Nawaz demands NAB probe into Dubai property owned by Aleema Khan

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday raised questions over a Dubai property owned by Prime Minister Imran Khan's sister, Aleema Khan, and demanded the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe into her sources for purchasing the property.

In his informal conversation with journalists during his appearance before an accountability court, the former premier said the NAB does hold investigations against members of his party, adding that the anti-corruption watchdog should also find out how the prime minister's sister purchased the property.

This month, Aleema Khan deposited half the total cost of her previously undeclared Dubai property with tax authorities as penalty.

Aleema paid 25 per cent of the total estimated amount of her luxurious flat, "The Lofts East-1406", in taxes and 25 per cent fine charges, officials had said. The prime minister's sister was slapped with a double penalty (taxes and fine) because she did not disclose the said property worth around Rs74 million.

The said luxurious flat was located in the heart of Dubai, adjacent to Burj Khalifa, the most expensive area in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), added the officials.

"Wherefrom did Aleema Khan get property worth billions in Dubai," Nawaz questioned, adding that Aleema Khan does not even have any sources of income.

He said the prime minister's sister paid fine for hiding property, questioning, "Isn't it an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance)?"

Noting that Aleema is also a board member of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH), the former premier asked what is the money trail of her property.

He said the nation wants to know who is behind Aleema Khan's property.

Nawaz said they saved Rs160 billion in power projects, behind which was tireless efforts of the then Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.

"But Shehbaz Sharif was thrown in jail instead of commending him," he lamented.

The former premier further said the Lahore-Multan Motorway project has been completed, but it is not being operationalised.

"Name the project PTI Motorway, but at least open it," he urged, saying the government is not ready to operationalise projects initiated by them.

Nawaz further regretted his incarceration despite having done much for the country.

"We made JF-17 fighter jet in collaboration with China. Is it reward for that we are made to face prisons?" he asked.

"Thinking about this hurts. Then you say I do not speak up," the former premier told reporters.

He said people accuse him of making a 'compromise' if he does not speak up, questioning, "Can an individual, returning from London after being sentenced, go for an NRO?

"You can neither write nor publish whatever I would say," Nawaz told the newsmen.

Indonesia's Lion Air must improve safety culture: crash report

Lion Air must improve its safety culture and better document repair work on its planes, Indonesian authorities said Wednesday, in preliminary findings into last month´s crash that killed all 189 people on board.

The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, slamming into the Java Sea moments after it had asked to return to the capital.

The transport safety agency did not pinpoint a definitive cause of the accident, with a final crash report not likely to be filed until next year.

But its investigators said that Lion Air kept putting the plane back into service despite repeatedly failing to fix a problem with the airspeed indicator in the days leading up to the fatal flight.

The report also suggested the pilots struggled with the plane´s anti-stall system as they radioed in a request to return to Jakarta´s main airport.

The findings will heighten concerns there were problems with key systems in one of the world´s newest and most advanced commercial passenger planes.

Investigators have previously said the doomed aircraft had problems with its airspeed indicator and angle of attack (AOA) sensors, prompting Boeing to issue a special bulletin telling operators what to do when they face the same situation.

An AOA sensor provides data about the angle at which air is passing over the wings and tells pilots how much lift a plane is getting. The information can be critical in preventing an aircraft from stalling.

Dubious record 

The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee has retrieved one of the plane´s black boxes — the flight data recorder — but is yet to locate the cockpit voice recorder.

Black box data showed the plane had an airspeed indicator issue on multiple earlier flights, investigators said.

Lion must take steps "to improve the safety culture and to enable the pilot to make (a) proper decision to continue the flight," the safety agency said, adding that the carrier must ensure "all the operation documents are properly filled and documented".

Despite a dubious safety record and an avalanche of complaints over shoddy service, the budget carrier´s parent Lion Air Group, which also operates Batik Air and Wings Air, has captured half the domestic market in less than 20 years of operation to become Southeast Asia´s biggest airline.

Indonesia´s aviation safety record has improved since its airlines, including national carrier Garuda, were subject to years-long bans from US and European airspace for safety violations, although the country has still recorded 40 fatal accidents over the past 15 years.

But Boeing has also come under fire for possible glitches on the 737 MAX -- which entered service just last year.

The APA, a US airline pilots union, said that carriers and pilots had not been informed by Boeing of certain changes in the aircraft control system installed on the new MAX variants of the 737.

"I am really surprised if Boeing has not shared all the flight performance parameters with pilots, unions, and training organisations," University of Leeds aviation expert Stephen Wright told AFP before the report was released.

"I cannot forsee why a manufacturer would not incorporate potential known problems into their mandatory training programs," he said, adding that "a deliberate omission would have serious legal ramifications"

Several relatives of the crash victims have already filed lawsuits against Boeing, including the family of a young doctor who was to have married his high school sweetheart this month.

Lion Air Flight JT610 plunged into the sea less than half an hour after taking off on a routine flight to Pangkal Pinang city.

Authorities have called off the grim task of identifying victims of the crash, with 125 passengers officially recognised after testing on human remains that filled some 200 body bags.

Bangladesh attorney general says jailed leader Khaleda cannot contest election

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s jailed opposition leader Khaleda Zia cannot run for office in next month’s election, the country’s top law officer said on Wednesday, increasing the uncertainty over the party’s prime ministerial candidate.

Khaleda, who has twice been the country’s prime minister and shares a long-standing rivalry with the current leader Sheikh Hasina, was jailed in February after being convicted for misappropriation of funds for an orphanage.

She denies the allegations and says it is aimed at keeping her away from politics.

Her ability to contest the polls has been in doubt since her incarceration but colleagues in her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have said they were hoping she would be released ahead of the elections.

With weeks to go for the Dec. 30 polls though, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said on Wednesday that, according to the law, even if Khaleda was released from jail, she would not be allowed to contest the polls.

His comments came a day after the Bangladesh high court ruled against petitions filed by five BNP members convicted of corruption who sought a stay on their sentences to stand in the election, Alam said.

One of the petitioners appealed that ruling at the Supreme Court, which has refused to intervene.

“So (Khaleda’s) case cannot be considered any differently,” Alam said.

The BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam condemned the high court ruling in comments to local media, saying it was aimed at preventing Khaleda from taking part in the election.

The party plans to appeal the high court order at the Supreme Court, its lawyer Khandaker Mahmud Hossain said, adding that it continued to work on securing bail for Khaleda.

Hasina is widely expected to win the election, although analysts say the formation of a joint opposition alliance has meant the race would be more competitive.

The BNP has been in disarray since Khaleda was jailed and scores of its members have been detained and some convicted in recent months on charges it terms as fictitious.

If Khaleda is barred from running, it would be the first time the BNP will go to polls without her at the helm, Islam told reporters earlier in the week, breaking down in tears.

The BNP forged an alliance with three smaller parties last month, seeking to unseat Hasina from her decade-long reign.

But the opposition still does not have a clear prime ministerial candidate, and the alliance leader Kamal Hossain has said he is not seeking a ministerial post.

A decision on who should be prime minister will be taken after the opposition alliance wins, Islam told Reuters last week, adding the coalition had “several eligible candidates”.

Opening Kartarpur does not imply outset of bilateral talks with Pakistan: Indian minister

As an Indian delegation is currently in Pakistan, attending the ground-breaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor, Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj announced Wednesday that India will not partake in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) conference if it is held in Pakistan.

Brushing off all chances of improvement in ties between the arch-rivals, Indian minister categorically said, “Until and unless Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in Saarc [conference].”

The unprecedented event of Kartarpur border opening can be termed as another achievement of Pakistan on diplomatic and moral grounds against India, which has continued its hostility with Sushma Swaraj declaring that “opening of Kartarpur corridor does not imply beginning of any bilateral dialogue with Pakistan.”

While talking to journalists in Indian Hyderabad, the Indian foreign minister further claimed that “India had been asking for many years to open Kartarpur corridor but Pakistan gave a positive response just now.”

The Indian official, nevertheless, did not mention the period of time when her country put up this suggestion.

Swaraj on November 23 excused herself from attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Border, without giving any specific reason.

In a series of tweets, Sushma Swaraj, thanked her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi for inviting her to attend the ceremony, but she said she was unable to travel to Kartarpur border on the scheduled date.

In a historical event today, Prime Minister Imran Khan has laid the foundation stone of Kartarpur Corridor which will link Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan with India’s Gurdaspur district.

PM’s Office receives over 100,000 complaints through mobile app

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister’s special assistant Iftikhar Durrani on Thursday said more than 100,000 complaints have been received by the PM’s Office through a mobile app, Citizen’s Portal.

Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said around 84,000 complaints were yet to be addressed, while around 16,000 had been resolved.

Mr Durrani said most of the complaints received through the app were about municipal services. Out of 16,770 complaints resolved so far, 6,303 were about the energy sector, he added.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had launched the mobile app to allow the public to voice their grievances.

The PM’s aide said more than 12,000 complaints related to the education sector, while complaints regarding land revenue, law and order, health and other departments had also been received.

More than 4,000 complaints were received from overseas Pakistanis; he said and added so far no complaint with regard to corruption has been received by the PM House.

He said over 21,000 people gave suggestions about the mobile app. He said that the app was downloaded 454,000 times in just 24 days and those who downloaded the app included 54 percent men and 6 percent women.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had launched a public complaint cell, Pakistan Citizens’ Portal, to hear and address people’s problems.

The portal has been set up at the Prime Minister’s Office with an aim to timely address complaints of the people and get their feedback.

Mega cage fishing projects on the cards, says minister

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Korea in Pakistan Kwak Sung-Kyu along with the Korean Economic Counselor called on Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan here in Islamabad today.

The meeting basically focused on agro-cooperation between the two friendly nations, according to a statement.

The minister was apprised that in the first week of December 2018 a delegation of Korean agricultural experts is visiting Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) to monitor the research facilities and identify the areas where the mutual cooperation could be extended in the field of research.

Pakistan has backed and supported the establishment of World Fisheries University (WFU) in Korea as an international forum.

Mehboob Sultan said that MoU in the field of agriculture with the Republic of Korea will formally be signed and it will include wider areas of cooperation.

“We need a close partner in the region and Korea equipped with modern agro technology could be very viable choice when it comes to small agro machinery as there is at least 50,000 tractors shortage and also in the field of seed/cage fishing, rice improvement, integrated pest management and animal sciences sector,” he said.

The federal minister further was of the view that Korea is getting small amount of food items from Pakistan especially mango, rice, kinnow and dates but the scope needs to be widened and in this regard Korean experts could provide assistance by way of modern technologies, and assist for value addition in vegetables, fruit and dairy products.

He further said that a mega cage fishing project is likely to be announced soon in all four provinces which will promote cage fishing culture and will also identify the potential to augment the production of cold water fish in KPK and Gilgit Baltistan as Pakistan is targeting to increase its fisheries exports from $40 million to $1 billion.

He said since Korea is expert in deep sea fisheries and cage fishing, Pakistan could seek assistance in the sector from Korea.

Korean Ambassador Sung-kyu told the minister that the Republic of Korea could facilitate Pakistan in cage fishing by providing cage material, seed fish, storage, transportation facility according to international standards.

He further said that Korea is looking forward to train Pakistan Fisheries experts/scientists through trainings and thereby equip them with technologies which would be internationally viable.

Once feted, Saudi crown prince faces cold shoulder abroad

RIYADH: Once feted on the world stage, Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince faces the cold shoulder abroad as he struggles to shrug off the lingering stigma of a critical journalist’s murder.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been on an Arab tour before he attends the Group of 20 summit in Argentina on Friday, where he faces world leaders who have strongly condemned Jamal Khashoggi’s killing last month in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

The country’s de facto ruler has brushed aside the international pressure, attempting to use the overseas visits — followed by a whirlwind domestic tour –- to shore up his tarnished reputation and reinforce relationships with allies.

“The question is who among global leaders will agree to stand with him publicly,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The prince faces the grim prospect of being treated as an “outcast” by some leaders at the two-day G-20 summit, said Bessma Momani, a professor at Canada’s University of Waterloo.

“Group photos may be unavoidable, but liberal democratic leaders from countries such as Germany and Canada will not want to be seen shaking his hand,” Momani said.

Former Spanish King Juan Carlos faced scathing domestic criticism over his handshake with the prince in Abu Dhabi, his first stop in a regional tour which also included close allies Bahrain and Egypt as well as Tunisia.

An image of the laughter-filled encounter at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last Sunday was dubbed by a conservative Spanish daily as “the photo of shame”.

But the 33-year-old prince, widely known as MBS, used the regional tour as something of a victory lap after US President Donald Trump — who has praised Saudi Arabia as a “truly spectacular ally” — threw his weight behind him.

Trump’s emphatic support came despite the Central Intelligence Agency’s reported assessment that the prince –- who controls all major levers of power in the Saudi government — was behind the killing.

“It should come as no surprise that allies like Trump, China’s Xi (Jinping) and Russia’s (Vladimir) Putin will have no qualms in signalling that they are absolutely fine to continue doing business with MBS,” said Momani.

Frosty reception

But some officials in the prince’s entourage are bracing for a frosty reception at the G-20 summit.

Ahead of the prince’s visit, Human Rights Watch urged Argentine prosecutors to consider bringing criminal charges against Prince Mohammed over alleged war crimes in a brutal Saudi-led war in Yemen and his possible complicity in Khashoggi’s murder.

It was unclear whether Argentine prosecutors would act on the request.

Trump also faces growing pressure from US lawmakers, some of whom are demanding a probe into his financial ties to determine whether the president has any vested interest in backing the kingdom.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Pentagon chief Jim Mattis were to brief American senators Wednesday on Saudi Arabia amid mounting bipartisan concern about the kingdom.

The prince’s supporters fear that world leaders could leverage his weakened international position to gain concessions from the kingdom, as it struggles with a slump in oil prices.

The prince is expected to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has kept international pressure mounting on the kingdom by saying the orders for Khashoggi’s killing came from “the highest levels” of the Saudi government.

“In the event Erdogan meets with MBS on the sidelines of G-20, it will be indicative that some sort of a deal has been reached, which could include Gulf reconciliation and concrete steps on how to wind down the war in Yemen,” said Sigurd Neubauer, a Middle East analyst based in Washington.

‘He’s here to stay’

In a foretaste of expected acrimony at G-20, the prince faced hundreds of protesters Tuesday during a brief stopover in Tunisia, with many shouting “Go away assassin!” and some clutching red-stained chain saws -– a reference to Khashoggi’s gruesome murder.

The hostility stands in stark contrast to the prince’s month-long tour of the United States earlier this year, where he received something of a rockstar reception and hobnobbed with business titans such as Disney chief Bob Iger and Apple’s Tim Cook.

In PR-slicked campaigns, the crown prince had marketed himself as a liberaliser seeking to remake his state, while amassing power to a degree unseen by previous rulers.

The global fallout over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the prince, appears to have torpedoed that effort.

But it has not so far has threatened to unseat the prince amid his tightening grip on military and security agencies and a ruthless crackdown on political rivals.

The prince’s supporters say the fact that he stepped out of the kingdom amid a crisis is an indication that he is firmly in control.

“The prince is trying to show his domestic and international audience that he’s leaving the palace and confident he’ll return to control it,” said Momani.

Contest election in punjab PM khan tells sidhu Indian Media News

YANGON ,Myanmar: Nearly 100 Rohingya Muslaims were forced back to Myanmar;s Rakhine state after being detained at sea en route to malaysia,police said wednesday, stirring fears of a fredh refugee beat crisis.

Three vessels carrying fleeing Rohingya have now been seized two weeks,as the monsoon season gives way to more favourable,if still treacherous, sailing conditions.

All on board the third boat were being returned to camps around the capital sittwe more than 120,000 people have been confined since intercommunal violence in 2012.

A photo in local media showed the group huddled on the deck in the baking sun,a scene reminiscent of the boat crisis in 2015 that saw countless Rohingya abandoned by smugglers in the Andaman sea after authorities shut down trafficking routes.

They were headed for malaysia when stopped by navy officers on sunday night off the southern town of dawei police major min lwin told AFP.

They were all sent back to sittwe on a navy boat last night,"he said, adding that the group, two thirds of whom were under the age of 18, would arrive on thursday e state or friday.

the plight of Rohingya Muslaims languishing in the central part of the state has been overshadowed by last years mass exodus of more than 720,000 Rohingya from northern Rakhine.

Those refugees fled over the border into Bangladesh to escape a brutal military crackdown.

UN investigators want Myanmar's top generals to be prosecuted for genocide over the crackdown but 

Myanmar says it was defending itself against Rohingya militants.

Around 10 boats,carrying a total of several hundred people,have left the camps in central Arakan project director chris Lewa, whose group monitors abuses against the Rohingya.

"i'm worried about Bangladesh. The border guards say they won't let people leave but if people do then the numbers would be much bigger," she said.

Desperation in the refugee camps across the border is also growing.

A repatriation deal has stalled, with Rohingya refusing to go home until their safety and right are secured.

The stateless minority are denied citizenship in Myanmar and face severe restrictions on movement as wellas a lack of access to work health care and schools in what amnesty international says amounts to apartheid.

one camp leader told AFP under the condition of anonymity that they try to leaving by boat but many are simply too desperate to listen.

"we are losing hope,"he said."Nothing has changed in the last six years."