Category: National

The Current is a trusted source for national breaking news, analysis, exclusive interviews, headlines, and videos.

  • ‘Cabinet entitles MPs to 25 business class air tickets,’ report claims

    ‘Cabinet entitles MPs to 25 business class air tickets,’ report claims

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has approved certain amendments to Section 10 of the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974, to ensure privileges for the members of parliament, including 25 business class air tickets for themselves and their families.

    According to reports, the federal cabinet during a meeting on February 25 approved the amendments to ensure perks to 446 lawmakers, which would cost taxpayers Rs300 million.

    The lawmakers will be able to avail 25 business class air tickets from the respective constituency to Islamabad or vouchers worth over Rs0.8m that could also be used by their family members for travel. These amendments would be presented in parliament for approval later on.

    They said that these amendments were proposed by the Parliamentary Affairs Division through a summary to the federal cabinet following the demands of some parliamentarians.

    The cabinet considered the summary titled ‘The Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2020′ dated February 7, and approved the proposal given in the summary, the report said.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry has differed on the claims made by the media report.

  • Pressure chamber seized from Chinese ship could be for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons: Indian media

    Indian media reports have quoted Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) experts as saying that the industrial autoclave — a pressure chamber used to carry out industrial and scientific processes — seized from Chinese ship Dai Cui Yun, can be used for the manufacture of very long-range ballistic missiles or satellite launch rockets.

    According to Hindustan Times, the ship on February 3 was detained by Customs at Kandla Port in Kutch District of the Indian state of Gujarat while en-route to Port Qasim in Karachi “on the basis of an intelligence tip-off” and later allowed to proceed to Pakistan on February 20 after dual-use equipment was seized.

    The autoclave was declared as an industrial dryer.

    According to top government and intelligence officials, the DRDO’s technical experts and missile scientists informed the Kandla Customs, the Ministry of External Affairs and national security planners on Tuesday morning that the seized 18 metres by 4 metres autoclave could indeed be used in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) platforms.

    “The autoclave can be used for the manufacture of the motor of very long-range missiles, with range upwards of 1,500 kilometres or even in the construction of a motor for the launch of satellites. Pakistan has the Shaheen-II missile in the 1,500-2,000 kilometre range and the platform was tested last May,” the report quoted an official as saying on the condition of anonymity.

    Islamabad’s nuclear missile programme is not indigenous and is based on Chinese design with Beijing helping Islamabad since the 1980s. India claims it is for no other reason that China is blocking India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) till Pakistan is also allowed to enter the nuclear club”.

    The report added that given the seizure of the autoclave, Indian “friends” such as France and the United States (US) “could now pressure Beijing to allow India into the NSG”.

  • Christian youngster killed for ‘polluting’ tube-well water by bathing in it

    Christian youngster killed for ‘polluting’ tube-well water by bathing in it

    A Christian labourer, who was tortured by local landowners in Kasur three days ago on accusations of “polluting” their tube-well water by bathing in it, succumbed to his injuries on Friday, Pakistan Today reported.

    The report quoted the deceased’s family members as saying that 22-year-old Saleem Masih on Thursday was brought to General Hospital in a critical condition from Chunian tehsil.

    “On February 25, Saleem had finished unloading chaff in fields in Baguyana village and was rinsing himself off in the tube-well when a group of men, including Sher Dogar, Iqbal, Altaf, Jabbar and Haji Muhammad, rushed over, yanked him out of the water and began beating him,” Saleem’s father Ghafoor Masih said.

    “They cursed and abused Saleem for ‘polluting’ the water, calling him a ‘filthy Christian’,” Masih claimed, adding that the assailants then dragged the youth to their cattle farm, where they chained his hands and feet and continued to torture him with sticks and rods. “They also rolled a thick iron rod over Saleem’s entire body, causing multiple fractures and internal injuries.”

    Ghafoor said that the family was informed about the incident by police officials four hours after his son was taken hostage and tortured.

    “When we reached the cattle farm, we found Saleem lying unconscious on the ground, his face and body bloodied,” he said. He alleged that according to Dogar and the other men, Saleem had “committed a crime by dirtying” their well water and that his punishment was “justified”.

    Masih said that after much pleading, the family was allowed to take Saleem to the hospital while the police acted like spectators.

    Accusing the Ila Abad Police of favouring the accused, Pakistan Center for Law and Justice (PCLJ) Executive Director Napolean Qayyum said that police had helped the five men obtain bail after briefly holding them in custody.

    He said successive governments have failed to reform a deeply corrupt police system that often shows religious prejudice toward minority and marginalized communities.

    “The police’s attitude is often biased when they deal with matters relating to blasphemy, forced conversions and marriages of girls belonging to minority faiths, and even in minor disputes,” Qayyum said. “In this instance, for example, the police favoured the accused and helped them in getting bail even though a young man’s life was at serious risk.”

    Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Ejaz Alam Augustine said that the incident was in his knowledge and stern action would be taken against the perpetrators and the police officials concerned.

    Regarding the family’s claim that their son’s killing was religiously motivated, Augustine said the incident was a result of the mindset that prevails in society. “No law can change such a mindset. The government is trying to promote tolerance for the other faiths but it is an uphill task that cannot be achieved overnight.”

    It merits a mention that Kasur is the same district where an illiterate young Christian couple was beaten and burned to death by a frenzied mob in 2014 over false allegations of blasphemy. Shahzad and Shama Masih, 26 and 24 respectively, had been accused of desecrating pages of the Holy Quran along with other household waste.

    The mob beat the two with sticks and stones before burning them in a brick kiln in front of police officials who stood watching. Postmortem reports revealed that the two were alive when they were thrown into the kiln.

    After the attack, it emerged that the couple had been falsely accused. The pages that the family burned were their personal documents.

  • Major win against coronavirus as China discharges 36,117 recovered patients

    In what is being termed as a major win against the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — for China, the country has discharged a total of 36,117 patients from hospitals after recovery, official state-run Chinese press agency, Xinhua, reported.

    The criteria for deciding if a patient has recovered varies between provinces, but in general, Chinese hospitals require people to test negative twice in a row, and to show no obvious symptoms such as a fever. Patients who are released are supposed to check in with their hospital and can face retesting — which is when some tested positive again.

    A total of 36,117 patients infected with the novel coronavirus had been discharged from hospital after recovery by the end of Thursday, reports quoted Chinese health officials as saying on Friday.

    Thursday saw 3,622 people walk out of hospital after recovery, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.

    By the end of Thursday, a total of 78,824 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions of mainland China, and 2,788 people had died of the disease.

    Meanwhile, another report quoted a key Chinese respiratory disease expert as saying that some discharged coronavirus patients could still carry the virus and be infectious, potentially posing another complication to Beijing’s efforts to control the epidemic.

    Zhao Jianping, the head of the coronavirus containment team in worst-affected Hubei province, said a minority of patients who were discharged from hospital after tests showed they were negative for the virus later tested positive again. China counts patients whose throat or nose swabs show up positive for the virus in a nucleic acid test, and those whose CT scans show lesions in their lungs, as infected cases.

    It is pertinent to note that the news of recoveries from China — epicentre of the virus — comes as the world fights a global outbreak of the disease. While cases are being reported in the United States (US), Europe and the Middle East, Pakistan has also confirmed the presence of virus with first two infections.

    The presence of coronavirus in Pakistan was confirmed on Wednesday, with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, tweeting the reaffirmation.

    Dr Mirza also addressed a joint press conference with Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan late on Wednesday night confirming the two cases in Karachi in Islamabad.

    The SAPM, while urging calm across the country, confirmed that the first patient along with his family had been quarantined. The 22-year-old man in question had returned to Pakistan from Iran on February 20, with all passengers from the flight set to be tracked and tested. At least 100 patients have been tested negative thus far.

  • Australian journalist hosts ‘world’s biggest tea party’ in Abhinandan’s memory

    Australian journalist hosts ‘world’s biggest tea party’ in Abhinandan’s memory

    Australian cricket journalist Dennis Freedman, who is known for his love for Pakistan and trolling India over Twitter, has hosted “world’s biggest tea party” to mark the first anniversary of Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s capture following an aerial dog fight in 2019.

    The nation on Thursday honoured the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), which countered Indian strikes exactly a year ago in response to India’s violation of Pakistan airspace during the post-Pulwama stand-off.

    Ahead of the celebrations, a group of local and foreign media journalists visited for the first time, the area in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) where the air force downed an Indian aircraft near the Line of Control (LoC) last year.

    On February 27 last year, warplanes from both sides had engaged in a dogfight along the LoC in Kashmir. The PAF had downed an Indian aircraft and arrested Abhinandan. But a day later, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had announced his release as a goodwill gesture.

    With a viral video showing Abhinandan praising officers of the Pakistan Army for being “professional and thorough gentlemen” while having “fantastic” tea served to him under their custody, the words ‘tea’ and ‘fantastic’ repeatedly made headlines for their meanings being changed for good in Pakistan.

    The catchphrase also became the top trend on social media as Pakistan celebrated the first anniversary of the series of events from last year on Thursday, and Dennis, who is in the country to cover the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL), tweeted a video saying he was hosting the “world’s biggest tea party”.

    https://twitter.com/DennisCricket_/status/1232749713016991746

    He said that people did not need to be in Pakistan with him to join the party, urging people to share their images and videos enjoying tea.

    https://twitter.com/DennisCricket_/status/1232966646240874496

    Here’s how Twitterati responded:

    https://twitter.com/DennisCricket_/status/1232911848787382272

    The government had earlier this month also decided to celebrate February 27 as “Surprise Day” to commemorate Operation Swift Retort against the IAF.

  • LEAKED VIDEO: ‘You did a great job by slapping Mubasher Lucman,’ KP CM tells Fawad Chaudhry

    LEAKED VIDEO: ‘You did a great job by slapping Mubasher Lucman,’ KP CM tells Fawad Chaudhry

    A “leaked” video over the internet on Thursday showed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan appreciating Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry for slapping journalist Mubasher Lucman in January this year.

    “You did a great job by slapping Mubasher Lucman,” the KP CM can be heard as saying in the video.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Fawad had on January 5 slapped anchorperson Lucman at the valima ceremony of Mohsin Leghari’s son.

    Several leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), including Jehangir Tareen, were present at the time of scuffle between the two. Reacting to the incident, Fawad in a Twitter message had criticised Lucman, saying that the anchorperson could not be considered a journalist.

    The scuffle had come in response to Lucman’s allegations against Fawad regarding TikTok star Hareem Shah.

    Geo News bureau chief for Lahore, Raees Ansari, had revealed that Tareen and Fawad were talking about the allegations that Lucman had levelled on the minister during a TV show, salaciously linking the federal minister to Shah, who had then made headlines after accusing government officials, including lawmakers, of sending her indecent pictures.

    It was at that moment that Lucman arrived at the event, triggering a war of words between him and Fawad over the issue. The federal minister reportedly protested against the claims, later slapping and shoving the anchor. The altercation stopped when people intervened and broke up the fight.

    Soon after, both Fawad and Lucman had left the event.

  • Anchor seals PEMRA office, takes officials hostage at gunpoint

    Anchor seals PEMRA office, takes officials hostage at gunpoint

    Officials of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) were earlier this month reportedly detained by an anchor, who had stormed the media watchdog’s Lahore office with the help of three of his police guards and two other unidentified persons.

    According to The News, a top PEMRA official on February 13 found the anchor calling him on WhatsApp after barging into the office, shouting and directing his companions to seal the premises and barring anyone from entering or exiting the building.

    Three police guards deputed for his security helped him lay siege at the office, while two persons in plain clothes also accompanied the journalist who had arrived on a Toyota Corolla bearing a green number plate, the report said.

    He further shouted asking for CCTV cameras and instructed his men to confiscate them, it added.

    As the siege continued, PEMRA Lahore’s regional general manager came out of his room and request the anchor to discuss with him his grievances, the anchor followed the official to his room and ordered his police guards to lock it from inside while staying alert with the weapons.

    Finally, the manager was also made hostage along with his two guests. It was from there, the anchor called up a top PEMRA official in Islamabad and put it on speakerphone.

    “Do you want to continue your job or not?” the anchor asked the top official. “Yes, I want to continue,” was the reply. Second question, “If I ask you to delegate me all of your powers, would you do that or not?” “I will do that,” the official responded.

    The third question by the anchor was if he put the official’s phone on hold for an hour, would he wait or disconnect the call? “I will wait.”

    This followed requests from the top official who wanted the anchor to forgive PEMRA. He also told the journalist that the action taken against him was a mistake, the report claimed and added that the media watchdog official further promised that he would visit Lahore to personally apologise to the anchor.

    The conversation ended after this reassurance and Lahore PEMRA regional general manager was a silent spectator.

    According to the report, PEMRA’s Council of Complaints had fined the anchor Rs500,000 while taking action on the complaint of two provincial ministers. The anchor had alleged them of corrupt practices in his TV programme but failed to prove the same. PEMRA chairman had approved the decision and it was delivered to the anchor on the day he attacked the office in retaliation instead of opting for a legal remedy.

    As the matter was “resolved” after assurance of the top PEMRA official, the anchor decided to celebrate it at PEMRA’s Lahore office where he remained from 3 pm to 6 pm. He ordered the accompanying men in plain clothes to go get 10 pizzas.

    While the anchor apologised to his hostages for any “inconvenience”, he let the staff know about the powers he enjoyed, the report said.

    Taking names of high-ups in the judiciary and security agencies, he “tried to give an impression that he was very influential and also got the support of all the named institutions”, Regional General Manager Ikram Barkat noted in a written report sent to the PEMRA chairman.

    “He also told us that he has powers given by the Supreme Court (SC) to seal any premises and has the seals available in his vehicles to do so. For reference, he quoted an incident where he sealed a hospital for three days.”

    While the report sent to the PEMRA chief is being treated as a ‘top-secret’ and the name of the journalist has not been disclosed, sources in the media regulatory authority have informed The Current that the anchor is affiliated with BOL Network.

    Repeated attempts were made to contact the journalist, but he was unavailable.

  • Delhi riots: Imran warns of ‘strict action’ against harming Pakistani non-Muslims

    Delhi riots: Imran warns of ‘strict action’ against harming Pakistani non-Muslims

    As the situation in New Delhi continues to worsen with communal violence by extremist Hindu mobs making the Indian capital a living hell for the country’s minority Muslim community, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has warned far-right activists against any similar acts targetting the minority communities of Pakistan.

    Anti-Muslim riots over a controversial citizenship law have erupted in the Indian capital of New Delhi this week, leading to violence that has left 21 dead and hundreds injured as the police fail to control Hindu-supremacist mobs running rampage in Muslim areas.

    “I want to warn our people that anyone in Pakistan targetting our non-Muslim citizens or their places of worship will be dealt with strictly. Our minorities are equal citizens of this country,” the premier tweeted.

    In an earlier tweet, he said what was being seen in India was the “Nazi-inspired Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation — ideology taking over a nuclear-armed state of over a billion people”.

    He also once against urged the world community to act against the bloodshed in India before it was too late.

    “As I had predicted in my address to UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] last year, once the genie is out of the bottle the bloodshed will get worse. IoJK [Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir] was the beginning. Now 200 million Muslims in India are being targeted. The world community must act now,” he stated.

    Meanwhile, the premier’s warning against any acts of violence targeting Pakistani minority communities is receiving mixed reactions from Twitterati.

    What do you think of PM Imran’s statement? Let The Current know in the comments.

  • Aasia Bibi says she’s seeking asylum in France

    Aasia Bibi says she’s seeking asylum in France

    Pakistani Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was jailed after being convicted of blasphemy in 2010, is seeking political asylum in France.

    “My great desire is to live in France,” she said in an interview with RTL radio.

    “France is the country where I received my new life… Anne-Isabelle is an angel for me,” she said, referring to the French journalist who waged a long campaign for her release.

    Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is soon to bestow an honorary citizenship certificate granted to Aasia by the city in 2014.

    She said she did not have any meeting scheduled with President Emmanuel Macron, but “obviously I would like the president to hear my request”.

    The Pakistani Christian was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2010 but she was acquitted by the Supreme Court on October 31 in 2018. She now lives in Canada at an undisclosed location.

  • PAF exhibits wreckage of India’s MiG-21 shot down last year

    PAF exhibits wreckage of India’s MiG-21 shot down last year

    The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has unveiled the wreckage of Indian Air Force’s (IAF) MiG-21 Bison that was shot down by Pakistan on February 27, 2019, contradicting Indian claims of shooting down a Pakistani F-16 aircraft.

    The PAF’s Director Media Affairs flanked by Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Planning) Air Commodore Syed Omar Shah gave a detailed briefing to the media on the victory of “Operation Swift Retort” here at the Air Headquarters.

    He also showed the missiles of MiG-21 Bison recovered from the wreckage of IAF fighter being piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan and shot down by the PAF fighter jets during the dogfight on February 27 last year.

    Air Commodore Syed Omar Shah said the MiG-21 Bison was equipped with two R-73 Archer missiles and two R-77 Adder missiles on its left and right wings, which were never fired. Since the aircraft after being hit fell on the left side that completely damaged the two missiles attached on the left wing.

    The two R-73 Archer and R-77 Adder missiles, which attached on the right wing of MiG-21, were recovered almost intact from the aircraft’s wreckage whereas the left wing missiles were damaged, particularly the R-77 Adder whose rocket motor got burnt under the rubble, he added.

    Air Commodore Shah noted that after analysis of the recovered missiles it was found that none of them was fired, rejecting the claim of IAF that Wing Commander Abhinandan had fired a R-73 Archer missile at the PAF jet before his aircraft was shot down.

    “The rocket motor has been found attached with the missile launcher that clearly proves that the MiG-21 piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan did not fire any of its missiles and inflicted no damage on the PAF aircraft,” he maintained.

    The Operation Swift Retort, he said, would be remembered as a “chronicle of valour and heroism”, which gave a message to the international community that their quest for peace should not be misconstrued by the enemy as their weakness.

    He said though the independent sources had also denied the IAF’s claims of shooting down PAF’s F-16 fighter plane yet Wing Commander Abhinandan was awarded the highest military award by the Indian government. Moreover, the IAF chief’s claim of hitting an F-16 with a R-73 Archer missile was a question mark on the professionalism of his force, he added.

    Air Commodore Shah said when the IAF tried to violate Pakistan’s airspace it was “unilaterally perceived to be challenging the sovereignty of Pakistan”. In response to the the IAF’s violation of Pakistan’s airspace, four key targets had been locked, including Headquarters 80 Brigade Punch Sector, Headquarters 120 Brigade and two others. The PAF’s swift operation had surprised the IAF as they were unable to respond, he added.

    He said the main reason behind a year-long delay in making public the wreckage of MiG-21 Bison was a war-like situation which prevailed at the time of dog-fight.

    The PAF pilots avoided to hit the locked targets due to the rules of engagement decided by the country’s leadership, he added.

    Earlier, Pakistan had announced to celebrate ‘Surprise Day’ on February 27 as a tribute to the retaliatory attack by the PAF after India’s Balakot airstrike.