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.

  • Bilawal to meet PM Shehbaz today as budget reservations loom

    Bilawal to meet PM Shehbaz today as budget reservations loom

    Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will meet Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif today to discuss his party’s reservations about the federal budget for 2024-2025.

    The National Assembly (NA) is holding a budget session today after Eid break.

    The Bilawal-led party has criticized Shehbaz’s government for taking all decisions about the presented federal budget alone.

    PPP had decided upon boycotting the budget session last week, but Deputy Prime Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held talks with PPP’s top leadership to convince them to support it.

    The delegation of PPP- headed by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari- will convey their reservations on the budget in today’s meeting to Shehbaz Sharif at PM’s house in the federal capital, as per The News.

    “The government reached out for the meeting, and Bilawal will place genuine PPP concerns before PM Shehbaz,” PPP’s Secretary Information Shazia Marri confirmed.

  • Owais Leghari requests Mohsin Naqvi to help with grid stations protesters in KP

    Owais Leghari requests Mohsin Naqvi to help with grid stations protesters in KP

    Federal Energy Minister Owais Leghari has approached Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi for immediate help to deal with the protests that occurred at grid stations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Wednesday.

    Owais Leghari expressed concern in a written letter to Mohsin Naqvi that the local police are not registering cases against the responsible individuals.

    The chief executive officer of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) confirmed in his submitted report that such incidents are happening in Mardan, Charsadda, Tank, Bannu and Peshawar.

    “Provincial assembly members and others gave illegal orders to grid station staff regarding power restoration,” the letter read.

    Chief Minister KP Ali Amin Gandapur entered the grid station and restored the power supply, declaring his own loadshedding plan.

    “No area will face loadshedding beyond 12 hours. Assembly members should visit grid stations in their respective areas to ensure compliance with the load-shedding schedule,” Gandapur stated while warning the federal government about the loadshedding issue.

  • Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s family brings home-cooked food to Adiala jail

    Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s family brings home-cooked food to Adiala jail

    Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s family met him on the second day of Eid in Adiala jail, SAMMA reported on Tuesday.

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Meher Banu Qureshi, Mehreen Qureshi, and Sameer Chanoy met Shah Mahmood Qureshi inside jail premises, bringing him home-cooked food to celebrate the religious holiday.

    Qureshi has been in jail since last year, facing investigations into cases related to May 9.

    Earlier, PTI leader and Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s son, Zain Qureshi, expressed hopes that his father will be released from jail after Eid ul Azha.

  • Electricity and gas connections of non-filers to be cut next: FBR Chairman

    Electricity and gas connections of non-filers to be cut next: FBR Chairman

    In order to bring more people into the tax net, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Zubair Tiwana has informed the upper house that non-filers will risk having their SIM cards, gas, and electricity connections suspended.

    Moreover, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue approved a proposal to impose a foreign travel ban on non-filers.

    The FBR Chairman also stated that a higher withholding tax rate was approved for non-filers. He added that the non-filer list included 500,000 individuals with annual incomes exceeding 2 million.

    “We must eliminate the non-filer category in the country,” stated the Finance Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Aurangzeb earlier on Geo News.

  • Animal cruelty: Donkey’s ears chopped off in Rawalpindi district

    Animal cruelty: Donkey’s ears chopped off in Rawalpindi district

    In yet another case of animal cruelty in Pakistan, a donkey’s ears were cut off in a village in Rawalpindi district due to a longstanding dispute between two families.

    According to the First Information Report (FIR), Tanveer Hussain, who is a resident of Dhakala Dakkhana, Saagri, let his donkey loose on his fields however in an unusual occurrence the animal did not return as it does normally.

    When Tanveer went to look for his animal, he found the donkey in an injured condition with its ears severed.

    Police have stated that ongoing land disputes between the parties had resulted in a decades-long enmity.

    The case marks the second reported incident of animal torture in recent days. In an earlier case, a feudal landlord chopped off a camel’s leg as punishment for foraging in his field in Sanghar, Sindh.

  • Security beefed up for Chinese workers in KP

    Security beefed up for Chinese workers in KP

    As terrorist attacks increase in Pakistan, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has increased security protocols for Chinese nationals working on energy projects in the province.

    “Your security is top priority for us as you are here for the prosperity and development of our country,” said District Police Officer (DPO) Shafiullah Khan Gandapur after visiting Suki Kinari and Balakot hydropower projects along with Deputy Commissioner (DC) Adnan Khan Bittani.

    The DPO also stated, “We have enhanced multilayer security of Chinese nationals working on power projects in parts of the district.”

    Officials stressed to reporters that Chinese workers will be provided enhanced security. “We have set standard operating procedures under the National Action Plan for the safety of engineers and workers executing those energy projects in the district.”

  • Unknown men killed senior journalist Khalil Jibran

    Unknown men killed senior journalist Khalil Jibran

    A senior journalist, Khalil Jibran of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Landi Kotal district, was killed near his residence on Wednesday, Geo News has reported.

    Jirbran was heading towards his house with one of his friends when unknown men targeted him, District Police Officer (DPO) Khyber Salim Abbas confirmed.

    According to the details provided by KP police, the assailants surrounded the journalist’s car, dragged him out of it and opened fire at him.

    The former president of Landi Kotal press club died on the spot, while his attackers made a quick exit.

    The journalism community of the district condemned the incident and criticized the authorities for failing to provide safety to journalists.

    DPO Salim Abbas confirmed that the journalist had received threatening phone calls multiple times.
    Chief Minister KP, Ali Amin Gandapur, also directed authorities to arrest the attackers immediately.

  • FIR registered against Ahmadis for sacrificing goats on Eid-ul-Azha

    FIR registered against Ahmadis for sacrificing goats on Eid-ul-Azha

    As Eid-ul-Azha approached, Muslims around the world including in Pakistan celebrated by enjoying public holidays, holding large social gatherings, giving meat to the needy but it has not been a festival for the minority Ahmadi community as right-wing religious activists, mostly from Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), targeted them on the Holy days.

    Social media is abuzz with videos showing TLP members, helped by local police, searching for meat among the homes of Ahmadis.

    In Gojra, an Ahmadi was booked for sacrificing a goat on Eid-ul-Azha on the complaint of a TLP activist.

    “The suspect has committed severe abuse by following the rituals of Islam while pretending to be a Muslim,” said the FIR.

    A spokesperson of Jamaat Ahmadiyya in Pakistan stated, “Shocking reports of police and extremists raiding Ahmadi homes, confiscating meat. What kind of Eid celebrations is this for Ahmadis in Pakistan?”

    A 2022 Supreme Court judgement by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah ruled that obstructing non-Muslims from practising their religion within the confines of their place of worship was against the Constitution.

    The 2022 written order stated, “to deprive a non-Muslim (minority) of our country from holding his religious beliefs, to obstruct him from professing and practicing his religion within the four walls of his place of worship is against the grain of our democratic Constitution and repugnant to the spirit and character of our Islamic Republic.”

  • 18% GST on formula milk, baby food slammed

    18% GST on formula milk, baby food slammed

    An inflation bomb has been dropped on the Pakistani public as the government, in its new 2024-25 budget, imposed an 18 percent General Sales Tax (GST) on baby food and formula milk – a necessity for the nourishment of children.

    People have strongly criticised the new tax on its probable risk of worsening malnutrition among infants and children since parents wouldn’t be able to afford baby food.

    “In other countries, governments reduce taxes on such products,” said Akmal, a resident of Lahore, to DAWN.

    In his budget speech Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb ironically underscored the importance of children’s nutrition in the country.

    When asked about the new tax, he replied that it “was not a big deal” as formula milk is purchased by the middle and upper middle classes who can afford it.

  • Khan’s court hearing audio not leaked from Supreme Court: CJP Isa

    Khan’s court hearing audio not leaked from Supreme Court: CJP Isa

    Earlier this week, an audio conversation of Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan and Supreme Court judges was leaked on social media. Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa clarified that it wasn’t leaked from the Supreme Court.

    Justice Isa stated that he asked the IT staff who told him that there were some voices in the audio which did not belong to the top court.

    The conversation was regarding the NAB amendment case’s court hearing in which Imran Khan appeared through video conference from Adiala Jail where he is currently imprisoned.

    Interestingly, Justice Athar Minallah suggested that there was no issue even if the audio was leaked because the dialogues were made during an open court.