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.

  • Kohat woman accuses KP lawmaker of harassment

    Kohat woman accuses KP lawmaker of harassment

    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s aide Ziaullah Bangash has been accused of sexual harassment by a woman hailing from Kohat.

    According to The News, the woman urged the prime minister to take notice of the incident in a video posted on social media.

    On the other hand, Bangash, who is the CM’s aide on information technology, denied the allegations levelled by the woman and also sent a legal notice to Rahatul Ain.

    The newspaper quoted an official report over the episode which revealed that the “Rahat ul Ain, wife of Muhammad Ishfaq…alleged in her video that Ziaullah Bangash was harassing her”.

    The report said that Rahat had worked with Bangash in an NGO [non-government organisation] about 10 years ago and both allegedly had “good relations”. However, Bangash started ghosting the woman after becoming an MPA in 2013.

    Bangash had also promised Rahat a job but failed to fulfill his promise, it claimed. The woman, subsequently, started making these allegations against Bangash, it reported. It says Bangash stayed away from the said woman after the 2013 elections.

    Meanwhile, Bangash has sent a notice to Rahat through his counsel for bringing “disgrace” to his name.

    The notice said that “Ziaullah Bangash does not even know the woman”. It claimed that the woman had hurled similar allegations in 2018, but Bangash was proved innocent after an inquiry by the Kohat DPO.

    “The sole purpose of the video was to damage my client’s reputation,” said the lawmaker’s lawyer, asking the woman to issue an apology.

    “You are informed by this notice that you should pay 50 million as defamation to my client within seven days and deny your allegations by apologizing in writing as well as in a video message from your social media account. Otherwise, a claim will be filed against you in the court of law,” the notice quoted by The News read.

  • VIDEO: Indian media apologises for airing doctored video of Pakistani analyst on Balakot airstrike

    VIDEO: Indian media apologises for airing doctored video of Pakistani analyst on Balakot airstrike

    Media outlets from across the border, including India Today and NDTV, have apologised for airing a doctored video of Pakistani analyst and former diplomat Zafar Hilaly, wherein due to editing, he appeared to be supporting Indian claims of hundreds of casualties in the 2018 cross-border aggression by New Delhi.

    Several Indian television channels, newspapers and websites had carried the report by news agency ANI on Hilaly’s remarks that he made while speaking to a Pakistani media outlet over Indian claims of 300 terrorists dying in the Balakot airstrike on February 26, 2019.

    Besides ANI, India Today and NDTV, the story was reported by Republic, The Times of India, Moneycontrol, WION, Hindustan Times, NE Now, Odisha TV, Jagran, Swarajya, Lokmat, Oneindia, Deccan Herald, Business Today, Livemint, DNA, The Quint, News18 India, HW News, CNBC TV18 and ABP News among others.

    One of the reports said, “The admission by the former Pakistani diplomat, who regularly takes the Pakistan army side in TV debates, goes against the zero casualties claim made by Islamabad at that time.”

    Here’s how India Today reported the same:

    “India crossed the international border and did an act of war in which at least 300 were reported dead. Our target was different from theirs. We targeted their high command. That was our legitimate target because they are men of the military. We subconsciously accepted that a surgical strike — a limited action — did not result in any casualty. Now we have subconsciously told them that, whatever they will do, we’ll do only that much and won’t escalate,” ANI had quoted Hilaly as saying.

    But a fact-check by Alt News found that the comments were misreported. Hilaly also tweeted a video saying his statement was spliced and edited.

    In the debate posted on YouTube by HUM News as part of a programme called “Agenda Pakistan”, Hilaly had actually said, “What you did, India, was an act of war. By crossing the international boundary, India committed an act of war in which they intended to kill at least 300 people.”

    While the report has since been retracted by all outlets, here’s what India Today tweeted.

    BALAKOT AIRSTRIKE:

    The 2019 Balakot airstrike was conducted by India in the early morning hours of February 27 when Indian warplanes crossed the de facto border in the disputed region of Kashmir, and dropped bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in Pakistan.

    While India claimed having destroyed terror camps “established on the Pakistani side” with hundreds of terrorists dead, Pakistan had rebutted the claims and sent a group of both local and foreign journalists to the area to ascertain the facts by themselves.

    The episode had led to tensions running high between the two countries for months and embarrassment for India after Pakistan shot down one of its intruding fighter jets besides capturing an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot.

    What do you think of the yet another rather embarrassing moment for Indian media? Let The Current know in the comments…

  • PM reaches Quetta after burial of slain Hazara miners

    PM reaches Quetta after burial of slain Hazara miners

    After a week-long protest by the Hazara community in the freezing cold of Quetta, Prime Minister Imran Khan has arrived in the provincial capital to meet the families of the slain Hazara coal miners.

    The Hazaras blocked a highway in Quetta and refused to bury their dead after gunmen kidnapped 11 miners in Mach region of Bolan district and slit their throats. The killings sparked protests across Pakistan, with the protesters demanding the PM to visit the heirs of the deceased. However, the PM said he would only visit after the burial of the slain miners and called the protest a “blackmail”.

    Following days of talks, the protesters on Friday night agreed to bury the dead bodies on the condition that the PM will come to Quetta and listen to their demands. The agreement cited by a media outlet says that the Balochistan government will pay Rs1.5 million compensation to the heirs of each martyr as well as provide employment.

    The funeral prayers held in Quetta ahead of the PM’s visit were attended by the Maritimes Minister Ali Zaidi, PM’s aide on overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari, provincial ministers and others. The deceased were buried in the Hazara graveyard.

    PM IN QUETTA:

    Finally, Imran Khan has reached Quetta. He is accompanied by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed and other cabinet members. The PM will meet the families of the miners and the religious leaders of the Hazara community. The provincial authorities will also update him on the Mach incident.

    A report by Dawn says that the PM had initially decided to visit the Hazara on the day of the killings; however, he was dissuaded by his aides, including Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed who said that the PM should wait till the situation gets normalised.

  • Hazaras agree to call off protests, bury bodies after PM, COAS promise to visit families

    Hazaras agree to call off protests, bury bodies after PM, COAS promise to visit families

    The week-long protests across Pakistan, especially Quetta, in the wake of the killing of Hazara coal miners in Mach have been called off following the successful negotiations between the government and families of the slain miners.

    Federal Minister Ali Zaidi and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri said that the government has agreed to accept the demands of the protesters and the army chief and the prime minister will visit the families of the victims after the last rites.

    Geo reported the leader of the Shuhada Action Committee Agha Raza as saying: the protests had been organised for the sake of the heirs of the deceased and were now being called off with their consent. Subsequently, the protesters in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad also started disbanding late in the night.

    On Friday, PM Imran Khan had drawn flak for saying the Hazara protesters were “blackmailing” him. According to the PM, the government has accepted all demands of the protesters, but their demand that they will not bury their dead unless the prime minister visits them is akin to blackmail.

    Balochistan’s Shia Hazara community had been protesting for the past six days in the freezing temperature of Quetta, refusing to bury their dead, in the wake of the murder of 11 miners in Mach, Bolan. On Sunday, 11 miners were kidnapped from their compound and killed by the armed men.

    The attack was claimed by the Islamic State. The protesters had demanded that the PM visit them personally and give them security assurances or they would not end their protest.

  • PM meets Ertuğrul founding team while Mach victim families still wait for him

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has come under criticism for meeting the founding team of hit Turkish drama series ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’ days after the Mach massacre, victim families of which await him even after the passage of five days.

    Earlier, thousands of protesters blocked Quetta’s key western bypass on Sunday after 11 coalminers belonging to the Hazara community were brutally executed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack by terrorists at a residential compound near a mine site in Mach area of Bolan, some 100km away from the provincial capital.

    While the protesters have been seeking the government’s support and assurance for an end to sectarian killings that have once again shot up in the area, they have been demanding that the premier personally meets them.

    Amid delays in PM Imran’s travel to Balochistan, and subsequent criticism by opposition members as well as the general public, it has emerged that he on Thursday met the founding team of the hit Turkish series that has broken viewership records in Pakistan.

    The meeting in Islamabad was also attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Kashmir Committee Chairperson Shehryar Afridi and personalities from Turkish and Pakistani film industries.

    The meeting discussed in detail the proposed television series being created in collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey on the Khilafat Movement among other future projects and the lost glory of Pakistani entertainment industry.

    The premier, however, did tweet on the Mach massacre once again on Wednesday.

    He had also condemned the incident and assured the grieving community of the government’s support earlier, on Sunday.

  • Bilawal, Maryam urge PM to visit Hazara families, put ‘ego’ aside

    Bilawal, Maryam urge PM to visit Hazara families, put ‘ego’ aside

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz have urged the prime minister to accept the demands of the protesting Hazara community.

    The victim families have been protesting in the freezing cold of Quetta against the killings. The protesters have demanded a meeting with PM Imran Khan and the dismissal of the Balochistan government over the security failure.

    Speaking to reporters during his visit to the protest camp, Bilawal said that the PPP had dismissed its government in Jan 2013 after similar protests were arranged by the minority community over the killings of its members.

    “Then too, you had put forward your demands to us. We had even dismissed the [provincial] government,” he was quoted by Dawn as saying.

    Bilawal said he has no words to describe the pain of the Hazara families, adding that he would always raise his voice for the persecuted community. “Unfortunately, we live in a country where even the dead have to be dragged into politics,” he said, adding that “we live in a country where blood is cheaper than food.

    According to the PPP chief, at least 2,200 Hazara Shias have been killed in the past 22 years, but their killers have remained free.

    In a reference to the remarks by the PM that a foreign country was involved, Bilawal said that it is still a failure of the state if it has failed to stop a foreign conspiracy on its land.

    ‘EGO BIGGER THAN COFFINS’

    Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz also spoke to the protesters. She chided the PM for having such a “big ego” that he cannot even feel the pain of these people. “All they are asking is that you come here and condole. Is your ego bigger than those whose coffins are laying here,” she remarked.

    She called the PM “shameless” for ignoring the plea of the Hazara Shias, saying she was not in Quetta to play politics on the issue. “It is your job to visit these people,” said Maryam, asking Imran to empathise with the protesters. “You are a parent yourself, trying to understand their pain,” she urged the PM.

  • ‘US would invade US’: Jokes break internet after Capitol Hill breach

    ‘US would invade US’: Jokes break internet after Capitol Hill breach

    The breach of the US Capitol by the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump to stop the final electoral count resulted in the death of four people and scores of arrests last night. The situation turned so bad that it prompted a curfew in Washington DC.

    The lawmakers were counting votes to certify the victory of President-elect Joe Biden when the chaos ensued as a direct result of a speech made by Trump. It took hours to get the far-right Trump supporters out of the Capitol.

    The visuals coming out of the US capital sent waves throughout the world and images of the protesters taking over the house floor and flooded social media. And Twitter didn’t miss the chance to roast the US over its interventionist policies and a history of hijacking third-world elections. But not all memes were political, like this one.

    https://twitter.com/GhassenSwayah/status/1347008230225039360

    What would the US do if this was a third world country?

    Venezuela has a score to settle.

    “Always in favour of law and democracy,” a Turkish lawmaker mocks the US over its habit of meddling in other countries’ affairs.

    Chickens coming home to roost?

    Is he Trump’s ‘Proud Boy’ or what?

  • Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh removed

    Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh removed

    Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has removed Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh from his post.

    Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, who was serving as DIG, Technical Procurement, CPO, Punjab, will be the new Capital City Police Officer (CCPO).

    Whereas, the notification issued by the government said that Umar Sheikh will be “posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police/Deputy Commandant of Punjab Constabulary, Farooqabad, against a vacant post”.

    Sheikh was posted as the Lahore police chief in September. Since then he has been involved in a number of controversies.

    Soon after his posting, he allegedly told his subordinates that on any sensitive issue, the Lahore police must seek his permission even if they receive directions from the Central Police Office (CPO).

    This had irked IGP Shoaib Dastgir, who refused to work as the IG till the removal of Sheikh. However, the government removed the IG following a standoff between the two.

    Sheikh had also blamed the rape survivor in the motorway rape case. The CCPO had said rape survivor should have been more careful and taken a safer route to avoid the rapists.

    “I am shocked… you are a mother of three and the only driver late at night… [she] should have taken the GT [Grand Trunk] Road instead, which is densely populated,” he had said while speaking to Dunya News.

    Sheikh went had further said that the woman should “at least have checked her fuel before taking the motorway”.

    Recently, CCPO Sheikh was in the crosshairs of the Lahore High Court that had sought record of the CCPO’s interviews after he criticised the courts for freeing criminals.

    Reacting to the statement of the CCPO Shaikh in which he said the criminals detained by the police were given bail by the courts, the chief justice had said the suspects are granted bail in line with the constitution.

    He had said such statements by CCPO Shaikh were akin to committing contempt of court and asked the Punjab advocate general to give details of his interviews in 15 days.

  • Minister, who got PIA flights banned in Europe, refuses to admit mistake

    Minister, who got PIA flights banned in Europe, refuses to admit mistake

    Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar has refused to admit that his controversial remarks that accused the Pakistani pilots of having fake licences caused massive losses to the national airlines and resulted in a ban on its flights in Europe.

    In a show with Geo’s Shahzeb Khanzada, the minister said he didn’t say anything wrong and that his honesty must be “appreciated” and that the entire sector was facing losses due to COVID-19, not just the national carrier.

    After a deadly plane crash in May 2020, the minister on the floor of parliament had claimed 262 pilots had fake licences. His statement created an uproar, resulting in a ban on Pakistani pilots. The ban in Europe still persists.

    Also, investigations had reportedly revealed that 182 out of the 262 pilots have valid credentials.

    However, the minister said despite all the bans his steps should be lauded because he was pushing for transparency.“Should we not have taken any action? You should appreciate that someone is taking initiative. Our transparency should be appreciated,” he said in the show.

    He further said that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had a satisfactory score of “97.6%” which was considered “great”. At this, the host retorted that the EU ban on the PIA still remains, no matter the score, because of the statement made by the minister.

    But, Ghulam Sarwar insisted that his steps should be appreciated despite the fact that PM Imran Khan and the attorney general had already said that the PIA issue was mishandled.

    According to a report in July, the PIA was likely to incur losses over Rs100 billion due to suspension of international flights amid the fake licences controversy and the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Daniel Pearl case: US ‘deeply concerned’ over court’s decision to release suspects

    The US State Department has said that it’s “deeply concerned” over the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision to release the suspects in the Daniel Pearl murder case.

    “We are deeply concerned by the reports of the December 24 ruling of Sindh High Court to release multiple terrorists responsible for the murder of Daniel Pearl. We have been assured that the accused have not been released at this time,” said the State Department in a series of tweets in response to the ruling of the high court.

    According to the State Department, the US government has been following this case closely. “We continue to stand with the Pearl family through this extremely difficult process,” it said, adding that it would continue to honour Pearl’s legacy.

    On Thursday, the high court asked the Sindh government to release the suspects, including prime accused Omer Saeed Sheikh, who were convicted by an anti-terrorism court in 2002 for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The court had also ordered the government to place their names on the no-fly list.

    However, the federal government said that it would challenge the ruling and that the suspects would remain behind the bars till the decision on its review appeal.

    The family of the slain US journalist also denounced the high court’s decision. Pearl’s parents said that they refused to believe that the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people will “let such a travesty of justice tarnish the image and legacy” of Pakistan.

    Pearl was working on a story about religious extremists in Pakistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, when he was kidnapped in Karachi.