Tag: PTI government

  • PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan for second consecutive year: Transparency International

    Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based international non-governmental organisation combating global corruption — on Thursday released a new report, according to which, the country under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, for the second consecutive year, has witnessed more corruption than it did in the outgoing year of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    According to TI’s global report on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), while Pakistan’s ranking and CPI score in 2019 dropped from 117 to 120 and from 33 to 32, respectively, the ranking has now fallen down to 123 and CPI score to 31 in 2020.

    The report comes at a time when the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government boasts of the success of its promised accountability drive against opposition lawmakers and government officials. The same has time and again been termed as “political victimisation” by those on the radar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    Before the second consecutive drop, Pakistan witnessed a slight improvement in the 2018 CPI, scoring a point higher than in 2017 but remaining unchanged in the rankings. The country scored 33 out of 100 on the index — one point better than its score of 32 in 2017 and 2016. Its ranking, however, remained unchanged at 117 out of 180 countries, in 2018.

    TI’s annual report on CPI is formulated on the basis of input from 13 international agencies. In the case of Pakistan, however, the assessment of eight agencies is taken into account. These include the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service; the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; the IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey; and the Varieties of Democracy project’s findings.

    Pakistan in the last 11 years had improved its index score from 23 in 2010 to 33 in 2018. However, never in the said time period had Pakistan been assessed to have performed negatively when compared to the previous year, which has now happened twice.

  • VIDEO: Visibly annoyed info minister stops Shahbaz Gill from speaking to media after PTI meeting

    Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz was on Wednesday caught visibly annoyed on camera when he expressed displeasure over his colleague and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s special assistant, Dr Shahbaz Gill, having an informal conversation with media persons.

    As per the details, PM Imran chaired the parliamentary party meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) following which Gill was seen speaking to journalists before the information minister could hold his scheduled press conference.

    In videos of the episode doing the rounds on social media, Faraz was seen asking Gill as to what he was doing.

    “I was just giving them [journalists] economy-related points,” PM’s aide tells the government spokesperson over which the latter tells him that he was headed for the scheduled post-meeting presser.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “If you want to talk to journalists, join me for the press conference,” the information minister can be heard as adding after saying that it was his job but Gill had been doing so for quite some time.

    “I won’t join you [for the presser],” Gill says after continuing to explain for a while that he was only updating journalists on facts and figures regarding the country’s debts.

    “Then don’t,” the information minister says and storms out, leaving Gill rather embarrassed in front of media persons.

    It may be noted that Faraz is the third information minister after Fawad Chaudhry and Firdous Ashiq Awan, who discharged her duties as the pemier’s special assistant on information in the absence of a minister.

    Gill, on the other hand, was called to centre after spending some time in Punjab as Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar’s spokesperson.

  • GDP growth in 2021: Pakistan likely at par with Nigeria at 1.5%; India at 11.5%, China at 8.1%

    GDP growth in 2021: Pakistan likely at par with Nigeria at 1.5%; India at 11.5%, China at 8.1%

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2021 but warned that there was still “extraordinary uncertainty” about the outlook.

    According to the latest World Economic Outlook forecast, the IMF projects global growth at 5.5%, which is higher than their previous forecast in October. Global growth will moderate to 4.2% growth in 2022, the IMF said.

    As per the forecast, Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the ongoing year will stand at 1.5% that it shares with Nigeria, while neighbouring India and China are likely to stand at staggering 11.5% and 8.1%, respectively.

    GDP is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.

    Malaysia’s growth is likely to stand at 7%, Turkey: 6%, Spain: 5.9%, France: 5.5%, the United States (US) 5.1%, Indonesia: 4.8%, the United Kingdom (UK): 4.5%, Mexico: 4.3%, Brazil: 3.6%, Canada: 3.6%, Germany: 3.5%, Japan: 3.1%, Russia: 3%, Italy: 3%, while the GDP growth of Saudi Arabia has been predicted to stand at 2.6%.

    The upgrade for this year reflects the positive effects from the start to vaccinations in some countries, additional fiscal support in the US and Japan, and at least a partial return to business and consumer normality as the health crisis wanes.

    “Much now depends on the outcome of this race between a mutating virus and vaccines to end the pandemic, and on the ability of policies to provide effective support until that happens,” said IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath in a blog post accompanying the updated forecast.

    The global economy contracted by 3.5% in 2020, the worst peacetime contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the agency said.

    Close to 90 million people are expected to enter extreme poverty in 2020 and 2021, reversing the trends of the past two decades, the IMF said.

    Altogether, the COVID-19 pandemic will cost the global economy $22 trillion over 2020-2025 relative to pre-pandemic projected levels.

  • Opposition concerned over ex-SC judge heading Broadsheet scandal investigation panel

    Opposition concerned over ex-SC judge heading Broadsheet scandal investigation panel

    Two of the country’s major opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), have expressed reservations on the investigation panel that is to be headed by former Supreme Court (SC) justice, Azmat Saeed, to investigate the Broadsheet scandal.

    Speaking to a private media outlet on Thursday, senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal pointed out that the former SC judge was part of the bench in the Panama Papers case that disqualified then prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif.

    “He was later invited by PM Imran Khan to join the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital’s Board of Governors after his retirement.”

    Ahsan also pointed out that during the Musharraf regime, when the asset recovery agreement was signed with Broadsheet, Justice Azmat was part of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    Meanwhile, PPP Secretary General Nayyer Bukhari said the PTI’s dishonesty had been exposed by the nomination of committee head. “It seems that the government wants to put all the blame on the previous governments.”

    Bukhari said the PPP has reservations on the committee, adding, “it is a sensitive matter which should be investigated in a transparent manner.”

    According to the Supreme Court’s website, Justice Azmat was the anti-graft watchdog’s deputy prosecutor general in Islamabad in the year 2000 for a period of one year and was later appointed NAB special prosecutor in 2001 to prosecute cases before accountability courts at Attock Fort and in Rawalpindi.

    However, it is not clear if the former judge had played a role, if any, in the formulation and signing of the asset recovery agreement and/or its eventual termination.

    It was reported earlier on Thursday that Azmat will lead the inquiry commission to examine the circumstances relating to the Broadsheet agreement and subsequent arbitration proceedings that resulted in substantial loss to the national exchequer.

    The announcement was made by Information Minister Shibli Faraz.

    Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry also said that “PM Imran Khan has appointed Justice (r) Azmat Saeed as head of the Broadsheet inquiry committee”, adding that the remaining members of the committee would be appointed with Justice (r) Azmat’s consultation.

  • HRCP concerned over govt’s decision of asking private sector to import COVID-19 vaccine

    HRCP concerned over govt’s decision of asking private sector to import COVID-19 vaccine

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed serious concern over the federal government’s decision to ask provinces and the private sector to import the coronavirus vaccine.

    As per the details, with the Cabinet Committee on Procurement of COVID-19 Vaccine briefing Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on efforts being made to engage more pharmaceutical companies for procurement, HRCP has said that the government’s decision in this regard was not the right step.

    “It is the responsibility of the federal government to provide vaccines at heavily subsidised rates to the poor masses which form a majority of the country’s population,” read a statement by the rights watchdog.

    “The people of lower-income groups are struggling hard to survive the unprecedented economic crisis unleashed by misplaced priorities and pro-rich policies of the federal government. The foreign aid received and funding allocated for fighting the pandemic must be used transparently and spent on vaccinating the citizens,” the HRCP said.

    It also expressed concern after reports appearing in the electronic and social media that some of the agents in Karachi had started pre-booking of AstraZeneca vaccine for Rs 20,000 per dose.

    Earlier, the PM was informed that two vaccines had been registered for emergency use and efforts for fast-track registration of more vaccines were under way.

    He was also told that that the vaccine would be available within the first quarter of the current year.

  • 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.

  • Govt officials get secretly vaccinated amid delay in mass vaccination, claims journalist

    Govt officials get secretly vaccinated amid delay in mass vaccination, claims journalist

    Amid reports of a delay in the procurement of vaccine, senior journalist Sohail Warraich has claimed that the government is in no hurry to order the coronavirus vaccine as most of the senior government members have already been vaccinated against the deadly disease.

    In an article published in Jang, Warraich implied the bigwigs of this country are in no hurry to inoculate the masses as they now consider themselves safe following the administration of the vaccine. His article was shared by former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) minister Miftah Ismail, who retweeted the column on his Twitter handle.

    A similar claim was made by journalist Saleem Safi as well. He tweeted that the senior government officials and aides of the prime minister have already been vaccinated. “These people are now distributing the vaccine to their near and dear ones,” he alleged.

    Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz rejected these claims. Talking to The Current, Faraz said he hasn’t heard anything like this to the best of his knowledge.

    Asad Umar, who heads the National Command Operations Centre to fight the virus, also denied these reports while talking to a media outlet.

    He said a proposal for the earliest vaccination of strategic leadership was presented earlier, but it was rejected by the government. “I, however, do not know if someone got themselves vaccinated in secret,” he added.

    As the pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, started to roll out vaccines, the government announced that Pakistan will have the vaccine by March 2020. However, a recent report revealed that the government has not even placed the final order for the procurement nor has any manufacturer agreed to sell it to Pakistan as of yet.

    PM’s aide on health Dr Faisal Sultan was quoted by The News saying that Pakistan has yet to place a final order and strike a deal with a manufacturer.

    On Dec 31, it was reported that the government had decided to purchase 1.2million doses of a Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm, amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak across the world.

    Pakistan had planned to vaccinate its population in three phases: In the first phase, frontline health workers will be inoculated; the second phase will be focused on the elderly; the third phase will be for the general populace.

  • !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

  • Punjab govt ‘temporarily’ shuts down free WiFi service

    Punjab govt ‘temporarily’ shuts down free WiFi service

    In a bid to save money, the Punjab government has decided to shut down the free WiFi service in public spaces for an indefinite period.

    The decision was taken by the provincial government led by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to save Rs190 million that the project was costing.

    The WiFi service launched by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in 2017 was available in several cities of Punjab, such as Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan. The government had created at last 200 hotspots to provide free internet to the residents. It was also available at airports, railway stations, metro stations, colleges, and universities.

    Chief Minister’s aide Firdous Ashiq Awan was reported as saying that the service has been shut down temporarily and it will be resumed soon. However, she didn’t give any specific date.

    In 2019, the government had halted the free internet service due to a lack of funds. According to a report in Dawn, the service was stopped after the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) failed to pay Rs150m to the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).