Author: newsdesk

  • How can a convicted man address a jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan, asks Faisal Karim Kundi

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Faisal Karim Kundi appeared on Shahzeb Khanzada’s show on Geo News on Thursday night. The PPP leader criticised Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif, stating that Imran Khan was ‘selected’, but now PML-N is giving the impression that they are also going to be selected, stressing that Pakistani youth will not accept this.

    The PPP leader also asked how a convicted man can address a Jalsa in Minar-e-Pakistan after his return on October 21. PPP is not sure that general elections are going to be held in January next year, he said.

    On the other hand, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Wednesday that general elections have been put on hold because of just one person [Nawaz Sharif].

    PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah criticised Bilawal Bhutto’s statement while speaking on Khanzada’s show on Thursday that Nawaz Sharif is the only hope for nation and elections have been delayed due to delimitation process.

  • ‘Get bicycles for government servants’: Lahore High Court on combating smog

    ‘Get bicycles for government servants’: Lahore High Court on combating smog

    Lahore High Court on Friday heard petitions pertaining to the remediation of smog and passed its verdict. To thwart the pollution that has made Lahore among the most polluted cities of the world.

    Justice Shahid Karim proposed to control vehicular emissions by banning vehicles that emit smoke, and in a unique recommendation, advised government servants to use bicycles for commuting.

    The court advised the government to provide required funds to the organisations working for the reduction of smog. Commissioner of Lahore assured the court that a warning has been issued to factories and manufacturing units in Kasoor. He vowed to pay surprise visits and updated the court about the awareness campaign that has been started to plant trees. He informed the court about a ban on digging roads without permission.

    The court expressed its disapproval of the officers of the Environment Department who are not charging offenders enough. In a matter-of-fact way, the court remarked that the industries which do not comply should be demolished, stressing that it is high time that the Deputy Commissioner and the police come out of their offices and be active on ground.

    Additionally, the court gave a provisional go-ahead to the construction project in Babu Sabu, refusing to change the Railway Golf Club Administrator.

  • Members of UK Labour Party resign in support of Palestine

    Members of UK Labour Party resign in support of Palestine

    Several members of the Labour Party have resigned since the Israel bombing of escalation on October 7.

    The Labour Party is currently in the opposition in the UK whose leader, Keir Starmer, recently stated that Israel has the “right” to cut power and water supplies to Gaza. Similar comments were issued by prominent members including shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry and shadow defence minister John Healey.

    This was followed by a resignation from Oxford City councillor Shaista Aziz. As a former international aid worker, she has worked in the occupied West Bank, Israel, and refugee camps in Gaza.

    Middle East Eye spoke to her and she said, “The Labour Party leader’s stance on not being able to condemn collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza was the final red line for me,”.

    In an interview, Strarmer was asked about the seige, blockade, and the killing by Israel to which he replied that while all action must be taken within the international law, “I don’t want to step away from the core principles that Israel has the right to defend herself.”

    Among other Labour councillors who have resigned are Amar Latif, Mairéad Healy and Jessie Hoskin.

    “As a working GP, I am deeply distressed by the loss of all innocent lives in both Palestine and Israel. However, it cannot be right that there is collective punishment in direct contravention of international law, and it is incumbent on all leaders at a local, national and international level to speak out against this,” said Latif.

    Similarly, Hopkins stated, “I was elected because I believe in human dignity for everyone without exception. The Labour Party no longert reflects those views,”

    While Healy said the Labour leadership was “encouraging collective punishment towards the Palestinian people by condoning the indiscriminate withholding of water and energy supplies in Gaza,” which she believes is illegal under international law.

  • Here’s all you need to know about what PM Kakar has been doing in China

    Here’s all you need to know about what PM Kakar has been doing in China

    Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar is currently on a four day long visit to China, to attend the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. This is the first Forum in four years as the last one was held in 2019. This time around there were delegations from 130 countries and ten heads of states mostly from the global south. The PM is there on the invitation of President Xi Jinping to celebrate ten years of CPEC, the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative.

    The visit has been packed with attending the opening ceremony, addressing the high-level forum and conducting important meetings with head of states and entrepreneurs and presiding over the round tables about CPEC.

    The activities started off with the two-day forum where Anwaar ul Haq Kakar addressed the opening ceremony of BRF at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. He was welcomed by President Xi and the first lady. Both the countries agreed on growing CPEC as a project ensuring growth, employment and sustainability. Xi talked at length about the Chinese rejection of “economic coercion” and “bloc confrontation”.

    Caretaker PM addressed the high-level forum titled ‘Connectivity in an Open Global Economy’ where he vowed to share responsibility and embrace the vision of working together because he believes by this “we can create a brighter, peaceful, and sustainable future for ourselves and for our generations,” He attended a roundtable on the decade-long progress of CPEC. Different MoUs were signed between the leadership of China and Pakistan during the PM’s meeting with his counterpart Li Qiang.

    The United Energy Group of China and Pakistan Refinery Ltd signed an MoU for a $1.5 billion investment to boost the refinery’s production capacity.

    The rail project, whose cost has been revised downwards from $9bn to $6.7bn, will span 1,733 kilometres, connecting Peshawar to Karachi. Besides, the number of trains travelling to and from both cities could potentially expand to 100.

    Both the projects will help enhance the capacity of the respective department and create thousands of job opportunities.

    Apart from the meetings with Chinese businesses and different ministers, Kakar also met Russian President Viladimir Putin, President of Kenya Dr. William Ruto and the President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremsinghe.
    With Russia, he discussed the areas of convergence like countering terrorism in Afghanistan, trade of energy, petroleum and promotion of bilateral ties.
    PM Kakar also talked about expediting the joint investigation report on the Arshad Sharif murder case in Kenya with William Ruto.
    In his meeting with Srilankan President he discussed about the mutual issues regarding economy and the crisis in Gaza calling for an immediate ceasefire.
    He represented Pakistan at the final Gala Dinner having all the attendees of the forum after his meeting with the President of China. He stated categorically of “Pakistan’s blind trust on China” and the pride Pakistan takes in “Chinese progress”.
    In the last leg of the visit, PM is now on his way to Ürümqi, Uyghur region of China to address the students at Xinjiag University after offering Jumma prayers in the Grand Mosque of Xinjiag.

  • Greta Thunberg calls for ceasefire in Gaza, freedom for Palestine

    Greta Thunberg calls for ceasefire in Gaza, freedom for Palestine

    Climate Change activist Greta Thunberg has raised her voice in calling for an end to the genocide in Palestine. She shared a post on Instagram, holding the poster ‘Free Gaza’ and announced that she was striking in solidarity with Palestine.

    “Week 270. Today we are striking in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.”

    The climate change activist also shared several accounts for her followers to educate themselves on the struggle for Free Palestine.

  • Arshad Sharif’s wife registers case against Kenyan police

    Arshad Sharif’s wife registers case against Kenyan police

    Javeria Siddique, the wife of Pakistani journalist and anchor Arshad Sharif who was killed in Kenya in 2022, has filed a petition in the Nairobi High Court on Thursday against the Kenyan police officials named in her husband’s murder case.

    Arshad Sharif was killed in Kenya on October 23 last year. The Kenyan police admitted at the time that Arshad’s car came under fire due to ‘mistaken identification’.

    After arresting the policemen involved in the incident, recent media reports have told of their reinstatement.

    Javeria has approached the court in Nairobi following this news, confirming in a conversation with Independent Urdu that an application has been filed in the High Court.

    According to Javeria: “GSU (Journal Service Unit) has been made a party to the petition filed. His accomplices include five police officers who were named in the murder case.

    In addition, the Attorney General of Kenya, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the IG National Police Service, the Independent Police and the National Police Service Commission have been made parties.”

    She further stated that she is the petitioner herself and is accompanied by the Kenya Union of Journalists, Kenya Correspondence Association. Apart from this, four international organisations, ICFJ, IWMF, Media Defense and Women Journalism are also included which will provide all kinds of support.

    She said that she got the idea of filing the application in Kenya because there has been no progress in the case in Pakistan.

    “No one has been arrested or punished in Kenya. When a nuclear state will not make any effort for any of its individuals, individual efforts have to be made,” she stated.

    “Individually, I have hired a lawyer to file the application because practising law in another country is difficult”, she added.

    Javeria Siddique also said that filing the application in Kenya was difficult and that no help was granted from Arshad’s friends except from international organisations, adding that there has been no progress in the case in the Supreme Court in Pakistan for two months because “the government had no intention to do so”.

  • Nawaz Sharif reaches Dubai to return to Pakistan

    Nawaz Sharif reaches Dubai to return to Pakistan

    Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) head Nawaz Sharif has arrived in Dubai on Thursday ahead of his much-anticipated return to Pakistan.

    After four years of self-exile in London, the former three-time prime minister is scheduled to come back to Pakistan on Saturday, October 21, even though he has been sentenced to prison.

    He arrived a few hours late due to an important meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as reported by Geo News. Upon his arrival at the Dubai airport, he received “special protocol”.

    Nawaz is scheduled to have meetings with a specific set of individuals while staying in Dubai for two days. He will for Pakistan on Saturday morning, initially heading to Islamabad and then continuing on to Lahore.

    Nawaz is set to return to Pakistan on a chartered plane, with approximately 150 individuals, including journalists, politicians, and activists, who have booked tickets to accompany him on his journey.

    The three-time premier went to London on November 19, 2019, when he fell critically ill in prison.

  • India, Canada relations continue souring as diplomatic staff is thinned out

    India, Canada relations continue souring as diplomatic staff is thinned out

    Following the allegations of India’s involvement in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a cultural centre in Surray, British Columbia on June 18, Canada expelled top Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai who was allegedly the head of Indian Intelligence in Canada. “We’ve been clear we will not tolerate any form of foreign interference,” the Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stated in a press conference on September 18. 

    In response, India asked a top-tier Canadian diplomat to leave the country in five days, citing “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”. 

    The gravity of the matter became clearer when Canada cancelled a trade mission to India that was scheduled for later this year.

    Since then, tensions are at an all time high between the two countries. On October 19, Melanie Joly confirmed to the media that 41 Canadian diplomats have left India after the Modi Government threatened to take back their diplomatic immunity. The two governments rushed into the decision after trying negotiations for two weeks. New Delhi posed the demand of “parity” in the number of diplomats between the two countries. Reportedly India had 21 accredited diplomats in Canada while the latter had 62 in India spread across four consulates in Mumbai, Chandigarh and Bengaluru. The immigration officers that catered applications from Nepal and Bhutan along with India have now been reduced from 27 to 5. However, the withdrawal of immunity is unilateral from India’s side-a violation of International Laws.  

    Canada, on the other hand, has decided to neither reciprocate nor “retaliate” because this would put the diplomats of other countries at risk. Even though, contrary to India’s claims of accredited diplomats, the registry of foreign representation by India shows the number to be 60 in Canada, Joly refused to comment on that and reiterated that because it is unprecedented, “we decided not to reciprocate”

  • Israel attacks church sheltering displaced Christians and Muslims

    The Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, a shelter for several Palestinian families in Gaza, was struck by Israeli bombing on Thursday night.

    Muslims and Christians, together, were seeking refuge under its roof however, Israel military targeted the Church killing and injuring dozens.

    According to Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office, 18 Christian Palestinians were among the killed.

    The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has conveyed its “strongest condemnation” of the attack, saying that “targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli air strikes on residential areas over the past 13 days, constitutes a war crime”.

    History of Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church

    At the site of Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, a church was built back in 425 AD but in 1150s or 1160s, the Crusaders named it Saint Porphyrius Church after a bishop renowned for introducing Christianity to Gaza in 395 to 420 AD.

  • Possibility of big change in Pakistan squad against Australia

    Possibility of big change in Pakistan squad against Australia

    There is a possibility of a big change in the Pakistan cricket team for Friday’s match against Australia in the ICC ODI World Cup.

    Sources say that leg-spinner Osama Mir can be added to the Pakistan playing 11 on Saturday instead of vice-captain Shadab Khan who might be dropped. Khan has not been able to chalk up a good performance in the World Cup, leading to criticism from fans.

    The match between Pakistan and Australia will be played today at 1:30 p.m.