ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail formally launched a new political party on Saturday, calling for individuals with “ability and influence” to join their ranks to bring about change in the country amid a deeply polarized environment.
Both politicians were senior members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party but recently decided to part ways due to growing differences with its leadership.
Ismail, who took over as finance minister two years ago during a critical period for Pakistan’s economy, advocated for strict structural reforms recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which led to significant economic hardships for the population. His decisions were later criticized by party colleagues for being detrimental to PML-N’s political standing, leading to his sidelining by the current deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar, who is closely aligned with the Sharif family.
Abbasi criticized the broader approach of PML-N politics, arguing that despite multiple opportunities to govern, the party had failed to effect meaningful change for the people.
Together, the two politicians have decided to mobilize the public to “change the system” to create promising economic opportunities for everyone.
“To be in Awaam Pakistan, you need ability and influence,” Abbasi said while launching the new political faction. “If you have neither, you cannot be a part of this party.”
He said there was a long list of the political parties which had been created by the establishment, a euphemism for the country’s powerful military that has directly ruled the country for nearly three decades since independence in 1947.
“People ask us directly or indirectly, is the establishment with you? Have you got their permission? This is the biggest argument that highlights the failure of Pakistan’s politics,” he continued.
“Today, a common man in this country realizes and thinks there is no politics without the establishment,” he said, adding that all state institutions should have a constitutional relationship.
Addressing the gathering, Ismail said that Pakistan had become a “predatory” state where the rulers and the state were like a hunter and the public had been reduced to a prey.
“This budget is a reflection of the rulers’ priorities,” he said, referring to the finance bill approved last month while lamenting that taxes had been doubled for the salaried class.
“You all have to join politics,” he continued. “Politics can’t be left to politicians only, common people have to join it as well.”
The former finance minister informed all positions in the newly launched party had a term limit.
“No one will have a position for more than two terms,” he added. “Merit must be promoted on every level.”
Former PM Abbasi, ex-finance minister Ismail launch new political party amid polarized environment
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Former PM Abbasi, ex-finance minister Ismail launch new political party amid polarized environment
- The former PML-N leaders emphasize meritocracy, say all office bearers will serve for two terms
- Miftah Ismail calls Pakistan ‘predatory’ state, laments more taxes on the salaried class in the budget
FIFA uses Pakistan’s ‘Blockbuster’ song to showcase French football star Mbappe’s on-field skills
- FIFA posts Mbappe highlights on TikTok using Pakistani song “Blockbuster” as background music
- Groovy song has gone viral since its release in May, garnering over 19 million views on YouTube
ISLAMABAD: The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) this week paid tribute to French football star Kylian Mbappe, showcasing his on-field skills in a TikTok video that featured the hit Pakistani song “Blockbuster” as background music.
Mbappe, considered one of the greats of the game, failed to see France to the final of the ongoing Euro Cup 2024 after his side lost to Spain 2-1 in the semifinal of the tournament on Wednesday. France disappointed fans by completing fewer passes than Spain and keeping possession of the ball only 41 percent throughout the game.
On Tuesday, FIFA posted a video on TikTok highlighting Mbappe’s on-field heroics over the years. Pakistani TikTok users were delighted to see the football governing body used the hit Coke Studio song “Blockbuster” from their country as background music for the reel.
The groovy, upbeat song featuring singer Umair Butt, rapper Faris Sharif and a Lahore-based musical group “The Gharwi Group,” has gone viral since it was released last month. The hit song has garnered over 19 million views on YouTube since it was released in May.
“Mbappe’s “BLOCKBUSTER” entry,” FIFA wrote as the caption on the TikTok post, referencing the Pakistani song.
The song’s music producer Zulfiqar Khan or “Xulfi” as he is popularly known in Pakistan, shared the FIFA post on his social media handles.
“From Coke Studio Pakistan to FIFA’s global stage — our ‘Blockbuster’ just made an appearance with Mbappe on FIFA’s official TikTok page! This feels surreal,” Khan wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.
“Our voice, our beats transcending boundaries, creating timelines once deemed improbable. Congratulations Pakistan. This is wonderful and this is huge.”
This is not the first time FIFA has used Pakistani songs in its social media posts. Last month, the football body used famed Pakistani folk singer Arif Lohar’s 2023 hit “Aa” to mark football icon Lionel Messi’s 37th birthday in a social media post.
FIFA AND PAKISTAN’S HASSAN ALI
On Sunday, FIFA referenced a viral video of Pakistani cricketer Hasan Ali as it paid tribute to English footballer Bukayo Ayoyinka Temidayo Saka.
A snippet from an interview featuring Ali went viral last year in which he praised Pakistan cricket captain Babar Azam. His sentence, “King karlega [the King will do it]” for Azam went viral, triggering thousands of memes and social media posts.
On Sunday, FIFA posted a photo of Saka on Instagram with the caption: “Saka karlega [Saka will do it]” in a reference to Ali’s famous dialogue.
Pakistani flour mills observe nationwide strike over withholding tax dispute
- Flour mills vow to continue indefinite strike until government reverses 5.5% withholding tax on flour
- Strike takes place as Pakistan navigates tricky path to economic recovery amid staggering inflation
ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of flour mills across Pakistan remained shut on Thursday as their owners announced an indefinite strike against the government’s move to impose a new withholding tax, exacerbating fears of a food shortage in many parts of the country.
The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) says the government has imposed a 5.5 percent withholding tax on sales of flour mills in the national budget. Javed Yusuf, a former chairperson of the PFMA, said the government has also directed flour mills to collect another 2.5 percent withholding tax on the sale of essential commodities to retailers (non-filers) and 2 percent from wholesalers (non-filers). The association says it has been tasked to collect a 0.5 percent withholding tax on the sale of flour from retailers (filers) and a 0.10 percent tax from wholesalers (filers).
Pakistan’s president last month signed the tax-heavy controversial budget into law. The ambitious budget has a tax revenue target of 13 trillion rupees ($46.66 billion) for the current fiscal year, up about 40 percent from the previous one. Pakistan’s government took the unpopular measures amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a fresh loan program. The IMF has insisted the government undertake tax reforms to raise revenue and generate fiscal space.
“We are observing a nationwide strike against the government for imposing taxes and making flour millers the tax collection agents,” Yusuf told Arab News. “Our strike will continue till the government accepts our demand of withdrawal of all taxes levied in the budget.”
He said 1600 flour mills across the country remained shut on Thursday, adding that they employed over 4,000 people directly.
“We cannot collect taxes on behalf of the FBR, it’s not our job,” Yusuf said.
Speaking to a private news channel on Wednesday, PFMA Chairman Asim Raza criticized the government for taxing an essential commodity such as flour.
“If the government does not provide us this [tax] exemption like it did previously, then we won’t be able to run the industry,” Raza said. “Then it will be an addition of Rs200 [$0.72] to the price. The government will notify the prices and we will sell it at the inflated rate.”
The strike takes place as Pakistan navigates a tricky path to economic recovery amid staggering inflation and a macroeconomic crisis. The South Asian country has been scrambling to secure foreign investment and external funding from allies in a bid to keep its fragile $350 billion economy stable.
Pakistan has been grappling with an acute balance of payments crisis, a weak currency and double-digit inflation that reached a record high of 38 percent in May 2023.
Torrential rains leave 4 dead, 31 wounded in northwestern Pakistan
- Deaths and injuries reported from Pakistan’s northwestern districts of Bannu, Battagram and North Waziristan
- Two men, a woman and a child among four dead while 31 injured includes seven men, 10 women and 14 children
PESHAWAR: Four people were killed while 31 were wounded in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province during the last 24 hours, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) spokesperson said on Thursday, as the South Asian country braces for more downpours expected during the ongoing monsoon season.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned that several parts of the country, including KP province, will face landslides and flash floods due to heavy monsoon rains this month.
Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change effects. Large swathes of the South Asian nation were submerged in 2022 due to extremely heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers, a phenomenon linked to climate change that damaged crops and infrastructure and killed at least 1,700 people, displaced millions and inflicted billions of dollars in losses.
PDMA KP Spokesperson Anwar Shehzad said the province’s Bannu, Battagram and North Waziristan districts reported deaths and injuries during the last 24 hours after heavy rains lashed these areas.
“Heavy rains, thunderstorms and lightning caused roof collapse in the three districts,” he said, adding that the four dead included two men, a woman and a child while the 31 injured included seven men, ten women and 14 children.
“Five houses have also been damaged during the heavy downpours,” he added.
Earlier, the PDMA issued a separate statement saying that the authority, district administrations and relief teams were engaged in relief activities in KP’s affected districts.
“The PDMA has also directed district administrations of the affected districts to provide immediate financial support to the victims,” the authority said.
Earlier in April, heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in Pakistan, leaving 92 people dead and another 116 wounded. Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab also reported 21 deaths from lightning and roof collapses while the country’s southwestern Balochistan province reported at least 15 deaths from torrential rains.
Last week, the NDMA launched a community engagement app for Pakistanis ahead of the monsoon season. The ‘Pak NDMA Disaster Alert’ mobile app will generate alerts and update guidance for organizations and individual responders in national and provincial languages, Pakistan’s state media had said.
It said the alerts would help people and responders implement disaster management plans, keeping them ahead of the crises before they strike.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a high-level committee last week to deal with potential emergencies of the upcoming monsoon season. He stressed integrating advanced monsoon information into national broadcasts, emphasizing the importance of regular dissemination of weather updates to farmers and people living in areas vulnerable to floods.
The premier also said that farmers and residents living near rivers and canals should be updated daily through the media and other information sources about emergency situations.
Pakistan top court set to announce judgment tomorrow in reserved parliamentary seats case
- Ex-PM Khan-backed SIC party, ruling coalition parties both seek reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament
- Experts say verdict to impact judicial system, pave way for future matters related to elections and procedures to join parties
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court will announce the judgment in a high-profile case regarding the allocation of reserved seats in parliament for women and religious minorities on Friday, the Supreme Court said in a notification, with legal experts saying the verdict would have “far-reaching” consequences for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition and opposition parties.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a set of petitions challenging the denial of reserved seats in parliament to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) party, backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
A 13-member full court bench began hearing the petitions last month, filed by the chairman of the SIC and challenging the denial of reserved seats to the party and their distribution to other parties that formed the ruling coalition after the Feb. 8 general elections. A supplementary cause list issued by the top court on Thursday said the verdict would be announced at 12:00 p.m. by a full court 13-member bench on July 12, Friday.
“This ruling will definitely have far-reaching consequences for the government, judicial system and the opposition,” Shafqat Abbas Tarar, an advocate and secretary of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, told Arab News.
Weeks before the national election, the PTI was stripped of its iconic election symbol of the cricket bat on technical grounds, and all its candidates had to contest polls as independents.
After the election in which Khan-backed independents won the most seats overall, they joined the SIC party to claim a share of reserved seats in parliament for women and religious minorities.
Under Pakistan’s election rules, political parties are allotted reserved seats in proportion to the number of parliamentary seats they win in the election. This completes the National Assembly’s total strength of 336 seats.
After the elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled in March that the Khan-backed SIC party was not eligible for extra reserved seats in the legislature, dealing a blow to the embattled group’s governing prospects and proving to be a major setback for Khan, who has been in jail since last August.
The ECP’s decision was upheld by the Peshawar High Court but the Supreme Court overruled the verdict, followed by the ECP suspending 77 lawmakers from Sharif’s ruling coalition. The government lost its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly as a result, with its numerical strength decreasing to 209 from 228. In the 336-member National Assembly, the figure to attain the two-thirds majority is 224, without which the government cannot push through constitutional amendments.
Intizar Hussain Panjutha, a focal person for former prime minister Imran Khan, hoped the top court would decide the case in the SIC’s favor.
“We deserve all these 77 seats as per law and the constitution and we hope the Supreme Court will decide in our favor,” Panjutha told Arab News.
He said there is no “ambiguity” over the matter as Pakistan’s constitution clearly states that reserved seats are allocated to parliamentary parties as per their proportional strength in the assemblies.
“There is no ambiguity in it and that’s why we are sure to clinch our share of the reserved seats in the parliament,” Panjutha said.
Sharafat Ali, an advocate of the high court, said the case of reserved seats was a “unique” one, adding that the apex court may seek constitutional interpretation on the matter rather than just allocate the reserved seats to the SIC or other political parties.
“This is a unique case and that’s why judges are taking their time to write the judgment,” Ali told Arab News. “This judgment will not only settle the current dispute of seats allocation but also pave the way for future matters related to elections, party symbols, candidates and procedures to join a party after polls.”
Ex-PM Khan’s party to challenge Pakistan court verdict connecting him to May 9 riots
- Khan’s arrest in land graft case on May 9 last year led to his alleged supporters damaging government, army properties
- Anti-terrorism court ruled on July 9 there was “reasonable” evidence that Khan was behind the violence of May 9
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Thursday it would challenge a lower court’s verdicts dismissing three bail pleas by its founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan in cases involving riots last year and declaring there was “reasonable” evidence of his involvement.
Alleged supporters of the PTI party attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023, after Khan’s brief arrest that day in a land graft case. The attacks took place a little over a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for colluding with his rivals to oust him from office in a parliamentary vote in April 2022. The military and the political parties Khan blames reject the allegations.
Hundreds of PTI workers and leaders were arrested following the May 9 riots in a state-led crackdown on charges of involvement in the riots, and some continue to remain behind bars as they await trial. The military has also initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence. Many close Khan aides have since deserted him, due to what is widely believed to be pressure from the army, which denies interfering in politics.
Khan and other key leaders of his party are widely believed to have masterminded the violence but the ex-PM has distanced himself from the riots and says they have been used as a ruse by political rivals and the military to crack down on the party, which is arguably the most popular in Pakistan. They deny the charge.
“Party will most definitely challenge the verdict,” the PTI said on Thursday in a text message to reporters about the verdict by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore dismissing Khan’s bail petitions in three May 9 cases. “The judgment contained no evidence of Imran Khan ordering the May 9 violence.”
The ATC had on Saturday reserved its verdict on Khan‘s bail petitions in three cases concerning attacks on Lahore’s Jinnah House, the residence of the top military commander in the city, as well as Askari Tower and Shadman police station.
The party said ATC Judge Khalid Arshad dismissed the PTI founder’s bail pleas by “drawing interferences and assumptions.” While ATCs in other parts of the country, including Rawalpindi and Sargodha, had dismissed May 9-related cases against Khan, the Lahore ATC had declared him a “main accused,” the party said, adding that this was another “politically motivated case” being used to prolong Khan’s “illegal incarceration.”
Khan has been imprisoned since August last year after he was convicted in at least four separate cases, with two of the judgments suspended and Khan acquitted in a third case.
ATC VERDICT
Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency arrested Khan from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on May 9 last year, unleashing nationwide protests by his followers. That case involves accusations Khan and his wife received, when he was still prime minister, land worth up to 7 billion rupees ($24.7 million) from a property developer who had been charged in Britain with money laundering. The government says British authorities had returned 190 million pounds ($240 million) to Pakistan in connection with money laundering, but Khan had returned the money to the developer instead of keeping it in the national exchequer.
Khan’s PTI party called on supporters to “shut down Pakistan” over his May 9 arrest, writing on Twitter: “It’s your time, people of Pakistan. Khan has always stood for you, now its time to stand for him.”
Hundreds of Khan supporters blocked roads in cities and major highways across the country, as police poured into the streets, public gatherings were banned and telecommunications networks suspended. Previous attempts to arrest Khan from his Lahore home had already resulted in heavy clashes between his supporters and law enforcement personnel.
In its order dated July 9, the ATC court said Khan had instructed the party’s top leadership to stage the protests and damage military installations in the event of his arrest. It also quoted a video message by Khan right before his arrest in which he said the country would descend into a state “worse” than Sri Lanka if he was arrested.
“Two prosecution witnesses participated in the meeting of hatching of criminal conspiracy in Zaman Park [Khan’s Lahore home] on May 7 and May 8 last year by the petitioner [Khan] and other top leadership of PTI wherein the petitioner himself instructed them regarding his apprehension of arrest and the reaction thereon of launching or protest and damage of military installations,” the court order said.
The order highlighted that another meeting was held by top leaders of the PTI at the Rose Hotel on May 1 last year “wherein it was decided to block Marred and Kachahri Chowks to resist the movement of higher army officials.”
“You all [PTI leaders] in the leadership of Dr. Yasmin Rashid would gather PTI workers and attack military installations, government properties, and armed institutions for his release,” the court order said, quoting Khan as giving his party its plan of action in the event of his arrest.
“The petitioner like other accused is responsible for the commission of heinous offenses against the State being member of the mob conjointly having common object so this [bail] petition deserves dismissal …
“An extraordinary concession of pre-arrest bail is meant for an innocent person and not the petitioner (Khan) who hatched, and materialized the alleged criminal conspiracy [...] to wage war against the state to topple over the government,” the order read.
It concluded that “reasonable grounds” existed to connect the petitioner with the alleged offenses, citing it as the reason to dismiss Khan’s pre-arrest bail requests and withdraw his interim bail.
