Sexual assault victims in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will have to pay Rs25,000 for medical examination as the forensic department of Khyber Medical College University (KMCU) has proposed new charges for its services, The Express Tribune reported.
According to reports, besides the medical examination of rape victims fee, an autopsy will now cost Rs5,000 for Peshawar residents and Rs25,000 for those from other districts, keeping dead bodies in the morgue will cost Rs1,500 for a single day while a fee of Rs18,000 has been suggested for DNA testing.
Officials said the 17 new charges were proposed in a February 14 meeting of the Management Committee, and have been introduced to meet the operational expenditures of the department.
Among other proposed charges are Rs2,000 for urine test and alcohol analysis, and Rs4,000 for poison detection test.
KMCU Dean Dr Aurangzeb has said that the new charges for services were just a proposal discussed in the meeting. “The profits generated from these charges will go to the public exchequer, which will help in the betterment of services.”
Residents of Bani Gala and reportedly the neighbours of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, namely Azmatullah and Mohammad Umar Gondal, have accused the nephew of the premier of grabbing their land.
According to a petition filed by the two in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), they purchased land measuring 30 kanals in Mohra Noor Islamabad which is adjacent to the land of the premier.
It said that out of 30 kanals, they have sold 16 kanals while 14 kanals of land was in their possession.
The petitioners started landscaping and designed the land to convert it into an orchard; labourers were also hired for this purpose. However, the assistant commissioner (rural) and SHO Banigala stopped them from construction, Dawn reported citing the petition.
When the petitioners approached the district magistrate (deputy commissioner) and others, they were told that Shahraz Azeem Khan, nephew of PM Imran, is interested in buying their land and advised the petitioner that “it is better for them to sell this land” to PM’s nephew.
It said that the petitioners were called by deputy commissioner when they reached his office, he arranged their telephonic conversation with PM’s nephew. The petitioners claimed that Shahraz Khan categorically asked them to sell their land or face consequences.
As per the petition, the district administration threatened the petitioners they would be placed in fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) or they would be jailed under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and when they will come out of prison, their property would be occupied and they would never be compensated.
According to the petition, under Article 23 of the Constitution, any citizen has the right to hold or dispose of his property.
The petitioners requested the court to declare the forced acquisition of their lawful land as illegal and restrain the district administration and police from interfering in the matter.
Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri of the IHC has issued notices to the premier’s nephew, assistant commissioner (rural), the district magistrate and Banigala SHO on the petition, the report said.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Pervaiz Rasheed’s nomination papers for the upcoming Senate polls were on Thursday rejected over non-payment of room rent to Punjab House in Islamabad.
According to reports, the Punjab government has accused the ex-information minister of defaulting on payments over Rs2.6 million (Rs26 lacs) for his stay at the residency for 759 days.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Zainab Omar had filed an objection against Rasheed through her lawyer Rana Mudassar to the returning officer/provincial election commissioner in Lahore.
Speaking to media, Rasheed described the move to reject his nomination papers as a vindictive act on behalf of the government.
The PML-N leader accused Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of not tolerating criticism, adding that efforts were being made to keep him out of the parliament.
Rasheed accused the government of preparing a fake “demand” against him. “To dispose of this fake demand, I am ready to make the payment,” said the senior PML-N leader.
The PML-N leader said that he wanted to pay the dues to the Punjab House but its management was not accepting it. “You can close the doors on me, but you can’t stop my voice,” he said, addressing the government.
“I will appeal against the decision to reject my nomination papers,” he said and alleged that fake cases against PML-N leaders were being made, accusing the government of keeping political opponents at bay.
After a rather troubled polling day, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has managed to secure a comfortable win in Karachi’s PS-88 Malir by-election for a seat in the Sindh Assembly, unofficial results issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have revealed.
But does that mean that the people of Karachi are done with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) amid economic among other challenges faced by the country?
According to journalist Ajmal Jami, that might be the case, at least in Malir, and here’s why…
The PPP was the only party that not only retained the number of votes received in the 2018 general election, but went on to secure even more.
So who lost more this time? Here is a comparison: 2018/2021 PPP = 22561 > 24251 PTI = 16386 > 4870 TLP = 7694 > 6090 MQM = 5207 > 2635 #PS88https://t.co/tzYKJO355p
The PPP secured 24,251 votes in the 2021 by-election as compared to 22,561 in 2018, whereas the PTI and its allied Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) received merely 4,870 votes against 2018’s 16,386 and 2,635 votes against 5,207, respectively.
Hardliner Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which had received 7,694 votes in 2018, bagged only 6,090 this year.
Earlier, polling for the PS-88 by-election — that was slated to be a hot contest between the PPP and PTI — was marred by allegations of vote rigging, violence and intimidation as all contesting parties traded charges against each other.
The winning candidate, PPP’s Yousuf Murtaza Baloch, is the son of Murtaza Baloch, the former minister for human settlement.
The seat fell vacant after Murtaza died of COVID-19 in June last year.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz has accused the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of seeking whopping Rs15,000 Arab (Rs15,000 billion) in loans while “not laying down a single brick, and launching only failed projects”.
“The [government] took loans of Rs15,000 billion but did not lay a single brick,” Maryam reportedly said while addressing a rally in Wazirabad as part of the election campaign for PP-51.
Alleging that the metro bus project started by the PTI government had also failed, she asked the crowd whether any of them had gotten a job from the 10 million jobs promised by the government or a house from the 5 million houses pledged at the start of its regime.
She said the government had accused her of playing the “Punjabi card” after she raised her voice for the province, but said she would continue to speak for Punjab as well as other provinces being “the daughter of Pakistan”.
“But when it comes to snatching Punjab’s bread and aata and rise in the price of Punjab’s sugar, Maryam will stand with Punjabis with her heart and soul,” she said.
WATCH VIDEO:
Maryam, speaking in Urdu interspersed with Punjabi, said farmers, labourers, daily wage workers, traders and businessmen were all frustrated today and could not afford basic utilities and food items.
She called upon the “selectors” not to “make the mistake” of helping to bring the PTI into power again, saying: “I feel bad when people bad-mouth the selectors because after all, the institution is ours.”
“The country has been worn out but my dear selectors, don’t do this with Pakistan again,” she said, referring to the PTI coming into power. “Do your own work that the Constitution has assigned to you, don’t interfere with people’s work.”
Although things are broken, Maryam said, “Nawaz Sharif will come and everything will be fixed.”
The PML-N leader alleged that electricity in the country was expensive because “those financing Imran Khan’s expenses deliberately imported expensive LNG”.
The PML-N leader asked the administration of Daska and Wazirabad to serve the people and the law instead of the premier.
“I say to Wazirabad police and administration […] I know that you yourself are frustrated [but] the nation is looking at you; if you instead of serving the country and the people try to serve anyone else, try to steal the vote and make a lost person win, then remember, Imran Khan came once but now at least Punjab won’t let him come [to power] again.”
She said the next government in Pakistan and Punjab will be “of Nawaz Sharif”.
Journalist Shahzad Iqbal has told Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s aide Dr Shahbaz Gill to “keep personal matters to himself” after the latter called Iqbal his “second wife” on live TV.
As per the details, Gill, along with Dr Munir Baloch of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) besides businessman and ruling party loyalist Abdul Qadir, was talking to Iqbal on Geo News’ “Naya Pakistan” show when the premier’s aide was asked a question regarding Senate tickets.
“Babar Yousafzai of your own party has accused Baloch of peddling money to be awarded a Senate ticket,” Iqbal said, to which Gill responded by saying it was a baseless allegation in absence of evidence.
The anchor went on to say it would’ve been different had it been someone from the opposition leveling the accusations.
“It is his [Yousafzai] right,” Gill said and accused Iqbal of being biased against the government, mentioning instances when the journalist hadn’t conducted shows on internal rifts during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regimes.
This was followed by Iqbal taking Gill head-on and warning him against leveling accusations. “Just say you don’t want to answer if you don’t like the question. But don’t assume what I did or didn’t do.”
“You fight and shout a lot…”
“Because this isn’t the right behaviour…”
“It feels like you’re my second wife who is upset with me for prioritising my first wife,” Gill said.
WATCH VIDEO:
عبدالقادر کو سینیٹ کا ٹکٹ دینے کے سوال پر شہباز گل نے جانبداری کے الزامات لگادیے۔۔۔ صحافی کا کام ہے سوال کرنا ۔۔ حکومت کا کام ہے جواب دینا نہ کہ جواب میں الزامات لگانا۔۔۔#GeoNews#NayaPakistanpic.twitter.com/fBiMkSYqKE
“Please keep your personal matters to yourself,” Iqbal hit back.
The two then went on to cut each other off.
It merits a mention that PTI central parliamentary board, headed by PM Imran, has withdrawn the party ticket awarded to business tycoon Abdul Qadir in Balochistan for the Senate election after strong opposition from the PTI provincial leadership and zonal heads.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that following an agreement with the hardliner Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), their demands will be put forward in the parliament.
According to reports, the premier, in a statement, said that the government spoke to TLP, and the party has decided to extend the “deadline” given to the government from February to April 20.
The demands put forth by TLP include the French ambassador’s deportation, ratification of the blasphemy bill, and a ban on French goods after blasphemous caricatures were published in France that had sparked protests across the Muslim world.
Late last year, hundreds of protesters in Pakistan, most of them led by TLP leaders, had burned effigies of France’s leader and chanted anti-French slogans, as President Emmanuel Macron had tried to send a message of understanding to Muslims around the world.
Smaller demonstrations in Lebanon, Turkey and India followed on anti-France protests across the Muslim world last week that were mostly led by Islamist groups, reported AP news agency.
The renewed protests had come after President Macron’s interview in which he said that he understood the shock Muslims felt at caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Macron was speaking with the Qatar-based Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera, where he also defended freedoms of expression and France’s secular values.
Just days before TLP chief Khadim Rizvi’s death, the protests had also turned ugly in Rawalpindi-Islamabad.
Protesting government employees on Wednesday faced wrath of authorities in Islamabad as they headed towards the Parliament House on Constitution Avenue.
According to Geo News, the protesters have reached D Chowk while Islamabad authorities have blocked the way towards the Parliament with containers. Demonstrators have started bypassing the containers because of which the police once again resorted to tear gas shelling to disperse them.
Because of the tear gas, some police and Rangers personnel also had to retract for a while, reports said.
The protesters have demanded that the containers be removed or else they will remove it themselves.
The federal government employees are demanding a raise in their salaries and had gathered today after their leader Rehman Bajwa and nine others were arrested overnight.
Following the arrests, the government workers in the federal capital had announced they will march towards the Parliament House from Pakistan Secretariat for their demands and the release of their leaders.
The police had resorted to tear gas shelling after they made a move towards the parliament. The protesters at one point also encircled Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz.
At another, the protesting employees also closed the doors to the secretariat bringing the government machinery to a halt.
At least two dozen protesting employees were taken into custody under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO).
Pakistan always wanted to take the lead from India. Our Government couldn’t tolerate the whole world’s attention towards #FarmersProtests so they started beating, torturing, shelling on peaceful Govt employee protestors. Now #IslamabadProtests is trending worldwide. pic.twitter.com/F3fyE4cD9r
The government employees were protesting against the income disparities between various federal government employees. They have been demanding a 40% increase in their salaries.
The protesters have received support from government employees over grade 17, who have also demanded an increase in their salaries.
The All Pakistan Clerks Association and government employees of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh are also supporting the protest.
Speaking on the matter, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that the government dealt with the protesters “correctly” and it was the demonstrators who had backtracked on the agreement.
“We dealt with this correctly we are increasing the salaries of 95% of employees at an average of 40%,” the minister told Geo News when asked about the situation.
“The matter will be resolved [if] they go back to their initial demands,” said the interior minister.
Geo also quoted sources as saying that a two-member committee, comprising interior and defence ministers, had been tasked with dealing with the protesters and was in contact with the finance ministry over the raise.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had claimed in April 2018 that he had a video of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers taking money ahead of the Senate election to vote against the party lines, but the video was released after a period of more than two years, only a day ahead of the Supreme Court hearing over the issue.
The PM had said that he had proof of people selling their votes for money and he could show them the video where they were seen “counting money”.
But if the PM had the video and knew about the people involved in horse-trading then what took the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) so long to release it and that too a day before the court hearing, Shahzeb Khanzada asked the federal minister for information on his show.
As per Khanzada, another question that the video poses is the KP law minister, Mahmood Sultan, who stepped down from the post after the video emerged? If the PM had seen the video, as he has claimed multiple times in past, then why was Sultan made the minister in the KP cabinet? And if he didn’t know about it then why did he claim otherwise.
وزیر اعظم تو اپریل 2018 میں پیسے لینے کی ویڈیو ان کے پاس ہونے کا دعویٰ کر چکے تھے توسپریم کورٹ کی سماعت سے ایک دن پہلے کیوں لیک کی گئی؟ جب ویڈیو پاس تھی تو سلطان محمود کو کیوں ڈھائی سال تک وزیر قانون رکھا؟ دیکھئے
Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the PM hadn’t seen the video, but he did know that something like that existed. “He was only aware of its existence,” he said, adding that the PM took the decision to sack the minister involved right away and this should be praised.
Speaking during the show, Faraz asserted that the PM hadn’t watched the video, but trusted his “strong sources”. Shibli said that the government was trying to end the menace of corruption during the Senate polls and the media should support its cause.
‘LEAKED VIDEO’:
On Tuesday, the video first released by ARY News showed lawmakers belonging to the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) counting bundles of cash and then stashing the same in a bag.
The video showed how, during the critical period, loyalties were switched by PTI’s 20 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers, all of whom were reportedly expelled by the party’s central leadership after an investigation. The money was dished out in Feb-March 2018, it was reported.
It may be noted that the damning video comes at a time when Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan expresses aims to hold Senate elections through open ballot in 2021 in a bid to eliminate horse-trading. Defending his party’s move to hold the elections through open ballot, the premier had last week spoken of bribes paid to buy loyalties, revealing that he himself had been offered some.
He had further revealed that 20 members of the KP Assembly belonging to the PTI, likely the ones from the video, were paid Rs50 million each during the last Senate polls to vote in favour of certain candidates.
On February 6, President Dr Arif Alvi signed Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 that will pave way for the organisation of Senate elections through open ballot.
Continuing his tirade against secrecy in polls for the upper house of the parliament while his party also campaigns for election through open ballot, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has gone on to reveal further details of corrupt practices surrounding the vote.
Speaking to journalists in Kallar Syedan, the premier said the rate for a single Senate vote in Balochistan ranged between Rs50 to 70 crores (Rs500 to Rs700 million), which was unfortunate.
“The market of corruption in politics is on the rise, but no other party is willing to change it,” he said, regretting that in the past, people became senators by buying votes from members of national and provincial assembly votes.
“Those involved in such extravagance will later recover by minting money from the public exchequer,” he said.
PM Imran said that vote-purchase in Senate elections for the past 30 years was a big question mark over the credibility of politicians who supported a corrupt system and “traded conscience in the name of democracy”.
“A big question lies ahead, whether to go for Senate polls with the old corrupt system or to act transparently instead,” he said in response to queries regarding the leaked videos showing politicians buying and selling votes before the 2018 Senate elections.
The PM said that corrupt practices were revealed to him after he and his party members received offers from multiple sides for vote-selling before the 2018 Senate elections.
He recalled that he was approached by different people for money and offered funds for Shaukat Khanum Hospital as another mode of bribe.
“What kind of democracy is this where votes are sold? This is nothing, but a blot on democracy.”
He recalled that he ousted 20 from his party who took money for votes in the last Senate elections, adding some of them also invoked the jurisdiction of the court against the action.
He dismissed the allegations of the opposition for being in knowledge about the video way earlier, saying had he known about it, he would have presented it before the court.
Training guns at the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), he said the opposition alliance’s aim was to protect their corruption and ill-gotten money.
To a question on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who advised Imran to learn politics from him, he said the JUI-F chief himself was the one who most benefited from secret ballot.
