Tag: PTI government

  • Imran Khan approves spending Rs42 million to defend govt on internet

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has approved spending Rs42 million of taxpayers’ money for the constitution of a digital media wing at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the only responsibility of which will be to defend the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government over the internet.

    According to Geo, the 27-member digital media wing will defend over social media any decisions made by the government while also dealing with critics of the ruling PTI and explaining the policies of the Imran administration.

    No allocations were there in the budget for the ongoing fiscal year and the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had also rejected the government’s summary for the constitution of a digital media wing, the report said, adding that Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has clarified how supplementary grants do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry.

    “The ECC had left the matter of the digital media wing’s budget up to PM Imran,” she reportedly said.

    Meanwhile, Focal Person to the PM on Digital Media Dr Arslan Khalid said it was the first time any government was building the capacity of the Information Ministry on the digital media front. He tweeted:

    Separately, in an exclusive conversation with The Current, he maintained that digital media was a reality and capacity building of the Information Ministry on digital front was something to cherish. “From its approval to recruitment to its working, all will be public knowledge,” he said.

  • WEF names Minister Hammad Azhar as one of ‘most promising young leaders’ in world

    In recognition of his services in the field of politics, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has named Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar as one of its ‘Young Global Leaders’ from South Asia.

    According to the details, WEF included Azhar’s name in the list of the world’s “most promising leaders under the age of 40” for the year 2020.

    He has been selected for being Pakistan’s youngest state minister and for his services in the field of politics.

    Last year in July, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, following his successful visit to the United States (US), had become the 8th most popular leader of the world on Twitter.

    The number of his Twitter followers had increased to over 10 million that had landed the premier on number 8 in the ranking of world’s most famous leaders over the social network.

    Get to know Hammad Azhar better:

  • ‘Cabinet entitles MPs to 25 business class air tickets,’ report claims

    ‘Cabinet entitles MPs to 25 business class air tickets,’ report claims

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has approved certain amendments to Section 10 of the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974, to ensure privileges for the members of parliament, including 25 business class air tickets for themselves and their families.

    According to reports, the federal cabinet during a meeting on February 25 approved the amendments to ensure perks to 446 lawmakers, which would cost taxpayers Rs300 million.

    The lawmakers will be able to avail 25 business class air tickets from the respective constituency to Islamabad or vouchers worth over Rs0.8m that could also be used by their family members for travel. These amendments would be presented in parliament for approval later on.

    They said that these amendments were proposed by the Parliamentary Affairs Division through a summary to the federal cabinet following the demands of some parliamentarians.

    The cabinet considered the summary titled ‘The Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2020′ dated February 7, and approved the proposal given in the summary, the report said.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry has differed on the claims made by the media report.

  • SURVEY: Majority unhappy in PTI’s ‘Naya Pakistan’

    SURVEY: Majority unhappy in PTI’s ‘Naya Pakistan’

    At least 66 per cent Pakistanis have expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, revealed a Gallup survey on Sunday.

    According to the survey, 59 per cent believed that the ruling PTI’s performance was worse than that of the previous governments. Further, 62 per cent Pakistanis have opposed the policies of the current government whereas 35 per cent feel that the country is heading in the right direction.

    In the survey, it was said that those who felt the country wasn’t heading in the right direction were only 48 per cent in 2018 — a figure that significantly shot up since the PTI came to power.

    Regarding the perception of the federal government’s performance, only 1 in 3 Pakistanis is satisfied (very or somewhat). Only 32 per cent are satisfied with the performance of the PTI government.

    According to the breakdown, only 16 per cent from Sindh, 13 per cent from Balochistan, 34 per cent from Punjab and 64 per cent from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were satisfied with the ruling party’s performance.

  • Google, Facebook and Twitter threaten to shut services in Pakistan

    Google, Facebook and Twitter threaten to shut services in Pakistan

    When PTI’s government unveiled some of the world’s most sweeping censorship rules for the internet, global internet companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter threatened to shut services in the country, a step which would leave 70 million internet users in digital darkness, New York Times reported

    Through the Asia Internet Coalition, they wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, warning him that “the rules as currently written would make it extremely difficult for AIC Members to make their services available to Pakistani users and businesses.”

    READ MORE: Punjab govt’s first-ever digital payment method collects Rs1 billion

    This undemocratic policy of PTI’s government faced severe backlash from rights groups forcing the government to retreat. Pakistani officials, this week, pledged to review regulations by doing a broad-based consultation process with all relevant stakeholders of civil society and technology companies.

    Pakistan’s digital censorship law will give power to the government to take-down a wide range of content. These laws can be easily abused by the powerful if they consider any sort of content harmful, distasteful or simply a threat to their interests.

    The unified resistance by Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech companies in Pakistan is highly unusual. Companies often protest these types of regulations, but to leave a country is very unusual. Google pulled its search engine out of China in 2010 rather than submit to government censorship of search results.

    READ MORE: OGRA to drastically cut down petrol prices

    Under the new regulations, formally known as the Citizen Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020, social media services must remove or block content within 24 hours of a request from a newly appointed officer, called the national coordinator.

    Companies must also prevent the live-streaming of any type of content the authorities say is objectionable.

    In addition, the companies must open permanent offices in Islamabad and set up servers to store data in the country. Violations of the law are subject to fines of more than $3 million, with the authorities even empowered to block services entirely.

    READ MORE: Christian youngster killed for ‘polluting’ tube-well water by bathing in it

    The new laws are a direct threat to the digital economic future for Pakistan. This will also decrease freedom of expression, increase censorship and diminish digital rights.

    What is interesting to note is that PM Khan rose to power in Pakistan in 2018 largely because of his party’s strong presence on social media. But now that he is in charge, and he is very intolerant towards online criticism.

    Pakistan’s powerful military is also averse to debates on social media platforms, especially on Twitter, which is used by critics to question human rights violations and Pak-military’s involvement in politics.

  • LEAKED VIDEO: ‘You did a great job by slapping Mubasher Lucman,’ KP CM tells Fawad Chaudhry

    LEAKED VIDEO: ‘You did a great job by slapping Mubasher Lucman,’ KP CM tells Fawad Chaudhry

    A “leaked” video over the internet on Thursday showed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan appreciating Federal Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry for slapping journalist Mubasher Lucman in January this year.

    “You did a great job by slapping Mubasher Lucman,” the KP CM can be heard as saying in the video.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Fawad had on January 5 slapped anchorperson Lucman at the valima ceremony of Mohsin Leghari’s son.

    Several leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), including Jehangir Tareen, were present at the time of scuffle between the two. Reacting to the incident, Fawad in a Twitter message had criticised Lucman, saying that the anchorperson could not be considered a journalist.

    The scuffle had come in response to Lucman’s allegations against Fawad regarding TikTok star Hareem Shah.

    Geo News bureau chief for Lahore, Raees Ansari, had revealed that Tareen and Fawad were talking about the allegations that Lucman had levelled on the minister during a TV show, salaciously linking the federal minister to Shah, who had then made headlines after accusing government officials, including lawmakers, of sending her indecent pictures.

    It was at that moment that Lucman arrived at the event, triggering a war of words between him and Fawad over the issue. The federal minister reportedly protested against the claims, later slapping and shoving the anchor. The altercation stopped when people intervened and broke up the fight.

    Soon after, both Fawad and Lucman had left the event.

  • Delhi riots: Imran warns of ‘strict action’ against harming Pakistani non-Muslims

    Delhi riots: Imran warns of ‘strict action’ against harming Pakistani non-Muslims

    As the situation in New Delhi continues to worsen with communal violence by extremist Hindu mobs making the Indian capital a living hell for the country’s minority Muslim community, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has warned far-right activists against any similar acts targetting the minority communities of Pakistan.

    Anti-Muslim riots over a controversial citizenship law have erupted in the Indian capital of New Delhi this week, leading to violence that has left 21 dead and hundreds injured as the police fail to control Hindu-supremacist mobs running rampage in Muslim areas.

    “I want to warn our people that anyone in Pakistan targetting our non-Muslim citizens or their places of worship will be dealt with strictly. Our minorities are equal citizens of this country,” the premier tweeted.

    In an earlier tweet, he said what was being seen in India was the “Nazi-inspired Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation — ideology taking over a nuclear-armed state of over a billion people”.

    He also once against urged the world community to act against the bloodshed in India before it was too late.

    “As I had predicted in my address to UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] last year, once the genie is out of the bottle the bloodshed will get worse. IoJK [Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir] was the beginning. Now 200 million Muslims in India are being targeted. The world community must act now,” he stated.

    Meanwhile, the premier’s warning against any acts of violence targeting Pakistani minority communities is receiving mixed reactions from Twitterati.

    What do you think of PM Imran’s statement? Let The Current know in the comments.

  • New top lawyer excuses himself from fighting Justice Faez Isa case for PTI govt

    New top lawyer excuses himself from fighting Justice Faez Isa case for PTI govt

    The newly-appointed attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) — chief law officer and legal advisor of the government –, Khalid Javed Khan, has recused himself from representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case.

    Justice Faez Isa, a vocal critic of the establishment, has been facing a presidential reference accusing him of concealing his properties in the United Kingdom (UK), allegedly held in the name of his wife and children. He has submitted before the Supreme Court (SC) that these properties were bought and have always been held in plain sight in the personal names of his wife and children.

    “The government has recommended the name of Additional Attorney General (AAG) Aamir Rehman to represent it in the Supreme Court,” Khalid said Monday, adding that he could not represent the federation. “I have already stated my opinion regarding the Justice Isa reference,” he explained, while his predecessor, Anwar Mansoor Khan, who was representing the government in the case against the top court judge, withdrew his unwarranted statement and tendered unconditional apology.

    Anwar had stepped down from the post after lawyer bodies demanding his resignation for his “baseless” claims against certain judges of the SC. He was replaced by Khalid as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan appointed him last week.

    The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) had demanded Mansoor’s resignation over some comments he made regarding Supreme Court judges, for which he had been reprimanded by the court as well.

    During the hearing on Monday, the AGP told the court that AAG Aamir Rehman was ready for the case.

    Justice Ata Bandial, who is heading the 10-judge bench hearing the Justice Isa reference said the court would give the government additional time to prepare for the case.

    AAG Rehman had on Friday filed an application with the apex court, submitting that the hearing of the petition of Justice Isa as well as the identical petitions challenging the presidential reference fixed for February 24 may be adjourned for three weeks.

    As the hearing resumed on Monday, the AAG told the court that he would be out of the country till March 20 for some official work. On this, Justice Bandial said one of the judges on the bench would be away after March 20 and they would hear the case upon his return.

  • PM announces buffaloes, cows and goats for women

    PM announces buffaloes, cows and goats for women

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has announced to empower women through the allocation of domestic animals to them, so that they can support their families and earn a livelihood, The News reported.

    Addressing the Ehsaas Amdan (income) programme launching ceremony in Layyah on Friday, the premier said the government had decided that women will be given one cow, one buffalo and three goats, so that they could run their households.

    Addressing the gathering, he said the government had launched the programme — which he described as “the first of its kind” in Pakistan — to alleviate the sufferings of the poorest members of society. Soon people will get more good news about their wellbeing and country’s prosperity, PM Imran added.

    The premier assured the nation that Pakistan’s difficult time was over now, and the country had been put on the right track. He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was making efforts for its vision of formation of an Islamic welfare state on the patron of the state of Medina.

    The PM said the government was working on different projects to establish an Islamic welfare state. He said neither he was afraid of death nor defeat, and believed in making his best efforts to leave the matter to Allah, whose all decisions would be acceptable to him.

  • ‘Bilawal wants to overthrow Imran’s govt, but doesn’t know how to’

    ‘Bilawal wants to overthrow Imran’s govt, but doesn’t know how to’

    Senior journalist Asha’ar Rehman has said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief and heir of the late former prime ministers (PM) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto’s political dynasty, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, wants to overthrow the PM Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, but doesn’t really know how to.

    In his column for Dawn, Rehman wrote:

    “Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has his task cut out for him. In Lahore, on one of his ‘I am around’ visits, he made no secret of his express desire to get rid of the Imran Khan setup. Only he did not know the objective could be achieved. The resultant frustr­ation had him asking the journalists he came across in the most imaginative old Punjab capital about ways and means to dislodge the target. Seriously? Is it the journalists’ job to decide who should stay in power and who should be removed and how?”

    He went on to say that the PPP chief “was on a planet of his own” and thought he was justified in exploring avenues that would fast-track the “unwanted PM and his equally suspect team out of power”.

    “He [Bilawal] does hasten to add that his methods will ultimately have to be within the democratic ambit, but besides this, the PPP chairman has little by way of a plan which will free his countrymen from the yoke of the current rulers,” Rehman stated.

    Adventurous, unprofessional souls among journalists who might be enticed to advise Bilawal on ways and means to remove this government might be inclined to suggest an opposition alliance, he wrote, adding that the pundits insist that so long as a comprehensive alliance is missing, PM Imran “has no one to fear — not himself”.

    “Obviously, this is one reality that BBZ [Bilawal] or his guru in practical politics, Asif Ali Zardari, would be aware of. Then why would the PPP chairman try and act so frank at the risk of sounding so empty?” Rehman stated further as he wrote about the PPP’s failure to make up its mind regarding the alliances it should or should not form in order to survive outside Sindh and send the PTI government packing.

    The write-up by the veteran journalist comes after Bilawal, while speaking to a group of senior media persons on Wednesday, made it clear that his party would not become part of any undemocratic move to oust the PTI government.

    Bilawal had said he would continue to fight economic injustices in the country, and expressed hope that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif would soon return and play his part as the opposition leader.

    He had maintained that “elected, not selected, representatives” could resolve issues of the people, and the PPP would continue to highlight the “economic slaughter of the poor” under the PTI government.