Taking a dig at Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Friday that it was a “miracle” that even a person like him had the audacity to speak on corruption.

“He [Zardari] is the worst disease and robber in Pakistan. He and his sister [Faryal Talpur] have served me with defamation notices because I don’t respect them,” he told the participants of a PTI rally in Peshawar.

“But I will continue to speak the truth. I will go to Sindh to free its people from the chains of fear and the PTI will form the next government in the province,” he added.

Beware of politicians like Imran and Sharif, Zardari tells K-P people

Khan said Pakistanis had to go to other countries to find jobs because $10 billion was sent abroad every year through money laundering.

“People like Zardari and [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief] Nawaz Sharif steal money from Pakistanis and buy properties and build factories in other countries. Our citizens then go abroad and work at these factories,” he maintained.

“If all this money is spent on building factories and universities in Pakistan, we won’t have to seek loans from the IMF and lose our dignity,” he added.

The PTI chief said the government begged for IMF loans and then imposed heavy taxes on citizens to pay back their installments.

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Source: Tribune News | It’s a ‘miracle’ that even Zardari’s speaking on corruption, says Imran

A technocrat or undemocratic government cannot resolve the issues faced by Pakistan, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said.

“The masses are cognisant of the incumbent government’s performance and they will make their decision [by casting their votes] in the 2018 general elections,” the premier said after inaugurating an oil and gas project in Attock on Friday.

“We need to strengthen democracy because the journey on the path to development cannot continue without stable democracy.”

Abbasi, who took over the PM’s office after disqualification of Nawaz Sharif from office in August, claimed PML-N’s performance during the last four years was better than the work done [by the former governments] in the last 15 years.

PM Abbasi busy saving Sharif’s skin, says Imran

“Initiation of 103 oil and gas projects during the aforementioned period is a sign of better future for the country,” Abbasi said. The project in Attock, other than oil and gas, he added, will offer 50 tonnes of liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

The PM claimed that every sector was being provided with the facility of gas. “The government has added more than 10,000MW of electricity to the national power grid during its tenure,” he added.

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Source: Tribune News | Technocrat govt can’t resolve Pakistan’s issues: PM Abbasi

Karachi has secured a slot among the top 60 safest cities in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s The Safe Cities Index 2017, but the one at the very bottom.

Pakistan financial hub ranked 60th with an overall score of 38.77.

It ranked last for health security and personal security, and had the highest frequency and severity of terrorist attacks.

Tokyo tops the overall ranking, scoring 89.8, with its strongest performance is in the digital security category while it has risen seven points in the health security category since 2015. However, in infrastructure security, it has fallen out of the top ten, to 12th.

Singapore received a score of 89.64, and Osaka 88.87. Toronto, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Sydney, Stockholm, Hong Kong, and Zurich also made it to the top 10.

Karachi up top, but not by much

Yangon in Myanmar came in second last with a score of 46.47. Dhaka, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Caracas, Quito, Tehran, Cairo, and Johannesburg were also at the bottom of the list.

The US performed well in digital security, but the country’s infrastructure negatively affected its rankings this year. No US city was among the top 10 – San Francisco, at 15, was the only one in the top 20.

It is observed in the report that in many cities, security is falling rather than rising. With two exceptions (Madrid, which is up 13 points and Seoul, up six), cities tend to have fallen in the index since 2015 (for example, New York is down 11, Lima is down 13, Johannesburg is down nine, Ho Chi Minh City is down ten and Jakarta is down 13.

Asian and European cities remain at the top of the index. Of the cities in the top ten positions in the overall index, four are East Asian cities (Tokyo, Singapore, Osaka and Hong Kong), while three (Amsterdam, Stockholm and Zurich) are European.

Asia and the Middle East and Africa dominate the bottom of the index. Dhaka, Yangon and Karachi are at the bottom of the list. Of the 10 cities at the bottom of the overall index, three are in South-east Asia (Manila, Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta), two are in South Asia (Dhaka and Karachi) and two are in the Middle East and Africa (Cairo and Tehran).

Karachi ranked sixth least-liveable city worldwide – fair or unfair?

Security remains closely linked to wealth but the scores of high-income cities are falling. While cities in developed economies dominate the top half of the index (with the lower half dominated by cities in poorer countries), of the 14 cities in high-income countries, the security scores of 10 have fallen since 2015.

Income is not the only factor governing city performance on security:.Most of the cities in the top ten of the index are high-income or upper middle-income cities. However, two high-income cities in the Middle East (Jeddah and Riyadh) fall below position 40 in the index.

The report is based on the second iteration of the index, which ranks 60 cities across 49 indicators covering digital security, health security, infrastructure security and personal security.

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Source: Tribune News | Karachi among world’s safest cities, but at the last spot

KARACHI: Pakistan needlessly dropped points in their second fixture of the 2017 Asia Cup as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Japan in Dhaka.

A day after thrashing hosts Bangladesh 7-0, the Greenshirts were a good bet to collect another win, even more so because Japan had suffered a 5-1 spanking at the hands of India in their opening fixture.

A Pakistan win seemed a forgone conclusion when Arsalan Qadir successfully converted a penalty corner in the 16^th minute to put the four-time world champions 1-0 up.

But Japan had other plans as they hit back soon after via Kenta Tanaka’s field goal in the 22^nd minute.

A minute before half-time, the script completely flipped when Heita Yoshihara gave Japan an unlikely but not undeserved lead.

The experience of trailing for the first time in the tournament threw Pakistan attackers into a state of frenzy, although Japanese backline kept them at bay.

This, however, changed in the final quarter when the experienced Muhammad Umar Bhutta finally found the back of the net to leave the match level at 2-2.

In the final 10 minutes, both teams tried their best to edge ahead but a winner was not to be found.

“We tried to play the same way we did against the hosts but made some mistakes, and Japan also played well,” Pakistan captain Muhammad Irfan told The Express Tribune.

With two points dropped, Pakistan will now have to avoid defeat against arch-rivals India in Sunday’s blockbuster encounter in order to qualify for the next round.

“We have a tough match next where we can’t afford to make these mistakes again if we want to qualify for the next round,” added Irfan.

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Source: Tribune News | Pakistan held to 2-2 draw by Japan