Saturday, 17 October, 2020 I 28 Safar, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 108 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition
PDM flexes its Muscles, kicks off antigovernMent MoveMent froM gujranwala g
nawaz quesTIons governmenT’s douBle sTandards vIa vIrTual address
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maryam urges PeoPle To sTand By oPPosITIon To ousT IncumBenT governmenT
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BIlawal slams governmenT over record InFlaTIon, ‘onesIded accounTaBIlITy’
LAHORE/GUJRANWALA sHaHaB oMer
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nder the banner of newlyformed Pakistan democratic movement (Pdm), the joint opposition kicked off its anti-government campaign from a public rally in gujranwala, where scores of people were in attendance. after hours-long journey, opposition leaders reached gujranwala late at night. Pakistan muslim league-nawaz (Pml-n) vice President maryam nawaz was the first to reach the venue along with party workers and supporters and welcomed Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-zardari, who reached with his convoy after her. Jamiat ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JuI-F) chief maulana Fazlur rehman’s caravan was the last to enter gujranwala, who came to the city with a large number of party workers. Pml-n’s shahid Khaqan abbasi, Khawaja asif, Javed Hashmi, marriyum aurangzeb, ahsan Iqbal, Khurram dastgir, national Party’s (nP) abdul malik Baloch, awami national Party’s (anP) mian Iftikhar Hussain and PPP’s latif Khosa were also in attendance. Pml-n supreme leader nawaz sharif, while addressing the participants through video-link, lambasted the government for “failing to do its job” and said that people were for paying for its “incompetence”. “Today the stoves of people’s houses in Pakistan have gone out, people have become unemployed. Paying gas and electricity bill is no longer affordable, and even medicines are out of public’s reach. The incumbent government has killed the people. I do not know how
shamelessly these people go to the media and tell stories here and there,” he said. “whose fault is it? Imran Khan niazi’s or those who brought him into power? who is the real culprit? who stole the people’s vote? who rigged the election? How did the vote you cast get into someone else’s box? who closed the rTs [results Transmission system] in the dark of the night? why were the results withheld? who made the losing PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] win? who betrayed the trust of the people’s vote? who reheated the horse-trading market to form a ‘selected government?” he asked. “we will no longer be afraid to expose the real culprits. we are not cows and buffaloes, we are people of conscience and we will never sell our conscience. The people must stand as a against the oppressors,” he continued.
coronavirus in
Pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
321,877
LAST UPDATED AT 7:43 AM ON OCTOBER 16, 2020
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
7
RECOVERED:
NEW CASES:
659
DEATHS:
305,835 6,621 SINDH:
PUNJAB:
141,249
101,367
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
38,521
15,621
3,322/4,016 17,781
The former prime minister went on to question how a dictator managed to leave the country while being convicted by a court and other political leaders, including him, are tortured. “why are elected prime ministers not allowed to complete their five-year term?” he asked. regarding the accusation of treason against himself, he said that this is not the first time that dictators have accused public leaders because they speak of the constitution and law. “Then who are the patriots? Those who destroyed the constitution or those who divided the country into two pieces?” he asked. nawaz went on to accuse the incumbent government of being the most corrupt one he had seen in his 35year career. “The method of the present government is to lie so much that it seems to be true and under this guise
the government has heated up the market of corruption,” he added. He said that Prime minister Imran Khan was involved in corruption as well. “niazi will have to give receipts to the ownership of Bani gala and zaman Park assets,” he said, adding that Imran had not been cleared simply by receiving former chief justice saqib nasir’s nro. “aleema Khan will also have to give an account. Billions of fundraising cases will also be investigated. niazi will not get any nro on foreign funding case,” he added. The Pml-n supremo insisted that “these people have looted billions of rupees from the people.” He further commented on the achievements of his own era, wherein the electricity prices were lower and unemployment was down. “we worked hard and showed our strength to the world. we brought the country out of darkness by producing cheap electricity and brought peace to the country. we ended terrorism, started businesses, and ended poverty and unemployment in our time. In our time, it was expected that Pakistan would soon be one of the largest economies and the world Bank and ImF [International monetary Fund] were also acknowledging Pakistan’s progress. at that time, not only was our government doing this alone, but Pdm leaders were also involved. Pakistan is a peace-loving country and we also want peace but with self-determination, equality and self-respect. we want to live with self-respect even within the country. we have angered a country like saudi arabia, which is one of our closest friends, and the situation at the moment is that saudi arabia is so angry with us that it is not even
Opp responsible for country’s sorry state, says Faraz ISLAMABAD staff report
rounding on the opposition parties for lambasting the government for rising inflation, minister for Information shibli Faraz on Friday held the opposition responsible for the sorry state of the country. The speech comes two days after the all Pakistan clerks associations (aPca) staged a sit-in in front of the Parliament House, Islamabad, to protest against price hike and what they called anti-employees policies of the government. The protesters, who were endorsed by a number of unions, associations and organisations of government employees, urged the government to increase their salaries and allowances proportionate to inflation in addition to accepting their other demands. speaking on the floor of the senate, Faraz said, “[The opposition] says that inflation is rising [but] you are its root cause. It is because of your policies and the collapse of government institutions over the last 40 to 50 years [yet] you expect us to fix this in two years. “we will fix it and will enable
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Fazl accuses PTI governmenT oF servIng InTeresTs oF ForeIgn Players willing to talk to us,” he said. In contrast, he spoke on how Imran’s government had not taken steps to reduce the price of sugar, and how the drug prices have “skyrocketed”. maryam, while addressing the crowed, stated that the people themselves are calling for Imran's removal. she added that she was not trying to bolster any politician, but merely to carry out the will of the people. "I have brought the case of the people before the people. no one has the right to remove a public representative. only the people should have the power to form and overthrow the government,” she added. she also urged the people to support the opposition in ousting the incumbent government. Bilawal, during his address, said that Pakistan's economy is witnessing the worst period in its history, adding that “people even do not have bread for two times.” He further remarked that the situation had not been this bad even after the global financial crisis in 2009. “The change is that today there is historical inflation and unemployment in Pakistan,” he said. “The poor are living in poverty while the youth are moving around with degrees but are not finding employment.” He talked about the increase in prices for groceries, and compared it to the increase in wages seen when the PPP was in power “This is a change of Imran Khan and his selectors. Today, every sector in Pakistan is in crisis,” Bilawal said.
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more inside
Imran terms establishment of stents manufacturing facility a major progress STORY ON PAGE 02
the country and government institutions to stand on their own two feet.” admitting to a rise in inflation, the minister added that it was a “temporary thing” and would be resolved within the next few weeks. The government on wednesday admitted the rising prices of wheat and sugar have added to the miseries of common people, saying it has started taking effective and practical measures, which will bring stability to prices of the commodities within days. The minister further said: “[… ] If [the opposition] thinks that they can put us under pressure, like they did when it came to the Financial action Task Force (FaTF) and national accounta-
bility Bureau (naB) proposals, that will not happen.” President dr arif alvi had summoned regular sessions of both houses of parliament Friday — the same day the opposition-led Pakistan democratic movement (Pdm) prepares for its first rally in gujranwala. The opposition has claimed that the rally will lay the foundation for the ouster of Imran Khan’s government. during the senate session, the minister said that the opposition was staging the gujranwala rally not in favour of “the likes of saad rafique” but to protect the “two royal families” who considered it their right to come into power.
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Indian govt dismisses SAPM’s ‘fictitious’ bilateral talks claim
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