Tag: PML-N

  • PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based international non-governmental organisation combating global corruption — on Thursday released a new report, according to which, the country under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, for the second consecutive year, has witnessed more corruption than it did in the outgoing year of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    According to TI’s global report on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), while Pakistan’s ranking and CPI score in 2019 dropped from 117 to 120 and from 33 to 32, respectively, the ranking has now fallen down to 123 and CPI score to 31 in 2020.

    The report comes at a time when the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government boasts of the success of its promised accountability drive against opposition lawmakers and government officials. The same has time and again been termed as “political victimisation” by those on the radar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    Before the second consecutive drop, Pakistan witnessed a slight improvement in the 2018 CPI, scoring a point higher than in 2017 but remaining unchanged in the rankings. The country scored 33 out of 100 on the index — one point better than its score of 32 in 2017 and 2016. Its ranking, however, remained unchanged at 117 out of 180 countries, in 2018.

    TI’s annual report on CPI is formulated on the basis of input from 13 international agencies. In the case of Pakistan, however, the assessment of eight agencies is taken into account. These include the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service; the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; the IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey; and the Varieties of Democracy project’s findings.

    Pakistan in the last 11 years had improved its index score from 23 in 2010 to 33 in 2018. However, never in the said time period had Pakistan been assessed to have performed negatively when compared to the previous year, which has now happened twice.

  • PTI’s Khattak approached Ayaz Sadiq for talks, says PML-N leader

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawa (PML-N) leader Attaullah Tarar has said that Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak approached PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq with an offer for a dialogue between the government and opposition.

    In a TV show, Tarar claimed the government had approached the PML-N with a dialogue offer. But his claim was contested by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) minister Zartaj Gul, who challenged him to name the minister who approached the opposition leader.

    At this, Tarar said that PTI’s Khattak approached Sadiq with a reconciliation offer. Zartaj, however, said that PTI government doesn’t believe in backdoor talks with the “criminals” and added that it would hold talks with the opposition on the floor of parliament only.

    On Monday, a meeting between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), PTI, and PML-N to be held with NA Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair was cancelled after the PML-N leader skipped it.

    Subsequently, the PML-N vice president, Maryam Nawaz, said there would be no talks with the government. Maryam Nawaz had claimed that the government was “begging” before the opposition for a dialogue, but the opposition had decided against it.

    “You will be surprised if I tell you the details as to how they [the government people] are begging before the opposition for talks,” she said, adding that long march and mass resignations will take place when the time will come.

  • ‘That’s why he prayed for Modi’s victory’: Imran accused of receiving funding from India’s BJP, Israel

    The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership has accused Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of receiving funding from India and Israel, as Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also drawn a link between the claim and the premier hoping Narendra Modi won the 2019 election to become his Indian counterpart.

    Ahead of the Indian general election, Imran had expressed his wish for Indian hardliner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the election as “they were more prone to holding dialogue with Pakistan”.

    Addressing a protest demonstration in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, Maryam demanded that PM Imran came clean if there were no skeletons in his closet.

    “Imran Khan received funding from India and Israel in his own and in the bank accounts of his friends, and through ‘Hundi’ also,” she added.

    Maryam further said that one of the BJP leaders, Andarjeet Dosal, and an Israeli person transferred funds to Imran’s accounts that he used to operate with his own signatures.

    She said that having received funds from the BJP, Imran prayed for victory of Narendra Modi in 2019 elections and was hopeful of his success.

    Now, she maintained, Imran was saying that he had no knowledge of transfer of funds and the same was done by some agents. “Either he is foolish or trying to make a fool out of the people.”

    The PML-N leader said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) disclosed 23 secret accounts of Imran he used to operate with his signatures, and the same were kept secret from the ECP as well.

    PM Imran should also tell as to who were the agents who brought him in power and imposed him on 220 million people of Pakistan, Maryam said, alleging that the ECP scrutiny committee denied releasing facts about the case because Imran did not permit it. “The one who called us thieves turned out to be the biggest thief himself,” she added.

    She said that a long list of Imran’s crimes came to light before the ECP’s scrutiny committee, but it had been instructed to go slow on him and that was why the scrutiny committee had been investigating the matter for three years.

    Maryam said the shocking revelations should have prompted a decision within three days. “During the 80 hearings of the case, Imran sought a stay of proceedings 30 times, requested four times to keep the proceedings secret, and also moved the high court six times while challenging authority of the ECP,” she said.

    Maryam said the public knew who imposed him on the people. “Pakistan has changed now and you cannot commit dacoity on the votes of its people anymore,” she added.

    She said now that Imran had confessed to his crime, ECP should announce the punishment for him.

    PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman also severely criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, and repeated the allegations levelled by the PML-N leader. “Imran Khan is an agent of Jews and he contested elections while using funding from India and Israel,” he claimed.

    Fazl said he had always told the people of Pakistan that Imran Khan was a Jew agent.

    Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the Imams of mosques in Islamabad had refused to receive Rs10,000 per month stipend from the government, adding those might be Indian and Israeli funds. “Those are Hindus and Jews who are supporting the Imran government,” he added.

    The PDM president said some institutions had brought the country to such a bad state of affairs, saying the ECP was facing severe pressure and was serving its own interests.”

    “Those powerful selected a fool person so that they should actually rule while sitting behind the scenes,” he added.

    Other leaders of the anti-government alliance also delivered fiery speeches against the current government setup.

  • Due to zero political interference, NAB recovered Rs389bn in two years: PM

    Due to zero political interference, NAB recovered Rs389bn in two years: PM

    Prime Minister Imran Khan said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) managed to recover more money in the first two years of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as compared to the entire tenures of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    In a tweet, PM Imran said that the reason NAB was able to recover money during his government was the fact that it was functioning “independently” and without any sort of “political interference”.

    “Total recoveries by NAB in 2019 & 2020 amount to Rs.389 bn in comparison to previous 10 yrs (2008-2018) recoveries of Rs.104 bn,” the prime minister said.

    Imran also appreciated the performance of Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment, saying it recovered Rs206bn in 27 months of Buzdar-led government, whereas it had only managed to recover Rs3bn during the two tenures of PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif.

    He said the money recovered by the two accountability watchdogs show that accountability worked best when institutions are independent. Imran went on dub the tenures of the PPP and PML-N as “dark ages under corrupt rulers”.

    The opposition leaders, on the other hand, accuse NAB of political victimisation. They claim that NAB is working to target the rivals of PM Imran Khan. Similar remarks were also made by the Islamabad High Court in a graft case against PML-N leader Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique.

  • Cuteness overloaded: Maryam’s toy shopping on video call with granddaughter goes viral

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has been spotted speaking to her granddaughter while looking for toys, a video of which has gone viral over the internet.

    In the video, reportedly shot at a rest-stop on the Bahawalpur-Lahore route, the PML-N leader was seen speaking to granddaughter Serena, telling her what she had bought for her and asking what else did she want.

    “I got red chips for you,” Maryam was seen telling the kid on a video call. “You want to see?” She is then seen heading over to a wall where a toy doctor set is hanging. “Look… look at this doctor’s set Serena. You want this one?” “You want the doctor’s set or do you want the bus?” she asks before reciting the nursery rhyme “Wheels on the Bus”.

    “Maryam Nawaz specially stopped at a rest area on her way back to Lahore from Bwp to get things for her granddaughter Serena… Showing her toys on a video call,” PML-N’s Sania Ashiq wrote while tweeting the video.

    “The pleasures and joy of being a Nano,” Maryam said while reacting to it. On May 6, 2018, Mehrunisa, Maryam’s daughter and the granddaughter of former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, gave birth to the baby girl. A picture of the baby in Maryam’s arms had also gone viral later.

  • Khawaja Asif arrested; ‘had a bag packed already’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif was on Tuesday arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from Islamabad, a spokesperson for the bureau and PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed.

    As per the details, Asif was taken into custody in the backdrop of an ongoing investigation into allegations of him possessing assets beyond known sources of income to the tune of whopping Rs260 million.

    Aurangzeb said he was arrested from near PML-N general secretary Ahsan Iqbal’s house.

    He has been taken to the NAB Rawalpindi office, Geo News reported citing sources. Reports said that a consultative session of the party is currently underway to debate whether PML-N will take part in senate elections.

    Asif left the meeting and was moments later arrested near Iqbal’s residence. Aurangzeb said Asif will be presented before an accountability court tomorrow for remand.

    While PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz among other party leaders are lauding Asif for his “undeterred support for Nawaz Sharif”, senior journalist and analyst Hamid Mir on his show Capital Talk said that the former foreign minister knew he would be arrested and had even made preparations beforehand for what he considered an “eventuality”.

    “He had prepared a bag as well and would say that the NAB would arrest him soon,” said Mir.

    When prompted by the anchor to comment whether Asif’s arrest was a “reactionary move” to Maryam Nawaz’s speech in Larkana on Sunday, Muhammad Zubair, who had also left the meeting to appear on the show, said, “Of course. When the popularity and impact [of the PDM] is on the rise, we knew that they would react in some way. And today, we have seen that reaction.”

  • ‘Kids half Imran’s age giving him sleepless nights’

    ‘Kids half Imran’s age giving him sleepless nights’

    Recalling that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had dismissed her and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as “kids”, Maryam Nawaz of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said that the same are now giving the premier “sleepless nights”.

    “These kids are half your age but they are turning you around their little finger [and] have given you sleepless nights,” she said as leaders of the 11-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Sunday gathered in Larkana on the occasion of the late ex-PM Benazir Bhutto’s 13th death anniversary for another power show as part of its anti-government protests.

    According to Dawn, Maryam once again hit out at the government over inflation and allegedly hiding behind the establishment, telling PM Imran he was not fighting the PDM but the entire population of Pakistan.

    “Your war is not with PDM but with the 220 million people of Pakistan whom you have struck like lightning,” she said while addressing the premier, adding that the people had “won” this war.

    Maryam said when Bilawal was unable to attend the PDM rally in Mardan, PM Imran was “jumping around with elation” believing there had been a rift within the opposition. She alleged he will say the same about today’s rally which Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman did not attend.

    She alleged that whenever these “kids” called him out, Prime Minister Imran hid behind his “elders” and asked them to rescue him.

    “These kids’ biggest qualification is that the people of Pakistan are standing with them,” she said, adding that the premier’s alleged dream of creating a rift within the PDM “will never be fulfilled”.

    The PML-N leader paid tribute to Benazir’s struggle for democracy, recalling that the Charter of Democracy signed by her father Nawaz Sharif and Benazir “wasn’t just a few pieces of paper; this was a decision for turning the course of Pakistan’s political history that I, Bilawal and all of Pakistan’s political leadership will take forward and advance”.

    She said when the PPP government was formed in 2008, many elements wanted it to be brought down but Nawaz “crushed that suggestion even within his own party” and favoured allowing the government to complete its tenure.

    “When political parties started completing their terms, some forces to whom ‘divide and rule’ suited started getting restless. Then we saw [former ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja] Pasha set up a party by collecting political trash named the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and that party was then used in dharnas and conspiracies against your elected government,” Maryam alleged.

    She said while politicians were given death sentences and faced character assassinations, those who committed much severer offences such as “breaking the country and the Constitution, losing Siachen and the Kashmir cause, violating one’s oath to interfere in politics, having political rivals killed, and committing corruption worth billions” were not held accountable.

    “But remember, ideology cannot be hanged or exiled,” she added.

    Accusing former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf of being “the murderer of the Constitution and of Benazir Bhutto”, she said no one even talked about bringing him back to the country.

    “The court that sentenced Musharraf to death [in the high treason case] was hanged itself,” Maryam alleged.

    She said although Musharraf could not return to the country, the “brave decision” of the judge who led the bench that handed guilty verdict to him, late Peshawar High Court chief justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, to uphold the Constitution “will not only be remembered by the Pakistani people but also kept alive”.

    Maryam also thanked the people of Sindh for their hospitality and Bilawal and his family members for welcoming her early in the morning at their residence in Naudero.

    Earlier, Bilawal also delivered a fiery speech wherein he criticised the government and its policies among accusing it of rising to power with the support of the security establishment.

  • Long march can wait: PML-N to contest by-polls, Senate election

    Long march can wait: PML-N to contest by-polls, Senate election

    In spite of calls for mass resignations and long march towards Islamabad by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair has said that his party will take part in the by-polls to be held in February.

    Speaking in a TV show, Zubair said the party has also decided to take part in the Senate polls — a U-turn on the party’s earlier policy of mass resignations. He further said the decision to march on Islamabad will be taken in the light of the by-polls.

    It may be noted here that the PML-N has already hinted at a delay in the long march due to the “cold weather”. Its Punjab president Rana Sanaullah said that the much-hyped march will be held in March, instead of Jan or Feb, when the weather will be favourable.

    Separately, the National Assembly speaker has decided to accept the resignations of two PML-N lawmakers, Muhammad Sajjad Awan and Murtaza Javed, prompting protests from the said lawmakers.

    According to Awan and Javed, the resignations — dated Dec 14 and written on their official letterhead — were not sent to Speaker Asad Qaiser.

    These resignations were sent to the party leadership and it would be their decision if they wanted to forward these letters to the speaker, the lawmakers said, adding that the speaker has no authority to “verify” their resignation letters at this point.

    On the other hand, the NA Secretariat said that these resignations would be accepted automatically if the lawmakers failed to appear before the speaker within a week.

    Earlier this month, Lahore’s Khokhar brothers of PML-N handed over their resignations from respective assemblies to the party leadership.

    MNA Malik Afzal Khokar and MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar had submitted their letters amid talks of mass resignations by opposition lawmakers in a protest against the government.

  • Ishaq Dar ‘enjoyed intense interview’, believes BBC HARDtalk host

    Stephen Sackur, the host of the BBC News HARDtalk show, said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar “appeared to enjoy and appreciate the intense conversation at times” during the show that many say had left Dar ‘redfaced’.

    Dar had appeared on the BBC show last month, where he was grilled by the show host for allegedly owning assets beyond means. He had failed to give straight answers, a fact celebrated by the government officials.

    BBC Urdu interviewed Sackur, who told them that he “enjoyed” interviewing the former finance minister of Pakistan. “I was delighted that Ishaq Dar wanted to be on the show. We are making conscious efforts to cover Pakistan more thoroughly on HARDtalk,” the journalist told BBC Urdu.

    According to Sackur, his show is “supposed to be an intense interview” and Dar was no exception,” he added. Sackur said he has enough experience to ensure that high-profile figures don’t dodge the questions. “The trick is you ask the same question so many times to get the straight answer,” he said.

    The BBC anchorperson said HARDtalk was not a “boxing match where he treated the interviewee like an opponent”.

    He also praised Dar for being a “direct speaker”.

    DAR ON HARDTALK:

    Last month, Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N’s fight against the government, and NAB.

    During the show, the host asked Dar: “Is it your contention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no integrity? To this, Dar responded that NAB has lost its integrity. “It is an institution that has been used against political opponents.”

    Dar said the prime allegation in the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team report on which the Supreme Court directed NAB to file a reference against him was that he didn’t file his tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years i.e. 1981-2001. Dar said as a chartered account, he had never missed filing his tax returns while living in the UK and North America, as he called these “blatant allegations”.

    At this the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”

    Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”

    “How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.

    Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.

    However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

  • Senior journalist says PPP ‘creating problems’ for PDM, may quit Opp alliance

    Senior journalist says PPP ‘creating problems’ for PDM, may quit Opp alliance

    It seems the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is in two minds about staying in the Pakistan Democratic Movement because the party is allegedly responsible for holding the anti-government movement back over its key demands, claims senior journalist Saleem Safi.

    Speaking in Geo TV’s Shahzeb Khanzada show, Safi said the PPP was “creating problems” for the PDM by not agreeing to mass resignations and the long march towards Islamabad. Instead, it wanted to hold small rallies in different cities of Pakistan to “buy more time”, he claimed.

    He said that both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) believe that the PPP was in contact with the powers-that-be to reach a deal. “Both parties are not reacting to this development because of the alliance, but the PPP has been told that if it wants to gain results via backdoor talks, it can go ahead,” he claimed, adding that PML-N and JUI-F are not happy with the PPP.

    According to Safi, the PPP was at the forefront when the PDM was formed, but the party has been gradually moving away from the 11-party alliance. He said the statement by PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari –in response to PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif taking names of the army chief and intelligence chief in a jalsa — wherein he expressed shock was a part of a well-thought strategy. “Bilawal gave this statement to appease the establishment and distance the PPP from the PML-N,” he claimed.

    The senior journalist further claimed that the opposition parties wanted to resign in December and hold a sit-in in Islamabad, but this idea, too, was opposed by the PPP.

    He said the PPP’s decision to participate in the by-polls has also damaged the cause of the PDM and the Election Commission of Pakistan decided to hold bypolls on the vacant seats following the insistence of the PPP.

    Safi further said that the PDM leadership knows that if the PPP ditches the PDM after signing the resignation letters then the party will be reduced to just one province, Sindh.

    “Maulana Fazl thinks that PPP will not give up its status as a national party to save its skin and will remain a part of the PDM,” he added.