Tag: Opposition

  • Sheikh Rasheed warns of terror threat against Opposition’s long march, urges them to defer plan

    Sheikh Rasheed warns of terror threat against Opposition’s long march, urges them to defer plan

     Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has urged the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to defer its long march, warning the Opposition of a potential terror threat.

    “Both Prime Minister Imran Khan and I love this country as much you (Opposition) do, but remember there is a terrorism threat on March 23,” he added.

    The minister said that he is not “afraid of PDM’s long march but there are terrorism threats”, adding that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was also told not to stage a procession in Rawalpindi because of security reasons but she went ahead with it despite the warnings.

    “Half of Islamabad will be under the control of [the government] and jammers will be installed there,” said Rasheed, adding that on March 23, foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries will attend the Pakistan Day parade.

    “How will the Opposition [mark its influence] under such circumstances?” the minister questioned. 

    Rasheed said that he would suggest that the PDM show “strength in Islamabad on March 17 or 27”.

    Rasheed further said that after India faced its “biggest defeat” in Afghanistan, its intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was now paying local criminals in Pakistan to sabotage peace here.

    Shedding light on talks between the government and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Rasheed said the talks were not being held anymore.

    “Talks are not possible with those [elements] who are against the integrity of Pakistan,” he underlined.

  • ‘Nation stands with PM Khan, Opposition can’t harm him’, claims Asad Umar

    ‘Nation stands with PM Khan, Opposition can’t harm him’, claims Asad Umar

    Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar dismissed the news of factionalism within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and said no one could be Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s substitute within the party.

    While talking to Geo News’  programme “Naya Pakistan”, Umar stated that 99 per cent of the PTI’s vote bank belongs to PM Khan.

    “I reiterate that the nation stands with Imran Khan and this is the only reason that the Opposition has been unable to harm him,” he said while referring to Opposition claims that allied parties are not with the government.

    The federal minister also seconded his party fellow Fawad Chaudhry’s statement about Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members being “hell-bent on removing Nawaz Sharif from their party”.

    Despite inflation and new taxes that have been imposed, Asad Umar claimed that the country’s economy is progressing.

  • Hand protecting Imran Khan can be on Opposition’s neck but never in their support, says Sheikh Rasheed

    Hand protecting Imran Khan can be on Opposition’s neck but never in their support, says Sheikh Rasheed

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed during a press conference, while taking a jibe at the Opposition, said, “They [Opposition] want that the hand [protecting] Imran Khan should be on their head as well,” adding, ” this hand can be on their [Opposition] neck but never on their head.” Rasheed’s words hint towards the establishment.

    Talking to the journalists, Rasheed said, “If the Opposition goes to International Monetary Fund (IMF) its halal but if Imran Khan does the same its considered haram.”

    “These people went 23 times to the IMF. This time around, the conditions of IMF were pretty tough, hence we were not left with any option but to go to IMF,” said Rasheed.

    Addressing the Opposition, Rasheed said that the Opposition is planning two different long marches toward the capital. He said that the government will provide them the way to continue their march but the Opposition should keep in mind the importance of March 23 and the respect one gives to the country on [the Resolution Day of Pakistan].

    “Important personalities from Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are coming to Pakistan on March 23 and all eyes from India will be directed towards Pakistan as well,” said Rasheed.

    Accusing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders of corruption, Raseed said, ” Shehbaz Sharif is more corrupt than Nawaz Sharif,” adding, “I am saying this based on my own knowledge.”

    “I would like to say a historical sentence that all four Sharif’s are minus from the politics of Pakistan,” said Rasheed.

  • Finance minister says no option but to ask for IMF’s help, NA passes mini-budget

    Finance minister says no option but to ask for IMF’s help, NA passes mini-budget

    The National Assembly (NA) on Thursday passed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021, termed widely as a “mini-budget”, despite vociferous protests by the Opposition over rejection of their proposed amendments and disagreement over the vote count. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led coalition government bulldozed 16 pieces of legislation.

    The approval of the supplementary finance bill was necessary to ensure Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFE) gets cleared by the IMF’s Executive Board which is scheduled to meet later this month to decide the disbursement of the $1-billion tranche.

    The prime minister, who generally only attends parliamentary sittings at crucial junctures, remained in the house for most of the session’s duration, which lasted until midnight.

    Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Zardari also remained in the assembly for most of the session. They initially left the house after the first vote on the amendment but rushed back to their seats when the speaker ordered another physical vote on the opposition’s demand.

    In the amended bill, the government rolled back its plan to impose additional sales taxes on children’s formula milk, bread, and small cars. It also withdrew the proposal to impose taxes on laptops and computers.

    The government’s amendments to the proposed bill were approved by the NA. The changes include:

    No general sales tax will be imposed on a 200-gram carton of milk.

    A 17 per cent GST will be imposed on formula milk worth Rs500.

    Tax on imported vehicles has been increased from 5 per cent to 12.5 per cent.

    The federal excise duty on all imported vehicles will remain unchanged.

    A 2.5 per cent duty will be charged on locally manufactured 1,300 cc vehicles, which was previously around 5 per cent.

    Duty on locally manufactured 1,300 to 2,000cc cars was also reduced to 5 per cent from 10 per cent.

    A 10 per cent duty will be imposed on locally manufactured cars greater than 2,100 cc.

    No sales tax will be imposed on iodised salt and red chilies.

    Opposition members made an attempt to disrupt proceedings by pointing out quorum, but the chair hastily called for presentation of the bills one after the other, reports Dawn.

    The Opposition also protested the non-laying of Senate recommendations on the finance bill before the house for consideration, with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal terming it an “insult to the Senate”.

    “If you suspend the rules and bulldoze the bill in the darkness of the night, your name will go down in history among those who conspired to sell the country’s economic sovereignty,” he said.

    “Why are we giving an impression that we are doing it on gunpoint,” asked PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar.

    Bilawal termed the SBP Bill a threat to national security and questioned why the government was making it binding to have only one bank account for defence expenditures. By doing so, he said they were providing an opportunity to world powers to scrutinise the country’s defence budget and its nuclear programme which, he added, could be the next target.

    “Your prime minister has been installed to destroy Pakistan politically and economically,” said Asad Mehmood of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F).

    Shedding light on the criticism regarding the supplementary bill being the “International Monetary Fund (IMF) bill”, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said that during the previous government’s tenure, 13 agreements were signed with the Fund.

    “They [the Opposition] are saying that IMF has destroyed the economy of Pakistan, while they went to the IMF in their tenures as well,” he said.

    Tarin further said that the PTI government is being accused of “mortgaging country’s sovereignty”; however, the government was forced to approach the IMF.

    “We had no other option but to ask for IMF’s help,” he reiterated.

    However, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak seemed to lose his patience with the process and, at one point, asked the speaker to ignore the opposition and “bulldoze” the bills through.

  • Court declares NDMA responsible for Murree tragedy

    Court declares NDMA responsible for Murree tragedy

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has declared National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) responsible for the Murree tragedy which killed 23 people, including children due to carbon monoxide poisonous gas in their cars.

    The NDMA Chairman is Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz since 2020.

    During the hearing, the court asked the NDMA whether a letter had been written to the Opposition leader to call a meeting of the commission. At this, the official said the Opposition leader had not asked them to call a meeting, reports Geo News.

    “You have failed, it was your responsibility to call a meeting, you were responsible for providing a national management plan to the area,” the justice told the management member.

    Justice Minallah said that had the NDMA ensured that everyone followed the law, such incidents would not have happened.

    It is also revealed that NDMA held its last meeting on March 28, 2018. To this court chief Justice Athar Minallah questioned that, “It is a powerful body. How come no meeting took place since 2018.”

    The court ordered Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to call a meeting of the commission next week and directed the NDMA member to submit a report on the incident by next Friday.

    The hearing was called because of a petition by Hammad Abbasi, a Murree resident. According to him, on their way to Murree neither were they stopped and nor were they warned of the danger.

  • No PTI minister present in front row of Parliament, Opposition lashes out at non-seriousness of govt

    No PTI minister present in front row of Parliament, Opposition lashes out at non-seriousness of govt

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif took to Twitter to lash out at the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and said, “The ongoing session of the Assembly, which has been called to pass the catastrophic budget and the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) slavery bill, is currently suspended due to lack of quorum.”

    “Neither the government has its members beside it nor its allies,” tweeted Asif, adding, “How will both, the budget and the SBP’s bill will get passed.”

    “No minister is present in the front row,” said Asif.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari during his speech in the National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday lamented how the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has imposed taxes on the people of Pakistan. He further said that PTI was bringing a “tsunami of taxes” through the mini-budget.

    He also criticised the government over the SBP Amendment Bill 2021, which was approved by a National Assembly panel on Monday, saying that the IMF had demanded the central bank’s autonomy during the eras of PPP and PML-N as well but neither party had agreed.

    He said Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had talked about a national dialogue on the country’s economy but the government refused because of its “stubbornness”.

    PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah pointed out the lack of quorum as the opposition walked out in protest over the absence of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin. The session was subsequently suspended for a short while.

    When the opposition returned, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar defended the government’s economic performance and blamed its predecessors for the country’s financial problems.

  • Relationship with military ‘exceptional’, PM Khan assures all good with the army

    Relationship with military ‘exceptional’, PM Khan assures all good with the army

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has once again reiterated that his government’s relationship with the military was ‘exceptional’ and the Opposition’s statements regarding a rift between the government and the military were ‘dead and buried’.

    During a meeting held by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s spokespersons chaired by PM Khan, the premier said that “civil-military relations are unprecedented these days”.

    PM Khan had expressed similar views earlier as well. During an interview with a journalist, the premier was asked about rumours of a possible deal between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the establishment to send PM Khan’s government packing and whether he felt threatened in any way. The PM said he personally was not under any kind of pressure. He added that he enjoyed the support of government allies and expressed confidence that his government would complete its mandated five years.

    During the meeting with his spokespersons, the premier said that the party has presented its funding receipts to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the
    “scrutiny committee has cleared the party of all suspicions.”

    “All other political parties should provide the receipts of their funding too,” demanded PM Khan.

    He further said that out of total funding of Rs310 million, an amount of Rs150 million was shown twice.

    “This [error] will be cleared in the next hearing of the ECP,” PM Khan said.

    “Isn’t Shahbaz Sharif ashamed of himself since he used too many TTs to launder money?” said PM Khan, talking about the electronic method of transferring funds (TTs) for overseas wire transactions.

    The premier talked about the foreign fundings received by other parties and said that the “PML-N should give an account of the billions of rupees of funding it received from overseas sources.”

    Prior to this, deposed Nawaz Sharif directed his party not to let Imran Khan off the hook on the basis of the ECP report, telling them to aggressively agitate the matter and not let both houses of parliament run smoothly till “justice” is done.

  • PTI in trouble? ‘Corrupt, liar, conspiratorial’, Opposition hits out at PM Khan

    PTI in trouble? ‘Corrupt, liar, conspiratorial’, Opposition hits out at PM Khan

    The Opposition has heavily criticised the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan after a scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reported that the party did not disclose millions of rupees worth of funds to the constitutional body.

    Lashing out at the premier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz said Imran Khan had not only “stolen and hidden money, but also plundered the people”.

    Maryam said the “constant leaks, revelations, and evidence, are more than enough to bring down the PTI, including Imran Khan.”

    “Has there been such a corrupt, liar, and conspiratorial ruler like Imran Khan in the history of Pakistan?” she asked.

    PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal during a media briefing said that the scrutiny committee’s report had “washed away Imran Khan’s make up of honesty”.

    “Imran Khan acts as the champion of transparency in the country, but in the foreign funding case, he is making lame excuses to stop the hearing; PTI is resorting to mudslinging to cover its own theft,” he said.

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Shazia Marri, berating PM Khan tweeted, “Imran Khan talashi do (give yourself up for examination).”

    Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry termed the report “inaccurate” and called for a public comparison of all the parties’ foreign funding so people knew where they all stood.

    Fawad said that there were “two relevant transactions of Rs150m and Rs160m, which had been duplicated and therefore counted twice by the committee”.

    “In the same way, Rs150m transferred from the centre to the provinces from a PTI subsidiary was also counted twice.” He said these facts would be laid before the ECP during arguments in the case.

    The minister said the report showed that the PTI had 26 accounts out of which eight were inactive.

    “Out of the remaining 18 accounts, eight are functional and have transactions and also show funds coming in,” he added.

    He said that 10 of the accounts in question did not actually belong to the PTI, while six were subsidiary accounts, while the party has distanced itself from the remaining four.

    The report compiled by the ECP revealed the party under-reported an amount of Rs312 million over a four-year period, between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Year-wise details show that an amount of over Rs145m was under-reported in 2012-13 alone.

  • ‘Legal action will be taken against you if Nawaz doesn’t return’: Fawad warns Shehbaz

    ‘Legal action will be taken against you if Nawaz doesn’t return’: Fawad warns Shehbaz

    The Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that either Shehbaz Sharif asks Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan or legal action will be taken against him [Shehbaz] for providing a fake affidavit.

    In a press conference, the minister said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has directed the Attorney-General of Pakistan (AGP) to ensure Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif is brought back to Pakistan.

    Following Fawad’s statement claimed that the PML-N secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI)-led government is suffering from “Nawaz phobia.”

    “The government holds cabinet meetings only to discuss Nawaz Sharif, which shows that it is suffering from Nawaz Sharif phobia,” he said.

    Meanwhile, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that “Nawaz Sharif had gone abroad for treatment after seeking permission from the country’s judiciary.”

    “Issuing statement against Nawaz and Shahbaz on a daily basis shows how panicked the government is,” Marriyum said.

    She went on to say that instead of telling the attorney general to ensure Nawaz’s return to Pakistan, the government should direct him to take action against those who steal wheat, sugar, electricity, gas, and medicines.

  • ‘Reduce bitterness in 2022’: Fawad Chaudhry urges the Opposition

    ‘Reduce bitterness in 2022’: Fawad Chaudhry urges the Opposition

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday extended a proverbial hand of friendship to the Opposition as he acknowledged the need to “reduce bitterness” in the country’s politics.

    “At the beginning of the new year 2022, I think we need to reduce bitterness. The government and the Opposition should talk on elections, economy, political and judicial reforms,” tweeted Fawad.

    “Pakistan is a great country. We need to understand our responsibilities. It diminishes the prestige of politicians. Ruckus in the parliament lowers the repute of politicians in the eyes of the common man.”