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.

  • Buzdar changed 3,000 officers in his tenure as CM

    Buzdar changed 3,000 officers in his tenure as CM

    During a three-and-a-half-year tenure, former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar transferred over 3,000 officers in violation of both the tenure policy and the Supreme Court’s (SC) judgment in the Anita Turab case, reports The News.

    In Anita Turab’s case, the apex court barred the government from transferring officers before the completion of their tenure.

    In the Anita Turab case, the SC had laid down the several principles to save the government servants from politicisation. Appointments, removals and promotions must be made in accordance with the law and the rules. Secondly, when the ordinary tenure for a posting has been specified in the law or rules made thereunder, such tenure must be respected.

    According to the news outlet, there have been no suo moto notices and no punishments for the violators.

    Moreover, it has been reported that the Buzdar government transferred around 1,100 secretaries, Director Generals (DG), commissioners, Deputy Commissioners (DC) and additional deputy commissioners in Punjab.

    In the Police Department, there were more than 1,900 senior police officials, including Deputy Inspector General (DIGs), regional police officers, city police officers, district police officers and Sub-Divisional Police Officers (SDPOs), who were transferred.

    The record reveals that Lahore, Gujranwala, Pakpattan and Dera Ghazi Khan were the major districts that were the focus of these changes where maximum numbers of transfers and postings occurred.

    It is pertinent to mention that during Buzdar’s tenure Punjab saw five chief secretaries and seven inspectors generals of police which has never happened before.

    In 36 districts of Punjab, the Buzdar government transferred 198 deputy commissioners in three and a half years. On average, 5.5 DCs were changed in every district during the PTI-led government.

    Dera Ghazi Khan and Gujranwala are the two districts where the maximum number of DCs were changed.

    In DG Khan and Pakpattan, some DCs were transferred within three months. Waqas Rashid was transferred within three months as DC Dera Ghazi Khan and Nauman Yousaf was transferred in three months as DC Pakpattan.

  • Police conduct search operation around IK’s residence

    Police conduct search operation around IK’s residence

    Islamabad Police conducted a search operation around former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s residence in Bani Gala on Saturday after death threats to him.

    According to Geo News, a heavy force of police, including the bomb disposal squad, conducted the operation. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers staying around Bani Gala came out of their tents and started shouting slogans against the current government.

    In Karachi, the police raided PTI Member of National Assembly (MNA) Alamgir Khan’s house in his absence on Saturday. Following this episode, PTI leaders reached Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station and submitted an application against it.

    Former federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi said that the Sindh police has become a “military wing of PPP”. He added that the police should besiege the Chief Minister’s House if they wanted to arrest the culprits.

  • Battle begins: Hamza Shehbaz refuses to step down after ECP decision

    Battle begins: Hamza Shehbaz refuses to step down after ECP decision

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shehbaz has reportedly refused to step down from his position following the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to de-seat 25 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissident Member of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) who voted for Hamza.

    PTI says it will send the CM home through legal means in line with the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) and ECP’s decisions.

    “The game for the fake CM is over after de-seating of the 25 lotas (turncoats),” Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Moonis Elahi said. He added that after losing the majority in the House, Hamza has no moral or legal grounds to cling to the office.

    Moreover, the Opposition — PTI-PML-Q alliance — sees a run-off election in the coming days claiming Hamza cannot “illegally” hold the office for long.

    It is pertinent to mention that the allocation of five vacant reserved seats will assume an important role if the run-off election is held. According to legal experts, ECP will now distribute these seats as per the current strength of each party in the Punjab Assembly, which means if the PTI gets the most share, it may be able to get the CM post.

    Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said Hamza Shehbaz is not going to resign and still has a majority in the Punjab Assembly. Similarly, PML-N deputy secretary-general Attaullah Tarar said that the ECP’s decision has no impact on Hamza’s office.

    Tarar claimed the PML-N enjoys the support of 177 members in PA against 168 of the PTI-PML-Q combined. He also claimed the PML-N will get three of the five reserved seats, which would take its tally to 180.

    The PTI-PML-Q joint candidate for the CM’s slot and the current PA Speaker Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi said, “I am Imran Khan’s candidate and after taking oath as the CM, I will dissolve the assemblies if he asks me.”

    The Punjab Assembly’s current strength is 346 members: PTI has 158 lawmakers, PML-Q has 10, PML-N 165, PPP seven, five independents, and one Rah-e-Haq Party.

  • ‘Spoiling the morals of the people’: PM Shehbaz on IK’s ‘sexist comments’

    ‘Spoiling the morals of the people’: PM Shehbaz on IK’s ‘sexist comments’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday referred to Maryam Nawaz’s Sargodha rally and said: “Someone had sent me the speech delivered by Maryam Nawaz in Sargodha yesterday.”

    “In that speech, she uttered my name with such passion that I would like to tell her: Maryam, please be careful, your husband may get upset because you were constantly repeating my name again and again with such emotion.”

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the entire nation, especially women, should strongly condemn the “deplorable language used against the daughter of the nation Maryam Nawaz”.

    “Your crimes against the country and the nation cannot be hidden. How could those — who cannot respect the sanctity of Masjid Nabawi (PBUH) — be expected to respect the honour of someone’s mothers, sisters, and daughters?”

    He continued: “Imran is the first person in history to fall into this abyss of rudeness as the leader of a party. His party went out to make a nation but spoiled the morals of the people instead. To Allah, we belong and to Him, we shall return.”

    PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif responded to Khan’s controversial comments about his daughter and said, “He does not know how to respect women. He uses derogatory language, which has not even been witnessed in the worst society. He does know not how to respect women, and he talks about Riyaasat-e-Madinah.”

    Former president Asif Ali Zardari said that he condemned the derogatory language used by the PTI chairman.

    “Those who have mothers and sisters in their homes do not use such language against other women,” the PPP co-chairman said. “Please, do not stoop so low in the name of politics.”

    He added that every person’s mother, sister, and daughter was worthy of respect and that was the message of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto to the nation.

    “I wish someone would also write a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan based on personal observation and he would take notice of the matter,” he said.

    PML-N on its official Twitter account, right after the Multan rally, shared a photo of Imran Khan’s sons and Tyrian White with the message saying how could a man who has not “owned up to his own daughter” respect the daughters of others.

    Screenshot of a tweet of PML-N

    However, the tweet has now been deleted once people started condemning it.

  • PML-N supporter, PTI dissident leader Raja Riaz becomes opposition leader to PML-N led govt

    PML-N supporter, PTI dissident leader Raja Riaz becomes opposition leader to PML-N led govt

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) dissident leader Raja Riaz Ahmad has become the Leader of the Opposition in the lower house of Parliament, with the support of 16 lawmakers, following the withdrawal of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)’s Moonis Elahi.

    Speaker National Assembly (NA) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf issued notification of Riaz as being elected as the Opposition leader.

    Earlier, Moonis Elahi withdrew his candidature as the Opposition leader, paving the way for a one-on-one contest between Ghous Bakhsh Mahar and Riaz.

    In 2016, Raja Riaz quit the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after he decided to join PTI.

    Riaz, who switched sides from PTI during the vote of no-confidence against the then Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, had previously announced that he would contest the next general election on the ticket of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    The Opposition leader’s seat fell vacant after Shehbaz Sharif was elected prime minister following the ouster of Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion vote.

  • ‘Lotay washroom kay elawa kisi kaam kay nahi rahay’: PTI celebrates ECP decision

    ‘Lotay washroom kay elawa kisi kaam kay nahi rahay’: PTI celebrates ECP decision

    The Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) on Friday declared 25 dissident members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) de-seated while announcing its verdict in a case pertaining to the dissident members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs).

    In a unanimous verdict, ECP announced that the MPAs will be defected from the party by voting in favour of Hamza Shehbaz, which means that the election that got Hamza Shehbaz the CM seat might not be valid. The reference against PTI dissidents who voted for Hamza Shehbaz in the election of Punjab chief minister was sent by Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

    Former Planning Minister and senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar on Friday called out the de-seated members of the party and said that ‘lotay washroom kay elawa kisi kaam kay nahi rahay’. [Lotay are now only good for use in the washroom].

    Speaking to journalists outside ECP Umar congratulated the nation saying “another chapter of heinous politics has closed today”. “Some of the political parties have used politics for businesses as they are involved in horse-trading,” Umar said, adding that these people [the current leadership] come into power by investing money and earn more by misusing their power.

    In the election for the chief minister’s slot on April 16, 2022, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz got 197 votes as opposed to the required number of 186 in the House of 371, meaning the support of PTI dissidents was key to his victory.

    Journalist Majid Nizami in his report said, “As per the rules of the Punjab Assembly (PA), the chief minister is elected with a simple majority, therefore 186 votes out of the 371-seat assembly. But if no candidate secures the votes of a majority of the total membership for the assembly in the first round then the second round of voting is held. In this round, the member who secures the most votes, from amongst the members present that day, will win.”

    PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz reacting to the news said, “No matter what PTI does, the dream of snatching Punjab from the tiger will be shattered.”

  • ‘ISPR did not interview Hafeez Shaikh for caretaker prime minister’: Journalist Nadeem Malik

    ‘ISPR did not interview Hafeez Shaikh for caretaker prime minister’: Journalist Nadeem Malik

    “The ISPR is saying we have not interviewed anyone nor contacted Hafeez Shaikh. It’s not our work to appoint a caretaker prime minister. A caretaker prime minister will be made through constitutional means,” revealed Senior journalist Nadeem Malik during his political talk show “Nadeem Malik Live” on Samaa News. He was quoting the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

    Former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed claimed that interviews of economists for the seat of the caretaker prime minister are being conducted in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

    Senior journalist and anchorperson Hamid Mir also refuted Rasheed’s claims by quoting ISPR.

    The statement came as former Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh returned from the United States after the Sindh High Court (SHC) granted him a 10-day transit bail and ordered NAB not to arrest him. Reportedly, he was accorded extraordinary protocol at Karachi Airport on Tuesday.

  • Supreme Court bars transfers, appointments in high-profile cases

    Supreme Court bars transfers, appointments in high-profile cases

    The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) is barring authorities from making new appointments and transferring officials involved in “high-profile” and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases as well as those cases which are being heard by special courts, reports Dawn.

    The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) observed that special courts in Karachi and Lahore lack judges while three accountability courts in Islamabad are also empty.

    The court issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and the interior secretary. The court asked the parties concerned to give an explanation as to why there was “interference” in criminal cases, and stopped the NAB and FIA from withdrawing cases till further orders.

    The court also asked to be informed about the steps being taken to protect the record of criminal cases and directed for the record of high-profile cases to be checked and sealed. When Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf protested against this, the CJP said that the record of ongoing cases would not be sealed, only that of the prosecution.

    During the hearing, the CJP also observed that there should be “no interference in the prosecution process or the prosecution wing”.

    The CJP also noticed that FIA’s former director Mohammad Rizwan, who was probing money laundering charges against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shahbaz, was also transferred and later died of a heart attack.

    “We are concerned over these developments,” the CJP said. Justice Bandial, indirectly pointing out at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also stated that according to news reports, “thousands” of people had benefitted after their names were removed from the no-fly list.

    At one point, CJP Bandial remarked that the court was only concerned with ensuring justice and adjourned the hearing till May 27.

  • Bush mistakenly described the invasion of Iraq by ‘one man’ as ‘brutal and unjustified’

    Bush mistakenly described the invasion of Iraq by ‘one man’ as ‘brutal and unjustified’

    Former United States (US) President George W. Bush mistakenly described the invasion of Iraq by “one man” as “brutal” and “unjustified” before correcting himself to say he meant to refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq,” Bush said, before correcting himself and shaking his head. “I mean, of Ukraine.”

    He jokingly blamed the mistake on his age as the audience burst into laughter.

    In 2003, when Bush was president, the United States led an invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. The prolonged conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many more.

    Bush’s remarks quickly went viral on social media, gathering over three million views on Twitter alone after the clip was tweeted by a Dallas News reporter.

  • Khan accuses Maryam Nawaz of wanting to ‘lie down’, so an American lady could ‘pass over her’

    Khan accuses Maryam Nawaz of wanting to ‘lie down’, so an American lady could ‘pass over her’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday in his jalsa in Gujranwala criticised Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz.

    Khan said, “Once a woman from the American Embassy came to [Pakistan], Maryam called her at her house, opened the door of her car, and brought her inside. The way she was walking besides the American lady, the only thing left was for Maryam to lie down and tell the lady to pass over her so that her shoes don’t get dirty.”

    Maryam responded to Khan’s comments and tweeted, ” Poor guy, he has become irrelevant.”

    Khan was talking about United States (US) Charge d’ Affaires Angela Aggeler, who visited Jati Umrah on October 14, 2021. On her arrival, she was received by Maryam Nawaz.

    The PTI chairman hit at Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif as well and said, “Shehbaz Sharif you have worked really hard. You have polished many boots. Whoever came from the American Embassy you used to polish their boots.”

    Berating the Sharif brothers, Khan said: “Shehbaz Sharif is asking what to do after becoming the prime minister. He said that inflation is rising and foreign exchange is tumbling. The two brothers (Shehbaz and Nawaz Sharif) are now trapped and they are wondering what to do.”