Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry, while speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday, lost his cool and called journalist Matiullah Jan “kiraye ka aadmi [ a hired man]. The statement of the former minister came as he was questioned about First Lady Bushra Bibi’s friend Farah Khan.
Here is what happened.
Fawad Chaudhry: “I will take questions later … Commando Saab one minute …. Statement of facts has been submitted by Prime Minister…”
Matiullah can be heard speaking in the background, “Where did Farah Khan go? Why did she run away from the country?”
Fawad Chaudhry: “I will talk first, and then you will speak.”
Matiullah kept asking his questions and that’s when Fawad called him out and said, “Kiraye pay aatay hain is tarha kay loug, [People like him are hired].”
Matiullah got angry at being called ” a hired man” and then said that it was actually Fawad who is a ‘kiraye ka tattu,” [a hired fool] and that’s when the heated argument geared up.
Fawad and Matiullah abusing each other
Though other journalists tried to settle the matter, both Fawad and Matiullah hurled continuous derogatory remarks and abusive words at each other.
Fawad was asked to apologise but refused. His refusal to offer an apology ended up with journalists announcing that they are boycotting media talks of all PTI leaders.
Petroleum product sales rebounded in the last month after a dismal February with Oil marketing companies (OMC) witnessing an increase of 23 per cent in sales of petroleum products on a year-over-year (YoY) basis in March 2022.
Overall petroleum sales in March 2022, increased to 1.82 million tonnes compared to 1.54 million tonnes in March 2021, as per the data released by Arif Habib Limited.
The stability comeback shows a 19 per cent increase in overall OMC sales on a month-over-month (MoM) basis.
OMC volume growth was driven by furnace oil, which climbed by 34 per cent on a YoY basis, followed by HSD volume growth of 29 per cent and MS volume growth of 13 per cent. MoM growth in OMC volumes followed a similar pattern, with FO taking the lead.
Although the increase in furnace oil volumes was driven by increased furnace oil usage in the power sector due to low gas and Re-Gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) availability.
The increase in HSD volumes was driven by increased demand from the transportation and agriculture sectors and increased usage in generators and the power sector.
Moreover, the government’s price caps and the additional number of days in March compared to February were the main contributors to MoM growth in diesel and gasoline sales.
Consequently, petroleum sales increased by 19 per cent on a YOY basis in 9MFY22, with double-digit increases for petroleum products.
Diesel sales grew by 17 per cent, followed by 16 per cent increase for furnace oil and a 10 per cent growth for motor oil.
While some are expecting a drop in petroleum sales due to the political turmoil and rising commodity prices, others say that higher oil consumption cannot be overturned as the summer is already here and people are likely to consume more electricity, also that the power sector may switch to furnace oil due to RLNG commitment defaults.
China reported more than 20,000 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily tally given since the start of the pandemic, as millions in locked-down Shanghai began a new round of testing.
The country’s “zero-Covid” strategy has come under immense strain as cases spike, with around 25 million residents of Shanghai — China’s largest city and economic engine room — ordered to stay-at-home as the authorities struggle to contain the outbreak.
Until March, China had kept daily cases low with snap localised lockdowns, mass testing, and strict restrictions on international travel.
But the caseload has hit thousands per day in recent weeks, with Shanghai driving the surge of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The city locked down its residents in phases last week, prompting scenes of panic-buying and mass testing.
But state broadcaster CCTV reported that the city will launch a fresh round of tests on the entire population on Wednesday.
Shanghai is “testing its strength against the virus,” senior city health official Wu Qianyu said at a press conference Wednesday, the latest dour warning from authorities suggesting a long run in lockdown may be ahead.
The city is converting its landmark National Exhibition and Convention Center into a makeshift Covid hospital for 40,000 people, state news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday, just days after setting up a temporary quarantine centre in another expo hall.
– Extended lockdown –
The China’s National Health Commission said in a statement it is the country’s highest-ever daily infection number given by authorities, even during the peak of the initial outbreak which centered around Wuhan.
The majority of the cases are, however, asymptomatic.
Authorities reported no new deaths, in a country which says only one person has died of the virus in nearly two years.
In Shanghai quarantine facilities are bulging with people who test positive — even if they are asymptomatic — as city officials stick rigidly to virus protocols.
Those include separating Covid-positive babies and children from parents who test negative, a policy that has stirred anxiety and anguish from worried families.
City officials said on Wednesday that parents of some child patients with “special needs” would now be allowed to remain with their Covid-positive children.
The embattled Sri Lankan president lost majority in parliamentary as former allies have urged his resignation in the wake of raging street protests over the island nation’s crippling economic crisis.
Unprecedented shortages of food and fuel along with record inflation and blackouts have inflicted widespread misery in the country’s most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
Once-powerful ruling coalition of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is in turmoil after a string of defections and the new finance minister’s resignation just one day after taking office.
On the other hand, anti-Rajapaksa demonstrations continued for a fifth straight day and the government warned of retaliation if rallies turned violent.
“Security forces will not hesitate to enforce the law against those involved in violence,” defence ministry secretary Kamal Gunaratne said in a statement.
More than 60 people had been arrested in connection with unrest since Friday and many have said they were tortured in police custody.
The UN Human Rights Council said it was closely watching the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, which is already facing international censure over its human rights record.
“The drift towards militarisation and the weakening of institutional checks and balances in Sri Lanka have affected the state’s ability to effectively tackle the economic crisis,” the UNHRC said.
A rare drawing by Michelangelo, discovered in 2019, will be offered for sale next month by Christie’s and could fetch 30 million euros ($33 million), the British auction house said.
The drawing, one of the few works of the Renaissance Italian artist in private hands, was sold in 1907 in Paris and billed as a work of the school of Michelangelo. It was largely forgotten until 2019, when a Christie’s specialist recognised it as one of Michelangelo’s own.
The drawing is thought to be one of the artist’s early works, from around the end of the 15th century. It reproduces a shivering man depicted in a fresco, “Baptism of the Neophytes”, by Masaccio. Two other people stand near him in the drawing.
“This drawing I think is one of the most exciting discoveries made in the field of Old Masters drawings in a long time,” said Stijn Alsteens, Christie’s international head of the department for Old Master drawings.
The work had been designated a French national treasure, which prevented it from being exported, but the French government recently removed the designation, allowing the drawing to be offered to collectors anywhere in the world, Christie’s said.
The drawing is scheduled to be exhibited in Hong Kong and New York before it is auctioned in Paris on May 18.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been chosen for Twitter’s board of directors, just one day after it was confirmed that he is the social media platform’s largest shareholder, holding a 9.2 per cent stake.
On April 5, Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal said he was excited to announce Musk’s membership to the company’s board of directors.
Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!
Tesla’s CEO, whose personal wealth is assessed to be $289 billion, about $100 billion greater than the second richest person on the planet, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has a history of publishing controversial tweets.
Musk was a “passionate believer and intense critic” of the platform, according to Agrawal, and it was exactly what Twitter needed to render it stronger in the long run.
Surprisingly, Musk has a Twitter following of more than 80 million, and he was already looking forward to collaborating with the company “to make big improvements” to the social media platform in the near future.
Twitter on Tuesday stated that Musk had agreed to serve as a class two director with a term terminating at the company’s annual meeting of shareholders in 2024.
Musk bought a nearly $3 billion (£2.3 billion) share in Twitter on Monday, which is more than four times the 2.25 per cent share held by the platform’s co-founder, Jack Dorsey.
However, Musk would not be able to own more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter’s outstanding shares, either alone or as part of a group, for as long as he was a board member and for 90 days later, according to the firm.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who ranks among the Top 10 most popular users on Twitter with 80.4 million followers, paid $2.89 billion for the stake on Friday at Twitter’s closing share price.
Twitter shares rose another 5 per cent Tuesday morning after soaring more than 27 per cent on Monday after reports of Musk’s stock purchase.
While reacting to Aurat March’s statement in which the forum strongly condemned the constitutional crisis in Pakistan and the dissolution of the National Assembly (NA), Federal Minister Shireen Mazari dropped a controversial tweet.
A day earlier in a tweet, the Aurat March criticised Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, saying: “We condemn the political circus that has been kicked off due to the fragile masculine ego of a person who has sabotaged democratic processes just to save the perception of his individuality and to stage a dirty manoeuvre for his comeback to power.”
We condemn the political circus that has erupted due to the fragile masculine ego of a person who has sabotaged democratic processes just to save the perception of his individuality and to stage a dirty manoeuvre for his comeback to power.#NoConfidenceMotion#AuratMarch2022pic.twitter.com/Y4xccTJI6T
— Aurat March – عورت مارچ (@AuratMarchKHI) April 3, 2022
The statement clearly didn’t sit well with Mazari. She replied in disagreement, saying that “This [statement] shows Aurat March has little to do with genuine issues faced by women in Pakistan and more with politics and political agendas. Since many here have NGOs funded from abroad this statement, while condemnable, is not surprising. Fact is the US sought regime change and we do not accept it.”
This shows Aurat March has little to do with genuine issues faced by women in Pak & more with politics & political agendas. Since many here have NGOs funded from abroad this statement while condemnable is not surprising. Fact is the US sought regime change & we do not accept it https://t.co/7GwhsyPYWg
Indirectly hinting at Mazari, Aurat March Lahore released a brief statement, saying, “We cannot be asked to stay in our lane when the politics of this country deeply impact us.”
Aurat March Lahore believes that the feminist movement is not apolitical. We are just as impacted by the political machinations in assemblies and courtrooms as the rest of the country, and we have as much of a right to comment on it.#AsalInsaaf#AuratMarch2022#AuratMarchpic.twitter.com/giRbSVZT84
The statement reads, “Aurat March does not accept funds from, partner with, or endorse any political party, NGO or corporation. We reject the idea that activism should be apolitical.”
“We will continue to engage with politics, not only because it has a tangible impact on our lives, safety and wellbeing but because we are unafraid to stand up to institutions of political power,” the statement further reads.
Veteran writer and one of the giants of Urdu novel in the country, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, has refused to accept the Kamal-i-Fun award announced by the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) in Islamabad. The writer claimed it was “controversial and tainted.”
The award was jointly announced for Tarar and Seraiki poet Dr Ashu Lal, who has already refused to accept the award immediately after its announcement, saying that he could not accept an award from ‘a fascist state that’s anti-people and anti-art’.
The Kamal-i-Fun award carries prize money of Rs1m too.
Tarar, famous for his novels and travelogues, raised the question as to why the tradition of the award was violated and the rules of the award ignored. He said the move was similar to dividing Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award of Pakistan, between two persons.
“It’s just ridiculous. Sometime back, I came to know the ‘half of the award’ has been awarded to Dr Ashu Lal. He, according to his ideology, refused to accept the award. I think he is right (in rejecting the award) because it was injustice not only to me, but to him as well that he had to share the award’.
Tarar said, “It’s difficult for me to accept the award that’s tainted and controversial. It’s against my creative integrity. That too at the age of 83 and after the creative process of 60 years. No, it’s not acceptable to me”.
However, he expressed gratitude to the members of the PAL committee for their love and kindness as they voted for him. “I am obliged to them and I hope they will understand my point of view”. At the end of his message he thanked his readers, saying that whatever status as a writer he had got was due to his readers. “I get a Kamal-i-Fun award from my readers on (publication of) my every book. They don’t consider me a half-writer but a complete writer.”
Tarar has already received Sitara-i-Imtiaz in the category of literature from the government of Pakistan for the year 2016.
On March 31, Dr Yousuf Khushk, chairman of PAL, announced the names of Mustansar Hussain Tarar and Dr Ashu Lal, selected for the Kamal-i-Fun award for 2020 after a meeting of the award committee at the PAL office. The selection for the award was made by a panel of writers and intellectuals, including Kishwar Nahid, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Mahmood Sham, Muhammad Izharul Haq, Dr Anwar Ahmad, Dr Rauf Parekh, Parveen Malik, Dr Riaz Majeed, Hafeez Khan, Mohammad Hameed Shahid, Dr Abaseen Yousufzai, Nasir Ali Syed, Dr Abdul Razaq Sabir, Dr Zulifqar Sial, Taj Joyo, Dr Ziaul Hasan, Dr Rubina Shaheen, Dr Qasim Naseem, Harris Khalique and Dr Wahid Bux Buzdar.
According to a press release issued by the academy, the Kamal-i-Fun award is bestowed upon a Pakistani writer in recognition of his/her literary services of lifetime. It was launched in 1997. The National Literary Award for books published in various national and regional languages of Pakistan was also announced on the occasion for the year 2020.
After his rejection of the award, Ashu Lal was hailed by the Seraiki speaking people for raising his voice against the state; however, some sections criticised him as well. Some others urged him to accept the award, terming it recognition of Seraiki language, but he remained adamant, due to his ideology. Now rejection of the literary award by Mustansar Hussain Tarar, considered by some as the most famous and the best living novelist of Urdu language from Pakistan, has raised more questions about it and the decision of the award committee.
PTI dissident Abdul Aleem Khan on Monday criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan and accused him of not being “sincere to the nation”.
Once a close aide of the PTI chairman, Aleem has grown disillusioned over the past few years and recently took a position against the party by deciding to support the joint opposition in the Punjab Assembly.
Talking to the media in Lahore today, he said he regretted dedicating 10 years of his life to the party. “I have supported the PTI with great loyalty, hard work and kept my ego aside. We thought there would be a Naya Pakistan in the face of Imran Khan,” he said.
“I’m sad that the person I spent 10 years of my life for is not sincere with the nation.”
Aleem criticised the premier over a number of issues ranging from the National Accountability Bureau “hounding” him to his insistence on retaining Usman Buzdar as the chief minister and then the nomination of PML-Q leader Pervez Elahi as the new Punjab CM.
Aleem rued that he had been branded a “traitor to the PTI” as he called out his critics and claimed that no one in the party had sacrificed more than him.
In a similar vein, he issued a challenge to the prime minister to bring forth any evidence of corruption against him, for which he said he was imprisoned for six months.
“Why wasn’t a reference made against me? What proof do you have? Bring it in front of the nation and tell them that these were Aleem Khan’s misdoings and corruption … I promise that if I turn out to be lying then I will shoot myself.” he said.
The PTI dissident levelled a number of allegations against Buzdar as well, saying that he was involved in bribery over transfers and postings in Punjab. He also accused Farah Khan, an associate of the first lady, of being complicit in these transfers.
He said any investigation would uncover who she (Farah) was forwarding the money of her alleged corruption while responding to a question about whether the first lady was also involved in supporting Farah.
Aleem criticised the prime minister for Sunday’s dissolution of the National Assembly as well, questioning what had stopped him from doing so before. He said that the premier could not dissolve the assemblies once a no-confidence resolution was submitted against him.
Actor Haroon Shahid took to his twitter handle to call out Aleem for his shocking remarks against Imran Khan.
#surprise@abdul_aleemkhan I remember working for you when I used to work at a digital media agency and we were running your social media pages. Bohat si baatain Hain waisay WhatsApp par meray paas pic.twitter.com/h5zYbjMhOe
The Verna hero stated that he has many proofs against Aleem since the time he was working for the politician’s digital company, which he might spill to the media.
I think it would only make the workers and supporters more charged up if Khan Saab publicly expresses regret for all the people who had to vote for the likes of Amir Liaqat, Aleem Khan, Noor Alam etc. because electable politics was the need of the hour. I had to vote for Aleem https://t.co/tHj5IbUDIT
The Qayamat actor also express his regret on voting for Aleem in the past because of the PTI factor.
In April 2021, the Amanat star lauded the efforts of Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar for keeping the city of Lahore well-maintained.
“On a drive this morning I realized how well Lahore is maintained,” wrote the Qayamat actor on social media. “Yes, there was a phase when there were issues with the waste management but this morning was a pleasant surprise to see horticulture, waste management, and traffic police all doing their job well.”
“Well done Buzdar,” he added.
Haroon further said: “I’ve started to realise that Buzdar and his team have been working without many PR antics and their work is now showing.”
“There’s a whole PR cell working against him both from within and outside but frankly he’s slowly defying them with his work,” he added.
I’ve started to realize that Buzdar and his team have been working without many PR antics and their work is now showing. There’s a whole PR cell working against him both from within and outside but frankly he’s slowly defying them with his work.
64 per cent Pakistanis believe that there is no US conspiracy to overthrow the PTI government, Gallup survey has revealed. The survey was conducted between April 3 and 4, according to which 64 per cent Pakistanis cited inflation as the main reason behind the fall of the PTI government.
Those who participated in the survey said that the main reason behind the Opposition’s efforts to remove the government is inflation and lack of relief for the people.
Only 36 per cent of the participants said that the US was behind the fall of the government.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has named Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu as the United States (US) representative who had a meeting with Pakistan’s Ambassador in the US, which led to the ‘threatening’ diplomatic cable.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is in a state of political chaos as the no-confidence motion against Khan was dismissed abruptly on Sunday. The move came after Suri termed it “unconstitutional”, saying that it was backed by “foreign powers”.
