Tag: home-politics

  • PTI govt accused of sidelining China to appease US

    PTI govt accused of sidelining China to appease US

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has accused the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government of “downgrading relations with China to appease the United States (US)”.

    Addressing the joint parliament session on Wednesday, he alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government deliberately slowed down the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) while Islamabad negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

    “They also shared details of the CPEC with the US, against national interests,” he said, adding that the premier, during his Washington trip, also “completely miscalculated President Donald Trump’s mediation offer on Kashmir as it was deception, decoy and a trap”.

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    The senator said that the US Department of State had clearly supported the Indian narrative according to which the Kashmir issue was an internal matter between Pakistan and India, and the US should not intervene.

    “The government sidelined China and thought that the US would help solve all its problems,” the senator said and added that the opposition had warned the ruling PTI that the move would upset the Chinese.

  • Fawad shuts up Indian major who pointed out PTI-PML-N clash

    Fawad shuts up Indian major who pointed out PTI-PML-N clash

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has shut up an Indian army veteran who attempted to highlight the divide between ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    A war of words had erupted between Fawad and PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan as the joint session of the parliament continued for the second day on Wednesday.

    The ruckus in the parliament had started after the PML-N leader condemned the government for having failed to take Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi head-on.

    It was at this juncture when Fawad began to disrupt his speech, prompting Mushahid to ask the speaker to “put a leash on Fawad”.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Even though Speaker Sadiq Sanjrani urged them both to not indulge in cross-talk, the PML-N senator continued addressing the minister, “I had left you tied at home… I had put a leash around your neck before coming to parliament.”

    The two leaders then traded “shut up” barbs with each other.

    Pointing out the clash, an ex-officer of the Indian army, Major (r) Gaurav Arya, took to Twitter and wrote:

    Responding to the Indian major’s tweet, Fawad wrote:

    The tweets come amid tensions rising on either side of the border over the Kashmir dispute. Indian government on Monday had snatched away the Muslim-majority region’s autonomy by revoking Article 370 of the constitution.

    The move has attracted a strong reaction from Pakistan as Kashmiris fear that it could pave way for Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.

  • Now anyone can get married to a white-skinned Kashmiri woman: BJP lawmaker

    Now anyone can get married to a white-skinned Kashmiri woman: BJP lawmaker

    A lawmaker from Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that his colleagues are “excited because they will now be able to get married to white-skinned women from Kashmir”.

    In a video that went viral after the hardliner BJP-led government abolished Article 370 of the Indian Constitution — lifting restrictions that barred non-Kashmiri individuals from permanently shifting to the majority-Muslim region — Vikram Singh Saini can be seen speaking at an event to celebrate the scrapping of Kashmir’s special status.

    “The [BJP] workers are very excited and those who are bachelors, they can get married there. There is no issue now. If a woman from there [Kashmir] got married to a man from Uttar Pradesh, her citizenship would be revoked,” the lawmaker can be heard as saying.

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    https://twitter.com/Benarasiyaa/status/1158767988243234816

    “Muslim party workers should rejoice in the new provisions. They can now marry white-skinned women of Kashmir. There should be celebrations. Everyone should celebrate… be it Hindus or Muslims. This is something the entire country should be celebrating,” he says, which is followed by applause.

    Social media in India has been flooding with misogynistic remarks ever since the India government revoked Article 370 and 35A.

    The development now allows people from all over India to permanently move to occupied Kashmir and start businesses there. Natives of the troubled valley fear that it may lead to the ethnic cleansing of Muslims to transform the region from majority-Muslim to majority-Hindu.

  • VIDEO: Fawad Ch breaks into tears, urges parliamentarians to save Kashmir

    VIDEO: Fawad Ch breaks into tears, urges parliamentarians to save Kashmir

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday broke into tears as he urged parliamentarians to save Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    Fear is gripping the Muslim-majority disputed valley ever since the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the constitution to pave way for what is being termed as a Muslim genocide.

    With the emergency joint parliament session continuing for the second day, members of the National Assembly and Senate met to discuss Pakistan’s future course of action in light of Indian misadventures.

    “I urge the parliament to not let Kashmir become Palestine. We cannot stand this. We cannot live with this humiliation. If it comes to a fight, we will fight,” Fawad said as he moved to tears while addressing the lawmakers.

    “The message from this parliament should be that we fought for Kashmir before and we will fight for Kashmir again.”

    He also urged the government to cut diplomatic ties with neighbouring India.

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    President Dr Arif Alvi, upon opposition parties demand, had on Monday called the joint parliament session to discuss the deteriorating situation in held Kashmir.

    The article, revoked by the Indian government, gave certain autonomy to the occupied valley, under which the administration in Kashmir could formulate its own laws — other than those at play in rest of the country.

    Kashmiris fear the development can lead to non-Kashmiris settling in the valley, resulting in a massive demographic shift as the area transforms from majority-Muslim to majority-Hindu.

  • PML-N’s Miftah Ismail NAB-ed

    PML-N’s Miftah Ismail NAB-ed

    The National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail.

    Ismail, who was taken into custody from outside the courtroom after his pre-arrest bail plea was rejected, was wanted in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case in which ex-prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan was also arrested last month.

    The arrest comes a month after the PML-N leader was granted bail by the Sindh High Court (SHC). Earlier, a NAB team had also raided his residence in Karachi, but Ismail had evaded arrest and the bureau had to return empty-handed.

    After the expiration of his bail, Ismail had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    LNG CASE:

    The apex court in September 2018 had directed NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Abbasi, Ismail and others for alleged corruption in the LNG contract.

    According to NAB, the contract allegedly cost billions of rupees to the national exchequer. In January 2019, NAB had interrogated Ismail in the same case.

    NAB documents show that the contract for LNG import and distribution was awarded to Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013, in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.

  • Pakistan makes its first move, ‘to close airspace for India again’

    Pakistan makes its first move, ‘to close airspace for India again’

    As tensions soar on either side of the border ever since India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution, which makes way for ethnic cleansing in Muslim-majority Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), Pakistan has reportedly finally made its first move.

    According to local media reports, Islamabad is set to close its airspace for Indian flights for the second time this year, a decision that earlier cost India a whopping $80.1 million (Rs12,800,000,000).

    Pakistan opened its air space for all types of civil traffic in July. It had been fully closed since February when Pakistan shot down two intruding Indian Air Force (IAF) jets.

    Over 800 flights use the Pakistani and Indian airspace to transport passengers from South Asia, South East Asia to Europe and North America.

  • Zardari, Shehbaz, Bilawal ridicule Imran by entering one by one, interrupting his NA speech

    Zardari, Shehbaz, Bilawal ridicule Imran by entering one by one, interrupting his NA speech

    A video showing opposition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari entering the National Assembly (NA) one by one as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan tries to address the house, has gone viral over the internet.

    As per the details, the parliament on Tuesday held a joint session to devise a joint strategy after India abolished Article 370 of its constitution, paving way for a Muslim genocide in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    With PM Imran arriving in the house to deliver a policy statement as proceedings continued, opposition leaders ridiculed the premier by entering one by one and interrupting his speech as non-government benches’ applause escorted them to their seats.

    PM Imran continued to struggle with his address until finally Shehbaz asked the opposition members to keep quiet.

    The premier was also heard requesting the opposition benches to understand the significance of the session.

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    The Indian government on Monday abolished Article 370 that granted special status to IoK — a development that can pave way for ethnic cleansing in the Muslim-majority region.

    With Pakistan’s opposition parties demanding answers from the government over the episode in the disputed territory of Kashmir, President Dr Arif Alvi had on Monday summoned the joint session of the parliament.

  • US knew about India’s plans for occupied Kashmir: report

    US knew about India’s plans for occupied Kashmir: report

    With Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) being robbed of its special status, it has emerged that the United States (US) already knew about the development that could lead to a Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.

    In a move to tighten its grip on occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India on Monday dropped a constitutional provision that allowed the disputed territory to make its own laws.

    According to The Print, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi-led government’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had told his American counterpart Mike Pompeo of his government’s plan last week.

    It, however, wasn’t the first time Washington was briefed on the matter as two days after February 14’s Pulwama attack, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had also called his US counterpart John Bolton and shared New Delhi’s plans to do away with the special status, reports said.

    While the decision to bifurcate the state came much later than the Doval-Bolton phonecall, Jaishankar’s meeting with the US secretary of state came on the sidelines of the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bangkok on August 1.

    Jaishankar had also reiterated to Pompeo that the US does not need to mediate in the Kashmir dispute and that any discussion on this issue, “if at all warranted”, will only be with Pakistan unilaterally.

    The Modi government did not want to take any chances when it came to the US, and so, all necessary safeguards were taken, the report quoted sources as saying.

    KASHMIR ROBBED OF SPECIAL STATUS:

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Monday revoked the disputed Himalayan territory’s special status by abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution.

    With IoK’s autonomy snatched, people from the rest of India would have the right to acquire property in the valley and settle there permanently.

    Kashmiris fear the move would lead to a demographic transformation of the region from majority-Muslim to majority-Hindu, paving way for Modi’s hardliner BJP and resulting in major setbacks to their freedom struggle.

  • Pakistan’s IT exports increase to $1bn

    Pakistan earned $1 billion through information technology (IT) services in various countries during the first eleven months of the fiscal year 2018-19, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has reported.

    According to reports, this year’s growth is 4.37% more as compared to $966.240 million earned through the provision of services during the fiscal year 2017-18.

    During the period under review, the computer services increased by 12.21, from $654.170 million last year to $734.020 million during July-May (2018-19).

    Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services and repair and maintenance of computers related services increased by 26.87% and 231.93%, respectively.

    In addition, other computer services also saw an increase of 34.77%.

    The exports of call centers services also increased by 7.95%, from $93.039 million to $100.436 million, whereas the exports of other information services increased by 53.28%, from $1.068 million to $1.637 million.

  • Wilders hails India’s illegal decision, calls Pakistan ‘100% terror state’

    Wilders hails India’s illegal decision, calls Pakistan ‘100% terror state’

    Dutch Politician Geert Wilders, who is known for his anti-Islam rhetoric, has hailed India’s decision to nullify Article 370 of the Constitution in occupied Kashmir and called Pakistan “a 100% terror state”.

    “India is a full Democracy and Pakistan is a 100% terror state [sic],” leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) tweeted after the Indian government paved way for a Muslim genocide in held Kashmir.

    Wilders had earlier made headlines when he had announced his plans to hold a blasphemous caricatures contest as part of his “campaign against Islam”.

    His tweet comes after the Indian government on Monday through a presidential decree abolished Article 370 that gave a measure of autonomy to Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    Now with the special status of Kashmiris repealed, among other feared outcomes is that people from the rest of India would have the right to acquire property in IoK and settle there permanently, which could lead to ethnic cleansing.

    A massive shift in demographics of the Muslim-majority disputed territory can also follow.