Senior politician and former Interior Minister Rehman Malik passed away at the age of 70.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator was hospitalised in Islamabad due to Covid-19-related complications and his lungs had been severely affected.
Riaz Ahmad Turi, Malik’s spokesperson, confirmed his death.
Deeply devasted to say that Former Interior Minister, PPP’ senior leader Abdul Rehman Malik passed away. Sorrow, pain and grief are indescribable. All are requested to pray for his soul.
PPP Senator Sehar Kamran had announced on Twitter earlier this month that Malik’s condition had deteriorated because of which he was put on a ventilator.
Prayers for speedy recovery, good health and long life of .@SenRehmanMalik sahib, he is now quite serious due to #Covid, admitted in ICU Shifa, currently on ventilator. وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ Allah Almighty may heal & cure him, and bless him with long life, Aameen
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said, “When terrorism was on the rise in the country, it was Rehman Malik who played a pivotal role in eradicating terrorism.”
پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا پی پی پی سینٹرل ایگزیکٹو کمیٹی کے رکن رحمان ملک کے انتقال پر اظہار افسوس
چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا رحمان ملک کے بلندی درجات اور لواحقین کے لئے صبر جمیل کی دعا@BBhuttoZardari
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “Hudaibiya case was investigated under Rehman Malik’s leadership. Although justice has not been done yet, this investigation showed such modern methods of corruption that people were amazed.”
رحمنٰ ملک انتقال کرگئے إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ ، حدیبیہ کیس میں ان کی سربراہی میں تفتیش ہوئ اگرچہ اس پر انصاف ابھی تک نہیں ہوا لیکن اس تفتیش نے کرپشن کے ایسے ماڈرن طریقے ظاہر کئے کہ لوگ حیران رہ گئے، خدا غریق رحمت کرے
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ahsan Iqbal tweeted, “I am deeply saddened by the demise of former Interior Minister Rehman Malik.”
سابق وزیر داخلہ رحمن ملک کے انتقال پہ دلی صدمہ ہوا- اللہ تعالی ان کی مغفرت فرمائے اور ان کے اہل خانہ کو صبر جمیل عطا فرمائے آمین! pic.twitter.com/rCiz3WL6Pw
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said he will seek an explanation from Senator Rehman Malik over his meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
“I will seek an explanation from Rehman Malik Sahib,” said Bilawal when a reporter asked him about the meeting between Malik and General Bajwa on Monday.
He added that the senator may have met the army chief as the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Interior. “But I will certainly ask him,” said Bilawal while speaking to reporters with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
On Monday, PPP’s Senator Rehman Malik met the army chief in Rawalpindi. According to the military’s media wing, the two men discussed “matters related to defence and internal security”.
“Rehman Malik appreciated Pakistan Army’s success in bringing peace to the country and pledged support of the Senate Committee on Internal Security towards consolidating the gains,” the army said a statement.
Meanwhile, Bilawal on Tuesday had a busy day in Lahore as after meeting Fazl, he also went to see Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif.
Among other things, the two discussed the current political situation in the country and the opposition’s plans of launching another anti-government campaign after Eid.
American blogger Cynthia Ritchie has doubled down on accusation and claimed that she had been harassed by multiple political leaders during her time in Pakistan.
In an interview with a local news outlet, she revealed detailed of alleged harassment by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stalwarts Yousaf Raza Gillani, Makhdoom Shahabuddin and Rehman Malik.
She said that after Osama bin Laden was killed, Malik, who was the interior minister at the time, asked her to visit the minister’s enclave to discuss her visa. She added that she agreed because some officials told her that “real business is done out of the office”.
Cynthia said that when she visited the minister’s enclave, she was welcomed with flowers and was offered a drink. “About a drink and a half into my visit, I felt dizzy and the next thing I remember is he getting me to sit down and I was in his bed,” she claimed.
She also claimed that Malik’s driver helped her dress up and told her that they wanted her to distance herself from the NGO she was working in since it was run by Azam Swati’s daughter and the politician had recently joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
She said that the driver put 2,000 pounds into the car with her and made her take it with her. She added that the Malik also gifted her a mobile phone which was used to spy on her.
She said that she was also harassed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and they stole her ‘Emerging Pakistan’ idea.
She further said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had been more civil and she has more respect for them than she has for the PPP.
Responding to a question, Cynthia denied working for intelligence agencies.
When the interviewer contacted Gillani and Shahabuddin, both denied the allegations.
In a shocking development, a former prime minister (PM) and two of his cabinet members have been accused of manhandling and sexually assaulting Islamabad-based United States (US) blogger nine years ago.
As per the details, Cynthia Dawn Ritchie has accused some of the top Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders of subjecting her to the treatment during the party’s third tenure in Centre from 2008 to 2013, also alleging that PPP stalwart and then federal minister for interior Rehman Malik raped her — an accusation denied by both Malik and then PM Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani.
The accusation comes a week after the blogger posted some controversial tweets involving slain former PM Benazir Bhutto which attracted a load of criticism and cyberharassment both from party’s local leadership and its support base.
“In 2011, I was raped by the former interior minister Rehman Malik. That’s right, I’ll say it again. I was raped by the then interior minister Rehman Malik,” Ritchie said in the live video on her Facebook page.
She also accused former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and former federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin of “physically manhandling” her while the former was staying at the “President’s House”.
Ritchie said she was reserving “some of the more graphic details” because her audience could include children, but added that she would be “happy to go into more detail” with neutral investigative journalists.
The blogger alleged that she has endured harassment “primarily from the PPP” for a number of years now. “I have received countless threats against my life, rape threats, claims that PPP has my father,” she claimed, adding that she has “evidentiary support” of everything she has been posting.
Ritchie also said she had informed about the incident to “someone” at the US Embassy in 2011, “but due to ‘fluid’ situation and ‘complex’ relations between US and Pakistan, [the] response was less than adequate”.
And, yes, I did tell someone at the UsEmb in 2011, but due to ‘fluid’ situation and ‘complex’ relations between US and Pakistan, response was less than adequate.
I’ve been engaged to a wonderful man who I met in . He encouraged me to speak out, so we can move on as a couple. https://t.co/PpfdF9Fuib
— Cynthia D. Ritchie (@CynthiaDRitchie) June 5, 2020
The US embassy in Pakistan has not reacted to the claims as of yet.
ACCUSED DENY CLAIMS:
In their responses, both Gillani and Malik strongly denied the accusations.
Gilani said that he even considered responding to such allegations “humiliation and disgrace”.
Talking to a private news channel on Friday, the former premier questioned as to what Richie was doing at the Presidency when she was allegedly manhandled, and why she had been staying in Pakistan.
Interestingly, it was Gillani himself who in 2010, through the Ministry of Interior which was then headed by Malik, empowered then Pakistan ambassador in Washington Hussain Haqqani to directly issue diplomatic visas to Americans without clearance of relevant authorities.
The former premier further alleged that the blogger had come to Pakistan as part of a campaign to malign politicians.
Gillani claimed that Ritchie was maligning him because his two sons had filed a defamation case against her for her allegedly defamatory tweet against Benazir.
I had gone to the @cybercrimefia against cynthia’s baseless allegations on our party leader, late Benazir Bhutto shaheed. So this #muftkhorcynthia decided to attack my father former prime minster Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani. He has responded to her filthy allegation.1/3 https://t.co/oHB8gIW3zj
— Ali Haider Gilani (@ahaidergilani86) June 5, 2020
The PPP has also lodged a complaint with the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against her for making “extremely derogatory and slanderous remarks” against Benazir.
Malik, in his response, called the allegations “baseless, shameful, and inappropriate”.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, the former minister said that the purpose behind the allegations was to damage the reputation of the PPP leader.
While support pours in for the US blogger, a number of people are also engaging in war of words over social media over the validity of her claims.
Former Interior Minister and a prominent member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Rehman Malik has announced that he is working on a film to highlight Indian atrocities in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).
According to reports, Malik will not only produce a full feature film but he will also be penning the script for it. The film will be based on his book Bleeding Kashmir that was launched on Tuesday.
Speaking to The Current, the Senator shared that a script is being finalised.
When asked who he wants to cast in his film, he shared that he is working with his contacts “abroad and local”.
“I will continue to fight for oppressed Kashmiris,” remarked Malik, when asked why he is making the film.
Further details regarding the film have not yet been revealed as of now.
Meanwhile, Malik’s book Bleeding Kashmir aims to present an unfiltered account of bloodshed in IoK. The book has been dedicated to the martyrs of Kashmir and the victims of Indian brutalities especially Insha Mushtaq who lost her eyes as a result of the injuries sustained due to the aggression by Indian Armed Forces in held Kashmir but did not discontinue education.
Malik also announced that the proceeds from the book will go to the Shuhadas (martyrs) Foundation.
Valentine’s Day 2020 is on a Friday and we asked a few politicians what they are planning to do on V day. And most of them are spending their day with one man: Turkish President Tayyib Erdoğan.
Erdogan will be visiting Pakistan this week
Erdoğan is set to visit Pakistan on the 13th and will be addressing a joint session of Parliament on Friday the 14th of February. When asked PML-Q’s Moonis Elahi, PPP’s Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Rehman Malik said they would be in Parliament to hear Erdoğan speak.
While PTI’s Hammad Azhar said he will be working, we’re assuming that he will also be attending Erdoğan’s session.
But not everyone has a date with Erdoğan. PTI’s rising politician Ali Tareen says he will be taking his wife out in the morning and will spend the evening with his team, Multan Sultans as they train for the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Ali Tareen is the owner of Multan Sultans which is set to play the PSL, starting next week
But PML-N’s Hina Butt has one of the best V day plans. She says, “I love Valentine’s. I love expressing my love to the important people in my life by making them handwritten cards, chocolates, precious gifts, flowers. My father is my first love and always has been my first Valentine. I always give him a red rose and my son gives me a hand-written Valentine’s day card. This year I am also getting a Valentine’s basket make for Maryam Nawaz with a picture of her and her father, Mian Nawaz Sharif sahib, saying “Every girl’s first love is her dad” as they are not together at the moment. I know it will make her happy on Valentine’s Day.”
Hina Butt has a super fun V day planned
And that’s not all. “Also this year I am doing something special. I am treating myself by getting a puppy. My son, Momi and I will go to find a pet in the day and get a Pug or a fluffy cat,” she says adding, “Pets give you unconditional love. Then I plan to pamper myself in the spa and relax.”
Hina is also planning to celebrate her evening in style – with her girls.
“Later at night I am planning to celebrate ‘Galentine’s Day’ (Valentine’s Day with my girlfriends),” she says. “I will date my best friends. Getting the gang together, book a limo, get dressed up, go to a fancy restaurant, and order the special Valentine’s Day menu and do something fun as a group.”
