Tag: politics-stories

  • 41% people happy over Zardari’s arrest, 31% unaffected: survey

    A recent survey has revealed that 41% of Pakistanis are happy over the arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari, while the development has left 31% people unaffected.

    As per the details, the Gilani Research Foundation survey, based on a sample size of 1,386 men and women, was conducted in both urban and rural areas of all four provinces of the country from June 15-24.

    Among other answers, just 22% Pakistanis said they were upset, 2% remarked that they did not hear about the matter and 4% commented that they were either not aware or did not wish to respond.

    Former president Zardari was arrested on June 10 by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials and is accused of plotting to “misappropriate and launder” money out of the country through fake bank accounts.

    Other allegations against the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman include his use of Omni Group “front men” as associates in crime and receiving millions in cash.

  • PTI MPA seeks ‘corrective surgery and appropriate measures’ for transgender kids

    PTI MPA seeks ‘corrective surgery and appropriate measures’ for transgender kids

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Shahina Karim on Wednesday submitted in the Punjab Assembly a resolution to safeguard the rights of transgender children, ARY News reported.

    “Most of the times during childbirth, the kid is not transgender, but is presumed so,” the resolution read.

    “Such a child can be assigned gender after corrective surgery and appropriate measures so that they too can spend life like a man or a woman,” the resolution stated further.

    The move comes amid rising numbers of transgender persons’ killings across the country. Just last week, a 19-year-old transgender woman was found “riddled with bullets” beside a river bank.

    The teenager’s father and uncle were arrested for her murder.

  • GRAPHIC CONTENT: Firing at Lahore airport kills two

    GRAPHIC CONTENT: Firing at Lahore airport kills two

    At least two people were killed and another injured when an unknown assailant opened fire at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

    According to the police, the suspect was taken into custody by the Airport Security Forces (ASF). The firing, however, caused panic among people which led to a stampede.

    “The suspect reached the airport in a taxi, while the two deceased had returned home after performing Umra,” reports quoted a police official as saying.

    The incident took place at the arrival/waiting area outside the main airport building. Footage available with The Current shows the deceased man lying on the floor with two women sitting next to the body.

    Heavy contingents of police reached the airport to secure the premises. The entry of vehicles at the airport was also barred as a precaution.

    A debate has sparked over the ASF’s failure to stop the flow of weapons into the airport premises.

    This is a developing story.

  • Adding to arrested leaders’ misery: PM orders amending production order law

    Adding to arrested leaders’ misery: PM orders amending production order law

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has ordered to amend the
    parliamentary procedure of issuing production orders that are necessary for a
    detained lawmaker to attend assembly sessions, a private media outlet reported
    Tuesday.

    “Money launderers and financially corrupt individuals should
    not be facilitated via production orders,” the premier reportedly said while chairing
    a cabinet meeting to discuss corruption inquiries and the economic situation of
    the country.

    Stating that people facing corruption inquiries cannot be
    awarded the status of political prisoners, PM Imran ordered the Law Ministry
    for further action and possible amendments to the law, reports said.

    The move comes after National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad
    Qaiser issued production orders for former president Asif Ali Zardari, who was
    arrested by the National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) last month.

    Similarly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Hamza
    Shehbaz and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Faryal Talpur were brought to
    the Punjab and Sindh assemblies, respectively, after the speakers concerned
    issued their production orders.

    Earlier in the day, an appeal submitted to the Supreme Court
    (SC) also challenged the production orders of opposition leaders arrested over
    corruption allegations. The application challenged the production orders issued
    by speakers of the national and provincial assemblies.

    The appeal also sought nullification of the production
    orders citing that such orders can’t be issued when the accused is under
    physical remand of a law enforcement agency.

  • Pakistan beats Israel in global military strength rankings

    Pakistan has beaten Israel in the Global Firepower (GFP) Military Strength Index 2019, according to data released by the group on its official website.

    The list by GFP relies on more than 50 factors to assign the 137 countries included in the survey an individual Power Index (PI) score, based upon their conventional war-making capability across land, sea and air.

    According to the 2019 GFP Index, Pakistan’s armed forces have been ranked the 15th most powerful in the world, beating Israel and other countries, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

    The ranking also includes factors concerning the respective states’ economic muscle and geographical characteristics. The report details Pakistan’s present military strength at 654,000 army personnel, 786 jet aircraft and 2,200 operational tanks.

    In addition, Pakistan’s naval capacity stands at a total of 197 vessels.

    Israel’s armed forces, on the other hand, have been ranked 17th, with a total of 170,000 military personnel, 506 warplanes and 2,760 tanks. Its naval strength stands at 65 assets.

    The ranking comes amid a flare in tensions between Pakistan and Israel, owing to alleged Israeli involvement in the failed February 26 airstrikes by India in Balakot.

  • Govt withdraws food-from-home facility for jailed Nawaz

    Govt withdraws food-from-home facility for jailed Nawaz

    The Punjab government has decided to withdraw food-from-home facility for former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail.

    According to media reports, the jail administration, anytime this week, would order the withdrawal of the facility that Nawaz has been availing since his days in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

    After the withdrawal of the facility, the former premier would have to be content with the jail food — which according to Nawaz’s family, is “unfit to consume” considering his deteriorating health.

    A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa had last month rejected a petition by the ex-PM for an extension in the bail granted to him on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia reference.

    It was followed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) also rejecting his bail plea. Nawaz had been granted bail on medical grounds by the apex court on March 26 for six weeks.

    On April 25, he had submitted a review petition in the SC seeking a permanent bail. His bail expired on May 7.

  • Indian leader encourages ‘Hindu brothers to gang rape Muslim women’

    Indian leader encourages ‘Hindu brothers to gang rape Muslim women’

    A leader of the hardliner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been removed from her position in the party’s women wing after she encouraged “Hindu brothers to gang rape Muslim women openly in the streets”, Indian media reported.

    “Muslim mothers and sisters should have their honour looted as there is no other way to protect India,” said Sunita Singh Gaur in a Facebook post.

    The viral post was later deleted; however, with screenshots being posted all over Twitter, Gaur was sacked as the Mahila Morcha leader.

    “Be assured, BJP Mahila Morcha will not tolerate any hateful comments whatsoever from any karyakarta [worker],” BJP Mahila Morcha National President Vijaya Rahatkar said.

    This is not the first time a member of BJP has spewed hate online. However, many were shocked to see the leader openly encourage rape and sexual violence.

  • PML-N MPA, his sons booked for ‘raping minor maid’

    PML-N MPA, his sons booked for ‘raping minor maid’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Tahir Jamil, his sons Afaq and Saad, as well as his wife Bano, have been booked for allegedly raping their 14-year-old maid in Faisalabad, SAMAA reported.

    According to reports, the case was registered by the victim’s father under sections 376 (rape) and 377B (unnatural offences) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 34 (unauthorised custody) of the Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act (PDNCA), 2004.

    According to the victim’s father, the girl was working at Jamil’s Faisalabad residence in Al Masoom Town for the past six months.

    The girl returned home on Tuesday and told her family that she had been raped twice by Jamil a few months ago, while Afaq and Saad also molested her. According to the victim, Jamil’s wife Bano beat her up as well.

    She also claimed being threatened by the family in case she informed anyone of her ordeal, while her father has said he was pressurised against registering a case.

    The medico-legal officer has been unable to confirm the rape owing to the passage of time. No arrests have so far been made.

    PUNISHMENT:

    Section 376 is punishable by death or a 10 to 25-year jail sentence besides a fine. Section 377B is punishable by up to life imprisonment.

    PDNCA’s Section 34, on the other hand, is punishable by a jail term between three months and five years and a fine between Rs10,000 and Rs100,000.

  • Army removes ‘Christians-only’ condition for sanitary workers

    Army removes ‘Christians-only’ condition for sanitary workers

    After being criticised for discrimination towards Christians, Pakistan Army has removed the “Christian-only” clause in its call for applications for sanitary workers.

    The move was pointed out by activist and former Punjab Chief Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit director general (DG) Salman Sufi. Taking to Twitter, he thanked Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Major General Asif Ghafoor.

    “Great news. Thanks to @OfficialDGISPR [Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor] for removing the ‘Christian-only clause in the call for application for sanitary workers, paving the way to ensure Pakistani Christians aren’t labeled as just for sanitary jobs,” he wrote.

    “We are grateful that this clerical error was addressed as usually Christians are [stereotyped] as sanitary workers so it is considered a norm and we wanted that changed,” Sufi told a private media outlet.

    Earlier, activists had taken to social media to urge the ISPR chief that the discriminatory clause is removed from the call. It specified that only Christians could apply for the posts of sanitation workers in the army’s Mujahid Force.

    Vacancies for the posts of drivers, sepoys and tradesmen were also mentioned, but had no such religious criteria.

    According to SAMAA, a report by the World Watch Monitor says that minority representation in sanitation work in Pakistan is above 80%. According to the report, 824 of 935 sanitation workers in the Peshawar Municipal Corporation (PMC) are Christian.

    About 6,000 out of 7,894 sanitation workers in the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) are Christians and so are 768 of 978 workers in the Quetta Municipal Corporation (QMC).

  • ‘PTI govt repays record $9.5 billion foreign loans’

    ‘PTI govt repays record $9.5 billion foreign loans’

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has retired record foreign loans worth $9.5 billion during the current fiscal year, which according to Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar, had never been done by any government in a single year.

    On point of personal explanation in the National Assembly, Azhar said that during the first year of PTI government, external debts increased by $2.7 billion whereas, in the last year of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, foreign loans surged by over $7 billion.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Responding to the opposition’s claim of obtaining domestic loans worth Rs7,000 billion or Rs 10,000 billion during PTI’s first year in power, he further said the figures were highly exaggerated.

    The minister added that previous governments were responsible for the current economic situation of the country, while the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government was taking the economy towards stability.