Tag: Stephen Sackur

  • ‘It was military vs PTI’: Gen Bajwa was actively involved in sending PTI govt packing, says Fawad

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry has said that in the no-confidence motion against his party’s Chairman and then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, it was actually the PTI versus the military.

    Fawad claimed during a BBC HARDTalk interview yesterday that “some army generals, as well as ex-chief General [Qamar Javed] Bajwa were actively involved in sending the PTI government home”.

    Establishment played a very active role in the ouster of Imran Khan

    “And in that conspiracy, some army generals were involved, there is no doubt about that and the establishment actually played a very active role in the ouster of Imran Khan. In fact, the last army chief was [also] actively involved in sending our government home,” he alleged.

    Host Stephen Sackur asked Fawad about DG ISI Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum’s press conference, in which he, alongside then ISPR chief Lt Gen Babar Iftikhar, said Imran Khan asked the military to perform an unconstitutional act during the no-confidence vote.

    Chaudhry responded: “The current [army] leadership has just assumed the office and we are hoping there will be a change in the policy, but the last chief was not speaking truth when he said we asked [for their] help. We only asked for their neutrality.”

    Unelected institutions like the judiciary and the military exercised their powers beyond Constitution

    Dismissing the notion that the PTI was against the military, Fawad said his party was not against anyone. “In Pakistan, unelected institutions like the judiciary and the military exercised their powers beyond Constitution [in the past], which is known to everyone.”

    Bygones are bygones: PTI looks forward to having good relations with US

    Talking about how Khan blamed United States for his ouster and then later changing his narrative that he wants to have good relations with US, Fawad said that the PTI never said it seeks a war with the superpower. “Instead, it wants good bilateral ties. No party wants confrontation with the US,” Fawad noted. However, at the same time the PTI doesn’t want any country including the US to dictate Pakistan, he opined.

    Saying bygones are bygones, Fawad said his party looks forward to having good relations with the US, and hopes the superpower too would like to collaborate with Pakistan’s most popular political party.

    Calling Osama bin Laden a “martyr” was a slip of a tongue

    To a question, he clarified that Imran never called Osama bin Laden a “martyr”, saying he had a slip of a tongue in one speech which was clarified later.

    Shehbaz govt ruined all efforts due to their ignorance of Afghanistan’s history and problems

    Chaudhry said the then-PTI government was holding “continuous negotiations” with the Afghan government “and we were close to actually resolve the issue”.

    He, however, blamed the incumbent government for “ruining” all efforts due to their “ignorance of Afghanistan’s history and problems”.

    PTI could wait for elections but….

    The PTI leader said his party could wait for elections “but this government is not ready to hold polls as they know people will oust them through vote”.

    He insisted that elections were needed for Pakistan and not for the PTI. “We are asking that elections should be held at the earliest so that a new responsible government can take care of economic affairs.”

    Zardari and Sharifs had put Pakistan into a vicious debt cycle

    Stephen Sackur said Pakistan’s debt stood at $116 billion when the PTI took over in 2018, but it rose to $230 billion when the party left government.

    Fawad responded saying his party’s government had to borrow funds to return the loans taken by the previous government. He maintained that his party’s government worked to restructure the loans and did as far as economy is concerned.

    He said, ” Zardari and Sharifs had put Pakistan into a vicious debt cycle.

    Imran gave the country one of the cleanest governments in 75 years of history

    Sackur said figures did not bear out his claim, referring to promises made by the PTI before elections, especially those about corruption, He said that Pakistan fell by 20 points on the corruption perception index (CPI).

    Fawad disagreed, arguing that these were the departments related to rule of law, for example judiciary, not the political side, that had contributed to that index. He said Imran gave the country one of the cleanest governments in its 75 years of existence.

    The PTI leader said it is not possible to create economic stability without political stability as [political uncertainty in the country is such that] no one knows who will rule the country three or five months from now.

  • Watch: Indian anchor loses cool on show, becomes a global meme

    Watch: Indian anchor loses cool on show, becomes a global meme

    In a video that resurfaced on social media, an Indian journalist, Deepak Chaurasia, of the News Nation TV is seen constantly shouting at one of his panelists.

    The anchorperson is seen shouting at the top of his voice, dominating one of the panelists and not giving him a chance to answer back.

    The journalist loses his cool because the panelist is from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

    The journalist can be seen getting hysterical in his prime time show ‘Khoj Khabar’. Ignoring cameras, Chaurasia got up from his seat and walked towards JNU Students Union leader Sunny Dhiman. Before Dhiman could understand anything, Chaurasia started shouting at him. “Aap log (JNU students) jatein JNU hai, taxpayer ka khaatay hai aur gaatay Pakistan ka (You students go to JNU on taxpayer’s money but sing praises of Pakistan).”

    “Apko sawaal poochna chahiye” (You should ask questions), Dhiman shouted back in response.

    Disregarding his answer, Chaurasia jabbed his finger at Dhiman, “Aap jaise log jo yeh mansikta phela rahein hai, aap jaise desh drohion ne ikhata kiya Pulwama mein” (You are responsible for spreading this mentality, all anti-nationals had gathered in Pulwama).

    Twitterati reacted to the Indian journalists’ way of communication and schooled him on basic ethics, who soon became a laughingstock among netizens.

    BBC journalist Stephen Sackur took to Twitter and wrote, “I watched this and realised I’ve been doing @BBCHARDtalk all wrong…”

    Research Fellow, South Asia at The Heritage Foundation, Jeff Smith wrote, “My goodness. If a TV anchor ever jabbed his finger in my face like that he’d wake up in a different time zone.”

    Journalist Mehdi Hasan, mocking the resurfaced video, tweeted, “Watch the faces of the other three panelists. Amazing.”

    A Twitter user wrote, “It happens nowhere in the world except India.”

    Another person retweeting the video wrote, “This is truly a disease spreading in India.”

    A Twitter user mocking the debate wrote, “Comedy show Hai yeee? [Is this a comedy show?]”

    Seeing the Indian journalist shout on television, a Twitter user wrote, “They forgot to take blood pressure (BP) tablets??”

    Tagging the anchorperson one Twitter user wrote, “Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument”

  • Ishaq Dar ‘enjoyed intense interview’, believes BBC HARDtalk host

    Stephen Sackur, the host of the BBC News HARDtalk show, said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar “appeared to enjoy and appreciate the intense conversation at times” during the show that many say had left Dar ‘redfaced’.

    Dar had appeared on the BBC show last month, where he was grilled by the show host for allegedly owning assets beyond means. He had failed to give straight answers, a fact celebrated by the government officials.

    BBC Urdu interviewed Sackur, who told them that he “enjoyed” interviewing the former finance minister of Pakistan. “I was delighted that Ishaq Dar wanted to be on the show. We are making conscious efforts to cover Pakistan more thoroughly on HARDtalk,” the journalist told BBC Urdu.

    According to Sackur, his show is “supposed to be an intense interview” and Dar was no exception,” he added. Sackur said he has enough experience to ensure that high-profile figures don’t dodge the questions. “The trick is you ask the same question so many times to get the straight answer,” he said.

    The BBC anchorperson said HARDtalk was not a “boxing match where he treated the interviewee like an opponent”.

    He also praised Dar for being a “direct speaker”.

    DAR ON HARDTALK:

    Last month, Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N’s fight against the government, and NAB.

    During the show, the host asked Dar: “Is it your contention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has no integrity? To this, Dar responded that NAB has lost its integrity. “It is an institution that has been used against political opponents.”

    Dar said the prime allegation in the Panama Papers Joint Investigation Team report on which the Supreme Court directed NAB to file a reference against him was that he didn’t file his tax returns in Pakistan for 20 years i.e. 1981-2001. Dar said as a chartered account, he had never missed filing his tax returns while living in the UK and North America, as he called these “blatant allegations”.

    At this the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”

    Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”

    “How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.

    Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.

    However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

  • Fact Check: Dozens of people have died in NAB custody

    Fact Check: Dozens of people have died in NAB custody

    Claim: Several people have died under NAB custody

    Fact: At least 12 people who died in NAB custody have been reported on by mainstream media

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar has not only claimed that dozens of people died in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) but also told HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur to “Google it”.

    Speaking to BBC, he brought the journalist’s attention to the human rights condition in Pakistan. “What’s happening in Pakistan… dozens of people have died in NAB custody.”

    When Sackur asked him if he was claiming that people had died during detention by NAB, Dar reiterated his claim and told the presenter to head to Google to verify it.

    https://twitter.com/WaraichHaider/status/1333666178250788864

    But is there any truth to the claims made by the ex-finance minister?

    Amid conflicting reports, NAB maintains that not even a single person has died in its custody, at least not because of torture and in recent times.

    One of the most recent cases remains that of the former chief executive officer (CEO) of the University of Sargodha’s Lahore campus, Mian Javed Ahmed, who was in Camp Jail in connection with a NAB inquiry.

    He died in prison reportedly of cardiac arrest in late 2018. With pictures of his dead body still in handcuffs sending shockwaves across the nation, NAB said the teacher was not in the bureau’s but in judicial custody.

    Earlier in 2004, the then NAB chairperson had ordered an inquiry into the death of a former divisional engineer of PTCL, Agha Mohammad Sajjad, who died in NAB custody.

    A NAB spokesperson had said the former PTCL official who was taken into custody on the charges of corruption from Lahore was brought to NAB police station, where he suffered a heart attack. The official died on the way to hospital, he had said and rejected allegations that the death was caused by torture.

    Former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Sehar Kamran, however, says that “NAB custody is worse than the United States’ (US) infamous military jail, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp”.

    The scattered data of alleged rights violations by NAB was compiled by Kamran in a brief she reportedly sent to Federal Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari among other authorities concerned earlier this year.

    According to the brief, 11 NAB suspects, minus Mian Javed, have lost their lives while in custody or “as a direct result of the harassment by the agency”.

    Aslam Masood

    Aslam Masood, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Omni Group, was arrested through Interpol when he was boarding a flight from London to Jeddah in October 2018. He was subsequently extradited to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia in February 2019. He died of a cardiac arrest on August 17, 2020 while in NAB custody.

    Engineer Aijaz Memon

    Aijaz Memon, an executive engineer serving in Sindh government’s Works and Services Department, was accused of misappropriation of Rs90 million development funds for Jacobabad. He was kept in the Sukkur Central Prison, where he suffered a heart stroke, and passed away during treatment at the local Civil hospital on May 31, 2020, less than three months after being placed in NAB custody.

    Advocate Zafar Iqbal Mughal

    Advocate Zafar Iqbal Mughal was a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and district bar member from Layyah. He was detained by NAB authorities on October 11, 2019, in a bogus housing scheme case (a non-registered housing colony on 254 acres in Layyah). He remained in NAB custody for 86 days and after severe deterioration of health, he was transferred to the hospital only four days before death. He died in NAB custody on January 6, 2020, a few days before his hearing scheduled for January 17, 2020.

    Raja Asim

    Raja Asim was arrested in the stock exchange corruption case on March 26, 2014. After five years in custody without sentencing, his case remained inconclusive, while other accused individuals in the same cases were not pursued. Due to delayed provision of healthcare/medication for
    pneumonia, Raja Asim passed away in NAB custody at the age of 42. His death was declared after a delay of five days.

    Brigadier (r) Asad Munir

    Former Military Intelligence officer and prominent defense analyst Brig (r) Asad Munir committed suicide after the emergence of media reports that NAB had decided to file a reference of abuse of office against him. His body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his apartment in Diplomatic Enclave on March 16, 2019.

    He left a suicide note, addressed to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), seeking action against NAB’s conduct against those who have not even been convicted.

    Muhammad Nasir Sheikh

    Muhammad Nasir Shaikh, additional director (land) of KDA was arrested by NAB on November 27, 2015, for alleged China-cutting and land grabbing. With his death in April 2019, he became the second KDA official held without prosecution and to pass away in custody.

    Professor Dr Tahir Amin

    Professor Dr. Tahir Amin, a renowned educationist, international relations expert and the vice chancellor of Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan was accused of nepotism and financial malpractice. NAB chief initiated a probe against him on the complaint of a former colleague. Under tremendous stress, he also made an abortive attempt to commit suicide and later died of a heart attack on April 5, 2019.

    Qaisar Abbas

    Qaisar Abbas was arrested in Nandipur Power Project Case on August 30, 2018, he was shifted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) after complaining of chest pain. He passed away on October 1, 2019.

    Chaudhry Arshad

    Chaudhry Arshad, chairperson of Members Welfare Committee of Ministry of Commerce Employees Cooperative Housing Society (MOCECHS), was arrested by the anti-graft watchdog over charges of corruption allegedly leveled by corrupt officials with nexus of land mafia.

    According to reports, Chaudhry Arshad was under severe pressure to sign documents in a bid to occupy the housing society when he suffered a heart attack and passed away on August 7, 2018.

    Muhammad Saleem

    Muhammad Saleem, deputy director (revenue) of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) was apprehended by NAB in September 2017 in connection with LDA commercialisation fee corruption case on the basis of an anonymous complaint.

    Despite suffering from liver disease, he was sent to Camp Jail on judicial remand by an accountability court. When his health deteriorated, he was shifted to Services Hospital where he died in NAB custody on December 24, 2018.

    Abdul Qavi Khan

    Abdul Qavi Khan, another KDA officer was arrested on November 27, 2015, he was accused of illegal construction and sale/purchase of plots in a housing scheme named “University Hill Villas”. He died under mysterious circumstances at Central Jail Karachi.

    “NAB’s little respect for human rights is widely known. The extent to which human rights are violated by NAB can only be established by documentation, a process in which this institution is obviously not interested. Surprisingly, NAB victims too have not attempted a record-based assessment of this important institution’s performance. In this situation a fact sheet prepared by former senator Sehar Kamran can only be welcomed. The first shocking fact presented in this report is that NAB is allegedly responsible for causing 12 deaths,” writes human rights champion IA Rehman.

    VERDICT: TRUE