October five marks the birthday of Prime Minister Imran Khan, one of the most loved former cricketer in the history.
Imran Khan has fans around the world, as his stardom isn’t limited to Pakistan alone. Cricketing legends admire him for the skipper he was, leading Pakistan to its first and only ‘World Cup’ victory back in 1992.
Imran Khan was born in Lahore in 1952, October 5, 2021 marks his 69th birthday. Pakistan has been avidly wishing its leader, while celebrities also wished their PM.
In a telephonic conversation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates to consider providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, stated Radio Pakistan.
The two leaders shared their concerns regarding the health system in Afghanistan — the only other country in the world that is polio-endemic along with Pakistan, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Gates also praised Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate polio and at the same time, pledged his continued support against the disease so that no child in Pakistan is paralysed due to it in the future.
PM Imran Khan also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to end polio in Pakistan.
PM Khan had previously talked to Bill Gates in June, where the prior encouraged Microsoft to expand its footprint in Pakistan and set up a Microsoft incubation lab in the country.
People took to social media to wish Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on his 69th birthday on Tuesday.
#HappyBirthdayPMIK quickly became one of the top trends on Twitter.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) official Twitter account shared a video of PM Khan with the caption, “Compromise for your Dream but never Compromise on your Dream ~Imran Khan #HappyBirthdayPMIK.”
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) shared a post highlighting a track record of his phenomenal performances.
From PTI leaders to cricketers, all wished the PM on his birthday.
Many other users took to the internet to post messages of good health, happiness, and long life for the premier.
Imran Khan is the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, the head of the ruling PTI, and a former World Cup-winning captain of the Pakistan cricket team.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Monday formed a high-powered cell to investigate the 700 Pakistanis named in the Pandora Papers, including federal cabinet members, politicians, retired generals, owners of media houses, and others in establishing offshore companies.
PM Khan categorically stated that the prominent leaders and federal ministers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will have to clear themselves.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, while speaking to Dawn said: “The prime minister was adamant that those who have been accused in Pandora Papers of having offshore firms will have to clear themselves.”
The minister took to Twitter and informed about the formulation of the high-powered investigation cell. “The prime minister has set up a high-level cell under the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission to investigate the Pandora leaks, which will present the facts before the nation,” tweeted Fawad.
Law Minister Farogh Naseem would head the investigation cell that would also comprise the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials. The cases of the cabinet members would be sent to NAB for investigation. A separate probe will be launched by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to investigate the media owners whose names are included in the Pandora Papers, reports Dawn.
Those who had evaded tax or made offshore firms through ill-gotten money would be taken to task, otherwise, no action would be taken against others because establishing offshore firms was not a crime, the source tells Dawn.
Under the law, setting up an offshore company is not an offence or crime if the company is not involved in any illegal activity. However, those who have not declared these companies in their returns as assets may face legal action.
After the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a detailed list of public figures with offshore companies called the ‘Pandora Papers’ as part of their new investigation, PM Khan vowed to investigate all those Pakistanis mentioned in the Pandora Papers, and tweeted: “If any wrongdoing is established we will take appropriate action.”
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which has been investigating international finance and tax havens, has released a detailed list of public figures with offshore companies called the ‘Pandora Papers’ as part of their new investigation.
Nearly 700 Pakistanis have been named in the report including Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) leader Sharjeel Memon, Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz’s (PML-N) Senator Ishaq Dar’s son Ali Dar, Punjab provincial minister Aleem Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Vawda, Pakistan Muslim League- Quaid (PML-Q) leader and Federal Minister for Water Resources Monis Elahi.
Reacting to the news, Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to investigate all those Pakistanis mentioned in the Pandora Papers, and tweeted: “If any wrongdoing is established we will take appropriate action.”
“We welcome the Pandora Papers exposing the ill-gotten wealth of elites, accumulated through tax evasion & corruption & laundered out to financial ‘havens’. The UN SG’s Panel FACTI calculated a staggering $7 trillion in stolen assets parked in largely offshore tax havens,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.
“I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change crisis,” he added.
As per Geo News, Pandora Papers is a development to what has earlier been revealed in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, as per reports.
The ICIJ’s major investigation titled: “The Pandora Papers”, is said to be the result of 600 journalists in 117 countries studying for months roughly 11.9 million documents that leaked from the offshore environment.
Journalist Umar Cheema, who was part of the ICIJ’s team investigating the Pandora Papers, said that the names of several Pakistanis were on the Pandora Papers, adding that people should wait for another day as the report will officially be released on October 3.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman tweeted that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan again wants to give amnesty to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). She questioned whether PM Khan had asked parliament “what we think about that”. She also questioned whether the premier had heard the TTP response to the government’s offer of reconciliation.
PPP’s Nayyar Bokhari pointed out that the parliament had been “bypassed” and called on the government to clarify the terms on which these talks were being held.
In a separate statement, PPP information secretary Shazia Marri said: “On what basis and under what conditions are talks being held with the TTP? Why was the parliament not taken into confidence? Why did the government feel the need to hold secret talks with the TTP in this way?”
These statements came after Prime Minister Imran Khan said that if the TTP lay down their arms, “we can forgive them and they can become normal citizens”.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that if the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) lay down their arms, “we can forgive them and they can become normal citizens”. PM Khan said this in an interview with journalist Ali Mustafa, which will air on TRT World Now.
“Pakistani Taliban groups actually want to talk to our government for some peace, for some reconciliation and we are in talks with some of those groups,” added PM Khan.
“Is the Afghan Taliban helping you in this process?” questioned Ali Mustafa.
“In a sense that the talks are taking place in Afghanistan so yes, you can say it in this sense.”
Mustafa asked if Pakistan was expecting some sort of an agreement or a deal to come out from the Taliban.
“Yes, I repeat I do not believe in military solutions. I’m anti-military solutions, so I always believe that being a politician, political dialogue is the way ahead, which I always believed was the case in Afghanistan,” added the premier.
Last month, President Dr Arif Alvi had said that if anyone wants to leave the ideology of the banned TTP and work as per the Constitution of Pakistan, the government may consider a general amnesty.
President Alvi said, “The TTP is a threat to us. We have been told that they will stay with them [Afghan Taliban] but do nothing against Pakistan.”
“It’s one step, Pakistan will consider general amnesty, if anyone surrenders,” further added Alvi.
A few days after the president’s statement, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in an interview with The Independent also said that the government would be “open to giving” a pardon to members of the banned TTP if they promise not to get involved in terrorism and follow the Constitution of Pakistan.
Qureshi added, “If [the TTP] are willing to mend fences and not take the law into their hands and not get involved in terrorist activities and they submit and surrender to the writ of the government and the Constitution of Pakistan, we are even open to giving them a pardon.”
“But as long as they do not come and start undertaking terrorist activities [in Pakistan]. That is our concern,” the foreign minister stressed.
The United States Central Command (Centcom) Chief, General Frank McKenzie said that the United States (US) and Pakistan were involved in ongoing negotiations over the use of a vital air corridor to access Afghanistan, reports Dawn.
“Over the last 20 years we’ve been able to use what we call the air boulevard to go in over western Pakistan and that’s become something that’s vital to us, as well as certain landlines of communication,” he said.
“And we’ll be working with the Pakistanis in the days and weeks ahead to look at what that relationship is going to look like in the future.”
“We estimated an accelerated withdrawal would increase risks of regional instability, the security of Pakistan, and its nuclear arsenals,” Chairman of the Joint Chief General Mark Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We need to fully examine the role of Pakistan sanctuary,” the general said.
“I believe Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban is going to become significantly more complicated as a result of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” said General McKenzie.
However, in June, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, Pakistan will “absolutely not” allow the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use bases on its soil for cross-border counter-terrorism missions after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan.
A United Kingdom (UK) court has ordered to unfreeze Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and his family’s bank accounts for lack of evidence of corruption and money laundering, reported Geo News.
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) unfroze the bank accounts of former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and those of his son, Suleman Shehbaz, on Monday.
The NCA had conducted a 17-month long probe in which it examined Shehbaz Sharif’s financial transactions over the past 20 years. It said that no evidence of money laundering or criminal activities against the PML-N president or his family was found.
The UK’s top anti-corruption agency filed a unilateral application before Judge Rimmer to declare that its two-year high-profile investigation in the jurisdictions of Pakistan, UK, and Dubai found no evidence of money laundering and criminal conduct on part of the two Sharifs who were investigated.
The NCA had initiated the probe after Pakistan’s Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) had shared evidence with the UK crime agency.
After the Westminster Magistrates Court allowed the accounts to be frozen and issued a probe consent to the NCA on December 19, 2019, Suleman Shehbaz’s declared Barclays account, Shehbaz Sharif’s HBL UK and Barclays account were immediately probed, seized and monies were frozen.
Usually, anti-money laundering investigations go back only six years, but in this case, the NCA used its excessive powers and investigated Shehbaz Sharif and his son’s transactions dating back to around 20 years.
NCA’s investigators started the probe from the first flat that Shehbaz Sharif bought in 2004 on Edgware Road when he was in exile and asked him to produce evidence of the clean origin of the money, including mortgage payments, sources of proceeds in his accounts, salaries and dividends, and full proceeds of the property purchase in the UK bought during exile.
The NCA investigated Suleman Shehbaz’s Barclays account declared in Pakistan with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and looked into all transfers that were made from Pakistan after the State Bank of Pakistan’s approval. The NCA went through each receipt of transfers from the official money exchangers.
The court documents obtained by this correspondent from credible sources show that the NCA received a letter from the ARU on December 11, 2019, in which it levelled allegations of criminal conduct against Shehbaz Sharif and Suleman Shehbaz.
The government of Pakistan had requested the UK government to seize all assets and funds of Shehbaz Sharif and his family and asked them to return the same to Pakistan and extradite Suleman Shehbaz with his family.
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said that reports of Shehbaz Sharif being acquitted by the British court were incorrect, clarifying that neither had the ARU nor NAB requested the UK government to initiate a probe against the PML-N leader.
“[These transactions] were declared as a suspicious transaction by the UK authorities and the NCA secured an asset freezing order(AFO) from the court against these funds,” he tweeted.
“The news about the alleged acquittal of Shehbaz Sharif or his son Suleman run by one news channel is incorrect and misreporting. It was a result of a suspicious transaction reported by a bank to NCA. The investigation by the NCA against Suleman Shehbaz and some of his family members was not initiated at the request of Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) or National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” tweeted Akbar, who had been keeping a low profile for the last couple of months.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said: “The UK court’s decision has unequivocally exonerated Shehbaz Sharif and his family of all malicious and vexatious claims of corruption and money laundering by Imran Khan. The NCA conducted a 21-month global investigation spanning across a 20-year timeframe whilst overcoming unprecedented jurisdictional challenges.”
“Never in the history of Pakistan has such a public office-holder been subjected to global scrutiny and multi-jurisdictional probing. Imran Khan has been exposed as a charlatan, willing to malign and assassinate characters of honest public office-holders. False corruption narrative exposed as nothing more than a smokescreen and Imran Khan to be an unscrupulous ringmaster of a circus built on incompetence, deceit and stained by the indignation of the innocent and the poor,” she said.
Reacting to news that the government may give an extension to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Javed Iqbal, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted: “PPP will forcefully oppose the illegal extension in the tenure of chairman NAB.”
“Even attempting an extension, for most controversial chairman in history, would serve to prove our argument that NAB is an extension of [prime minister Imran Khan] IK’s govt not impartial.”
The four-year tenure of NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal will end early next month.
The non-extendable tenure of the NAB chairman has led to rumours as Prime Minister Imran Khan refuses to consult the Leader of the Opposition and the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shehbaz Sharif.
PM Khan has refused to hold talks with Shehbaz Sharif as the latter is accused of corruption references filed against him by NAB.