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.

  • Army needs to distance itself from PTI, says retired general

    Army needs to distance itself from PTI, says retired general

    Defence analyst Lt Gen (r) Ghulam Mustafa has urged the Pakistan Army to distance itself from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in order to kill the impression that the ruling party has the support of the military.

    In a TV show, the analyst said the impression that the army has gotten PTI’s back needs to be defused as it is damaging the reputation of the state institution.

    Mustafa said the opposition, however, was being unfair for claiming that the army was supporting the ruling PTI. He said the military stood by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in 2014 during the protests led by Imran Khan, but nobody accused it of “supporting the Nawaz-led government”.

    He said the army chief needed to take measures to take his force out of the tug of war between the political parties, as the current situation was rapidly heading towards disaster.

    The defence analyst’s comments came in the wake of countrywide protests by the joint opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

    During its first rally in Gujranwala on Oct 18, former prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif hit out at the security establishment for ousting his government and installing Imran Khan in power. This was the first time that the opposition named a sitting army chief for meddling in the elections.

    Nawaz addressed the crowd via video link from London. “Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, you packed up our government, which was working well, and put the nation and the country at the alter of your wishes,” the former PM added.

  • ‘Lahore CCPO sent home on forced leave’

    ‘Lahore CCPO sent home on forced leave’

    Journalist Adeel Raja on Wednesday claimed that the new chief of Lahore police, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh, who has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons since his appointment last month, has been sent home on forced leave.

    While The Current’s sources corroborate the journalist’s claim as they say that the Lahore top cop was sent home after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan expressed displeasure over a viral audio clip in which the CCPO purportedly hurled abuses at a woman, a leave application by Sheikh suggests otherwise.

    READ: Bright cop resigns after CCPO Lahore abuses him for speaking English

    “It is submitted that I have to look after my ailing daughter admitted to hospital. Please allow me three days [of] casual leave from 21.10.2020 to 23.10.2020,” read the application, a copy of which is available with The Current.

    Sheikh further stated that during his leave, Lahore’s Operations Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Muhammad Ashfaq Khan will look after the charge of the post of CCPO in addition to his own duties.

    This was also endorsed by Punjab chief minister’s spokesperson in a tweet.

    Azhar Mashwani, while responding to Raja, claimed that CCPO will back after tending to his ailing daughter.

  • ‘Bakwas band karo’: PTI’s Waleed Iqbal threatens to hit PPP leader with glass on live show

    Senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Waleed Iqbal, who is also the grandson of 20th-century poet and philosopher Allama Iqbal, has threatened to hit former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah with a glass on live television.

    As per the details, the two, along with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Khurram Dastgir, had appeared on senior journalist and analyst Nasim Zehra’s show when a war of words turned ugly after Iqbal was told to shut up.

    Speaking of Capt (r) Safdar’s “inappropriate” arrest for raising political slogans at the mausoleum of Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Iqbal quoted Bilawal as saying that it did not merit the door of PML-N leader’s hotel room being knocked down.

    “Does he not get it? Let’s see how he reacts if someone does this at the tomb of his grandfather [ex-prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto] or mother [ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto],” a visibly annoyed Iqbal said, which was met by a “bakwas band karein [shut up]” from the PPP leader.

    “You can’t talk about Bilawal’s grandfather. Talk about the topic at hand,” an angry Dhamrah told Iqbal, leading to an on-air spat between the two.

    It took an uglier turn when Iqbal picked up a glass and threatened to hit the PPP leader with it had he been present in the studio and not appearing via videolink.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The anchorperson was seen trying to tell both the politicians to calm down but to no avail.

  • Fact check: Bilawal did not say eggs are Rs200 per kilo

    Fact check: Bilawal did not say eggs are Rs200 per kilo

    Claim: Bilawal Bhutto said eggs are PKR 200 per kilo

    Fact: Bilawal Bhutto’s video was doctored to make it sound like he confused the duodecimal system and the metric system

    In the aftermath of a Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) power show in Gujranwala, a video of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has been making rounds on social media platforms and Whatsapp groups.

    In the video, the PPP chairman has seemed to get the metric and duodecimal (dozenal) systems confused. In the video, while taking a dig at the rising inflation, Bilawal purportedly said that ‘eggs are being sold for Rs200 per kg and potatoes Rs100 per dozen’ due to the poor economic policies of the government.

    But did Bilawal really say that? No.

    A fact-check ran by The Current revealed that the PPP chief has said no such words and video circulating on social media websites was altered to humiliate the opposition leader. In the original video, Bilawal said the due to poor economic policies of the government, people were forced to pay Rs200 for a dozen eggs, Rs100 for a kilogramme of potatoes’ and so on.

    The fake video was shared by pro-government supporters who took jibes at the PPP chief for mixing the metric system with the duodecimal system. It garnered many views on Facebook and Twitter and was shared hundreds of times on the Whatsapp groups.

    A crime reporter of ARY News, Iqrarul Hassan also swallowed the bait and posted the video on his Twitter account. He, however, removed the video and issued an apology after it was revealed that the video was fake. Iqrar said he couldn’t tell whether the video was fake because the mic was in front of Bilawal’s face.

    VERDICT: FALSE

  • Sindh police say Safdar was arrested as per law, delete tweet later

    Sindh police say Safdar was arrested as per law, delete tweet later

    The social media cell of the Sindh Police has further aggravated the controversy surrounding the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar after it deleted a tweet that termed the arrest of the PML-N leader in accordance with the law.

    The statement updated on Twitter read: “The arrest of Capt (r) Safdar was done according to the law and the investigation will be impartial and on merit.” However, the tweet was hastily removed for unknown reasons, but it had generated over 450 retweets before being taken down.

    Screen-grab of now-removed tweet

    It was reposted to the Twitter handle later in the day.

    Safdar was arrested from his hotel room in the early hours of Monday for raising slogans at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and jumping over the grill surrounding the grave. This had resulted in a backlash on social media and the government quarters who demanded his arrest for violating the sanctity of the place. However, the way he was arrested by police gave rise to speculations.

    Senior journalist and analyst Hamid Mir has claimed the Sindh government informed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair that the provincial police chief had been “kidnapped by rangers at 4 am and forced to issue the orders for the arrest of Maryam Nawaz’s husband, Captain (r) Safdar”.

    “Unfortunate incident. Sindh Govt informed PML-N leader Muhammad Zubair that IG [insector general] Sindh was kidnapped by Rangers at 4 in the morning he was brought in sector commander’s office where addnl IG was already present and were forced to issue the orders for the arrest of Cpt Rtd Safdar [sic],” Mir claimed in a tweet.

    It was, however, rejected by another senior journalist, who said the IG was “fully onboard with the arrest”. Maintaining that internal rifts were marring the affairs of the joint opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Kamran Khan quoted sources as saying that all claims regarding the IG’s arrest were not true.

    CASE AGAINST SAFDAR, MARYAM:

    The FIR registered against the PML-N leaders Maryam Nawaz and Capt Safdar and about 200 other people said the PML-N leaders, along with 200 of their followers, reached the Quaid’s grave where Safdar jumped over the grill surrounding it and resorted to sloganeering.

    A case has been registered under Section 6 (convening of meetings or processions in the mausoleum), Section 8 (entry into mausoleum with weapon) and Section 10 (penalty for contravention of provisions) of The Quaid-e-Azam’s Mazar (Protection and Maintenance) Ordinance, 1971.

    It said the PML-N leader and his followers damaged the state property at the shrine besides threatening to kill the complainant upon intervention. “My complaint is that Safdar and his cohort violated the sanctity of the Quaid’s mausoleum and his grave. A case [should be] registered against him for raising political slogans inside the mausoleum complex, death threats against me and for damaging government property.”

  • Karachi police break into Maryam’s hotel room to arrest Safdar

    Karachi police break into Maryam’s hotel room to arrest Safdar

    Karachi police have arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar for violating the sanctity of Jinnah Mausoleum by raising slogans at the grave of the founder of Pakistan.

    The development was shared by his wife PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who wrote that police broke into her room to arrest Safdar while she was sleeping.

    The PML-N leadership, including vice president Maryam Nawaz, had visited the mausoleum to offer fatiha on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s grave ahead of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) power show in Karachi. However, the fatiha was followed by slogans by the PML-N supporters and Safdar jumping over the grill surrounding the grave.

    The sloganeering at the mausoleum attracted flak, especially by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, who sought action against the PML-N leaders for the ‘hooliganism’.

    Similarly, Maritimes Minister Ali Haider Zaidi pushed police to register a case against the PML-N leaders over the incident. “Once again clearly warning CS & IG of Sindh. Action must be taken against the hooligans who created ruckus at Mazar-e-Quaid. If they are allowed to leave KHI, you will be directly held responsible for letting them escape. U will be considered as aiders & abettors in the crime,” he tweeted ahead of the arrest.

    Subsequently, an FIR was registered against the PML-N leaders Maryam Nawaz and Capt Safdar and about 200 other people. According to the complainant, the PML-N leaders, along with 200 of their followers, reached the Quaid’s grave where Safdar jumped over the grill surrounding it.

    A case has been registered under Section 6 (convening of meetings or processions in the mausoleum), Section 8 (entry into mausoleum with weapon) and Section 10 (penalty for contravention of provisions) of The Quaid-e-Azam’s Mazar (Protection and Maintenance) Ordinance, 1971.

    It said the PML-N leader and his followers damaged the state property at the shrine besides threatening to kill the complainant upon intervention. “My complaint is that Safdar and his cohort violated the sanctity of the Quaid’s mausoleum and his grave. A case [should be] registered against him for raising political slogans inside the mausoleum complex, death threats against me and for damaging government property.”

    WAS SAFDAR ARRESTED FROM HOTEL’S ROOM?:

    Though the PML-N claims that Safdar was arrested from the hotel room by the Karachi police, the claim was contested by the federal minister, Ali Zaidi, who shared a video of Safdar being taken in a police mobile. “Maryam once again lying that the hotel door was broken. Video shows otherwise. Do u see any handcuffs? Does it look like he was arrested by force?” he took a jibe at Maryam.

    However, to corroborate the claim, PML-N social media cell shared a video of the hotel room, showing the broken door of the hotel room. The statement issued by the provincial minister also strengthened the claim that the police barged into the hotel room of the PML-N leaders.

    Surprisingly, the Sindh government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has distanced itself from the matter, even though the police chief is answerable to the chief minister. PPP minister Saeed Ghani said that while Captain Safdar’s behaviour was inappropriate, the way his arrest was carried out was condemnable.

    PPP MPA Sharmila Farooqi said “sloganeering inside Mazar-e-Quaid is inappropriate, but breaking doors & arresting Captain Safdar in this manner is also unacceptable”. “Sindh government is not a party to this. Clearly a blatant attempt to sabotage the solidarity of PDM and defame Sindh government,” she added.

  • Info minister Shibli Faraz shares ‘father’s poetry’, is told it is not Ahmad Faraz but Ghalib’s ghazal

    Info minister Shibli Faraz shares ‘father’s poetry’, is told it is not Ahmad Faraz but Ghalib’s ghazal

    In a rather embarrassing development, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz on Friday had to delete a tweet criticising the opposition after he was told that the poetry he had shared as that of his father, Ahmad Faraz, was actually a ghazal by Mirza Ghalib.

    “Jiski bahaar yeh ho uski khizaa naa pooch [don’t ask about the autumn of whose spring is this],” the minister said in the deleted tweet aimed at mocking the joint opposition for what the government called was “an empty stadium” in Gujranwala during the maiden public gathering of the opposition parties’ anti-government campaign.

    The tweet was deleted after journalist and Geo News Managing Director Azhar Abbas told him that the phrase the minister had attributed to his father and late poet Ahmad Faraz was actually from a ghazal by classical Urdu poet from the 19th Century, Mirza Ghalib.

    “I think it’s Ghalib’s not Ahmad Faraz’s,” Abbas tweeted.

    Shibli Faraz, who is serving as the federal minister for information and broadcasting since April 28, 2020, is a member of the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) since 2015. He is the son of the late renowned poet Ahmad Faraz, who was displaced by dictators for also being a vocal critic of military rule.

  • Former ISI DG says he never asked Nawaz Sharif to resign

    Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general (DG) Lt General (r) Zaheerul Islam has said that he never sought the resignation of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

    Speaking to a private media outlet on Wednesday, Islam also categorically denied that he had in 2014 sent any message through any person to the then PM Nawaz. “I never sent anyone to convey any such message to the premier,” he said, adding it was absolutely wrong.

    Instead, Islam insisted that at every stage during the 2014 sit-in by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), he had advised the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to politically engage with the protesting parties to end the protest.

    He was, however, reluctant to talk further on the subject.

    Stepping back into the political limelight last month, Nawaz, who is seeking medical treatment abroad, had in a fiery speech said the entire country knows what the former ISI chief had done. He claimed that Islam had at midnight sent him a message seeking his resignation.

    “He threatened to impose martial law if I didn’t step down but I refused to resign at all costs,” Nawaz had added.

    Reacting to his statements, PM Imran Khan had said he would take on anyone who dares to tell him to step down as a democratically-elected PM.

    “He [Nawaz] claims he was told by the army… Gen Zaheerul Islam… to resign. You are the PM… how can he dare to demand so from you?” the premier had said while speaking to senior journalist Nadeem Malik.

    When asked what would Imran Khan do if he is asked to resign, the premier had said he, being the PM, would immediately ask for that person’s resignation. “I am the country’s PM,” he had said maintained.

  • Two govt-controlled depts spied on Jahangir Tareen, monitored his family, his businesses?

    Two govt-controlled depts spied on Jahangir Tareen, monitored his family, his businesses?

    Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Jahangir Khan Tareen was reportedly spied on by two government-controlled departments — neither linked to any defence organisation or the armed forces — after being tasked by his own party to monitor his activities and businesses as well as those of his family.

    While Geo, citing sources, has reported that the departments monitored the same over several weeks, the claims have been categorically denied by the government.  

    Tareen’s residences in Islamabad and Lodhran were allegedly bugged, as were his sugar mills and other business interests. His activities, including meetings with politicians, businessmen and friends, were monitored and phone calls taped, the report said, adding that phone calls of all the members of his family were also allegedly recorded.

    Three weeks ago, a team from the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) had raided the head office of Tareen’s sugar mill and seized office records. It is not clear whether the raid was linked to the bugging operation or not.

    Advisor to the Prime Minister (PM) on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar has, however, rejected the allegations, describing them as “fiction”.

    He said that the allegation that Tareen and his family were spied on was “news” for him. “All concerns of those who were subject of the Sugar Commission inquiry [including Tareen] were raised by them in multiple cases before various high courts as well as the Supreme Court of Pakistan.”

  • VIDEO: ‘I don’t eat gulab jamun but couldn’t say no to army chief,’ says Zubair about ‘secret meeting’

    VIDEO: ‘I don’t eat gulab jamun but couldn’t say no to army chief,’ says Zubair about ‘secret meeting’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and former Sindh governor, Muhammad Zubair, who has been appointed as party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz’s spokesperson, has revealed further details of his “secret meeting” with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and shared what dinner with the military bigwig was like.

    In an exclusive interview with The Current, Zubair said that he isn’t a big fan of gulab jamun but that’s what they had for dessert the night he met Gen Bajwa over dinner.

    “I’m not a gulab jamun person but I couldn’t say no to him [Gen Bajwa] since he is a dignitary… he is the COAS,” the former Sindh governor said when asked about the details of his meeting that was also reportedly attended by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.

    He said that the first meeting lasted for four hours whereas the second one lasted for three.

    Talking about the kind of food he was served, Zubair said it was Pakistani cuisine. “He knew I’m one for desi food. I think he got it arranged while keeping that in mind,” the PML-N leader said.

    To a question about what did Gen Bajwa have, Zubair said he didn’t remember.

    When asked if Maryam, who, along with her father, has over the past month been making headlines for criticising the military and accusing the security establishment of meddling in political affairs, was upset with him for meeting the army chief, Zubair said she trusts him.

    “She has faith in my decision-making and knows I will always do the right thing for the party.”

    During the wide-ranging interview, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar’s brother, among other things, also shared how emotional politics can get when someone from your family belongs to a rival party, and shared his views on the current situation of the economy, as well as what he thinks of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: