Posts

Development of Balochistan among our top priorities: PM

• CM Bugti meets premier, discusses province’s situation amid ongoing protests • Says govt taking all possible measures to resolve crises afflicting the province • PM Shehbaz expected to announce major cut in power tariffs today QUETTA / ISLAMABAD: Balo­chistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday to discuss the law and order situation, ongoing protests and development projects in the province, with the premier stressing that the province’s growth remains one of the government’s top priorities. The meeting took place in Lahore, where CM Bugti also extended Eidul Fitr greetings to the prime minister. Officials said that the two leaders held a detailed discussion on the political, economic and security situation of Balochistan, as well as the progress of federal development initiatives in the province. The discussions emphasised the federal government’s unwavering support for Balochistan, with PM Shehbaz stressing that all necessary steps woul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump tells Cabinet, others that Musk will leave soon, Politico reports

Image
US President Donald Trump has told members of his Cabinet and other close contacts that tech billionaire Elon Musk will soon step back from his cost-cutting government role, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing three people close to Trump. Trump has tasked the Tesla and SpaceX CEO with leading efforts through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government funding and dismantle various US agencies as a special government employee . Politico reported that both Trump and Musk decided in recent days that Musk will soon return to his businesses, but gave no specific date. Musk and DOGE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. Shares of some companies, including government contracting companies, rose following the report. Shares of Musk’s Tesla, which were down 2 per cent in early trading after a sharper-than-expected fall in first-quarter deliveries, reversed course and were up about 5pc. It was not immediately clear if Musk would leave...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hammad Azhar steps down from PTI office for 3rd time

PTI Punjab Acting President Hammad Azhar on Wednesday took to X to announce his resignation from his position within the party, the third time he has done so. Last August, Azhar stepped down as the president of the party’s Punjab chapter citing a lack of access to incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan. Azhar had previously stepped down from the role in March, citing his legal tribulations and the obstacles they presented in performing his duties. The PTI leadership rejected his resignation in both instances. In a lengthy post on X, Azhar announced his resignation citing claims that he was being accused of obstructing the work of other party members. In addition, he added that there was a lack of freedom to control his constituency. “Yesterday, Khan sahib [PTI founder Imran Khan] was informed by [fellow party leader] Azam Swati that [another fellow party member] Alia Hamza was being obstructed in her work. When Khan Sahib asked him who was obstructing her, Azam Swati men...
Post a Comment
Read more

Not helping

THE continued detention of Baloch Yakjehti Committee leaders — including Dr Mahrang Baloch in Quetta and Sammi Deen Baloch in Karachi — is yet another misstep by the state in its fraught relationship with the people of Balochistan. Dr Baloch has been booked under terrorism, murder and attempted murder, incitement to violence and rebellion, creating disorder and promoting racial hatred, and property damage, among other clauses. This is a sweeping set of charges against a woman known for her unarmed and democratic campaign against enforced disappearances. Sammi Baloch, who was protesting Dr Baloch’s arrest, was herself detained under the MPO, just hours after a court ordered her release. She was earlier arrested for violating Section 144. The BYC has emerged as a civil society platform that has mobilised Baloch youth, particularly women, around demands for justice, constitutional rights and an end to enforced disappearances. Instead of welcoming this nonviolent civic awakening in...
Post a Comment
Read more

PM Shehbaz contacts President Zardari, enquires about his health

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif contacted President Asif Ali Zardari and enquired about his health on Tuesday following media reports about the latter’s hospitalisation. While there was no official word from the presidency or the PPP regarding its co-chairperson’s health, media outlets earlier today reported , quoting sources, that President Zardari had been hospitalised in Karachi after being brought over from Nawabshah. When reached out for a comment, a source close to the party told Dawn.com that he was “undergoing some tests and would be discharged soon”. A statement from the Press Information Department issued today said PM Shehbaz contacted the president and enquired about his well-being, offering prayers for Zardari’s early recovery. “May God grant you complete health soon. The prayers of the entire nation are with you,” the statement quoted the premier as saying. Meanwhile, a statement from the office of Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori said he called the president’s physicia...
Post a Comment
Read more

Towards resolution

AS the BNP’s Sardar Akhtar Mengal marched towards Quetta last week, the idea recirculated: establish a truth and reconciliation commission for Balochistan. Political commentators, journalists and activists alike rightly highlight that at the core of the Balochistan crisis is the state’s lack of acknowledgement that legitimate grievances underpin militancy and anti-state violence. It is a truth easily accepted in other contexts but not entertained closer to home. Not surprisingly, then, a truth and reconciliation process is often cited as a way out of the quagmire. But would it work? Truth commissions are established when rampant human rights violations have occurred, typically in a conflict or authoritarian context, and there is a need for a national reckoning. Truth commissions aim to uncover, investigate, document and ultimately establish a consensual version of the ‘truth’ of what has happened. The findings of truth commissions are usually based on wide-ranging interviews with a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Women’s rights

PAKISTAN’S legal system has issued some important rulings in recent days concerning women, which deserve more discussion and debate on mainstream media. For example, in what can be seen as a strong affirmation of gender equality, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court held last week that a woman’s legal rights cannot be tied to her marital status. The court’s observations — that a woman’s legal rights, personhood and autonomy are neither erased by marriage nor should they depend on it, and to assume that a married woman is financially dependent on her husband “is legally untenable, religiously unfounded and contrary to the egalitarian spirit of the Islamic law” — may seem like common sense, but they challenge patriarchal attitudes that are not often discussed and which passively undermine women’s autonomy in everyday life. In particular, the court’s observation that excluding married daughters from entitlement to job quotas usually reserved for compassionate causes “reveals a deeper s...
Post a Comment
Read more