Tag: home-politics

  • Bahawalpur man wants CM Buzdar to ‘stop having photo sessions and start working’

    Bahawalpur man wants CM Buzdar to ‘stop having photo sessions and start working’

    Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has been asked to “stop having photo sessions and start working” by a man who intercepted him during the former’s visit to a Ramzan Bazaar.

    The man, who claims to be the president of Bahawalpur Traders’ Union, can be heard asking the chief minister to not only visit the relief bazaars but also keep a check on the traders.

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    “Please don’t just have photo sessions and work too. Ask them to work,” the man can be heard as saying.

    Under the provincial government’s Ramzan Package 2019, a total of 309 fair price bazaars have been set up across Punjab. The government claims to keep a strict eye on quality, quantity and prices of essential items available there.

  • Aasia Bibi leaves for Canada: sources

    Aasia Bibi leaves for Canada: sources

    Blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court (SC) last year, has left for Canada, The Current has learnt.

    Following reports claiming Aasia’s departure, Foreign Office (FO) sources confirmed that the Christian woman has left for Toronto.

    Aasia Bibi was acquitted of blasphemy charges by the SC on October 31, 2018, after spending nine years in jail on death row. The ruling sparked countrywide protests by religiopolitical groups.

    After she was released from a Multan women’s prison on November 7, she was flown to Islamabad via a special aircraft and later shifted to an undisclosed location.

    Reports had claimed Aasia’s departure time and again within the past couple of months; authorities concerned, however, had denied the same every time.

  • ‘Country generating 1,392MW more electricity than in demand’

    ‘Country generating 1,392MW more electricity than in demand’

    Power Division of the Ministry of Energy has claimed zero shortfall of electricity in the country, reporting that some 1,392 megawatts (MW) are being produced against the total demand.

    According to Power Division spokesperson Zafaryab Khan, overall power demand in the country on Tuesday remained at 18,908MW, while 20,300MW of electricity are being generated.

    He further said the power distribution companies were implementing load management in Ramzan as per a previously announced schedule.

    The statement from the Power Division comes after hundreds of people reported being deprived of electricity during Sehri on the first of Ramzan in heatwave-struck Karachi.

    Unannounced power outages were reported in Malir, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Gulbahar and other parts of the city’s district central.

  • PM wants to make spiritualism a ‘super science’

    PM wants to make spiritualism a ‘super science’

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has announced making rohaniyaat [spiritualism] a “super science”, saying that the doctrine needs research.

    “I had been thinking about creating this university for the past 23 years and telling the students about the Ideology of Pakistan,” he said while laying the foundation stone of Al-Qadir University in the Sohawa town of Jhelum district.

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    The premier further said the varsity was named after Abdul Qadir Jilani, who linked science and spirituality. “Research on spirituality will be conducted here,” he added.

    Here’s what Twitterati had to say about PM Imran’s statement:

    Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz also took a jibe at PM Imran.

    “There is craft in daubing. He who used to criticise [others] for reading off a paper was neither able to read out his own oath nor deliver a speech,” she tweeted.

    Maryam further said that he [PM Imran] reading off a paper was a spectacle, and so was he delivering an unprepared speech.

  • Three times Punjab Assembly passed rather ‘interesting’ resolutions

    Three times Punjab Assembly passed rather ‘interesting’ resolutions

    A resolution seeking ban on celebrities hosting Ramzan transmissions has been accepted by the Punjab Assembly.

    The resolution, tabled by a Pakistan Rahe Haq Party lawmaker, states the “unfortunate practice afflicts the spirits of millions of Muslims every year”.

    While the internet is divided over the proposed ban, many believe the Punjab Assembly is only keeping up with its tradition of discussing resolutions that “do not even affect the people”.

    Here’s a list of some other interesting provincial house resolutions that don’t really make much sense.

    SUMMONING GOOGLE CEO:

    A resolution filed in December 2018 called for summoning Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai for showing Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s photo under “bhikari” (beggar) search.

    APPOINTING ISHAQ DAR IN ASAD UMAR’S PLACE:

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers in April submitted a resolution calling for the reinstatement of Ishaq Dar as minister of finance “on contract”.

    The resolution, reportedly tabled by PML-N MPA Hina Pervez Butt, stated that then Finance Minister Asad Umar was “incompetent to resolve economic issues of the country” and urged the government to accept the “golden chance”.

    It is also mentioned that Dar had recovered the
    value of Pakistani Rupee (PKR) from Rs111 to Rs98 against the United States Dollar (USD) during the tenure of the PML-N.

    ALEEMA KHAN’S ‘SEWING MACHINES’ FOR WOMEN:

    Another resolution submitted in January this year called on the government to “benefit from Aleema Khan’s advice” and provide women across the country with sewing machines.

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s sister Aleema, who is named as the owner of properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had claimed that she bought properties from the money she earned through sewing machines.

    The resolution was tabled by PML-N lawmaker Azma Bokhari.

  • Minister says people will buy fuel ‘even for Rs200 per litre’

    Minister says people will buy fuel ‘even for Rs200 per litre’

    Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda has said that people would buy petrol “even if fuel prices soar to Rs200 per litre”.

    Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Thursday, the minister said the people of Pakistan have voted Imran Khan to power so that the corrupt are held accountable.

    “The public will buy petrol at Rs200 per litre and will cut their expenses, but they won’t compromise on accountability of the corrupt,” he added.

    This, however, wasn’t the first time that Vawda made a rather uncalculated statement as last month he had stirred controversy with the claim of “two billion jobs within a month”.

    He had said the government would announce one billion jobs within the next two weeks and another billion within April.

  • Ayesha Gulalai offers Bilawal to merge his ‘small party’ with PTI-G

    Ayesha Gulalai offers Bilawal to merge his ‘small party’ with PTI-G

    Disgruntled former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA and PTI-Gulalai (PTI-G) Chairperson Ayesha Gulalai has advised Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari “to merge his small party with PTI-G”.

    “I would suggest you merge your small party [PPP], which is now limited to Sindh, with PTI-G,” she said in a video message making rounds on the internet.

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    Gulalai further said her message was a “free and very sincere advice” to Bilawal.

    The PPP leadership is yet to respond to Gulalai’s offer.

  • Imran Khan spies on us using robot rats: PPP leader

    Imran Khan spies on us using robot rats: PPP leader

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Nabil Gabol has claimed that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan keeps an eye on members of the opposition using “robot rats” in the parliament lodges.

    Speaking to a private media outlet earlier this week, he said that the premier has released these robots to monitor the opposition’s activities.

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    “I have been informed by the National Assembly secretary that Imran Khan has released these robot rats with the help of the Intelligence Bureau (IB),” he claimed, adding that the rats later report to PM Imran.

    Gabol further claimed that a couple of these robot rats have also been deployed in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah’s room.

  • Indian troops use Kashmiris as human shields in latest operation: report

    Indian troops use Kashmiris as human shields in latest operation: report

    At least four civilians were used as human shields by Indian troops as they launched an 18-hour-long operation in the Pinglan village of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), Reuters reported.

    According to the report, by the time the operation ended, one civilian, three freedom fighters and five members of the Indian forces were dead, a row of houses was reduced to rubble and more than 120 villagers had sought treatment for exposure to tear gas, assault and mental trauma.

    Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that soldiers forced at least four villagers to act as human shields. The civilians were sent first into a building where the fighters might be hiding, using a phone to record a video that could be viewed by soldiers present nearby.

    Human rights lawyers say such tactics — which are meant to deter local fighters from firing on soldiers carrying out the raids — are highly questionable and could even be a war crime under international law.

    But they would not be illegal under Indian law.

    “[The] Indian army has never used civilians as human shields,” said military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mohit Vaishnava while speaking to Reuters.

    However, he said that during encounters, local people are sometimes asked to mediate between the army and freedom fighters.