Sunday, 6 March, 2022 I 2 Shaʽban, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 247 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition
OppOsitiOn’s nO-trust mOve against gOvt will nOt succeed: Fawad LAHORE
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APP
ederal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said that the opposition parties would not succeed in any no-trust move against the government as neither they have the required numbers nor the public support. addressing a press conference in lahore, he said that there is no possibility of tabling of a no-confidence move by the opposition parties as they are only giving time lines. He said faces of the opposition leaders, particularly of Pakistan democratic Movement (PdM) chief Maulana Fazl-urrehman, are reflective of their depressing
Govt vows to arrest masterminds as death toll climbs to 63 in mosque attack PESHAWAR stAff rePort
Officials vowed Saturday to hunt down and arrest the masterminds behind a deadly mosque attack in Peshawar a day earlier claimed by an affiliate of the so-called Islamic State militant group. The assault killed 62 people and wounded nearly 200. The death toll was likely to continue to rise, said asim Khan, spokesman for Peshawar’s lady reading Hospital. at least four of 38 patients still hospitalised are in critical condition, Khan said. In a statement, IS said the lone suicide bomber was from neighbouring afghanistan. He shot two police guarding the Shi’ite mosque before entering inside and exploding his device, it said. The attack took place as worshipers knelt in Friday prayer. The affiliate, known as IS in Khorasan Province, is headquartered in eastern afghanistan. Minister for Interior Sheikh rasheed ahmed said in a video statement that police will “track them down in the next couple of days”. He said the security agencies have identified all three suspects involved in the
attack and “closed in on them”. FIR REGISTERED: The Counter-Terrorism department (CTd) lodged a first information report (FIr) of the blast, on the complaint of the incharge of the Khan raziq police station. The complaint includes provisions of the anti-Terrorism act. The station house officer (SHO) said he rushed to the mosque after hearing gunshots and the subsequent explosion. The attacker first opened indiscriminate firing after entering the premises and then blew himself up, he recalled. The police said they would try to identify the bomber from two severed feet found at the scene. “There are seven bodies be-
yond recognition including two amputated feet which we believe are of the bomber,” Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told aFP. “We are trying to ascertain the identity of the bomber through dNa testing.” Ijaz said officials were checking the biometric data of people who had recently crossed into Pakistan from afghanistan, where IS have previously planned attacks. The Taliban rulers in afghanistan, who have been fighting IS, condemned the attack. IS has proven to be the Taliban’s greatest security threat since sweeping into power last august.
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Opposition to submit no-trust motion against PM next week ISLAMABAD NAveed MirAj
after weeks of meetings and threadbare negotiations aimed at firming up a strategy to oust the PTI government before March 23, the opposition parties are set to submit a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National assembly’s secretariat next week, Pakistan Today learnt on Saturday. according to the sources, drafts of the no-confidence motion and letter for requisitioning the session of the lower house have been prepared to be submitted in the office of Na speaker. The sources said that the op-
position parties are fully cognizant of the fact that Speaker National assembly asad Qaiser may use delaying tactics in summoning the session or raise objections on the no-confidence motion. To deal with such a scenario and stop the speaker from violating the mandate of his office, they said, a legal team of the opposition parties has also prepared a petition, which will be filed in the Supreme Court to seek its intervention. “The government will not be allowed to hide behind any pretext even the renovation work currently being carried out at the Parliament House for the upcoming meeting of the OIC
Council of Foreign Ministers,” they said, adding the opposition wants to oust the government before March 23. It merits mentioning that the speaker can delay summoning the session for two weeks, if the requisition for the session is forwarded by the opposition. The offices of the National assembly secretariat have partially been closed from 7th to 11th March in connection with the preparation for the OIC meeting. However the notification issued by the National assembly’s secretariat states that the offices the Na speaker, deputy speaker and secretary will remain open.
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situation as they do not have anything in their pocket. The opposition parties are trying to create a political environment by staging marches and proposing a no-confidence move for a face-saving only, he added. He said that the two major opposition parties – Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PMl-N) – have become regional parties as the PPP has been limited to some divisions of Sindh province while the PMl-N is confined to a few divisions of Punjab. On the other hand, Fazl-led JUI-F has presence in some Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa areas, Fawad said, adding that no other political party is standing with them in their plan of tabling a no-confidence
move against the government. He expressed gratitude to the ally parties for standing firmly with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government and said the opposition parties are not sincere with each other and all of them are looking for protecting their personal interests. He said that the PTI government would welcome PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s march in rawalpindi and added that around 100 people, which is the total strength of his march, would also be offered tea. He advised Bilawal to realise that Pakistan is hosting the australian cricket team in rawalpindi after a long time and such a show (long march), led by him, could have a negative impact at the international level.
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