Tag: (PM) Imran Khan

  • PM chastises envoys for indifferent attitude towards expats

    PM chastises envoys for indifferent attitude towards expats

    Prime Minister Imran Khan virtually addressed Pakistani ambassadors and high commissioners from across the globe on Wednesday.

    PM tweeted that he told all Pakistani missions abroad that their priority “must be the welfare and well-being of our greatest asset, overseas Pakistanis”.

    “Overseas Pakistanis are precious assets of the country,” the premier said, adding that it is unfortunate that Pakistani ambassadors do not treat them well.

     He read out complaints received on Citizens Portal and condemned the “callousness and insensitivity” displayed by embassy workers.

    “Expats face unnecessary delays and complications in availing routine services,” PM Imran said. He further added that complain resolution of the embassy is mostly firefighting and lacks a passion to solve these issues. “The job of embassies is to serve their citizens.”

    PM had recently recalled Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Raja Ali Ejaz and six staff members after reports of their alleged mistreatment of the Pakistani expat community surfaced. The Foreign Office said there is zero tolerance for any lapse in public service delivery. “The feedback provided by Pakistani expats living in Saudi Arabia was shocking,” said PM. He added that an indifferent attitude towards the expat community is “unforgivable”.

    PM Imran in particular acknowledged the services of labour working abroad in tough conditions . “These workers deserve our utmost respect and the government will not spare anyone misbehaving with them.”

    Former diplomats react to PM’s comments

    Former Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua tweeted she was deeply dismayed at the unwarranted criticism of the foreign ministry.

    Former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador of Pakistan to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani does not completely agree with PM Imran. In a tweet, the former diplomat said that he wished the PM was properly briefed about working of Missions. “Services like attestation of degrees, marriage certificates, licenses etc are referred to HEC, Interior or Provincial govts for verification. You don’t get timely response. Hence delays. Blaming envoys unfair.”

    Jilani also said that the foreign service of Pakistan suffers from “decades of neglect, political paralysis and resource constraints”.

    Jilani and Janjua were not the only former diplomats to be irked by PM’s comments. Former Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir also tweeted that PM’s ire and critique of the foreign ministry and envoys is misplaced.

  • PM Khan urges OIC to oppose Islamophobia at all forums

    PM Khan urges OIC to oppose Islamophobia at all forums

    Prime Minister Imran Khan met the Islamabad-based Ambassadors of countries belonging to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday, briefing them on Pakistan’s efforts at the international level to create awareness about Islamophobia. He also stressed the need to collectively address the occurrences which surface due to it.

    PM Khan stressed that Pakistan’s efforts were always aimed at building a mutual consensus and promoting inter-faith harmony. He noted that Islamophobic acts fan inter-religious hatred and disharmony. “Falsely equating Islam with radicalism and terrorism was leading to the marginalisation and stigmatisation of Muslims,” he added.

    PM emphasised that the vilification of Islamic principles and religious personalities, wrongly justified under the garb of the right to freedom of expression or opinion, hurts the sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. He also underlined the need to establish legal safeguards aimed at protecting the sensitivities of all religious groups and said that the OIC has to make a collective effort to project the true image of Islam, and its message of peace and tolerance.

    This comes after TLP’s demand to expel the French Ambassador, resulting in a security situation in the country.

    Video:

  • Here’s why the Bollywood clip was deleted from PM Khan’s Instagram

    Here’s why the Bollywood clip was deleted from PM Khan’s Instagram

    Prime Minister Imran Khan’s official Instagram account on Tuesday became very interesting after a short clip from the Bollywood movie Inquilaab was posted on it leading to a social media meltdown.

    Through the clip, PM Imran attempted to make a point about how political parties discredit their rival political parties in order to replace them.

    “It is what has been planned against the PTI govt from day one by the corrupt mafias,” read the caption on the clip, which was deleted five hours after it was posted.

    Speaking to BBC Urdu, Focal Person to the Prime Minister on Digital Media Dr Arsalan Khalid said that the clip was posted by a member of PM Khan’s social media team because the scenes “accurately reflected the current situation and the unrest of the opposition.”

    Explaining the reason behind the deletion, Dr Arsalan said that a routine quality control check — that takes place after few hours — led to the deletion of the clip.

    When asked if PM Khan personally makes these posts on social media, Dr Khalid said the premier mostly uses Twitter and that all tweets are posted by him, adding that PM Imran rarely uses Instagram and has a team to manage that.

    Released in 1984, Inquilaab featured Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Utpal Dutt, Kader Khan, Ranjeet and Shakti Kapoor. The film’s official synopsis reads: “A politician helps a jobless man become a police officer and then uses him for his nefarious activities. After his wife finds out he is being used as a pawn, she tries to change his ways.”

    In the clip shared on PM Khan’s account, Kader Khan and Utpal Dutt are seen planning a sinister move against the government.

    “We have the right to form a government. In order to form a government, we need to win the elections. To win the elections, we need votes; in order to get these votes, we need people’s confidence. And how do we get the people’s confidence? We will need to take away people’s confidence from the government. Haha. And how do we do that? We will create an environment where we will make them think that this government is incompetent and inefficient. This way, the people will be forced to get rid of the government and bring another party in its place. For this we need to create chaos. We need riots, killings, dacoities in cities. We need religious disturbance, sectarian conflict, which renders government incapable of thinking and police is unable to do anything to control the crisis. When all this is happening, we will go out and take out rallies addressing crowds and present ourselves and our party as an option to control this mess.”

    Responding to this, someone in the meeting says it is an excellent idea.

    “We need money for this, which is why we have invited rich businessmen here today to raise it.”

    When someone asks if 50 lakhs will be enough, Kader Khan says that for the time being it’s enough but a politician is like a farmer and politics like a crop. If you invest millions, the return will be in billions, if billions, it can go up to trillions.”

    Everyone laughs at the end of the clip.

    Watch the clip here:

    https://youtu.be/57w1DfCObfI
  • TLP’s way is not the answer – PM Khan addresses the nation

    TLP’s way is not the answer – PM Khan addresses the nation

    Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the nation earlier today, giving a detailed update on the prevalent security situation in the country. He said that he decided to do this after the tense situation last week.

    PM said Pakistan is the only country to have been made in the name of Islam. “I have travelled the entire Pakistan. Our people love the Prophet (PBUH) with all their heart. Whenever there is anything blasphemous, we do not tolerate it. Any Muslim in any part of the world gets hurt by such blasphemous content. We are no different.”

    PM Khan said that last week, the TLP tried to show as if it loves the Prophet (PBUH) more than others. “What the TLP wants, we also want — i.e. no blasphemy against our Prophet (PBUH),” but he stated that the approach is and should be different to dealing with the issue.

    “TLP has demanded that the French Ambassador should be sent back, ” the PM said, “we have a different approach from them but our (government’s) goal is the same.”

    He repeatedly stated that he understands the way western countries think and nothing we do in our country will change the way the West thinks. “I understand the West and this approach will not help. The West has made this an issue of freedom of speech and this (riots in Pakistan) will not make a difference to France.”

    He then stated the loss of life and property that the violent riots had caused in Pakistan. “Four police officers lost their lives and 800 were injured, ” Khan stated, “40 police cars were burnt and millions of rupees in damages were caused to personal properties.” He also stated that many oxygen cylinders were not able to make it to corona patients due to the riots.

    He then explained his approach to the nation. “Our rupee is finally stabilising, our economy is getting better. When we send France’s ambassador back, we break relations with the European Union (EU),” he emphasised, “Which means we lose our textile exports to the EU. This means we lose jobs and poverty will increase. We will lose, not France.”

    He explained that he had been developing his approach since 2019 when he first addressed the United Nations and told the world that the actions of the West hurt the Muslim world. Therefore, he suggests that the Muslim world come together and in a united front, state that blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is unacceptable. He went on to say that if the West does not stop hurting Muslim sentiments – like they have for the Jews and the Holocaust – then the Muslim world should boycott trade with the West.

    “We tried to explain this to TLP,” Khan said, “We were in discussions with them and said we can bring this up in the assembly. But we realised they were preparing for something else and soon thereafter, they announced that they would do a dharna. Which is when our discussions with them stopped.”

    Khan also made a pertinent point as to the riots affecting Pakistan and no one else. “The crime happens somewhere else, and we hurt ourselves? How does that make sense?” he asked, “We need to come together. Our economy is getting better. The country is going in the right direction. This is not the time to hurt our country.”

    PM Khan also gave the example of former PM Nawaz Sharif not raising his voice against Salman Rushdie and his blasphemous book, ‘The Satanic Verses’. “I am speaking up against blasphemy done by the West but former PM Nawaz Sharif did not when Salman Rushdie’s book came out.”

    PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal later tweeted that the book did not in fact come out during the tenure of Sharif. It came out in 1988. Sharif came to power in 1990.

  • PM Imran to address the nation today at 4:30pm

    PM Imran to address the nation today at 4:30pm

    Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the nation at 4:30 pm today. During his speech, PM Imran will take the nation into confidence over the security situation in the country due to violent protests by the recently banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

    Eleven policemen and five other security officials who were taken hostage on Sunday were released by TLP Monday morning after a successful round of talks with the Punjab government.

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that the PM will deliver a historic speech today.

    Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony for the Margalla Highway in Islamabad, PM Imran said that it was unfortunate how political and religious parties in the country misuse Islam and damage their own country. PM said that he was saddened that many times our love [for the Holy Prophet (PBUH)] is misused. He said we all love our Prophet (PBUH).

    “I haven’t seen as much affection and respect for the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in any country other than Pakistan,” remarked the premier.

    Religious parties and traders have called for a countrywide strike today in support of the banned TLP.

  • Rs2.7m price fixed for apartments at Naya Pakistan Apartment project

    Rs2.7m price fixed for apartments at Naya Pakistan Apartment project

    People from the lower-income class can now own home through small instalments, said Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Naya Pakistan Apartment project.

    Praising the courts for allowing the government to implement the foreclosure law, PM Khan said the law has allowed people to own houses on a mortgage.

    “People will only pay installments instead of rent and will become owners of their own homes,” said PM Imran.

    He added that the status quo has adopted the system of bribery and never want Pakistan to change for the better.

    “Pakistan will have to transform itself if it needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” asserted the premier.

    PM Khan also appreciated the efforts of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), saying: “The LDA has brought about a lot of improvements in itself.”

    As per details, the authority will construct 35,000 apartments in different parts of the city under the LDA City Naya Pakistan project.

    Around 4,000 apartments will be constructed during the first phase. Every apartment will cover a 650 square feet area and will have two bedrooms.

    The price for the apartments has been fixed at Rs2.7million each which will be taken in easy installments.

    Earlier, Punjab Minister for Housing and Urban Development Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said that the Punjab government assigned all development authorities in Lahore and other big cities to build housing units for the low-income people.

    The provincial minister further added that these plans are being replicated in Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad, and Rawalpindi to provide homes to the low-income population of the country under PM Imran’s vision.

  • ‘Rape is an act of violence’: Pakistanis educate PM Imran on rape

    ‘Rape is an act of violence’: Pakistanis educate PM Imran on rape

    Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday held an interactive session with the general public via phone calls in which he answered their questions and responded to their concerns.

    During the session, while responding to a question about what the federal government is doing to curb the recent surge of rape cases and sexual violence especially against children, PM Khan instead of laying out his government’s plans blamed the rising cases on vulgarity.

    The premier’s comments caused an uproar on social media, prompting Pakistanis to not only bust myths related to rape but also call him out for his insensitive remarks. Some even shared their own personal experiences to make it more clear that why rape happens and why it is never okay to blame the victim.

  • ECC allows import of cotton, sugar from India

    ECC allows import of cotton, sugar from India

    The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet has approved two summaries of the commerce and textile ministry to lift ban on import of cotton and white sugar from India.

    According to reports, there were 21 items on the agenda of the ECC meeting to be chaired by newly appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar. Commerce and Textile divisions had submitted five crucial summaries for approval besides others.

    At the agenda no. 16, the Textile Division summary sought permission from the ECC to lift ban on import of cotton and cotton yarn from India in a bid to bridge raw material shortfall for the value-added textile sector.

    In addition to this, another summary of the commerce ministry at agenda no. 20 also sought permission to allow import of white sugar from India through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan and commercial importers.

    The resumption of import of these goods will lead to partial revival of trade relations. On Aug 9, 2019 Pakistan downgraded trade relations with India in reaction to the latter’s decision to revoke Article 370 of its Constitution that granted occupied Kashmir a special status.

    In May 2020, Pakistan lifted the ban on import of medicines and raw material from India to ensure there is no shortage of essential drugs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first step of reversing of complete suspension of trade with India.

    However, Indian premier’s letter to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Pakistan Day was the first step in the right direction amid reports of UAE Royals brokering peace.

    On Tuesday, PM Imran replied to Modi’s letter, saying Pakistan also desired peaceful relations with India.

    “The people of Pakistan also desire peaceful, cooperative relations with all neighbours, including India,” he said in his reply.

    “I thank you for your letter conveying greetings on Pakistan Day.”

  • Pakistan’s first tourism TV channel goes live

    Pakistan’s first tourism TV channel goes live

    Pakistan has launched its first satellite TV channel ‘Discover Pakistan‘ to boost national tourism in the country.

    Announcing the news of the channel on social media, the management of Discover Pakistan said that the TV channel aims to highlight Pakistan’s soft image with documentaries and coverage of tourism-related events and travelogues.

    Discover Pakistan will broadcast its content in HD (high definition) to project the country’s natural wonders around the world.

    The management has urged the citizens to ask their cable operators to initiate broadcasting the channel.

    As per Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, the Discover Pakistan TV channel had been in the pipeline since 2017.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 26 last year had formed a 12-member National Coordination Committee on tourism to facilitate and coordinate the government’s commitment to give tourism a priority in mainstream development.

    The committee was made to oversee and review the implementation of national tourism strategy and integration of provincial and regional policies.

  • PM Imran Khan to address nation tonight

    PM Imran Khan to address nation tonight

     Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the nation tonight at 06:45 pm. The development comes a day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Abdul Hafeez Shaikh lost his Senate seat in Islamabad.

    Reports suggest that the government has requisitioned a session of the National Assembly on Saturday so that the PM can seek a vote of confidence from the lawmakers. Yesterday, after former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani defeated finance minister Hafeez Sheikh in the Senate election, the government held a power-packed press conference where it was announced by Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that PM Khan will seek a vote of confidence from parliament.

    Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reminded PM Khan of his promise to dissolve the assembly if he lost the Islamabad Senate seat.

    Meanwhile, Information Minister Shibli Faraz tweeted that Prime Minister Khan has announced the name of Sadiq Sanjrani for Senate Chairmanship. Sources say that Yousaf Raza Gillani will be PDM’s candidate for Chairman Senate though his name has not yet been confirmed by PDM.