Sheikh Rasheed retracts 'blackmail' statement against PML-Q

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Sunday retracted his statement — which was issued in an apparent reference to PML-Q leaders who have reportedly demanded the removal of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar — and clarified that he "did not point out any specific party."

A day ago, Rasheed had said that "I am not like those who have five seats and blackmail the premier to assume the chief minister's office."

In today's statement, the interior minister clarified that when he used the "blackmailing" reference, he did not name PML-Q or the BAP. Rasheed added that Chaudhry Shujaat "is my brother" and prayed for his good health. “I will never speak against him,” Rasheed said.

We are standing with PM Imran Khan like a brick wall, he added and reiterated that the premier will finish his five years in the office.

"After two days, Imran Khan's position will become clearer. Whoever stands with Imran Khan, the nation will respect them," he claimed.

Answering a question related to the no-confidence motion, the interior minister said that the Opposition is doing what they always do.

"I was once a part of the Opposition and we also used to make such futile claims," he said.

When asked about the National Assembly session, Rasheed said that the session has to be convened by the speaker and the decision of the speaker will be legal and constitutional.

"The speaker's decision cannot be challenged in any court. The days from March 22 to 30 are very important," he said.

Yesterday, Rasheed and Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi came face-to-face when Rasheed told journalists in Quetta that he isn't among those allies who "blackmail" Prime Minister Imran Khan for getting the top slot in Punjab.

In response, Elahi had said he respected the interior minister but asked Rasheed not to forget his past.

"Sheikh Rasheed might have forgotten that the leaders of [PML-Q] today are the ones who used to give money to him while he was a student," the federal minister added.

In response to the interior minister's comments, BAP President Jam Kamal Khan had also said: "Balochistan Awami Party takes its own decision, not Sheikh Rasheed."

 

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Sanctions could cause space station to crash: Roscosmos

Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos warned on Saturday, calling for the punitive measures to be lifted.

According to Dmitry Rogozin, the sanctions, some of which predate Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, could disrupt the operation of Russian spacecraft servicing the ISS.

As a result, the Russian segment of the station — which helps correct its orbit — could be affected, causing the 500-tonne structure to “fall down into the sea or onto land”, the Roscosmos chief wrote on Telegram.

“The Russian segment ensures that the station’s orbit is corrected (on average 11 times a year), including to avoid space debris”, said Rogozin, who regularly expresses his support for the Russian army in Ukraine on social networks.

Publishing a map of the locations where the ISS could possibly come down, he pointed out that it was unlikely to be in Russia.

“But the populations of other countries, especially those led by the ‘dogs of war’, should think about the price of the sanctions against Roscosmos”, he continued, describing the countries who imposed sanctions as “crazy”.

Rogozin similarly raised the threat of the space station falling to earth last month while blasting Western sanctions on Twitter.

On March 1, Nasa said it was trying to find a solution to keep the ISS in orbit without Russia’s help. Crews and supplies are transported to the Russian segment by Soyuz spacecraft. But Rogozin said the launcher used for take-off had been “under US sanctions since 2021 and under EU and Canadian sanctions since 2022”.

Roscosmos said it had appealed to Nasa, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, “demanding the lifting of illegal sanctions against our companies”.

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Zaheer Abbas inducted into PCB Hall of Fame

Pakistan batting great Zaheer Abbas was formally inducted into the Pakistan Cricket Boards Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The 74-year-old former batter received his commemorative cap and plaque from PCB chief executive Faisal Has­nain during the lunch break of the second Test between Pakistan and Australia at Karachi’s National Stadium.

Zaheer is the third PCB Hall of Famer after Fazal Mahmood and Wasim Akr­am to be formally inducted, with the remaining five inductions to take place in due course.

Speaking on the occasion, Zaheer said, “I feel humbled to have been recognised in such a respectful and honourable manner by my parent organisation at my home ground, during play of my favo­u­rite format of the game and in front of passionate cricket fans, who have also played an integral part throu­ghout my cricketing career.”

Known as a run-machine, Zaheer has remained the only Asian batter to score a century of first-class hundreds.

In international cricket, Zaheer scored 5,062 runs in 78 Tests at 44.79 with 12 centuries. He struck seven centuries in 62 ODIs while scoring 2,572 runs at 47.62.

Zaheer scored 1,000 or more Tests runs against Aus­t­ralia (1,411 runs in 20 Tests), England (1,086, 14 Tests) and India (1,740, 19 Tests).

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Saudi Arabia puts to death record 81 people in one day

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it executed a record 81 people in one day for a variety of terrorism-related offences, exceeding the total number it sentenced to death last year.

All had been “found guilty of committing multiple heinous crimes”, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, saying they included convicts linked to the Daesh group, or Al Qaeda, Yemen’s Houthi rebel forces or “other terrorist organisations”.

Those executed had been plotting attacks in the kingdom — including killing of a large number of civilians and members of the security forces, the SPA statement read.

“They also include convictions for targeting government personnel and vital economic sites, the killing of law enforcement officers and maiming their bodies, and planting land mines to target police vehicles,” the SPA said.

“The convictions include crimes of kidnapping, torture, rape, smuggling arms and bombs into the kingdom,” it added.

Of the 81 people killed — the kingdom’s highest number of recorded executions in one day — 73 were Saudi citizens, seven were Yemeni and one was a Syrian national.

SPA said all those executed were tried in Saudi courts, with trials overseen by 13 judges, held over three separate stages for each individual.

“The kingdom will continue to take a strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten stability,” the report by SPA added.

The wealthy Gulf country has one of the world’s highest execution rates, and has often carried out death sentences by beheading.

Saudi Arabia has been the target of a series of deadly shootings and bombings since late 2014 carried out by IS fighters.

Saudi Arabia is also leading a military coalition that has been fighting in Yemen since 2015 to support the government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, and who have launched strikes on the kingdom.

Saturday’s announcement of 81 deaths came against the backdrop of a total of 69 executions in all of 2021.

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Ukraine sees change in Moscow’s approach to talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russia had adopted a “fundamentally different approach” in talks to end the conflict, as French and German leaders pressed the Russian president to end the days-long and deadly siege of port city of Mariupol.

In a media briefing, Zelensky said that Russia’s new approach was in contrast to earlier talks at which Moscow only “issued ultimatums”.

He said he was “happy to have a signal from Russia” after President Vladimir Putin said he saw “some positive shifts” in their dialogue.

Putin had earlier indicated that negotiations were “now being held on an almost daily basis”.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have held several rounds of talks since Putin sent in troops to the neighbouring country.

Turkey on Thursday hosted the first talks between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers since the invasion.

The talks have led to the opening of several humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from combat areas. Both sides have accused each other of blocking these efforts.

This, however, did not discourage France and Germany to urge Putin on Saturday to end the brutal siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the French presidency said after three-way talks.

“The situation is very difficult and humanly intolerable” in Mariupol, a source in the Elysee presidential palace said, after what it termed a “very frank and difficult discussion” with the Russian leader.

“The only decision President Putin must take is to lift the siege.” French President Emmanuel Macron’s office also accused Putin of “lies” for alleging that Ukrainian forces had committed human rights abuses by using civilians as human shields.

The 75-minute three-way phone call involving Macron, the Russian leader and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz focussed on France and Germany’s call for an immediate ceasefire and steps towards a diplomatic solution, sources in the French and German leaders’ offices said.

Macron told Putin “the Russian army’s abuses must cease”, the source said, warning that its actions could qualify as war crimes.

They said the two leaders spoke separately before the call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who asked them to call on Putin to halt the fighting.

Russian forces are closing in on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and bombarding several other cities. The offensive has driven millions of Ukrainians from their homes.

The UN said the number of refugees fleeing Ukra­ine since the Russian invasion began was now nearly 2.6 million. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said there were 2,597,543 refugees who had fled Ukraine so far.

The figure was 92,650 higher than the count on Friday. This is the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since World War II, according to UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi. Four million people could leave Ukraine to flee the war, initial UN estimates said, a figure which will likely be revised upwards, according to the UN refugee agency.

Ukraine voiced hope on Saturday for positive results from Israel’s bid to broker peace with Russia, denying a media report that suggested Isra­eli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had tried to nudge Kyiv into caving in to Moscow’s demands. Bennett, acting at Ukraine’s behest, held a three-hour Kremlin meeting with President Putin last Saturday.

He has since spoken twice with Putin by phone and four times with President Zelensky, officials say. “I believe (Bennett) can play an important role, because Israel is a country with a lot of history and parallels (to our situation), as well as having a large migration of Jews from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus,” Zelensky said at the briefing.

Earlier on Saturday, a top Ukrainian adviser denied a news report that had suggested Bennett had urged Ukraine to give in to Russia. Israel… “does NOT offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian Federation”, the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted.

“This is impossible for military & political reasons. On the contrary, Israel urges Russia to assess the events more adequately.”

Russian forces, meanwhile, upped pressure on Kyiv on Saturday, pummelling civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities, amid fresh efforts to get aid to the devastated port city of Mariupol. Russian strikes destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv on Saturday morning, about 40 kilometres south of Kyiv, while an oil depot was also hit and caught fire, the mayor said.

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46 states confirm participation in OIC moot: FM Qureshi

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that foreign ministers of 46 Muslim countries had so far confirmed their participation in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference.

Addressing the media in Multan, the foreign minister, however, said the number of participating states could increase further. “I humbly request the leaders of all opposition parties to cooperate in holding the OIC meeting and do not disturb it,” he said.

He said the opposition parties should cooperate [with the government] in holding of the OIC meeting as it was being held in Pakistan after a long time. “The state of Pakistan is holding the OIC meeting and it was not the government,” the foreign minister emphasized.

Highlighting the significance of the conference, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on March 22 and 23, Mr Qureshi said the meeting was expected to discuss Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine and other international issues including Islamophobia.

Mr Qureshi said Pakistan had issued a balanced statement about the Russia and Ukraine war and they would suggest solving the matter through dialogue.

About the issue of Pakistani students stranded in Ukraine, he said some of them had reached home safely while others who were still trapped there would be transported soon.

He also claimed that a C130 plane would be sent to Ukraine on a humanitarian basis for supply of food and other daily commodities.

Responding to a query regarding the no-confidence move by the opposition against the prime minister, Mr Qureshi believed that no member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would sell its vote and he was confident that they would win the no-confidence motion.

When asked about the latest video statement of PTI MNA Ahmad Hassan Dehar regarding his decision on vote of no confidence, the minister said that they would hold a meeting with the MNA and would address his apprehensions.

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Opposition to submit no-trust motion against NA speaker and his deputy

Enraged with their "biased remarks" about the no-trust motion against PM Imran Khan, the joint Opposition has decided to table no-confidence motions against National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri.

The draft of the no-trust motions against the NA speaker and deputy speaker, signed by over 100 MNAs, has been sent to the Opposition’s leadership, the sources privy to the matter said.

As per the draft of the no-trust move, the NA speaker and his deputy have been accused of being biased. It said that the duo has violated the rules as they have not yet resigned from their party’s posts.

The duo has been running the house as per the directions of their party and instead of remaining neutral, they have been exhibiting a biased attitude against the Opposition, the sources said quoting the draft.

“Asad Qaiser and Qasim Khan Suri have been attending the party meetings held with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair,” it added.

The fate of the duo is expected to be decided in a meeting of the heads of the Opposition parties scheduled for Monday, the sources added.

Opposition slams NA speaker

The joint opposition on Saturday took strong exception to NA Speaker Asad Qaiser’s remarks about the possibility of failure of the no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan.

They had said that the speaker could not make partisan statements, and he exhibited a biased attitude against the Opposition.

PPP Parliamentary leader in Senate Sherry Rehman had said that his act by itself renders himself unfit to preside over any such session, and by saying that the vote of no-confidence was a foreign conspiracy, he was suggesting that the PTI government was only in place due to foreign support.

“Is he a PTI office-bearer or the speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly, where he was supposed to safeguard the integrity of the outcome by remaining neutral,” she had added.

Sherry said by saying that the vote of no-confidence would be defeated, Asad Qaiser betrayed his office, and “in my view, he cannot preside over the House or the process”.

The senator had said the PTI seemed to be operating from a place of deranged paranoia, as they claim that the no-confidence motion was an international conspiracy against the prime minister and his party; the truth is that the government needs a reality check.

“Over the years, the constant contradiction of his own statement has become the prime minister’s international identity, now the incumbent government is pushing the country towards a constitutional crisis and a national security catastrophe,” she had added.

Sherry had said no-trust motion seems to have pushed the entire government over the edge of reason.

“The irony is that that actions of the government in the aftermath of the vote of no-confidence only proves that the PTI is completely incompetent and incapable of governing the country,” she had said.

Former speaker National Assembly and PMLN senior leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had also criticised Asad Qaiser’s statement.

“By giving the statement that no-confidence motion will fail, and terming it an international conspiracy, the speaker has become controversial,” he had said.

Sadiq had asked him to present some evidence before to the nation to prove that the Opposition's motion against PM Imran is a world conspiracy. He had questioned the NA speaker whether inflation, record foreign debt, economic catastrophe, unemployment, budget deficit were all foreign conspiracies.

“His statement is in clear contradiction to the constitutional and parliamentary requirements of the Speaker's Office,” he had added.

He had said if Asad Qaiser was so sure that the no-confidence motion would fail, he should immediately convene the NA session.

PPP senior leader Naveed Qamar had said “Speaker's clear inclination towards the government is a matter of concern.” He had said Asad Qaiser had made himself controversial by issuing such a statement.

"Important sessions of the National Assembly should be chaired in an impartial manner," urged Qamar.

 

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