Nazriati Group blames Unity for ‘PTI division’

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Nazriati Group has made it clear that its workers will not let the party become “PTI-Q” by bringing the political orphans at the helm of affairs in the party.

“Any wrong decision in the intra-party elections by the workers will make every party member bear the brunt for the years to come,” party leaders asserted.

The PTI Nazriati group leaders, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Hamid Khan advocate, Shafqat Mahmood, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Waleed Iqbal, were speaking at a workers’ convention as a part of campaign for intra-party elections in Gulberg on Sunday.

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Presses for party election without delay

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Expressing his support for the Nazriati Group, PTI central deputy parliamentary leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the workers decision in the intra-party elections would also lead to the selection of candidates for the 2018 general elections.

Chiding Jahangir Khan Tareen and Chaudhry Sarwar, he said their Unity Group was busy creating “disunity” in the party but he had always followed party’s national agenda unlike the opposite group’s leaders. Stating that both Tareen and Sarwar could not influence party chairman’s intra-party election decision, he said that he would say good bye to politics if he would ever be required to beg for party ticket from these politicians.

Saying that parties that forgot their ideological workers could fade away like the PPP, Qureshi said that party leader Ejaz Chaudhry also became victim of Unity Group leaders’ conspiracies.

Terming the present times “a defining moment in Pakistani politics”, Mr Qureshi said the status quo was crumbling all around the world and added that the PTI was also moving in this direction within the country. Referring to political corruption, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that within the PTI, a group had emerged that wanted to influence everything with the power of its money.

“The workers’ ideology will defeat the power of money in the party,” he asserted, adding that the country’s economy was changing where honest and white-collared people were finding it hard to earn their Halal livelihood. He said terrorism around the world was also changing world view and constitutions, including that of Pakistan, had been amended to fight terrorism.

Hamid Khan said the party’s diehard workers would not let the party be hijacked by those having a lot of money. Clearly referring to Jahangir Tareen and Abdul Aleem Khan, he asserted that the Nazriati workers would not let the party become “PTI-Q”. He said the political orphans after the downfall of dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf were running around the PTI to accept them in its fold.

“They could be welcomed if they followed party’s ideology instead of trying to hijack the party with the power of their money,” he asserted.

Hamid Khan also clarified that Imran Khan did not listen to their requests of cancelling the intra-party elections to protect the party from disintegration. He said the PTI chief wanted to develop party as an institution instead of winning just one election and he had also said that he would become party’s chairman twice or thrice and then hand over chairmanship to other leaders. He urged the workers to vote for true and clean leaders instead of being influenced by wealth.

PTI Nazriati Group’s Punjab president candidate Shafqat Mahmood said Imran had taken a very bold decision to organise the intra-party elections in the wake of assertions that it would disintegrate party into groups. He said the party elections had activated the workers across the country. Saying that many people in the PTI wanted that there should be no party elections, he emphasised that the intra-party elections should be held on schedule so that party’s structure could be developed.

Stating that he would not tell lies to his workers, Mr Shafqat made it clear that he would not give fake offices to workers and instead everybody would win with his or performance and loyalty to the party.

Dr Yasmin Rashid, Waleed Iqbal, Shireen Mazari, Munazza Hassan, Rai Azizullah, Saifullah Niazi and others also spoke.

Article via: dawn

PTI Decides to Reclaim 'Batsman' Symbol From Rival

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in principle, decided on Friday to challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to allocate the symbol of ‘batsman’ to its splinter group PTI-Nazriati.

However, PTI is yet to decide whether to file a petition with the ECP or move the high court, PTI sources told The Express Tribune.

Political parties with names similar to mainstream parties are common but there is likelihood that such groups can confuse voters if their election symbols are also identical.

Unconstitutional demand? Replies sought from govt, PTI supremo
More than 327 political parties are registered with the ECP and many of them have similar names, with abbreviations matching those of popular parties.

The ECP is cautious when it comes to allocating symbols to a party: it tries to ensure distinctive symbols.

This time around, it seems that ECP disregarded this principle while allotting the symbol of ‘batsman’ to a newly-registered party.

Interestingly, the ECP issued a notification on June 6, days before the retirement of four members who are completing their five-year terms on June 11.

Some PTI dissidents applied to register their faction with a suffix PTI-N. The ECP enlisted it and allocated them the symbol they sought.

This symbol, PTI sources said, had greatly hurt the party during last year’s local government elections when candidates were allotted ‘batsman’ symbol in many local government constituencies.

PTI claims that their political opponents, especially PML-N had been pitching candidates with almost the same symbol in key by-elections to damage the PTI candidate’s prospects.

One such candidate was fielded in NA-153 by-elections in December last year, Jahangir Khan Tareen told The Express Tribune.

Earlier, PTI moved the Lahore High Court and challenged ECP’s decision of allocating this symbol to several independent candidates in local government elections.

Umar Sarfraz Cheema, who was then PTI’s deputy chief organizer in Punjab, maintained that LHC had ordered ECP to remove the ‘batsman’ symbol and allocate the candidates concerned some other symbol within 10 days.

However, the ECP did not follow the order, claiming that election symbols for LG elections were proposed by the provincial local government department. The commission also contended that they had already sent election material for printing and any change in the ballot papers would delay polling.

Panama leaks inquiry: PTI’s patience wearing thin on ToRs 
Cheema maintained that in many LG constituencies, where PTI candidates were in strong positions, incumbent PML-N government in connivance with election officials fielded candidates with ‘batsman’ symbol to confuse voters.

He said although no candidate with ‘batsman’ symbol won, but they definitely cost PTI votes.

According to the June 6 ECP notification, PTI-N has been permanently allotted batsman symbol.

In an almost similar incident some time ago, an independent candidate was awarded ‘cat’ symbol. He was next to a PML-N candidate with ‘tiger’ symbol on ballot paper. PML-N later complained that many of its votes went to the candidate with ‘cat’ symbol.

Article via: tribune

PTI Gears up for Faisalabad Show of Strength

LAHORE: As the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) gears up for its Faisalabad jalsa, party leaders have been leaving no stone unturned to ensure what befell women at its recent Islamabad and Lahore rallies is not replicated. 

From separate entry and exit points for women, a prohibition on men from entering the women’s enclosure to hiring the services of a security company, party leaders said they were not taking any chances when it came to preventing politically aligned elements from sabotaging the party’s jalsa.

The party’s recent gatherings in Lahore and slamabad were marred by incidents of women being harassed. In the capital, PTI men breached the security cordon while events took a similar turn of events at the Lahore jalsa towards its end.

The Faisalabad jalsa—originally slated to be organised on May 8—was postponed after videos of women being harassed at the party’s Lahore and Islamabad jalsas began circulating. Since then, the PTI has blamed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of orchestrating the “attacks.” The party had also accused police of failing to effectively discharging its duties.

PTI Punjab Women Wing president Saloni Bokhari said while the PTI feared that the PML-N would attempt to sabotage the party’s Faisalabad jalsa party leaders had been striving to thwart any such move.

Taking advantage of recent events, Bokhari said, the party’s rivals were determined to intimidate women into refraining from coming together at PTI events.

Given that the city is home turf for Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, she said, the PTI was up against “Gullu Butts.” She said they would strive to deter women from participating in the jalsa. “Our women workers are a determined lot. They cannot be intimidated,” Bokhari said.

Instead of relying on the Insaf Students’ Federation (ISF) to ensure that women remained protected at the show of strength, she said, a security firm had been entrusted with the responsibility. “PML-N hoodlums disguise themselves as PTI workers and harass women,” she said. Bokhari said she would personally ensure that all women remained safe at the Faisalabad jalsa.

Former PTI Punjab president Ejaz Chaudhry—entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing preparations for the Faisalabad jalsa—said all measures had been taken to ensure women’s safety. “What transpired in Lahore was orchestrated,” he said.

Chaudhry said apart from separate entry and exit points for both genders and the proscription on men from entering the women’s enclosure media houses too had been requested to depute women journalists to cover the event from space reserved for women. He said district authorities had been cooperating with the party, albeit reluctantly.

PTI leaders Aleem Khan, Shoaib Siddiqi and Chaudhry Sarwar will leave for Faisalabad on Friday morning for the jalsa. Chaudhry appeared confident of pulling off a spirited show of support amid scorching temperatures. Rejecting rumours of a rift among the ranks of PTI’s Faisalabad leadership, he said the party was united. Chaudhry said minor differences of opinion were prevalent across the political spectrum.

Rejecting the PTI’s assertions, the PML-N’s Azma Bokhari said aggression went hand-in-hand with the PTI. She held PTI chairman Imran Khan chiefly responsible for this. “Don’t pass the buck. Reality speaks volumes,” Bokhari said. She welcomed Saloni’s decision to sit among the PTI’s women workers. “This should have been the practice from the start,” Bokhari said. 

She said leaders should sit among party workers instead of sitting on containers and podiums. “Had they done this from the start, they wouldn’t have needed to enlist the services of a security firm,” Bokhari said.

Article via: tribune

Khattak urges youth to attend Islamabad PTI rally

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has termed youth as vanguard of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, hoping thousands of workers would participate in party’s foundation day gathering at the federal capital on April 24.

“The party’s foundation day would be a historical gathering and thousands of party workers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would participate in it,” The chief minister said while addressing a workers’ convention at Hujra of Malik Ibrar at Badrashi here on Wednesday.

On the occasion, MNA Dr Imran Khattak, district nazim Laiqat Khan Khattak, naib nazim Malik Ibrar Khan and MPA Khaleaqur Rehman were also present.

The chief minister said PTI had fulfilled all promises it made with the people in general elections. He claimed that power had been transferred to grassroots level after local bodies’ elections and now people’s problems would be solved at their doorstep. He said now people would not have to go after MNAs and MPAs for solving their problems.

The chief minister said they had announced a new industrial policy and added that industrial zones would be established in all the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Article via: dawn

PTI Seeks to Bring Offshore Assets in Law's Ambit

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker suggested on Tuesday to amend the Benami transactions prohibition bill, calling for the inclusion of information about foreign properties owned by Pakistanis through offshore companies.

The proposal was submitted by Asad Umar, a PTI MNA from NA-48, Islamabad, in a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance that was called to discuss the government-sponsored bill.

Panama Papers: Sharifs should come clean on assets: Aleem

Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Mohammad Nisar did not answer any of the questions raised by PTI and Pakistan Peoples Party lawmakers.

The lawmakers asked if the FBR was doing anything to probe 200 people who had been accused of holding assets in foreign countries through offshore companies.His only answer to their queries was that the FBR would give a detailed briefing in the next meeting of the committee.

However, he said that in the next budget, the FBR planned to bring certain amendments in the law to plug loopholes that could be exploited to transfer money.

The standing committee also gave a one-week deadline to the State Bank of Pakistan to provide information about individuals and companies who had invested abroad with the permission of central bank.

PTI chief calls for probe into Sharif family assets

Chairman of the committee Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh warned that if the central bank did not provide the information within the specified time, the committee might opt to use its judicial powers.

The standing committee did not discuss the Benami bill in detail and kept the matter pending till the next meeting.

The benami transactions are defined as an arrangement where a person on behalf of another person, who has paid for it, holds a property. It also includes transactions made under fictitious names.

The bill prohibits all persons from entering into benami transactions.

Imran invested Shaukat Khanum donations in offshore companies: PML-N leader

Once enacted, the government will have the authority to confiscate benami properties and violators could face imprisonment terms of up to seven years, said Rehmatullah Wazir, the FBR’s Member, Inland Revenue Policy.

He said that tax authorities were perturbed by the problem and experience suggested that such transactions were often used for evading taxes. Wazir said that a similar law was in operation in India for almost two decades.

Article via: tribune

Govt Trying to Blackmail Opposition, Says Imran Khan

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has come out hard against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for trying to blackmail the opposition with corruption charges for their criticism of the Sharif family over the Panama Papers leaks.

Addressing a press conference at the PTI secretariat in Lahore on Wednesday, Imran expressed his disappointment at how Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan accused Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Khursheed Shah of corruption.

PM Puts Rumour Mill to Rest

“It is your (government’s) responsibility to apprehend them (corrupt politicians) instead of blackmailing (opposition members),” Imran said while responding to Nisar’s press conference held earlier in the day. “This is what the opposition does, not the government.” The PTI chief said that if the government has evidence of corruption, it should act instead of resorting to blackmail.

Imran also dismissed Nisar’s stance that the PM was not answerable over the leaks which had revealed that three of Nawaz’s children owned offshore companies.

“Don’t disgrace yourself by defending the corruption of your leaders,” the PTI chief said as he claimed that Nawaz was involved in tax evasion and corruption, breaking laws of the country and demanded a clarification from the prime minister.

Govt Rejects Imran Khan's Demand to Address Nation on State Television

“They (corrupt politicians) come into power, make money, steal tax, invest abroad and then use the stolen money to contest in elections” he said alleging that the same money was used to ‘buy’ the election commission as well as judges to rig the elections and reiterated his demand for a judicial commission headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

He also criticised protests by PML-N supporters outside his former wife Jemima Goldsmith’s house in England.

“What will you demand from this protest outside her house?” he mocked.

Responding to threats from the PML-N to march onto Bani Gala if the PTI marched to Raiwind, Imran brushed it aside by stating, “they are only blackmailing us”.

Appreciating comments of Pakistan Peoples Party’s Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, Imran hinted at working with other stakeholders over his Raiwind protest. He urged citizens to join his movement arguing that it was the collective responsibility of the nation to demand accountability adding that he did not want to make the Raiwind protest a ‘PTI show’ only.

‘Will March Towards Raiwind If Panama Papers Revelations Not Probed Independently'

Imran held a high level meeting with parliamentary and provincial leaders of the PTI to formalise a strategy for the party’s 20th Foundation Day. Deliberations were also held regarding activities ahead of the Raiwind march as well as the strategy for the protest movement.

He urged party workers to gather in Islamabad on April 24. Earlier, while speaking at an event in Lahore, Imran said allegations being levelled against the charity-run Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital by PML-N were only attempts to hide their own corruption.

Article via: tribune