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.

  • Sindh House attack case: bail cancelled of PTI MNAs, back in jail

    Sindh House attack case: bail cancelled of PTI MNAs, back in jail

    Islamabad High Court (IHC) cancelled the interim bail of two accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Members of National Assembly (MNAs) Attaullah Niazi and Faheem Khan of being involved in the Sindh House attack.

    On March 18, PTI workers barged into the PPP’s stronghold in Islamabad, Sindh House to allegedly attack disgruntled PTI MNAs who were staying there to seek refuge from the former government.

    The decision was made during the hearing by Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangir. Complainant Jamal Mandokhail’s counsel Raja Nazeer and the defendants’ lawyer Advocate Faisal Siddique presented their arguments before the court.

    After hearing their arguments, the two were arrested outside the courtroom.

    Other than them,12 PTI members were arrested by the Islamabad Police for being the part of protest.

  • US think tank Brookings urges Biden to call PM Shehbaz

    US think tank Brookings urges Biden to call PM Shehbaz

    Brookings, a United States (US) think tank has urged President Joe Biden to call the newly-elected Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif to amend ties between the two countries.

    According to Brooking’s report, Biden should initiate a high-level dialogue with Sharif. The writers of the report Bruce Riedel and  Madiha Afzal argued that “the end of American involvement in Afghanistan and the change in leadership in Pakistan presents the US with an opportunity to reset its long-troubled relationship with the world’s fifth-most populous country.”

    They argued, “Now Washington can engage with Islamabad without prioritising Afghanistan issues at the expense of our broader interests in regional stability with India and China, encouraging development in South Asia, and supporting the strengthening of the elected democratic forces in Pakistan.”

    Further, they pointed out that the US gave a ‘cold shoulder’ to Pakistan. Biden didn’t call the former PM Imran Khan while Khan was in the office although Brookings argued Bided should have.

    It is pertinent to mention that the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan strained the already fraught relations between Pakistan and America.

  • ‘Using threatening letter as evidence of coup meaningless’: Noam Chomsky

    ‘Using threatening letter as evidence of coup meaningless’: Noam Chomsky

    Renowned Scholar and Professor Noam Chomsky said that there is no meaningful evidence of a coup against former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    Responding to those who believe that such “threatening messages” are usually the way regime changes take place, Chomsky said, “By that logic, there are regime changes being planned constantly all over the world.” He added that the connecting of the dots was “meaningless.”

    Chomsky pointed out that he does not consider the cable of Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, as “substantial evidence” of American intervention for a regime change in Pakistan.

    According to Chomsky, “The US is powerful, but not all-powerful. There is a tendency to attribute everything that happens in the world to the CIA or some diabolical Western plan. There is plenty to condemn, sharply. And the US is indeed powerful. But it’s nothing like what is often believed.”

    Khan has multiple times said that US is behind his government dismissal and has used a piece of paper to support his claim.

    On the contrary, Washington has thoroughly denied the allegations.

  • PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal under fire for comments on Cuba; Cuban Ambassador reacts

    Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal sparked an outcry through his comparison of Pakistan with Cuba while highlighting poor performance and incompetence of the previous government.

    The minister said: “We not want Pakistan to become Cuba or North Korea. We have to set Pakistan on the path to development, like Malaysia, Turkey, China and South Korea.”

    Ahsan Iqbal, in fact, was trying to draw a comparison of the poor performance of the previous, saying that the “PTI government had hampered the CPEC’s progress and soured ties with the European Union, the United States and even brotherly Muslim countries, pushing the county into isolation.”

    Responding to Iqbal’s statement, Cuban Ambassador in Pakistan Zener Caro, in a tweet, said, “Fortunately, Minister Ahsan Iqbal’s disrespectful mention of Cuba in his press conference in Lahore does not represent and has nothing to do with Pakistanis’ true respect and deep affection for Cuba and its people.”

    Following it, former Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also took to Twitter and gave a fact check to current federal minister.

    She said, “Ahsan Iqbal’s ignorance or desperate desire to please his US regime change conspiracy masters has now led him to demean Cuba by saying he doesn’t want Pakistan to become like Cuba!”

    “Cuba is a country that fought hard to win freedom & rid itself of US interference where the US had imposed a clause in Cuba’s constitution to maintain control over its policies”, she added.

    Other people also commented over the minister’s comparison and termed it inappropriate.

    https://twitter.com/5heldonC00PER/status/1518524462706171905?s=20&t=Eg-pm7L4CK2dB9Cjdwdm-Q

    https://twitter.com/DrAmjadAliKhan/status/1518530444739887105?s=20&t=Eg-pm7L4CK2dB9Cjdwdm-Q

  • ECP barred: IHC suspends 30-day deadline order in PTI foreign funding case

    ECP barred: IHC suspends 30-day deadline order in PTI foreign funding case

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended a single-bench’s order, directing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) within 30 days.

    The IHC two-member bench suspended the single-bench ruling in PTI foreign funding case till the next hearing on May 17.

    The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had challenged the Islamabad High Court’s single bench orders to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

    According to ARY News, Asad Umar, the party’s secretary-general, filed the appeal against the order of a single-member bench which directed the ECP to conclude the proceedings in the foreign funding case within 30 days.

    Speaking to media after filing the intra-court appeal against the IHC decision, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar termed the ECP as biased and said that it does not look the incumbent commission could hold free and fair elections in the country.

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) recently also turned down two petitions of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against Akbar S Babar in foreign funding case.

    The IHC rejected a petition filed by the ruling political party to bar the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from handing over the records of the PTI foreign funding case to the petitioner Akbar S Babar.

    Another petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for separating Babar from the proceedings of the case was also rejected by the high court.

    It is pertinent to mention here that foreign funding is being heard by the election commission since November 2014.

  • French President Macron gets elected again

    French President Macron gets elected again

    French President Emmanuel Macron won the presidential race again and became the first French President to have won a second term in office in the two decades on Sunday.

    Macron defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen of National Rally party. This is her third defeat in a presidential poll.

    According to interior ministry, Macron managed to secure 58.6 per cent of votes while Le Pen received 41.1 per cent votes. The result marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has left the nation divided as Macron’s victory against his far-right rival was narrower than their last face-off in 2017, when the margin was 66.1 per cent to 33.9 per cent, reports Al Jazeera.

    However, while addressing the nation after his victory, Macron vowed to heal rifts in a deeply divided country.

    The 44-year-old president will now have to face the challenge of parliamentary elections in June, where keeping a majority will be critical to ensuring he can realise his ambitions.

    Le Pen hailed her result as a “brilliant victory” and vowed to keep up the fight with parliamentary elections in June.

    Final figures from Sunday’s vote are due today (Monday).

  • ‘Will not allow anyone to relax’: PM Shehbaz says not to visit China until load-shedding over

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the long hours load-shedding across the country following his visit to different areas and departments in Lahore on Sunday, reports Geo News.

    “Immediate steps must be taken to reduce power outages by May. Until we get rid of load-shedding, I will not leave for China, neither will allow anyone to relax,” the premier declared.

    Shehbaz Sharif further said that tangible measures should be taken for the availability of oil and gas resources to operationalise closed thermal power plants.

    In the ongoing holy month of Ramazan, Pakistan has severely been hit by power outrages and various cities of the country are experiencing 10-12 hours power loadshedding.

    PM Shehbaz claimed that the previous government made the nation paid for Rs100 billion due to wrong decisions. “The nation will have to pay Rs500 billion extra this year as such due to the poor planning and incompetence of the previous government,” Shehbaz regretted.

    “Due to the negligence of the previous rulers, one Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ship that was available for Rs6 billion is now costing Pakistan a humongous amount of Rs20 billion”, PM Shehbaz revealed. 

    On a weekly-day off, the PM paid a surprise visit to Ramazan bazaar in Johar Town and visited Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) in the Punjab capital.

  • PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal invites PTI’s Asad Umar to ‘farewell dinner’

    PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal invites PTI’s Asad Umar to ‘farewell dinner’

    The newly-appointed Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has written a letter, inviting his predecessor former Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar to a farewell dinner “on a date and time of the Umar’s convenience.”

    The federal minister said that in the meeting he would “like to be briefed on the developmental initiatives of greater public importance” that the PTI government “had started and which should be continued in the public interest”.

    “I look forward to a positive response from you. My office will coordinate with your personal staff to schedule the proposed farewell dinner/meeting with you at the earliest,” the letter further reads.

    However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader is yet to make a comment on this invitation.

    The PML-N’s leader move, however, has been widely appreciated by social media users.

  • US ‘welcomes’ NSC statement saying no ‘foreign conspiracy’ to oust PTI govt

    US ‘welcomes’ NSC statement saying no ‘foreign conspiracy’ to oust PTI govt

    US State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter has said that the United States welcomed the statement issued by Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) a day ago wherein it dismissed an impression of a “foreign conspiracy” to topple the Imran Khan-led government.

    The senior US official made this statement in response to a question from a journalist during a weekly press briefing.

    “Today, the newly-elected prime minster of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, chaired the meeting of national security committee and senior military and civil officers attended that. And this meeting was to — about Imran Khan’s allegation of US government. So the press release we got, it states that the (inaudible) concludes that there has been no foreign conspiracy. How do you see this?” the journalist had asked.

    “… We welcome this statement,” Porter replied.

    “There is absolutely no truth to those rumours, so we welcome this statement,” Jalina responded to a question asking her to comment on NSC’s statement.

    She continued by adding, “The United States values our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests.”

    The National Security Committee, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, found NO evidence of ‘conspiracy’. The meeting was also attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

    “The National Security Committee was again informed by the premier security agencies that they have found no evidence of any foreign conspiracy,” reads the statement issued after NSC meeting.

    The meeting was attended by federal ministers – Khwaja Asif, Rana Sanaullah, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of State on Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar,Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Nadeem Raza, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahamd Babar and senior civil and military officials.

  • PM Shehbaz plans grand jirga over NWA situation

    PM Shehbaz plans grand jirga over NWA situation

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he will soon convene a grand jirga of North Waziristan tribal elders in Islamabad to find a way out of the prevailing situation in the tribal region.

    “Restoration of lasting peace in North Waziristan tribal district is the top most priority of my government.”

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was speaking during a daylong visit to Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan on Thursday. The prime minister addressed a gathering the elders of Uthmanzai tribe. Earlier, senior civil and military officials and elders of the area received the prime minister.

    Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor, PM’s adviser Amir Muqam and MNA Mohsin Dawar accompanied the PM. According to officials, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed briefed the prime minister on the prevailing law and order situation in the area.

    Addressing the jirga, PM Sharif said the people of North Waziristan had suffered miseries and rendered matchless sacrifices for the motherland, adding that the government would not ignore their sacrifices.

    On the demand of Mohsin Dawar, the prime minister announced the establishment of a university, a medical college, a mobile hospital and Danish school in North Waziristan. The prime minister said he would soon announce more development schemes for the district.

    He expressed gratitude to the tribal elders for their support in the war against terrorism for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan and assured them that the government would do all to bring comfort in local populace and ensure socio-economic development as dividends of the fight against terrorism.

    On arrival in Miramshah, PM Sharif was received by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The prime minister laid floral wreath at the Shuhada monument and offered fateha for valiant sons of the soil who rendered supreme sacrifices while defending the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan.