Tag: trending

  • Italy to invest Rs3.6 billion in Gilgit-Baltistan

    Italy to invest Rs3.6 billion in Gilgit-Baltistan

    The government has signed with Italy an agreement under which the latter would invest 20.5 million euros (Rs3.63 billion) for economic development in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of the country, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has reported.

    According to reports, the investment will be used for infrastructural support, capacity building and technical assistance to benefit rural areas of Gilgit-Baltistan.

    The objective of the Economic Transformation Initiatives (ETI) is the growth of irrigated crop areas, production and improved connectivity with markets through investments in economic infrastructure.

    It will improve incomes and reduce poverty, malnutrition in rural areas of the region while benefitting around 100,000 rural households.

    The Italian government has also joined hands with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) under the initiative, which is providing $76 million over a period of seven years.

  • Maryam was arrested to save her from assassination, Zaid Hamid claims

    Maryam was arrested to save her from assassination, Zaid Hamid claims

    Self-proclaimed defence and security analyst Zaid Hamid has claimed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President (VP) Maryam Nawaz was arrested to save her life.

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday had arrested the PML-N leader in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case as she arrived at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail to see her father, former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif.

    Sharing “inside news” regarding the arrest, Hamid claimed that Maryam was taken into custody “to save her life from an Indian assassination attempt”.

    “Indians had planned to assassinate her [Maryam] in a political rally, just like Benazir,” he said and added that the result would have been total chaos in the country.

    Earlier, according to family sources, Maryam was taken away by NAB in the presence of her father while her teenage daughter was also present there.

    The bureau had summoned Maryam on Thursday at 3 pm in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, but she didn’t appear before the watchdog, which is said to have led to the PML-N leader’s arrest.

    The case pertains to government accusations that the Sharif family used the mills for money laundering and availing millions of rupees in subsidy without actually exporting sugar.

  • VIDEO: ‘Because I don’t polish boots,’ jailed Maryam responds to journalist’s question

    VIDEO: ‘Because I don’t polish boots,’ jailed Maryam responds to journalist’s question

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President (VP) Maryam Nawaz’s response to a journalist’s query, as she reached an accountability court on Friday, has gone viral over the internet.

    The PML-N leader was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. A day later, Maryam was brought to court by NAB authorities who sought her 15-day physical remand.

    As she spoke to media persons after appearing before the court, a journalist asked the PML-N VP as to what built up to “people not liking her” and if it dated back to the Dawn Leaks fiasco or something that followed.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “[It’s] because I do not polish boots,” the PML-N VP replied. “And I consider [it] a bad thing [to do].”

    The PML-N leader further said she believed that representatives of the people should be respected. “Running the country is the representatives’ job. I will raise my voice against anyone who violates constitutional boundaries,” Maryam added.

    “This is what people don’t like.”

    In response to another question, Maryam accused the government of “using state machinery to victimise political opponents”.

    “They fear Maryam Nawaz. Selected is after me, his government is after me, there are restrictions on media,” she said, adding that the government was also trying to restrict opposition parties from holding public rallies.

    “But none of that worked. To compete with Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, they needed to be put behind bars,” Maryam maintained.

  • VIDEO: PML-N’s Uzma Bukhari beats up Lahore cop, ends up in hospital

    VIDEO: PML-N’s Uzma Bukhari beats up Lahore cop, ends up in hospital

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Punjab lawmaker Uzma Zahid Bukhari on Friday beat up a Punjab police constable as a scuffle broke out between party workers and cops outside the accountability court in Lahore.

    As per the details, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities had brought PML-N Vice President (VP) Maryam Nawaz, who was arrested Thursday, to the court in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

    With PML-N leaders and workers gathering outside the court to express solidarity with the detained VP, enraged party activists were seen pelting stones at the police, reportedly resulting in injuries to one of the cops.

    This led to the scuffle during which Uzma Bukhari was seen thrashing a constable. A video available with The Current, shows the cop approaching her from behind and allegedly groping her, as a reaction to which the PML-N leader gives him a sound beating.

    While authorities or party sources have not yet reacted to the episode or confirmed what followed the incident, another video shows Uzma being shifted to the hospital in an ambulance.

    Meanwhile, the court has reserved its judgment on NAB’s appeal for a 15-day physical remand of Maryam Nawaz.

  • Bollywood filmmakers rush to register films on the Kashmir issue

    Bollywood filmmakers rush to register films on the Kashmir issue

    Following the Indian government’s decision to revoke Article 370 which granted Jammu and Kashmir a special status, Bollywood filmmakers have rushed to register film titles such as Article 370, Article 35A, Kashmir Hamara Hai and Dhara 370, among others.

    According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, over 50 titles related to the move have been registered at various Hindi film bodies. A source close to the development shared, “Taking a cue from the success of (Anubhav Sinha’s recently released Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer) Article 15, filmmakers have rushed to register films relating to the Kashmir incident with the titles Article 370 and Article 35A being their first choice.” He added that the associations have received at least 25-30 applications for them.

    Previously, after the Indian Air Force’s strikes at Balakot in February, Bollywood producers had rushed to film bodies to book names such as Pulwama: The Deadly Attack, Surgical Strike 2.0, Balakot and Pulwama Attacks, among others.

    Trade analyst Atul Mohan noted that filmmakers had rushed to register titles around such subjects because they “pique the audience’s curiosity.”

    Like in the case of the Vicky Kaushal-starrer Uri: The Surgical Strike which was a huge hit.

    Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has reiterated that no Indian movie will be screened in Pakistani cinemas. Talking to media outside Parliament House on Thursday, Awan said a policy was being formulated to ban all kinds of Indian cultural content in Pakistan.

  • PTI govt accused of sidelining China to appease US

    PTI govt accused of sidelining China to appease US

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has accused the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government of “downgrading relations with China to appease the United States (US)”.

    Addressing the joint parliament session on Wednesday, he alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government deliberately slowed down the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) while Islamabad negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

    “They also shared details of the CPEC with the US, against national interests,” he said, adding that the premier, during his Washington trip, also “completely miscalculated President Donald Trump’s mediation offer on Kashmir as it was deception, decoy and a trap”.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The senator said that the US Department of State had clearly supported the Indian narrative according to which the Kashmir issue was an internal matter between Pakistan and India, and the US should not intervene.

    “The government sidelined China and thought that the US would help solve all its problems,” the senator said and added that the opposition had warned the ruling PTI that the move would upset the Chinese.

  • Fawad shuts up Indian major who pointed out PTI-PML-N clash

    Fawad shuts up Indian major who pointed out PTI-PML-N clash

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has shut up an Indian army veteran who attempted to highlight the divide between ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    A war of words had erupted between Fawad and PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan as the joint session of the parliament continued for the second day on Wednesday.

    The ruckus in the parliament had started after the PML-N leader condemned the government for having failed to take Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi head-on.

    It was at this juncture when Fawad began to disrupt his speech, prompting Mushahid to ask the speaker to “put a leash on Fawad”.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Even though Speaker Sadiq Sanjrani urged them both to not indulge in cross-talk, the PML-N senator continued addressing the minister, “I had left you tied at home… I had put a leash around your neck before coming to parliament.”

    The two leaders then traded “shut up” barbs with each other.

    Pointing out the clash, an ex-officer of the Indian army, Major (r) Gaurav Arya, took to Twitter and wrote:

    Responding to the Indian major’s tweet, Fawad wrote:

    The tweets come amid tensions rising on either side of the border over the Kashmir dispute. Indian government on Monday had snatched away the Muslim-majority region’s autonomy by revoking Article 370 of the constitution.

    The move has attracted a strong reaction from Pakistan as Kashmiris fear that it could pave way for Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.

  • Now anyone can get married to a white-skinned Kashmiri woman: BJP lawmaker

    Now anyone can get married to a white-skinned Kashmiri woman: BJP lawmaker

    A lawmaker from Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that his colleagues are “excited because they will now be able to get married to white-skinned women from Kashmir”.

    In a video that went viral after the hardliner BJP-led government abolished Article 370 of the Indian Constitution — lifting restrictions that barred non-Kashmiri individuals from permanently shifting to the majority-Muslim region — Vikram Singh Saini can be seen speaking at an event to celebrate the scrapping of Kashmir’s special status.

    “The [BJP] workers are very excited and those who are bachelors, they can get married there. There is no issue now. If a woman from there [Kashmir] got married to a man from Uttar Pradesh, her citizenship would be revoked,” the lawmaker can be heard as saying.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/Benarasiyaa/status/1158767988243234816

    “Muslim party workers should rejoice in the new provisions. They can now marry white-skinned women of Kashmir. There should be celebrations. Everyone should celebrate… be it Hindus or Muslims. This is something the entire country should be celebrating,” he says, which is followed by applause.

    Social media in India has been flooding with misogynistic remarks ever since the India government revoked Article 370 and 35A.

    The development now allows people from all over India to permanently move to occupied Kashmir and start businesses there. Natives of the troubled valley fear that it may lead to the ethnic cleansing of Muslims to transform the region from majority-Muslim to majority-Hindu.

  • PML-N’s Miftah Ismail NAB-ed

    PML-N’s Miftah Ismail NAB-ed

    The National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail.

    Ismail, who was taken into custody from outside the courtroom after his pre-arrest bail plea was rejected, was wanted in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case in which ex-prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan was also arrested last month.

    The arrest comes a month after the PML-N leader was granted bail by the Sindh High Court (SHC). Earlier, a NAB team had also raided his residence in Karachi, but Ismail had evaded arrest and the bureau had to return empty-handed.

    After the expiration of his bail, Ismail had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    LNG CASE:

    The apex court in September 2018 had directed NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Abbasi, Ismail and others for alleged corruption in the LNG contract.

    According to NAB, the contract allegedly cost billions of rupees to the national exchequer. In January 2019, NAB had interrogated Ismail in the same case.

    NAB documents show that the contract for LNG import and distribution was awarded to Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013, in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.

  • Pakistan makes its first move, ‘to close airspace for India again’

    Pakistan makes its first move, ‘to close airspace for India again’

    As tensions soar on either side of the border ever since India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution, which makes way for ethnic cleansing in Muslim-majority Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), Pakistan has reportedly finally made its first move.

    According to local media reports, Islamabad is set to close its airspace for Indian flights for the second time this year, a decision that earlier cost India a whopping $80.1 million (Rs12,800,000,000).

    Pakistan opened its air space for all types of civil traffic in July. It had been fully closed since February when Pakistan shot down two intruding Indian Air Force (IAF) jets.

    Over 800 flights use the Pakistani and Indian airspace to transport passengers from South Asia, South East Asia to Europe and North America.