Tag: PPP

  • Azad Kashmir elections: PPP leaders oppose alliance with ‘rival’ PML-N

    Azad Kashmir elections: PPP leaders oppose alliance with ‘rival’ PML-N

    Even though the opposition parties have decided to contest Senate election on a joint platform, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Azad Kashmir chapter, has refused to enter an alliance with its “main rival” — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — ahead of the elections in Kashmir.

    According to reports, the local PPP leadership has said that the PML-N is its main opponent in the region and it was not possible to field candidates under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — a 10-party anti-government alliance — due to the very same reason.

    Geo News reported that the PPP leaders gave this answer after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari sought recommendations from PPP Azad Kashmir on the upcoming elections. 

    “PPP Azad Kashmir’s stance is that how can the party contest the elections jointly with the PML-N when it is its main rival there?” the media outlet reported.

    The PPP, however, said there was a possibility of entering an alliance with the PML-N on 12 out of 33 total seats. 

    The central leadership of the party will make a final decision in this regard.

    Last week, after a six-hour-long meeting, PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman had announced that the opposition parties will contest the upcoming Senate elections on a joint platform.

    He had said that the parties decided to contest the Senate elections together and would not go against each other’s candidates. “Our candidates will be jointly decided,” he had told reporters after the meeting.

    The elections in Azad Kashmir will be held later this year, with the current assembly completing its term in July.

  • Sindh health official suspended after out-of-turn vaccination of PML-N leader’s daughter

    Sindh health official suspended after out-of-turn vaccination of PML-N leader’s daughter

    The Sindh government has suspended a senior health official over out-of-turn vaccination of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair’s daughter and son-in-law against COVID-19.

    As per the details, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho took notice of the incident after the couple posted on social media pictures of them receiving the vaccination shots.

    Reports quoted provincial government sources as saying that Karachi East Deputy District Health Officer Dr Anila was suspended as coronavirus vaccines were administered to acquaintances at other centres as well.

    A three-member committee has been formed to report its findings to the Sindh health minister within 72 hours.

    “If Mohammad Zubair had his family administered the vaccines privately then there is nothing wrong in it,” Information Minister Shibli Faraz told SAMAA TV.

    “But if it were the government-procured vaccines, then this was not the right thing to do,” he added.

    Earlier, a team of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) led by Dr Faisal Sultan also met Sindh health officials and Planning Minister Asad Umar on Sunday.

    It directed the Sindh government to only vaccinate frontline health workers for now.

    The Sindh government on Friday had announced launching COVID-19 vaccination programme in 10 districts of the province and unveiled a detailed phase-wise plan to inoculate people, beginning with 170,000 frontline health workers.

    According to Dawn, In addition to the 82,359 doses to be received from the Centre, the provincial government also shared its plan for the procurement of the vaccine on its own though federal authorities are yet to respond to its request for permission for the procurement.

    “We are starting the vaccination from Wednesday [next],” Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah at a press conference. He was accompanied by a member of the Sindh vaccination taskforce and provincial lawmaker Qasim Soomro.

    Shah said 10 districts had been identified in Sindh where COVID-19 jabs would be provided. “This programme will be initiated in all the seven districts of Karachi along with Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Shaheed Benazirabad.

  • VIDEO: Shireen Mazari accused of ‘making obscene gestures at opposition MNA’

    Former prime minister (PM) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf among other opposition members have accused Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari of “making obscene gestures at an opposition MNA” in a claim that has been rubbished by the latter.

    “I could not even dare to explain the kind of gestures made by the minister,” media quoted the former premier as saying after yet another session of the National Assembly was marred by ruckus by both government and opposition members during each other’s turn to speak on the floor.

    According to the details of Wednesday’s episode in the lower house of the parliament, the government tabled the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill that seeks open balloting in upcoming Senate polls. Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem presented the bill amid loud slogans and protest by the opposition against the said amendment.

    As the session continued, a heated exchange of words took place between three members of the parliament when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Agha Rafiullah tore his copy of the bill and tossed it in the air in front of Speaker Asad Qaiser.

    After the incident, the speaker’s desk was surrounded, books were banged on the desks to disrupt proceedings, whistles were blown and Rafiullah claimed that Mazari allegedly hand-signalled the number five at him; taking it as Moutza.

    Moutza is the most traditional gesture of insult among Greeks. It consists of extending and spreading all fingers of the hand and presenting the palm towards the face of the person to be insulted with a forward motion. It is often coupled with swear words.

    Rafiullah was furious; he refused to tolerate it; brought the matter to everyone’s attention and the commotion almost turned into a quarrel when a couple of ruling party MNAs, including Malik Anwar Taj, accused him of throwing papers on Speaker Asad Qaiser, The Express Tribune reported.

    Rafiullah, however, denied the allegation and once again drew the house’s attention to Moutza.

    Ex-PM Ashraf expressed annoyance over the alleged insulting gesture, regretted treasury benches’ behaviour and reminded them that they don’t have the numbers needed for making a constitutional amendment.

    When given the floor, Mazari, on the other hand, alleged that Rafiullah swore at a woman MNA from the treasury benches and threw papers on Qaiser’s face.

    “I was only seeking your attention,” she told the speaker when asked to explain her gestures.

    WATCH VIDEO:

  • Arabic teaching compulsory in Islamabad schools after Senate okays bill

    Arabic teaching compulsory in Islamabad schools after Senate okays bill

    All primary and secondary schools in Islamabad are required to introduce the Arabic language as a compulsory subject after the Senate approved the Compulsory Teaching of the Arabic Language Bill 2020 on Monday.

    The bill presented by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Javed Abbasi was endorsed by all members of the upper house, except Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani who wrote a dissenting note. The bill will be implemented within six months.

    As per the bill, Arabic will be taught in schools in Islamabad from grades 1-5, while Arabic grammar will be taught in grades 6-12.

    Senator Abbasi said Arabia is “the fifth most spoken language in the world”, adding that it would also open up more job opportunities for Pakistanis in the Middle East. According to the senator, the Holy Quran is in Arabic and “we would not go through the problems we are currently facing had we understood the Holy Quran”.

    Parliamentary Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Muhammad Khan also agreed with Abbasi. He said the bill was in line with Article 31 of the Constitution that says: “Measures should be taken to spend our lives according to the Holy Quran and Sunnah.”

    According to Khan, learning Arabic was crucial to “become a good Muslim […] and understand God’s message”.

    However, PPP’s Rabbani said that legislation to make Arabic a mandatory language in schools was an attempt to “use Islamic for political purposes”. He further termed this an attempt to erase the diversity of Pakistan by imposing the foreign Arabic culture.

    “The Arab culture is not mine, [the] Indus Valley [Civilisation] is my culture,” he said, adding the Arabic language has nothing to do with Islam or Quran beyond being the language it was revealed in.

    In a response to The Current’s story on Instagram, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said that contrary to the media reports, the PPP opposed the said bill.

  • PM thinks election every five years is a ‘tragedy’

    PM thinks election every five years is a ‘tragedy’

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that no nation could move forward without long-term planning and it was tragic that governments in Pakistan could not do so due to the general election being held every five years.

    According to The News, the premier, while addressing a function in connection with documentary-drama ‘Paani Ke Pankh‘ on Thursday, termed the 10 years of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governments from 2008 through 2018 the “decade of darkness, marred by massive corruption, political expediency and inefficiency”.

    “When criminals become country heads, then no country can develop. So, one has to have faith in oneself. There are talented Pakistanis in every field outside Pakistan. The country’s system has to be fixed,” he said.

    “It takes a little time; people should not worry that the change has not come yet. It takes time to change the mindset. It’s tragic that in our country elections are held every five years due to which we do not have a long-term plan,” he continued.

    He said dams were built with a long-term plan and cited China as a country that is becoming the world’s fastest growing economic power and superpower because of long-term planning.

    “When we visited China, they told us what they were going to do in the next 10 to 20 years. No nation can move forward unless it has a long-term plan and thinks ahead. Unfortunately, we have a period of five years. We try to accomplish everything in five years, spend billions of rupees on advertisements and then fight elections on it,” he pointed out.

    Imran believed that this handicap had done a lot of damage to Pakistan.

  • Maryam says no U-turn on long march, mass resignations

    Amid reports of a rift in the opposition’s ranks, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz has said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will decide on Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) proposal to move a no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

    Addressing media persons after a parliamentary meeting of the PML-N, Maryam Nawaz said every decision regarding the anti-government movement will be taken through consensus.

    Speaking about the long march and mass resignations, she said the PDM is united and the time will come soon when it will march on Islamabad and resign en masse.

    It was the first time Maryam presided over a meeting of the PML-N. The pictures of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, who are incarcerated, were also placed in the meeting as symbolic gesture.

    On Saturday, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that the opposition should bring a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan to send his government home. His remarks had prompted a strong response from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with its leader Ahsan Iqbal asking the PPP chairman to show the numbers.

    The response had given rise to speculations of a rift between the PPP and other PDM parties.

    Subsequently, in an apparent attempt to bridge the rift, former president Asif Ali Zardari said the PPP and the PDM will send the “failed and incompetent” government home by all means.

    In a statement issued by PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor on Sunday, the former president said that the next few months were “very important for the future of the country’s politics”.

    According to the PPP co-chairman, the PDM is united and would use all means to send the government home. “These selected rulers will fall with their own weight and they just need the last push,” he added.

  • Zardari says PDM united to send govt home

    Zardari says PDM united to send govt home

    In an apparent attempt to bridge the rift between the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties, former president Asif Ali Zardari said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the PDM will send the “failed and incompetent” government home by all means.

    In a statement issued by PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor on Sunday, the former president said that the next few months were “very important for the future of the country’s politics”.

    According to the PPP co-chairman, the PDM is united and would use all means to send the government home. “These selected rulers will fall with their own weight and they just need a last push,” he added.

    Zardari said the government will have to go home as its “inexperience and ineptness might plunge the country into a bigger crisis”.

    He further criticised the government for its inability to handle the coronavirus crisis, saying the PTI government would neither procure coronavirus vaccine nor spend anything on the public.

    The PPP government had increased the country’s exports from Rs19 billion to Rs26bn in 2008 despite global economic recession and its revenues had also doubled, he said, adding that the government also increased the salaries of the government employees by 125 per cent.

    On Saturday, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that the opposition should bring a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan to send his government home. His remarks had prompted a strong response from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with its leader Ahsan Iqbal asking the PPP chairman to show the numbers.

    The response had given rise to speculations of a rift between the PPP and other PDM parties.

    Chaudhry Manzoor was quoted by Express Tribune saying that the PPP would use all available options to send the government “home”. He said that PPP hasn’t ruled out mass resignations and the long march, adding that a final decision will be taken with consensus.

    He also denied reports of a rift between the PDM parties, saying the difference of opinion shouldn’t be misconstrued. “The Senate elections will expose fissures in the government, which is when the option of no-confidence motion can bear fruit,” he was quoted as saying.

    Meanwhile, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal welcomed Zardari’s statement, as reported by the newspaper. “If PPP has a surprise up its sleeves regarding the no-confidence motion then it should bring it on the table,” he said, reiterating that all PDM decisions are consensual.

  • Bilawal not invited to Biden’s oath-taking ceremony, says PPP

    The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has denied the news that chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari have been invited to attend the oath-taking ceremony of US President-elect Joe Biden on Jan 20.

    The denial came a day after a media outlet reported that the PPP chairperson would be attending the inauguration ceremony of the US president-elect and leave for the US on January 18 on a four-day visit. It was being reported that the PPP chief would also meet the US senators.

    The report was also denied by PPP senior leader Farhatullah Babar, saying there was no truth to the reports of Bilawal going to the US.

    There were little chances of Bilawal attending the ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will only be attended by 1,000 people and most of the celebrations will be held online.

    Joe Biden, the Demoracts nominee, was elected as the president in November by defeating incumbent president Donald Trump. Trump had refused to accept the result and contest it in various courts — most of the pleas were dismissed by the judges.

    His refusal to accept the result and provocative speeches also resulted in an assault on The Capitol by the far-right supporters last week. These people stormed the building to stop the certification of Biden.

    The police and the National Guard managed to evacuate the building after four hours and imposed a curfew. Subsequently, Trump asked his supporters to remain calm and announced that he would support the peaceful transition of power. 

    Immediately after the certification, the White House released a statement from Trump in which he pledged an “orderly transition” on Jan. 20 when Biden will be sworn into office. Since then, the US president has attracted permanent bans on Twitter and Facebook for inciting violence.

  • Bilawal to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration next week

     Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has decided to attend the inauguration ceremony of US President-elect Joe Biden on January 18 (Monday) after an invite by the incoming US administration.

    The PPP chairman will leave for Washington on a four-day visit. His agenda includes meetings with the US senators among other officials, according to a report in ARY News.

    Joe Biden, the Demoracts nominee, was elected as the president in November by defeating incumbent president Donald Trump. Trump had refused to accept the result and contest it in various courts — most of the pleas were dismissed by the judges.

    His refusal to accept the result and provocative speeches also resulted in an assault on The Capitol by the far-right supporters last week. These people stormed the building to stop the certification of Biden.

    The police and the National Guard managed to evacuate the building after four hours and imposed a curfew. Subsequently, Trump asked his supporters to remain calm and announced that he would support the peaceful transition of power. 

    Immediately after the certification, the White House released a statement from Trump in which he pledged an “orderly transition” on Jan. 20 when Biden will be sworn into office.

    Since then, the US president has attracted permanent bans on Twitter and Facebook for inciting violence.

  • 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.