Friday, 7 October, 2022 I 10 Rabi ul Awwal, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 99 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
IK commItted treason, damaged country’s reputatIon: pm g
sAys AUdio leAks regArding ‘cipher’ exposed trUe fAce of pti chAirmAn
ISLAMABAD
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rime minister shehbaz sharif on thursday said by building a deceitful narrative of conspiracy against his government, imran khan committed a treason against pakistan and its people, and inflicted an irreparable damage to the country’s reputation. the prime minister, while referring to an audio leak revealing a conversation between the then prime minister imran khan and ex-principal secretary Azam khan about using the classified diplomatic cable for political purposes, said the episode had badly damaged pakistan’s relations with the friendly countries. he said sans the audio leak, the ambiguity might have prevailed for years but Allah blessed the nation by exposing imran khan’s “fraud, deceit and worst conspiracy” against the country. “the audio tells all. is there any doubt yet as who hatched the conspiracy? who are the real conspirators? those were imran khan and his cronies,” the prime minister told a press conference here at the pm house. he said the coalition government was trying to revive bit-by-bit the ties with other countries damaged by imran khan. “it was the worst dishonesty, a game played with the nation’s confidence that hurt its integrity. this is unprecedented in the country’s history,” he remarked, rubbishing imran khan’s allegation of his role behind the audio leak. had he been behind it, his own audio leak would not have
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reiterAtes set criteriA will Be followed for Appointment of next Army chief
surfaced, he added. recalling the process of the vote of no-confidence against imran khan and the rejection of the motion by the then deputy speaker, the prime minister said the pti chief and his party had wasted the nation’s time. “that conspiracy stands exposed without any ambiguity. for last five years, i have been saying that he (imran khan) is the biggest liar doing all just to serve his own interests,” he commented. pm shehbaz told the media that the national security committee, in its two meetings, categorically made it clear that the cipher had nothing to do with the conspiracy. to a question, he confirmed that the pm house’s copy of the cipher was missing. As regards the flood situation, the prime minister said the coalition government had spent rs100 billion for the relief of flood-stricken population, who were being provided essential items, including tents, blankets and food. he said during the catastrophic flood situation too, imran khan played his negative role by maligning the government just to keep the donors from supporting the flood-hit people of pakistan. “this is a disservice to pakistan. this cold-hearted person did not think of the suffering humanity. he has no soft corner for the humanity,” the prime minister said and appreciated the efforts of his ministers and institutions, including the ndmA (national disaster management Authority) and pdmAs (provincial disaster management Authorities) for relief and rehabilitation of the flood-hit people. Appreciating the United nations secre-
tary-general for contesting the flood-hit pakistan’s case before the world, the prime minister said china had provided relief aid worth $90 million and the United states $61 million, besides the support pouring in from the United Arab emirates, Qatar, Japan and others. he said the previous government also violated the agreement with the international monetary fund, though the government revived it successfully despite the confusion created by imran khan and his cronies. he also lamented the pti leader for targeting the pakistan Army and attempting to create division within the institution ignoring their huge sacrifices against terrorism. to a question, shehbaz sharif confirmed that the pm house’s copy of the cipher was missing. he told the media that federal cabinet had decided to launch a probe into the cipher issue and the nation would be apprised of the findings. Asked about the appointment of next army chief, the prime minister said there was a set criteria in the law, which would be followed. to another question, he said pakistan muslim league-nawaz’s Quaid nawaz sharif would return to pakistan once his medical treatment was over. regarding the tosha khana case, the prime minister said the probe was underway. he assured that his government never believed in political victimization and the findings of the case would be shared with the public. “i will not do anything contrary to facts. institutions will do their own work. i will not interfere,” he assured. he said in the foreign funding case, the election commission had quashed imran khan’s claims of being ‘sadiq and Ameen’. Asked as if the government intended to impose governor rule in punjab to check much-talked about pti’s long march, the prime minister said ,“i will not say anything premature. however, no one is allowed to take any illegal step.” mentioning the “nAB-niazi nexus”, the prime minister said the ik government had not even spared the females, including maryam nawaz and faryal talpur from victimization. to a question about maryam nawaz’s departure for england, the prime minister said the court had given her a clean chit. it was not for the first time that she appeared before the court rather she had also been in the detention of national Accountability Bureau (nAB).
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NAB summons 21 members of former PM Imran Khan’s cabinet ISLAMABAD AhmAd AhmAdAni
the national Accountability Bureau (nAB) has summoned 21 members of the former prime minister imran khan’s cabinet for investigation in a case of giving approval to sending £140 million in the account of Bahria town founder malik riaz. According to sources, the apex anti-graft body has sent notices to the former premier imran khan’s cabinet members including ghulam sarwar khan, murad saeed, pervaiz khattak, shafqat mehmood, shireen mazari, Ali haider Zaidi and hammad Azhar, dr shireen mazari, shafqat mahmood, Asad Umar for recording of their statements. nAB has also summoned Ali riaz malik, the son of malik riaz who is the founder of Bahria town, they added. sources said that the nAB has summoned murad saeed and ghulam sarwar khan on october 11, pervaiz khattak and Ali riaz malik on october 12, Zubaida Jalal and hammad Azhar on october 13, shafqat mehmood and shireen mazari on october 14, khalid maqbool siddiqui and ejaz shah on october 17, Ali Amin gandapur and farogh naseem
on october 18, Ali Zaidi and khusro Bakhtiar on october 19, Azam khan swati and Asad Umar on october 20, Umar Ayub and muhammad mian somro on october 21, sheikh rasheed Ahmed and fawad chaudhry on october 24 and mehboob sultan and faisal vawda october 25 for investigation and recording of statements. sources added that nAB would also summon ex-pm imran khan for the recording of his statement after recording and examining the statements of his cabinet members. As per details, the nAB has been investigating sending £140 million in the account of Bahria town founder malik riaz that pakistan had received from the Britain as m/s Bahria town pvt ltd did an out-of-court settlement with British national crime Agency in a case where the latter froze an amount of some 140 million out of 190 gBp including 1-hyde park london property purchased by Ali riaz malik. reportedly, nAB had earlier sought provision of record from the prime minister’s office regarding the deal for repatriation of rs50 billion to pakistan between Bahria town and Uk’s national crime Agency (ncA).
Govt fixes power tariff for exporters at Rs19.99: Dar g
Advises relevAnt ministers to devise ‘pAckAge’ for Agri sector within week ISLAMABAD ShAhzAd PArAchA
federal finance and revenue minister ishaq dar has said that the government has fixed rs19.99 electricity tariff for five export oriented sectors. Addressing a press conference along with the exporters delegation, the finance minister said that the govt has fixed electricity tariff for exporters at rs19.99 inclusive of all taxes. A subsidy tune of rs 100 billion would be given on account of providing them cheaper electricity and the ministry of finance will bear all the price differential amount, he added. finance minister said that the export industry was promised electricity at 9
cent however the tariff has been revised after two months instead of one year. if exports increase by 15 to 20 percent, all external problems will be solved, fm added. finance minister also said that we had given a rs180 billion package last tenure due to which an increase of 12.7 percent witnessed in export. if the pti government maintained that policy, exports would have increased, he claimed. As soon as i arrived, the value of the rupee has been improving and the difference of 12 rupees between open and interbank came to 1 rupee. the actual value of the dollar is below 200 against the rupee and at this time the exchange rate is adjusting itself, he added.
he also said that pakistan’s debts have decreased by rs2600 billion due to improvement of value of rupee. finance minister said that we will also take action against the banks involved in manipulation of the exchange rate. ishaq dar also said that a threemember delegation under my supervision will conduct talks with the imf on the occasion of the annual meeting from monday. the other members of the delegation included the finance secretary and state Bank governor. there is no need to take the imf into confidence on this package as he said that the financial capacity of this package is there and we can fund this from our own resources. he also said that nawaz sharif will come to pakistan soon. rumors about rs 72 million being given to me are totally wrong and my salary goes to some hospital or institution. criticizing imran khan, he said that
An army of imrandos is being prepared. we said goodbye to the imf, but then they went to the imf, the finance minister added. get ‘agriculture package’ ready within week federal minister for finance and
revenue senator mohammad ishaq dar thursday advised relevant ministers and officials to ensure that a wholesome package is devised for the agriculture sector within a week.
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