Tag: Marriyum Aurangzeb

  • Ahsan Iqbal issues show-cause notice to Mian Javed Latif

    Senior journalist Mohammad Malick tweeted on Friday, “Ahsan Iqbal issues show-cause notice to Javed Latif for accusing ‘muffamat’ group in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of ‘assignment’ from someone. This was one of the key demands of the angry half of sharif equation now let’s see what happens to the main demand of Mian Nawaz Sharif truly empowering Shehbaz Sharif as president.”

    Prior to this, an exclusive report by Dawn’s Zulqernain Tahir revealed that Javed Latif has become a bone of contention between the Sharif brothers because Nawaz Sharif did not agree with Shehbaz Sharif to issue Mian Javed Latif a show-cause notice for his serious allegations against the younger Sharif and his group.

    According to the report, a party insider revealed that as a mark of protest, Shehbaz did not attend two back-to-back divisional level meetings of the party in Lahore, which were attended by his elder brother [Nawaz]. Hamza Shehbaz also did not attend these meetings, supporting his father’s stance.

    The former prime minister had asked his brother to wait for a while. After this, Shehbaz did not challenge his elder brother’s opinion but he chose to register a silent protest by not attending the meetings he was supposed to preside over, the insider claimed.

    When contacted by Dawn, Malik Ahmad Khan, the newly appointed spokesperson for the party’s president, admitted that Mr Latif had violated party discipline.

    Latif, who had come close to Maryam Nawaz after going to jail, had told a private news channel that four to five leaders in the PML-N were on an ‘assignment’.

    According to him, four or five leaders in the party got assignments from those who did not believe in law and the constitution. “These leaders must remember the fate of Chaudhry Nisar,” he had warned.

    Maryam Nawaz’s response

    Vice President of PML-N Maryam Nawaz denied the reports, urging the party workers not to pay attention to the propaganda by the enemy saying Nawaz and Shehbaz ‘are one’.

    While addressing a gathering of workers from the Bahawalpur division she said, “This is a democratic party. Differences in opinion may exist. This does not mean that one raises questions pertaining to party leadership. When it comes to the party leadership, everyone agrees with Nawaz Sharif as well as Shehbaz Sharif.”

    Earlier, Mian Javed Latif had claimed that Nawaz Sharif would come to Pakistan this year. Later, Marriyum Aurangzeb contradicted his statement and said, “He will only return to Pakistan when doctors will give a clean bill of health allowing him to travel and when the party decides.”

  • Politicians, civil society unite with journalists, support protest against media authority bill

    Politicians, civil society unite with journalists, support protest against media authority bill

    As journalists continue with sit-in outside of the Parliament House, against the government’s proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), prominent leaders from political parties, student unions, and members of the civil society also joined in to show solidarity.

    The protest began on Sunday and is said to continue until President Dr Arif Alvi’s address to the joint session of parliament on Monday.

    Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Sec­retary Marriyum Aurangzeb, and MNA Mohsin Dawar, among others, visited the protest site on Sunday night to extend their support.

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president, Shehbaz Sharif speaking on the media authority bill termed it as “black law” and expressed solidarity with journalists. He said the media had fought a war for its freedom and no one could snatch it. 

    https://twitter.com/pmln_org/status/1437373043542736902

    “The government doesn’t have the guts to pass it and we won’t allow it,” added Shehbaz warning the government against passing the “black law” or bear the consequences.

    He tweeted in solidarity with the protestors and said, “PTI government is demolishing every institution that represents democracy. We support journalists in their struggle against PMDA.”

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday slammed the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PMDA), saying that the proposed bill is an “attack on the freedom of media and judiciary.”

    The PPP chairman vowed his party will not let the government get away with snatching livelihoods from the masses. He showed solidarity with journalists who have been attacked, saying that the PPP “will not be satisfied till they [journalists] are not satisfied.”

    “Even if they manage to have this black law passed, journalists will [struggle to] have it abolished,” he added.

    Bilawal warned the government that if it tried to have the PMDA law passed via force, the PPP will challenge it in the courts. The PPP chairman said he feared the government will try to pass the bill during a joint sitting of the Parliament.

    Bilawal said his party will attend the joint sitting of the Parliament with a two-point agenda; to advocate for the rights of 20,000 government employees who were sacked and to campaign for freedom of speech.

    PPP leaders, Senator Sherry Rehman and Raza Rabbani, visited the protest camp and addressed the protesters.

    “We have repealed all the ordinance regarding media censorship, whether it was Ayub Khan or Zia-Ul-Haq. This is why the government won’t bring this on the Parliament floor because we will repeal the PMDA bill and they are scared”

    Marriyum Aurangzeb, along with PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, also visited the protest site on Monday.

    Addressing the protesters, Iqbal criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for “attacking and attempting to muzzle” the media.

    Referring to the PMDA bill, he called it a “conspiracy” and said if the bill was passed, “democracy will die in this country”.

  • PMDA: Why all the secrecy?

    PMDA: Why all the secrecy?

    The mystery shrouding the elusive proposed draft of the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) is quite intriguing. Some consultations have been held with journalists, civil society members, and parliamentarians but without a copy of the proposed draft. Members of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Thursday demanded that the draft be shared instead of verbal briefings by the Information Ministry. Chairman of the NA standing committee Mian Javed Latif then formed a sub-committee, which will be headed by Marriyum Aurangzeb with Nafisa Shah and Kanwal Shozab as its members. Let’s see if the proposed draft will now be shared with the sub-committee. 

    Last month, representatives of media organisations issued a joint statement that rejected the proposed media authority. They said that it was unconstitutional and deemed it as a draconian law. It seems that this is yet another tactic by the government to curb media freedom. Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently also issued a statement on the PMDA saying that the Pakistani government is “seeking broad new powers to control the media as part of its crackdown on freedom of expression. Journalists, human rights activists, and political leaders across that country have raised the alarm about proposed legislation that would bolster powers of the government to censor and restrict the media.” The government reacted to HRW’s statement by issuing a rejoinder through the Pakistan Embassy in the US challenging the human rights organisation’s assertions on PMDA. Patricia Gossman, HRW’s associate director for the Asia division, asked for a draft, which has so far not been shared with anyone. 

    It is quite worrying that in a country where media freedom is already quite curtailed, where interviews have been stopped from going on air or stopped mid-way, where anchors have been taken off-air, where there are now so many red lines that media organisations have to tread very carefully, where attacks on journalists have become frequent and culprits are still at large, where online trolling of journalists has become a norm, where the government issues reports of social media trends and hashtags it deems anti-state, where government officials keep on targeting journalists and media organisations without any shred of evidence, a new media authority with immense powers is being proposed without sharing the details of the proposed law and/or taking the main stakeholders on board.

    We hope that the government will share the proposed draft with all stakeholders so that the mystery shrouding this media authority ends once and for all. There is already a lot of mistrust between the government and the media. We hope the government will listen to the legitimate concerns of media organisations and not dismiss them. A free and independent media is essential for any democracy. Pakistan is a democracy and we hope the government will not undermine it in any way. 

  • Fawad Chaudhry faces backlash, NA members demand draft of proposed media authority

    Fawad Chaudhry faces backlash, NA members demand draft of proposed media authority

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry faced a hard time in the committee as members demanded to see the draft law of the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), reported Kalbe Ali for Dawn.

    Spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Marriyum Aurangzeb, demanded that the draft of the law should be presented for the establishment of the authority instead of a verbal briefing by the minister.

    Adding to her point, Aurangzeb said, “The attitude of the information minister was dictatorial.”

    Fawad Chaudhry said that some people did not want to have any regulations in the media industry, adding that Pakistan cannot turn a blind eye to conspiracies being formulated against it.

    “It is important to regulate the media,” the minister said, adding: “We have studied the laws of the United Kingdom (UK), India, Australia, Singapore, and European nations before formulating the draft PMDA law.”

    “But most of all, there will be no compromise over the rights of media workers and against floating of fake news and there was a severe pressure against the Authority regarding these two things,” said Fawad.

    After reflection on the proposed PMDA, the chairman of the committee PML-N’s Mian Javed Latif decided to form a subcommittee, which will be headed by Aurangzeb with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Kanwal Shauzab and Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Nafisa Shah as its members.

  • Shehbaz’s remarks about a national govt are his personal views: PML-N

    Shehbaz’s remarks about a national govt are his personal views: PML-N

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks about the formation of a national government have stirred up a political debate in the country, reported Dawn.

    PML-N termed the party president’s views as passing remarks based on his personal opinion about a post-election scenario.

    “PML-N president and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif made a passing remark that if the people of Pakistan by the grace of God Almighty gave the PML-N the responsibility to govern again after the next elections, in his personal view he would not mind inviting other political parties, excluding the PTI, to contribute towards solving the massive crisis created by the Imran Khan government over their disastrous tenure in government,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb in a brief statement.

    “Any news item carried by any news media stating otherwise is a misrepresentation of what the PML-N president said,” she added.

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) described the statement as clear proof that the Pakistan Democratic Move­ment (PDM) no more exists. The PPP believed it was an effort by the PML-N leader to keep himself “politically alive”.

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that Sharif’s proposal of a national government was “a bid to save his own skin”.

    Sharif, while speaking to journalists in Karachi said, “Frankly, I am telling you that sometimes when I look at these huge problems and challenges, I feel convinced that it’s not possible for one party alone [to fix them],” he had said, adding: “It needs collective wisdom. It requires collective efforts. That’s why I think we should have a national government in place to sort out these huge tasks. I don’t know what the exact shape of this idea would be and the right time may make things clearer but for me it’s crucial. Even if we [PML-N] win a majority, we can’t fix it alone.”

  • FIA bars Shehbaz from leaving the country

    FIA bars Shehbaz from leaving the country

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was stopped by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from leaving the country earlier today. According to the FIA, Sharif’s name is on the Person-Not-In-List (PNIL), which means that persons who are not on Exit Control List (ECL) or on black list can be stopped through PNIL. On Friday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) said Shehbaz has “one time” permission to fly abroad for medical treatment. Sharif was all set to take a flight to London but the FIA stopped him at immigration at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.

    Talking to The Current, PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar said that this is a blatant violation of court orders despite FIA officials being present in court. “Such pettiness on behalf of the government has only exposed their nefarious designs.” Tarar, who is also part of the legal team in Sharif’s case, said that if this delay gives the prime minister satisfaction for a few days, “let him be happy”.

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that Director General (DG) FIA has the authority to remove a name from a black list. “Shehbaz Sharif’s lawyers have not submitted any application to DG FIA to remove his [Sharif’s] name from the blacklist.” Chaudhry added that communicating something verbally does not mean there will be any change in the record. “The government will move the court against this decision.”

    Talking to the media, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the FIA has added Sharif’s name in another list. She said that despite written order by the LHC, stopping Shehbaz Sharif from travelling is tantamount to contempt of court. Marriyum Aurangzeb added that now we are being told by the FIA that the system has not been updated even though there were two FIA officials present in court when the LHC granted Sharif permission to travel abroad.

  • Coronavirus: Opp calls PM ‘petty’ for not mentioning Sindh CM in address

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has called Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan “a petty person” for not mentioning Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah’s name in his last night’s address to nation on the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

    With Sindh being the most affected by the global pandemic that has left over 200 infected in Pakistan, the provincial government led by Shah has been at the forefront in dealing with the outbreak. Among other efforts being made by the Shah administration in Sindh, it is the first provincial government to set up a Rs3 billion coronavirus relief fund besides entering a partial lockdown to contain the virus.

    According to reports, the World Health Organization (WHO) country head had also praised Pakistan for its actions with regard to the outbreak on the basis of the steps taken by Sindh government. Despite this, the premier on Tuesday night didn’t mention Sindh CM or the government led by rival Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as he spoke to the nation in a televised address amid coronavirus fears.

    Calling him out, Aurangzeb said that Imran “was a liar” who appeared to have no idea about the seriousness of the pandemic. Her comment came after PM Imran resorted to his popular mantra of “ghabrana nahi hai” as he urged the nation not to panic amid the global outbreak of coronavirus that has left at least 237 infected across the country and over 190,000 in the world with nearly 8,000 deaths.

    “Corona[virus] is a flu that spreads very quickly. 97% cases of the virus are treated successfully, and out of this, 90% are mild. Only 4-5% have to go to hospitals,” he said as he downplayed the global pandemic that has forced countries to shut down entire cities, including the Italian capital.

    The premier also shared details of what the government was doing to contain the coronavirus mess.

  • ‘#PTIDisrespectsArmy’: Military unhappy with Vawda over shoe stunt?

    ‘#PTIDisrespectsArmy’: Military unhappy with Vawda over shoe stunt?

    Opposition parties, military personnel as well as the general public appear to be unhappy with Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, who on Tuesday night used a boot on-air to heap scorn on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for voting in favour of the recently passed Army Act.

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader had a day earlier appeared on a talk show alongside PML-N leader Javed Abbasi and PPP’s Qamar Zaman Kaira. Mid-programme, while discussing PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif, Vawda pulled out a boot and plonked it on the desk in front of the guests to troll their respective parties.

    The little stunt was followed by both Abbasi and Kaira walking out in protest.

    With Vawda making headlines for his gimmick, criticism by netizens, including leaders of opposition parties, military personnel and general public, started pouring in. Here’s what they had to say:

    Meanwhile, a “soldier” wrote:

    PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has also said that Vawda’s stunt “did not dignify a response”, while her colleague Rana Sanaullah has said that the entire nation was witnessing activities of “jokers”.

    “The government wants to make a joke of the army as an institution,” he has said.

  • ‘Imran is a mental patient,’ PML-N reacts to PM’s speeches

    ‘Imran is a mental patient,’ PML-N reacts to PM’s speeches

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan, referring to him as a ‘mental patient’, Geo News reported.

    According to the details, Marriyum while speaking to media on Friday said that after PM Imran today’s speech it was clear that he was a mental patient and needed to get himself checked.

    She said, “We’re convinced Imran Khan is a mental patient, he should get himself a medical examination.”

    PML-N spokesperson said that it was fortunate that Shehbaz Sharif was being compared to Nelson Mandela, addinf that Imran Khan had nothing to show for after five years of governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and one year in power at the federal level. 

    “The issue here is that the government’s performance is zero,” she said. “He should have spoken about how the Peshawar BRT cannot be completed even after five years.”

    Marriyum further said that a case against the prime minister should be filed for provocative speech.

    PM Imran on Monday, had said that when he saw the former premier Nawaz Sharif climbing the stairs of the plane he remembered the doctors’ reports, which said the patient ‘will be gone [forever]’ if not allowed to go abroad.

    Meanwhile, Senator Sherry Rehman has also criticised the premier for mimicking political rivals by saying that was all he was doing these days. 

    “Imran Khan has destroyed the country and now all he does is mimic his rivals,” she said, adding that “He should think before he speak–his words contradict his own stance.”

    She said that people were unable to find jobs in the country and the PM was saying that the economy was stabilising.

    On Monday, PM Imran had made fun of PPP’s Bilawal over the latter’s “rain theory”.

    Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Havelian-Thakot motorway under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he had mimicked Bilawal and said that his theory had startled scientists across the globe.