Tag: protest

  • ‘Govt will be removed in a democratic way, will take to streets on February 27’: Bilawal Bhutto

    ‘Govt will be removed in a democratic way, will take to streets on February 27’: Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that the government forcibly passed the anti-people mini-budget in ‘the dark of night’.

    Talking to the media along with former Prime Minister (PM) Yusuf Raza Gilani, Bilawal Bhutto said that they protested inside and outside the Parliament against the mini-budget. They were promised that tax will not be imposed on a few items, but that was false as well.

    “The people of Pakistan are demanding that we take to the streets against this government and our CEC has decided that we will take to the streets on February 27,” added Bilawal.

    Bilawal Bhutto further said that they had talked about removing the government in a democratic way and also talked about a no-confidence motion.

    The PPP chairperson further said that the mini-budget was also passed in the dark of night and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) bill was also forcibly passed by parliament, after which the SBP will no longer be accountable to parliament.

  • PML-N will protest like TLP if govt forces electronic voting

    PML-N will protest like TLP if govt forces electronic voting

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah said that if the government tries to force the elections through Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), the party would be left with no option but to follow the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) way of protesting.

    Sanaullah, in a Geo News Programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ stated that the other way to protest is in and outside of Parliament.

    He said, “The current government does not even have an idea of the dynamics of the polling stations and if EVMs were used, the 2023 elections would turn controversial even before they are held.”

    Shahzeb asked Rana that the Opposition can go to court over the EVM issue. To which he replied, “We will go to court. But if nothing happens, we won’t let this election happen at any cost.”

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said it is vital for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold all upcoming by-elections using EVMs. In case the ECP fails to do so, the government will not be able to release funds under the law.

  • PDM announces nationwide protests against inflation from October 20

    PDM announces nationwide protests against inflation from October 20

    Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday announced countrywide protests against rising inflation and poor economic policies from October 20, reports Dawn.

    Speaking to the media after the PDM meeting, Maulana Fazl said that the nation is suffering due to high inflation, adding that the PDM stands with the public shoulder to shoulder.

    “Rallies and demonstrations will begin from the district level while all PDM component parties will meet at the provincial level. PDM will lead rallies and demonstrations, stand shoulder to shoulder with people and get them their due rights,” Maulana Fazl said.

    “We will go a step further and hold wheel-jams and long march, but step by step,” he said and also called for fresh general elections in the country.

    “We are not discussing local bodies polls – the main issue is holding of free and fair general elections in the country. There is no reason of holding local government elections when there is no legitimate government in the country,” said Maulana Fazl.

  • PMC issues clarification on MDCAT 2021 results controversy

    PMC issues clarification on MDCAT 2021 results controversy

    The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) released a clarification on the Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) 2021 results controversy.

    The PMC claimed that it sent out an e-mail before the scheduled time with the result certificates of students who appeared for their MDCAT 2021 due to “a system error”.

    The final MDCAT 2021 results were scheduled to be publicised after 1pm today on PMC’s website.

    But this morning, many students reported that they had received an e-mail from PMC’s noreply e-mail with their MDCAT 2021 result certificate attached, the PMC explained in a tweet.

    The commission explained that the final result was actually to be announced later in the afternoon after the last examination scheduled today in the morning for Covid-affected students.

    The results, it said, were accurate but the commission apologised for its “inadvertent error as it has resulted in concern amongst the students”.
    According to the PMC, an option was provided to download, print, or e-mail the result certificates to students on the PMC website to check their final result.

    “Unfortunately due to an error, the system generated all the result certificates and e-mailed them to students early this morning automatically.”
    The final score in all the result certificates received by students are correct and have been checked, the PMC said, clarifying that although in a small number of certificates e-mailed to students in the morning there are errors in subject marks, the total score is correct.

    This only happened due to the results being generated by the system automatically, PMC said, asking students to ignore these errors.
    Students can recheck and verify their final results once PMC uploads the live results online.

  • ‘Media Martial Law’, Journalists sit in protest against proposed media authority bill

    ‘Media Martial Law’, Journalists sit in protest against proposed media authority bill

    Pakistani journalists are protesting in front of the Parliament House against the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), which aims to muzzle media freedom. The on-going protest started on Sunday. Journalists marched from the National Press Club to the Parliament House and stayed overnight.

    They said the sit-in would continue till President Dr Arif Alvi’s address to the joint session of parliament, which is scheduled to assemble on Monday.

    DETAILS OF THE PROTEST

    Renowned journalists including Mazhar Abbas, Hamid Mir, Fahd Husain, Kashif Abbasi, Saleem Safi, Asma Shirazi, Gharidah Farooqi Imtiaz Alam, and Afzal Butt are participating in the protest, headed by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

    PFUJ general secretary Nasir Zaidi, while talking to Voicepk.net said, “Prior to this, we struggled against every law to control the press in the eras of dictators, and we will struggle against such laws even today.”

    Senior journalist Afzal Butt said, “Many attempts had been made in the past to silence the media by dictators, but journalists successfully fought for their rights and this time too, the journalist community would protect freedom of the press.”

    Journalist Imtiaz Alam stated that, “The government through the PMDA was trying to impose ‘media martial law’. “as per Dawn.

    Journalists and politicians are criticising the government. “Parliamentary reporters have banned from sitting in the press gallery of Parliament for joint session,” tweeted PPP’s Senator Sherry Rehman.

    SUPPORT BY JOURNALISTS

    Other journalists have expressed their concerns and showed solidarity with fellow journalists on social media accounts.

    https://twitter.com/zburki/status/1436954006820118537

    INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

    Pakistani journalists in Britain also condemned the Pakistan government’s plans to establish the PMDA.

    “The officials of the High Commission called journalists individually and asked them not to hold the protest outside the High Commission premises and also issued threats of serious consequences for organising the protest,” wrote Murtaza Ali Shah for Geo News.

    “The journalists particularly singled out the current information minister [Fawad Chaudhry] for first playing his role in the economic murder of journalists and now pushing through a black law to completely finish the private media which provides thousands of jobs to media workers,” he added.

  • ‘You are lucky you weren’t beheaded’, Journalists open up about Taliban beatings

    Adding to a list of Taliban atrocities, two Afghan Journalists were left with immense bruises in Kabul. Their crime: covering protests in the Afghan capital.

    According to Taqi Daryabi and his colleague Nematullah Naqdi, of the daily newspaper Etilaat Roz (Information Daily), the Taliban separated them into two rooms, insulted, and flogged them with cables after accusing them of organising the protest as per Agence France-Presse (AFP).

    https://twitter.com/lnajafizada/status/1435818054332653576?s=21

    The two were reporting on a protest by women demanding the right to work and education in front of a police station.

    Naqdi said he was stopped by a Taliban fighter as soon as he started taking pictures.

    “They told me that you cannot film’,” he told AFP. Moreover he said that Taliban fighters insulted him and kicked him in the head and that a Taliban fighter placed his foot on his head and crushed his face against the concrete. When he was asked why he was being beaten, he was told, “you are lucky you weren’t beheaded.”

    Zaki Daryabi, the daily newspaper publisher told Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) via phone that the Taliban subjected the reporters to severe physical abuse that he described as “torture” for four hours that each lost consciousness at least four times in custody. However, CPJ could not independently confirm allegations of torture.

    According to the BBC, their journalists were also prevented from filming. Not only this, Al-Jazeera reported that three of their reporters said that Taliban fighters pushed, slapped them and took their belongings.

    Over the last days, the Taliban detained and later released at least 14 journalists covering protests against the group, At least nine of these journalists were subject to violence during their detention.

  • Newborn baby’s body goes missing from grave

    The body of a newborn baby buried in a graveyard in Burewala disappeared from the grave, Geo News reported.

    Police said that the footprints of a man and a woman could be seen near the grave. All the evidence has been collected, which will help in the investigation to reach the accused.

    An eight-day-old baby boy named Ashfaq died in a village near Burewala and was buried in the village cemetery.

    Read More: Eight-year-old Indian girl killed in ‘human sacrifice’ ritual, four held: police

    According to his parents, when they reached the grave to recite Fateha the next day, the grave was open and the newborn’s body was missing.

    The family protested and demanded immediate recovery of the child’s body.

  • Republic Day: Thousands of protesting farmers converge on Indian capital in convoy of tractors

    In a high-profile protest against controversial agricultural reforms, tens of thousands of farmers drove a convoy of tractors festooned with brightly-coloured flags through the outskirts of India’s capital of New Delhi on the country’s Republic Day.

    Growers, angry at what they see as laws that help large, private buyers at the expense of producers, have been camped outside Delhi for almost two months.

    Thousands more, steering tractors bearing the flags of India and farm unions, had streamed in from neighbouring states for several days ahead of the rally, planned to coincide with celebrations of Republic Day.

    “Our word should travel around the world, that we are fighting for our living,” said Devinder Singh, a 36-year-old farmer from Punjab, seated on his tractor. “If we lose our farmland, how will we survive?” he asked.

    Some took to Twitter to dispel rumours of the Indian flag being removed from Delhi’s Red Fort.

    The protests have so far been peaceful, and farm leaders have urged rally participants to refrain from violence. 

    Authorities used trucks to barricade the main route to the site, where hundreds of police, some armed with assault rifles, tear gas, and a water cannon, stood guard.

    Although some protesters breached police barricades at Singh and Tikri, another site, early on Tuesday, there were no immediate reports of violence.

    https://twitter.com/swatijaihind/status/1353941486673379328?s=21

    Agriculture employs about half of India’s population of 1.3 billion, and unrest among an estimated 150 million landowning farmers presents one of the biggest challenges to the authority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.

    Nine rounds of talks between the government and the farmers’ unions have failed to end the protests, with farm leaders rejecting the government’s offer to delay the laws for 18 months, as they push for repeal.

    “The farm organisations have a very stronghold,” said Ambar Kumar Ghosh, an analyst at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank.

    “They have the resources to mobilise support and to continue the protest for a long time. They have also been very successful in keeping the protest really focused.”

    Police have allowed farmers to rally along approved routes on the outskirts of Delhi. But the tractor march threatens to overshadow the annual Republic Day military parade in the centre of the capital on the anniversary of India’s 1950 adoption of its constitution.

    “They could have chosen any other day instead of January 26 but they have announced now,” Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told media on Monday. “Conducting the rally peacefully without any accident would be the concern for farmers as well as police administration.”

  • PDM protesters break into sealed jalsa venue ahead of joint opposition’s gathering

    Workers and leaders of joint opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Saturday broke into the venue of the alliance’s Multan gathering to be held on November 30, which had reportedly been sealed by the administration.

    According to reports, the district administration had placed 30 containers around the venue, Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh, with more being brought in to block roads leading to the city and police deployed outside.

    As per the details of Saturday’s incident, a rally led by sons of former prime minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gillani, namely Ali Haider and Ali Musa, overpowered law enforcement to enter the venue. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers led by local party leaders also accompanied the PPP stalwarts.

    The episode saw several scuffles between opposition workers and the police on different routes leading to the stadium where the rally was headed. A final scuffle broke out right outside the venue where hundreds of cops were discharging their duties.

    Unconfirmed reports of casualties — both police personnel and political workers — are pouring in.

    A senior PPP leader confirmed to The Current that Gillani brothers have taken control of the venue and a welcome camp is also being setup at the stadium. “They refuse to leave until the gathering has been held on Monday.”

    To a question, they said the people of Multan are overjoyed to have with them the late former PM Benazir Bhutto’s daughter, Assefa Bhutto-Zardari, who’ll be replacing her coronavirus positive brother and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

    Earlier, more than 200 workers of PDM constituent parties were arrested and raids were being conducted to arrest more. The lists of workers, particularly from the PML-N and PPP, were provided to respective police stations.

    The arrests had come after the government vowed to not let opposition “put people’s life at risk” by holding a gathering amid the second wave of COVID-19.

    As the opposition claims the government is using the virus outbreak to stop the PDM from holding its rallies against “the fascist regime”, PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah has declared that the Multan rally will be held at all costs.

    Talking to the media outside the party’s Model Town secretariat in Lahore, he said if the government did not de-seal Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh, the entire city of Multan will become the venue of the public meeting.

    He said the first phase of the PDM’s anti-government protests will be completed by holding the last event of the series in the Punjab capital on December 13, and the next phase will begin after the alliance leadership devises a new strategy.

    “We stand united against the government,” he said.

  • Joint opposition in Gujranwala: Hit or flop?

    Joint opposition in Gujranwala: Hit or flop?

    The first rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) turned out to be “resounding success” for the joint opposition that claimed over 50,000 people took to streets against the government on Friday.

    The gathering held in Gujranwala — the stronghold of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — was attended by the PML-N workers in thousands, followed by the members the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), who made their presence felt.

    The flags belonging to the Awami National Party (ANP), National Party (NP) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) dotted the venue; however, their participation paled compared to the three aforementioned major parties.

    By 6 pm, the venue was jam-packed and the tailback affected all the roads leading to Jinnah Stadium — a fact that corroborates the opposition’s claims.

    The day, however, belonged to the PML-N, whose supporters thronged the venue in thousands to record their protest against the government. Maryam Nawaz led a massive rally from Lahore to the city, where all national and provincial seats are held by her party, and her father Nawaz Sharif made a hard-hitting speech that showed he was in no mood for reconciliation.

    The PPP also managed to rally its supporters who followed their chairperson Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari to Gujranwala from Lala Musa in a caravan, whereas Maulana Fazlur Rehman, with his white and black JUI-F flags, entered the venue with a bang.

    But the government downplayed the PDM jalsa, as its ministers pointed out lack of coordination among the opposition parties and also claimed that the number of the participants was no more than 18,000, as per Radio Pakistan.

    COVID-19 GUIDELINES FLOUTED:

    The massive gathering also blatantly flouted the anti-coronavirus measures, especially at a time when the second wave is in the offing. It is understandable that social distancing was not possible in a small stadium, but face masks — an effective precautionary measure — were also conveniently ignored.

    Out of the party leaders, only some were covering their faces, but they too removed them once they started addressing the gathering. PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz and JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman and his party leaders did not wear masks at all.

    As for the crowd, a negligent number of people bothered to wear face masks as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19.

    In a comment on the state of anti-coronavirus measures at the venue, a Dawn report said, “It was both sad and comical to watch the policemen insisting that people [who were not wearing masks] enter the stadium via the so-called senitising gates that were fitted with sprinklers spraying some kind of miracle water on those who walked through.”