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.

  • PML-N MPA calls boss Nawaz a ‘lota’, says India taking advantage of his speeches

    PML-N MPA calls boss Nawaz a ‘lota’, says India taking advantage of his speeches

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Jalil Sharaqpuri has slammed his boss and party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, calling him a “lota”, saying that “India is taking advantage of his speeches”.

    The lota — a plastic vessel — is used figuratively in Pakistani politics as an insulting term for people who switch parties and loyalties quite frequently.

    Sharaqpuri is among the five PML-N lawmakers from Punjab who earned the ire of the party leadership when they met Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar without obtaining permission.

    “Did Nawaz not change his [loyalties]?” he asked while addressing a press conference, adding, “They are all lotas.”

    “In my opinion, Nawaz’s speeches were inappropriate,” he said, adding that the PML-N supremo, who has over the past month made headlines for his fiery speeches, should speak in the interest of Pakistan.

    Sharaqpuri said that while the party leadership makes decisions, a person should be able to express his reservations against them.

    The lawmaker said that he was a member of the PML-N earlier and had left the party after “ideological differences with Nawaz”, following which he was with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for eight years.

    “In the 2018 elections [PML-N lawmaker] Rana Tanveer asked me to opt for PML-N’s ticket and I agreed on the condition that I be allowed to hold on to my differences with Nawaz,” Sharaqpuri said.

    He added whatever the party, he had come into politics “to serve the country”.

    “For me Pakistan comes before anything or anyone else.”

    Talking about Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, he said that the premier has Pakistan’s interests at heart. “He raised the slogan of Islam in the United Nations (UN).”

    “If PML-N talks about honouring the vote, then respect should also be accorded to votes given to Imran Khan,” he said.

    Reacting to an event that took place a few days ago, where PML-N workers placed a lota on top of his head, Sharaqpuri demanded PML-N to take action against those involved.

    “I joined PML-N with good intentions, and I am still a part of it,” he said.

  • Imran govt likely to rid PIA of Rs500 billion debt

    Imran govt likely to rid PIA of Rs500 billion debt

    The federal cabinet is likely to take a decision regarding the hefty Rs500 billion debt burden on the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

    According to reports, PIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal (r) Arshad Mahmood Malik will brief the federal cabinet, scheduled to meet today (Tuesday), about restructuring reforms introduced in the national carrier to make it self-sustainable “without seeking financial help from the government”.

    “Even with operational profits, the airline will not not be able to come out of the financial quagmire,” reports quoted sources as saying. “The burden of debt servicing is unsustainable.”

    They said the cabinet would also be briefed on the airline’s foodservice division (FSD), technical ground service (TGS), base management of the engineering department, revenue enhancement strategies, human resource restructuring, financial restructuring, and measures pertaining to Precision Engineering Complex (PEC).

    The PIA management has been evaluating the possibility of giving a management contract of food services at Karachi and Islamabad. While this will not generate much in terms of cost-saving, it will definitely improve product quality and customer satisfaction.

    Similarly, the PIA management has been evaluating the possibility of giving an operation and management contract for technical ground service.

    Reports said the airline is also evaluating different options to get out of the courier business which was launched by PIA in 2003. It has been considering outsourcing or partnering options for Speedex.

    Moreover, they added, the airline is tackling revenue enhancement strategies, route rationalisation, product improvement, yield enhancement, enhanced focus on corporate business, network optimisation, ancillary revenue, codeshare of the alliance to expand the network, revamping of web business portal and offering special packages for online users and reduction in distribution cost by implementing HITIT portal plus.

  • VIDEO: PM says he’ll sack anyone from establishment who asks for his resignation

    VIDEO: PM says he’ll sack anyone from establishment who asks for his resignation

    Soon after deposed prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif claimed that he was told to resign by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general (DG) Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam, PM Imran Khan has 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 said while speaking to senior journalist Nadeem Malik in an interview that will air tonight at 7:05 pm on SAMAA.

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

    “Who can dare to ask me to step down? I am a democratically-elected PM,” Imran replied.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    To a question regarding ailing former PM Nawaz’s return to the country, the premier said a convict had left the country after lying about his health and was now “conspiring against Pakistan”.

    “We will bring him back,” he added.

    A day earlier, Nawaz, who is seeking medical treatment abroad, had said the entire country knows what the former ISI chief had done. He claimed that Zaheerul 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.

  • Controversy stirred over picture of PM with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s frontwoman

    Controversy stirred over picture of PM with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s frontwoman

    In what appears to be an attempt to malign Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, a decades-old picture of him with American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s frontwoman Ghislaine Maxwell, has resurfaced over the internet.

    Maxwell, a British socialite, worked for her father, publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, until his death in 1991 when she moved to the United States (US) and became a close associate of Epstein.

    While the picture doing the rounds on social media seems to be from some social event that then cricketer and British film producer Jemima Goldsmith’s husband, Imran, was usually spotted at, netizens are sharing the same seeking the context.

    During his cricketing career, the now premier acquainted several international celebrities. He also counted no less than Princess Diana as a friend.

    According to the details unearthed by The Current, his picture with Maxwell is from a party at Savoy — a luxury hotel in London — to mark the fall of communism in 1990, which was a year before she even moved to the US.

    Greek journalist Taki Theodoracopulos can also be seen in the background.

    WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MAXWELL & EPSTEIN:

    Maxwell is the alleged recruiter of Epstein’s sex ring of underage girls and awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. She reportedly met the late financier through her father Robert and he might have been one early source of Epstein’s wealth that catapulted him into the upper echelon of society.

    Epstein began his professional life as a teacher but then switched to the banking and finance sector, working at Bear Stearns before forming his own firm. He developed an elite social circle and procured many women, including underage girls, who were then sexually abused by Epstein and some of his contacts.

    He was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors and died in his jail cell less than a month later. The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, however, Epstein’s lawyers disputed the ruling, and there has been significant public skepticism about the true cause of his death.

    Many believe that he was murdered because of his knowledge of compromising information about famous individuals.

  • VIDEO: Joe Biden says ‘InshaAllah’ to mock Trump during first presidential debate?

    VIDEO: Joe Biden says ‘InshaAllah’ to mock Trump during first presidential debate?

    Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cast doubt during Tuesday night’s debate on whether United States (US) President Donald Trump would ever release his tax returns. 

    “You’ll get to see it,” Trump said repeatedly as moderator Chris Wallace pressed him to commit to a firm timeline. Biden retorted, “When? InshaAllah?”

    While the Arabic language phrase literally means “God Willing,” it also has colloquial connotations of ambiguous commitment.

    As Muslims, especially Arabs, pointed out the phrase used by Biden, many wondered if they had mistaken something for InshaAllah.

    Until journalist Asma Khalid of US-based National Public Radio (NPR), who is covering the 2020 presidential campaign, confirmed it.

    Biden earlier released his personal income taxes, which show the former vice president and his wife Jill Biden paid about 30% of their $985,000 gross personal income.

    Trump has refused to voluntarily release his income taxes, which had been a presidential custom stretching back decades.

    READ MORE: ‘Will you shut up, man?’ and much more from Trump vs Biden presidential debate

    The New York Times reported Monday that Trump did not pay any federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years. It said the former businessman paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and another $750 in 2017, the year he took office.

    Trump disputed the report during Tuesday night’s debate, saying he has “paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax.”

  • Amnesty International halts operations in India after government freezes bank accounts

    Amnesty International halts operations in India after government freezes bank accounts

    The government of India has completely frozen the Amnesty International Bank accounts by alleging them for money laundering which has brought all operations of the company at a complete halt.

    Moreover, the organisation was forced to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing research project and campaigns on human rights.

    The official statement posted on the website of the organisation claims government actions to be the “latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organisations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations.”

    Furthermore “The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental.

    The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.

    More than four million Indians have supported Amnesty International India’s work in the last eight years and around 100,000 Indians have made financial contributions.

    These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. The fact that the Government is now portraying this lawful fundraising model as money-laundering is evidence that the overbroad legal framework is maliciously activated when human rights activists and groups challenge the government’s grave inactions and excesses.

    The attacks on Amnesty International India and other outspoken human rights organizations, activists and human rights defenders is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power.

    “Treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises and dissenting individuals as criminals without any credible evidence is a deliberate attempt by the Enforcement Directorate and Government of India to stoke a climate of fear and dismantle the critical voices in India.

  • ‘CEO of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund drawing monthly salary of Rs2,644,333’

    ‘CEO of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund drawing monthly salary of Rs2,644,333’

    A journalist has taken a dig at the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), claiming that the not-for-profit company, which aims to promote an effective approach to poverty alleviation across the country, is only bringing relief to its executives with handsome salary packages.

    “How PPAF alleviates poverty of its own executives rather than the people of Pakistan,” journalist Jawad Khan Yousafzai tweeted along with the details of salary of the fund’s chief executive officer (CEO), which he says he received under right to information (RTI) laws.

    WHAT IS RTI?

    RTI is a citizen’s right to access information from his or her government and private bodies that receive public funds. It is based on the principle that information belongs to the people, and boosts transparency, which in turn strengthens accountability, reduces corruption and improves the delivery of public services.

    It enables citizens to hold public officials to account for their actions, demand for rights and better services, and take a stand against corrupt practices.

    The government also benefits from RTI as access to information by public officials makes it easier for them to carry out their duties more efficiently. It supports citizens’ oversight and demand for accountability, which in turn helps improve the performance and functioning of public organisations.

    RTI is a fundamental right in Pakistan under Article 19-A of the Constitution.

  • Six top Pakistani banks named in global money laundering leaks

    Six top Pakistani banks named in global money laundering leaks

    Six Pakistani banks have been named in an investigation on the role global banks play in money laundering by Buzzfeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), for 29 suspicious transactions close to $2.5 million.

    The banks named are Allied Bank, United Bank (UBL), Habib Metropolitan Bank, Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan, and Habib Bank (HBL). All the suspicious transactions took place in 2011 and 2012. 

    Buzzfeed News had shared with ICIJ more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports, or SARs, filed by global banks to the U.S. Treasury Department’s intelligence unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN. 

    According to the investigation, global banks moved more than $2 trillion between 1999 and 2017 in suspicious payments, and flagged bank clients in more than 170 countries who were identified as being involved in potentially illicit transactions. 

    Banks file SARs when they believe a client is using services for potential criminal activity, though the filing in itself does not require a bank to stop doing business with a client. 

    According to the data revealed by ICIJ, 29 such suspicious transactions to and from Pakistan were flagged. Of those, the ‘received’ transactions amounted to $1,942,560, while the ‘sent’ transaction was $452,000.

    Allied Bank had 12 suspicious transactions flagged, receiving $1,001170; UBL had eight transactions flagged, receiving $399,620; Habib Metro had two transactions flagged, receiving $74,980; Bank Alfalah had three transactions flagged, receiving $99,480 and sending $452,000; Standard Chartered had four transactions flagged, receiving $199,860; and HBL had one transaction flagged, receiving $167,450. 

    Out of the 29 transactions, Standard Chartered filed 28 SARs with FinCEN, while The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., filed one. All of these transactions took place between September and December 2012, except for one transaction that took place in November 2011.

  • VIDEO: ‘My rooster died because of contaminated water, we will too,’ heartbroken kid from Sindh breaks internet

    A viral video has shown a minor kid blasting the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led Sindh government after his rooster died allegedly due to now-contaminated rainwater flooding Tando Bago town of Badin district.

    Over 20,000 families have badly been affected in Badin where recent heavy rains have wreaked havoc. While 269 millimetres rainfall has badly affected all five administrative divisions of the district, Taluka Tando Bago is the worst affected.

    According to the provincial government, around 4,000 houses have been damaged in all divisions while entire crops of tomatoes, onion, cotton and others have either been completely or partially destroyed.

    “My rooster has died! We will too!” the kid was heard as saying in Sindhi in the viral video, standing in rainwater flooding a field, holding his dead rooster in his hand.

    “When will Bilawal come to help us? When we are already dead?” he said, adding that their houses had washed away and their animals had died due to contaminated water.

    The video is drawing strong reactions from social media users, who are expressing concern over the provincial government’s inability to save the people from monsoon rains.

    Earlier, protests against authorities were reported in Karachi as urban flooding spelled misery for the people of the country’s largest city owing to the lack of monsoon infrastructure.

    Dozens of deaths were also reported in rain-related incidents such as roof-collapse and electrocution in Pakistan’s business hub.

  • System on verge of collapse owing to ministries, state institutions’ illegal real estate business: IHC CJ

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued a scathing verdict on increasing crime, abductions and land-grabbing activities in the federal capital, saying that government ministries and state institutions are involved in “illegal real estate business”.

    IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah issued the remarks in a five-page order pertaining to the rise in said cases in Islamabad.

    It also noted that the involvement of state institutions and ministries in real estate business raised “questions of conflict of interest”.

    “Land-grabbing crimes are on the rise in Islamabad,” said the IHC top judge in the verdict, adding that reports were indicating how much corruption had made its way into the system.

    He warned that the system was on the “verge of collapse”.

    “Islamabad’s powerful elite is directly responsible for flouting laws,” said Justice Minallah. He added that there was no harm in saying that the “state has failed” to protect the common citizens.

    The verdict also said that an alarming law and order situation in Islamabad was “unacceptable”.

    “Institutions set up to protect fundamental rights of citizens are directly or indirectly involved in breaking the law,” noted the court.