KARACHI: Despite his bail being extended by a local court in Karachi, former President Asif Ali Zardari is likely to be issued with an arrest warrant by the Supreme Court following a report submitted by an investigating team, experts said on Friday.
Based on the Joint Investigation Team’s (JIT) findings, analysts said that if the arrest warrants are issued, it will help bring Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) closer to the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N).
Irfanul Haq, a Karachi-based legal expert, said that when a trial court grants or extends bail to an accused, the apex court doesn’t issue arrest warrants. “However, if there are more evidences in the JIT report, which allows the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to register more FIRs in the fake accounts case – which are highly likely – the Supreme Court in its hearing on Monday may cancel Zardari’s bail and order his arrest,” Haq told Arab News.
He added that the decision, however, depends on “what the JIT presents against the former president”.
“It is likely that Zardari and [his sister] Faryal Talpur may be arrested on Monday,” Fazil Jamili, a political analyst, said.
He added: “The verdict in [former Prime Minister and leader of PML-N] Nawaz Sharif’s case is also expected on the same day - Monday. So, if both Sharif and Zardari are sent to jail, the parties will have no alternatives but to join hands for an aggressive opposition of the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which is the ruling party].”
“The past trust-deficit between PML-N and PPP will no longer remain a reason to bar the parties of the both jailed leaders from coming closer,” Jamili told Arab News.
PPP Information Secretary, Senator Maula Bux Chandio, said no meetings have been held with the PML-N yet but both parties are expected to meet any time. “If the PTI continue to victimize opposition parties through fake cases, in order to conceal its own bad governance, they will forget their own differences to join against this injustice,” he said.
“This conduct of the PTI’s federal government will certainly bring the opposition parties closer,” Chandio said.
Jamili concurs, adding that “both parties have held several meetings away from the eye of the media”.
“PPP’s leaders who were privy to those meetings have told me. They most likely will hold these publicly now,” Jamili claims.
PML-N leader, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, also confirmed that the meeting is going to be held. “It has not been decided yet,” he told Arab News.
“This oppression and victimization which is to bring PML-N and PPP closer,” he said, adding that in such a scenario trust and mistrust become secondary things. “The politics and alliances are names of possibilities and conveniences and the current conditions that both parties are facing have made the likely anti-PTI alliance a need for both,” he said.
Khan said that the irony is “that the PTI is unaware of the consequences of the steps it is taking”.
“Instead of the focusing on improving its governance, the PTI is leading the situation to a level where it will result in a non-confidence motion against it. I see a non-confidence motion against Imran Khan very soon,” he maintained.
Jamili argues that if Zardari and Sharif are sent to jail it may benefit the PTI for a while only. “In the long run, the PPP and PML-N will be the beneficiary of legal action against their leaders,” he said, adding that it was Zardari who had avoided holding talks with Sharif and now he needs it the most.
Issues raised by the Balochistan National Party’s chief and the growing mistrust of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan of the PTI may be exploited by Zardari who knows the art of making alliances, Jamili said.
However, the PTI leader and lawmaker Khurram Sherzaman rejected allegations that the PTI was victimizing the PPP and PML-N. "The JIT was formed by the courts, not by the PTI,” he said.
He added that if the PPP and the PML-N were to merge, it would pose no threat to the government. "We want strong opposition, which is good for democracy but they are joining hands not for a strong opposition but for their self-interest and protecting themselves from action for their wrongdoings," he added.
Legal challenges, anti-PTI stand could lead to PPP, PML-N alliance – analysts
Legal challenges, anti-PTI stand could lead to PPP, PML-N alliance – analysts
- Ex-PM Sharif expected to hold talks with former president Zardari
- PPP leader’s bail extended until January 7 by trial court
Pakistan reports third polio case of 2024 from southwestern Balochistan province
- Virus detected in stool samples from child in southwestern Killa Abdullah district, says state media
- Pakistan and Afghanistan remain only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities reported the third poliovirus case of the current year on Saturday, state-run media reported, as Islamabad struggles to contain the crippling disease despite nationwide vaccination and awareness campaigns.
The latest polio case was reported from Pakistan’s southwestern Killa Abdullah district on Saturday, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report. The virus was detected in stool samples collected from a child in the Darozai union council of Killa Abdullah district, the report said, adding that he had developed symptoms of paralysis on April 20.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the poliovirus, which causes paralysis and can be a life-threatening disease, is endemic.
“It is incredibly tragic that another child has been affected by polio this year in Balochistan,” Dr. Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath, coordinator to the prime minister on national health services, said.
Dr. Bharath said polio is a terrible disease that affects not only the life of the child but their family as well. He said the government was bringing vaccines to the citizens’ doorsteps, urging them to avail the opportunity.
“I urge families to understand the risk this disease poses to children and make sure that they vaccinate all their children under the age of five when the polio worker shows up to their homes,” he said.
This is the third polio case of the year reported from Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province and the first reported from Killa Abdullah after three years.
Last year, six polio cases were reported in the country which included four from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and two from the southern port city of Karachi.
Pakistan’s efforts to contain polio have often been met with opposition, especially in KP, where militants have carried out attacks against vaccinators and security teams guarding them.
Many believe in the conspiracy theory that polio vaccines are part of a plot by Western outsiders to sterilize Pakistan’s population.
Pakistani masses’ doubts regarding polio campaigns were exacerbated in 2011 when the US Central Intelligence Agency set up a fake hepatitis vaccination program to gather intelligence on former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani students praise teachers, landlords for ‘timely’ rescue during Kyrgyzstan mob violence
- Teachers stayed with students in hostels to protect them from rioters while landlords took many to safety
- Many students say they will resume their studies in Bishkek after their semester break ends in September
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani students evacuated from Kyrgyzstan after recent riots and violence against foreign nationals on Saturday lauded “tremendous and timely” support from their teachers and landlords, saying that they rescued and saved their lives.
Last week, violent riots erupted in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, following the emergence of online videos showing a brawl between local and Egyptian students of medical sciences. The mobs mostly targeted the hostels of medical universities and private lodges of international students, including Pakistanis, in the city.
Around 10,000 Pakistani students are enrolled in different institutes in Kyrgyzstan and nearly 6,000 of them were studying in Bishkek, according to Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in the Central Asian country. The Pakistan government has evacuated thousands of students stranded in Bishkek by arranging special flights following the riots.
“We are alive today due to tremendous, effective and timely support of our teachers and landlords shortly after the violence,” Bilal Ahmad, a fourth-year medical student from Vehari district in Punjab province, told Arab News on phone. “Our teachers stayed with us in the hostel the whole night to protect us from the mob.”
Ahmad said when the situation normalized in Bishkek, local elders and officials apologized to the students for the violence. “They shared their mobile numbers with us to call them in any emergency,” he added.
Social media platforms were abuzz with different videos and photos showing the mob attacks against the international students in Bishkek. The Kyrgyz miscreants barged into hostels to attack foreign students without discrimination. Five Pakistani students were injured as a result, according to the Pakistan embassy, one of them seriously.
“We locked our doors and windows and reinforced them with cupboards, tables and chairs to prevent the miscreants from entering,” Asadullah Khan, a third-year medical student from Quetta, told Arab News.
“We switched off lights of our rooms and prayed to Allah … We called our landlord and she immediately responded and rescued us from there,” he said, adding that she took around nine students to her residence in her own car on the gloomy night.
Khan said that members of local communities, teachers and other university staff had cooperated with the students in the difficult time. “They brought us food, water and biscuits and stood by us against their own people,” he continued.
He also informed the local community and teachers had widely circulated audio and video messages of apology to international students, including Pakistanis, a day after the violence, promising to do everything to hold all the criminals accountable.
Khan said his parents were worried about his safety, fearing that they may not let him resume his studies in Bishkek after the semester break ended in September.
“My parents are pushing me to migrate to a local medical college in Pakistan to complete my studies,” he added. “I have invested my three years and a lot of money, so let’s see when the education resumes.”
Some students said the situation was completely under control in Bishkek days after the violence, as the local police and paramilitary took charge of the security of hostels and private apartments where international students were residing.
“I will go back to resume my studies since I can’t waste my time,” Anjum Rasheed, a final year medical student from Peshawar, told Arab News. “The days of the violence are over now, and local Kyrgyz community has repeatedly apologized to the students for the unfortunate incident.”
“Our teachers and other staff of the university had been extremely cooperative during the mob attack, and there is no reason for us to quit the studies,” he said, adding that one of his teachers rescued him from the hostel and took him to a shelter arranged by a human rights organization in the city.
He also noted that a local family transported him with a couple of other students to the airport for their flight back to Pakistan.
Peshawar residents, led by PTI lawmaker, storm grid station to restore power amid heatwave
- The electric supply company says the protesters ‘forcibly switched on nine high-loss feeders’ in the area
- It mentions losses due to power-theft, non-payment of dues, lodges police complaint against the lawmaker
ISLAMABAD: Residents of Peshawar in Pakistan’s northwest, led by a provincial lawmaker from former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, stormed a grid station on Saturday and restored electricity themselves to protest prolonged power cuts amid scorching heat.
Power outages are not uncommon in Pakistan during the summer months when the demand on the national grid spikes sharply due to the widespread use of air conditioners and desert coolers. These seasonal surges often lead to prolonged power outages, which fuel public discontent, particularly during the intense heatwaves that have swept across Pakistan in recent years.
While the blackouts can sometimes be part of the official load management strategy, Pakistani authorities have also pointed to power theft in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a significant issue, occasionally leading to complete shutdowns of electricity.
“If our electricity is cut off, everyone’s electricity will be cut off,” Pakistan’s Geo TV quoted the PTI lawmaker Fazal Elahi as saying after the incident.
The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) said Elahi and other protesters entered the grid station and “forcibly switched on nine high-loss feeders” in the area.
“Losses due to power theft and non-payment of dues on these feeders are more than 80 percent,” it added.
Local media also reported that PESCO had filed a police complaint against the PTI lawmaker, who said protesters were only demanding their rights.
Jofra Archer stars as England beat Pakistan in second T20
- Skipper Jos Buttler, who smashed 84 off 51 balls, was the star of the England batting
- Babar Azam praises Pakistani bowlers but says that the team could not finish well
BIRMINGHAM: Jofra Archer claimed two wickets on his long-awaited return to international cricket as England beat Pakistan by 23 runs at Edgbaston to move 1-0 up in the four-match T20 series.
England captain Jos Buttler won man-of-the-match after he smashed 84 off 51 balls to set the hosts a target of 184.
But it was Archer’s return that caught the eye as he made a case for selection in next month’s T20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies no harm.
The fast bowler has been beset by elbow injuries since his starring role in helping England win the 50-over World Cup in 2019.
On his first international appearance for 14 months, and first on home soil since 2020, Archer bounced back from an expensive first over, which went for 15 runs, to finish with two for 28.
“I thought Jofra Archer was brilliant,” said Buttler. “You could see his emotion taking wickets for England again but we need to temper those expectations because he’s not going to be the same straight away.
“I’m really pleased with the whole bowling group.”
Muhammad Rizwan was removed in the first over by Moeen Ali and Reece Topley took three wickets for 41.
Buttler was the star of the England batting with three sixes and eight fours.
He was ably supported by 37 from Will Jacks and Jonny Bairstow’s 21 but England failed to build on the platform given to them by their skipper.
Five wickets fell for just 25 runs as Pakistan battled back with Shaheen Shah Afridi the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-36.
“We got them to a par score, our bowlers bowled very well and we had our moments when we were batting,” said Pakistan captain Babar Azam.
Fakhar Zaman’s 45 from 21 balls gave the Pakistan chase some impetus, but after he departed the pace of Archer, Topley and Chris Jordan ripped through the tourists’ tail with four balls to spare.
“We didn’t finish well. We had a small partnership, myself and Fakhar but we didn’t get any other 40 or 50 partnerships that England did,” added Azam.
England lead the four-match series 1-0 after the first match was washed out on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s investment body to set up six country-specific desks, including one for Saudi Arabia
- SIFC reviews progress related to trade and investment with friendly nations in a meeting presided by PM Sharif
- The meeting also evaluates progress on the privatization of state-owned entities, instructs timely implementation
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed Pakistan’s top investment facilitation body to set up six country- and region-specific desks, including one solely focused on Saudi Arabia, while presiding over a meeting on Saturday that concentrated on progress related to economic collaboration with friendly nations.
Last year, the country established the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military hybrid body designed to oversee foreign financing, to help overcome its prolonged economic turmoil that has forced successive administrations to seek financial assistance from global lenders and close allies.
Pakistani officials have primarily focused on Gulf countries since the inception of SIFC, briefing governments and businesses about investment opportunities available across various economic sectors in their country, including areas like agriculture, mining and information technology.
Following the announcement of a $10 billion investment from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during Sharif’s daylong visit to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Pakistan expects to receive substantial investments from the region.
“The prime minister has announced that the SIFC will have a China desk, a UAE desk, a Saudi desk, a Qatar desk, a European Union desk and a United States of America desk,” Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar told the media after the meeting.
“The prime minister has formally announced these six desks to promote trade and investment,” he added. “It was a historic meeting whose fruits will become visible in the coming days.”
An official statement issued after the meeting said the SIFC appreciated the recent upsurge in trade and investment related engagements under government-to-government and business-to-business frameworks, directing concerned ministries for efficient follow-ups.
It instructed the participants to make every effort to transform the commitments received from friendly countries into tangible projects and economic dividends at a fast pace.
The meeting reviewed progress on the privatization of state-owned enterprises, expressing satisfaction over the ongoing process and urging the timely accomplishment of various milestones in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
