Tag: Prime Minister Imran Khan

  • ‘That’s why he prayed for Modi’s victory’: Imran accused of receiving funding from India’s BJP, Israel

    The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership has accused Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of receiving funding from India and Israel, as Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also drawn a link between the claim and the premier hoping Narendra Modi won the 2019 election to become his Indian counterpart.

    Ahead of the Indian general election, Imran had expressed his wish for Indian hardliner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the election as “they were more prone to holding dialogue with Pakistan”.

    Addressing a protest demonstration in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, Maryam demanded that PM Imran came clean if there were no skeletons in his closet.

    “Imran Khan received funding from India and Israel in his own and in the bank accounts of his friends, and through ‘Hundi’ also,” she added.

    Maryam further said that one of the BJP leaders, Andarjeet Dosal, and an Israeli person transferred funds to Imran’s accounts that he used to operate with his own signatures.

    She said that having received funds from the BJP, Imran prayed for victory of Narendra Modi in 2019 elections and was hopeful of his success.

    Now, she maintained, Imran was saying that he had no knowledge of transfer of funds and the same was done by some agents. “Either he is foolish or trying to make a fool out of the people.”

    The PML-N leader said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) disclosed 23 secret accounts of Imran he used to operate with his signatures, and the same were kept secret from the ECP as well.

    PM Imran should also tell as to who were the agents who brought him in power and imposed him on 220 million people of Pakistan, Maryam said, alleging that the ECP scrutiny committee denied releasing facts about the case because Imran did not permit it. “The one who called us thieves turned out to be the biggest thief himself,” she added.

    She said that a long list of Imran’s crimes came to light before the ECP’s scrutiny committee, but it had been instructed to go slow on him and that was why the scrutiny committee had been investigating the matter for three years.

    Maryam said the shocking revelations should have prompted a decision within three days. “During the 80 hearings of the case, Imran sought a stay of proceedings 30 times, requested four times to keep the proceedings secret, and also moved the high court six times while challenging authority of the ECP,” she said.

    Maryam said the public knew who imposed him on the people. “Pakistan has changed now and you cannot commit dacoity on the votes of its people anymore,” she added.

    She said now that Imran had confessed to his crime, ECP should announce the punishment for him.

    PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman also severely criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, and repeated the allegations levelled by the PML-N leader. “Imran Khan is an agent of Jews and he contested elections while using funding from India and Israel,” he claimed.

    Fazl said he had always told the people of Pakistan that Imran Khan was a Jew agent.

    Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the Imams of mosques in Islamabad had refused to receive Rs10,000 per month stipend from the government, adding those might be Indian and Israeli funds. “Those are Hindus and Jews who are supporting the Imran government,” he added.

    The PDM president said some institutions had brought the country to such a bad state of affairs, saying the ECP was facing severe pressure and was serving its own interests.”

    “Those powerful selected a fool person so that they should actually rule while sitting behind the scenes,” he added.

    Other leaders of the anti-government alliance also delivered fiery speeches against the current government setup.

  • CPEC to come down crashing? Foreign media report claims ‘most serious disagreement’ between Pakistan, China

    Pakistan and China are embroiled in their most serious disagreement relating to the Belt and Road Initiative, causing the annual bilateral summit of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to be delayed, the world’s largest financial newspaper has claimed.

    The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) is CPEC’s principal decision-making body. It is jointly chaired by Pakistan’s minister for planning, development and special initiatives and the vice chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.

    The first JCC meeting was held in August 2013 and the last in November 2019. The 10th JCC was scheduled for early 2020, but remains postponed.

    Initially, the COVID-19 pandemic was the reason, but later disagreements between the two countries over the Main Line 1 (ML-1) railway project and special economic zones became the main points of disagreement, Nikkei Asia has learned from informed sources.

    Asad Umar, Pakistan’s minister for planning, development and special initiatives, told local media in November that the 10th JCC would be held the following month. However, officials in the Planning Commission of Pakistan, who asked not to be named, recently told Nikkei that the meeting will not take place for at least three months — by far the longest JCC gap to date.

    ML-1 is the largest CPEC project and worth $6.8 billion. China is expected to lend $6 billion of this, which Pakistan wants to borrow at a concessional interest rate of less than 3%.

    China offers a mixture of concessionary and commercial loans for such projects. This could significantly increase the aggregate interest rate Islamabad will face, according to the planning commission officials.

    “China is reluctant to lend money for ML-1 because Pakistan has already sought debt relief to meet G-20 lending conditions and it is not in a position to give sovereign guarantees,” Nasir Jamal, a senior journalist in Lahore covering business and the economy, told Nikkei. He said Beijing’s appetite for lending money for large infrastructure projects has diminished because these projects are vulnerable to local politics that delay returns on investment for China. That has hindered agreement on the finance framework for ML-1.

    Andrew Small, a senior trans-Atlantic fellow with the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund, a U.S. think tank, said China tends to base its decisions about interest rates for loans to Pakistan on a couple of criteria. Firstly, do low-interest rates encourage projects that do not make sense financially? Secondly, what precedents are set for other countries looking for similar concessions?

    “China is much more comfortable deferring payments or providing new financing than it is offering concessional rates in the first place,” Small told Nikkei. He said this approach provides Beijing with greater leverage and control even if they are willing to be very flexible at the back-end.

    With host countries under pressure to repay at higher rates, China trades payment deferments in return for influence, which helps it get more favorable arrangements.

    The delayed JCC meeting and unsettled ML-1 financial framework is complicating matters for Pakistan. Early this month, Pakistan Railways asked the government for 11 billion rupees ($69 million) to provide ML-1 security. Without the Chinese financing framework being agreed by the JCC, it is hard for Islamabad to come up with such a large amount given the state of the economy and severe budgetary constraints.

    The other major disagreement between Beijing and Islamabad delaying the JCC meeting relates to SEZs. In the second phase of CPEC scheduled for 2020 to 2025, Chinese companies are due to start producing goods in Pakistan and exporting from there.

    Currently, the industrial cooperation framework for the SEZs is limited to a memorandum of understanding without detailed modalities. Matters such as tax exemptions and requirements for employing local labor have not been finalized. These need to be agreed by China for confirmation at the JCC. The Board of Investment of Pakistan submitted the draft agreement for the industrial cooperation framework to the Chinese government last month and is still awaiting a response.

    In December 2020, during a meeting of the Joint Working Group on Industrial Cooperation under CPEC, Asim Ayub, the project director for industrial cooperation at the Board of Investment, pressed for early signing of the industrial cooperation framework agreement.

    The seriousness of the delay is clear from China’s unprecedented reluctance to schedule a JCC meeting. In the past, JCCs were always held in time, and China agreed to Islamabad’s requests most of the time. Some experts believe the delay is evidence that CPEC is derailing.

    According to Small, there were plenty of announcements about CPEC last year, but actually setting deals in motion was another matter. “The optics do matter to China so I still expect them to figure out terms in the end, and certainly to keep some narrative of continued progress alive,” Small told Nikkei. “But that doesn’t mean they’re willing to agree on something that doesn’t make sense for other reasons just to speed things up a little.”

    Pakistan is currently renegotiating its $6 billion extended fund facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was suspended in April 2020. The IMF reportedly will only resume the program if Pakistan does not take out any new commercial loans, and that is one of the reasons it is looking for concessions on loans for the ML-1 project.

    An important long-term implication of this case for other BRI countries could be that China will be more wary of lending to countries that have entered loan agreements with global lenders such as the IMF.

    Hasaan Khawar, an Islamabad-based public policy analyst, views the situation from a different perspective. “The back-and-forth with China by Pakistan on the interest rate and additional guarantees for the ML-1 project is a good sign,” he told Nikkei. “The Pakistani side is appraising the terms carefully and trying to negotiate a better deal.”

    The report originally appeared on Nikkei Asia

  • PTI UK member claims Buzdar govt official told him to run Twitter campaign against Aurat March, critics

    In a first, a worker of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) United Kingdom (UK) wing has stepped forward with damning allegations against a key person of the Usman Buzdar administration, Azhar Mashwani.

    In a video message, Arslan Mushtaq, who was appointed as the deputy head of PTI UK Twitter in September last year, has accused Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Buzdar’s Focal Person on Digital Media Azhar Mashwani of telling him and others to run smear campaigns against critics of the PTI government and Aurat March participants among others.

    “I lead [PTI] UK’s Twitter. What do you do there? Have you not told us to run campaigns against people such as [journalist] Amber Shamsi and [Ahmad] Waqass Goraya? Did you not use to tell me what to tweet against Aurat March participants? Did you not use to send me voice notes, telling me what message to send in which groups?” Mushtaq asked as he confronted Mashwani in the video message.

    He went on to accuse the Punjab CM’s aide of seeking retweets and help to make videos against political opponents such as Maryam Nawaz of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) go viral.

    While the announced sequel of the video message has not yet been released, the claims are doing rounds over the social media, leaving users asking if campaigns against critics were “government-approved”.

    Twitter users in Pakistan have time and again been left shocked to find that most of the top trends on the popular microblogging site included such cuss words against journalists, activists and government critics, which cannot be reproduced here.

    Recently, a hashtag calling for the arrest of journalists briefly became the top Twitter trend in Pakistan, deepening concern over a shrinking space for dissent in the country.

    Many users accompanied such tags with a composite photograph of prominent journalists and TV anchors, some of whom regularly criticise the government led by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    Women journalists have especially been targeted time and again. Months ago, the routine had prompted a group of well-known Pakistani women journalists and commentators to seek protection against what they termed “vicious attacks” directed at them through social media, allegedly by people linked to the ruling PTI government.

    While Baloch’s claims add weight to what several targets of online trolls seem to always have believed, the same have been rubbished by those he accused.

    Speaking to The Current, Mashwani called Baloch a “pathological liar”.

    “It’s funny that a pathological liar and imposter’s statement, who was exposed by me, is being quoted against me. That too without any evidence,” he said.

    Terming the claims as “totally baseless and ridiculous”, Mashwani has also not shied away from tweeting his side of the story.

    In conversation with The Current, Mohammad Kamran, the PTI’s social media head, said that an episode transpired on Twitter Sunday night between Mashwani and UK deputy head Baloch.

    “They had a fight in private, which led to a public fight on Twitter. Some things were said that were not true. The fight was settled and they deleted their tweets but as you know, once something goes on social media, it will be questioned. An inquiry against our deputy lead Baloch has been called by Overseas head Zeeshan.”

    Kamran further said he would send the case to the disciplinary committee. “It is our internal matter that will be heard by our disciplinary committee and then any needed action will be taken against whoever is at fault,” he added.

  • Tensions run high as PDM remains undeterred on protest outside ECP amid terror threats

    Tensions run high as PDM remains undeterred on protest outside ECP amid terror threats

    Tensions are running high in the twin cities, especially the federal capital, as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) remains undeterred on plans to hold a protest outside the office of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the delay in the decision of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding case.

    With security around the ECP being tightened to avoid any untoward incident, Geo News reports that the federal government has deployed two platoons of Punjab Rangers along with police personnel and sealed the election watchdog’s main entrance with barbed wires.

    Walkthrough gates have also been installed in the Red Zone area for pedestrians.

    Leaders of the anti-government opposition alliance are scheduled to gather at Kashmir Chowk around 1 pm from where they will lead workers to the ECP aboard a container.

    Earlier, the PDM leadership met in Islamabad at the residence of Maulana Fazlur Rehman to review the protest strategy.

    Addressing the media after the meeting alongside Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice-president Maryam Nawaz, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief said the PTI foreign case could not be delayed any further and urged the commission to announce the verdict soon.

    “Decisions against elected prime ministers are given in a few months’ time but verdict against a selected premier has been pending for over six years,” he said.

    “Foreign funding case is the biggest scandal in Pakistan. Imran Khan has amassed millions in the name of party funds. He took the mother of all NROs to create political instability in the country,” he said and claimed that PM Imran used charity funds for personal business and to spread chaos.

    The protest will not be attended by PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari who is currently in Sukkur and plans to celebrate PPP’s win in the Umerkot by-polls.

    Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has warned the opposition of creating a law and order situation. He has also said he “doesn’t want to scare anyone” but Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been on high alert since December 15.

  • VIDEO: Is that Imran Khan on a rickshaw in Sialkot?

    A viral video has shown a person with uncanny resemblance to a younger Imran Khan, riding a rickshaw in Sialkot.

    “Look, there’s Imran Khan on a rickshaw in Sialkot,” the person recording the video from his own vehicle can be heard as jokingly saying.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    While the unnamed person from the undated video isn’t really Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician and now Prime Minister (PM) Imran (unless he travelled to 2021 from the 1990s), this isn’t the first time such a video has left netizens second-guessing what they just saw.

    In 2018, the video of an Imran lookalike driving a Mehran had gone viral soon after his election as the country’s premier.

    With the video doing the rounds on social media, people, especially Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters, had started trending tags such as “#NayaPakistan”, “#SayNoToProtocol” and “#ImranKhanOurLeader” on Twitter.

    In the said video, those filming the scene could be heard shouting “Naya Pakistan!” and “Wow, Imran Khan!”, to which the person was seen responding with a wave.

    Unfortunately, the incident had followed a series of criticism aimed at the PM and his ministers after they did opt for protocol.

  • !پتا نہیں عمران خان

    !پتا نہیں عمران خان

    یہ کہنا مبالغہ آرائی نہ ہوگی کہ میں نے اپنی 70 فیصد زندگی “پتا نہیں ” کہہ کر گزاری ہی ۔ کوئی پوچھے کہ کیا کھانا ہے، میرا جواب ہوتا ہے ” پتا نہیں ” کوئی پوچھے کہ جانا کہاں ہے ،میرا جواب ہوتا ہے ” پتا نہیں ” ،کیا پہننا ہے ،کس سے رابطہ کرنا ہے، کیا دیکھنا ہے، کیا پڑھنا ہے، زندگی کا کوئی بھی کام ہو ، میری کوشش ہوتی ہے کہ ” پتا نہیں ” کہہ کر ہی مسئلے کا حل نکل آئے گا ۔ مسئلے کا اگر حل نہ بھی نکلے تو کم از کم میرے فیصلے سے مسئلہ نہ ذیادہ خراب اور نہ ہی سہی ہوتا ہے۔

    یہ تو خیر میری نجی زندگی کی روداد ہے ،لیکن یہ ” پتا نہیں ” کی عادت تو ہماری موجودہ حکومت نے بھی اپنا لی ہوئی ہے۔ بے نیازی اپنے محبوب میں تو اچھی لگتی ہے لیکن اپنی حکومت میں اس قدر بے نیازی دیکھ کر میرا پتا نہیں بھی ” لگ پتا گیا ” بن چکا ہے ۔ میں یہ پورے وسوق سے کہہ سکتی ہوں کہ اس ” پتا نہیں ” نے زندگی میں مجھے کچھ خاص آگے نہیں پہنچایا ۔لیکن موجودہ حکومت کو شاید یہ پہلے سے ہی معلوم ہے کہ وہ شاید عمر بھر اب شہرِ اقتدار سے نہیں جائے گی ۔ میرے وزیر اعظم عمران خان ،جو ذرائع کے مطابق اس ملک کو چلانے کے ذمہ دار ہیں ، نے اپنے دور حکومت میں اکثر و بیشتر بڑے خوبصورت انداز سے اپنی بے نیازی کا اظہار کیا ہے ۔ کبھی وہ بڑی معصومیت سے کہتے ہیں ” مجھے تو پتا ہی نہیں تھا ” ، اور کبھی کہتے ہیں “مجھے تو ٹی وی سے پتا چلا ” اور کبھی وہ کہتے ہیں ” مجھے تو میری بیوی بشریٰ نے بتایا ” ۔ مجھے ان کی بے نیازی پر ہمیشہ عمر اکمل یاد آ جاتے ہیں جنہوں نے ایک بار کہا تھا ” مجھے نہیں پتا وہاں کیا ہو رہا تھا” ۔ یہ جملہ شاید عمر اکمل نے بھی اس حکومت کے لیے ہی کہا تھا۔

    ہمارے وزیرِ اعظم ایک نجی ٹی وی کو انٹرویو دے رہے تھے جس میں میزبان کی جانب سے مہنگائی پر سوال اٹھایا گیا ۔ سوال میں پوچھا گیا عوام کیا کرے کیسے گزارا کرے ۔ میزبان کا کہنا تھا کہ لوگ خود کشیا ں کرنا شروع کر دیں گے ۔ جس پر ہمارے وزیر اعظم نے کہا ” تو پھر کیا کریں؟ ” میں نے یہ جملہ کافی بار سنا تا کہ مجھے یقین آ سکے کہ کوئی ایسا بھی ہے دنیا میں جس کو مجھ سے ذیادہ ” نہیں پتا ” ۔ ابھی اس ” پتا نہیں ” سے شناسائی بڑھ ہی رہی تھی کہ وزیرِ اعظم عمران خان نے کہا ” ہم 5 سال کے لیے آتے ہیں ، کچھ سمجھ نہیں آتا اور وقت گزر جاتا ہے ” ۔ پھر وزیراعظم نے ایک محفل میں یہ بھی کہ ڈالا کہ “ہمیں حکومت میں نہیں تھے تو کچھ نظر نہیں آتا تھا”۔ لیکن عمران خان صاحب! آپ کو تو اب بھی کچھ پتا نہیں چل رہا! یہ ایسے ہی جیسے آپ کسی ایسی شادی میں جائیں جہاں نہ آپ کسی کو جانتے ہوں ، نہ کوئی آپ کو جانتا ہو ۔ اور ادھر ادھر دیکھنے میں ہی وقت بیت جائے۔
    ملک میں کورونا اسی طرح پھیل رہا ہے جیسے وفاقی حکومت کی کیبنٹ پھیل رہی ہے ۔ہم جو رو رہے تھے کہ چین کی ویکسین سے خاص فرق نہیں پڑنا، اسی دوران وزیر اعظم کے معاون خصوصی ڈاکٹر فیصل نے بتایا کہ پاکستانی حکومت نے تو ویکسین کا آرڈر ہی نہیں دیا ۔اور شاید حکومت کو یہ بھی نہیں پتا ویکسین کون سی خریدنی ہے ۔ عمران خان کہتے تھے کہ باہر سے لوگ پاکستان آئیں گے نوکریاں کرنے ۔فالحال تو باہر سے صرف کورونا آیا ہے، اور وہ شاید کہیں جانے بھی نہیں والا ۔اسی “پتا نہیں ” کے سحر میں دو دن پہلے کپتان نے کہا کہ مہنگائی پر جلد ہی قابو پا لیں گے ۔اور آج میں نے پٹرول سے لے کر میری جینے کی تمنا تک کو مہنگا ہوتے دیکھا ۔
    مزے کی بات یہ ہے کہ وزیر اعظم اپنے ہر خطاب میں ہمیشہ کہتے پائے گئے ہیں کہ ان کو سب پتا ہے ۔ ہم ان کی بات سے متفق ہیں۔ لیکن جو ہمارے کپتان کو پتا ہے وہ نہ کہنے کے لائق ہے اور نہ سننے کے لائق ہے۔ جس کی سب سے بڑی مثال شیعہ ہزارہ کا دلخراش واقعہ ہے ۔کپتان کو یہ کہیں سے پتا چل گیا کہ لواحقین ان کو بلیک میل کر رہے ہیں۔نا صرف یہ،بلکہ جیسے جرمنی اور جاپان کی سرحدیں ملائی تھیں، اسی طرح ہزارہ شیعہ کو ڈاکو مافیا سے بھی ملا دیا ۔
    میرے پیارے وزیرِ اعظم ، اگر آپ کے پتا نہیں کہنے کا ایک ڈالر ملتا ہوتا تو آج آپ کی قوم لاکھوں کروڑوں کی مالک ہوتی ۔آپ کے ” پتا نہیں ” کی وجہ سے عوام یہ سوچنے پر مجبور ہو گئی ہے یا تو آپ کے پاس اسمارٹ فون کے بجائے نوکیا 3310 فون ہے یا پھر آپ کے پاس سگنل ہی نہیں آرہے ؟ آپ کے اس پتا نہیں کی وجہ سے ہم سب ایک بے یقینی کے عالم یہی سوچتے رہتے ہیں کہ پتا نہیں بجلی آئے گی کہ نہیں، پتا نہیں گیس آئے گی کہ نہیں ، پتا نہیں پٹرول سستا ہوگا کہ نہیں، پتا نہیں آٹا ملتا رہے گا کہ نہیں ، پتا نہیں چینی ملے گی یا نہیں ،پتا نہیں ہم رہیں گے کہ نہیں؟

    اب خود ہی بتائیے جب آپ ہی کو کچھ پتا نہیں ہوگا ، کچھ خبر نہ ہوگی ، تو ہمارا کیا ہوگا ؟

    وہ میر تقی میر نے شاید یہ شعر ہماری موجودہ حکومت کے لیے ہی کہا تھا:

    پتۤہ پتۤہ بوٹا بوٹا
    حال ہمارا جانے ہے
    جانے نہ جانے گل ہی نہ
    جانے باغ تو سارا جانے ہے

  • No pension for new hirings at KP universities in ‘Naya Pakistan’: report

    In what appears to greatly contradict claims of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for ‘Naya Pakistan [new Pakistan]’, Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has issued a notification to the public sector universities directing it to implement “no pension liability” for all future initial recruitments in addition to other strict measures to overcome the rising deficit.

    According to a report by Express Tribune, the department has also directed delinking of the pay scales from the basic pay scale scheme and university pay scale, while further stating in a notification that government grant and other resources meant for higher education shall not be expended on meeting the shortfall of the schools run by the universities.

    “These schools should have separate Board of Governors (BoG),” it reportedly read.

    Furthermore, house subsidy and requisition should be paid to the employees on the provincial government rates.

    All medical allowances in their current form have been abolished and shall be paid at the provincial government rates, says the notification, adding that the maintenance cost including repair, security and other facilities’ costs should be fully recovered from the employees provided with accommodation by the universities.

    “The universities will be assisted in the process of exploring new avenues of financial resources, including renting out academic blocks to other institutions,” says the notification.

    The report also quoted a university official as saying that in the presence of the University Act 2012, amended in 2016, all the incentives provided to the employees by the universities had completely been protected and in the presence of an act, no notification could change it including abolishing of the pension, house rents and medical allowances.

  • ‘They need your shoulder to cry on’: Momina Mustehsan requests PM Imran to visit Machh mourners

    ‘They need your shoulder to cry on’: Momina Mustehsan requests PM Imran to visit Machh mourners

    Pakistani singer, Momina Mustehsan has requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Machh mourners.

    In a tweet addressed to PM Imran, the Baari singer wrote: “The nation mourns in solidarity with our Hazara kin.”

    “It is crucial to show solidarity at this hour – regardless of conspiracies, those responsible and those trying to politicize,” said Mustehsan, requesting PM Imran to reconsider his stance.

    “Please do not wait for them to bury their deceased, they need your shoulder to cry on,” she added.

    “Honorable Prime Minister, all eyes are on you. The entire nation is well aware of the persecutions faced by Hazara community for far too long,” said Momina further. “They are one of us and we are one of them.”

    Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad, PM Imran had urged the protesters not to “blackmail the premier” because “anyone will be able to blackmail the PM then”, including the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

    According to the PM, the government has accepted all demands of the protesters, but their demand that they will not bury their dead unless the prime minister visits them is akin to blackmail. “If they’ll bury their deceased, I will then visit them,” said the PM.

    Earlier, Malala Yousafzai also requested the Prime Minister to visit Machh mourners.

    Meanwhile, the Oscar winner filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy criticised PM to give preference to Turkish filmmakers over Machh mourners.

  • Ertuğrul delegation enjoys a delightful dinner in Islamabad

    Ertuğrul delegation enjoys a delightful dinner in Islamabad

    The team behind Diriliş: Ertuğrul, including Celal AL (who plays Abdur Rehman Alp) and producer of the Ottoman epic Kamal Tekdin, after being welcomed by Adnan Siddiqui and Humayun Saeed, enjoyed a delightful dinner in Islamabad on Thursday.

    The dinner, which was hosted by The Legend of Maula Jutt producer Ammara Hikmat saw several Pakistani celebrities including Imran Abbas, Faisal Qureshi, Ahmad Ali Akhbar, Yasir Jaswal, Adnan and Humayun in attendance.

    Pictures of the guests enjoying themselves were widely shared on social media.

    Earlier in the day, the delegation met with Adnan and Humayun, with whom Tekdin Films and TRT production have signed a deal with as partners. Adnan had earlier shared that the partnership will infuse freshness in Pakistani content. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz and Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Afridi were also part of the meeting.

    Sharing pictures from the meeting, Adnan said that it didn’t feel like they were meeting Celal for the first time. He added that Celal says that he’s fallen in love with Pakistan and our hospitality.

    Later, the delegates also had a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan. According to a press release, the meeting discussed in detail the proposed television series being created in collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey on the Khilafat Movement among other future projects and the lost glory of the Pakistani entertainment industry.

    PM Khan, during the meeting, emphasized on showcasing the golden era of Muslims’ Rule in the subcontinent in dramas and films to apprise the youth about that golden age and to foil negative propaganda and designs.

    The PM said that the Pakistani film and drama industry needed to work for the promotion of local culture to apprise western-influenced youth of their indigenous values and to protect them from social evils, adding that the Pakistani film and drama industry will flourish by producing quality content. This will also provide a substitute for the superficial and glamourized broadcast content to the youth.

    Meanwhile, producer Tekdin said that the Turkish team is very happy over Pakistan’s cooperation in this project, which will highlight cultural commonalities between the two countries. He said it will also help strengthen people to people contact.

    The Prime Minister, while appreciating the project, assured the Turkish team that his government will provide full cooperation in this regard.

    Pakistan’s Turkish guest Celal is thoroughly enjoying his stay in Pakistan and prayed that the love and brotherhood between Turkey and Pakistan lives long.

  • PM meets Ertuğrul founding team while Mach victim families still wait for him

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has come under criticism for meeting the founding team of hit Turkish drama series ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’ days after the Mach massacre, victim families of which await him even after the passage of five days.

    Earlier, thousands of protesters blocked Quetta’s key western bypass on Sunday after 11 coalminers belonging to the Hazara community were brutally executed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack by terrorists at a residential compound near a mine site in Mach area of Bolan, some 100km away from the provincial capital.

    While the protesters have been seeking the government’s support and assurance for an end to sectarian killings that have once again shot up in the area, they have been demanding that the premier personally meets them.

    Amid delays in PM Imran’s travel to Balochistan, and subsequent criticism by opposition members as well as the general public, it has emerged that he on Thursday met the founding team of the hit Turkish series that has broken viewership records in Pakistan.

    The meeting in Islamabad was also attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Kashmir Committee Chairperson Shehryar Afridi and personalities from Turkish and Pakistani film industries.

    The meeting discussed in detail the proposed television series being created in collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey on the Khilafat Movement among other future projects and the lost glory of Pakistani entertainment industry.

    The premier, however, did tweet on the Mach massacre once again on Wednesday.

    He had also condemned the incident and assured the grieving community of the government’s support earlier, on Sunday.