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Business Recorder
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- Politics
- Business Recorder
Probe into all national tragedies: PTI reiterates its demand for an ‘empowered' JC
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has reiterated its demand for an empowered judicial commission to probe all national tragedies since the country's inception, including the May 9 incidents and the November 26 bloodbath, so as to bring the culprits to justice. PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, in a strongly worded statement, on Sunday, stated that the matter of a so-called 'sincere apology' was part of a private discussion with a journalist, reiterating that the party and its leadership have consistently demanded an impartial probe into the matter to bring the actual orchestrators and beneficiaries of the false flag operation to justice. Waqas stated that the matter was deliberately brushed under the carpet, while PTI leaders and workers have been unjustly thrown into jails for the past two years. He said that the so-called issue of apology was being deliberately recycled in the media to distract the nation from the grave crises it faces today and to protect those who looted Pakistan's wealth, trampled the Constitution, and brought the country to its knees. Waqas asserted that the country's current crises stem from decades of unchecked power abuses, political manipulation, and institutional overreach. He emphasized that sycophants and enablers who glorified unconstitutional acts were equally responsible for Pakistan's downfall. 'PTI demanded for an empowered judicial commission, comprising judges of unquestionable integrity, to probe all national tragedies — from the Fall of Dhaka to the May 9 incidents, the February 8 daylight poll robbery, the November 26 bloodbath, desecration of the four walls and Parliament House, humiliation of women, and the unlawful detention of political workers and leaders in fabricated, concocted, and politically motivated cases driven by vendetta,' he said. He stressed that every individual guilty of these grave crimes against the nation must be brought to justice without exception, regardless of rank, office, or influence. He stated that the unlawfully incarcerated PTI Patron-in-chief was the only leader with a vision, unimpeachable integrity and a clear road-map to rescue Pakistan from the abyss created by decades of corruption, constitutional violations and misrule. He categorically stated that PTI founder was the sole hope for Pakistan's salvation, capable of liberating the nation from the clutches of a corrupt, self-serving mafia gripped by Imran-phobia, terrified that his release would render them politically orphaned. Therefore, Waqas stated that the nation demanded the earliest release of Imran Khan from the unlawful incarceration so as to pull the country out of the current crises. He emphasized that PTI believes in meaningful political dialogue and a negotiated settlement of national issues, and is even ready for a new social contract. However, he made it clear that this is only possible if the supremacy of the Constitution is unconditionally acknowledged, judicial independence genuinely respected, and the rule of law strictly upheld. He warned that Pakistan cannot progress unless all state institutions are compelled to operate strictly within their constitutionally defined limits, instead of overstepping their mandate — a vision clearly laid down by the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The PTI Central Information Secretary (CIS) stated that PTI had shown magnanimity and sought forgiveness from the nation over the extension issue. He demanded that other political parties and power-wielders should also muster the courage to seek a public apology for their grave blunders of the past, which pushed the country to the brink of collapse. He stated that the nation had been deceived for decades with hollow slogans and flowery promises of economic revival by unelected regimes, but each time they only brought disasters. He pointed out that massive corruption scandals, including the wheat and sugar crises, went unpunished, while the country's reserves were artificially propped up through temporary loans from friendly nations instead of genuine economic growth. He lamented that Balochistan had been turned into a no-go area, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been plunged into lawlessness, and Punjab and Sindh were left at the mercy of powerful kacha gangs who now rule the roost with impunity. PTI CIS warned that Pakistan would remain trapped in a vicious cycle unless it breaks free from the culture of unnecessary extensions, favouritism, and sidelining of competent officers, as such practices breed unrest, stifle leadership growth, and send a damaging message that the country lacks capable individuals to run its affairs. He said the path to political stability and national unity lies not in forcing Khan into submission, but in holding accountable those who have suffocated democracy, undermined institutions and trampled on people's mandate. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Time of India
21-04-2025
- Time of India
A flight to Bidar- My mother's fancy
Shazman is a freelance writer, living in Bangalore. She has worked as a feature writer for "Dawn" Pakistan, where she used to live before getting married to an Indian. Currently contributes blogs to "mycity4kids". She is deeply inclined towards issues, related to social and cultural interests. She finds India an appealing place to live in and feels intrigued by the diversity in its culture. LESS ... MORE Parkinson's robbed my mother of her mobility and cruelly ransacked her memory, a treasury where things more precious than gold were stored. However, some racial memory deep within, wrapped in strong sentiments and guarded by poignant emotions, remained untouched by the vagaries of old age and the compounding complications- Bidar, her place of birth, refused to dim out its sparkle and solaced her, made her happy with its fond memories. A couple of weeks before her demise in Karachi, she woke me up past midnight and said in a fervid voice, ' Let's pack our things, we have to go to Bidar. ' She sounded like a soldier who had received the marching orders; or perhaps like a weary traveller done with changing abodes and just hoped to return home for peace and comfort. I feel the words were premonitory – her demise ended the long journey which she had embarked upon by first leaving Bidar as a young girl to settle in Hyderabad, and post partition the tumultuous transition took her away from Hyderabad to East Pakistan and after the Fall of Dhaka in 1971 she finally settled in Karachi. Both my parents left India but carried it in their hearts till the end. A lot of conversations involving my baba's childhood and teenage years centred around Bangalore, his ancestral place. His fascination for its drizzly damp weather and soothing greenery; his admiration for this land of the red soil was like the long lasting sweet sandalwood fragrance which enveloped him throughout his lifetime. From my ammi's side of ancestry, we got linked to Bidar, which she ardently mentioned in the anecdotes from her childhood. Along with that she regaled us with stories about the Nizam of Hyderabad and her college life as she had relocated to the City of Pearls sometime in 1950s for higher education from Osmania University. Having spent the prime years there, she developed a strong affiliation with the local customs, language, cuisine and lifestyle and naturally the Hyderabadi culture dominated and shaped her personality. Her deep connection with Bidar, and strong association with Hyderabad is such a hybridized actuality just like my own bi-nation-Indo-Pak identity, that regionalizing her origin to either of places would be difficult; it would not be wrong to say Bidar birthed her and Hyderabad parented her. She reminisced about the time spent in Bidar but unfortunately nothing was documented – the names of people or places or the chronological order of the events. All I know is a sketchy ground plan of the house she lived in which had guava trees in the four corners; it had a room in the courtyard reserved for stocking mangoes and grains, and they had a white horse carriage. Their neighbouring houses belonged to close relatives and were all inter connected so they could breeze past in any house at any time of the day. The sighs which punctuated ammi's narrations, the regretful tone with which she recalled her parents' house, was an expression of lament- the lament of leaving behind the riches, never to be regained. The hard prodding of late reawakening made me find out more about my maternal family history. Funnily enough, the most interesting part of my discussions, once I started speaking to the old relatives, was this quip, 'Have you got some information about the lost properties?' Maybe the kind of intense questioning I had launched prompted this query. My high spirit of inquiry, to find the missing chunks of information and open the avenues leading to a grand past reduced to shambles in the aftermath of the partition, soon lost steam. The top tier which witnessed this grueling transition is no longer around and the surviving members' recollections are hazed with the passage of time. A dear uncle informed me, and ammi too often mentioned that our grandfather owned a farmland and cattle near Nyalkal, a village some miles away from Bidar and had built a house in 'Maniyar Taleem'. The mango grove, which earned the moniker 'Sherbat Bagh' was her family property in an area named 'Kal Mein Mul' (Google couldn't furnish any information about this place). A maternal relative, as interested as I am in unearthing the family history, who recently visited Bidar too , provided bits of valuable information and asserted that our maternal lineage traces its origin to Mamud Gawan, the chief minister under the Bahmani Rule. It is a name that some family members too recall and to believe that there was indeed a connection makes one thrilled but in the absence of any solid evidence, it sounds like an attempt at self glorification. Sparse specks of information, missing records and fragmentary facts were reasons strong enough for me to abandon the enthusiastic plan of making a family tree. My mother was proud of her splendid background, and she also understandingly accepted the fact that it was long gone. To see how the dust had settled on her rich past and how time had razed to the ground the vibrant vision she had carried in her mind for decades, she once visited Bidar, around twenty six years ago – her last visit to the hometown. It was like a leaf from a coming-of-age novel when she walked in the streets where once stood her house close to the government hospital, a stone's throw from the Bidar Fort. Nothing was the same – the only landmark indicating she was at the right layout was an old rusty water pump; the entire landscape looked completely unrecognizable. Ammi's Bidar is gone with her. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
