CMYK in today’s issue
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29 August, 2021 I 20 Muharram, 1443 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XII No 59 I 32 Pages I Lahore Edition
PDM Moves beyonD PPP, announces new Protests
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sserting that Pakistan People’s Party was “a thing of the past”, the Pakistan Democratic Movement on saturday announced new protests across the country. the opposition alliance’s chief, Maulana Fazlur rehman, said that PPP “stabbed the PDM in the back”. Leader of the Opposition in the national Assembly shehbaz sharif and other political party leaders, who accompanied him during the presser told reporters to not discuss PPP as it was “a thing of the past”. A meeting of the leaders of various opposition political parties in the PDM was held prior to the media briefing, ahead of the alliance’s rally at the Quaid’s mausoleum on sunday. “PDM will also raise the issues in sindh,” he said, hitting out once more at the PPP, which is the ruling provincial party. the PDM chief said that women would also come to the anti-government protests, and they would be treated with the utmost respect — in reference to the recent harassment incidents with women in Lahore. the PDM chief said the Opposition alliance rejects the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA). “We do not accept this black law.” Fazl said PDM stands in solidarity with the journalist community and announced a protest outside the parliament, as PMDA was an “unannounced”, “dictatorial” law. the meeting participants expressed sorrow over the fire at a chemical factory that killed 16 labourers in Karachi, the blast in Quetta which left several injured, and other incidents, he said.
Fazl said that leaders of all the political parties associated with the anti-government movement had attended the meeting, and they expressed grief over the ongoing “instability” in the country. He further said that the PDM also rejected the government’s electoral reforms, which he claimed that the “entire world” had disapproved of, but the incumbent government was persistent in introducing. “electronic voting is a plan to steal elections,” he said. the PDM chief said the government had “taken
Entire region to benefit from peace in Afghanistan: minister Foreign Minister shah Mahmood Qureshi, who recently concluded a four-nation tour of tajikistan, Uzbekistan, turkmenistan and iran, has said that Afghanistan’s neighbours were “fully aware” of the situation in Kabul and their approach towards the issue “was realistic”. in a statement issued on saturday, the foreign minister detailed his findings after holding dialogues with regional leadership surrounding Afghanistan. “i had the opportunity to learn about their views on Afghanistan during my four-nation tour,” he said. “the entire region will benefit if there is peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Qureshi said, adding that the taliban leadership was also in contact with all the countries. “the people of Afghanistan have been dealing with wars for decades and want peace. they are suffering for the mistakes made in the past. We need to learn from the mistakes made in the past so that they are not repeated.” if there is a positive message
coming from Afghanistan, it should be encouraged, Qureshi said, adding that isolating Afghanistan would be detrimental to all. the minister said the world was “expressing confidence” in Pakistan, adding that the country’s role as a mediator in Afghanistan had also been praised. “Pakistan is helping evacuate the diplomatic staff of several countries from Afghanistan,” he said. “Pakistan international Air-
lines has played an important role in this regard.” Commenting on neighbouring india, he said that it was at the top of the list of “spoilers” in the region. He said india was carrying out “negative activities” to harm Pakistan and was bent upon destroying peace in the region. the minister denied that the border with Afghanistan had been closed, adding that only “border management measures” have been taken. News Desk
US drone strike kills ISIS planner of Kabul airport attack WASHINGTON ReuteRs
the United states attacked an isis “planner” in Afghanistan in retaliation for a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport and said there was a high risk of further blasts as it nears the end of a mission to evacuate civilians and withdraw troops. Among the scores killed in thursday’s suicide bomb blast, claimed by an isis affiliate in the country, were 13 Us service members, the most lethal incident for Us troops in Afghanistan in a decade. Us Central Command said on Friday the overnight drone strike took place in nangarhar
province, east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan. “initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” a Us military statement said. spokesmen for the taliban, which completed a rapid takeover of the country this month as Us forces withdrew, declined to comment on the drone strike. the isis group in Afghanistan is an enemy of the taliban as well as the West and the taliban has said it arrested some suspects after the blast. Up to 170 people, not including the Us troops, were killed in the bombing, according to Us media including the new York times, citing health officials.
the White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the Us evacuation operation that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United states believed there were still “specific, credible” threats against the airport after the bombing at one of its gates. “We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts,” Kirby told reporters in Washington. “We’re monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real-time.”
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away the jobs of thousands” of people, as it aims to bring reforms to make state institutions profitable. “the meeting expressed deep concerns over the unemployment and inflation in the country,” he added. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, a couple of days ago, termed the news of the PDM holding a jalsa in Karachi as welcome news, adding that his party had informed PDM leaders of doing things the constitutional way. He said it was the right of every political party to hold rallies. He said that the PPP also desires to give a tough time to the Pti-led coalition government, adding
that it has been opposing the regime since it came to power in 2018. the PDM, a multi-party opposition alliance, was formed on september 20, 2020 with a view to oust the Pti-led government. After a successful first few weeks of campaigning, that saw mass rallies convene all across Pakistan, rifts began to emerge, around the time of the senate elections. At the forefront of the tensions are the PPP and PML-n — considered the two biggest Opposition parties in Pakistan — ever since PPP’s Yousaf raza gillani was appointed leader of the opposition in the senate. gillani’s appointment drew the ire of PDM, which said that the move was made without its blessing. PML-n Vice President Maryam nawaz maintains that at the time of the senate chairman election, it was “decided” that with the PPP running for the seat, the PML-n will be given the Leader of the Opposition in the senate position. PPP, however, rounded up 30 senators to get its own candidate, gillani appointed to the Opposition leader position. the numbers comprised 21 senators from the PPP itself, 2 senators from the Awami national Party, 1 senator of the Jamaat-i-islami, 2 independents from FAtA and a group of 4 ‘independents’ led by senator Dilawar Khan that had broken away from the Balochistan Awami Party to support gillani’s candidature. Over seeking the support of government allies (members of BAP), the PDM then issued show-cause notices to the PPP, as well as AnP, a move that was considered highly offensive by both parties and resulted in them quitting the alliance. News Desk
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