Tag: politics-stories

  • Women snipers to undertake Muharram security duty with commandos

    Women snipers to undertake Muharram security duty with commandos

    A fresh batch of women cops has completed snipe shooting training to perform security duty along with already trained police commandos, The Express Tribune reported Monday.

    According to reports, the 50-women batch was imparted training at Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines, during which they were taught to insert bullets in the magazine of an SMG rifle and pistol.

    After this, the women officers were trained to load and unload weapons and also encouraged to practice by the trainer by taking their positions to fire at their targets.

    All-female personnel engaged in this snipe shooting training fired 50 bullets from the SMG rifle and 50 bullets from the pistol, reports said and quoted an official as saying that training women police personnel had become important in the current wave of terrorism.

    “A large number of men and women will participate in the upcoming processions and gatherings of Muharram. Women police officers are being deployed equally as men on the entrances of processions and meetings for police checking.”

    The police official also said that there were difficulties in deploying male police officers on the roofs of several houses along the procession routes. “Local people used to complain that there were women in their houses and they could not allow male officers in their homes due to personal reasons.”

    He explained that women police force was trained in snipe shooting to address these complaints and added that women shooters will be deployed on the roofs of houses that fall under the routes of the procession.

  • FBR serves ARY tax evasion notice, demands Rs992 million

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has served a notice to ARY News, demanding Rs992 million which the channel owes to the tax body, The News has reported.

    The entity has evaded millions of rupees in taxes through misrepresentation, concealment and misuse of exemptions, causing a substantial loss to the national exchequer, reports quoted FBR as saying.

    The body also claimed that in a bid to escape the fresh tax demand, the media house allegedly tampered with previously-submitted official agreement documents — which was discovered by the authorities.

    The investigation from FBR states that “an offshore related party (co-owned) entity ARY FZLLC undertook transactions with the other two companies, ARY COMM and ARY Films and TV Productions Pvt, which by, virtue of section 85 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, were its associates”.

    The investigation further revealed that the tripartite agreement was used to allow the three companies to settle their receivables and payables in Pakistan on behalf of ARY FZLLC.

    The media group’s tax assessment showed that it obtained exemptions by claiming to export locally-produced content to the offshore entity in order to evade local taxes.

    However, ARY Communications has accused the FBR of conducting a fishing expedition and also added that the proceedings were “based on whims, assumptions, and guesswork”.

    Reports further revealed that FBR served the tax notice to the channel despite facing a lot of pressure from influential quarters to withdraw any such demand.

  • ‘Pakistan even has atom bombs as small as 250 grams,’ Sheikh Rasheed warns India

    ‘Pakistan even has atom bombs as small as 250 grams,’ Sheikh Rasheed warns India

    Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has warned India that Pakistan even has small nuclear bombs weighing 125-250 grams, which can hit and destroy targeted areas, The News reported.

    “We know if we want to use our 1-inch, 2-inch or half an inch [atomic bombs],” the minister said on Sunday, leaving netizens all cracked up.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “India committed two blunders. The first one was carrying out atomic explosions while presuming that Pakistan would not do so and secondly, it scrapped special status of Kashmir on August 5 this year, believing Kashmiris won’t react”, the minister said further.

    Tensions soar on either side of the border ever since New Delhi on August 5 revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, robbing the people of the troubled valley of their autonomous state. India has since kept Kashmir under lockdown.

  • ‘Hide in a basement, take a bath’: Indian media airs tips on surviving nuclear attack

    ‘Hide in a basement, take a bath’: Indian media airs tips on surviving nuclear attack

    As tensions continue to soar between nuclear-capable Pakistan and India amid Kashmir crisis, an India media outlet has aired tips on how to survive a nuclear attack, Scroll.in reported.

    According to the details, a recent video clip from television channel Zee News, informing its viewers about what to do in case of a nuclear attack, has left people on social media in disbelief.

    News anchor Sudhir Chaudhary’s tips on surviving nukes include not looking directly at the explosion, running to the basement of the strongest building around you for shelter, taking a bath and sealing clothes exposed to radioactive waves to avoid them from being spread further.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “The spe­c­ter of nuclear war haunts tensions between Pakistan and India, and the disputed territory of Kashmir could provide the spark that lights South Asia’s nuclear fuse,” warned a report published by a United States (US) think-tank last week.

    The report — by Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence platform based in Austin, Texas — also disputed the classification of the Kashmir issue as India’s “internal affair” or a “bilateral” issue between the two neighbours.

    “It isn’t. A potential nuc­lear conflagration cannot be anything other than a matter of international peace and security,” the report warned.

    According to the report, the possibility of “the conflict going nuclear may have increased on Aug 16”, when Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh seemed to abandon India’s “no first use” doctrine.

    “India has strictly adhered to this doctrine. What happens in the future depends on the circumstances,” he had tweeted.

  • Information Ministry uses Indian poem for new Kashmir song

    Information Ministry uses Indian poem for new Kashmir song

    The Information Ministry has come under fire for using an Indian poem as a new national song to mark Friday’s “Kashmir Hour” that was observed across the country on Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s call.

    As per the details, the poem “Han Main Kashmiri Hun” by Indian poet and politician Imran Pratapgarhi was played on television channels across the country as the nation expressed solidarity with Kashmiris suffering at the hands of Indian occupying forces.

    Special Assistant to the PM on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan also shared the song on Twitter and wrote, “This poem accurately describes the plight of residents of Kashmir and how they are enduring Indian cruelty. We are standing with Kashmiris.”

    The move was criticised by Twitterati, who asked why an Indian poem was used by the government when several Pakistani poets had also written about Kashmir.

    PM’s aide was also criticised for not giving credit to the Indian poet who had written the poem over a decade ago.

  • Kashmir ‘Curfew Clock’ installed in Islamabad

    Kashmir ‘Curfew Clock’ installed in Islamabad

    A digital clock called “Curfew Clock” has been installed in the federal capital, which shows the number of days, hours and minutes since India has kept occupied Kashmir under curfew.

    The video of the curfew clock that “challenges the world conscience” was tweeted by Central Film Censor Board chairman and Information Minister’s Office director Danyal Gillani.

    Pakistanis on Friday came out in hordes on Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s call to observe “Kashmir Hour” to show solidarity with the people of Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    People of the Muslim-majority troubled valley have been held hostage by Indian occupying forces since August 5 when New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of its constitution to rob the disputed territory of its autonomy.

  • PM Imran, Gandhi’s great grandson on same page against extremist RSS?

    PM Imran, Gandhi’s great grandson on same page against extremist RSS?

    A day after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said that the ideology of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had taken over India, a much similar statement of the great grandson of independent India’s founding father Mahatma Gandhi, has emerged.

    “The RSS ideology has taken over India, the way the Nazi party had taken over Germany,” the premier had said while addressing a Kashmir Hour gathering on Friday. “They think that Muslims should be taught a lesson, that they are not equal citizens. Today, the whole world is seeing what is happening in Kashmir.”

    With the premier’s words being widely shared over the internet, it wasn’t later that someone pointed out their similarity with an earlier statement by Gandhi’s great grandson, Tushar Gandhi.

    Addressing a gathering earlier this year, he had called for fighting the ideology of RSS, which he said was trying to divide India.

    Tushar, who is the son of Mahatma’s grandson Arun, had said that Gandhiwadis (believers of the Gandhian philosophy) can remain neutral, but those who call themselves Gandhi’s workers, cannot do the same in the present era as the RSS was threatening the very ideals espoused by Gandhi.

    “I do not hate the RSS functionaries. But I oppose RSS… that idea, which is dividing the country… I do not say that others have not done this. We oppose them as well. We will have to protest, otherwise, we don’t deserve to be called Gandhi’s workers.”

    PM Imran’s Friday address wasn’t the first time when he called out his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s regime for being inspired by the RSS.

    In two loaded tweets on the eve of Eidul Azha, he had tweeted, “The curfew, crackdown and impending genocide of Kashmiris in IoK [Indian occupied Kashmir] is unfolding exactly according to [the] RSS ideology inspired by Nazi ideology. Attempt is to change demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing. Question is: Will the world watch & appease as they did Hitler at Munich?”

    “I am afraid this RSS ideology of Hindu Supremacy, like the Nazi Aryan Supremacy, will not stop in IoK; instead it will lead to suppression of Muslims in India and eventually lead to targeting of Pakistan. The Hindu Supremacists version of Hitler’s Lebensraum,” he had said further.

  • PTI govt waives off Rs228 billion dues of rich industrialists

    PTI govt waives off Rs228 billion dues of rich industrialists

    The Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI) government has waived off Rs228 billion of influential industrialists and owners of fertilizer, CNG and power sector companies through a presidential ordinance enforced with immediate effect from August 28 The News International has reported.

    As per the details, President Arif Alvi waived half of the outstanding liabilities of the said players of the amount collected from May 22, 2015 to December 21 2018.

    Furthermore, the government also reduced Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) rates by up to 75%, which would push down prices of gas and fertiliser for the end-consumers.

    According to the Petroleum Division statistics, as of the end of December 2018, the total principal liabilities of these sectors stood at Rs416.3 billion and half of those were written off by the government.

    Cumulative GIDC collection since 2012 was recorded at Rs701.5 billion till the end of December 2018, out of which only Rs285 billion had been deposited.

    The government further waived the late payment surcharge, which was supposed to be paid at the rate of 4% plus three-month Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (Kibor), which currently stands at 13.7%, meaning the government has written off 17.4% mark-up, which brings the total to over Rs300 billion.

    The ordinance also did not address the issue of how to refund 50% GIDC to those companies that timely discharged their legal obligations and paid the entire amount of GIDC.

  • India to receive Israel-made Spice 2000 bombs used in failed Balakot strikes

    By the end of next month, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be receiving bunker buster version of Israel-made Spice 2000 bombs, which the country is reported to have used in the failed Balakot airstrikes in February, India Today reported.

    According to reports, India and France had signed a Rs3 billion deal with Israel to acquire the bomb that has a standoff range of 60km and approaches the target using its scene-matching algorithm.

    It consists of an add-on kit for warheads such as the MK-84, BLU-109, APW and RAP-2000; and was also used by the IAF in a failed attempt to bomb the religious seminaries in Balakot in February this year.

    The attack had been foiled by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) that had forced Indian pilots to abort their mission and return in haste.

    India had also later failed to support its claims with facts as observers and international media reported that the seminaries New Delhi had claimed to have destroyed, were standing even days after the intrusion.

  • Kashmir crisis: PM calls UAE crown prince who awarded Modi highest civilian honour

    Kashmir crisis: PM calls UAE crown prince who awarded Modi highest civilian honour

    Amid rising Kashmir tensions, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has called Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who had recently drawn ire of hundreds of thousands of people for awarding Indian PM the country’s highest civilian honour.

    According to reports, the “regional and international developments” were discussed over the phone call, while a tweet by the crown prince also confirmed the development.

    The two dignitaries discussed “ways to enhance bilateral cooperation as well as the latest regional and international developments and issues of mutual interest”, the tweet said.

    Mohammed bin Zayed — or MBZ — is also the deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. The phone call between the two leaders comes days after Indian premier Narendra Modi was awarded UAE’s highest civilian honour.

    The move had sparked outrage among rights activists over the Modi-led government’s clampdown on the Muslim-majority Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    MBZ had personally put the gold medal around Modi’s neck, with a portrait of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s first president after whom the order is named, displayed behind them.

    The two men had also held hands for a moment and spoken quietly. “You deserve it,” MBZ had told the Hindu nationalist leader at one point while posing for photos.