Tag: PTI government

  • Imran approves tabling of bill to remove rapists’ testicles

    Imran approves tabling of bill to remove rapists’ testicles

    The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to bring to parliament a bill to punish rapists with castration — the process of removal of testicles of a man or animal, ARY News quoted sources in the government as saying.

    According to reports, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has approved legislation to castrate rapists once proven guilty, and government bodies will soon be introducing it in the parliament.

    Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda has reportedly been delegated with the task of furnishing the draft bill that proposes neutering sex offenders.

    “After the castration bill, the government will also table a bill for the hanging of such criminals,” Vawda was quoted as saying.

    The development comes hours after senior journalist and analyst Dr Moeed Pirzada quoted the premier as saying that criminals such as those involved in the Lahore-Sialkot motorway gang-rape should be hanged at public squares.

    According to the journalist, the premier made the statement while speaking to him during an interview that will air tonight (Monday) on 92 News.

    The interview comes days after a mother of three was raped by two men after her car ran out of fuel on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway past midnight.

    As per the details, the woman, along with her three children, was driving to Gujranwala in her car when she was forced to stop at the Gujjarpura section of the motorway after running out of fuel at around 1:30 am.

    She immediately called a relative and sent him her location. He asked her to also dial the Motorway Police helpline 130 but she was reportedly refused help.

    In the meantime, two robbers approached the car, broke the window and took the woman and her children to nearby bushes where they raped her repeatedly in front of the children. They also snatched her purse that had cash around Rs100,000, one bracelet, car registration and three ATM cards. 

    The Gujjarpura police have registered a case, while motorway police spokesperson said they had not been able to take action as the incident did not occur in the limits of Motorway Police.

    Amid a strong reaction by the public and countrywide protests, at least one of the two culprits has been identified.

    PUBLIC HANGINGS:

    While a number of people are demanding public hanging of the accused such as sought for serial child rapist and killer Imran Ali of Kasur, the premier’s belief contradicts that of federal science and technology minister and his government’s former spokesperson, Fawad Chaudhry.

    A day earlier, Fawad had said that calls for hanging and burning the rapists alive from prominent members of his party and the educated faction were a reflection of the society’s violent thinking.

    The minister’s comments had come after two members of the ruling party, namely Senator Faisal Javed and Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, called for extreme punishments for those behind the gang-rape and the rape and murder of minor Marwah in Karachi.

  • Misogyny is the norm

    “The country’s leadership has set the tone.”

    As if the incident when a woman in a stopped car by the motorway was attacked in front of her children wasn’t horrific enough, the behaviour of the Lahore Police chief, CCPO Umar Sheikh, and his remarks about the incident were even more horrific — so shockingly medieval and misogynistic were these. 

    Is there anything one can say about the remarks of this police ‘officer’? Unfortunately, what one must say is that his remarks are not shocking to a large section of Pakistani society. And by this, I mean that his remarks reflect the mindset of not just a certain class but the thinking of a great many people who have a vested interest in keeping women dependent and sexually subjugated in society.

    The idea that a woman must have a male ‘guardian’ persists because it is preached and disseminated with impunity. Women are killed by their male relatives simply for behaving as independent beings and exercising independent choices. And these men get away with murder. If there is a natural disaster like an earthquake or flooding, women’s ‘shameless’ behaviour is blamed. If a woman is raped, she is to blame rather than her rapists.

    “The country’s leadership, notably the present government, is comprised of misogynists. Imran Khan may have had a westernised upbringing, studied at Oxford, but his public statements about women have all been regressive.”

    This primitive notion of a woman being a symbol of family honour and a slave to patriarchy is promoted openly in Pakistan. We have seen similar incidents (most notably the horrific Delhi bus rape and murder) in India, so let’s just say this is a chauvinist South Asian concept tinged with convenient references to your religion of choice. It has been almost four decades since the repressive Zia era and the brave resistance by the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) with so many other movements for social justice and democracy. Yet today you have the police chief of the main city of the majority province openly victim-blaming in the most misogynistic way, and you have the prime minister —  a leader who promised change and progress and social justice – not even bothering to condemn the remarks or order the sacking of this offensive (and very un) civil servant. 

    And therein lies the main problem: the country’s leadership, notably the present government, is comprised of misogynists. Imran Khan may have had a westernised upbringing, studied at Oxford, but his public statements about women have all been regressive. His government has not put gender equality or women issues on their list of priorities and it rarely talks about misogyny. The PM is surrounded by people who, like the Lahore police chief, are both habitually rude and habitually chauvinistic. And they get away with it. The PM himself is extremely rude and offensive when speaking about opposition politicians so, in a way, he has set the tone for the present. No surprise then if he were soon to express the Musharaffian view that ‘rape cases are the fault of women and journalists, and are a conspiracy to get visas by defaming Pakistan’…

    “What exactly is PTI’s concept of justice? And what steps have they taken to implement a system based on this concept? Perhaps this incident might be a good time to reflect on this.”

    Will he sack the ‘officer’ making the remarks? Probably not, because for some reason this ‘officer’ is well ensconced in the Punjab capital. And so he seems to have some sort of mysterious immunity and can get away with saying stupid things like women should not go out on their own, support patriarchal repression and just continue with his victim-blaming and misogyny.

    Lots of issues here: a misogynist society, power structures that fear female emancipation, religious regressivism that preaches the evils of the ‘loose woman’ or ‘temptress’ — and a government that doesn’t seem to be at all interested in issues of equality and justice or law and order. The PM issuing a statement condemning the incident is not enough because that is just lip service. What is needed now is that action is taken and lessons are learnt. And perhaps it might also be nice to have a minister for human rights who is actually concerned about the rights of the citizens of Pakistan instead of just making irrelevant statements about human rights violations in distant lands….

    Imran Khan’s party calls itself a justice movement. What exactly is PTI’s concept of justice? And what steps have they taken to implement a system based on this concept? Perhaps this incident might be a good time to reflect on this.

  • Imran, a strong opposer of dual national public office holders, rejects criticism against his dual national teammates

    Imran, a strong opposer of dual national public office holders, rejects criticism against his dual national teammates

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, who had until a few years earlier been strongly against dual nationals holding public offices, has now rejected criticism against his own team members holding dual nationalities, which has led to people calling it “another U-turn”.

    “I don’t know why people say that dual nationals cannot get any public office and cannot become a minister and why they [people] move courts every other day,” Dawn quoted Imran as saying while launching the Roshan Pakistan Digital Account (RPDA).

    RPDA will provide innovative banking solutions to millions of non-resident Pakistanis seeking to undertake fund transfers, bill payments and investment activities in Pakistan.

    Expressing displeasure over criticism of dual nationals holding public office, the premier stressed the need for tapping what he called “resource pool” of Pakistani experts and professionals living abroad for uplifting of the country.

    “We do not have a bigger asset than that [overseas Pakistanis]. The best minds, professionals and entrepreneurs are outside the country. When we will create [conducive] conditions in the country, this big resource pool can return to the country,” he said, adding that when he established Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, it created an opportunity for overseas Pakistani experts and they returned to run the hospital.

    His statements, however, were not very well received by Twitterati, who pointed out that Imran, back in opposition days, himself was strictly against the practice of handing public offices to dual nationals.

    Here’s what they had to say:

    The premier and members of his cabinet holding dual nationality recently came under severe criticism when the assets and status of dual nationality of all non-elected cabinet members — special assistants to the prime minister (SAPM) and advisers — were made public.

    SAPM on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus resigned from her post due to the criticism levelled against her and the government because of her dual citizenship. In a tweet, Aidrus, who also holds Canadian nationality, had said, “Criticism levied towards the state as a consequence of my citizenship status is clouding the purpose of Digital Pakistan.”

    What do you think of the netizens’ reaction? Let The Current know in the comments below.

  • ‘Backstabbing’: Imran govt auditing coalition partners, Chaudhrys of Gujarat, in UK

    ‘Backstabbing’: Imran govt auditing coalition partners, Chaudhrys of Gujarat, in UK

    Ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) key coalition partners, the Chaudhrys of Gujarat, are being audited by Pakistani authorities to see if they own any assets in the United Kingdom and the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

    According to sources, the Pakistani government, in a move being considered “backstabbing”, is making extensive inquiries into the potential assets owned directly or indirectly by Pervaiz Elahi, Chaudhary Shujaat, Moonis Elahi or any of their family members.

    The authorities have sent at least two requests to the British government seeking assistance in the pursuit of the alleged assets but the search has not yet yielded positive results, reports said.

    The first request to the UK government’s Home Office was made by the federal government around two years ago, soon after the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) entered into a coalition. The request was on behalf of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    A similar letter seeking to trace Moonis’ alleged assets was also sent to the BVI. Both the Home Office and the BVI had informed Pakistani officials that they were unable to trace the assets.

    Sources say a new request – not initiated by NAB – was sent in recent months to find out if Moonis, his father, his uncle or other family members own any assets in the UK.

    The trace is based on suspicions that Moonis owns assets in the UK and possibly elsewhere too, but nothing has been identified so far.

    The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) had written in April 2013 that Moonis was a shareholder of a BVI offshore company called Olive Grove Assets Ltd and that this company was set up with the help of the UBS Switzerland AG.

    Pervaiz Elahi’s son created the offshore structure in 2006 in the BVI but no asset has ever been linked with the aforementioned offshore company yet, claimed the ICIJ.

    “All of my assets and investments have been duly declared in my tax returns. Yes, we are their coalition partners. If this is happening, I am not surprised. After a failed attempt to marginalise and persecute the opposition, they have decided to target their allies,” Moonis said while speaking to a private media outlet.

  • CPEC Authority chief Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa rubbishes report on family’s assets, resigns as Imran’s aide

    CPEC Authority chief Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa rubbishes report on family’s assets, resigns as Imran’s aide

    Lieutenant General (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa has categorically rebutted all corruption allegations levelled against him and resigned from the post of special assistant to prime minister on information and broadcasting, however, he will continue to remain the chairman of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority.

    Defending the businesses and enterprises owned by his brothers in countries abroad, he said that shameless allegations were levelled against him to tarnish his image.

    Lt Gen Bajwa, in rejoinder to a story published on an “unknown website”, lamented that the allegations were “false and incorrect”. He insisted that on the date of filing of his declaration, i.e. June 22, 2020, his spouse was no longer an investor or shareholder in any business of his brothers.

    “My wife had disinvested all her interests as at 01.06.2020 in any entity abroad and such fact has been duly documented in the official records in the USA. It may be pointed out that the company registered in the SECP [Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan] in Pakistan was Liaison Office of the companies in the USA,” he maintained.

    About the investments abroad, Lt Gen Bajwa said that since 2002 till June 1, 2020 his wife had only invested $19,492 in his brothers’ companies. He said that all investments came from his savings over the last 18 years, and no regulations of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have been broken.

    Concerning the alleged investment of businesses in the pizza chain Papa John’s in the US and DQ, UAE, Lt Gen Bajwa said that facts and figures were fully documented.

    He insisted that Bajco Global Management, LLC did not have any ownership interest in any Papa John’s in the USA, DQ, UAE or any real estate.

    READ: ‘Who is this Mr Bajwa you are talking about?’ NAB DG on alleged assets of Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa’s family

    “The author further makes a false claim that Bajco owns 99 companies. The author has listed many companies multiple times on his list. There is a total of 27 active companies in the US and two in the UAE,” he said.

    “For eighteen years, the actual out of pocket cash investment into the said businesses by my brothers and wife has been about US$73,950/-. It is further pointed out that out of US $73,950/-, my wife’s contribution, as stated aforesaid, is US$19,492/-. Thus, the total out of pocket cash contribution of my five brothers, for eighteen years, has been US$54,458/-,” Lt Gen Bajwa added.

    He added that the cash contributions of $54,458 by his five brothers were fully accounted for and traceable to their sources. He further said that apart from his five brothers and his wife, the businesses have at least 50 other investors. He maintained that any further investments were a result of profits generated from the business, while also mentioning the various qualifications of his five brothers as a source of income.

    “One question that may be underscored is whether three persons who have worked in the US up to the positions of a Vice President in a US Bank, a Controller in a restaurant operating company, and as an operating partner of a restaurant; and two persons having worked as doctors, would not be able to save US$54,458/-,” argued Lt Gen Bajwa.

    Responding to the allegations made about businesses of his children, he said that the company Scion Builders and Estates (Pvt.) Ltd owned by his sons and registered in the SECP had never done any business and same is dormant since inception. He said the same about other businesses owned by his sons, namely Advance Marketing (Pvt.) Ltd, Scion Natura LLC, and Mochi Cordwainers.

    READ: ‘Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa to issue clarification on report linking military career to family’s businesses’

    Regarding an allegation about a house owned by his son’s Scion Management Group LLC, he asserted that the house was only 31,000 and had been bought by his sons through their independent resources in “cheap foreclosure proceedings”.

    “Baseless allegations have been levelled that a business entity of my two brothers by the name of Silkline Enterprises (Pvt.) Ltd has been formed to acquire CPEC contracts. It may be stated that this company has never acquired any CPEC contract. This company is in Rahim Yar Khan and has only provided labour/human resources to industries in Rahim Yar Khan region,” he added.

    He said that one of his sons owns a house in the USA but it has been acquired through a mortgage in the manner that 80 per cent of loan/mortgage remains unpaid.

    “This again is a small time-house. All my sons are above 18 years and none are my dependents. Masha’Allah their ages are 33, 32 and 27 years respectively. It shall be noted that my sons completed their business degrees from reputable universities in the United States and have had well-paying jobs,” concluded the retired general.

    On August 27, a website known as Fact Focus published a story, claiming that Lt Gen Bajwa’s family had set up 99 companies in four countries, including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants.

    The website further claimed that Lt Gen (r) Bajwa’s wife was a “shareholder” in at least 86 companies. Of them, 71 were set up in the US, seven in the UAE and four in Canada.

    The rebuttal followed the statement of Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, who had earlier this week said that Bajwa will soon be issuing a clarification on the news report.

    Bajwa had earlier called the report a “malicious propaganda story”.

    The story had been called an attack on CPEC by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

  • PM wants Interior Ministry to speed up tabling of anti-torture bill; says torture unacceptable in a democratic society

    Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Thursday that he has asked the Interior Ministry to speed up the tabling of an anti-torture bill for Pakistan in the lower house of the Parliament.

    Taking to Twitter, PM Imran said that torture was “unacceptable in a civilised democratic society”. He also said that torture goes against the spirit of Islam, the Constitution and Pakistan’s international legal commitments.

    “I have asked Interior Ministry to expedite tabling our anti torture bill in National Assembly. Torture is unacceptable in a civilised democratic society & goes against the spirit of Islam, our constitution & our international legal commitments,” tweeted PM Imran.

    In January this year, the Ministry of Human Rights said it would present a bill against torture.

    Human rights minister Dr Shireen Mazari had expressed the federal government’s commitment to making the police citizen-centric and gender-sensitive by resolving legislative, infrastructural and attitudinal challenges of the police.

    She had also committed to depoliticise the police by introducing a merit-based system and a modern police law replacing the 157-year-old colonial law of 1861.

  • Late poet Fahmida Riaz’s daughter declines presidential award to protest treatment of journalists, writers

    Late poet Fahmida Riaz’s daughter declines presidential award to protest treatment of journalists, writers

    Renowned poet Fahmida Riaz’s daughter, in protest against the alleged abduction and torture of journalists and writers by the state, has declined the presidential award that the government had announced for her late mother.

    This is the second national award that has been turned down this year as earlier, Saeen Taj Joyo, the father of missing Sindhi teacher and activist Sarang Joyo, had also declined the President’s Pride of Performance (Nisan-e-Pakistan) award on account of the disappearance of his son.

    Sarang Joyo was recently traced and claimed to have been tortured in captivity.

    In a social media post, Fahmida Riaz’s daughter Veerta Ali Ujan said that accepting an award from the Imran Khan government on her mother’s behalf would be an insult to her struggle for justice and equality. “Harassers [are] being awarded. Karachi left to rot in sewage.”

    She said had her mother been alive today, she would have also refused to accept the award from the government.

    Born in Meerut in pre-partition India in 1946, Fahmida Riaz was among the leading Urdu poets.

    She was also an unrelenting social critic and had been active in several human rights movements. She was among the writers, who had campaigned against former military ruler General Ziaul Haq’s regime and the execution of former prime minister (PM) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

    She had to suffer the wrath of authorities and also spent a period of self-exile in India.

    She died on November 21, 2018, at the age of 72.

  • VIDEO: ‘PTI should fear the day when Fawad Chaudhry writes a book’

    VIDEO: ‘PTI should fear the day when Fawad Chaudhry writes a book’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Rana Sanaullah has said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) should fear the day when the incumbent federal minister for science and technology, Fawad Chaudhry, writes a book.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Sanaullah, who was appearing on the show with Fawad, was asked what he had to say about the explosive viral excerpts from Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad’s upcoming book.

    “These claims support our stance and these questions should be asked to people whose stances are being contradicted,” he said in response.

    Sanaullah maintained that most people state the truth while writing a book or try to do so because humans are mortal but books live on for hundreds of years even after the author’s demise.

    “So I think PTI should fear the day when Fawad Chaudhry writes a book. It would be more dangerous than this one.”

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Earlier, the railways minister had announced that he wrote a book during the coronavirus lockdown, which will be released on September 6.

  • Federal cabinet approves first-ever licence for cannabis use; seized drugs to no longer be destroyed

    Federal cabinet approves first-ever licence for cannabis use; seized drugs to no longer be destroyed

    In what has been termed a “landmark decision” by Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry, the federal cabinet has approved the first-ever licence for the Science & Tech Ministry and Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) to use hemp — cannabis plant — for industrial and medical purposes.

    After the approval, confiscated drugs will no longer be destroyed and instead be used to make medicines, reports said.

    The development was confirmed by Fawad, who took to Twitter and wrote:

    The federal cabinet’s decision comes months after it was reported that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan wanted the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to stop burning charas [hashish form of cannabis] and other seized drugs, and instead set up a factory where they can be utilised to make medicines.

    In a video doing rounds over the internet in February, Narcotics Control Minister Shehryar Afridi could be heard as saying that his department was working to set up a factory on the premier’s orders. This factory would manufacture medicines solely from seized drugs, thousands of kilogrammes of which are set ablaze every year at a drug-burning ceremony held by the ANF.

    “We are setting up a factory… we burn a huge cache of heroin, charas and afeem [opium] every year, but other countries use them to make medicines. Now, on PM Imran Khan’s instructions, a factory will be established in Tirah [Valley] so that lives of locals can be improved,” he had said.

    According to research conducted by many reliable sources over the years, cannabis, marijuana or hashish has long been known to provide pain relief from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, nausea, and can also minimise some symptoms of glaucoma and Crohn’s disease.

    Similarly, a study at Hannover Medical School found that opiate addicts — usually people addicted to painkillers like Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin, or Demerol — were able to better kick their opiate addiction after taking small dosages of heroin.

  • ‘Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa to issue clarification on report linking military career to family’s businesses’

    ‘Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa to issue clarification on report linking military career to family’s businesses’

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said that Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa will soon be issuing a clarification on the news report that linked his military career to his family’s businesses. 

    Faraz, in a statement on Twitter, said that he had spoken to Bajwa, who will in a few days issue a “detailed” clarification on reports regarding his assets.

    Bajwa, who is also the chairperson of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, has already rebutted the report while calling it a “malicious propaganda story”.

    The report had gone viral last week.

    LT GEN (R) ASIM BAJWA:

    Lt Gen (r) Bajwa, who replaced former information minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan as the premier’s media aide earlier this year, is a retired three-star general.

    During his military career, he has served as the director general (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) as well as the commander of Pakistan Army’s Southern Command.