Category: Pakistan

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan  said on Wednesday police force should take action against me and any minister if found break the law, adding here if the police fail to do their jobs, he would take action against them.

During addressing the inauguration of the Eagle Squad Unit of the Islamabad Police, he said there are “no sacred cows in the country” and the police should not be afraid to take action against even him or any other minister.

PM Imran Khan said rule of law is equal in the eyes of the law for everyone .

“The police’s job is to enforce the law, and a country progresses when the police do their job,” the prime minister said, clarifying that law enforcement does not mean to only send a poor man behind bars.

PM Imran Khan said the police should show mercy to the people who earn daily wages and common people, and should take stern action against a powerful person when they break the law.

“No country can have peace and prosperity where common citizens are dealt with a heavy hand by the law, while people in power get off easy,” he said.

“The Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also said that he would take action against his own daughter if she breaks the law […] he warned his people that the nations before them were cursed as they did not take action against the powerful,” the premier said.

The prime minister said he wanted the establishment of the rule of law in the country, as “might is right is the law of the jungle”.

“A human society is defined by the rule of law,” he said.

The prime minister has inaugurated the newly established “Eagle Squad” of Islamabad police comprising 100 bikes, while Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed had briefed the premier about the extension of Safe City Project.

The government has allocated Rs300 million on the project.

 

BAHAWALPUR: Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab Captain (r) Saqib Zafar has said that the Punjab government has allocated a separate budget of Rs 189 billion for development projects in the recent budget which is 35 per cent of the total development budget of the province. He said that Punjab Chief Minister while fulfilling his promise has given the gift of special budget for the development of the region which cannot be shifted in any case and all the budget would be spent only in South Punjab. He expressed these views while addressing a high level meeting held at Bahawalpur Secretariat here. The meeting was attended by secretaries of South Punjab and heads of various departments. The meeting reviewed in detail the development schemes after the recent budget. Additional Secretary Coordination South Punjab Rizwan Qadeer was also present on the occasion. Addressing the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab Captain (r) Saqib Zafar said that the budget allocated for South Punjab includes 2,491 development schemes which will be completed in the current financial year in any case. After the budget, the South Punjab Secretariat has got full financial powers. Now the journey of development will be taken further so that the people of this region can be given real relief. Captain (r) Saqib Zafar said that secretaries of all the departments should formulate a development plan and keep the secretariat informed of their progress on a monthly basis.

ISLAMABAD: More than 450,000 people in Saudi Arabia applied to perform Hajj this year during the 24 hours since registration opened, the Saudi Arabia”s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said. Of those registering, 60 percent were men and 40 percent were women.

No priority will be given to those who apply early and registration will be open till June 23, the ministry added. Vaccinated citizens and residents in the Kingdom between the ages of 18 and 65 who do not have chronic diseases and have not performed Hajj in the last five years are able to apply, Arab news reported. Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday that this year’s Hajj will be limited to 60,000 pilgrims from within the Kingdom due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

UT Desk- ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly turned into a battleground as the opposition and treasury members fought with each other using budget documents and books as rockets and noisy protests disrupted the budget speech of the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif for the second consecutive day.

Speaker Asad Qaiser suspended the proceedings of the house three times when the treasury members, led by some of the senior ministers who had come directly to the house after attending the weekly cabinet meeting, refused to pay any heed to his directives to stay calm and kept on sloganeering, whistling and desk-thumping as Shehbaz Sharif, who had been surrounded by his party members to avoid any physical contact with the treasury MNAs, also continued his speech.

The speaker announced first suspension of the proceedings for 40 minutes when Ali Nawaz Awan, who is also special assistant to the prime minister, threw a book towards the opposition benches, which came back to him.

The proceedings of the house resumed after over two dozen sergeants-at-arms made a human wall separating the treasury and opposition members and bifurcating the assembly hall into two camps. It was an unprecedented scene, indeed, even for those who have been covering the parliamentary proceedings for decades.

As soon as Shehbaz Sharif took the floor and started lashing out at the government for its economic policies, the treasury members again stood up and started whistling, desk-thumping and chanting slogans like chor, chor (thief, thief), daku, daku (robber, robber) and `T T, T T`, a reference to the term `telegraphic transfer` often used for money laundering in the country.

When an undeterred Sharif continued his speech, some of the treasury members were seen advancing towards the opposition benches, but they were prevented from doing so by the security staff. At this stage, the treasury members started throwing the books and documents at the opposition members, who also responded in the same coin. Some of the members, including Ali Nawaz Awan, were seen and heard using abusive and filthy language. Many members from both sides raised slogans while standing on their chairs.

The opposition members sitting on back benches also responded to the treasury members with slogans like lathi goli ki sarkar nahi chale gi, go Niazi go, aata chor, cheeni chor and gali main shor hai, Aleema Baji chor hai. Aleema Khan is the sister of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the opposition alleges that she had not declared her assets and their money trail.

Parliamentary Secretary for Law Maleeka Bokhari was hit by a flying object and received injury to her eye.

She later received first aid at the Parliament House dispensary.

Besides Ms Bokhari, some MNAs also complained that they had received bruises during the scuffle.

However, the sandwiched sergeants-at-arms faced the brunt of the fight between the treasury and opposition members as they were hit by the books and flying objects.