Tag: Shah Mehmood Qureshi

  • ‘Confident that PM Khan will keep his commitment to bring justice’: Sri Lankan PM

    ‘Confident that PM Khan will keep his commitment to bring justice’: Sri Lankan PM

    Sri Lankan Prime Minister (PM) Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed shock at the brutal Sialkot lynching of a Sri Lankan national but expressed confidence in PM Imran Khan’s commitment to punishing all those involved.

    PM Mahinda Rajapaksa took to Twitter and wrote, “Shocking to see the brutal and fatal attack on Priyantha Diyawadana by extremist mobs in #Pakistan. My heart goes out to his wife and family.”

    He said that Sri Lanka and her people are confident that PM Imran Khan will keep to his commitment to bring all those involved to justice.

    Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said he is in contact with his Sri Lankan counterpart and has assured him of justice to the victim’s family.

    “Sri Lanka has appreciated Pakistan’s response towards the incident,” Qureshi said, adding that the family has also been approached and “we will satisfy them completely”.

    Priyantha Kumara, working as a manager at a private factory in Sialkot, was tortured to death on Friday by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.

  • ‘Men need to behave,’ Politicians condemn the brutal murder of Noor Mukadam

    The 27-year-old daughter of former diplomat Shaukat Mukadam was found dead at a residence in the capital’s upscale Sector F-7/4 and the alleged murderer, Zahir Jaffar was arrested for the crime.

    PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz took to Twitter to condemn the brutal murder of Noor. “From rape apology to victim-blaming, this regime has caused irreparable damage to the safety & dignity of women,” wrote Maryam Nawaz.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, “This has no place in our society, lives, religion or culture. We must work harder and do more for prevention & for justice.”

    PML-N leader Miftah Ismail took to Twitter to condemn the murder, “I hope Noor Mukadam’s gruesome murder turns into an APS moment for our nation and we stop violence against women.”

    “Too many women get abused, battered, raped and killed in Pak. New laws are needed. Social mores need to change. Men need to behave. Women should be heard & believed.”

  • CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga lashes out at Pakistan for not speaking up for Uyghur Muslims

    CNN’s Senior Global Affairs Analyst and anchorperson Bianna Golodryga who earlier labelled Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi “anti-Semitic” after she interviewed him on the ongoing violence in Gaza has now called out Pakistanis for not speaking up for Uyghur Muslims.

    Sharing a news story by Vice media about the crackdown by Pakistan on Uyghur Muslims who fled China, Bianna wrote: “Even though Pakistan is the only country in the world created as a Muslim nation, the promise of Chinese money seemingly overpowers the desires to stop what is happening to Uyghur Muslims.”

    Born in 1978, Bianna Vitalievna Golodryga is a senior global affairs analyst at CNN. She has previously served in Yahoo! News, ABC Network, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, and CBS.

  • Celebs support SMQ after CNN reporter calls him ‘anti-Semitic’

    Osman Khalid Butt and Yashma Gill have extended support and defended Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi after CNN’s Senior Global Affairs Analyst and anchorperson Bianna Golodryga labelled him “anti-Semitic” while interviewing him on the ongoing violence in Gaza.

    “Please stop using antisemitism as an excuse to silence voices of dissent and to absolve Israel of blame,” said Butt. “Yet another attempt to paint Israel and its zionist ideology as victims.”

    Yashma Gill also lashed out at the CNN anchorperson saying: “Accusing Israel of ‘controlling the media’ is no way an attack on the Jews or their religion.”

    “It is a political statement from one person of influence to another,” said Yashma. “And Bianna Golodryga wasting an entire interview where she could have allowed CNN viewership to hear another side of political issues is an example of controlling the media by spinning a story.”

    “If it is so simple for her to do it [spinning the story, then] why not Israel?” questioned Gill.

    Omair Rana also tweeted in support of Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

    Earlier, Sheheryar Munawar had also called out international media outlets for their “biased” coverage of Israeli atrocities against the people of Palestine

  • The deadly COVID-19 third wave

    The deadly COVID-19 third wave

    On Sunday, 5,611 people tested positive for COVID-19. The third wave of coronavirus seems to be spreading quite fast. On Saturday, 157 people died due to coronavirus in Pakistan. This was the highest number ever recorded since the pandemic broke out in the country. Last year the highest number of deaths was 153 in June. 
    On the other hand, people are not following basic SOPs like wearing masks or sanitising hands or maintaining social distancing. The interior ministry has notified army deployment for the implementation of COVID-19 SOPs. Hopefully, people will now follow SOPs. 

    In the wake of the third coronavirus wave, the government has started walk-in vaccination for those between the age of 60 to 64. But the problem is that the vaccination process in Pakistan is quite slow. According to a report in Dawn, if Pakistan continues its vaccination drive at this rate, “it will take more than three years to cover 20 per cent of the country’s population”. Even the private vaccines are not much in numbers. Unless and until we accelerate our vaccination drive, it will be very difficult to deal with this pandemic.
    We have seen how horrible the situation is in neighbouring India. Prime Minister Imran Khan and several cabinet ministers as well as many Pakistanis expressed their solidarity with India. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted: “As a gesture of solidarity with the people of India in the wake of the current wave of COVID-19, Pakistan has officially offered relief and support to India, including ventilators, Bi PAP, digital X-ray machines, PPEs and other related items.” Qureshi added that Pakistan believes in a policy of humanity first. 
    We should not take the situation in India lightly. No hospital beds and acute oxygen shortage in India is scary. Unfortunately, the hospital capacity in Pakistan as well as oxygen supply is  also reaching its capacity. Some hospitals in cities like Islamabad are full. ICU beds were more than 90 per cent full a few days ago in Lahore. Oxygen supply ended in two hospitals in Quetta. This is all frightening but real. 
    We need to be more careful and follow SOPs strictly while the government needs to focus more on the vaccination process.