Thursday, 30 July, 2020 I 8 Dhul-Hijjah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 32 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition
PM’s aides tania aidrus and dr Zafar MirZa sent PaCking g
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sAPM ON digiTAl PAkisTAN TANiA Adrus wAs MAde TO sigN resigNATiON leTTer by PM’s PriNciPAl secreTAry AZAM khAN
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PM’s Aide ON heAlTh dr ZAFAr MirZA AlsO ‘quiTs’ Over criTicisM ON duAl NATiONAliTy
sOurces clAiM bOTh sAPMs hAd FAiled TO deFeNd TheMselves AgAiNsT chArges OF cONFlicT OF iNTeresT, drug Price hike, resPecTively
ISLAMABAD staff report
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ANiA Aidrus, special assistant to the prime minister on e-governance and head of the much-touted digital Pakistan vision initiative, and sAPM on health dr Zafar Mirza on wednesday announced to resign from her post citing recent criticism leveled against them and the government due to their dual nationality. however, informed sources claimed that both sAPMs were forced to step down from their positions due to a host of reasons. Two notifications issued by the cabinet divi-
sion said Prime Minister imran khan had accepted both Aidrus and Mirza’s resignations. sharing her resignation letter on Twitter, Tania wrote, “criticism levied towards the state as a consequence of my citizenship status is clouding the purpose of digital Pakistan. in the greater public interest, i have submitted my resignation from the sAPM role. i will continue to serve my country and the PM’s vision to my best ability.” Tania left her job of 12 years at google where she served in various leadership roles, her last one being “director, Product, Payments for Next billion users”, to join Prime Minister imran khan’s digital Pakistan initiative in February, and was appointed
Coronavirus in
Pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
277,063
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
NEW CASES:
27
1,063
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
SINDH:
PUNJAB:
244,883 5,915
120,052
92,452
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
33,845
11,654
2,055/2,042 14,963
sAPM for the same purpose. Pakistan Today has learnt that this resignation was on the cards for close to two months, which is when Jahangir khan Tareen was practically ousted from the party due to the sugar crisis probe and was the one who arranged the first meeting between Aidrus and PM imran last year that materialised into the latter’s vision for ‘digital Pakistan’. sources privy to the development said that PM’s Principal secretary Azam khan invited the former sAPM to his office this morning, where PM’s Adviser on Accountability barrister Mirza shahzad Akbar was also present. There she was asked to sign the resignation letter. when Tania protested and asked to speak to the prime minister, she was told that this resignation was not optional, that she had to sign it and the PM would not be able to speak to her. Therefore, while the letter points to criticism on Aidrus’s foreign nationality being the chief reason for her resignation, the actual motives behind her removal are much different. As confirmed by Federal Minister for science and Technology Fawad chaudhry in an interview, infighting within the PTi between Jahangir Tareen, Asad umar and shah Mahmood qureshi restricted the party from performing well. Tareen’s attempt to limit the role of the bureaucracy in federal government business was reportedly fiercely opposed by Azam khan. The sugar crisis probe provided an opportunity for an ‘anti-Tareen camp’ to push him out of the party.
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NA approves two FATF-related bills amid Opp’s ruckus ISLAMABAD staff report
The government on wednesday managed to get two Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-related bills– the Anti-terrorism (Amendment) bill, 2020 and the united Nations (security council) (Amendment) bill, 2020 — passed by the National Assembly (NA) amidst protests by the opposition. The bills, moved by PM’s Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs dr babar Awan, were passed amid the opposition members’ sloganeering against Foreign Minister shah Mahmood qureshi’s speech in the assembly on Tuesday in which he had explained the deadlock between the government and the opposition over a number of legislations. The noisy protest led the NA speaker to suspend proceedings on three occasions: twice when qureshi refused to speak amid the opposition’s slogans and once soon after the passage of the bills. in his remarks, Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PMl-N) MNA khawaja Asif said he was speaking to present the opposition’s point of view on the foreign minister’s speech. he said qureshi disclosed the details of an informal meeting between the government and opposition members held at the speaker’s residence. “Nine members of the 25member special parliamentary committee were having an informal meeting to discuss legislation
Opp wants to ‘wheel and deal’ for personal interests, says info minister ISLAMABAD staff report
Federal Minister for information shibli Faraz on wednesday said that the opposition parties want to “wheel and deal” for personal interests but the government would not give the “culprits” any sort of concession under the National reconciliation Ordinance (NrO). “The opposition wants to bargain for personal interests. it is not possible that they have us close the jails and facilitate them with NrOs. After eid, the opposition’s bubble will burst,” the minister said. Talking to media on the occasion, Faraz said that the focus of the PTi-led government is on the real problems of the people. he said the “rule of merit” is the hallmark of the incumbent government. “The PTi team is united under the leadership of Prime Minister imran khan; if PTi does not have imran khan then PTi is nothing,” the minister asserted. he said that under the governance of “Naya Pakistan”, there will only be politics of honesty and integrity and that the best judges of the government’s performance are the people of Pakistan.
on FATF and NAb (National Accountability bureau). The issue was to go back to the main committee, but the foreign minister disclosed the details on the floor of the house which was against ethics and norms,” Asif added. he said qureshi had “crossed all the limits by disclosing details [of the meeting] which should have been kept secret” because the minister “wanted to do politics”. “he (qureshi) tried to give the impression that the opposition was only interested in NAb laws and not FATF. There was no need to bring these things on the record,” the PMl-N lawmaker said. he criticised qureshi for not disclosing before the lower house that the two sides had, in fact, reached consensus on the two FATF-related bills on Tuesday. “The opposition only wanted to stop the political use of the laws … we cannot allow 90 days’ detention under the pretext of economic terrorism,” he said, explaining why the two sides had disagreed on other FATF-related legislation on Tuesday. “in the past, those who made the wrong laws, they themselves became their victim,” Asif said.
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Govt tables ordinances related to FATF, Jadhav in Senate STORY ON PAGE 03
more inside
Muslims begin downsized Hajj amid coronavirus pandemic STORY ON BACK PAGE
government convenes joint session today to get key bills passed Faraz said that the words “minus one” are an invention of the opposition and that “Naya Pakistan” is progressing forward under the leadership of Prime Minister imran khan. lambasting PPP chairman bilawal bhutto-Zardari for placing personal gains over national interests, the information minister said: “bilawal bhutto took over sindh and has made his national party a regional party.” The information minister had called on Punjab chief Minister usman buzdar earlier in the day to discuss issues of mutual interest, the political situation, and media strategy along with measures to provide relief to the people and public welfare schemes. On the other hand, buzdar
said that the performance of the government in the last two years was much better than the last 30 years and the media has played an eminent role to bring the government’s initiatives to the notice of the people. he said that the previous tradition of misusing national resources has been eradicated as non-discriminatory accountability of corrupt elements will guarantee the development and prosperity of Pakistan. buzdar further said that the alliance of opposition parties was only for the protection of personal interests and under the guise of All Party conference (APc) the opposition parties were unsuccessfully trying to hide “the stains of their corruption”.
STORY ON PAGE 03
Blasphemy accused gunned down inside Peshawar courtroom STORY ON PAGE 03
PM imran says centre will take all possible steps to resolve karachi's issues STORY ON PAGE 02