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.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Which senior army official was photoshopped from Bill Gates meeting picture?

    EXCLUSIVE: Which senior army official was photoshopped from Bill Gates meeting picture?

    Yesterday, a picture was released by the Prime Minister’s Office of a luncheon hosted by PM Imran Khan in honour of Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Gates was on a one-day visit to Pakistan yesterday, which was also his first-ever visit to the country.

    The picture in which PM Khan and Bill Gates are sitting with Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Mahmood Khan, Azam Khan, Shaukat Tarin, Shah Farman, Khalid Khurshid and several others at the main table sparked a debate on Twitter for a missing link. If one looks at the picture closely, someone between Dr Faisal Sultan and Mahmood Khan seems to be ‘missing’.

    Twitter users wondered who had been photoshopped out of the picture while some Twitter users tried to guess the name of the person.

    Journalist Cyril Almeida tweeted: “A day later, the mystery of who was photoshopped out of this pic continues… but if rumour is to be believed…”

    https://twitter.com/cyalm/status/1494569851595206678
    Who was photoshopped?

    The Current reached out to its sources and confirmed that it was the Director-General (DG) of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum who had been photoshopped from the luncheon meeting picture.

    Ansar Abbasi had reported for The News in December 2021 that the new DG ISI has asked all authorities concerned not to release to the media his picture or video footage made during an official meeting. As per The Current’s sources, it was due to this policy that he had to be taken out of the official picture released by the PM Office yesterday.

    It’s a standing instruction for all concerned from the incumbent DG ISI not to release any of his pictures or video footage of any official meeting that he attends.

    Read More: New spy chief says no to the media

    Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum was appointed as new DG ISI in October 2021. The post was previously held by Lt Gen Faiz Hameed who is now Corps Commander Peshawar.

  • Pakistan rescues woman in love gone wrong, saves wife left in Indian jail by husband

    Pakistan rescues woman in love gone wrong, saves wife left in Indian jail by husband

    Pakistan has issued a nationality certificate, which will lead to becoming a citizen of Pakistan, to a stateless woman, Sumaira who has been stranded in India for four years. It was issued after verification by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and her family. Pakistan Interior Minister has sent her nationality certificate to Foreign Ministry.

    Pakistan High Commission in India, New Delhi will issue travel documents and she will be able to come to Pakistan with her daughter who is four-years-old.

    According to her lawyer, Sohana Biswapatna, Sumaira was born in Qatar to Pakistani parents who moved from Karachi for employment. She married an Indian Muslim for love in Qatar without the consent of her parents. She illegally moved to India with her husband in 2016.

    Sumaira and her husband were arrested in 2017. However, her husband, who faced the charges of facilitating a foreign intruder, was released on bail after a few months. She remained in jail.

    She gave birth to a daughter in prison.

    The message she sent through her lawyer to BBC, “I have been punished by law for the mistake I made, but my sorrows and pains are not diminishing. The family had already separated, but now the husband in India has also turned away. At the moment, my only recourse is my country, Pakistan.”

    According to Sumaira, she wanted to confess her crime but her husband stopped her from giving a statement. The husband thought that India would deport her if she confessed. He was trying to find a way to release her from jail and settle her in India.

    Her case was stalled in India for three years as she did not confess to her crime.

    Her husband stopped visiting her and attending her calls without any explanation around after two to three years. After losing hope of reunion, she confessed to her crime.

    She was sentenced to a three year imprisonment, which she has already completed.

    Currently, she is living in a state shelter in Bengaluru, Karnataka, a state of India.

  • Journalist vs PTI’s Murad Saeed: Govt plans to go after judge for declaring FIA raid on Mohsin Baig’s house illegal

    Journalist vs PTI’s Murad Saeed: Govt plans to go after judge for declaring FIA raid on Mohsin Baig’s house illegal

    The government has decided to file a reference against Islamabad’s Additional Session Judge Zafar Iqbal for declaring the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raid illegal at senior journalist Mohsin Baig’s home.

     Advocate General (AG) Islamabad Niazullah Niazi met Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and briefed him about the case hearing.

    Niazullah Niazi said that a reference would be filed against the judge soon. He said that Mohsin Baig had pointed a gun at FIA and police officials besides threatening the on-duty officers. “Being a media person does not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands.”

    AG Islamabad further stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that no one is above the law.

    “Everyone is equal before the law. Constructive criticism is beneficial for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government,” said PM Khan.

    Speaking on Geo News Programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, AG Islamabad Niazullah Niazi said, “We will approach Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding the session court judge’s verdict.”

    Anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada questioned Advocate General Niazi if all this is really about the rule of law or is it what the government wants.

    Niazi responded: “We all know how much the prime minister has worked for the rule of law. If a proceeding is happening against someone, and the law is there in the constitution, why would someone want that the proceeding to stop?”

    Khanzada interjected and asked: “You say that the prime minister has done a lot for rule of law. The premier always reiterates that nations are destroyed where there is one law for the strong and another for the weak. A federal minister files a complaint at 9am in Lahore and at 9:30am, a raid takes place in Islamabad. Several cases are pending but prompt action was taken in this case. A judge who declared the raid illegal face references. Is this what rule of law is?”

    “No illegal action will be taken against any judge,” responded Niazullah Niazi.

    “You are pressuring the judiciary in this manner, the judge who gives verdict against you, you are taking action against them in return,” added Khanzada.

     Niazi further stated that the reference against the session judge will not jeopardise the independence of the judiciary.

    Neither the prime minister nor the lawyer accepts any kind of pressure on the judiciary, but no one should be above the law, he said.

    Khanzada further said, “Is this really rule of law or fascism?”

    The FIA cybercrime wing and the police arrested Daily Jinnah and Online news agency Editor Mohsin Jamil Baig on Wednesday. FIA raided the journalist’s house in the federal capital along with the police and took him into custody.

    Baig was accused of initiating a debate on a television show with some controversial references towards PM Imran Khan and Minister for Communication Murad Saeed.

  • Religious Affairs Minister criticises Aurat march without reading manifesto

    Religious Affairs Minister criticises Aurat march without reading manifesto

    Federal Minister for Religious and Minority Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri who has written a letter to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan asking him to put a ban on the Aurat March, appeared on Geo News’s programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath on Thursday night.

    During the show, Qadri said he does not have a problem with the Manifesto of Aurat March but has a problem with the way marchers express themselves by taking to the streets.

    To which the anchorperson asked him why he doesn’t criticise when other political parties, including PTI, when they take to street protests. Qadri replied saying that he raises his voice regardless of whomever is protesting but had a different response when asked about Tehrik-e-Labbaik’s violent protests.

    Khanzada asked while quoting Qadri: “You said that you do not want to make [Pakistan] a violent religious country, but when one organisation did processions,” and the organisation passed highly provocative remarks against the judiciary, the army chief and the prime minister, did hate speech, they even beat the police officer, you said that they have the right to protest. That organization is Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), you spoke in their favour. Here [Aurat March], women are protesting and we don’t see any examples that reflect what you are against but still, you are against them.”

    Qadri said that a few pictures from last year’s march were photoshopped and a few slogans were doctored but a few of them are genuine and are highly condemnable. However, he refused to mention the slogans, saying that he does want to repeat them.

    Qadri further added that he is not against the protest but he is against the way of the protest, as it’s against our cultural and religious values. He continued by saying that he is against “vulgar slogans”, based on ‘fabricated issues’ of women.

    Social media users are praising Shahzeb Khanzada for raising, ‘valid points’:

    https://twitter.com/Ranting_Expert/status/1494397933395062785

    Qadri, in his letter to the premier, wrote that March 8 should be observed as “International Hijab Day” rather than Aurat March.

  • ‘Pride of Pak’, Iqrar-ul-Hassan’s son writes note for injured father

    Television host and Journalist Syed Iqrar-ul-Hassan’s son Pehlaaj Hassan took to his Instagram to write a short note for his father who was recently attacked.

    “The pride of Pakistan, I can proudly say that Mere baba is now on the road to recovery and inshallah will be back on the road soon, Thank you for all your support aur ap sab Dua karte rahe. Pakistan Zindabad,” he wrote in his Instagram post while sharing his father’s picture.

    Pictures of Hassan in bloodied, torn-up clothes, receiving medical treatment on a hospital bed started making rounds on social media on Feburary 14. Later, journalist Waseem Badami shared pictures and videos of him visiting Hassan at the hospital.

    Talking about the incident, Iqrar said that he and his team members were “stripped naked, blindfolded and tortured for exposing the corruption of an IB inspector”. He alleged that IB officials also shot videos of him after stripping him and his team members naked.

  • Kuwait allows women in Army combat roles after permission from male guardian

    Kuwait allows women in Army combat roles after permission from male guardian

    Kuwait has allowed women in Army combat roles. However, they will need permission from a male guardian. Women are also banned from carrying weapons which sparked controversy among Kuwaiti women.

    Activists have dubbed its policy as “one step forward, two steps back” after Defence Ministry announced women have to wear headscarves in the armed forces.

    Ghadeer al-Khashti, a sports teacher and member of Kuwait Football Association’s women committee, “I don’t know why there are these restrictions to join the army. We have all kinds of women working in all fields, including the police force.”

    She also revealed that her mother also took part in the resistance force when the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

    She further added, “My mum during the Iraqi invasion used to hide weapons under her abaya and transport them to members of Kuwait’s resistance, and my father encouraged it. I don’t understand on what basis they see women as weak.”

    In October 2021, Kuwait Defence Ministry decided to allow women in combat roles. However, it was questioned by orthodox lawmaker Hamdan al-Azmi. Later, the ministry imposed some restrictions.

    The lawmaker had criticised women’s roles in combat by saying, “does not fit with a woman’s nature.”

    Head of the Kuwaiti Women’s Cultural and Social Society, Lulwa Saleh al-Mulla also condemned the discriminatory law.

    She said, “We are a Muslim country, that is true, but we demand the laws not be subject to fatwas. Personal freedom is guaranteed in the constitution, on which the country’s laws are based.”

    Women were given the right to vote in 2005 in Kuwait.

  • ‘Chief Justice should not be deciding samosa or sugar prices’: Bilawal

    ‘Chief Justice should not be deciding samosa or sugar prices’: Bilawal

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in an event organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association, criticised the former Chief Justices of Pakistan (CJPs).

    Bilawal took a jibe at CJPs Mian Saqib Nisar and Gulzar Ahmed. He stated, “Some judges took it upon themselves to busy themselves, the courts and the legal community on deciding which building should be demolished and which should stay. The judiciary of Pakistan is a place for the battle of legal ideas, it is not a place for us to decide where or where not to build a dam.”

    In 2018, Justice Nisar had launched the initiative of collecting donations for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha. Meanwhile, Justice Gulzar decided on several high-profile cases last year including the demolition of buildings in Karachi i.e. Nasla Tower and Tejori Heights.

    “CJP should be deciding constitutional issues instead of samosa or sugar prices”, said Bilawal. However, he made it clear that despite this, he had the utmost respect for the legal community and judges.

    He also called on the legal community to support his party’s planned anti-government long march on February 27.

    According to him, Pakistan needs a system of accountability that is fair and non-discriminatory instead of the present “witch hunt and persecution” of opponents and those who exposed the government’s failings.

  • ‘Imran Khan the standard you want to set for Bushra Bibi, apply the same for all women’: Maryam Nawaz

    ‘Imran Khan the standard you want to set for Bushra Bibi, apply the same for all women’: Maryam Nawaz

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, in a fiery press conference, fiercely criticised Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    “Yes, your [PM Khan] wife [Bushra Bibi] is of respect to us. The standard you want to set for your wife, the same standards should have been there for the deceased Kalsoom Nawaz [wife of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif]. When I used to go to check on my mother from our London apartment to the hospital, three to four Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers used to abuse me. When my son Junaid used to leave, they used to abuse his mother,” said Maryam Nawaz.

    She alleged that some PTI activists had barged into the hospital just to take pictures of an ailing Kulsoom.

    “The standard you set for your wife, apply the same for every woman,” added the PML-N leader.

    “I was innocent and you put me in the death cell. You did the character assassination of a daughter in front of her father. When I was in Gilgit Baltistan and running my political campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, you did not have an answer to my political criticism. So your minister on record hurled below the belt criticism towards me.”

    “I want to request the media to play the footage of the speeches of the PTI ministers where they have made personal attacks against me. Imran Khan Sahib used to praise them for making such comments, clap at them. I too am someone’s daughter. What you have done with Asma Shirazi, Gharidah Farooqi, and Sana Bucha, the country has not forgotten it.”

    “Have the guts to take criticism,” reiterated Maryam.

    Responding to the arrest of journalist Mohsin Baig by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), who is accused of initiating a debate on a television show with obscene references towards PM Imran Khan and Minister for Communication Murad Saeed, Maryam said, ” When Mohsin Saab was with you [Imran Khan], helped you with your political matters, at that time he was very nice. And now that he is criticising you, you should have had the guts to take the criticism. You used FIA against him. I feel sorry for your mental condition Imran Khan Saab.”

    “People are cursing you for the price hike and increase in the petrol prices,” said Maryam, adding, “People don’t have fuel. The people of Pakistan do not travel on government-provided vehicles.”

    “I agree that you [PM Khan] are not eligible, and do not have the qualification but I wish you had a heart which was kind. You have used the hard-earned money of the people of Pakistan just to settle your score with your opponents,” said the PML-N leader.

    “You have made FIA, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) a part of your politics to settle scores with your opponents. Despite the fact that you are a liar and fake, you are sitting on the seat of a prime minister of the country, you should have spent all your time serving the people of Pakistan, instead you utilised all your energy to take revenge on the Opposition,” said Maryam.

    Talking to reporters after appearing at the Islamabad High Court in the Avenfield Apartments case, Maryam was asked if Shehbaz Sharif would resign as PML-N president if the “no-confidence gamble” failed.

    Maryam responded that she was hopeful of the move’s success “because Imran is on his last legs and it’s a risk that should be taken”, adding that the messages sent by her party to disgruntled lawmakers were also applicable to the PML-N itself.

    She did not elaborate on who she was referring to as “disgruntled” lawmakers or what messages were sent to them.

    “If the opposition does not take a united stand here then we will be blamed for it. It’s ultimately the public that we have to go back to at the time of elections.”

    Responding to a question on whether she supported another extension for the army chief, Maryam said “it’s a premature question and we don’t have any details before us”.

  • ‘Ban Aurat March’: Religious Affairs Minister tells PM Khan to allow no one ‘to mock Islamic rituals’

    ‘Ban Aurat March’: Religious Affairs Minister tells PM Khan to allow no one ‘to mock Islamic rituals’

    Federal Minister for Religious and Minority Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri has written a letter to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan asking to put a ban on the Aurat March.

    Qadri, in a letter to the premier, wrote that March 8 should be observed as “International Hijaab Day” rather than Aurat March.

    The federal minister further stated that no one should be permitted to mock Islamic rituals, values, or the wearing of Hijaab on Women’s Day by organising Aurat March or any other event.

    It is pertinent to mention here that every year on March 8, the world observes “Women’s Day” while women activists and other organisations in Pakistan refer to this day as Aurat March.

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman, taking to Twitter and sharing the letter from the federal minister to the PM Khan regarding the ban of Aurat March, questioned: “What will you prove by banning Aurat March?”

    “International Women’s Day is named after women of all classes. International Women’s Day aims to raise awareness in the society against gender stereotypes and prejudices against women,” said the PPP leader.

    “You are conspiring to deprive women of their freedom and rights on International Women’s Day,” tweeted Rehman.

  • Minister for Religious Affairs requests PM Khan that Pakistan observe Hijab Day on March 8

    Minister for Religious Affairs requests PM Khan that Pakistan observe Hijab Day on March 8

    Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri has reportedly written a letter to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and proposed to observe International Hijab Day on March 8 which is also celebrated as International Women’s Day, reports Jang.

    The minister also sent a copy of his letter to President Dr Arif Alvi.

    The letter states that Hijab Day would draw the world’s attention towards the discrimination happening against Muslim women in Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IoK) and India.

    On the occasion of March 8, several women’s rights organisations organise Aurat March in form of rallies across the country to talk about the issues faced by women in the communities of Pakistan.