Tag: PTI

  • PTI’s Shaukat Tarin booked for allegedly sabotaging IMF deal

    Former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has been booked in a sedition case by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly sabotaging negotiations between Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader landed in the center of controversy in August last year when telephonic conversations between him and two provincial finance ministers surfaced. A voice, allegedly Tarin’s, was heard telling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) finance minister Taimur Jhagra and Punjab finance minister Mohsin Leghari, both of the PTI, to tell the coalition government in the centre and the IMF that they would not be able to commit to a provincial budget surplus in light of the monsoon floods.

    The leaked audio came to light when the international lender’s executive board was scheduled to consider Pakistan’s request of releasing the $1.2 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

    On Monday, the coalition government also allowed the FIA to arrest the former finance minister after the agency sought the interior ministry’s nod to detain him.

    PTI lawmakers protested in Senate against the possible arrest of Tarin on the same day.

    Interestingly, senior leader of arch-rivals Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, lent support to Tarin, stating that there should be a trial and he shouldn’t be arrested.

    He pointed out that many arrests took place when Imran Khan was PM and that now the incumbent government shouldn’t follow in his footsteps.

  • Will be happiest to leave govt as soon as elections are held, says CM Mohsin Naqvi

    Will be happiest to leave govt as soon as elections are held, says CM Mohsin Naqvi

    Caretaker Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi, has said that he doesn’t wish to prolong his tenure as head of government in the province.

    Talking to journalists, he said that he would be happiest to leave the government as soon as the elections are held. He clarified that the election date is the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) job, and his government is ready to conduct free and fair elections in the province.

    About the ever-growing danger of terrorism in Punjab, the caretaker CM said the government is boosting the capabilities of the already efficient Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in the province.

    It is pertinent to mention Mohsin has been under fire lately by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for what they allege is a failure to set a date for by-polls in Punjab.

  • Another U-turn? Khan claims ‘conspiracy’ to remove him was ‘exported’ from Pakistan to US

    Another U-turn? Khan claims ‘conspiracy’ to remove him was ‘exported’ from Pakistan to US

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has yet again come up with another narrative regarding his version of “regime change”. The former Prime Minister has now said that former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa told United States (US) that Khan is anti-America, which resulted in his ouster.

    In an interview with Voice of America, aired on Saturday, Khan said, “As things unfolded, it wasn’t the US who told Pakistan, it was unfortunately, from what evidences have now come out, it was General Bajwa who actually somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-America and so it was not imported from there actually it was exported from here to there.”

    The former premier was of the view that “International relationships shouldn’t be based on personal egos, they should be based on the interest of the people of your own country”, adding that it is in the interest of Pakistanis to have good relations with US.

    Talking about his relationship with Bajwa, Khan said that his government and the military were on the “same page”, which meant that “we had the organised strength of Pakistan army to help us”.

    However, Imran contended that Gen Bajwa “favoured some of the biggest crooks in the country” and didn’t think about corruption as a big problem.

    “He wanted us to work with them. What that meant [was] giving them immunity from their corruption cases,” he claimed, adding that Gen Bajwa has a “very close” relationship with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

    In response to another question, Imran said that he was sure that the new military leadership had realised that the “experiment of regime change” has gone wrong.

    Addressing the worsening law and order situation, he blamed the “negligence” of Pakistan’s security forces and intelligence agencies for the rising incidents of terrorism in the country.

    Reacting to the disclosure, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif said, “Imran Niazi’s antics & somersaults continue to disappoint the nation. The only constant is his desperation to get back into power even if it involves plunging the country into a protracted period of instability. His politics is based on lies which are getting exposed by the day.”

  • ‘Have never asked Gen Faiz any favour’: Tarin can’t believe Bajwa’s claims

    ‘Have never asked Gen Faiz any favour’: Tarin can’t believe Bajwa’s claims

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shaukat Tarin has said that he can’t believe the quotes about him being attributed to former army head, General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

    Clarifying his position, Tarin said that he had only asked the then-Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General (retd) Faiz Hameed to have his cases heard on merit by the courts.

    Tarin was reacting to the accounts attributed to General Bajwa in a column written by Javed Chaudhry.

    In the piece, Javed Chaudhary quoted Gen (retd) Bajwa as saying, “We kept trying to convince the prime minister [Imran Khan] against appointing Tarin as finance minister. I told the PM that Tarin, who failed to run his bank, will ruin the economy. The premier disagreed.”

    “National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had a Rs 8 billion case against Tarin. The PM asked us to have these cases dismissed…. and Gen Faiz Hameed got these cases scrapped from NAB,” the column cited Gen (retd) Bajwa as stating.

    In response to these assertions, Tarin said he could not “believe” that the former Chief could say such things about him.

    “On March 31, 2022, General sahib had declared me a hero when I finalised the Reko Diq deal,” he said.

    While sharing details about his cases, the former finance minister stated: “My case should have been disposed of on merit. Faiz never told me that he would get my case dismissed, nor did I ever ask him for any favour. I had also told the prime minister [Imran Khan] that I would not accept this job [finance ministry] unless my cases are finished.”

    “The columnist wrote that the former army chief had my NAB cases dismissed through [Lt Gen (retd)] Faiz Hameed. The former army chief’s comments are against the truth and ridiculous.”

  • Gen Bajwa ‘denies’ Javed Chaudhry’s assertion that he called Imran Khan dangerous for Pakistan

    Gen Bajwa ‘denies’ Javed Chaudhry’s assertion that he called Imran Khan dangerous for Pakistan

    Former retired Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has denied calling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan “dangerous for Pakistan”.

    Javed Chaudhry, in a column published in Express News, had written that he questioned Bajwa how his decision of not saving Khan’s government was right. Chaudhry then quotes Bajwa’s response, “Our reading was that they [PTI] were dangerous for Pakistan. If they stayed [in power] the country would not be able to function.”

    Senoir journalist Mansoor Ali Khan in his vlog discussed Gen Bajwa’s denial. Mansoor, quoting the retired army chief, said that he got a call from him [Gen Bajwa] where he told Mansoor that he had not said anything of the kind to Javed Chaudhry. “Gen Bajwa said he has never said such a thing to Chaudhry and never had any understanding of the sort Chaudhry has written about,” said Mansoor.

    He further stated that Gen Bajwa has directly denied this one statement written in the column. However, Mansoor did say that the other information mentioned in the column by Chaudhry is almost 99 per cent accurate.

    Gen Bajwa has also sent his point of view to Javed Chaudhry so that the columnist may rectify his words.

  • When will provincial assemblies elections take place?

    It’s been almost a month now since the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies, however, no consensus on the election dates has been reached so far.

    It is to be noted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had recommended that the elections be held between April 9 and 17.

    On January 27, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) approached the Lahore High Court (LHC), seeking an order for the Punjab governor to immediately announce the date for elections in the province.

    Later, the high court directed Punjab Governor Muhammad Baligur Rehman and the ECP — to submit their replies to the court by Feb 10.

    In his reply, the Governor stated that he had not created any obstacle for the ECP to announce the election date.

    “If the governor did not dissolve the assembly on the so-called advice of the chief minister, then it is not the responsibility of the governor to give the date for the polls,” he said.

    No security forces avaible for elections

    Another hindrance in holding the election has come forth now as the government has said that it wouldn’t be able to provide full security during elections due to unavailability of personnel.

    Earlier this week, ECP had written to the federal government, seeking the deployment of troops of civil armed forces for the conduct of general and by-elections in various constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies.

    However, the interior ministry, headed by Rana Sanaullah, informed the ECP that the armed forces would not be able to perform security duties during the provincial assembly elections in Punjab and KP as well as by-elections on 64 National Assembly seats as it was busy conducting census and counter-terror operations.

    According to the ministry, both the armed and civil forces are overwhelmed with work on dealing with the threat of terrorism in the country. In addition, the troops are also required to undertake widespread deployment to achieve secure conduct of the census.

  • ‘Benefit of doubt’ for Gen Asim Munir: Imran Khan

    Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while talking to journalists at his Zaman Park residence, discussed his strained relationship with the establishment and said that he gives the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, the “benefit of doubt”.

    When asked if the incumbent army chief is following the policy of former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa with regards to the PTI, Khan responded that that Munir had been in office for a mere two months and he was willing to give him the “benefit of the doubt”.

    Khan reiterated that a three-year extension given to Bajwa during his tenure as Prime Minister was a “big blunder”. He alleged that his rival Nawaz Sharif had struck a deal with Bajwa in return for endorsing his extension in parliament. In return, Bajwa started securing relief for Nawaz and others in corruption cases.

    “Nawaz had set two conditions for his return — my disqualification and victory in Punjab polls,” Khan claimed.

    He warned: “But let me tell you that my disqualification is not possible in any of the fake cases they have instituted against me if legal procedures are followed.”

    Speaking about the ‘court arrest’ movement, which he announced last week, Imran Khan said he would be at the forefront of the struggle. “I will be leading the Jail Bharo Tehreek — which is a non-violent drive — after recovering from bullet wounds in two weeks or so,” he said, adding that preparations for the movement have already begun.

    Imran Khan has had an estranged relationship with the military since he was removed from power in April 2022 through a Vote of No Confidence. Since being deposed, the former Prime Minister has criticised high-ranking officials in the army, including General (retd) Bajwa.

  • Court suspends National Assembly Speaker’s order to accept PTI MNAs’ resignations

    Court suspends National Assembly Speaker’s order to accept PTI MNAs’ resignations

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday suspended National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s order accepting the resignations of 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers last month, putting by-elections in these constituencies on hold.

    During the hearing today, PTI lawyer Ali Zafar contended that PTI MNAs had withdrawn their resignation before the NA speaker had accepted them.

    The former ruling party had filed a petition stating that PTI lawmakers had requested the speaker not to de-notify them, as they had withdrawn resignations but the speaker still went ahead and accepted their resignations “without following due process”.

    Pervez Ashraf ‘approves’ resignations of 43 more PTI MNAs

    Earlier, Ashraf approved the resignations of 43 lawmakers in the lower house.

    Reacting to the development, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said the main reason to return to the assembly in small numbers was to remove Raja Riaz as the opposition leader because the legislature had “no importance”.

    “Right now, Shehbaz Sharif has lost the support of 172 members and is relying on lotas (turncoats) to save his government,” tweeted Fawad.

    He also pointed out that 40 per cent of seats in the NA were now empty. “The only solution to this crisis is elections.”

    NA speaker accepts resignations of 35 more PTI lawmakers

    Ashraf on Friday, January 20, accepted the resignations of 35 more PTI Members of Provincial Assembly (MNAs), days after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified 34 PTI MNAs after their resignations were accepted by Ashraf.

    PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan in April last year through a Vote of No Confidence.

    A total of 69 resignations were accepted this week after the PTI announced to return to the assembly and threatened to move a no-trust motion against the incumbent Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif.

    According to reports, President Arif Alvi had been all set to ask PM Shehbaz Sharif to take a vote of confidence from the lower house of the parliament.

    Raja Pervez Ashraf had previously accepted the resignations of only 11 MNAs in July last year.

    After ECP de-notified 35 PTI MNAs, the party’s senior leader Fawad Chaudhry announced that party Chairman Imran Khan himself will contest on all 33 National Assembly constituencies.

    This is not the first time that such an announcement has been made.

    Last year, in October, Khan announced that he would contest on seven seats of the national assembly. At the time, he lost from only one seat and won the remaining six.

  • Nawaz Sharif was taken out of power unconstitutionally, says Qureshi

    Nawaz Sharif was taken out of power unconstitutionally, says Qureshi

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi has acknowledged that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif was removed from power unconstitutionally.

    Speaking with journalist Meher Bokhari, Qureshi said that PTI believed that Sharif would have learned from what happened to him and would not have repeated the same thing.

    “These experiments have not worked in the last 75 years. We were expecting that what he [Nawaz Sharif] went through as a leader, he would have learned from it and taken up a new attitude in politics,” said Qureshi.

    “If someone is removed unconstitutionally from power, a democratic mind will not accept it,” added Qureshi.

    It is pertinent to mention here, that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was removed as the prime minister in April, 2022 through a vote of no-confidence.

  • Elections should be held once: Saad Rafique

    Elections should be held once: Saad Rafique

    Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation, Khawaja Saad Rafique, has said that elections in Pakistan should be held once, otherwise there is a risk of anarchy.

    Talking to the media in Lahore on Tuesday, he said that the country cannot face another crisis.

    Taking a jibe at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that Khan cannot dissolve the assemblies as the constitution has given that power to the leader of the House.

    Saad said that there were no particular circumstances that led to the dissolution of provincial assemblies, claiming that pressure was put on chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to do so.

    He also said that Khan should participate in All-Parties Conference (APC), as he was of the view that all political parties should unite and play a role against terrorism.