Joint oppn holds rally, Maryam chides Imran

The 11-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) held a rally in Multan on Monday despite arrests of hundreds of its activists.

The rally, held at a makeshift venue after the government blocked most parts of Multan, also saw the political debut of Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the youngest child of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, representing her brother Bilawal, who has been self isolating after testing positive for Covid-19. Aseefa said she would stand by her brother “every step of the way”.

She called the Imran Khan government a “selected” government. “Despite the cruelty and oppression by the selected [government], so many of you have gathered here. This selected [government] will have to go!”

PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz welcomed Aseefa into politics and said the entry of women was a good sign for Pakistan.

Earlier, speaking to a local TV channel, Maryam attacked

Prime Minister Imran Khan, calling him a “puppet prime minister” who should have “some courage” to question the country’s top spy agency – InterServices Intelligence (ISI) – as to why it is tapping his telephone calls. She was responding to Khan’s admission that he was aware that the agencies tap his phone calls.

“The ISI taps phone of the prime minister and others. If any guts left in this puppet (Imran Khan) he should take on the ISI on this matter,” she said.

Lahore again tops list of most polluted cities

Pakistan’s cultural capital Lahore has once again topped the list of world’s most polluted cities. “Lahore ranks the most polluted city in the world,” according to air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index on Monday.

Lahore reported a particulate matter (PM) rating of 423. Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi ranked at 7 on the AQI. New Delhi came in second with a PM of 229, while Nepal’s capital Kathmandu ranked the thirdworst city with a PM of 178.