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.

  • US responds to Khan’s acquittal in cipher case

    US responds to Khan’s acquittal in cipher case

    The United States of America has reacted to the acquittal of founder Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan and the party’s vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.

    US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller responded to a question about the case while addressing a press conference, saying that “The allegations against Imran Khan will be decided by Pakistan’s courts under their own laws.” 

    A day earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) acquitted the former Prime Minister and the former foreign minister in the cipher case. Both had been accused of leaking state secrets in public after Imran Khan, then the Prime Minister, took a diplomatic cable to a rally and narrated the contents for the public.

    IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Auranzeb heard the case and announced the short verdict.

    What is ciphergate?  

    The issue first came to light less than a month before Imran Khan’s removal from the prime minister’s office on March 27, 2022, when the PTI founder waved a letter addressing a public rally, claiming that it’s a cypher sent from a country that wanted Khan removed, later revealed to be the United States.

    The former prime minister claimed, while addressing the public, that the letter was the reason for his ouster as Prime Minister.

    Initially, Khan didn’t reveal the name of the country, but after a few days, he blamed the United States for plotting against him. The convicted former prime minister alleged that Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu was responsible for his removal.

    Since then, Imran and his party have blamed other people and forces for his removal, including former COAS General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Saudi Arabia.

  • Imran Riaz not allowed to go abroad despite court orders

    Imran Riaz not allowed to go abroad despite court orders

    YouTuber Imran Riaz was allegedly stopped by immigration authorities at Islamabad International Airport and not allowed to perform Hajj because his name was on Exit Control List (ECL).

    In a video shared on social media, Riaz could be seen talking with an immigration official grabbing a paper and saying, “According to this, my name should be removed from Exit Control List (ECL) and Passport Control List (PCL) and if the Judge has ordered this then this list should have been updated.”

    The officer agreed with him and said, “Either the list should be updated or you require a one-time special permission to fly abroad.”

    On May 29, the YouTuber shared on social media that his name was removed from the no-fly list on the orders of the Islamabad High Court and he would go to perform Hajj.

    On June 3, Riaz wrote on X that despite the court orders his name wasn’t removed from ECL and PCL.

  • IHC transfers Iddat case to another court

    IHC transfers Iddat case to another court

    Islamabad High Court (IHC) has transferred the Iddat case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to a district and session court in Islamabad after approving the request application of Judge Shahrukh Arjumand. 

    Judge Arjumand wrote a letter to the IHC registrar, stating that he is not comfortable announcing the verdict in the Iddat case as Bhusra Bibi’s former husband Khawar Manika had raised concerns.

    The judge also complained in the written letter that Khawar Manek and his lawyers disrupted the hearing multiple times. 

    Now the additional district and session judge, Muhammad Afzal Majuka will hear the Iddat case against the former prime minister and his wife.

    Earlier on May 29, the PTI lawyers attacked Khawar Maneka as he exited the district court premises after attending the hearing in the Iddat case.

  • SC full court to hear petition on reserved seats today

    SC full court to hear petition on reserved seats today

    A full court bench of the Supreme Court (SC) will hear the petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) today challenging the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision that denied it reserved seats for women and minorities. 

    As per the report of senior court reporter Hasnaat Malik, the apex court will also decide about the live streaming of today’s hearing in the reserved seats case.

    Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa will lead the 13-member full court bench; however, Justice Musarrat Hilali will not be the part of  bench after falling ill.

    On May 6, the apex court suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to allocate SIC’s reserved seats to other parties.

  • Imran Khan angry at PTI leaders for disowning controversial 1971 post: Asad Toor

    Imran Khan angry at PTI leaders for disowning controversial 1971 post: Asad Toor

    Journalist Asad Toor recently revealed on his YouTube channel that the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan got angry at party leaders because they did not support PTI’s social media team over the controversial Fall of Dhaka post.

    “If you cannot fight, then leave the party,” exclaimed Khan to party members who visited him in Adiala Jail, Toor said.

    “You guys are not fighting but our social media team is, and nobody will disown them. Do not speak ill of them,” Imran reportedly told his party members.

    Earlier this week, Khan’s social media account uploaded a video regarding the 1971 Fall of Dhaka and drew a reference between Mujeeb ur Rehman and Imran Khan. It also called the military actions atrocities.

    PTI leaders scrambled to try and do some damage control by disassociating Imran Khan from the post, claiming he had no control over his social media.

  • Khan, Qureshi acquitted in two vandalism cases

    Khan, Qureshi acquitted in two vandalism cases

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and the party’s vice president Shah Mahmood Qureshi were acquitted on Monday in two cases related to long march vandalism, Geo News reported. 

    Judicial Magistrate Ehtesham Alam cleared the politicians in both cases.

    The court also acquitted other politicians, including Ali Muhammad Khan, Murad Saeed, and former PTI leader Asad Umar in both cases.

    Asad Umar and Ali Muhammad Khan appeared before the court to mark their attendance as the cases were registered against them at Golra Police Station.

    On May 30, the court acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in two similar cases related to May 9 violence.

    “Because of insufficient evidence presented by the prosecution, the PTI founder has been acquitted,” the district and sessions court said in its verdict.

  • UK asked to speed up Shahzad Akbar’s handover to Pakistan

    UK asked to speed up Shahzad Akbar’s handover to Pakistan

    The government of Pakistan has requested the United Kingdom to speed up the process of extraditing Shahzad Akbar, who served as an Advisor to former PM Imran Khan, to Pakistan, The News reported.

    Shahzad is accused in multiple cases in Pakistan and he fled the country in 2022 shortly after Imran Khan lost his government through a vote of no-confidence.

    On the orders of the Interior Ministry, the FIA contacted Interpol to issue a red warrant to bring Shahzad Akbar to Pakistan.

    However, a year has passed but no major progress could be made in this case.

    The News reported the investigators of the case registered under Sections 420, 468, 471, 385, 396, 389, 500 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code had requested Interpol for help in arresting Shahzad Akbar.

  • Kabul to cooperate with Pakistan in probing Bisham terror attack

    Kabul to cooperate with Pakistan in probing Bisham terror attack

    The Foreign Office of Pakistan on Friday stated that Taliban authorities in Afghanistan had assured Pakistan of their cooperation in the investigation into the Bisham suicide attack in which five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed.

    “The Afghan side has agreed to examine the findings of the investigation and to work with Pakistan to take the investigation to its logical conclusion,” said the FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch in a press briefing.

    This development came after the visit of a high-level delegation led by Interior Secretary Khurram Agha to Kabul.

    China also welcomed the progress in the investigation and urged Pakistani authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

    In recent years, tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have flared up as Pakistan blames Afghanistan for letting their territory be used by TTP against Pakistan.

  • Two suspects arrested for murdering babrbershop workers in Gawadar

    Two suspects arrested for murdering babrbershop workers in Gawadar

    Balochistan Home Minister Zia Ullah Langau announced on Friday that two suspects involved in the murder of barbershop workers in Gawadar have been arrested.

    Seven barbershop workers from Punjab were killed when they were sleeping in their apartment near the Gwadar Fish Harbour in the Surbandar area of the coastal town earlier this month. One worker was injured in the incident.

    “I congratulate all our institutions who fulfilled their responsibility and the government’s orders with their efforts, and we have arrested two killers of the Gwadar labourers,” Langau said while addressing a press conference in Quetta.

    The arrested suspects revealed during the investigation that they had been ordered to kill any labourer from Punjab.

    Zia Ullah Langau also stated that millitants targeted innocent citizens, worsening the peace and security situation in Balochistan.

    “Terrorists have nothing to do with our rights. We will go the extra mile for those speaking up for the rights of Balochistan,” Langau added.

  • PTI legal team charged under anti-terrorism law for attacking Khawar Maneka

    PTI legal team charged under anti-terrorism law for attacking Khawar Maneka

    The Police on Thursday filed an anti-terror case along with other charges against a group of lawyers who allegedly attacked Khawar Maneka, ex-husband of former First Lady Bushra Bibi, on court premises as he was leaving the site after appearing in the Iddat case, Dawn reported.

    However, an FIR was not lodged by the victim but an inspector of the capital police, Imtiaz Ahmed. The FIR nominated six lawyers and 20 to 25 unknown people, including women.

    As per the FIR, a lawyer threatened and attacked Maneka when he came outside of the courtroom along with other lawyers and as a result he fell down on the ground.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Amir Masood Mughal said the registration of a “false terrorism case” against Imran Khan’s legal team was a conspiracy hatched by the “illegitimate” government.

    He said that police had registered an anti-terror case against the PTI legal team because an “unknown person” slapped Khawar Maneka.