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Pakistan government says it won’t allow ex-PM Khan’s long march to Islamabad

PTI activists protest against the arrest of hundreds of PTI supporters ahead of a sit-in planned by Imran Khan, in Lahore on May 24, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 24 May 2022
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Pakistan government says it won’t allow ex-PM Khan’s long march to Islamabad

  • Announcement comes after Khan accused police of detaining hundreds of supporters in raids early Tuesday
  • One policeman killed during raids when a supporter of Imran Khan allegedly opened fire
Updated 24 May 2022
WAJAHAT ALI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that the government would not allow former Prime Minister Imran Khan to hold a planned anti-government long march to the federal capital on May 25 on the grounds its aim was to spread “chaos and anarchy” in the country.

Khan, who was ousted from power last month in a no-confidence vote after losing a parliamentary majority, said on Sunday he would march to Islamabad with his party supporters to demand the dissolution of assemblies and a date for fresh elections.

“They want to spread chaos and anarchy through the nation,” the interior minister said, adding that the federal cabinet had decided not to grant permission for the protest march.

The interior minister said Khan was removed through a “constitutional process” and had no justification for launching the planned march.

“Peaceful demonstrations are everyone’s right, but they are not coming for a peaceful protest,” he added.

In a press conference shortly after the government’s announcement, a defiant Khan said he would lead the march to Islamabad as planned.

The government’s decision comes after Khan accused police of detaining hundreds of his supporters in raids that started early Tuesday. A policeman was killed during one of the raids when a supporter of the former premier allegedly opened fire.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had “crossed the red line” and would not be allowed to create further political instability.

“Whenever the economy starts to take off, Imran Khan’s mischief becomes an obstacle in its path,” she told the APP news agency. “Today we have started to revive the economy of Pakistan and provide relief to people … No interference will be tolerated.”

Another leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, Attaullah Tarar, told the media that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would visit the deceased policeman’s family and announce monetary compensation.

In light of the constable’s killing, Tarar said the government had decided to impose Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Lahore, empowering officials to suspend political gatherings in the public interest.

Tarar said the government had information that Khan’s march was likely to become violent and some participants wanted to carry weapons. Khan has repeatedly said the demonstration would be peaceful and its only aim was to call for early elections.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif said in a Twitter post that Khan was planning to “attack” Islamabad by utilizing the resources of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where his PTI party is in power.

“The federal government will fully defend the writ of the state and the personal agenda of (Imran Khan) will not be fulfilled,” Asif said. “Any situation of conflict between the provincial and federal governments threatening the country’s integrity will be handled with an iron fist.”

Topics: Imran Khan Pakistan

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Floods kill 43 in Indonesia’s West Sumatra, 15 missing

Updated 8 sec ago
Reuters
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Floods kill 43 in Indonesia’s West Sumatra, 15 missing

  • Torrential rain on Saturday evening triggered flash floods, landslides, and cold lava flow in three districts in West Sumatra province
  • Around 400 personnel, including rescuers, police, and military, were deployed to search for the missing people on Monday
Updated 8 sec ago
Reuters
TANAH DATAR: Flash floods and mud slides in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province killed at least 43 people over the weekend while a search for 15 missing people continued, authorities said on Monday.
Torrential rain on Saturday evening triggered flash floods, landslides, and cold lava flow — a mud-like mixture of volcanic ash, rock debris and water — in three districts in West Sumatra province, Abdul Malik, chief of the provincial rescue team, said.
The cold lava flow, known in Indonesia as a lahar, came from Mount Marapi, one of Sumatra’s most active volcanoes.
In December, more than 20 people were killed after Marapi erupted. A series of eruptions has followed since.
“The heavy rain swept materials such as ash and large rocks from the Marapi volcano,” said Abdul Malik, who later added in a statement that 43 people had died and 15 remained missing.
“Cold lava flow and flash floods have always been threats to us recently. But the problem is, it always happens late at night until dawn,” he said.
Abdul said around 400 personnel, including rescuers, police, and military, were deployed to search for the missing people on Monday, helped by at least eight excavators and drones.
The national disaster and management agency BNPB said in a statement almost 200 houses were damaged and 72 hectares (178 acres) of lands, including rice fields, were affected. At least 159 people from Agam district were evacuated to nearby schools.
Footage shared by BNPB showed roads and rice fields covered by mud. Video also showed the wreckage of damaged homes and buildings, while the floods brought logs and large rocks into settlements.
Eko Widodo, a 43-year-old survivor, said: “The flooding was sudden and the river became blocked which resulted in the flow of water everywhere and it was out of control.”

German court backs intelligence agency’s designation of far-right party as suspected extremist case

Updated 17 min 6 sec ago
AP
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German court backs intelligence agency’s designation of far-right party as suspected extremist case

  • The party could still seek to appeal the verdict at a federal court
Updated 17 min 6 sec ago
AP

BERLIN: Germany’s domestic intelligence agency was justified in designating the far-right Alternative for Germany as a suspected case of extremism, a court ruled Monday, rejecting an appeal from the opposition party.
The administrative court in Muenster ruled in favor of the BfV intelligence agency, upholding a 2022 decision by a lower court in Cologne, German news agency dpa reported. Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has rejected the designation strongly.
The party could still seek to appeal the verdict at a federal court.
AfD was formed in 2013 and has moved steadily to the right over the years. Its platform initially centered on opposition to bailouts for struggling eurozone members, but its vehement opposition to then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow in large numbers of refugees and other migrants in 2015 established the party as a significant political force.
AfD has been polling strongly in Germany in recent months as discontent is high with center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition government.
However, its support declined somewhat following a media report in January that extremists met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship, and that some figures from the party attended. The report triggered mass protests in the country against the rise of the far-right.

Topics: Germany

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Two Americans, one Russian citizen among 20 detained in Georgia, Russia’s TASS reports

Updated 13 May 2024
AFP
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Two Americans, one Russian citizen among 20 detained in Georgia, Russia’s TASS reports

  • 20 people detained at protests in Tbilisi while Georgian lawmakers were debating a “foreign agents” bill
Updated 13 May 2024
AFP

Tbilisi: Some 1,000 protesters stood firm outside parliament in Georgia on Monday, vowing not to back down in their fight against a Russia-styled “foreign agent” bill, a day before it’s due to be adopted.
Protests have gripped the small Caucasus nation for weeks over the bill, which critics say will erode democracy and derail the ex-Soviet republic’s long-held ambition of joining the European Union.
Critics say the measure, which resembles one Russia has used to crack down on dissent, will steer Tbilisi back under Moscow’s influence.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has portrayed it as necessary for Georgia’s sovereignty, saying it will boost transparency of civil groups’ funding.
The bill is due to go for a third and final reading in parliament on Tuesday.
On Monday, it passed a committee vote, a final step before it goes for a vote in parliament.
The bill targets NGOs that receive foreign funding, with Georgian Dream’s billionaire backer Bidzina Ivanishvili accusing them of working on foreign orders and plotting a revolution.
Part of Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue was closed off around parliament on Monday.
Hundreds of riot police officers lined a street behind parliament, and some scuffles broke out between them and protesters.
Authorities a day earlier warned that they would arrest people who blocked parliament, but thousands defied the warning and came to the parliament’s gates anyway.
“We are planning to stay here for as long as it takes,” 22-year-old Mariam Kalandadze told AFP.
“This law means not joining Europe,” she said, adding that “this is something that I have wanted my whole life.”

Topics: Russia US Georgia

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Russia downs 16 Ukraine-launched missiles, 31 drones

Updated 13 May 2024
Reuters
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Russia downs 16 Ukraine-launched missiles, 31 drones

  • Russian defense ministry: 12 guided missiles were launched from a Ukrainian Vilkha multiple rocket launcher
  • Four Storm Shadow aircraft guided missiles and seven drones were downed over Crimea
Updated 13 May 2024
Reuters

The Russian defense ministry said on Monday its air defense systems destroyed 16 missiles and 31 drones that Ukraine launched at Russian territory overnight, including 12 missiles over the battered border region of Belgorod.
Five houses were damaged in Belgorod, but according to preliminary information, there were no injuries, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
On Sunday, 15 people were killed in Belgorod when a section of an apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russian forces, Russia said.
The Russian defense ministry said on Monday the 12 guided missiles were launched from a Ukrainian Vilkha multiple rocket launcher.
The ministry also said four Storm Shadow aircraft guided missiles and seven drones were downed over Crimea, eight drones were destroyed over the Kursk region and four were intercepted over the Lipetsk region.
A drone sparked a short-lived fire at an electrical substation in the Kursk region, Igor Artamonov, the governor of the region in Russia’s south, wrote on Telegram.
“There are no casualties. The fire in the territory of the electrical substation is being extinguished,” Artamonov said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv says that targeting Russia’s military, transport and energy infrastructure undermines Moscow’s war effort and is an answer to the countless deadly attacks by Russia.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Russia Ukraine

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Western Canada blazes cause evacuations, air quality concerns

Updated 13 May 2024
Reuters
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Western Canada blazes cause evacuations, air quality concerns

  • Authorities issued an evacuation order for a community in British Columbia and warn of poor air quality across provinces
Updated 13 May 2024
Reuters

TORONTO: The season’s first major wildfires have spread to roughly 10,000 hectares across Western Canada on Sunday as authorities issued an evacuation order for a community in British Columbia and warned of poor air quality across provinces.
In British Columbia, thousands of residents in Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nations were evacuated as the nearby blaze nearly doubled to 4,136 hectares.
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser in a TV interview said most of the 3,500 residents in and around Fort Nelson had been evacuated.
Fort Nelson First Nation, seven kilometers from the town, also issued an evacuation order for Fontas, an Indigenous community.
Across the border in Alberta, residents of Fort McMurray, an oil hub which suffered extensive damage from wildfires in 2016, were asked to prepare to leave.
However, by the end of the day, favorable weather helped by a shower forecast tamed fire growth at Fort McMurray. Authorities said they expected fire activity to remain low with more showers expected on Monday.
Alberta continued to stress the two wildfires were extreme and out of control and recorded 43 active fires, including one located 16km southwest of Fort McMurray. By Sunday, authorities revised the area affected by fire to 6,579 hectares, much larger than what was reported on Friday.
Fraser said the fire was started by a tree blown down by strong winds falling onto a power line.
Six crews of wildland firefighters, 13 helicopters and airtankers were taming the fire on Sunday, said Alberta authorities.
Evacuation alerts were in place for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates and expanded to Gregoire Lake Estates and Rickards Landing Industrial Park.
Although there is no immediate risk to these communities, the alert ensures residents are prepared to evacuate if conditions change.
Smoke in Fort McMurray on Saturday was coming from fires in northern British Columbia, Alberta said.
Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement that extends from British Columbia to Ontario on Sunday.
Last year, a veil of smoke blanketed the US East Coast, tinging the skies a fluorescent orange as smoke reached parts of Europe as hundreds of forest fires burnt millions of acres of land and forced about 120,000 people to leave their homes.
The federal government has warned Canada faces another “catastrophic” wildfire season as it forecast higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Nino weather conditions.
Canada experienced one of its warmest winters with low to non-existent snow in many areas, raising fears ahead of a hot summer triggering blazes in forests and wildlands amid an ongoing drought.

Topics: Canada

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