Believe it, Prime Minister Imran Khan is an avid reader. According to a source, who is very close to him, PM Khan reads a few books at a time and instead of watching T.V., he spends his time reading.
Picture of PM Khan reading “Mr and Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage that Shook India” by Sheela Reddy
A fan of non-fiction, the book he’s reading right now is:
“The Silk Roads: A New History of the World” by Peter Frankopan.
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
The book, is an international bestseller and has a 4.2 rating on GoodReads. It focuses on taking a different view of history by focusing on the East. Frankopan, a British historian, relates how the East and the West first met, deepened their relationship through trade, wars, and the spread of ideas and cultures. The book highlights how the West: its rise, fall and rise has intrinsically been linked to the East.
With hundreds of thousands of people signing up for the event titled ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us’, a local version of the plan, ‘Storm Adiala to Save Nawaz’, has been created on Facebook.
Over 600,000 people have signed up to the Area 51 event that invites attendees to gather before entering the air force base obsessing alien conspiracy theorists for long.
The Pakistani version of the event, on the other hand, calls on the participants to raid the Rawalpindi Central Jail aka Adiala Jail to save former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif.
It is highly unlikely that the event is not a joke since the ex-PM, convicted in corruption references, is not even locked up there. He was transferred to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail after a court, last year, accepted his application to be incarcerated in Punjab’s provincial capital instead of Rawalpindi.
The satirical event, however, has received over 943 signatures, including that of social media influencer and comedian Junaid Akram. Over 1,500 have also marked themselves as interested in attending the event.
It is scheduled for July 21 (Sunday) at 6 pm, whereas the person behind the event is not yet known.
Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) leader Sohail Zafar was showered with foreign currency notes as he reached his hometown on Sunday.
According to reports, the leader was welcomed with euros, United States (US) dollars and riyals besides Rs5,000 currency notes by the party’s local leadership in Gujranwala, over his appointment as Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) chairman.
WATCH VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs6TfGVxoNI
It was Zafar’s maiden visit to his hometown since the appointment by PTDC Board of Directors last month.
Cheema’s caravan entered the boundary of his hometown Machike Sandhuan when PTI leader Shahid Iqbal Naghra showered him with foreign currencies, whereas the party members received him by dancing and tossing flower petals, reports said.
Party workers were also reported to be collecting the currency notes on the ground as was seen in the video that went viral on social media.
Indian cricketer-turned-politician and a close friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Navjot Singh Sidhu, has resigned from the Punjab Cabinet. Though he did not cite the reason for his departure, Indian media report that his rising differences with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was the reason behind his resignation.
Sindhu made the announcement on Twitter by sharing his resignation letter sent to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 10.
“I hereby resign as minister from the Punjab cabinet,” read the letter.
My letter to the Congress President Shri. Rahul Gandhi Ji, submitted on 10 June 2019. pic.twitter.com/WS3yYwmnPl
According to The Hindu, after the Cabinet reshuffle on June 6, Sidhu was relieved from his portfolios of Local Bodies, Tourism and Culture and allocated the Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources portfolios.
However, Sidhu, instead of taking charge of the new Ministry, approached party’s Central leadership to express his displeasure and appraised the “high command’’ of being singled out “unfairly”.
CM Amarinder and Sidhu’s differences emerged in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. It began Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu accusing Capt. Amarinder of blocking her Lok Sabha ticket from Chandigarh. Later, the Chief Minister blamed Sidhu for not handling his department well, which he claimed had resulted in the Congress’s “poor performance” in urban areas in the general election.
Members of Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control have doubted the government’s version that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Rana Sanaullah had 15 kilograms of drugs worth Rs220 million in his car, Dawn reported.
Sanaullah was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) earlier this month after the stash was discovered in his vehicle while travelling via the Faisalabad-Lahore Motorway.
Protesting against the apprehension, members of opposition parties condemned the episode as they argued that the MNA was arrested without any allegation and case against him. They termed it the “worst example of lawlessness and political revenge”.
“There is a general scare that anyone can plant drugs in anyone’s car. The matter has been hushed up. We want to know exact details of the case of Rana Sanaullah’s arrest,” said PML-N Senator Saleem Zia, who raised the issue during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Friday.
“Why would a politician and a former law minister be carrying drugs with him and that too in such huge quantities?” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Anwar Lal Dean asked senior officials from the Narcotics Ministry and the ANF.
While the senators implied that the drugs were planted in Sanaullah’s car, ANF Director General (DG) Major General Mohammad Arif Malik urged them to not make assumptions.
“The minister for narcotics has already given a briefing on the matter. It would be unreasonable to assume that drugs were planted on him [Sanaullah]. Members should either come forward with proof that he was framed or believe the version of the ANF that drugs were recovered from him,” he was quoted as saying.
With the tragic train accident in Sadiqabad claiming over 20
lives, an old tweet of the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has come
back to haunt the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government.
At least 24 people were killed and over 100 injured when the Akbar Bugti Express travelling from Lahore to Quetta on Thursday collided with a stationary freight train at the Walhar Railway Station.
It wasn’t later that opposition leaders stepped up to seek Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed’s resignation.
Blaming human negligence for the accident, Rasheed rubbished the opposition’s demands. “I will step down if [PM] Imran Khan asks me to do so,” a private media outlet quoted the minister as saying.
However, soon after the opposition parties’ demand made headlines, an old PTI tweet quoting its chief started doing rounds on social media.
All over the world, just on an incident of railway accidents, minister resigns. This is real democracy, says Imran Khan
“All over the world, just on an incident of railway accidents, minister resigns. This is real democracy, says Imran Khan [sic],” the tweet from August 2014 stated. It had come as Imran demanded Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and then railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique’s resignation.
This isn’t the first time an old tweet has come back to bite the PTI government.
As PM Imran reached China amid Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) nationwide protests last year, a 2012 tweet of his, went viral. In the tweet, he had criticised the then premier for traveling abroad as the country “burned”.
Karachi to Gilgit Pak is burning & rulers least bothered. Instead they are travelling abroad or boasting of invisible “achievements”!
It was aimed at criticising former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who had traveled to China for the Boao Forum while violence linked to sectarian, ethnic and political tensions continued in different parts of the country.
Mir Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Lund, who allegedly violated his poor driver by inserting an iron rod into his rectum, has been appointed as a human rights focal person by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
According to a Human Rights Ministry notification dated July 10, Minister Shireen Mazari has appointed Lund as a focal person on the issues of human rights in Sindh.
“He shall assist the office of the federal minister on the issues of human rights while keeping liaison with relevant stakeholders,” the notification read.
While the appointment is “purely voluntary without the ministry bearing any expenses”, the news has taken social media by storm owing to the gross violation allegedly committed by Lund in April.
Lawyer and activist Mohammad Jibran Nasir was among the first to point out.
As per the details, a van driver named Allah Rakhio was allegedly assaulted and meted out inhumane punishment in Sindh’s Ghotki district on the orders of his employer, Lund, and his three relatives.
According to the victim’s son, Zahid Hussain Rakhio, his father had a disagreement with Shafiq Lund, following which he was called to Iftikhar’s residence where he was mercilessly beaten up by Shafiq, Rafiq Lund and Mumtaz Ali Lund in Iftikhar’s presence.
Injured Rakhio called Hussain, who took him to the hospital, where he received eight stitches on his private parts. A video of Rakhio lying on his back on a stretcher and narrating his ordeal was also widely shared over the internet.
FIR AGAINST LUND:
A First Information Report (FIR) against Iftikhar, Mumtaz, Shafiq and Rafiq on the victim’s complaint was filed at the Khanpur Mahar police station.
The FIR was filed under sections 324 (attempt to commit qatle amd), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 143 (punishment for being a member of unlawful assembly).
Hussain, however, claims that police have not yet made any arrests and are trying to brush the incident under the carpet.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has decided to sack Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik, who convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia corruption reference, a private media outlet reported Friday.
Earlier, the judge had written a letter to the IHC, refuting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz’s allegations and the leaked tapes that purportedly showed him admitting to sentencing Nawaz after being blackmailed.
PML-N leadership last Saturday had released the tapes that allegedly showed Malik confessing in front of a party worker named Nasir Butt.
In the tapes, the judge was heard claiming he was coerced to hand down the prison sentence against the former PM despite there being no proof of corruption against him.
In a subsequent press release, Malik had denied the contents of the video and termed them as edited, fabricated and aimed to defame him. He, however, had admitted knowing the PML-N worker and his brother.
Meanwhile, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has demanded that Nawaz’s sentence be nullified and the former premier be immediately released.
Former caretaker minister for information, broadcasting and law Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Thursday announced to join the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Radio Pakistan reported.
According to reports, Zafar made the formal announcement during his meeting with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan in Islamabad, following which the premier welcomed him on-board.
Punjab Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) and former senior minister Abdul Aleem Khan was also present on the occasion.
Barrister Zafar is a renowned law expert and has also served as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). He was the information, broadcasting and law minister in Justice (r) Nasirul Mulk’s caretaker setup ahead of last year’s general election.
Amid the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s claims of continuing its austerity drive to save taxpayers’ money, a luxury car worth Rs8 million (Rs8,000,000) has been imported for a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) minister.
According to Dunya News, the 2800cc luxury car has been imported for KP Information Minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, who is only entitled to an 1800cc vehicle.
It was decided that a double cabin worth around Rs5.5 million would be imported, however, the minister insisted on getting the luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV), reports said.
The move comes despite Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan pushing for austerity measures to reduce the burden on the national exchequer ever since he assumed office last year.
The austerity drive has faced multiple setbacks over the past 10 months owing to the apparent reluctance of the lawmakers in cutting down expenses.
