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  • World Cup 2023 semi-final: India defeats New Zealand by 70 runs

    World Cup 2023 semi-final: India defeats New Zealand by 70 runs

    In the first semi-final of the ICC ODI World Cup, India defeated New Zealand by 70 runs and qualified for the final.

    Indian captain Rohit Sharma invited the Kiwis to the field.

    India’s inning:

    India scored 397 runs for the loss of four wickets in the allotted 50 overs, with Virat Kohli scoring 117 and Shreyas Iyer scoring 105 runs. Apart from this, KL Rahul remained unbeaten with 39 runs while Surya Kumar Yadav scored one run.

    Tim Southee took three wickets and Trent Boult took one wicket for New Zealand.

    New Zealand’s inning:

    In pursuit of India’s target of 398 runs, Daryl Mitchell played an innings of 134 runs but he too could not take his team to the final.

    Kane Williamson scored 69 runs while Glenn Phillips was dismissed for 41 runs, and Dion Conway and Rachin Ravindra scored 13 runs respectively.

    Chasing the target, the entire team of New Zealand was bowled out for 327 runs in 48.5 overs and thus India won the match by 70 runs and qualified for the final of the World Cup.

    For India, Mohammad Shami took 7 wickets for 57 runs in 9.5 overs while Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav took one wicket each.

  • IMF and Pakistan seal agreement on $3 billion SBA, await board approval

    IMF and Pakistan seal agreement on $3 billion SBA, await board approval

    In a significant development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared on Wednesday that its team and Pakistani authorities have successfully concluded the initial review of the $3 billion, nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).

    This staff-level agreement awaits the approval of the IMF Executive Board.

    Upon endorsement, approximately US$700 million (SDR 528 million) will be accessible, contributing to a cumulative disbursement of nearly US$1.9 billion under the programme.

    A delegation from the IMF, led by Nathan Porter, conducted discussions in Islamabad from November 2–15, 2023, focusing on the inaugural review of Pakistan’s economic programme supported by the IMF SBA.

    The nascent recovery, supported by international partners and enhanced confidence indicators, is attributed to the stabilizing policies outlined in the SBA.

    The disciplined implementation of the FY24 budget, ongoing adjustments in energy prices, and increased inflows into the foreign exchange (FX) market have alleviated fiscal and external pressures.

    The IMF anticipates a decline in inflation in the upcoming months, driven by diminishing supply constraints and modest demand.

    Nevertheless, Pakistan remains exposed to significant external risks, including heightened geopolitical tensions, escalating commodity prices, and potential tightening in global financial conditions.

    It is imperative to persist in efforts to enhance resilience in the face of these challenges, according to the international lender

  • Babar Azam steps down as Pakistan cricket team captain

    Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has announced that he is stepping down as the captain of Pakistan in all formats.

    “It’s a difficult decision but I feel it is a right time for this call,” Babar said in a statement he posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday evening.

    Babar said that he will continue to represent Pakistan as a player in all three formats.

    “I am here to support the new captain and the team with my experience and dedication,” added Babar.

    Babar and the team have come under heavy criticism from fans, former players and analysts alike, after a disappointing World Cup campaign in which Pakistan failed to make it to the semi-finals while losing five of its nine group matches.

  • ‘Allegations on Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, if true, would undermine reputation of federal government, armed forces, ISI and Pakistan Rangers’: Supreme Court

    ‘Allegations on Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, if true, would undermine reputation of federal government, armed forces, ISI and Pakistan Rangers’: Supreme Court

    The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued a written order addressing the allegations made by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Top City-1 Housing Society against the former Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed.

    The Supreme Court observed that allegations leveled by the private housing society CEO against the former spy chief are of an “extremely serious nature” and would tarnish the reputation of the federal government if proven true.

    The observations come as the top court issued a written order for the November 8 hearing of the petition filed by Moeez Ahmed Khan against the former general.

    The three-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa, alongside Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aminuddin Khan, had disposed of the constitutional petition last week.

    The petitioner, Moeez Ahmed Khan, had alleged abduction by retired army officers, including Gen Faiz.

    The written order said: “The allegations are of an extremely serious nature, and if true, undoubtedly would undermine the reputation of the federal government, the armed forces, ISI and Pakistan Rangers, therefore, they cannot be left unattended.”

    The court noted that Moeez may have reservations that a complaint filed in the Ministry of Defence would not be entertained because the accused held senior positions in the armed forces.

    “However, the learned AAG (Additional Attorney General) has assured us that the complaint/grievance will be given due consideration, and we have no reason to doubt this statement made on behalf of the government of Pakistan,” the court noted in its order, adding that the apprehension of the applicant is “misplaced.”

    “Accordingly, if the applicant (Moeez Ahmed Khan) submits a complaint/grievance to the Ministry of Defence of the government of Pakistan, it shall be dealt with in accordance with law,” Chief Justice Isa observed as he disposed of the matter.

    Additionally, the order granted the applicant the liberty to explore other legal remedies as per the established legal procedures.

    The Petition

    As per the petition, on May 12, 2017, the Pakistan Rangers and officials of the ISI raided the office of Top City and Moeez’s residence and took away valuables, including gold and diamond ornaments and money, in connection with a purported terrorism case.

    “On May 12, 2017, my house and office were raided on the orders of General (Rtd) Faiz Hamid. During the raid, valuables and records of our private housing society were stolen,” the petitioner had claimed.

    The petition further stated that Gen Hameed’s brother Sardar Najaf mediated and tried to resolve the issue. After his acquittal, the petition claimed, Gen Hameed contacted Moeez through the latter’s cousin — a brigadier in the army — to arrange a meeting.

    The petition claimed that during the meeting, Gen Hameed told the petitioner that he would return some of the items taken away during the raid except for 400 tola gold and cash.

    The petition claimed that retired brigadier Naeem Fakhar and retired brigadier Ghaffar of the ISI allegedly “forced” the petitioner to “pay 4 crores in cash” and “sponsor a private AAP TV network for a few months”.

    As per the petition, former ISI officials Irtaza Haroon, Sardar Najaf, Wasim Tabish, Zahid Mehmood Malik, and Mohammad Munir were also “involved in the illegal takeover of the housing society”.

  • Canada’s Trudeau tells Israel to end ‘killing of women, of children, of babies’

    Canada’s Trudeau tells Israel to end ‘killing of women, of children, of babies’

    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for Israel to “stop killing of women, of children, of babies” in the besieged Gaza Strip. However, he did not mention the word ceasefire.

    Trudeau has received flak for his silence on civilian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces. In a video that emerged from a public meeting at Vancouver, Trudeau can be seen surrounded by protestors chanting, “Ceasefire Now”.

    In other videos, it can be seen that people were calling him out for his lack of conscience as protestors were shouting about him “having blood on his hand”

    In a conference in the western province of British Columbia Prime Minister Trudeau said, “The world is witnessing this killing of women, of children, of babies. This has to stop.” He further made his tone harder and said, “I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint, The world is watching, on TV, on social media – we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who have lost their parents.”

    The statement has gained him the ire of Israel’s Netanyahu who addressed Trudeau in a post on X, “It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust, the forces of civilization must back Israel in defeating Hamas barbarism.”

    While Trudeau has maintained that Israel has the right to defend itself, Trudeau’s statement is seen as a major shift in the country’s stance, even though a complacent one. “The price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. “All wars have rules. All innocent life has equal worth. Israeli and Palestinian.”

    Last week, Trudeau called for a significant humanitarian pause in the conflict to allow for the release of all hostages and the delivery of enough aid to address civilian needs in Gaza.

    After France’s Macron, he has become the second leader from the West to call out Israel as a major shift of stance.

  • Harbhajan Singh slams Inzamam ul Haq for suggesting that he was converting to Islam

    Harbhajan Singh slams Inzamam ul Haq for suggesting that he was converting to Islam

    Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh took to social media to express his displeasure over the viral story shared by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq during an interview.

    Haq claimed that Harbhajan Singh was infatuated with Maulana Tariq Jameel and even thought of converting to Islam.

    According to Inzamam, the incident took place when cricketers, including Harbhajan were participating in prayer meetings led by Maulana Tariq Jameel. Inzamam said that after witnessing the session, Harbhajan praised Maulana Tariq Jameel and expressed his desire to follow his teachings. Inzamam-ul-Haq said, “We had a room where prayers were offered.

    Maulana Tariq Jameel used to visit us in the evening and lead prayers. After a few days, Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif and Zaheer Khan also started coming. Four other Indian cricketers were sitting and watching us.” He added that Harbhajan, who did not know about Tariq Jameel being a Maulana, said that he was inspired by the man and wanted to follow his words.

    However, Harbhajan denied the whole story in a social media post, saying that the story is false. Harbhajan asserted his identity as a “proud Sikh” and denied claims he was considering converting to Islam.

  • Bushra Bibi wants solitary meeting with Imran Khan

    Bushra Bibi wants solitary meeting with Imran Khan

    In a notable development, Bushra Bibi, former First Lady, and the wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, has submitted a request to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking permission for a solitary meeting with her husband, reported Geo News.

    The request filed by Bushra Bibi in the IHC emphasises the legal constraints that hinder private interactions on domestic matters.

    The application states that the court has granted permission for meetings with Chairman PTI every Tuesday.

    It further states that discussions on personal matters are challenging in the presence of prison officials. 

    Bushra Bibi, in her plea, implores the court to issue specific instructions to the Superintendent of Adiala Jail, ensuring that solitary meetings are facilitated in accordance with legal provisions.

    The former prime minister is currently being held in Adiala Jail after his arrest from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore on August 5.

    He was moved to the prison on September 26 from Attock Jail where he was initially kept after his arrest.

    Khan was first convicted by a lower court in the Toshakhana case in August and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. The IHC suspended his sentence the same month.

    The Islamabad accountability court issued arrest warrants for PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana and £ 190 million Al-Qadir Trust cases on Tuesday.

    Khan was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case on May 9 for the first time.

    The £ 190 million (approximately Rs60 billion) settlement case pertains to the money of property tycoon, Malik Riaz, being laundered and caught by the UK authorities during Imran’s government in 2019. 

    The UK government had informed the Pakistani authorities regarding the money being caught.

    The former premier is already in prison as he was subsequently booked in the ‘cipher’ case.

    In the cipher case, Khan, along with his close aide and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has been accused of leaking state secrets.

  • Pensions in dollars for 164 retired government servants settled abroad

    A Right to Information (RTI) request has revealed that civil and military pensioners living abroad are receiving their pensions in foreign currency, mainly dollars.

    According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), there are as many as 164 pensioners who are living in foreign lands and receiving their pensions in a currency other than the Pakistani rupee. On the contrary, there are tens of thousands of government servants complaining about the non-payment of pensions which they receive in rupees.

    This information was extracted by Naeem Sadiq, an RTI activist who got to know, through an acquaintance, about a retired squadron leader who left the country to settle abroad and is receiving a pension from Pakistan in dollars. Before filing a petition in Islamabad High Court, Sadiq opted for all the official channels mentioned in the constitution, The News reports in detail.

    Sadiq then filed an RTI request to the Pakistan Air Force under the Right of Access to Information Act (2017), inquiring about the number of retired PAF officers living abroad and receiving pensions in foreign currency; he made sure not to ask for their names. The information however was not shared.

    The RTI Activist thought of asking MoFA about the same information. He inquired how many pension cases of such individuals are processed through it. The ministry was reluctant to share any information and so advised him to check with the Accountant General of Pakistan (AGPR). The AGPR also declined to provide the requested information.

    As all doors remain closed, Sadiq decided to approach the Pakistan Information Commission. This is the appellant body you turn to when such departments refuse information. The commission didn’t entertain his request either.

    This is when he decided to move to the Islamabad High Court. All the bodies mentioned previously were made a party to the case. When the court served a notice to the respondents to provide an explanation for refusing to furnish the requested information, MoFA agreed to share details with the complainant.

    The reply from the ministry stated, “There are a total of 164 civil and military Pakistani government pensioners, residing abroad, who are every month paid pension in foreign exchange, sent from Pakistan. That the yearly burden of this select few government pensioners is Rs200 million (paid in foreign exchange).”

    Sadiq wrote to both MoFA and AGPR that this practice is a sheer violation of Article 25 of the constitution which ensures the equality of all citizens before law. He accused the two departments of violating the law of the land harming the country’s interests. “The payment of pensions in forex to a chosen few deprives Pakistan of its critical and deficient resource ie foreign exchange. This is a country that had to sell its self-respect and compromise its sovereignty to beg for every single dollar. How come when Pakistan fights its battle for financial survival, you decide to provide special indulgence to an elite group of 164 individuals, this must come to an immediate end and all pensions of all retired government officials be paid in Pakistani rupees only,” Sadiq wrote in his letter.

    Incidents of diplomatic staff not getting their salaries on time due to a shortage of dollars have been reported in the past while the media has carried multiple reports of pensioners not getting their dues every month due to a shortage of funds.

  • Babar Azam’s place is not in T20: Imad and Amir’s opinion

    Babar Azam’s place is not in T20: Imad and Amir’s opinion

    Cricketers Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir say that Babar Azam’s place is not in T20 team.

    Fast bowler Muhammad Amir Imad Wasim and former cricketer Abdul Razzaq participated in the Geo News program ‘Harna Muni Hai’, during which Abdul Razzaq while talking about Babar Azam’s captaincy, said that if I am given the option, I will make Babar Azam the Test captain only.

    Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir said Babar Azam’s place is not in T20. Imad Wasim said that there is no doubt that there is grouping in the team, changes will have to be made in the team for the Champions Trophy.

    It should be noted that Babar Azam’s captaincy has ended after the defeat in the ICC World Cup 2023 in India. Test, ODI, and T20 captain Babar Azam will now play as a player.

  • Nawaz Sharif attracts over 30 electables to PML-N camp

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has successfully garnered the support of more than 30 influential electables from Balochistan, Geo News reports.

    The seasoned politician, who recently returned to Pakistan after a four-year self-imposed exile, orchestrated the feat during his visit to Quetta.

    Accompanied by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz, Nawaz engaged in discussions with leaders from various political factions during his visit to Balochistan.

    Following these deliberations, over 30 individuals from diverse backgrounds, including Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Balochistan National Party–Mengal (BNP-M), National Party (NP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) joined the ranks of PML-N.

    From BAP, former Balochistan chief minister Jam Kamal Khan, Mir Saleem Khosa, Noor Mohammad, Baba Buledi, Sardar Masood Luni, Rubaba Buledi, Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, Shoaib Nosherwani, Ramin Jan Muhammad Hassni and Muhammad Khan Lehrijoined the PML-N ranks.

    PPP leaders Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail, Sardar Fateh Muhammad, and Faiq Jamali jumped ship to join the PML-N.
    From the National Party, Mujib Mohammad Hassni and former senator Dr Ashok Kumar, while Zeenat Shahwani of BNP-M and PTI’s Muhammad Jamali and Sardar Atif Sanjrani also joined the PML-N.

    The PML-N delegation, which held discussions with a BAP delegation led by Nawabzada Khalid Magsi, also marked a noteworthy reconciliation between the historically contentious parties. BAP, founded in 2018, has roots in political dissidents from both PML-N and the PML-Q.

    To strengthen its position in the province, PML-N is reportedly exploring electoral alliances, including with the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F).

    Talks suggest that, if successful, the parties may jointly contest the general elections, with a shared decision on the chief minister’s candidacy.

    Sources said that the JUI-F has also put forward the name of Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri conditioning their support if he is made the province’s chief executive.

    The development comes as earlier this month the PML-N and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) announced their electoral alliance to jointly contest the upcoming general elections in Sindh.

    In response to these developments, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari offered a suggestion to Nawaz Sharif, urging him to “focus on Lahore,” on Tuesday.

    “Mian sahab has been adviced to visit other provinces. I would suggest that he should stay in Lahore and focus on its problems,” said the PPP chairman during a presser in Mithi, calling on PML-N to do politics on its own and stop relying on others.