Tag: The Current

  • Punjab, KP governors will be from PPP

    Punjab, KP governors will be from PPP

    Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) representative Faisal Karim Kundi has confirmed that the party will not be part of the federal government at present, and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has all rights to form a federal cabinet.

    The PPP leader also said that the governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will be from the PPP, while those of Sindh and Balochistan will be from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    He further said that PPP will vote for prime minister and speaker of the National Assembly, adding that PPP will support government legislation.

    The former member of the National Assembly (NA) also confirmed that PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif will be the Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan, adding that the PPP has nothing to do with cabinet formation. 

    “Shehbaz Sharif has to lead, and we hope he will lead in a better way,” he remarked.

  • PML-N to hold parliamentary meeting today to form provincial government   

    PML-N to hold parliamentary meeting today to form provincial government   

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will hold the first meeting of its Punjab parliamentary board today to complete the formation of the provincial government.

    PML-N vice president, Maryam Nawaz, and candidate for chief minister, Punjab, will address the meeting at Jati Umra in Lahore at 2pm today.

    The PML-N scion will talk about her goals and plans as the next chief minister of the province, making her the first female to hold the position. Additionally, she will discuss strategies for electing the speaker and deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly.

    PML-N nominated the scion of the Sharif family for the Punjab chief minister position after she won in the general elections held on February 8. She won one seat in the National Assembly and another in the provincial assembly—NA-119 and PP-159—both located in Lahore.

    According to insiders of PML-N, party supremo Nawaz Sharif will join the meeting via video link.

  • PTI’s Faisal Javed appears in court after ‘hiding’ for months

    PTI’s Faisal Javed appears in court after ‘hiding’ for months

    On Monday, Senator Faisal Javed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) appeared in  Peshawar High Court (PHC) after “hiding” for months and and secured transit bail. 

    PHC Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan granted transit bail to the PTI leader, who hasn’t been seen in public since several months.

    The court granted bail against bonds worth Rs100,000 and ordered the PTI senator to appear before the concerned court.

    Talking to journalists outside the court, Faisal expressed joy over being granted bail and noted that, “Everyone is going through testing times. I hope that all the oppressed return home.”

    The judge approved also Ali Amin Gandapur’s transit bail petition for a case against him in Islamabad. Gandapur is the PTI nominee for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister.

  • ‘We will vote for PML-N on our own terms’: Bilawal Bhutto

    ‘We will vote for PML-N on our own terms’: Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his party will vote for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) “on our own terms.”
    “Progress [in talks] can only be made if ‘someone’ is willing to change their position […] We stand by our position and will not change it,” Bilawal said without naming PML-N.

    He spoke to the media outside the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday afternoon after attending the hearing of a presidential reference challenging the death sentence of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

    Bilawal’s remarks come as the coordination committees of the PML-N and PPP are set to hold a sixth meeting today to reach an agreement over the formation of the future government after both parties failed to secure National Assembly (NA) seats in sufficient numbers to form their government in the Centre.

  • PPP hopeful of reaching consensus with PML-N on government formation

    PPP hopeful of reaching consensus with PML-N on government formation

    After the fifth meeting of the coordination committees of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) didn’t make much progress, the PPP still hopes they can agree on how to form the government in today’s meeting.

    Faisal Karim Kundi, PPP’s Information Secretary, topd Geo News that the party’s central executive committee’s decision is not to join the federal cabinet in the upcoming government.

    “[Our] experience with the PML-N during the 16-month alliance was not pleasant,” Kundi said while stressing that there’s no formula for holding the office of prime minister for three years and two years by either party’s candidates. 

    He also emphasised that the party has the right to compete for other constitutional positions.

    Bilateral talks between the PPP and the PML-N, after none of the parties was able to secure a simple majority in the February 8 polls, have dragged on for days, with the former maintaining its stance against being included in the cabinet, The News reported on Sunday.

    On Monday, both parties spent three hours in a meeting and were planning to meet again later in the day, but they decided to postpone it until Tuesday (today).

  • Yasir Hussain doesn’t want his son to become an actor

    Yasir Hussain doesn’t want his son to become an actor

     

    Prominent actor Yasir Hussain does not want his son to work in the industry.

     

    Talking about his son’s future in an interview, Yasir said, “I don’t want my son to become an actor. If he will join, it is a different matter. I will not stop him from anything, but I don’t want him to be an actor.”

     

    A video of Yasir Hussain discussing his views is gaining popularity on social media.

     

    In response to a question, Yasir Hussain said that everyone in Pakistan does not have Netflix, so they are watching dramas, while India does not have its own good dramas, so they are forced to watch our dramas.

    “Actors should perform well and show their talent, but in our industry, they often get boring roles,” he remarked.

     

  • Sher Afzal Marwat claims Islamabad police raided his house

    Sher Afzal Marwat claims Islamabad police raided his house

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat claimed on Monday that unidentified people with masks on their faces raided his house in Islamabad.

    The PTI leader told Islamabad High Court (IHC) about the incident while speaking during a hearing on the recovery of Baloch students.

    After hearing about the incident, IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani expressed surprise, pointing out that the PTI leader was not talking about Lakki Marwat, but Islamabad.

    The court asked what will happen to common citizens of Pakistan if such an incident can happen to an elected member of the parliament of Balochistan. 

    Earlier in a tweet, Marwat claimed the CTD police raided his house and broke the doors causing damages. “…they stressed out my family and staff and confiscated my laptop. I managed to run away from my home and now I am at a safe place. This is an illegal raid and I will challenge the IG and SSP operation Islamabad in the court for this criminal act; the confiscation of my laptop is illegitimate. It contains my private and professional data, (that may be) subjected to misuse. These cowardly tactics will not scare me, or force me to step back from our mission, which is for the larger cause — the fight for true democracy in Pakistan,” he wrote on X.

    On the other hand, Islamabad police denied the claim. Fake news was being spread to gain public attention, the police maintained.

  • Government formation: What will kingmaker PPP do?

    Government formation: What will kingmaker PPP do?

    More than 11 days have passed since the general elections took place, yet the country is without a coherent government formation strategy.

    From every side saying they will form the government to every side saying they will sit in opposition, the situation remains unclear, except for one fact: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in the driving seat as the Kingmakers.

    So what will the party do? Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari revealed on Sunday during a political rally in Thatta, that his party has rejected the power-sharing formula offered to them, but stressed that his father, Asif Ali Zardari, will be the PPP’s candidate for president. “I was told [by PML-N] that let us be the prime minister for three years, and then you can take the premiership for the remaining two years,” Bilawal revealed, adding that he said no to the offer. “I said I do not want to become a prime minister like this. If I become the prime minister, it will be after the people of Pakistan elect me.”

    The PPP chairman also said, without mentioning any names, that his party will align with those who asked for their votes but will not take ministries.

    The former foreign minister also stressed that his father will play a big role in reducing the political tension in the country.

    According to The News, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP are set to hold their fifth meeting today to hash out a formula for the formation of the federal government.

    On the other hand, PPP leader Sarfraz Bugti claimed on Sunday that his party will form the provincial government in Balochistan with the help of PML-N.

    “The PML-N would be our ally in Balochistan [as it has] given us a clear signal to form our government [in the province],” Bugti said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

  • PTI leader Salman Akram Raja arrested in Lahore

    PTI leader Salman Akram Raja arrested in Lahore

    Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leader and lawyer Salman Akram Raja has been arrested by the police near PTI’s Jail Road office, for participating in the party’s call for nationwide protest against electoral rigging. Salman participated as a PTI backed independent candidate in general elections

    “They’re arrested me illegally, and I’m with the public, we will continue raising my voice for truth” he said while being arrested

    PTI yesterday had called for nationwide protests against electoral rigging.

  • PTI to hold countrywide protests over alleged rigging

    PTI to hold countrywide protests over alleged rigging

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will hit the streets today at 12pm across the country to protest against what they claim is rigging and tampering with election results from February 8th.

    Major parties that won the most seats have been looking for allies and making alliances to form the next governments at both the national and provincial levels.

    The PTI expressed disappointment with the election results, where its affiliated candidates won over 90 National Assembly seats, making them the largest group. They announced plans to hold peaceful protests countrywide against what they called “record-high rigging” in the recent general elections.

    “The PTI has called for country-wide protests against the unprecedented, massive, brazen rigging in general elections 2024, where PTI’s win of 180 National Assembly seats and a two-thirds majority in the parliament, was cut down to half,” the party said in a statement.