Friday, March 25, 2022
Will Pakistan’s Inflation Crisis Bring Down Imran Khan? - #بزدل_بھاگ_رہا_ہے
Political instability looms as the opposition brings a no-confidence vote against the prime minister.Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s 2018 campaign relied on a promise to make the country’s economy work for the poor by ending corruption and providing employment. Four years later, inflation in Pakistan is the highest of any country in South Asia, and citizens are struggling to make ends meet as the price of essential goods rises to unprecedented heights. Meanwhile, public support for Khan is eroding: In recent weeks, the political opposition has organized protests aiming to oust the cricket star-turned-politician from power. This week, the prime minister’s outlook grew even worse. Pakistan’s parliamentary opposition has called a no-confidence vote, with proceedings postponed until Monday. They have the support of a dozen defectors from Khan’s own party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who remain dissatisfied with his economic mismanagement. The prime minister has said he will not resign, and his party called for supporters to rally in Islamabad on March 27, the day the vote was originally expected. If Khan is ousted, he would join a long list: No Pakistani prime minister has ever finished a five-year term. Pakistan has grappled with extreme inflation for months. In January, the country’s consumer price index rose to 13 percent—the highest in two years, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The sensitive price index, which includes the prices of essential food items, was recorded at 15.1 percent last week. As a result of this inflation, so-called middle-class poverty is on the rise, squeezing the average wage earner and deteriorating standards of living. The surging prices are pushing many people to the brink. Skyrocketing inflation has given the political opposition a window of opportunity to call for Khan’s resignation. Furthermore, recent tensions with Pakistan’s powerful military over the appointment of a new intelligence chief have weakened the prime minister’s political position. Last month, the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) organized a march from Karachi to Islamabad demanding his ouster, and the Pakistan Democratic Movement—an anti-PTI alliance—is planning a rally to counter the ruling party. Murtaza Wahab, the PPP spokesperson, highlighted the government’s denial of people’s suffering as particularly damaging for Khan. “Despite macro[economic] factors being positive, inflation has touched a record high, taxes are increasing, the common man can’t receive any benefits, and the government has no policy,” he said. “We are organizing this march for the working class.” Khan acknowledged the deepening challenges in a public address this year, saying his government was making efforts to curb inflation. But the prime minister has deflected the blame for Pakistan’s economic problems throughout his tenure, saying he inherited a disrupted economy from previous governments. Pakistani finance minister spokesperson Muzzammil Aslam echoed Khan in an interview with Foreign Policy, highlighting rising gas prices and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, Khan announced a $709 million subsidy program to mitigate the effects of inflation and help families bearing the brunt of the economic crunch. Aslam added that the government is also trying to offset inflation by raising the minimum wage. “Despite inflation, the country’s economy is progressing,” he said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted some economic recovery for Pakistan this year. But such optimism is largely confined to the ruling party’s bubble. Meanwhile, experts say its efforts to help the poor—central to its 2018 elections platform—have come to a standstill. The Khan government’s lip service about macroeconomic indicators doesn’t offer much to alleviate the average person’s suffering. Economist Kaiser Bengali said no government in Pakistan’s history has managed its finances as incompetently as Khan’s. The prime minister has “no clue on what to say and is in outright denial on the plight of the people,” he said. In confronting Pakistan’s economic challenges, Khan has also broken other campaign promises. In 2018, he pledged not to resort to external borrowing and to end the country’s cycle of debt, criticizing previous governments for relying on a “begging bowl.” But Khan’s government struck a deal with the IMF in May 2019: a 39-month program that demands cuts in social and development spending in exchange for a $6 billion loan. The IMF released a $1 billion tranche in February, and economists worry that increasing taxes—a condition of the loans—will trigger further price hikes. The weight of the economic crisis is now catching up with Khan. “The country has already been bankrupt for more than two years,” Bengali said. “We are a debt-ridden economy, constantly surviving on loans. There is a pattern now behind every program: We run out of money, we can’t pay our loans, we go to the IMF to repay. There need to be political and structural changes so that this pattern breaks.” Of course, some of the issues are deep-rooted: Pakistan’s economy is designed to serve a handful of elites, said Ammar Ali Jan, a historian and political activist. It doesn’t export enough goods to make up for the luxury items it imports for the political and military elite. Despite Khan’s campaign promises, this burden falls on the working class. “An ordinary wage earner is being squeezed to make an economy work that doesn’t benefit them,” Jan said. “Imran Khan made all kinds of promises, but the machine he assembled around himself has taken Pakistan down.” The pressure on Khan has reached new heights in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, causing a surge in global oil prices. The prime minister was quick to address the public and announce economic relief measures, including reducing gas and electricity prices through subsidies. Skeptics argue the measures are a political stunt to appease the public for short-term gains. Meanwhile, the IMF demands more austerity and spending cuts—presenting a challenge for Khan or any potential successor. Even if Khan is ousted in the coming days, it won’t resolve the crisis facing Pakistan’s people. Khan’s mismanagement, along with the rise in global inflation, has worsened the country’s long-standing economic issues. The reliance on imports has hindered employment opportunities, and Pakistan faces a balance of payment crises. Whoever holds power in Pakistan inherits a dysfunctional economic model, and the current opposition’s only apparent agenda is the removal of Khan. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/25/pakistan-inflation-imran-khan-no-confidence-vote/
The Government wants to flee from the no-confidence motion but the united opposition will not let the selected escape – Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26680/
Thursday, March 24, 2022
#Pakistan #PPP - Parliamentary democracy and Article 63A
By Nafisa ShahOn March 8, the combined opposition moved a motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan. Subsequently, faced with a growing number of the ruling party’s own dissenting members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and a clear and present danger of the prime minister losing his majority in the house, the PTI government moved a presidential reference to the Supreme Court under Article 143/1 of the constitution – seeking a radical interpretation of the defection clause in the constitution, Article 63A, apparently to deter members of the ruling party from voting for the motion against party direction. Article 63A states that if a member of a political party abstains or votes contrary to the direction of the parliamentary party to which he or she belongs in the election of the prime minister or a chief minister, a vote of confidence or n- confidence, and in a money bill or a constitutional amendment, they may be deseated through a set procedure involving the party leader, the speaker of the NA and finally the Election Commission. However, this does not prevent a member from voting and there is no precedent of any contrary vote not being counted. Through the presidential reference, the Supreme Court has been asked to expand the scope of 63A to restrain defected MNAs from voting in favour of the no-confidence motion through suggested preemption, and further application of Articles 62 and 63 proposing permanent and immediate disqualification of such members. At present, Article 63A only provides for de-seating and is silent on future elections of the member concerned. But the presidential reference is deeply flawed as it goes against a settled legal principle as the courts cannot interpret what is not already written in law. Only the legislature can amend the constitution to broaden its scope as suggested in the reference. Also, the reference is based on the assumption that defections of members are motivated by bribes and financial incentives by the opposition which is untenable without concrete evidence. Interestingly, when the 2019 Senate chairman’s vote of no-confidence was held, the opposition lost despite the numbers, and this was vehemently defended by the ruling party which had argued that a secret vote was a vote of conscience and the question of buying votes was impossible. Finally, there is a much larger principle – of the sovereignty of parliament and the principle of parliamentary democracy itself. If parliament elects the prime minister, it alone can remove them. By making it impossible for ruling political party members to vote against their party leader, it is implied that assuming there is no coalition and the prime minister is also the party leader, the prime minister can never be held accountable, making Article 95 and the vote of confidence and no-confidence redundant and meaningless. The present defection clause is harsh enough as it deseats a member after s/he has voted against party direction but to wish that no member should ever vote against the prime minister even with the risk of de-seating and should be permanently disqualified seems to be person specific to escape accountability and nothing else. Members of a sovereign house are free to vote and have free will in most democracies. In Pakistan’s assembly, free will and vote of conscience is already restricted under Article 63A. If that restricted vote is also taken away the house will lose its powers to hold the executive accountable. What if a prime minister has failed to deliver on his/her manifesto, and has lost the confidence of the house? What if s/he has taken the country to the brink, to an economic and security collapse? An MNA, regardless of party affiliation, must be fully empowered to dethrone such a prime minister. As it stands, the present prime minister has in the past attacked parliament, has always been derogatory towards it and has never deigned to be in the house even during emergency times and crises, as in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Kashmir crisis, and the Afghanistan situation. If the law’s interpretation is stretched to disqualify members permanently, it will lead to political party dictatorship, and the parliamentary prerogative to hold the executive accountable will be lost – thereby weakening parliament. It will also imply that parliament is subservient to the political party, making rule by parliamentary democracy into rule by political party. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/944008-parliamentary-democracy-and-article-63a
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Bilawal pays rich tributes to Begum Nusrat Bhutto
The PPP’s chairman said his grandmother Begum Nusrat Bhutto ignored her personal trauma to fight for the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan. He said, “The Mother of Democracy taught us to resist and defeat the dictators and the tryants,describing her as resilient, brave and dignified person.”
She was like a mother to millions of Jiyalas (PPP’s workers), Bilawal said and added the struggle and sacrifices of Begum Nusrat Bhutto were incomparable and in response, the people gave her everlasting love and respect. He reiterated his commitment that the PPP, following its first female chairperson, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, would continue its struggle to protect the constitution and strengthen democracy despite all odds.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/943870-bilawal-pays-rich-tributes-to-begum-nusrat-bhutto
Imran has to go for the country to progress-Bilawal Bhutto Zardari - #MalakandBhuttoKa #بزدل_بھاگ_رہا_ہے
Imran Khan is an animal and wants the law of the jungle in Pakistan. Imran Khan was imposed on Pakistan to destroy its economy, politics and foreign policy. Imran Khan will be booted out through democratic means. This was said by the Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while addressing a charged public rally in Dargai, Malakand in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the relation between the people of Malakand district and the PPP goes back three generations. Quaid-e-Awam established a tax free zone and if anyone tries to take this status of Malakand then the Jiyalas will chase them out. Quaid-e-Awam laid the foundation of edible oil factory and spinning mills in Malakand district. He gave the right of free passport so the people could work from abroad and help their families. Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto provided gas and electricity to the people of this area. She also provided employment, not only to the youth but also women of the area through establishing women banks and police stations. President Zardari gave an identity to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and fulfilled the promise of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto by raising the flag of Pakistan in Swat. He made it possible for 2.5 million IDPs to return to their homes in three months with compensation while also striking out utility bills and loans. The treatment of the IDPs after our government has not been in the benefit of the country. I have come to you once again, since we are combating a tyrant and a barbarian today. We and our Jiyalas have been facing this puppet since the first day. We called him ‘selected’ in the parliament on the very first day, and that is his identity before the world now. We will face this undemocratic person through democratic means. We will treat the umpire’s finger with the thumb by voting. I will not use any undemocratic mean to drive this puppet out. I cannot attack any institution, nor will I go to the court in a black coat. I will not go to Gate no. 4. Quaid-e-Awam has taught us ‘all powers to the people’, and I will chase him out with the help of the people. We continuously made efforts for the opposition to be on one page. We laid the foundation for the platform for PDM while ignoring our differences to chase him out through democratic means such as the bye-elections, Senate elections and the no-confidence. Chairman Bilawal congratulated the Jiyalas and nation on Imran Khan having lost his majority and his government ending. Imran Khan is now the ‘former prime minister’. Imran is a coward who is running from a challenge. Imran is a rat. He calls himself ‘Khan’, how is he a Khan? Khans are brave and courageous. He can only be a Khan of Funny Gala. We have submitted the no-confidence on 8 March and voting was to take place within seven days, the session had to take place within 14 days as per the constitution. This coward first attacked the parliament lodges and the Sindh House, and has now abrogated the constitution. Now, he is trying for the Speaker to be wrapped up in Article 6. We challenge Imran Khan to stop running away and escaping and call a session tomorrow. He should try gathering 172 members in the National Assembly. It has been three years and he has nothing better to do than criticise my Urdu as the prime minister. Urdu is our national language and we all want to learn and speak it. Various languages are spoken in this country and we respect each one. Those who speak Pashto, Sindh and Siraiki are just as Pakistani as those who speak Urdu. Imran should teach his own kids Urdu before teaching us. The language he uses against Maulana Fazlur Rehman is not fit for a prime minister. He can only abuse and that is the sign of a defeated man. He cannot see the increase in prices of petrol and diesel during his tenure. The nation wants for the prime minister to focus on inflation which used to be a priority during PPP’s cabinet meetings while in power. He prioritizes abusive language over inflation. Imran accuses Shehbaz Sharif of polishing boots when he himself has polished to the extent that no polish is left. Imran abuses with the same tongue that he uses to talk about Riasat-e-Madina. The state of Madinah was based on justice and morals. How can this be Riasat-e-Madina when Imran’s state is running on abuses and magic while being anti-people. The farmer and labourer are sleeping on an empty stomach in his tenure. This man has been sent to destroy Pakistan as per a scheme. It was a scheme to send this man to ruin the economic and foreign policies. How can he come to Malakand and say that the foreign policy of India is successful while being the prime minister? If India’s foreign policy is to ruin the CPEC, this man successfully did so. If this is India’s policy, it is his policy too. He made his ministers talk negatively about the CPEC. He talks of schemes and plots while being the biggest one himself. He cannot even give an answer to the foreign-funding case. It has been proven that he obtained funds from Israel and India. Bowing to the IMF and weakening Pakistan before the world is Imran’s conspiracy against the country. What greater foreign conspiracy is there than Imran campaigning for Modi in the Indian elections while being a prime minister? He used to say that Modi winning would benefit the Kashmir cause. ‘No compromise on Kashmir’ is every Pakistani’s slogan. Chairman PPP reassured the Pakistani nation of getting rid of this curse, Imran soon. I will come to you again. We have been hearing him talk of corruption since a long time. Three years of the federal government have passed and eight years in KP. He refuses to answer quesbvtions about his own corruption. His father was sacked by the Quaid-e-Awam on corruption and that is why he accuses all others of corruption. He does not answer the questions raised over the billions of rupees’ worth of buildings bought by Aleema Khan. He has nothing to say about the money which is taken on posting goes in Punjab and who is benefitted. Now, he has tried to attack institutions. He wants every institution to be like his tiger force. The people of Pakistan demand free and transparent elections. We will not let the no-confidence motion be rigged. This is a test for the federation of Pakistan and neutrality. We demand that the no-confidence should be completed constitutionally. Imran Khan has lost every bye-election and local government elections. Imran Khan has to go for the country to progress. https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26663/
عمران خان سابق وزیراعظم بن چکے ہیں، بلاول بھٹو زرداری
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری کا کہنا ہے کہ ہم عوام کی طاقت کے ساتھ کٹھ پتلی کو بھگائیں گے، پارلیمنٹ میں اس کٹھ پتلی کا
مقابلہ جمہوریت سے کریں گے۔
مالاکنڈ میں عوامی جلسے سے خطاب کرتے ہوئے بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ ہم انگلی کا جواب انگوٹھے سے کریں گے، جمہوریت سے کریں گے۔
بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ ہم کوئی غیر جمہوری ہتھیار استعمال نہیں کریں گے، بزدل بھاگتے ہو، اگر مرد ہو تو ہمارا مقابلہ کرو۔
پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ عمران اپنی اکثریت کھو چکا ہے وہ سابق وزیر اعظم بن چکا ہے، عمران بزدل ہے مقابلے سے بھاگ ر ہے ہیں، ہمیں چوہے کہنے والا، چوہا بن کر مقابلے سے بھاگ رہا ہے۔
ان کا یہ بھی کہنا تھا کہ خان تو بہادر ہوتے ہیں، خان تو غیرت مند ہوتے ہیں، یہ کہاں کا خان ہے، یہ بنی گالا کا خان ہے، یہ فنی گالا کا خان ہے۔
بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ عمران خان میری انگریزی کا مذاق اُڑاتے ہیں، وزیر اعظم ہو کر ہمیں اردو سکھانے کی کوشش کر ر ہے ہیں،
پی پی چیئرمین نے کہا کہ عمران خان تو خود سازش ہے، وزیرا عظم ہو کر آپ نے یہ بیان کیسے دیا کہ بھارت کی خارجہ پالیسی کامیاب ہے، عمران اور بھارت کی خارجہ پالیسی ایک ہی ہے، بھارت اور عمران کی سازش ہے کہ سی پیک منصوبے کو سبوتاژ کیا جائے۔
بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا کہ اس سے بڑی کیا سازش ہو سکتی ہے کہ ہمارا وزیر اعظم مودی کی الیکشن مہم چلاتا ہے، عمران نے جو کشمیر کا سودا کیا ہے، کیا یہ ملک کے ساتھ سازش نہیں ہے؟
انہوں نے کہا کہ ہم محنت اور جدوجہد عوام کے لیئے کر رہے ہیں، صاف اور شفاف الیکشن اب دور نہیں ہے، آپ کے پاس آیا ہوں ملک کو بچانے کے لیے اس، کٹھ پتلی کو بھگانے کے لیے۔
پی پی چیئرمین نے مزید کہا کہ اپنی شکست دیکھتے ہوئے عمران نے اداروں پر حملے شروع کر دیے ہیں، یہ چاہتا ہے کہ میڈیا ہو تو میری ٹائیگر فورس کی طرح ہو، عمران خان چاہتے ہیں کہ ہر ادارہ اس کے ٹائیگر فورس کی طرح ہو۔
بلاول بھٹو نے کہا کہ ہمارا آئین کہتا ہے کہ ہر ادارے کو اپنی آئینی حدود میں رہ کر کام کریں، جبکہ عمران خان چاہتے ہیں کہ اگر وہ نہ کھیل سکے تو کوئی بھی نہ کھیل سکے، یہ آج تک نہیں بتا سکے کہ وہ کس کو جانور کہہ رہے تھے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ ہماری عدم اعتماد جمہوریت اور نیوٹریلیٹی کے لیے امتحان ہے، ہم اپنی عدم اعتماد میں کوئی دھاندلی برداشت نہیں کریں گے، اب سلیکشن نہیں ہوگا، اب آپ سے کوئی ہاتھ ملانے کو بھی تیار نہیں ہے۔
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Religion-Fueled Mobs on the Rise Again in Pakistan
Mr. Mushtaq was tortured for hours and eventually killed, his body hung from a tree. A handful of police officers were among those who watched. The Feb. 12 killing in the district of Khanewal was denounced across Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan said the government had “zero tolerance” for such mob violence and promised that the police officers would be punished.But lynchings over offenses to Islam, real or imagined, are far from new in Pakistan, where blasphemy is punishable by death. Rights activists say lynch mobs exploit anti-blasphemy laws to take matters into their own hands. In recent years these episodes have risen to an alarming level, with increasing cases of fatal violence. Critics and rights activists say that vows like those made by the prime minister are mere lip service and that Mr. Khan’s government, much like his predecessors, has not taken any practical steps to curb violence. Instances of mob violence, and state-enforced criminal blasphemy cases, are more frequent in Pakistan than anywhere else, according to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. “The lack of political will and commitment has always stood as the biggest obstacle to prevent the abuse, misuse, and exploitation of blasphemy laws,” said Tahira Abdullah, a rights activist based in Islamabad. Mr. Khan’s government is no different from its predecessors in promising to tackle the menace of religious violence, she said. But “it is too cowardly to confront” influential religious parties in Parliament, Ms. Abdullah said, “and the rampaging militant extremist groups outside Parliament.” Blasphemy allegations have led to the vandalizing of Hindu temples and neighborhoods, the burning of police stations by angry mobs, the lynching of a student on a university campus and the killing of a provincial governor by his own security guard. After Musthaq’s killing, a senior police official told a parliamentary committee that 90 percent of those involved in blasphemy violence are between the ages of 18 and 30. Just two months ago, a Sri Lankan, Priyantha Diyawadanage, was lynched by workers he oversaw in a factory in the eastern city of Sialkot. Mr. Diyawadanage was accused of tearing off stickers with religious inscriptions from the factory walls. He was tortured for hours by an enraged mob before his body was thrown off the factory’s rooftop, beaten and set on fire. In 2021, at least 84 people faced blasphemy accusations in courts and from angry street mobs, according to the Centre for Social Justice, a Lahore-based minority rights group. Three people, including Mr. Diyawadanage, were killed by a mob over such allegations, it noted. In August, a mob in the Rahimyar Khan district, also in Punjab Province, damaged statues and burned down a Hindu temple’s main door after a court released an 8-year-old Hindu boy on bail. He had been charged with blasphemy for allegedly urinating in the library of a madrasa. Defense lawyers are also at risk. In 2014 gunmen murdered a Pakistani lawyer, Rashid Rehman, in Multan city for defending Junaid Hafeez, an academic charged with making derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad. Mr. Hafeez had been in prison, unable to find a lawyer, before Mr. Rehman agreed to take up his case. In 2011, two politicians were murdered in similar episodes. Salman Taseer, then a provincial governor, was killed by a bodyguard after expressing opposition to blasphemy laws. Shahbaz Bhatti, a federal minister, was murdered for opposing the death sentence imposed on Asia Bibi, a Christian convicted of verbally insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Though Ms. Bibi was acquitted in 2019, she fled Pakistan and her lawyer has been receiving death threats. “The increasing theocratization of Pakistan and rising militant extremism makes it very difficult for lawyers to defend alleged blasphemers,” Ms. Abdullah said. “It takes a great deal of personal courage and professional integrity to withstand huge overt pressure and threats.” Law enforcement agencies are not trained, or equipped to handle, frenzied vigilante mobs, and find themselves overwhelmed, Ms. Abdullah noted. Pakistan inherited 19th-century British laws outlining punishments for offenses related to blasphemy. But the government revamped these laws in the 1980s, introducing new clauses adding severe penalties and even a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam. Iran, Brunei and Mauritania are the other three countries that impose the death penalty for insulting religion. “Since the death penalty, a mandatory punishment for blasphemy, was made a law, there have been several bouts of religion-based violence in Pakistan,” said Peter Jacob, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice. While no one has ever been executed for the offense, violence against alleged blasphemers is hardly unusual. Rights activists link the current spike in blasphemy-related violence to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, an emerging radical religious party. And Islamist parties and militant groups in Pakistan have been emboldened by the Taliban’s coming to power in neighboring Afghanistan last year. “The government’s narrative about Islamophobia in the rest of the world” fuels the religion-based violence, Mr. Jacob said. “This narrative builds on anger among the youth, which becomes ready-made ammunition for sporadic but large-scale violence against anyone who is suspected of offering any disrespect to religious persons, scripture, places or articles,” he said. Tehreek-e-Labbaik, the radical religious party, first came to prominence as an organized force when it demonstrated for the release of Mumtaz Qadri, the police bodyguard who fatally shot Governor Taseer in 2011. Mr. Qadri was eventually sentenced to death and hanged in 2016. Since then, it has shaped itself into a political party, contesting elections and continuing to unsettle governments. In April last year, Tehreek-e-Labbaik organized violent, countrywide protests demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador after President Emmanuel Macron of France eulogized a French teacher murdered for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a classroom. The Pakistani Taliban have also announced support for anti-blasphemy campaigns and promoted armed struggle to protect the honor of Islam. Posters offering a reward of some $56,000 to kill Faraz Pervaiz, a Pakistani Christian, for posting anti-Islamic content on social media often appear in anti-blasphemy protests in the country. Mr. Pervaiz, 34, now living in self-exile in Thailand, said that he started speaking out for the rights of non-Muslim communities on social media after a Muslim mob attacked a Christian neighborhood in Lahore in 2013, torching more than 150 houses and two churches following reports that a Christian sanitation worker had blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad. “Even in Thailand, I feel insecure,” he said in an interview, after a Pakistani Muslim refugee shared one of his videos and his location on social media. Mr. Pervaiz left the country in 2014 after receiving threats, he said. Journalists in Pakistan have refrained from reporting on blasphemy cases since the rise of the extremist parties and their growing influence. “Covering the issue of blasphemy as a journalist, and especially for the Urdu-language press, can either get you killed, or you’ll be fired for jeopardizing the survival of the organization you work for,” said Razeshta Sethna, a journalist and author of a recent report on the stifling media environment in the country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/20/world/asia/pakistan-blasphemy-religious-violence.html
Taliban snubs Pakistan at #OIC foreign ministers conference in Islamabad - Diplomatic setback for Pakistan
https://theprint.in/world/taliban-snubs-pakistan-at-oic-foreign-ministers-conference-in-islamabad/883833/
China, Pakistan share concern about sanctions on Russia, China says
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Old allies China and Pakistan have refrained from condemning Russia over its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, unlike Western countries that have imposed unprecedented financial and corporate sanctions in response to what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls a "special military operation".
"Both expressed concerns about the spill-over effects of unilateral sanctions," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement following a meeting on Monday in Pakistan between the neighbours' foreign ministers.
"Both called for a ceasefire through diplomatic dialogue and hope that based on the principle of indivisible security, a fundamental solution to the Ukraine problem can be found,” the Chinese ministry said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-pakistan-share-concern-about-sanctions-russia-china-says-2022-03-22/
حضرت لال شہباز قلندر ؒ کا پیغام معاشرے میں بھائی چارہ، رواداری اور محبت ہے۔ چیئرمین پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی بلاول بھٹو زرداری
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے کہا ہے کہ حضرت لال شہباز قلندر ؒ کا پیغام معاشرے میں
میڈیا سیل بلاول ہاوَس کی جانب سے جاری کردہ بیان کے مطابق، پی پی پی چیئرمین نے حضرت لال شہباز قلندر ؒ کے 770 ویں عرس مبارک پر اپنے پیغام میں کہا ہے کہ حضرت لال شہباز قلندر ؒ کی تعلیمات معاشرے میں تعاون کو فروغ اور مختلف طبقہ ہائے فکر کو متحد ہونے کی فضا مہیا کرتی ہیں۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ آج امتیازی سلوک، انتھاپسندی اور دہشتگردی کے بڑھتے ہوئے رجحانات انسانیت کے لیئے چیلنج ہیں۔
چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری نے زور دیا کہ ایسے حالات میں دنیا کو حضرت لال شہباز قلندر ؒ جیسے صوفی بزرگوں کی تعلیمات سے رجوع کرنے کی ضرورت ہے۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی ملک میں حقیقی جمہوریت اور مساوات کے لیئے سرگرم عمل ہے، جو حضرت لال شہباز قلندر ؒ جیسے بزرگوں کی تعلیمات کی اساس ہیں۔
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26651/
Monday, March 21, 2022
This government is running away from the no-confidence motion, so much so that it has resorted to violating the constitution – Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the government and the Speaker of the National Assembly have violated the constitution.
Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court, he said that the opposition hopes that the judiciary will take the side of the constitution, law, and democracy, and not any particular party. He said that the political parties did not approach the court but the Bar Councils.
The PPP is thankful to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for taking notice of the attack on the Sindh House and calling all the parties to present their viewpoint. We have to politically struggle in the parliament and the constitutional and legal struggle will be in the courts. This government is running away from the no-confidence motion, so much so that it has resorted to violating the constitution. The government first attacked the lodges and arrested the members of the National Assembly.
The government attacked the Sindh House when the members went there for protection.
The attack on Sindh House is an attack on the federation and democracy. The government resorted to spreading terror.
The government is trying to push the Speaker towards Article 6. Every member of the assembly has the right to vote.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26649/
#Pakistan - PM and the Speaker have abrogated the constitution- Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
The constitution says that the Speaker of the National Assembly has to call a session within fourteen days. It is Pakistan’s precedent that the voting takes place just after seven days. When the no-confidence was tabled against Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, voting took place exactly on the seventh day. This coward Imran has been seeing his defeat from the first day, he thinks that either he will play or no one will. We will not let this man play with the fate of the country. He has abrogated the constitution of Pakistan.
Chairman Bilawal said that a petition is in the Supreme Court brought not by us, but the Bar Councils. We hope that Pakistan has one institution that is ready to protect our constitutional and democratic rights along with the parliament and our vote. I am trying to expose this man’s propaganda. He is trying to build a narrative that is based on fiction. Does the Pakistani nation not know that this man attacked the parliament, the rooms of the parliamentarians, and arrested them? When the members of the parliament shifted to the Sindh House, this man started false propaganda. When the PPP made claims about rigging taking place or money being used, it went to the courts with evidence. Imran cannot do that because he is a liar, he should stop lying to the people.
Chairman Bilawal asked how Imran can say that the people will punish the members who vote against him. The people of Pakistan themselves are not ready to vote for him. The members of the parliament have seen how he has lost every by-election in the past three years. Whenever given the opportunity, be it the bye-elections or the first phase of the local government elections, the Pakistani people have rejected his mandate. Despite having a federal government and three provincial governments, the members saw that he could not win one bye-election or local government election. What would become of his political future? Every member of the assembly knows that people abhor and hate his economic policies, along with every person who had been his facilitator for three years. The Pakistani nation will not forgive any member who votes for him. The people of Pakistan hold him responsible for the tsunami of price-hike that they are drowning in and are worried about because of taxes, unemployment, and poverty. The members know that those who stand against him will have their names recorded in history. The history of Pakistan will record how the flag of rebellion against this selected system was raised. It will record which parliamentarian stood with democracy, constitution, and the people’s rights and who supported this selected, planted, puppet politician. His lies are not working anymore, his last days have begun. After this, he would be held accountable for the economic policy and his own corruption. How can he accuse the members without a single piece of evidence when he has the FIA and NAB? A single case of corruption was not proved. It is common knowledge that one has to send money to get things done either by the PM or the CM Punjab.
Chairman PPP said that Imran has to account for the foreign-funding case against him and the sugar, wheat, and petrol theft. He tries to use Islam. Does he think that the people have forgotten what destruction he has made in the name of Riyasat-e-Madina? Does the Riyasat-e-Madina allow for its prime minister and ministers to use such language? Does the Riyasat-e-Madina allow him to target not only his political opponents but the women in their families? Does the Riyasat-e-Madia allow him to trouble the poor and give the rich relief? Does the Riyasat-e-Madina allow us to bow in front of tyranny? Does the Riyasat-e-Madina allow for the common man in Pakistan to be worried because of hunger? This is not the Riyasat of Madina. He should stop using this term. The Pakistani people know him now. He should not think that he can become like Quaid-e-Awam. When the Quaid-e-Awam made this country a nuclear power and gave it a free foreign policy, he was also ready to face the consequences and accepted Shahadat. When Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto gave this country missile technology, she was ready to face the consequences. When President Zardari, to the displeasure of the world, gave China access to warm waters and started the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline project and stopped NATO supply lines for months, he did it for the benefit of the people of Pakistan. We were ready to face its consequences. However, Imran did not benefit the country’s foreign policy and only harmed it. He did not deliver anything.
‘You are the foreign-sponsored, foreign-funded agent who has been planted in our system’, Chairman Bilawal said. It was his job to harm the country’s foreign policy and he did so wonderfully. It was his job to sabotage the CPEC and he did so. He was given the task to have his ministers speak against CPEC and present it as a corrupt project before the nation. The minister who spoke against the CPEC is still there, and the condition of the CPEC is before the country. Imran was planted to sabotage the Kashmir cause. It was his job to work on Musharraf’s three-point agenda. He was given the task to campaign for Modi. Have any of Pakistan’s prime ministers during the elections in India said that if someone wins, it would benefit the Kashmir cause? It is before everyone what happened to the Kashmir cause after the person won. He was given the task to attack Pakistan’s economic sovereignty and weaken the economy of Pakistan. This is the reason, be it the CPEC or any other project that had the potential to benefit the country was harmed. He was given the task to sabotage Pakistan’s relations with Europe. He is adopting the foreign policy of India. What is the difference between his foreign policy and that of India right now?
Chairman Bilawal said that the OIC is being talked about. Quaid-e-Awam held an OIC conference of the heads of Muslim states in Lahore, Pakistan. We respect the guests that have come. We have made these connections and friendships. He did not call an OIC conference in Pakistan over the Kashmir cause, or any issue of Pakistan. It is good that the conference is happening, but it is not taking place on any of Pakistan’s issues. It is happening on Afghanistan and for the Taliban. He has called this OIC conference not as Pakistan’s prime minister but the Taliban’s foreign minister. We want the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan to resolve. However, Imran has caused harm to the policies that were benefitting Pakistan and is now talking about corruption and foreign powers.
Chairman PPP said that Imran is ready to abrogate the constitution. This is a defeated man. A coward hurls abusive terms and runs. If he has the courage, he should face us in the parliament. We have always struggled for democracy in the country. Our party has a three generations-long struggle. This struggle is for the restoration of democracy in the country. It is a struggle for every institution of the country to work within its domain. When a time has come when the media is talking about a neutral environment, Imran and his social media team are trying to spread the propaganda that institutions are not neutral, be it through provocation or creating a constitutional crisis.
Chairman Bilawal said that it is the responsibility of all of us, to demand and try for every institution to work within its domain drawn by the law and constitution, and to criticize when this does not happen. However, it is also our responsibility to oppose the prime minister and his social media team when they target an institution. The puppet prime minister equated the term neutral with animals and has still not apologized to the nation. We are demanding clarification in this regard even today. We are demanding for Imran, his social media team, and MNAs’ propaganda, campaigns, and efforts to shift the status of neutrality to be taken notice of being it through the ISPR or our judiciary. We will not let such propaganda succeed.
Our demand is for everyone to work within their constitutional and lawful domain. This government is trying for a constitutional crisis to take place, Chairman PPP said.
Responding to questions, Chairman Bilawal said that the attack on Sindh House was an attack on the federation. It is the continuity of a series. The first phase was an attack on the parliament lodges and the parliament. The second phase was an attack on Sindh House and the federation. We believe that the law is very clear on terrorism. The government using its resources to spread terror comes under terrorism. We will approach the courts and pursue this as a case of terrorism. This is a very serious attack and calls for a strict reaction. This cannot be tolerated and they should think about how their actions have consequences. How will they protect Bani Gala and the KP house after a week if such a precedent is set? We are law-abiding and democratic people who will face them in the courts. However, all federal ministers and people in the government should understand that the precedent they are setting will soon start applying to them.
Chairman Bilawal said that as per rules, the session should be held within seven days. Fourteen days is the limit for the requisition session, which too has been broken. The institutions responsible for implementing our constitution will not make a political decision but a lawful and constitutional one. The number game has made it evident that the government has lost its majority and has ended with or without the allies.
As far as the talks with the allies are concerned, how positive they are has been reported by the media. An ally on the television said that their stance will be before the country after the OIC meeting.
We had made it obvious before the country that this defeated man would run. We were not anticipating that he would also abrogate the constitution. The proceedings of the no-confidence could have started on 21st March, then the OIC would have three days and we would work as per the schedule. However, they are panicking to the extent that not only are they not calling a session on 21st March, but on 25th March. We believe that there is no space for this in the constitution and we will fight this case on a constitutional and judicial forum.
Our numbers are complete. We are challenging them to start the process tomorrow, which they had to do anyway. We can defeat them on any day. Against the Speaker, we will work as per the consensus of the joint opposition.
Imran Khan, while making unsuccessful use of the religion card has forgotten that the people of Pakistan have seen his government for the past three years. The Pakistani nation has seen what they have been doing in the name of Riyasat-e-Madina. The people are witnessing how Imran and his ministers hurl abuses in one sentence and talk of religion in the other. This is the reason that religion should not be linked with politics. Religion and politics should be separate. This prime minister has crossed every limit. It is our demand and that of the nation that they stop taking Riyasat-e-Madina’s name.
The job of the Supreme Court is to protect and implement the constitution and it will not facilitate this government on its unconstitutional step. It will make a constitutional decision, not a political one. We appreciate how the Supreme Court sent a message of standing with the law and constitution, even on a weekend.
They could have called a session earlier if they had a constraint regarding the fourteen-day limit. The bureaucrats should not listen to the PM, nor should the President listen to his advice. The process of no-confidence should be completed immediately and should take place as devised by the law and constitution.
Our efforts have always been for neutrality. The PM, his social media team and ministers are trying to tarnish neutrality via a desperate attempt. We condemn this.
I had said before the media that the session on the 21st would be called, but sabotaged. In that case, my stance within my party and that in front of the opposition would be not leaving the hall till we get our right in case of such an effort. The Speaker abrogating the constitution is an effort to make the OIC conference controversial.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26642/
او آئی سی کانفرنس کی آڑ میں اسپیکر نے آئین شکنی کی، شہباز
قومی اسمبلی میں قائد حزب اختلاف شہباز شریف کا کہنا ہے کہ او آئی سی کانفرنس کی آڑ میں اسپیکر نے آئین شکنی کی، 14 دن میں اجلاس نہ بُلا کر
آئین سے انحراف کیا گیا۔
سپریم کورٹ کے باہر میڈیا سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے شہباز شریف نے کہا کہ اسپیکر کی جانب سے جان بوجھ کر اجلاس نہ بُلاکر کوشش کی گئی کہ اپوزیشن کو ٹریپ کریں۔
شہباز شریف نے کہا کہ متحدہ اپوزیشن نے اسلامی ملکوں کے مہمانوں کو خوش آمدید کیا، اپنا لانگ مارچ او آئی سی کی کانفرنس کے لیے موخر کیا۔
واضح رہے کہ چیف جسٹس پاکستان عمر عطا بندیال کی سربراہی میں 2 رکنی بینچ تحریک عدم اعتماد سے پہلے سیاسی جلسے روکنے کیلئے سپریم کورٹ بار کی درخواست پر سماعت کررہا ہے، جبکہ جسٹس منیب اختر 2 رکنی بینچ کا حصہ ہیں۔
سماعت کے دوران چیف جسٹس پاکستان عمر عطا بندیال نے کہا کہ ووٹ ڈالنا ارکان کا آئینی حق ہے، عدالت ابھی تک قومی اسمبلی کی کارروائی میں مداخلت پر قائل نہیں ہوئی، بہتر ہوگا کہ اسمبلی کی جنگ اسمبلی کے اندر لڑی جائے۔
پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو، قائد حزب اختلاف شہباز شریف اور پی ڈی ایم سربراہ مولانا فضل الرحمان سپریم کورٹ پہنچے۔
سپریم کورٹ کے باہر رہنماؤں کی آمد کے موقع پر پولیس کی بھاری نفری تعینات تھی۔
اپوزیشن رہنماؤں کے ہمراہ خواجہ سعد رفیق، سردار اختر مینگل بھی سپریم کورٹ پہنچے تھے۔
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Saturday, March 19, 2022
#Pakistan - Imran Khan’s Immature Tirade
https://en.humsub.com.pk/3775/imran-khans-immature-tirade/
Pakistani PM Imran Khan Faces Revolt From His Own Party Ahead Of No-Trust Vote
Nearly two dozen disgruntled lawmakers from Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's ruling party have openly threatened to vote against him on the no-confidence motion tabled in Parliament by the Opposition, in a fresh blow to the embattled premier struggling to cling to power.
Around 100 lawmakers from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) submitted a no-confidence motion before the National Assembly Secretariat on March 8, alleging that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf government led by Khan was responsible for the economic crisis and the spiralling inflation in the country.
The National Assembly session for the move is expected to be convened on March 21 and the voting is likely to be held on March 28.
After the no-trust move was submitted by the joint opposition, some of the partners in the government began to dither but the real shocker for Khan came on Thursday when it emerged that about 24 lawmakers from his own party were ready to part ways to join the push to topple his government.
Raja Riaz, one of the lawmakers, told Geo News that Khan had failed to control inflation while another lawmaker Noor Alam Khan told Samaa News that his multiple grievances were not addressed by the government.
"We are part of more than two dozen members who are not happy with the government policies," Riaz said "I raised the issue of gas shortage in my constituency many times but nothing was done," said Khan.
The disgruntled lawmakers have been staying at Sindh House in Islamabad which is a property of the Sindh government and run by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Saeed Ghani, a provincial minister and spokesman of the Sindh government, said the lawmakers fear they will be abducted by the government.
Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani is also among the PTI lawmakers staying at Sindh House.
"I was threatened and requested the Sindh Chief Minister to give me a room here (Sindh House)," he was quoted as saying by the Dawn News.
The government accused the Sindh government of abducting the PTI lawmakers to influence them by offering them huge bribes.
But Riaz told Geo News that the lawmakers were staying at the property of their own free will and were ready to move out of it if the prime minister assured them that they would be allowed to vote "according to our conscience".
Prime Minister Khan consulted his party leaders and ministers on Thursday and was urged by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid to impose a governor's rule in Sindh and remove its government as it was involved in buying members of the National Assembly.
"I asked the Prime Minister to impose Governor Rule in Sindh," Rashid told the media after the meeting.
Khan is also consulting his legal team on how to disqualify the dissidents under the floor-crossing laws, but the law can be invoked after a lawmaker votes against his own party by ignoring the clear directions of the party leader.
As Khan's grip on power weakens, he has mobilised his support base by giving a call for a big rally in the heart of the capital on March 27, with the objective of gathering one million workers.
The opposition parties responded to the move by asking their workers to march towards Islamabad on March 25 to occupy the D-Chowk in front of Parliament where Khan plans to hold a rally.
As the political drama unfolds, the powerful army is apparently viewing the scenes from the sidelines with many experts wondering about its final move.
Pakistan Army spokesman last week told the media that the military will remain neutral, to which Khan responded days after while addressing a rally in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by saying humans take sides and "only animals are neutral".
The Army did not respond to Khan's barb, but many interpreted it as quite a predicament that Khan has got himself into after three and a half years of rule.
Khan, 69, is heading a coalition government and he can be removed if some of the partners decide to switch sides.
In the 342-member National Assembly, the Opposition needs 272 votes to remove Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician.
The PTI has 155 members in the House and needs at least 172 lawmakers on its side to remain in the government. The party has the support of 23 members belonging to at least six political parties.
Khan's PTI party came to power in 2018 and the next general election is scheduled to be held in 2023.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/pak-pm-imran-khan-faces-revolt-from-his-own-party-ahead-of-no-trust-vote-2829515
#Pakistan - No-confidence proceedings must begin on Monday-Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
and rules and call the assembly session on Monday. Otherwise, the entire opposition will not let the OIC conference take place. Chairman PPP said that Imran Khan has lost the confidence of the majority of members and his government is dissolved for all practical purposes. We are progressing towards the restoration of democracy. Imran first used foul language and now has resorted to use force. He first attacked the parliament lodges which are the extension of the parliament and yesterday attacked the federation by attacking the Sindh House. Imran Khan is conspiring against democracy by the use of violence and is creating a constitutional crisis. He wants to give an opportunity to the third force to intervene. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Imran who calls himself a sportsman so he should display a sportsman spirit and must not start ball tempering at the end of the inning. Chairman Bilawal said that the Speaker wants to violate law, rules and the constitution. He must call the session on Monday so the proceeding of the no-confidence motion starts. If the session is not called or the no-confidence does not start after offering prayers and Fateha for the members who have passed away, then we will see how they are able to hold the OIC conference. The national and international situation demands for the law, rules and constitution to be followed. If this does not happen, then we will keep sitting there until we do not get our right. Responding questions by the journalists, Chairman PPP said that Imran has been defeated and the bureaucracy is not bound to take any order from Imran Khan. The president should also not take any suggestion by Imran Khan. The entire lawyers’ community has filed a petition in the Supreme Court which is being heard. Chairman Bilawal appreciated the Supreme Court for taking notice of the attack on the Sindh House. The opposition wants for the OIC conference to be held peacefully but the Prime Minister has ruined the environment. If the Speaker starts the no-confidence motion after the Fateha then there will be no problem, Chairman Bilawal said. https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/26623/