to Nepal together where they got married in a Hindu ceremony, according to the police.
    In order to help Jeewani stay in India with proper documents, Yadav got her a fake Indian citizenship card so that she may stay with him in Bangalore.
    The police informed BBC that they had traced the couple after Jeewani made a lot of calls during the day to her mother in Pakistan. After further investigation, Jeewani was declared guilty and handed over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office on 20 January. She was deported back to Pakistan in February while Yadav is still in jail.
    The BBC got in touch with Yadav’s family, who said that the couple had committed no crime, but had only fallen in love.
    “We don’t care if she’s Muslim or Pakistani, she’s our daughter-in-law. We’ll take good care of her,” said Yadav’s mother.
    Meanwhile, Jeewani’s family had confirmed that their daughter had reached home, but refused to speak further on the matter.

  • Election date suo moto: Things you can’t miss in today’s Supreme Court hearing

    At the outset of Friday’s hearing, the Attorney-General told the court that the copy of the court order had not been received which is why all parties did not appear today.

    At this, CJP Bandial remarked that the purpose of today’s hearing was to inform the relevant authorities about the suo motu notice.

    The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government asked Supreme Court’s Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi to “recuse themselves” from the larger bench that is hearing suo motu proceedings regarding the delay in the announcement of a date for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

    The request was presented in a joint statement by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamat-e-Ulema Islami-Fazl (JUI-F), read by lawyer Farooq H Naek, on behalf of the three parties when the nine-member bench resumed the hearing of the suo motu notice today. 

    At this point, Naek appeared before the bench and read out a joint statement of the PPP, JUI-F and PML-N regarding their objections over the bench.

    The lawyer said that both judges had made their observations on the matter when they heard Ghulam Mahmood Dogar’s plea against his removal as the Lahore police chief.

    The counsel also shared the dissenting note of Justice Mandokhail.

    Naek stated that they were objecting to the two judges’ inclusion in the “interest of justice, fair play and to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial and due process as guaranteed under Article 10A”.

    At this, Justice Minallah asked the lawyer if he felt there was a need to form a full court for the case.

    “[The] matter of elections is of public [importance] so there should be [a] full court on this,” responded Naek and formally appealed for a full court to hear the suo motu notice on the delay in elections.

    Meanwhile, the counsel for Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed said that the judiciary is being ridiculed on social media since yesterday and urged the court to look into this matter.

    At this, CJP Bandial said that this matter will be looked into later. “Prepare for the case,” the CJP told the attorney general.

    However, Naek interjected that the matter pertaining to the bench formation and the objections surrounding it should be resolved first.

    “The decision was made on February 16 and the notice was taken on February 22,” said the CJP, adding that taking suo motu notice falls under the chief justice’s jurisdiction. He said that the petitions by Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly speakers are clubbed with the suo motu.

    The court is also looking into the questions raised in the petitions filed by the speakers, he added.

    Justice Mandokhail said that political matters should be resolved in Parliament. “Tell your political parties why should the court hear these cases?” he added.

    Referring to a PML-N rally held on Friday, he said that “derogatory remarks” were hurled at the judiciary in that public gathering.

    Justice Mandokhail said that political matters must be settled in the Parliament. “Go to your parties … why should the court hear this matter?”

    At that, Naek said that he would seek direction from his party on the matter. He also requested the court to first hear the government’s objection on the bench.

    Justice Bandial said that in normal circumstances, citizens knocked on the door of the court. “But today, the Constitution of Pakistan has knocked on our doorstep.”

    Subsequently, the court observed that it will decide on Monday whether to form a full-court bench to hear the case.

    “The court will also hear the objection raised against the two judges on Monday,” CJP Bandial remarked.

    “Today the Constitution knocked on our doors which is why we took the suo motu notice,” remarked the CJP as he adjourned the hearing till 11:30am on Monday.

  • ‘1970s Ittefaq Group was so big kay yeh Tata Birla waghera ka tou pata he nahi tha’: Suleman Shehbaz

    ‘1970s Ittefaq Group was so big kay yeh Tata Birla waghera ka tou pata he nahi tha’: Suleman Shehbaz

    Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, appeared on a podcast where among other matters, he discussed the history of Ittefaq Group, the Sharif family business.

    As a clip of the show went viral, Twitter had objections to Suleman Shehbaz’s version of history.

    He said that the Sharif family prioritised business first and politics second.

    “In 1970’s Ittefaq Group (Family business of Sharif family) was so big that no one knew about Tata and Birla in the region,” said Suleman to the host.

    It is pertinent to mention here that Tata Group was founded as a private trading firm in 1868 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.

    Twitter had all kinds of reactions to Suleman’s statement.

  • ‘Cabal of five’: Maryam Nawaz doesn’t hold back in criticising judiciary

    ‘Cabal of five’: Maryam Nawaz doesn’t hold back in criticising judiciary

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Thursday criticised two sitting judges of the Supreme Court, listing them as members of a “cabal of five” who conspired against her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

    Addressing a public rally in Sargodha, she put up a video screen showing pictures of the five people she held responsible, saying: “The people of Sargodha should also see the ones behind the conspiracy”.

    The pictures included ex-Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed, former chief justices Asif Khosa and Saqib Nisar, and two sitting Supreme Court judges: Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, who are currently part of a top court bench hearing a suo motu case to determine who has the constitutional responsibility and authority to announce the date for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    The PML-N leader said that even the country’s bar councils had protested against the inclusion of the two judges in the bench hearing the suo motu case.

    One of the two serving judges shown on the screen, Maryam said, was part of the bench that disqualified Nawaz in the Panama Papers case. “He is dreaming of becoming the chief justice. It has been five to six years since Nawaz was disqualified but he is still sitting as a judge in every case against Nawaz,” said Maryam Nawaz in a thinly veiled reference to Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

    The PML-N leader claimed that when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) 2014 sit-in failed, ex-chief justice Asif Khosa told PTI chief Imran Khan to bring the Panama case before him so that Nawaz could be disqualified.

    She alleged that ex-spy chief Faiz Hameed is “still sitting somewhere and operating,” behind the scenes.

    Maryam also played the audio purportedly featuring former Punjab chief minister Elahi and one of the top court judges.

    Maryam further said that the two top court judges had taken notice of the transfer of the Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Dogar and “brought back Imran’s man”.

  • Sampling campaign to monitor drug addiction among students launched in Lahore

    Sampling campaign to monitor drug addiction among students launched in Lahore

    The District Administration has initiated a campaign of random sampling in the provincial metropolis to monitor drug addiction among students. According to Deputy Commissioner Rafia Haider, a total of 215 samples were collected from public and private schools and sent to the health department for analysis.

    The samples were taken from various educational institutions, with 50 from Tehsil City, 50 from Shalimar, 50 from Raiwind, 52 from Model Town, and 13 from Cantt.

    Haider has directed ADC (G) Zeeshan Ranjha to ensure strict monitoring and better coordination. She also informed that an awareness lecture was conducted during the sampling process, and drug dealers were under surveillance, apart from random sampling. In addition, monitoring of shops around educational institutions was being carried out, and any suspicious activity should be reported immediately.

    DC Lahore expressed that the young generation is the future and should be safeguarded from drug addiction, which poses a threat to both life and the country’s future. Meanwhile, the District Administration Lahore was actively preparing for the seventh digital census in the city. The DC chaired a meeting where it was reported that thousands of tablets were being distributed for the census, with 1271 tablets already distributed in Tehsil City, 168 in Cantt, 253 in Cantonment, 808 in Tehsil Model Town, 725 in Shalimar, and 382 in Raiwind.

    The DC was informed that tablet distribution was completed 100 per cent in Lahore Cantonment, 92 per cent in Raiwind Tehsil, 86 per cent in City, 85 per cent in Walton Cantonment, 71 per cent in Model Town, and 75 per cent in Lahore Cantt and Shalimar, respectively. All necessary steps were being taken to ensure a 100 per cent success rate for the online census, with officers evaluating performance in the field themselves. The concerned officers were directed to speed up the delivery of the remaining modern tablets.