Category: 1. Pakistan

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday dismissed rumours regarding President Asif Ali Zardari’s removal from the office and the enactment of 27th constitutional amendment as social media speculations.

He was addressing the media during his visit to Sindh’s Rohri city on the eve of Ashura.

A journalist sought his comments on reports suggesting President Zardari was being removed from office and that another constitutional amendment was is in the offing.

Denying the speculations, Naqvi advised against paying heed to the social media reports.

He also asked the media to refrain from political speculation for at least two days in respect for Ashura days.

“Some people are bothered as for the first time, politicians, government, and military establishment are on the same page. Those elements are spreading misleading narratives,” he said.

His statement came after the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) obtained a simple majority in the National Assembly after the reinstatement of reserved seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan following the top court’s Constitutional Bench verdict.

It also handed the ruling alliance a two-thirds majority in the lower house, as its strength rose from 218 to 235 members.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar also said today that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would remain a key ally of the PML-N despite the latter securing a simple majority in the National Assembly as a result of the reserved seats ruling.

“PPP is and will remain our coalition partner,” said the deputy prime minister, recalling that without the PPP’s support, it would not have been possible to form a government following the 2024 general elections.

Talking to journalists at Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, Dar said that the Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led party stood by the government during difficult times and the Nawaz Sharif-led party would not abandon it in the times of stability.

To a question, he replied that the coalition partner has not demanded any ministerial portfolios from the PML-N.

Rescue teams pulled more bodies from the rubble of a five-storey building collapse in Karachi overnight, taking the toll on Saturday to 16 as the recovery operation continued for a second day,

The five-storey building on Fida Husain Shaikha Road in Lea Market had already been declared uninhabitable by authorities due to its dilapidated structure, which was further weakened by recent rains, said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Syed Asad Raza.

According to data from the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute Of Trauma (SMBBIT) at Civil Hospital Karachi, seen by Dawn.com, 15 bodies were brought to the hospital while one person died during treatment.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said there were nine wounded people since yesterday, out of whom six had been discharged and one had serious injuries.

“Rescue operation is still underway in Baghdadi, Lyari where the building had collapsed on Friday,” DIG Raza told Dawn.com.

Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and the use of shoddy construction materials.

Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding and lax enforcement of building regulations.

There were conflicting reports of the death toll, with Rescue 1122 stating it as 16 and DIG Raza saying that a 17th body was recovered from the rubble.

“On one side, debris has been removed up to the ground floor, while on the other side, the rescue team has removed debris up to the third floor,” the police officer added.

The deceased included nine men, six women and a child, according to a statement by Rescue 1122. Their bodies had been taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK).

“My daughter is under the rubble,” 54-year-old Dev Raj told AFP at the scene.

“She was my beloved daughter. She was so sensitive but is under the burden of debris. She got married just six months ago.”

Rescue teams worked throughout the night, and families said that at least eight people were still believed to be trapped as temperatures climbed to 33 degrees Celsius in the morning.

Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh, leading the Rescue 1122 efforts at the scene, told AFP that the operation continued through the night “without interruption”. “It may take eight to 12 hours more to complete,” he said earlier today.

Up to 100 people had been living in the building, senior police officer Arif Aziz told AFP.

The incident came days after a portion of a building collapsed in the city’s Kharadar area. However, no casualties or injuries were reported.

The Public Account Committee of the Sindh Assembly had directed the provincial government in December to take urgent steps to evacuate over 570 buildings declared “dangerous” by authorities across Karachi.

The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) said it had declared the plot as dangerous through its Technical Committee for Dangerous Buildings after a thorough inspection conducted in October 2022.

The authority said it had issued three ejectment notices to the residents since then, as well as asked K-Electric, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) to disconnect utility services.

But Imran Khaskheli, an owner and resident watching the rescue operation on Saturday, denied receiving notices.

“Do you think we are out of our senses to stay in an unsafe building with our families?” he said, speaking to AFP. He said he had seen cracks in the pillars of the building early on Friday morning.

“I knocked on all the doors and asked families to leave immediately,” Khaskheli said, adding that around 40 families lived in the building but that many did not heed his warning.

More than 50 buildings in the district have been declared unsafe, with six evacuated since yesterday, Karachi (South) Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso told AFP.

‘Hinderances’ in rescue efforts

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan said the incident had reportedly occurred between 9am and 9:30am. However, they said they received the information late due to the suspension of communication networks, he added.

Mobile services are usually suspended in certain areas due to security concerns during Muharram.

Sindh Rescue 1122 Director General (DG) Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh, in a statement, said yesterday there were hindrances during the rescue operation due to the “unruly crowd, various road blockades and mobile network [issues]”.

Heavy machinery faced difficulty in reaching the site amid the narrow alleys of Lyari, a low-income neighbourhood.

Police even had to baton-charge a crowd that had gathered around the site to make way for machinery, officials added.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah sought a report on the collapse and details of dilapidated buildings from the SBCA.

Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said a high-level committee has been formed that will submit a report on the incident by Monday. He lamented that residents did not evacuate the building despite being served notices previously.

The minister also ordered the suspension of the related officials at the SBCA.

‘Sindh government answerable for last 17 years’

Sindh Assembly opposition leader and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MPA Ali Khurshidi blamed the Sindh government for Karachi’s administrative collapse and the Lyari building tragedy.

“Call the tanker mafia and you’ll get water in 30 minutes,” he said during a press conference, pointing out rampant corruption and institutional failure across civic bodies.

Khurshidi said if the provincial administration was to blame and held responsible if it had not passed laws in 17 years to make this a criminal offence.

“Instead of saying ‘this should be done,’ you should be admitting, ‘we should’ve done this, but we failed to.’”

Addressing President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, he said: “This is a question of your and your party’s credibility.”

He said the suspensions of officials would not work, insisting that termination and legal consequences were necessary. He condemned the “harassment” of Karachiites through traffic police extortion, pleading for urgent administrative reform, saying the public was fed up.

“This isn’t about point-scoring politics,” Khurshidi said. “We’re doing politics so we can solve genuine issues faced by people.” He concluded by calling on President Zardari and Bilawal to stop issuing mere condemnations and to instead fix the broken system under their party’s governance.

Previous deadly building collapses

In April, a 10-year-old girl died when a three-storey building in Bhains Colony suddenly collapsed, while a man and a woman were pulled alive from the debris.

In October 2023, five people were killed and four others injured when an under-construction building collapsed in Shah Faisal Colony.

The city witnessed two such incidents within 72 hours in September 2020, claiming the lives of at least three people and injuring over a dozen.

Lyari also faced a similar incident in June 2020, when 22 people were killed after a five-storey residential building housing about 40 apartments collapsed.

A building collapse in Karachi’s Gulbahar area in March 2020 killed 27 people. A similar 2011 incident in Lyari’s Musa Lane neighbourhood took 33 lives.

• Ishaq Dar says PPP is and will remain coalition partner.
• Adds forming govt won’t be possible without PPP.
• Ruling PML-N got simple majority after getting reserved seats.

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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said on Saturday that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would remain a key ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) despite the latter securing a simple majority in the National Assembly as a result of the reserved seats ruling.

“PPP is and will remain our coalition partner,” said the deputy prime minister, recalling that without the PPP’s support, it would not have been possible to form a government following the 2024 general elections.

Talking to journalists at Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, Dar said that the Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led party stood by the government during difficult times and the Nawaz Sharif-led party would not abandon it in the times of stability.

Responding to the reports that PML-N President Nawaz Sharif wanted to meet his chief political rival PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala jail, Dar dismissed the claims as “wish list”.

“These are all speculations. It must be someone’s wish list, as we don’t need to meet anyone. The law will take its own course. Such sponsored news is spread deliberately,” he added.

However, the deputy prime minister said the ruling party was willing to work with all political parties, whether they are part of the government or the opposition.

To a question, he replied that the coalition partner has not demanded any ministerial portfolios from the PML-N.

His statement came after the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification of reserved seats handed the ruling alliance a two-thirds majority in the lower house, as its strength rose from 218 to 235 members.

The ECP notification came in line with the top court’s Constitutional Bench ruled that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was not entitled to seats reserved for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies, providing a lion’s share of the reserved seats to the ruling coalition.

Earlier this week, PML-N senior leader and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said it is entirely up to the PPP whether to join the current government or not.

Speaking on Geo News programme “Capital Talk”, he described the previous PDM government’s past working relationship with PPP as “a good experience”.

In a separate statement, Asif told Geo News that cooperation between the two major political parties could be fruitful for advancing the country’s national agenda.

“I have been in politics for a considerable amount of time. The chances have increased substantially that if there’s an arrangement between both parties in which we can work for our national agenda, then it would be something good, and I would appreciate that,” he added.

While noting that he could not provide a roadmap or confirm the details of any current negotiations, the senior PML-N leader said his comments were based on political experience rather than insider knowledge.

Credits military success, national unity, and diplomacy for Pakistan’s standing on the global stage

Updated On: Sat, 05 Jul 2025

17:38:57 PKT

LAHORE (Dunya News) – Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar stated that on May 9 and 10, Pakistan taught India a lesson it will never forget.

Speaking to the media outside Data Darbar in Lahore, he said that Pakistan emerged successful against Indian aggression and the global community recognised Pakistan’s role.

Dar expressed gratitude to God for Pakistan’s success, saying that Pakistan defeated a much larger adversary. “We downed six Indian fighter jets during the conflict. God granted Pakistan both respect and victory. The civil and military leadership defended the country with great success,” he said.

Refuting rumours about a meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, Dar said, “These are mere speculations and not based on facts. Any reports of Nawaz visiting Adiala Jail are purely speculative.”

He added, “When India attacked, we reached out to all political parties. The world heard our united voice. We are ready to work with political parties, and legal accountability will follow if anyone violated the law in the past.”

Praising the armed forces, he said: “We are proud of our military. Pakistan currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council. We condemned Israeli aggression against Iran. The Iranians—our Muslim brothers—expressed deep gratitude to Pakistan. We aim for peace and prosperity in this region.”

He emphasised that Pakistan is now on a path of development. “Inflation is decreasing, prosperity is returning, and employment opportunities will rise. In 2022, the country was in deep crisis, and without a change in leadership, we could have defaulted. We bore political losses to put the country first.”

Dar added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is working tirelessly to ensure the country’s progress.

“The economy is stabilising, and we are proud of our armed forces, who are bravely fighting terrorism. Our soldiers are sending extremists to hell.”

He concluded by saying, “Iran has realised that Pakistan is its true friend. Iranian parliament chanted ‘Thank You Pakistan’ slogans, and Pakistani flags were seen at the funerals of Iranian martyrs.”