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Protests break out across Pakistan after former premier’s arrest in graft case

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party activists and supporters of former Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran shout slogans next to a fire as they block a road during a protest against the arrest of their leader in Karachi on May 9, 2023.
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Updated 09 May 2023
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Protests break out across Pakistan after former premier’s arrest in graft case

  • Reports of police using tear gas shelling against protesters in Karachi and Peshawar
  • Protesters come out in cities of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta and parts of Gulgit-Baltistan
Updated 09 May 2023
NAIMAT KHAN WASIM SAJJAD

KARACHI/PESHAWAR: Supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan poured into the streets across Pakistan on Tuesday, blocking main roads, disrupting traffic and chanting anti-government slogans after the cricketer-turned-politician was arrested in Islamabad.

Khan was picked up by paramilitary Rangers officials from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday afternoon in the Al-Qadir Trust case, which relates to the purchase and transfer of land for a university in Punjab province.

Khan, ousted via a parliamentary vote in April 2022, blames Pakistan’s military and the ruling coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of colluding to remove him from power. Since his ouster, over 100 cases have been registered against Khan, with charges ranging from terrorism to sedition and corruption. Khan says the cases are politically motivated.

“You will have to come out for real independence,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said on Twitter in a protest call to supporters. “The time has come that you will have to come out [on the streets] for the sake of your country.”

Asad Umar, a key Khan aide and former planning minister, said a six-member committee headed by another PTI leader, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, had been formed by Khan to announce the party’s plan of action in the event of his arrest.

LAHORE

In the city of Lahore, where Khan has been based since he was injured in an apparent assassination bid last year and where he grew up, supporters began to gather outside his residence in the Zaman Park neighborhood.

The party’s leadership also called on supporters to gather at Lahore’s Liberty Chowk area where the party has held several large rallies over the past year.

“All workers and supporters should come to Liberty Chowk at once,” a message shared in a WhatsApp group of the PTI party’s Lahore chapter, said.

A PTI post on Twitter showed scenes from the streets of Lahore:

Media reported party supporters had closed down Akbar Chowk, Peco Road, Main Canal Road and Faisal Town in Lahore. The demonstrators burnt tires and chanted slogans against the coalition government.

A statement issued by Lahore police said the city was on high alert and security across the city had been beefed up on the instructions of Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi.

“Nobody can be allowed to destroy peace in the city,” the statement quoted Rizvi as saying.

KARACHI

Scores of Khan supporters also took to the streets in Pakistan’s most populous city of Karachi, the country’s commercial hub, blocking the city’s busiest main road, Shahrah-e-Faisal, which leads to the airport. 

Police used tear gas shelling to push back supporters and get the road opened. There were reports of clashes between police and protesters in other parts of the city also. 

PESHAWAR

In the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former federal minister and Khan aide, Zartaj Gul Wazir, led a group of supporters in Ghazi Ghat city, blocking traffic.

Scores of angry Khan supporters chanting slogans against the government also took to the streets in the provincial capital of Peshawar, where Khan’s party held power from 2013 until earlier this year. There were reports protesters pelted police with stones near Assembly Chowk, with police retaliating with tear gas shelling to disperse demonstrators. 

“Peshawar is taking to the streets. Today, you need to decide where you stand. Whatever city you’re in, get out,” Taimur Khan Jhagra, a prominent leader of the PTI from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, wrote on Twitter.

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI

A large number of PTI supporters also gathered at Faizabad, the busiest connecting point between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. There are also reports of a massive traffic jam on the Srinagar Highway in the capital, Islamabad.

QUETTA

Protests also broke out in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, at Airport Road where scores of PTI supporters gathered to demand Khan’s release. Airport road connects Quetta with Chaman and other districts in the province.

PTI’s senior leader in Balochistan, Abdul Bari Barrech, said the party would hold protests in all districts of the province and keep blocking major highways until Khan was released. 

“We are on the street not for Imran Khan or PTI but for Pakistan and we request all Pakistanis to come out for the better future of their children,” Barrech told Arab News.

GILGIT-BALTISTAN

Khan supporters also took to the streets in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, especially the Ghanche district, barricading a road in Khaplu Bazaar and burning tires.

With inputs from Saadullah Akhter in Quetta, Aamir Saeed in Islamabad and Nisar Ali in Ganche, Gilgit-Baltistan

Topics: Imran Khan arrest Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest Ex-PM Imran Khan arrested

Pakistan farmers announce nationwide protest from May 10 over wheat import crisis

Updated 9 sec ago
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Pakistan farmers announce nationwide protest from May 10 over wheat import crisis

  • Farmers are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded markets, leading to price slump
  • Agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the GDP and accounts for half of the employed labor force in Pakistan
Updated 9 sec ago
KASHIF IMRAN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani farmers on Sunday announced a nationwide protest over the wheat import crisis from May 10, a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promised to address their grievances.
Farmers in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which produces most of the wheat crop, are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crop.
They say the import of wheat in the second half of 2023 and the first three months of this year has resulted in excess amounts of the commodity in the country, leading to reduced prices.
On Saturday, PM Sharif took notice of the matter and formed a committee under the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to address farmer grievances, Pakistani state media reported.
“On the 10th [of May], after the Friday prayers, we are initiating protest from Multan and this protest will be expanded to the whole of Pakistan,” Khalid Khokhar, who heads the Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, said at a press conference.
“Thousands of farmers will come, there will be hundreds of tractors, trailers. Animals, cattle and children and women will also be accompanied.”
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force in the country.
However, the prices of wheat have dropped in Pakistan in recent weeks and are much below the government’s support price of Rs3,900 per 40-kilogram bag.
“We do not have any option other than this. The mafia made Rs100 billion, Pakistan’s $1 billion worth of foreign exchange was spent and the farmers incurred around Rs400 billion losses,” Khokhar said.
“They slaughtered 60 million farmers just for the sake of corruption.”

Topics: Pakistan wheat Pakistan Wheat Scandal Pakistan farmers

Pakistan’s Dr. Shahzad Baig makes it to TIME’s 100 world leaders in health

Updated 44 min 36 sec ago
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Pakistan’s Dr. Shahzad Baig makes it to TIME’s 100 world leaders in health

  • Before arriving in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which remained successful
  • Pakistan, Afghanistan are only two countries in world where polio continues to threaten health and well-being of children
Updated 44 min 36 sec ago
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: US news magazine TIME has included Dr. Shahzad Baig, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme’s national coordinator, to its list of 100 most influential people across the world in the field of health in 2024.
The list, titled ‘TIME100 HEALTH,’ this week honored individuals from across the world for their services for fresh discoveries, novel treatments, and global victories over disease.
Baig was recognized for his efforts for the eradication of poliovirus, which mainly affects children under the age of ten years by invading their nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio continues to threaten the health and well-being of children. 
“On the front lines in the effort to stamp it [polio] out is Dr. Shahzad Baig, national coordinator of Pakistan’s polio-eradication program,” TIME wrote on its website.
“In 2019, polio disabled or killed 147 people in Pakistan; since Baig assumed the position, in 2021, case counts have plummeted, with only six children stricken in 2023.”
Before arriving in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which succeeded spectacularly, according to the US magazine.
In 2020, the African country became the most recent one in the world to be declared polio-free.
“If Baig has his way, Pakistan will be the next,” it added.

Topics: Time 100 Health Pakistan Polio Service Dr. Shahzad Baig polio eradication

Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying — New Delhi

Updated 05 May 2024
AFP
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Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying — New Delhi

  • Canadian police on Friday arrested three for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying they were investigating their links to Indian government
  • The killing soured Ottawa-New Delhi diplomatic ties after PM Trudeau said there were ‘credible allegations’ linking Indian intelligence to crime
Updated 05 May 2024
AFP

NEW DELHI: Canada’s investigation into alleged Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Vancouver last year is a “political compulsion,” New Delhi’s foreign minister said after three Indian citizens were arrested over the killing.
Canadian police on Friday arrested the trio for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying they were investigating their links to the Indian government, “if any.”
The killing sent diplomatic relations between Ottawa and New Delhi into a tailspin last autumn after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime.
India vehemently rejected the allegations as “absurd,” halting the processing of visas for a time and forcing Canada to significantly reduce its diplomatic presence in the country.
“It is their political compulsion in Canada to blame India,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted external affairs minister S. Jaishankar as saying on Saturday.
Thousands of people were killed in the 1980s during a separatist insurgency aimed at creating a Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, which was put down by security forces.
The movement has largely petered out within India, but in the Sikh diaspora — whose largest community is in Canada, with around 770,000 people — it retains support among a vocal minority.
New Delhi has sought to persuade Ottawa not to grant Sikh separatists visas or political legitimacy, Jaishankar said, since they are “causing problems for them (Canada), for us and also for our relationship.”
He added that Canada does not “share any evidence with us in certain cases, police agencies also do not cooperate with us.”
Nijjar immigrated to Canada in 1997 and acquired citizenship 18 years later. He was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
The three arrested Indian nationals, all in their twenties, were charged with first degree murder and conspiracy.
They were accused of being the shooter, driver and lookout in his killing last June.
The Canadian police said they were aware that “others may have played a role” in the murder.
In November, the US Justice Department charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with plotting a similar assassination attempt on another Sikh separatist leader on American soil.
A Washington Post investigation reported last week that Indian foreign intelligence officials were involved in the plot, a claim rejected by New Delhi.

Topics: Canada India tensions India Canada relations Khalistan movement

PCB chief announces $100,000 reward for each player if Pakistan wins T20 World Cup

Updated 05 May 2024
Shahjahan Khurram 
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PCB chief announces $100,000 reward for each player if Pakistan wins T20 World Cup

  • Mohsin Naqvi made the announcement during his visit to Qaddafi Stadium, where the Babar Azam-led side has been practicing
  • The Pakistan side is scheduled to travel to Ireland, England for T20 tours later this month, followed by the World Cup in June
Updated 05 May 2024
Shahjahan Khurram 

ISLAMABAD: Mohsin Naqvi, chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has announced $100,000 reward for each player in case the national side wins the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup, the PCB said on Sunday.
Naqvi made the announcement during his visit to the Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where the Babar Azam-led side began the national camp on Saturday, according to the PCB.
He stayed there for two hours and held a detailed discussion with Pakistan players on the strategy of upcoming games.
“This reward is nothing compared to Pakistan’s victory,” Naqvi was quoted as saying.
“I hope you will raise the green flag. Play without any pressure and compete hard. God willing, victory will be yours.”
The Pakistan side is scheduled to travel to Ireland and England for T20 tours later this month.
The tours will help the side prepare for the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the United States and the West Indies in June.

Topics: Pakistan Cricket Board Mohsin Naqvi Pakistan cricket team

IMF says its mission will visit Pakistan this month to discuss new loan

Updated 05 May 2024
Reuters
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IMF says its mission will visit Pakistan this month to discuss new loan

  • Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default
  • But the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program
Updated 05 May 2024
Reuters

KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund mission is expected to visit Pakistan this month to discuss a new program, the lender said on Sunday ahead of Islamabad beginning its annual budget-making process for the next financial year.
Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program.
“A mission is expected to visit Pakistan in May to discuss the FY25 budget, policies, and reforms under a potential new program for the welfare of all Pakistanis,” the IMF said in an emailed response to Reuters.
Pakistan’s financial year runs from July to June and its budget for fiscal year 2025, the first by Sharif’s new government, has to be presented before June 30.
The IMF did not specify the dates of the visit, nor the size or duration of the program.
“Accelerating reforms now is more important than the size of the program, which will be guided by the package of reform and balance of payments needs,” the IMF statement said.
Pakistan narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April from a record high 38 percent last May.
It is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year compared to negative growth last year.
Earlier, in an interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the country hoped to agree the contours of a new IMF loan in May.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion and request additional financing from the Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.

Topics: Pakistan IMF talk IMF bailout

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Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying — New Delhi

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