Tag: Prime Minister Imran Khan

  • PM’s first official visit to Presidency for ‘most important’ meeting with Dr Alvi, ISI chief

    PM’s first official visit to Presidency for ‘most important’ meeting with Dr Alvi, ISI chief

    In what is being called the “most important” meeting, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has called on President Dr Arif Alvi in his maiden official trip to the Presidency, and the two were later joined by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed.

    While an official press release says that the three discussed various domestic and international issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, precautionary arrangements for the forthcoming holy month of Ramzan and Indian aggression against people of held Kashmir, a report has quoted political quarters as terming it a meeting of the big three.

    The report that emphasised on the most important aspect of the gathering, did not drop any hint regarding it.

    The president appreciated the government steps to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country and the PM’s measures for seeking relief in the debt to be paid by the developing countries, the official version maintained.

    Later, the ISI chief also joined the meeting that condemned unprovoked Indian firing along the Line of Control (LoC). They also denounced the usurping of rights of Kashmiris in the garb of coronavirus in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    The premier reportedly thanked the president and lauded his efforts to evolve a consensus among religious quarters regarding prayers and Taraweeh at mosques during Ramzan.

  • Faisal Edhi, who met PM last week, tests positive for coronavirus

    Son of the late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and incumbent head of the Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi, who met Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan at the latter’s office last week, has tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns over the health of the premier who could have contracted the virus.

    Edhi met Imran on April 15 to donate Rs10 million to the PM’s COVID-19 Relief Fund on behalf of his organisation, and a picture of the meeting had also gone viral over the internet.

    According to reports, he is in Islamabad at the moment and was tested after insisting the same, considering that he has been working in the field. His family and most people he interacted with within the past two weeks, including PM Imran, are also likely to be tested.

    His son Saad Edhi has said that his father started suffering from symptoms last week, soon after meeting the PM.

    “He is doing good and is practising self-isolation without being admitted to any hospital.”

    Earlier, Edhi had trashed criticism surrounding his donation to the government, saying the organisation could not “operate without the government’s help — be it federal or provincial”.

    In a video message shared with Independent Urdu, he had said, “I am glad that we [Edhi foundation] are working with the government.”

    READ: ‘PM didn’t recognise me,’ says Faisal Edhi, who met Imran to donate Rs1 crore

    “Edhi foundation has been working with governments since day one after the emergence of coronavirus [in the country]” he had said, adding that people would suffer if all stakeholders, at this time, did not unite to work together.

  • Meera says she wants to die in her own country, appeals to PM Imran for help

    Meera says she wants to die in her own country, appeals to PM Imran for help

    Meera, who is currently stranded in New York, has appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to help her get back to Pakistan.

    In a video message sent to Geo News, Meera said that she had gone to the United States to shoot for her upcoming film Long Distance. She shared that while the rest of her colleagues including Humayun Saeed had managed to get back home, she was stranded in New York.

    “It is 2:00 am in New York City and I am stuck in my room and addressing you (PM Imran). I had come to New York with several artists including Humayun Saeed for the shooting of a film and show. My colleagues have gone back to Pakistan but I am stuck in New York,” Meera said in the video adding that she had no savings and was running out of resources.

    Meera elaborated that New York has become one big graveyard and that recently her Chinese cameraman had also passed away. She said that she did not want to die in a foreign country. New York has reported more than 10,000 deaths from COVID-19.

    “Dear prime minister, you have always supported artists. All countries are bringing back their citizens to their homelands. I request you to please make arrangements for my repatriation to Pakistan as I wish to die in my country,” she urged.

    Speaking to this correspondent over the phone, Meera said that all actors have returned but only she and actor Saud, who is currently in Dallas, remain in the United States.

    She appealed to PM Khan and the Government of Pakistan to help her as soon as possible.

    Meanwhile, the cast and crew of Ishrat Made in China who were stranded in Thailand for almost two weeks recently returned on a special flight arranged by the government.

    Read more – Team of ‘Ishrat Made in China’ tested for COVID-19

    Thousand of Pakistanis are stuck in different countries across the world after flights were cancelled due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases. Special Assistant to the PM for Overseas Pakistanis Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari said that more than 6500 Pakistanis will be repatriated on special flights between April 20 and 28. However, there is no flight scheduled for the United States.

  • We’re on your side, dear minister

    We are all familiar with the adage that journalism is not a crime. Unfortunately, it seems that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for some reason thinks it is.

    When The Current, with pictorial evidence, reported how unhygienic the conditions at a quarantine facility in Peshawar were, and when a few journalists shared the story on social media, the government did not take it very well. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra took to Twitter and quote-tweeted journalist Benazir Shah.

    Other than questioning the report, he said:

    Targeting a well-respected journalist for tweeting a story about bad conditions at a quarantine facility in KP came as a surprise to many who had been commending both the KP government and Jhagra for their hard work in the fight against coronavirus. Jhagra could have ignored the story and not responded at all or just acknowledged the unhygienic conditions. If neither, he certainly could have responded without targeting Shah. 

    Jhagra is known to be decent and hardworking unlike many of his colleagues. Thus it came as a surprise when he targetted an accredited journalist, despite being fully aware of how the trolling brigade works. By targeting Shah specifically, he unleashed a troll army that is always ready to attack the media, especially women journalists.

    The notoriety of the ruling party’s troll army is an open secret despite official denial. Twitter trends against the media and renowned journalists have become a norm. Sharing private pictures of journalists taken from their social media accounts is another feather in the cap of these trolls. Any journalist who has attended Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s media briefings in recent days and dared to ask him a tough question, has faced online trolling and vile attacks.

    Jhagra also implied in his Twitter thread regarding The Current’s story that the “privileged” cannot bear 48 hours of discomfort as the quarantine facilities may not be ideal. Well, this wasn’t about privilege. It was about highlighting the unhygienic conditions at a quarantine facility and nothing to do with privilege. Both the privileged and the under-privileged deserve clean quarantine facilities. This problem isn’t limited to Pakistan. In neighbouring India, many such cases of poor and unclean quarantine facilities have been highlighted on social as well as mainstream media.

    We understand that the government has limited resources and it will be difficult to deal with such pressures. We also acknowledge how hard the federal, as well as provincial governments, are working to fight the coronavirus and that mistakes are unavoidable as this is something the world hasn’t seen in recent times.

    We commend the hard work of our public officials, healthcare workers, doctors, policemen, security officials and everyone out there who is working day in and day out to ensure that the people of Pakistan stay safe and healthy during the pandemic. But we will also mention and highlight facts and news so that our readers stay informed. It is not our job to only highlight the positives; we have to report the truth even if the state does not like it. Journalists cannot be bullied by online trolls or campaigns against them. The media is not your enemy; coronavirus is our common enemy. Fight the virus, don’t fight the media without any reason.

    We don’t have rose-tinted glasses on, and red flags are not just flags to us…

  • VIDEO: ‘PM didn’t recognise me,’ says Faisal Edhi, who met Imran to donate Rs1 crore

    Son of the late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and incumbent head of the Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi, has said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan didn’t recognise him when they met in Islamabad earlier this week, as the former donated Rs10 million (1 crore) to the premier’s coronavirus relief fund.

    “Initially, he didn’t recognise me,” Edhi told anchorperson Nadeem Malik on his show on Thursday night.

    He said the PM didn’t even talk to him for six or seven minutes — until one of the two industrialists sitting with PM Imran, one of whose father’s body was bathed [ghusl] by Abdul Sattar Edhi in New York, recognised him.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/nadeemmalik/status/1250829957691047937

    “He told the premier that I was [Abdul Sattar] Edhi Sahab’s son, after which PM Imran recognised me,” Edhi said.

    “We had a half-minute talk at the door of his office,” the Edhi Foundation head said, adding that he told the premier how he wanted to establish a university in the name of his father.

    PM Imran had announced the establishment of corona relief fund on March 27 in order to to provide relief to the people amid coronavirus crisis.

    The premier had emphasised on providing relief to the neglected segments of the society and urged the people to help those in need. He had added that the federal government was mapping deserved persons to directly provide them financial assistance.

  • Scenes from KP’s quarantine facility for foreign travellers will give you nightmares

    Scenes from KP’s quarantine facility for foreign travellers will give you nightmares

    As coronavirus continues to spread across the country, the federal and all provincial governments are taking strict measures to contain the outbreak. One of the many steps being taken by the authorities is quarantining foreign travellers before they are allowed to interact with anyone in Pakistan.

    Amid reports that travellers are being transferred to the quarantine facilities set up across the country right from the airport, one of the quarantined passengers, who had travelled from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Peshawar during the wee hours of Wednesday, reached out toThe Current and shared pictures of the nightmarish conditions they are being forced to live in.

    “We are stuck here at Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Postgraduate Paramedical Institute in Peshawar after being told that we’ll be tested and then allowed to leave. It will soon be two days since we were locked up here and no one has conducted our tests yet,” the traveller said.

    They said they were being treated like criminals, and it was unfortunate how the conditions they and several others were being forced to live in were entirely different than what was being claimed by government officials in front of media.

    “Test us as soon as we land and just let us go. We were obviously also tested by the country we are coming in from,” the traveller said further, adding that the procedure didn’t take more than two hours but the negligence of the authorities had led to their suffering.

    The district administration had last month declared educational institutions in Peshawar as coronavirus quarantine facilities.

    A notification issued by the administration had said the premises declared as the quarantine facilities were student hostels at Peshawar University, sub-campuses of other universities and educational institutes within these premises, Postgraduate Medical Institute Peshawar, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Postgraduate Paramedical Institute and Pakistan Academy for Rural Development.

    The administration had also asked the police to ensure deployment across the facilities to prevent any unauthorised movements in or out of the premises.

  • Twitterati say PM Imran is crying in this ‘hidden-cam’ video, what do you think?

    Twitterati say PM Imran is crying in this ‘hidden-cam’ video, what do you think?

    A viral undated video, apparently recorded secretly, has shown Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan sitting in a lawn with a tasbeeh in his hand.

    While Twitterati claim he is crying, what is that you think the video shows?

    Here’s what Twitterati have to say:

    Let us know what you have to say about the video by commenting below.

  • ‘We cannot afford this anymore’: Traders in Sindh, KP, Balochistan to reopen businesses from today

    Traders across the country have said that they would resume operations from today (April 15), however, the business community in Punjab has urged the government to permit activities for a limited time.

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, in his address to the nation on Tuesday, extended the lockdown till April 30, saying that some industries such as construction would be allowed to operate from Wednesday.

    The business community in Karachi said that they would resume operations from April 15 and that the traders would follow preventive measures. “We cannot afford the imposed restrictions anymore,” said a representative of Karachi’s trader community while addressing a press conference.

    “The businessmen have paid their employees a month’s salary but we will be unable to do so if the lockdown extends,” he said, adding that they would hand over the keys to their shops to the officials at the Chief Minister (CM) House and protest outside the provincial chief executive’s office if they are kept from resuming business activities.

    Voicing the traders in Sindh, Balochistan’s business community said that they would also resume operations from April 15. They said that the traders could no longer bear the lockdown restrictions, adding that activities would be conducted and precautionary measures would be followed. “The provincial government has been informed regarding the decision to resume operations.”

    Furthermore, the traders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) said that they could not afford the lockdown further and that they would open shops from April 15 as well.

    United Business Group President Ilyas Bilour said that small scale traders were forced into starvation due to the lockdown, and lamented that labourers were severely affected due to the closure of business centres.

  • Lockdown extended till April 30 but barbershops will remain open

    Lockdown extended till April 30 but barbershops will remain open

    The federal cabinet on Tuesday decided to extend the lockdown imposed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic in the country till April 30.

    According to reports, the decision was taken in a meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, keeping in view the increasing number of coronavirus infections and the persisting economic situation in the country.

    During the meeting, it was decided that apart from opening the construction industry, other economic and financial sectors will also be made operational.

    Tailors, plumbers, electricians, mechanics and barbers will be allowed to run their businesses, while the ban on transport, air travel and reopening of markets, shopping malls, marriage halls and other public places would remain in place.

    The final approval to extend the lockdown will be given in the next meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) also scheduled for today.

    By the time this report was filed, the number of COVID-19 infections in Pakistan stood at 5,812 with 100 deaths and 1,378 recoveries. Punjab had reported 2,856 cases while Sindh trailed behind at 1,518, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) at 800, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) at 233, Balochistan at 231, Islamabad at 131 and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) at 43.

  • People choosing not to donate? PM’s coronavirus relief fund gets only Rs225m in 11 days

    People choosing not to donate? PM’s coronavirus relief fund gets only Rs225m in 11 days

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran’s Khan coronavirus relief fund, which was set up in March to assist the government in mitigating the impact of the global pandemic, seems to not have attracted generous donations as it has received only Rs225 million within the first 11 days — since March 30.

    According to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) with officials of the Ministry of Finance, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Ehsaas Programme, as of April 10 — the date of the last update — the total amount in the fund stood at Rs225 million.

    Analysts say that a possible explanation for this low figure lies in the fact that a number of private organisations and individuals are actively participating in relief activities themselves, having fewer reasons to donate to the PM’s fund.

    It, however, isn’t the first time when such a programme has received disappointing responses. The dams fund created by PM Imran and the Supreme Court (SC) to collect $12 billion for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams was excessively promoted on multiple media forums, but could only gather Rs12 billion, including over Rs1.7 billion from overseas Pakistanis.

    Meanwhile, the premier has appealed to overseas Pakistanis to donate generously to help the government cope with the ongoing health crisis in the country.

    In a video message released Monday, he noted that the entire world was struggling against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The lockdown has adversely affected the world economy, resulting in growing poverty across the globe, especially in developing countries like Pakistan, he said.