by Waseem Ahmed Shah in Dawn, August 13th, 2022
PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Maulana Abdul Shakoor has warned that people of the erstwhile tribal areas would boycott a polio vaccination campaign if the government and security institutions failed to restore peace.
“We want to make it clear that if the government and security institutions fail to provide us with peace, the people of [formerly] Fata won’t accept the measures being taken by the government, on top of which is polio vaccination,” he said in a widely circulated video on social media.
He said the boycott might be followed by civil disobedience campaign “like the one started by (PTI chief) Imran Khan”.
He said the JUI-F did not favour such protest measures, but people were being compelled to head towards such a situation. He urged the security institutions and the government to restore peace in those areas before things got out of control.
While it could not be confirmed who had filmed the video, the JUI-F’s provincial information secretary Abdul Jalil Jan confirmed to Dawn that Maulana Shakoor was addressing a delegation of party leaders and workers from former tribal areas in Peshawar.
He said it was an internal meeting of the party where the media was not invited, but someone might have uploaded the video on social media.
In the video, the minister also spoke about the recent killing of a JUI-F leader Qari Samiuddin in North Waziristan and last year’s killing of another leader, Maulana Abdul Salam in Bajaur, and asked the participants to stage protests and highlight the killings.
He also asked them to condemn the provincial government and the security institutions “as they have completely failed in maintaining peace”.
The video footage has since drawn criticism on social media.
“Sitting federal minister Mufti Shakoor of JUI-F announces boycott of polio vaccination,” activist Gul Bukhari wrote on Twitter and wondered if such people could remain in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Some of his supporters defended him by uploading one of his previous videos in which he was supporting the polio vaccination campaign in the erstwhile Fata.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1704587/minister-threatens-polio-vaccine-boycott-in-ex-fata-areas
- PAK SCENE – BALOCHISTAN
- PAK SCENE – KPK
- PAK SCENE – PUNJAB
- PAK SCENE – SINDH
- PAK SCENE – PROTESTS/SCAM-TOSHAKHANA CASES
Imran vs Zardari: Tale of two Toshakhana cases
report in The News, Aug 13, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari is being slandered by PTI chief Imran Khan publicly for acquiring vehicles illegally from Toshakhana but documentary evidence says he did not violate any rules. Unlike Imran Khan, who has admitted that he sold gifts received from foreign governments, the PPP supremo continues to retain the items in accordance with the existing Toshakhana rules, which do not allow their sale for profit.
According to the Toshakhana rules, gifts given by foreign states can be ‘retained’ by state officials within four months after they are deposited in the treasure house. The emphasis in various sets of rules that have been enacted so far is that the functionary ‘can retain’ gifts upon payment of a minimum price.
Imran Khan has termed the Toshakhana case part of a larger character assassination campaign against him. But the case against Imran Khan is more substantial; he has violated several rules, according to a recent report in The News.
The report, based on a reference filed against Imran Khan, said he had failed to disclose gifts valued over Rs140 million that he retained in the statement of assets and liabilities. Besides taking many gifts home for free, he is also accused of retaining them at a price far less than what he was actually supposed to pay, according to the Toshakhana rules and law.
It was also alleged in the reference that Imran Khan had made payments for retention of some precious gifts after selling them in the open market. Unlike Imran Khan, former president Asif Ali Zardari acted legally and according to the procedure while retaining vehicles from the Toshakhana, according to a former bureaucrat who is privy to the case. Most importantly, these vehicles are still in the former president’s possession.
Meanwhile, documents provided by a senior Pakistan Peoples Party aide and examined by The News, show that Asif Ali Zardari was gifted vehicles by the heads of the United Arab Emirates and Libya. They were then purchased by Zardari after fulfilling procedural requirements, which included valuation and registration.
The NAB, in its reference filed in March 2020, had named the owners of the Omni Group, as suspects in the case. However, documents provided by the PPP insider show that the group had purchased the cars on Zardari’s behalf and there was no illegal activity. The former president is a sugarcane grower, with large landholding in Sindh, and supplies cane to sugar mills. The vehicles were purchased on Zardari’s behalf by the Omni Group from payables dues for the sugarcane supply.
“The amount deposited on Zardari’s behalf is miniscule compared to the sugarcane supplied by him,” the PPP insider said. “The NAB refused to acknowledge the undeniable relationship of the former president, a seller of sugarcane, and the Omni Group, which purchased it. Even then, the NAB cannot claim the Omni Group had received any benefit in this case, as there was none.”
\https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/981906-imran-vs-zardari-tale-of-two-toshakhana-cases
