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  • ‘Raid Bani Gala and you will know where the cipher copy went’: Maryam Nawaz

    ‘Raid Bani Gala and you will know where the cipher copy went’: Maryam Nawaz

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Saturday revealed that Principal Secretary Azam Khan has admitted that he gave the diplomatic cipher to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan — which had been “stolen” from the records of the Prime Minister’s House.

    Dar said it was now “established” through the audio leaks that the former Opposition — now the government — was not responsible for any conspiracy, but rather the PTI was. “We will be failing in national duty and oath if we don’t take appropriate action,” he added.

    The finance minister said the matter was not something that could be ignored, adding that “whoever did this is not pardonable”.

    “We will be betraying the Constitution if we don’t take it to the logical conclusion. So the decision is we will take the matter forward in light of the law and Constitution,” he stressed.

    Maintaining that Imran Khan was solely responsible for the travesty he said that if we do not take action to bring this matter to its logical conclusion, then it would be another breach of the Constitution.

    He further revealed that the cabinet has inspected all aspects in this regard in detail. “The minutes that were created regarding the diplomatic cipher are present; however, the original document is missing,” Dar added.

    “This proves that conspiracy was not hatched by the incumbent coalition government instead the PTI was behind this,” he said, adding that a meeting of the National Security Committee has also been held in this regard.

    Playing the purported audio leak of the former prime minister, Dar said: “We will betray our constitution if we do not take it to its logical end.

    “The mess created in four years could not be cleaned in four to five months; however, our efforts will be concentrated on stopping the destruction, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s team is working to provide relief to the masses,” he concluded.

    In Lahore, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz said: “You heard that the cipher went missing from Prime Minister House. I think there should be a raid on Bani Gala from where you will find out where the cipher copy went and what the real minutes, letter, and communique were,” she stated in a press conference.

    “Since day one I knew that he [Khan] was lying as he is the biggest liar of this century,” she claimed, adding that this wasn’t just conspiracy but this was also “tampering”.

    Accusing the former prime minister of forging sensitive official documents, she said that Khan conspired against the foreign policy of Pakistan.

    “PM Shehbaz told me that no country is ready to write a letter to Pakistan because of this fitna Khan [Imran Khan],” Maryam said, adding that other countries are now afraid of communicating with Pakistan.

    The PML-N vice president further added that the audio leaks are enough to indict Khan for his wrongdoings.

    “You can look at Supreme Court’s verdict, Khan even violated the order of the apex court while leaving his office,” she mentioned, adding that the highest court of the country has given its ruling against the former premier.

    “The nation has been held hostage by this evil mind for the last four years,” she asserted.

    Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the issue would be raised in parliament and expressed the hope that the body would decide to file an Article 6 reference against Imran.

  • ‘Mujhe abhi tak yaqeen nahi araha ke meray betay ne kia keeya’: Shahnawaz’s mother

    ‘Mujhe abhi tak yaqeen nahi araha ke meray betay ne kia keeya’: Shahnawaz’s mother

    A local court in Islamabad has extended the interim bail of Sameen Shah, the mother of murder suspect Shah Nawaz, and the wife of renowned political analyst Ayaz Amir till October 3 in the Sarah Inam killing.

    While talking to journalist Saqib Bashir outside the court she said, “Mein ne aapne haath se pakar kar Police kay hawale kia use,” (I handed over him to police with my own hands).

    “Is se barh kay aek Maa kay lie aur kia imtehan ho skta hai?” (What can be more painful than this for a mother?)

    She further said that she had no idea about when they both started fighting as she was in a different room.

    “Mujhe abhi tak yaqeen nahi araha kay mere betay ne kia kia”. (I still can’t believe what my son has done), she added.

    Earlier, in a petition filed with an Islamabad sessions court she had said that she has no link with the murder. Offering details of the grisly incident, she has stated that her son had sent her a message on Whatsapp to arrange his wife’s rukhsati by speaking to the her father just one night before the crime.

    She further said that Shah Nawaz called her on her mobile phone at 9:12 am the following day to inform her about the incident.

    “The petitioner asked Shahnawaz to sit in her room and Ayaz … had called the police and within a few minutes, the police had arrived and took custody of Shahnawaz,” she said in the plea.

    The petition stated that Sameena then rushed to Shah Nawaz’s room but by the time she got there, her daughter-in-law had passed away.
    Sarah’s murder rocked Islamabad last week as news of the crime spread across social media and news networks.
    It has been reported that after murdering her, Shahnawaz dumped her body in a bathtub.

  • PM Shehbaz audio leaks: PTI Supreme Court pohanch gayi

    PM Shehbaz audio leaks: PTI Supreme Court pohanch gayi

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday to investigate the matter of Prime Minister (PM) House audio leaks of PM Shehbaz Sharif and his party members including some federal ministers.

    The former ruling party has requested the top court to seek criminal charges against PM Shehbaz and his team for hatching a “criminal conspiracy”.

    One of the many audio leaks allegedly concerns a conversation between PM Shehbaz, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Tarar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and former National Assembly (NA) speaker Ayaz Sadiq about the resignations of PTI MNAs. The audio is said to be a recording of a cabinet meeting.

    Party leaders can be allegedly heard discussing whose resignations from PTI will be accepted. Moreover, the leaders can be heard saying that the final decision will be taken by PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif who is in London.

    “The incumbent prime minister and his cabinet members can be heard discussing a heinous strategy to outplay the petitioner from the parliamentary politics in a most illegal, unlawful and objectionable manner,” the PTI said in the petition about the audio leak.

    The petition said that the entire discussion revolves around a “criminal strategy/conspiracy” to affect and target the party through piecemeal acceptance of the resignations tendered by PTI’s MNAs on April 11.

    The party said that PM Shehbaz, Information Minister Maryum Aurangzeb and Rana Sanaullah have admitted the existence of audio leaks.

    The PTI claimed that the PM and his cabinet members with the aid of incumbent NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf violated their oath and utterly disregarded the law and constitution.

    A total of six audios featuring PM and his party leader have been leaked while two audio leaks featuring Imran Khan and his party members have come to light.

  • ‘No one has done forgery like Khan’: Khawaja Asif reacts to audio leak no. 2

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif reacted to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s second audio leak in which the leader can be heard directing his party members not to name the United States (US) in the cipher matter.

    The minister, who is currently in London, told the media that it is an “Ideal case” of Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with high treason.

    “He [Imran Khan] should listen to the clips himself and feel shame on how he has put Pakistan’s integrity at stake in his lust for power,” Asif said, lashing out at Imran.

    “In Pakistan’s 75-year history, no politician has put Pakistan’s security at risk,” said Asif. He admitted that politicians and army officials have done things against each other and made mistakes but no one has done a “forgery” like the PTI leader.

    “In the audio, he is saying do not take America’s name but at the same time is talking against it. I cannot even imagine that a politician can be this shameful,” added the minister.

    Referring to Khan’s alleged insistence in the audio leak on using the word “letter” instead of cipher because “people wouldn’t have understood the word transcript”, Asif said the “PTI chief had underestimated the nation’s collective wisdom and will pay the price.”

    Audio leak:

    In the second audio leak, Imran Khan when he was Prime Minister (PM) is directing his close aides not to take America’s name while talking about the US cipher in public.

    “We don’t have to name the Americans. Under no circumstances do we have to take the name. So, on this issue please, the name of the country should not come out of anyone.”

    In turn, the voice, supposedly belonging to Asad Umar, raised a question: “Are you saying letter deliberately? This is not a letter, it is the meeting’s transcript.”

    On this, Imran Khan says that both the letter and the transcript are “the same thing”. He added that “People wouldn’t have understood the word transcript if you say things like this in your jalsa.”

    In the first audio leak that surfaced a couple of days ago, the PTI chief directed his then-principal secretary Azam Khan that, “We have to play with it [cipher]”.

    On the same day, when the first audio leak came out Khan broke his silence on it and said that he has not played on the cipher yet.

  • Floods in Pakistan: US to provide $132 million in US debt relief

    Floods in Pakistan: US to provide $132 million in US debt relief

    The United States (US) on Friday unveiled a roll-over agreement to suspend payments of USD 132 million of Pakistan’s debt in the wake of the economic crisis caused by the floods.

    “Ambassador Blome today signed the second U.S.-Pakistan bilateral agreement under the G 20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, providing $132 million in U.S. debt relief to Pakistan. Our priority is to redirect critical resources in Pakistan,” said the US Embassy Islamabad in a statement.

    Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers triggered the disaster. The United Nations (UN) and Pakistan have linked the extreme weather to climate change. Approximately 600,000 people have fled their homes.

    As many as 33 million people of the 220 million South Asian nation have been affected in some way by the floods that swept away houses, roads, railways and bridges and submerged around 4 million acres of farmland.

  • Petrol price reduced by Rs12.63 to Rs224.80 per litre

    Petrol price reduced by Rs12.63 to Rs224.80 per litre

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has announced a significant reduction in petrol prices on Friday, cutting the cost by Rs12.63 per litre to Rs224.80 per litre.

    A reduction of Rs12.13 has also been made to the cost of high-speed diesel, bringing the new price down to Rs235.30 per litre. After a reduction of Rs10.19 per litre, the cost of light diesel oil will be Rs191.83, according to Geo News.

    The new petrol price will go into effect after 12 AM.

    According to a statement from the Finance Division, the government decided to lower the price of petroleum goods in response to a drop in the price of these products on the global market and to help consumers who had been affected severely by inflation.

  • Woman in Iran arrested for eating without hijab

    A woman has been detained in Iran for dining out without wearing a headscarf. During the riots over Mahsa Amini’s passing, an image of a woman eating out in Iran without a headscarf went viral on social media.

    The image showed Donya Rad having what appeared to be breakfast while chatting with a female acquaintance who was also not wearing a hijab in a traditional Tehran restaurant.

    “Yesterday after this photo was published, the security agencies contacted my sister Donya Rad and asked her to give an explanation,” her sister Dina wrote on Twitter.

    Today, after appearing where she was told to come, she was arrested. After a few hours of silence, Donya told me in a short call that she was transferred to ward 209 of Evin prison,” she said, referring to a notorious wing of the Tehran jail which is reputedly run by the intelligence ministry.

    “Our family is very concerned about her wellbeing,” she added.

    “They just went to get breakfast without headscarves. They were arrested. This is how brutal/sick the hijab policy is in Iran,” commented prominent US-based campaigner and journalist Omid Memarian on Twitter.

    Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman breathed her last after being arrested by a police unit responsible for forcing Iran’s strict dress code for women. She was taken into custody for not complying with hijab rules.

    Mahsa Amini was beaten while inside a police van when she was picked up in Tehran on Tuesday. Photographs of Mahsa lying in a hospital bed have gone viral, showing the young woman in a coma with her head wrapped in bandages and breathing through tubes.

  • Imran asks ‘neutrals’ who is responsible for PMO audio leaks?

    Imran asks ‘neutrals’ who is responsible for PMO audio leaks?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday asked the “neutrals” — the term he uses for the military establishment — who was responsible for the security breach at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

    “I ask them [neutrals] that the audio leaks of the Prime Minister Office […] if the security of the Prime Minister Office has been breached […] this means that our enemies have our sensitive information,” Imran said in a speech at Edwardes College in Peshawar today. “Who is responsible for this,” he asked.

    “I ask the protectors today […] if robbers are looting a house, can the guards say that they are neutral? What will the residents say? That the house is being looted but the guards say they are neutral,” Imran said, claiming that Pakistan, too, was being “looted” today.

    Responding to Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz said, ““The massive security breach you have done sitting in the PMO with your secretary and followers, even the biggest enemies of Pakistan couldn’t compete with it,” she tweeted.

    “A foreign-funded evil mind has been playing with the destiny of the country for the past four years and has the nerve to do that same today,” Maryam added.

    Khan’s comments come in relevance to his audio leaks related to the cipher and the foreign conspiracy.

  • ‘Changing threat matrix of terrorism is need of the hour’: PM Shehbaz responds to Kabul suicide blast killing 19

    ‘Changing threat matrix of terrorism is need of the hour’: PM Shehbaz responds to Kabul suicide blast killing 19

    A suicide bomb attack on a classroom of hundreds of students preparing for exams in Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday killed at least 19 people.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, extending his condolences, said, “Deeply grieved at the loss of young lives in a horrific suicide attack at a learning center in Kabul. Words can’t express this sheer barbarism. We send our deepest condolences & most sincere sympathies to the bereaved families & people of Afghanistan.”

    He further tweeted, “As I stated in my address at UNGA, terrorism continues to threaten not just Afghanistan & Pakistan but also the world. The international community should not let its guard down. Strengthening global cooperation against changing threat matrix of terrorism is need of the hour.”

  • Mahira Khan set to be Will Smith’s leading lady in Hollywood debut

    Mahira Khan set to be Will Smith’s leading lady in Hollywood debut

    Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is all set to make her narrative feature directorial debut with Brilliance. The upcoming film will be a Paramount Pictures adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel.

    On the other hand, Hollywood star Will Smith will be producing the film under the banner of his company Westbrook Studios. Though the official announcement regarding the star cast is not made, it is being reported that that superstar Mahira Khan is in final talks to join the film.

    https://twitter.com/FilmUpdates/status/1575460011706286080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1575460011706286080%7Ctwgr%5E476817c227a1e942955c4a34f6f6879a228f1f29%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-36297767593164264713.ampproject.net%2F2209072154000%2Fframe.html

     In a report, describing the premise of the film, the publication stated, “if 1% of the world’s children were born with powerful gifts, how would society adapt to them? The Brilliance novel trilogy is set in a future where non-neurotypical people — demonized by society as “twists” or “abnorms” — are threatening the status quo of the “normal” population with their unique gifts.” Talking about Obaid-Chinoy, she is best known for directing Saving Face and A Girl in the River, The Price of Forgiveness and most recently Ms Marvel. Meanwhile, Smith will next star in Emancipation. In the upcoming Apple film, the star will be seen playing a hunted runaway enslaved man who struggles for freedom in the dangerous swamps of Louisiana. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the fact-based thriller’s release date is not announced yet.