Friday, April 2, 2021

Bilawal calls upon ECP to ensure fair elections are held everywhere, not just Punjab

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday called on the Election Commission of Pakistan to play its role as a free, independent institution to ensure that elections all across Pakistan, not just in Punjab are held fairly.

"If this is ensured, I am confident our Jacobabad candidate contesting for the National Assembly seat will be declared a winner the next day," he said, speaking of Ijaz Chitrani, as her addressed a press conference in Jacobabad.

Bilawal said the government has "left the people rudderless" and the country is witnessing one of the worst hits to the economy.

"And the reason for this is Imran Khan and his government who have drowned us in a tsunami of inflation even before entering into a deal with the IMF (International Monetary Inflation)."

He said the country is witnessing historic unemployment as well and that Pakistan's economic growth rate has "never been so low".

"Two finance ministers have been changed but the policy has remained the same: to bring misery to the people and relief to the rich," the PPP chairman said.

He said that electricity and gas bills, prices of food commodities are on the rise, as are prices of petrol, which have led to everything becoming expensive and out of the reach of the common man.

"We have seen they are handing over our government to the IMF. And the illegal ordinance brought for the State Bank, will leave it unanswerable to the Pakistan Constitution or law [...] it will only dance to the IMF's tunes.

"And if this happens it will be a historic attack on the economic sovereignty of Pakistan," Bilawal said.

He said his party wishes to challenge the State Bank of Pakistan amendment bill 2021. "We will not only challenge the ordinance in the parliament, but we believe it to be so illegal, we will approach the court."

"The government is making use of every tactic with which it can impose its policies [...] now we have heard it is not only the decision to make State Bank independent, they wish to bring about other economic decisions through ordinances which will be an attack on the parliament," Bilawal said.

He said only the National Assembly has the power to pass the money bill.

"We will not allow Pakistan to be at the mercy of this PTI-MF government," Bilawal said, adding: "We will not allow them such a free hand that they do whatever they please at the economic level and no one challenges their actions."

Bilawal said that the government has put the country in a precarious position with a dwindling economy on the one hand and a pandemic to conquer on the other.

"We are wholly unprepared to combat the third wave that we are witnessing because our federal government is stubbornly refusing to procure vaccines for all Pakistanis," said the PPP chairman.

He said Pakistan is lagging behind the most in terms of vaccinations, counting Bangladesh and India to be the countries doing better than ours.

"Even war-torn Afghanistan has a better economic growth rate. The war-torn Afghanistan has a lower inflation rate," he said, calling it an "embarrassing truth".

He said there is no reason for Pakistan's economy to rank behind these countries. "The only reason is that a puppet has been imposed on us who has no political, economic or historical acumen and is not capable of governing Pakistan," he said.

In a post-media briefing question and answer session, Bilawal was asked to comment on Shaukat Tarin's remarks whereby he blamed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for the economy's state.

He said that PPP has had a "consistent policy" regarding the bureau, whereas other parties have changed their narrative to suit their interests over time.

"PPP has been saying only one thing: NAB's law is a black law. It was made by a dictator. It was made for political engineering [...] to threaten people's representatives who are loyal to their parties," Bilawal said.

He said PPP President Asif Ali Zardari had once said that "the economy and NAB cannot go hand in hand".

"And now everyone acknowledges this."

Speaking about the recent tensions between the PPP and the PML-N, Bilawal said that his party will soon convene a meeting to discuss the matter.

He said many people from the party had advised him that history has shown the two parties did not get along and it will be a tough nut to crack.

"It has been my effort, however, over the last three years, for us to work together with all parties for the benefit of democracy.

"I will put forth the same point in the CEC meeting [...] we do not want this government to benefit out of any infighting between opposition parties," Bilawal said.

He said that it was a "great victory" with the PDM dealing the government a defeat for the first time in the last three years.

"And there can be no greater defeat, than the prime minister losing in his own constituency," the PPP chairman said, referring to Yousaf Raza Gillani winning the Islamabad Senate seat, with the government candidate Abdul Hafeez Shaikh losing by a margin of six votes.

"It would have been in the interest of PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) and democracy to have focused more on this victory and taken it forward to give this regime a tough time, so that the people who are suffering, can see that the opposition is at least united in the view that the government has to go and a true representative of the people brought," Bilawal said.

He wished JUI-F and PDM chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, as well as PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, both of whom were reported to have taken ill, a speedy recovery.

Bilawal said he does not wish to comment on his ties with Maryam — which he insisted are still "good" — lest some remark of his affects the situation.

He added that he does not think Fazlur Rehman is cross with anyone, or that he would show preference to one party over the other.



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PM Imran Khan says no to resuming trade with India

PM Imran Khan
The federal cabinet has rejected the recommendation to resume trade with India, with the prime minister ruling out the normalisation of ties with New Delhi till its August 5 decision is not reversed.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the federal cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, to review Pakistan's relations with India. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and senior officials of the Foreign Office were also present in the meeting.

"A consensus developed during the meeting on not resuming trade with India," said a source.

The source revealed that the cabinet has decided that Pakistan cannot resume trade with India until it restores the constitutional status of occupied Kashmir.

"It is our principled stance not to resume trade with India until the Kashmir issue is resolved," PM Imran Khan was quoted as saying by a source.

"This [decision to restart trade with India] will give off the wrong impression that Pakistan has neglected the people of Kashmir," he said.

The source revealed that PM Imran Khan has categorically said relations between Pakistan and India cannot return to normal unless Kashmiris are given the right to self-determination by India.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Moeed Yousaf said the Economic Coordination Committee's (ECC) had received the recommendation to import cotton and sugar from India as its prices were quite cheap in the country.

He said the ECC forwards its recommendations to the cabinet for approval, in every decision. "The cabinet is the final forum [for decision-making]," said Yousaf.

The prime minister's aide said the federal cabinet made decisions keeping in mind their political repercussions. He added the prime minister has asked the ECC to postpone this matter and had hold consultative meetings with his advisors over the issue.

"The prime minister said categorically in the meeting that no trade will be and cannot be conducted with India till it does not review its unconstitutional August 5 move," said Yousaf.

He said PM Imran Khan also advised his economic team to provide other alternative solutions to importers so that this move could not impact them.

A day earlier as well, the cabinet had shot down the ECC's proposal to import sugar and cotton from India.

The decision to turn down the proposal was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by PM Imran Khan in Islamabad, hours after Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari had said the cabinet would review the ECC's decisions related to trade with India.

Taking to Twitter, the minister had said it is only after the cabinet's approval that the decision will be considered "approved by the government".

"Just for the record — All ECC decisions have to be approved by cabinet & only then they can be seen as 'approved by govt'! So today in the cabinet there will be a discussion on ECC decisions including trade with India and then the government decision will be taken! The media should be aware of this at least!" Mazari wrote in a tweet.

On Wednesday, Federal Finance Minister Hammad Azhar had announced the government's intention to import sugar and cotton from India.

The decision was seen as an important milestone in the slowly warming ties between the two neighbouring countries.

The minister, in his first press conference since being given the finance portfolio, had spoken about the high prices of sugar in Pakistan, noting that the government had allowed sugar to be imported from other countries, but the price of the commodity in the supplier countries had risen considerably.a



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Supreme Court upholds ECP decision to hold re-polling in Daska

Supreme Court upholds ECP decision to hold re-polling in Daska
The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to hold re-polling in the entire National Assembly constituency NA-75 in Daska.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umer Ata Bandial, heard the petition of PTI candidate Ali Asjad Malhi, challenging the ECP order of February 25, 2021, declaring the by-election at NA-75 Daska void and ordering re-polling in the whole constituency.

The decision was reserved by the bench after the arguments were concluded by all the parties. The Supreme Court in its verdict ordered the ECP to hold re-polling in NA-75 Daska on April 10.

On Feb 25, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ordered re-election in the NA-75 Sialkot-Daska constituency over alleged rigging and irregularities.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to order re-polling at all polling stations in NA-75. The petition was moved by PTI candidate from Daska Ali Asjad Malhi.

Moreover, the ECP had also ordered the suspension of the relevant deputy commissioner, the district police officer (DPO), assistant commissioner and SPDO Daska over “rigging” during the by-poll in the NA-75 constituency.



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Supreme Court upholds ECP decision to hold re-polling in Daska

Supreme Court upholds ECP decision to hold re-polling in Daska
The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to hold re-polling in the entire National Assembly constituency NA-75 in Daska.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umer Ata Bandial, heard the petition of PTI candidate Ali Asjad Malhi, challenging the ECP order of February 25, 2021, declaring the by-election at NA-75 Daska void and ordering re-polling in the whole constituency.

The decision was reserved by the bench after the arguments were concluded by all the parties. The Supreme Court in its verdict ordered the ECP to hold re-polling in NA-75 Daska on April 10.

On Feb 25, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ordered re-election in the NA-75 Sialkot-Daska constituency over alleged rigging and irregularities.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to order re-polling at all polling stations in NA-75. The petition was moved by PTI candidate from Daska Ali Asjad Malhi.

Moreover, the ECP had also ordered the suspension of the relevant deputy commissioner, the district police officer (DPO), assistant commissioner and SPDO Daska over “rigging” during the by-poll in the NA-75 constituency.



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Thursday, April 1, 2021

Corona claims 83 more lives, 5,234 fresh infections reported in pakistan

Corona claims 83 more lives, 5,234 fresh infections reported in pakistan
Coronavirus has claimed 83 more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 14,613, reported on Friday.

The latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed the COVID-19 has claimed 83 more lives and 5,234 fresh infections were reported during the period.

During the period of a day, the total count of active cases was recorded at 56,347 and the positivity rate stood at 10.43 per cent.

The health facilities across the country conducted 50,170 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 10,297,544 since the first case was reported.

According to the statistics, 81 patients were declared critical, adding to the total number of patients suffering from sensitive health condition up to 3,384.

Overall 607,205 people have recovered from the virus including 1,931 who have regained their health from COVID-19 during the past 24 hours.



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Corona claims 83 more lives, 5,234 fresh infections reported in pakistan

Corona claims 83 more lives, 5,234 fresh infections reported in pakistan
Coronavirus has claimed 83 more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 14,613, reported on Friday.

The latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed the COVID-19 has claimed 83 more lives and 5,234 fresh infections were reported during the period.

During the period of a day, the total count of active cases was recorded at 56,347 and the positivity rate stood at 10.43 per cent.

The health facilities across the country conducted 50,170 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 10,297,544 since the first case was reported.

According to the statistics, 81 patients were declared critical, adding to the total number of patients suffering from sensitive health condition up to 3,384.

Overall 607,205 people have recovered from the virus including 1,931 who have regained their health from COVID-19 during the past 24 hours.



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Niger thwarts ‘attempted coup’ before presidential inauguration

Niger thwarts ‘attempted coup’ before presidential inauguration
Niger thwarted an “attempted coup” on Wednesday, the government said, two days before the historic inauguration of Mohamed Bazoum as president of the unstable Sahel nation.

Residents in the capital Niamey earlier reported hearing gunfire in the middle of the night in the district where the presidency is located. A government statement said “an attempted coup” had been blocked, condemning what it called a “cowardly and regressive act which sought to threaten democracy and the state of law.”

An investigation has been launched and “several people connected with this attempted coup have been detained and others are being actively sought,” it said, without giving further details.

The alleged leader of the coup is an air force officer in charge of security of Niamey’s military air base and is still being “actively sought”, a source within Niger’s security services said.

“The situation is totally under control,” the government statement said, calling on the public to “carry on with normal life.” A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “there were some arrests among a few members of the army” who had been behind the coup bid. “The Presidential Guard retaliated, preventing this group of soldiers from approaching the presidential palace,” the source said.

A resident of Niamey’s Plateau district, which includes the president’s official residence and offices, said: “It was around 3am, we heard shots from heavy and light weapons and it lasted 15 minutes before stopping, followed by shots from light weapons.” “The gunfire lasted about 20 minutes,” another resident said.

A third resident spoke of “intense shooting, with heavy and light weapons”.

 



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Islamabad court dismisses Gill’s bail plea in sedition case

A District and Sessions court of Islamabad dismissed the post arrest bail petition of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill on Tuesday. Additional Dist...