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.

  • VIDEO: Firdous Ashiq Awan slaps PPP’s Qadir Mandokhel

    VIDEO: Firdous Ashiq Awan slaps PPP’s Qadir Mandokhel

    A video of Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan slapping Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhel has gone viral. The incident took place off-air after the two were seen brawling with each other on Express News‘ talk show, ‘Kal Tak with Javed Chaudhry’.

    https://twitter.com/Zohaib_Kibzai1/status/1402738011872321536

    In a verbal fight during the show, Mandokhel accused Awan of being corrupt, which led to a heated scuffle between the two. Firdous slapped Mandokhel after the argument.

    Awan claimed in a tweet that Mandokhel had used foul language which angered her, and that only a one-sided story was being shared in the viral video.

    She said that after consultation, legal action will be taken against Mandokhel.

    No statement has been issues by Mandokhel so far.

    Twitterati reacts to the slap

    Raza Rumi tweeted, “Is it a TV show or a madhouse with no warden?”

    “These are senior politicians. She is the face of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),” tweeted another Twitter user.

    “She is taking advantage of being a woman. What if a man slapped her?,” read another tweet.

    https://twitter.com/mahey_nadeem/status/1402804442714476544
  • ‘Rs 620bn needed for Pakistan Railways’ total up-gradation,’ says Azam Swati

    ‘Rs 620bn needed for Pakistan Railways’ total up-gradation,’ says Azam Swati

    Railway Minister Azam Khan Swati on Wednesday said he needed Rs 620 billion for the total up-gradation of the Pakistan Railways, a few days after the fatal Ghotki train accident that claimed over 60 lives and injured over 100 passengers. 

    “I was at the site till the entire track was not restored,” said the minister, stating with regret that 63 people had died in the accident and 23 were being treated in hospitals for injuries. 

    Sharing details from the initial report, the minister said the black boxes from the trains had been retrieved. He added that work had not yet started on them for the probe, but reassured that a thorough investigation will be conducted. “It will take us at least three to four weeks,” he said, as reported in Dawn.

    “The accident occurred due to the 12 bogies being derailed,” he said, explaining that bogies of the Millat Express train had shifted to the other track.

    “I saw the signs of brakes on the tracks myself,” Swati said, adding that there was a need to do a lot more.

    Swati said relatives of the deceased will be given Rs 1.5 million by the government as compensation, adding that every injured person will be provided Rs300,000 by the authorities. Swati said that no value could be placed on the injured and the lives lost, adding that they were “precious” and “priceless”.

  • NCOC announces 10 million successful vaccination doses

    NCOC announces 10 million successful vaccination doses

    National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar on Wednesday announced that 10 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Pakistan so far. 

    Speaking to a press conference, Umar said the government’s decisions to curb the virus were proving “effective” during the third wave of the pandemic. 

    “The more quickly we get ourselves vaccinated, the faster we will be able to rid ourselves of this menace,” added Umar.

    Umar said the government as well as the masses had done a commendable job in following coronavirus SOPs, resulting in the number of cases dropping. 

    “We have seen that when Pakistanis, as a nation, decide to do something, then they do it,” he said. 

    Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity rate has been recorded as 2.54 per cent in the past 24 hours — the second day in a row that the positivity rate remained below 3pc. According to the health ministry, 43,900 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours after which 1,118 people tested positive.

    Earlier, the minister had taken to Twitter to announce that Pakistan will cross the 10 million doses mark today. 

    Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who accompanied Umar on the occasion of the administration of the 10 millionth dose, tweeted: “We have reached the milestone of administering the vaccine to 10 million people [sic].”

    He also lauded the government, particularly Prime Minister Imran Khan and the NCOC, for the way it fought with deadly virus.

  • Ahmadi graveyard attacked during a woman’s burial

    Ahmadi graveyard attacked during a woman’s burial

    An Ahmadi graveyard in Sheikhupura was attacked by extremists who attempted to stop the burial of an Ahmadi woman.

    When the woman’s dead body was brought to the graveyard for burial, a mob attacked the graveyard and tried to stop the family from burying the woman there as the deceased was an Ahmadi. Despite this, the minority community’s members managed to finish the burial process.

    Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s Focal Person Azhar Mashwani wrote in a tweet that police and members of the administration reached the site as soon as the incident was reported.

    Mashwani also quoted the district administration as saying that two different areas have been demarcated for both communities’ graveyard as per an agreement between elders of both communities. He said that this “longstanding issue of graveyard is resolved”.

  • British-Pakistani Mayra Zulfiqar’s murderer gets arrested

    British-Pakistani Mayra Zulfiqar’s murderer gets arrested

    Zahir Jadoon, a resident of Lahore, had confessed to murdering a British-Pakistani woman Mayra Zulfiqar on May 3.

    Police in Lahore has formally arrested Zahir Jadoon in relation to the murder of Mayra, a law graduate from London.

    Zahir Jadoon and Saad Butt were two of the four accused named in the murder in the first information report (FIR) filed by Mohammad Nazeer, a relative of Zulfiqar.

    Muhammad Zulfiqar, Mayra’s father, had appealed to the prime ministers of both Pakistan and Britain to help him get justice for his daughter.

    24-year-old Mayra Zulfiqar was found dead in Lahore. She had been threatened by two men who both wanted to marry her.

  • ‘By the grace of Almighty Allah, this is the first train accident of 2021’: Firdous

    ‘By the grace of Almighty Allah, this is the first train accident of 2021’: Firdous

    Special Assistant to Chief Minister of Punjab, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan made a shocking statement on the Ghotki Incident. She said: “By the grace of Almighty Allah, ever since the government came into power, this is the first train accident that happened in this year 2021″.

    https://twitter.com/taimoorze/status/1401902200520118278?s=21

    Firdous faced backlash from the public calling her statement ‘unbelievable’.

    A woman reacted to the comments of Firdous, and wrote on Twitter, “What have we done to deserve this ?”

    Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan tweeted a clarification regarding her controversial statement. “This is the first major train accident in the last 15 months. One of my statements given in this regard is being taken out of context.”

    Two express trains collided on Monday in Sindh’s Ghotki and killed over 50 passengers, while more than 100 others have been injured, said police and rescue officials.

    In the midst of the tragic incident of Ghotki, Firdous’ statement was thought to be inept and lacked empathy.

  • Nawaz Sharif watches grandson play polo for Cambridge University

    Nawaz Sharif watches grandson play polo for Cambridge University

    Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended a polo match at the Guards Polo Club to watch his grandson and Maryam Nawaz’s son Junaid Safdar play the prestigious annual Oxford versus Cambridge Varsity Match.

    The match was won by Oxford in the end. Junaid’s horse was awarded the ‘Best Playing Pony’ Award as he scored all three goals for his side.

    The Oxford versus Cambridge Varsity match was also played by Prince Charles during his time at Cambridge.

    It’s believed that Junaid Safdar is only the second Pakistani to have played this match for the Cambridge team after Supreme Court Judge Justice Yahya Afridi, who studied in Cambridge and played a match for the same team during his student years.

    Nawaz Sharif can be seen in pictures sitting with his grandson Zayed Hussain, son of Hussain Nawaz Sharif, in the polo ground.

    Junaid has graduated from Durham University with first-class honours in politics and obtained another master’s degree from University College London in 2017.

  • Words ‘markup’ and ‘interest’ to be taken out of Math books

    Words ‘markup’ and ‘interest’ to be taken out of Math books

    The Textbook Publishers Association (TPA) on Thursday demanded the government to direct the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) to issue them no objection certificate (NOC) and withdraw the “heavy fee” for publishing textbooks under the Single National Curriculum (SNC), claiming it will push the book prices up further.

    TPA President Fawaz Niaz said PCTB had imposed a heavy fee for reviewing textbooks published under the SNC that would result in increasing the books cost up to 300 per cent, according to a report published in Dawn.

    “The publishers will pay Rs45,000 to the Mutahidda Ulema Board (MUB), Rs80,000 to external review committees, and Rs15,000 to the PCTB for issuance of the NOC,” said Fawaz.

    Fawaz said the PCTB had also formed a committee of the MUB to review every book, including those of science and mathematics.

    “The members of the MUB committee have issued a direction that the words ‘interest’, ‘markup’ be eliminated from the mathematics textbooks,” Niaz said.

    Niaz also said some of the religious scholars, who were members of the committee, also directed the publishers not to print any sketches or diagrams in the biology textbooks showing human figures.

    Questioning separate mechanisms in the provinces for introduction of the new curriculum, he mentioned there would be no SNC in Sindh and Balochistan, while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the NOC from the MUB was not required, as the job of monitoring the syllabus from Islamic perspective was assigned to subject specialists, unlike Punjab.

  • Reporter asks Miftah Ismail how Candyland made millions under PTI’s bad economic regime

    Reporter asks Miftah Ismail how Candyland made millions under PTI’s bad economic regime

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail held a press conference on Pakistan’s economy on Wednesday.

    Miftah Ismail said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was responsible for destroying the economy.

    A reporter asked him if the economy was so bad, how did his own company (Ismail Industries Limited) doubled its profits this year.

    “During PML-N’s tenure, your company made Rs 35 crore profits but under PTI, your company’s profits have doubled. How has the economy been destroyed then?”

    Miftah asked: “How are Candyland’s profits or losses related to the country’s economy?”

  • ‘Board exams to be held after July 10,’ says Shafqat Mahmood

    ‘Board exams to be held after July 10,’ says Shafqat Mahmood

    Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood said on Wednesday that board exams for students of classes nine and 10 would be held only for elective subjects and mathematics while exams for students of classes 11 and 12 would be held for elective subjects only.

    Mahmood’s press conference came after he chaired a meeting of provincial education ministers and officials from education departments.

    Mahmood said that the issue of resolving the complaint of non-completion of courses by the students was discussed in today’s meeting. “Several months ago, we reduced the curriculum by 40 per cent to make it easier for teachers and students to prepare,” said the minister.

    “It has been decided in the meeting of inter-provincial education ministers that the ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th examinations will start after July 10,” stated Mahmood. He further added that in this regard, the 10th and 12h examinations will be held first.

    “This decision is taken as students have different streams and directions so they will sit in exams related to their particular subject of interest,” he said.

    “We have also asked boards to keep some gap between the exams,” he said, as he explained the government had taken several steps to ease the process on the students as the educational institutions could not complete the course work.

    Mahmood said that the 10th and 12th classes are currently underway. “We have decided to open schools and colleges for the ninth and 11th classes so that they can prepare,” said the minister. “If we do not conduct the exams, then students will not even employ minimum efforts to study,” said the federal minister.

    “No student will be awarded grades without attempting examinations this year,” the education minister added.

    Mahmood further stated that the teachers conducting the board examinations need to be fully vaccinated.

    “There will be no review of the decision to take the exams. Children must prepare for their examination. We have been very lenient with the legitimate demands of the students,” concluded Mahmood.