Category: Politics

News stories of Politics, for the topics that matter the most to young professionals and college students, political news reported with a different angle.

  • ‘Absolutely no truth in regime change’: US Ambassador says would work with whatever government Pakistanis elect

    ‘Absolutely no truth in regime change’: US Ambassador says would work with whatever government Pakistanis elect

    United States (US) Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome, in an interview with The News, said there is “absolutely no truth” in the allegations of regime change in Pakistan and said that he is “very much hopeful that the countries can get past this and get back to important work”.

    He said, “We want to see an independent, prosperous and strong Pakistan. That’s what we believe is in our interest and in the interest of the region. As for the allegations, there is absolutely no truth in that. We have spoken to them, myself, and in Washington.”

    To a question by the newspaper about the possibility of Imran Khan coming into power again, and the US reaction to it, the US ambassador said that his country “Would work with whatever government the Pakistani people select”.

    On the matter of Imran Khan’s demand to hold an inquiry into the cipher issue, the ambassador was of the view that it is not his position to talk about whether the inquiry should be made or not. During the interview, Bloom revealed that he had not met Imran Khan.

    The ambassador said it’s important to clarify that the US, in no way, asks Pakistan or any other country to “Choose a single economic partner, bloc or anything else like that”.

    Furthermore, Blome credited the government for securing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) deal and termed it a “significant accomplishment”.

    Talking about Pakistan’s debt, the ambassador said that Pakistan does not have an enormous amount of debt with the US in particular. “So, the Paris Club debt is a relatively small amount. It is how the US would be working with Pakistan to defer payments,” he stated.

    However, he reiterated that US wants to help Pakistan to navigate through this very difficult period

    Blome also dismissed any talk about his country using Pakistan air bases.

    ‘We want to build and reset these relations back to normal: PM Shehbaz Sharif

    At the US embassy, where Bloom was also present, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif expressed hope to reset US-Pakistan relations.

    “I want to say this very sincerely today that we want to build and reset these relations back to normal on the basis of trust, respect, and mutual understanding,” he declared.

    On Thursday (September 29) a diplomatic reception was held at the US embassy in Islamabad to commemorate the 75 years of relations between Pakistan and the US.

    “As I said, there will be a lot of what your [US] side will want to say but as long as we renew this friendship with sincere and serious dialogue, I can assure you that nothing will go wrong,” Shehbaz Sharif said.

    The Pakistani premier stressed that it is time for the two countries to move forward and find ways to warm up the relationship to the same degree as it was in the past.

    The prime minister also recalled that during his visit to New York, he met US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken who assured him of support for the flood-affected people.

  • ‘Kis mulk se yeh letter aya hai, mai kisi ke moo se sun’na nahi chahta’: Khan

    ‘Kis mulk se yeh letter aya hai, mai kisi ke moo se sun’na nahi chahta’: Khan

    The season of leaks rages on in the country as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman’s part two of the first audio leak on the ‘cipher’ got released on Friday, September 30.

    The latest audio, reportedly featuring PTI’s Imran Khan, Asad Umar and Azam Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, can be heard below.

    The script of the second audio goes as follows:

    Imran Khan: “Okay Shah Jee [Shah Mahmood Qureshi] tomorrow we will be doing a meeting. Three of us [Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Asad Umar] and the foreign secretary. In the meeting we will quietly write the minutes of the meeting. Azam is saying we will make the minutes…. and keep a photo copy of it.”

    Azam Khan: “This cipher came on the 8th or 9th March. It came on 8th March.”

    Imran Khan: “But the meeting took place on 7th. By no means will we be taking the name of Americans. So please, no one should take the country’s name on this issue. This is very important for all of you. I don’t want to hear the name of the country from where the letter came from any ones mouth.”

    Asad Umar: “Are you intentionally calling it a letter. This isn’t a letter, it is a transcript of the meeting.”

    Imran Khan: “It is the same thing, whether it be a meeting’s transcript of a letter. People wouldn’t have understood the transcript. You say [things] like this in your jalsa.”

    ‘Is par hi khelna hai’: Imran warns not to reveal United States involvement

    Khan in his first leaked audio, could be heard talking about the alleged foreign conspiracy against him with his then principal secretary Azam Khan.

    Khan discusses how to frame the narrative around the alleged conspiracy that resulted in the ouster of his government. He tells Azam Khan: ‘Iss par hi khelna hai’, without mentioning the name of the United States and they discuss how to form a team on the issue.

    The “cipher” lies at the heart of PTI’s claim that the US plotted with individuals within Pakistan to remove Khan from office. It is based on then-envoy Asad Majeed’s meeting with State Department employee Donald Lu..

    ‘Abhi toh khela hi nahi mai’: Imran Khan responds to new leaked audio

    Khan broke his silence on the leaked audio, and said that he has not played on the cipher yet.

    Khan in the new leaked audio, can be heard talking about the alleged foreign conspiracy against him with his then principal secretary Azam Khan.

    When asked who leaked the audio, Imran blamed Shehbaz Sharif.

    “It is good that the audio got leaked, I would say the cypher should also be leaked. So that everyone should come to know how big was that foreign conspiracy.”

    “Abhi toh khela hi nahi mai,” said Khan. Translation: I have not played with it yet and will play when they expose it.

  • Court issues notice to NAB on Dar’s plea to cancel warrants

    Court issues notice to NAB on Dar’s plea to cancel warrants

    An accountability court has served a notice to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) today (Wednesday) after newly-appointed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar surrendered himself before the court and submitted a petition pleading for the cancellation of his arrest warrants.

    The court then issued a notice to the NAB and ordered Dar to appear before the court on October 7.

    “We will hear the application for cancellation of warrants along with assets’ reference,” the judge remarked.

    In 2017, Dar was a declared a proclaimed offender in a NAB reference due to his continued absence from the proceedings.

    NAB accused Dar of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

    The case was filed by NAB in light of the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.

    The same year, Dar flew to United Kingdom due to seek medical treatment. He stayed there for almost five years until his return to Pakistan on Monday.

  • Prince Mohammed Bin Salman named as Saudi Prime Minister

    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was named the country’s prime minister on Tuesday. The development came after a cabinet reshuffle ordered by King Salman.
    “HRH the crown prince, based on the king’s orders, alre

    ady supervises the main executive bodies of the state on a daily basis, and his new role as prime minister is within that context,” said an official while talking with Reuters.

    As prime minister, Prince Salman will lead the council of ministers. Prince Khalid bin Salman will become Defense Minister amidst a cabinet reshuffle.

    Prince Mohammed, who turned 37 last month, has been first in line to succeed his father as king since 2017.

    Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, has congratulated Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his appointment as the Kingdom’s Prime Minister.

    “I congratulate my brother, Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, on his appointment as the Kingdom’s Prime Minister, wishing him success, and the Kingdom greater progress under the wise leadership of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,” Sheikh Hamdan said in a tweet.

    The newly designated Prime Minister is expected to visit Pakistan in November this year.

    COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa has congratulated Mohammed Bin Salman on his appointment.

  • Ishaq Dar aa nahi rahay, aa gaye hain: Dar takes oath as senator

    Ishaq Dar aa nahi rahay, aa gaye hain: Dar takes oath as senator

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar on Tuesday, September 27, took oath as a senator after living five years in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom.

    Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani administered the oath amid ruckus created by the opposition. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members tore copies of the agenda of the meeting to register their protest and also surrounded the dais.

    Dar touched down in Pakistan with Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on the night of September 26. He will be sworn in as the federal finance minister tomorrow (September 28) at 10am.

    Talking to reporters at the airbase, Dar said: “I will try my best to fulfill all the responsibilities. We will try to take the country out of the economic swamp it is stuck in […] the way we did in 1998-1999 and 2013-2014.”

    President Arif Alvi will administer oath to Dar at Aiwan-e-Sadar. All arrangements for the oath-taking ceremony will be completed by tomorrow morning.

    The incumbent minister, Miftah Ismail, had resigned from his post on Sunday evening.

  • PM Shehbaz’s alleged audio leak; Govt forms JIT

    PM Shehbaz’s alleged audio leak; Govt forms JIT

    The federal government has constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the data hacked from Prime Minister’s (PM) House, after several audio leaks surfaced on the internet.

    Following the audio leaks, an investigation was initiated to probe the data leak from the PM House, with one member each in the JIT to be included from the country’s intelligence agencies.

    The investigative team will examine how the data was hacked and will investigate if devices were installed in the PM House or if the phone calls were recorded. The team will also check which officers were present in the house at the time of the incident. Meanwhile, Special Branch personnel designated at the PM’s secretariat will also be interrogated.

    The premier has also called a meeting of the National Security Committee on Wednesday, September 27, related to the recording at the PM House. The meeting will be attended by the heads of security agencies.

    On Saturday, September 24, alleged audios of PM Shehbaz and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders leaked online.

    In one of the audio clips, PML-N Vice-president Maryam Nawaz allegedly can be heard complaining to her uncle [PM Shehbaz] about Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.

    The second clip allegedly concerns a conversation between PM Shehbaz, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Tarar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and former National Assembly (NA) speaker Ayaz Sadiq about the resignations of PTI MNAs. The audio is said to be a recording of a cabinet meeting.

    Party leaders can be allegedly heard discussing whose resignations from PTI will be accepted. Moreover, the leaders can be heard saying that the final decision will be taken by PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif who is in London.

    In another audio clip, PM Shehbaz and an unidentified man can be heard allegedly discussing facilitating Maryam Nawaz’s son-in-law Raheel.

  • US to give $10m to Pakistan for food security

    US to give $10m to Pakistan for food security

    United States (US) Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has said that the US government is pleased to announce another $10 million for Pakistan’s food security programme.

    Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari met Blinken at the State Department in Washington DC on Monday.

    Holding a joint press conference following the meeting, Bilawal said that diplomacy between the State Department and the foreign ministry of Pakistan is back once again.

    “It is indeed true that diplomacy is back between the US State Department and the foreign ministry of Pakistan,” he stressed.

    Blinken said this is a very difficult time for Pakistan after floods wreacked havoc in the country. Floods will have long-term repercussions if the situation is not handled immediately, he warned.

    The US top official said, “We are meeting when Pakistan’s one-third [area] is under water. We have a sense of urgency and sense of determination. We’re looking ahead to rebuild.”

    He stated that the US stands with the people of Pakistan at this crucial time and added that 17 planes carrying aid for flood victims had already left the country. Pakistan will also receive an additional $10 million for its food security programme, he noted.

    “That has an immediate impact. But unless we’re able together to deal with the challenge, it will have a long-term impact as well,” said Blinken.

    “I also urged our colleagues to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructuring so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods,” Blinken said.

    China is a key economic and political partner of Pakistan, pushing ahead with a $54 billion “economic corridor” that will build infrastructure and give Beijing an outlet to the Indian Ocean, although Chinese interests have also faced attacks from separatists.

    During the press conference, Bilawal also invited Blinken to visit Pakistan.

  • Putin grants Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, who disclosed top secret US surveillance

    Putin grants Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, who disclosed top secret US surveillance

    Edward Snowden, a former security expert who exposed top-secret American surveillance programmes and is still wanted by Washington on espionage charges, was granted citizenship by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

    In order to avoid punishment, Snowden, who considers himself a whistleblower, left the United States and has been residing in Russia since that country gave him refuge in 2013.

    In a decree that Putin signed, Snowden, 39, was one of 72 foreigners who received citizenship.

    His attorneys stated at the time that he was filing for a Russian passport without renunciating his American citizenship when he was given permanent status in 2020.

    The state-run news agency RIA Novosti was informed on Monday by Snowden’s attorney, Anatoly Kucherena, that Snowden’s wife, Lindsay Mills, is also in the process of seeking for Russian citizenship. In 2014, Mills accompanied Snowden to Moscow. In 2017, they got married, and now they have a son together.

    Additionally, Kucherena stated that because of Snowden’s lack of combat experience, he would not be subject to the partial military mobilisation that Putin ordered last week to support Russia’s waning war in Ukraine. Putin claimed that only individuals with prior experience would be called up for partial mobilisation, but there have been several stories of other people receiving summonses, including those detained during anti-mobilization protests.

    According to CNN, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to comment on Snowden’s new passport, and instead referred questions to the prosecutors seeking his extradition. “Soc, since I believe there have been criminal charges brought against him, we would point you to the Department of Justice for any specifics on this,” Jean-Pierre said.

    Snowden’s revelations were the largest security breach in American history as it exposed the top-secret NSA programme PRISM’s use of surveillance and the collection of a wide spectrum of digital data.

    Putin stated in a documentary directed by American Oliver Stone in 2017 that he did not view Snowden as a “traitor” for disclosing official information.

    “As an ex-KGB agent, you must have hated what Snowden did with every fiber of your being,” Stone says in the clip.

    “Snowden is not a traitor,” Putin said. “He did not betray the interests of his country. Nor did he transfer any information to any other country which would have been pernicious to his own country or to his own people. The only thing Snowden does, he does publicly.”

    Snowden justified his decision to submit a dual citizenship application in 2020.

    “After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our son. That’s why, in this era of pandemics and closed borders, we’re applying for dual US-Russian citizenship,” Snowden wrote on Twitter at the time.

    “Lindsay and I will remain Americans, raising our son with all the values of America we love — including the freedom to speak his mind. And I look forward to the day I can return to the States, so the whole family can be reunited,” Snowden added.

  • Nawaz Sharif’s close aide Ishaq Dar to take charge of finance ministry on Tuesday

    Nawaz Sharif’s close aide Ishaq Dar to take charge of finance ministry on Tuesday

    Former Finance Minister and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar is ready to take charge of the finance ministry on September 27 (Tuesday), reports Geo News.

    Currently, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif is in London, where he held a meeting with Nawaz Sharif and Nawaz’s close aide Dar, where the decision took place.

    The incumbent Finance Minister Miftah Ismail will continue to work with the government after leaving his post as Finance Minister.

    It is pertinent to mention that Ismail is an unelected member and thus cannot continue in office for more than six months. He took charge of the ministry in April.

    Earlier, Dar, himself said that he would take oath as a Senator immediately after his return

    Dar is set to come back to Pakistan next week. The PML-N leader has been living in London since 2017 to receive medical treatment. He served as a federal minister of finance four times between 1998 and 2017.

    The former finance minister was elected as a PML-N senator on a technocrat seat in the Senate election on March 3, 2018. He is considered to be quite close to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

    Rana Sanaullah hints at Ishaq Dar becoming finance minister again

    Prior to this, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah hinted a Dar becoming finance minister once again, saying that the senator “can assume the finance ministry”.

    Talking about the possibility on Geo News‘ programme Naya Pakistan, Rana said, “There is no problem for him to become a finance minister. However, the PML-N has not made any decision so far in this regard.”

    According to Sanaullah, the government will definitely consult Ishaq on economic matters as he is experienced and a senior leader.

    When asked about Miftah Ismail, the minister said that he doesn’t have a problem. “He is ready to work with the party with or without ministry”, he stressed

    Is Ishaq Dar coming back to Pakistan?

    An accountability court on Friday, September 23, suspended the arrest warrant against Dar and dismissed orders for arrest upon his arrival in Pakistan.

    Accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir issued the orders, stating that once Dar returns to Pakistan, the court will decide whether it should revoke his arrest orders permanently or not.

    “We will consider permanently suspending Dar’s arrest warrants once he appears before the court in person,” the judge added.

    In 2017, an accountability court, while hearing a corruption reference against Dar, declared him a proclaimed offender due to his continued absence from the proceedings.

    However, Dar had not taken oath as a senator since 2017. The accountability court had declared Dar an absconder in a corruption reference.

  • Iran President declines interview by CNN anchor who refuses to wear hijab

    Iran President declines interview by CNN anchor who refuses to wear hijab

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi didn’t turn up for a CNN interview when the interviewer, Christiane Amanpour, refused to wear a hijab during the taping.

    Amanpour took to Twitter to explain the incident, stating that the interview was long planned and this would have been President Raisi’s first-ever interview on US soil. However, things didn’t go as planned.

    “An aide came over and said that the President is suggesting that I wear a headscarf because it’s the holy months of Muharram and Safar”, she said while adding that the aide made it clear that the “Interview would not happen if Amanpour did not wear a headscarf”.

    She said that she “politely declined”, stressing that she was in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves. “I pointed out that no previous Iranian president has required this when I interviewed them outside Iran,” she pointed out.

    The journalist concluded by saying that because of the situation going on in Iran, it would have been an “important moment” to speak with President Raisi

    “And so we walked away. The interview didn’t happen. As protests continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would have been an important moment to speak with President Raisi.”

    Anti-government protests erupted across Iran last week over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody, after having been arrested by Iran’s morality police on an accusation of violating the law on head scarves.

    However, Iranian officials have claimed that Amini died after suffering a “heart attack” and falling into a coma, but her family has said she had no pre-existing heart condition.

    Following the incident, thousands of people have taken to the streets. In the videos which are circulating on social media, women can be seen cutting their hair and burning their hijabs as a protest. According to media outlets, at least eight people have been killed in the demonstrations.

    It is pertinent to mention that since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it has been compulsory for women to wear the hijab in Iran.