PTI takes lead in second phase of KP local govt polls

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was leading in the second phase of the local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as 22 of its candidates were all set to win the slots of mayor and chairman of the city and tehsil councils.

On the other hand, two persons were killed and several others injured in various incidents of poll-related violence.

Polling was held for the slots of chairmen and mayors of 65 tehsil councils.

According to early results of 50 tehsil councils that were available by late Thursday night, PTI appeared to be leading on a number of seats. However, results of the remaining 15 councils could not be obtained due to communication issues as these areas were mostly far-flung and mountainous.

According to unofficial results, the Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) candidates were leading in seven and six tehsils, respectively.

Similarly, independent candidates were ahead in five of the tehsil councils, followed by three candidates of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), two each of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Awami National Party (ANP) and one candidate each of Tehreek-i-Islahat Pakistan, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen and National Democratic Movement.

PTI seemed poised to win in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan’s native Swat district, as six of the party candidates were leading in seven tehsil councils while JUI-F was ahead in one.

The chief minister’s brother, Abdullah Khan, was winning in his ancestral Matta tehsil.

The PTI was also performing well in Upper Dir where it was leading in four of the six tehsil councils while JI and PPP were winning in the remaining two.

Jamaat-i-Islami, which had suffered a setback in the 2018 general elections in one of its strongholds of Lower Dir, appeared to be gaining lost ground as four of its candidates were leading in seven tehsil councils.

In Mansehra district, PTI was winning in three of the five tehsil councils.

On the other hand, the performance of JUI-F, which had emerged as the largest party in the first phase of the local bodies elections by winning 23 of the 66 tehsil councils, remained unimpressive.

Its candidates were leading in two of the tehsil councils in Kurram districts and one each in Swat, Lower Dir, Battagram and Torghar.

In the first phase of the polls on December 19, 2021 in 17 districts of the province, JUI-F had bagged 23 slots of mayor/chairman of tehsil councils while PTI trailed behind with 18 seats.

Independent candidates remained successful on 10 seats of tehsil council chairman/mayor, whereas ANP had won seven seats. Three seats were won by PML-N, two seats each by JI and Tehreek-i-Islahat Pakistan and one by PPP.

Meanwhile, at least two persons were killed and several others injured during polling on Thursday. Though the election remained largely peaceful, sporadic incidents of violence were reported in some areas.

In Abbottabad district, a scuffle at a women polling station in Baghdara left one person dead and four injured, whereas in Torghar district, clash between two groups over the issue of casting of votes claimed one life in Dore Mera area.

Seven people were injured in another clash in Jandar Bari village of Galiyat.

In other poll-related incidents, unknown gunmen kidnapped polling staff and a police guard and also took away ballot boxes in Shawal area of the militancy-ravaged South Waziristan district. In Azam Warsak area, people set fire to ballot boxes while polling was suspended in Wana for some time.

Not a single vote was cast at a female polling station in Swegalai in Kabal tehsil and at three female polling stations in Miandam, Jukhtai and Kasono in Swat’s Miandam tehsil.

The districts where polling was held were Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Kohistan Upper, Kohistan Lower, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai and North and South Waziristan districts.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), elections for mayor and chairmen slots were held in 65 city and tehsil councils as well as for various seats of 1,830 village and neighbourhood councils.

A total of 28,020 candidates were in the run, out of whom 651 contested for the seats of city and tehsil council mayors and chairmen.

Besides, 12,980 candidates were vying for the general seats of village and neighbourhood councils, 2,668 for reserved seats for women, 6,451 for peasants, 5,213 for youth and 57 for minority seats.

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PTI takes lead in second phase of KP local govt polls

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was leading in the second phase of the local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as 22 of its candidates were all set to win the slots of mayor and chairman of the city and tehsil councils.

On the other hand, two persons were killed and several others injured in various incidents of poll-related violence.

Polling was held for the slots of chairmen and mayors of 65 tehsil councils.

According to early results of 50 tehsil councils that were available by late Thursday night, PTI appeared to be leading on a number of seats. However, results of the remaining 15 councils could not be obtained due to communication issues as these areas were mostly far-flung and mountainous.

According to unofficial results, the Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) candidates were leading in seven and six tehsils, respectively.

Similarly, independent candidates were ahead in five of the tehsil councils, followed by three candidates of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), two each of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Awami National Party (ANP) and one candidate each of Tehreek-i-Islahat Pakistan, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen and National Democratic Movement.

PTI seemed poised to win in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan’s native Swat district, as six of the party candidates were leading in seven tehsil councils while JUI-F was ahead in one.

The chief minister’s brother, Abdullah Khan, was winning in his ancestral Matta tehsil.

The PTI was also performing well in Upper Dir where it was leading in four of the six tehsil councils while JI and PPP were winning in the remaining two.

Jamaat-i-Islami, which had suffered a setback in the 2018 general elections in one of its strongholds of Lower Dir, appeared to be gaining lost ground as four of its candidates were leading in seven tehsil councils.

In Mansehra district, PTI was winning in three of the five tehsil councils.

On the other hand, the performance of JUI-F, which had emerged as the largest party in the first phase of the local bodies elections by winning 23 of the 66 tehsil councils, remained unimpressive.

Its candidates were leading in two of the tehsil councils in Kurram districts and one each in Swat, Lower Dir, Battagram and Torghar.

In the first phase of the polls on December 19, 2021 in 17 districts of the province, JUI-F had bagged 23 slots of mayor/chairman of tehsil councils while PTI trailed behind with 18 seats.

Independent candidates remained successful on 10 seats of tehsil council chairman/mayor, whereas ANP had won seven seats. Three seats were won by PML-N, two seats each by JI and Tehreek-i-Islahat Pakistan and one by PPP.

Meanwhile, at least two persons were killed and several others injured during polling on Thursday. Though the election remained largely peaceful, sporadic incidents of violence were reported in some areas.

In Abbottabad district, a scuffle at a women polling station in Baghdara left one person dead and four injured, whereas in Torghar district, clash between two groups over the issue of casting of votes claimed one life in Dore Mera area.

Seven people were injured in another clash in Jandar Bari village of Galiyat.

In other poll-related incidents, unknown gunmen kidnapped polling staff and a police guard and also took away ballot boxes in Shawal area of the militancy-ravaged South Waziristan district. In Azam Warsak area, people set fire to ballot boxes while polling was suspended in Wana for some time.

Not a single vote was cast at a female polling station in Swegalai in Kabal tehsil and at three female polling stations in Miandam, Jukhtai and Kasono in Swat’s Miandam tehsil.

The districts where polling was held were Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Kohistan Upper, Kohistan Lower, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai and North and South Waziristan districts.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), elections for mayor and chairmen slots were held in 65 city and tehsil councils as well as for various seats of 1,830 village and neighbourhood councils.

A total of 28,020 candidates were in the run, out of whom 651 contested for the seats of city and tehsil council mayors and chairmen.

Besides, 12,980 candidates were vying for the general seats of village and neighbourhood councils, 2,668 for reserved seats for women, 6,451 for peasants, 5,213 for youth and 57 for minority seats.

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Turkish prosecutor seeks transfer of Khashoggi case to Saudi Arabia

A Turkish prosecutor on Thursday asked an Istanbul court to dismiss a case into the gruesome murder of Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi and transfer it to Saudi Arabia, his Turkish fiancée confirmed.

The development comes as Turkey is seeking a thaw in relations with Saudi Arabia, which worsened after the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

“The prosecutor asked, accordingly to the Saudi demand, for the transfer of the file to #SaudiArabia and the finalisation of it in #Turkey,” Hatice Cengiz tweeted after the hearing on Thursday in Istanbul’s main court.

“The court will ask the view of Turkish Justice Ministry. #Khashoggi #JusticeForJamal,” she commented.

The prosecutor said, according to the private DHA news agency, that the case “has been dragging because the court orders cannot be executed on the grounds that the suspects are foreign nationals”. The next hearing is scheduled for April 7.

On October 2, 2018, 59-year-old Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to file paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancée.

According to US and Turkish officials, a waiting Saudi hit squad strangled him and dismembered his body, which has never been retrieved.

The murder sparked international out­rage that continues to reverberate, with Western intelligence agencies acc­using Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of authorising the killing.

The crown prince has said he accepts Saudi Arabia’s overall responsibility but denies a personal link, with the kingdom saying it was the doing of agents who had gone “rogue”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the time that the order to kill “came from the highest levels” of the Saudi government without pointing the finger of blame at the crown prince.

Unsatisfied with the trial in Saudi Arabia, Turkey has launched its own investigation into the murder and put 26 Saudis on trial in absentia, including two who are close to the crown prince.

In an interview with AFP in February, Cengiz said Turkey must keep insisting on justice for Khashoggi “even if it improves its relations” with Riyadh. “I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest to shut it down completely.”

Asked if she was disappointed, Cengiz said: “If we look at it from the viewpoint of realpolitik, [Turkey’s position] did not let me down,” adding that countries were “not ruled by emotions” but “mutual interests”.

But she added: “Emotionally speaking, of course, I am sad. Not because my country has made peace with Saudi Arabia and that this issue is closing, but ultimately, no matter how fiercely we defended it, on a national basis, on a state basis, on a president basis ... now everything is starting to go back to the way it was, as if nothing had happened. I am inevitably disappointed about this.”

Turkey, which is reeling from a fresh economic crisis and is searching for foreign investment and trade, has reached out to regional rivals, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Erdogan said in January he was planning a visit to Riyadh — which would come at a critical moment for Turkey, where inflation is surging to over 50 per cent.

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Turkish prosecutor seeks transfer of Khashoggi case to Saudi Arabia

A Turkish prosecutor on Thursday asked an Istanbul court to dismiss a case into the gruesome murder of Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi and transfer it to Saudi Arabia, his Turkish fiancée confirmed.

The development comes as Turkey is seeking a thaw in relations with Saudi Arabia, which worsened after the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

“The prosecutor asked, accordingly to the Saudi demand, for the transfer of the file to #SaudiArabia and the finalisation of it in #Turkey,” Hatice Cengiz tweeted after the hearing on Thursday in Istanbul’s main court.

“The court will ask the view of Turkish Justice Ministry. #Khashoggi #JusticeForJamal,” she commented.

The prosecutor said, according to the private DHA news agency, that the case “has been dragging because the court orders cannot be executed on the grounds that the suspects are foreign nationals”. The next hearing is scheduled for April 7.

On October 2, 2018, 59-year-old Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to file paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancée.

According to US and Turkish officials, a waiting Saudi hit squad strangled him and dismembered his body, which has never been retrieved.

The murder sparked international out­rage that continues to reverberate, with Western intelligence agencies acc­using Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of authorising the killing.

The crown prince has said he accepts Saudi Arabia’s overall responsibility but denies a personal link, with the kingdom saying it was the doing of agents who had gone “rogue”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the time that the order to kill “came from the highest levels” of the Saudi government without pointing the finger of blame at the crown prince.

Unsatisfied with the trial in Saudi Arabia, Turkey has launched its own investigation into the murder and put 26 Saudis on trial in absentia, including two who are close to the crown prince.

In an interview with AFP in February, Cengiz said Turkey must keep insisting on justice for Khashoggi “even if it improves its relations” with Riyadh. “I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest to shut it down completely.”

Asked if she was disappointed, Cengiz said: “If we look at it from the viewpoint of realpolitik, [Turkey’s position] did not let me down,” adding that countries were “not ruled by emotions” but “mutual interests”.

But she added: “Emotionally speaking, of course, I am sad. Not because my country has made peace with Saudi Arabia and that this issue is closing, but ultimately, no matter how fiercely we defended it, on a national basis, on a state basis, on a president basis ... now everything is starting to go back to the way it was, as if nothing had happened. I am inevitably disappointed about this.”

Turkey, which is reeling from a fresh economic crisis and is searching for foreign investment and trade, has reached out to regional rivals, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Erdogan said in January he was planning a visit to Riyadh — which would come at a critical moment for Turkey, where inflation is surging to over 50 per cent.

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Pakistan registers strong protest to US government over 'threat letter'

Pakistan summoned the US acting deputy chief of mission in Islamabad over a ‘threat letter’ and registered strong protest for the undiplomatic language used against Pakistan in the memo.

The development came after the National Security Committee (NSC) Thursday decided to issue a strong demarche to the country whose official communicated the "threat" as a day earlier Premier Imran Khan shared the 'threat letter' with military leadership and the federal cabinet.

Later, the PM in his address to the nation Thursday said that he would not resign at any cost and would "never allow this conspiracy" to succeed.

In an apparent slip of the tongue, he named "the United States..." but quickly moved on and stated that "a foreign country" had sent a "threatening memo" which was against the Pakistani nation.

However, in line with the decision of the NSC, the foreign office has handed over the requisite demarches through diplomatic channels, a statement from the foreign office issued late night Thursday said.

According to the sources in the foreign office, Pakistan has registered a strong protest over the undiplomatic language used in the 'threat letter' and told the US envoy that interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan is unacceptable.

'Foreign hand' behind efforts to topple the government

On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed that "foreign elements" are involved in the attempts to topple his government and said, "some of our own people" are being used in this regard.

The premier, while flashing a letter before the public, said that he has "written evidence" that "money has been pouring in from abroad," while "some of our people are being used to topple the government."

He said that for months, "plotting and planning is being carried out to influence the foreign policy of Pakistan from outside."

US government denies involvement in no-trust motion against PM

Reacting to the PM's statement the US government categorically rejected any kind of involvement in the no-trust motion against PM Imran, saying the allegations of the US involvement are baseless.

“Allegations of US involvement in the no-trust motion and ‘threat letter’ to PM Imran Khan are baseless,” said the State Department.

Pakistan to issue 'strong demarche' to a foreign country

PM also shared the gist of threat letter with journalist and military leadership, subsequently on Thursday, the 37th meeting of NSC took place at the PM Office with PM Imran Khan in the chair, where National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf briefed the committee on the formal communication of a senior official of a foreign country to Pakistan’s ambassador in the said country in a formal meeting.

The Pakistani ambassador "duly conveyed" the message of the foreign official to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the statement said.

The NSC expressed grave concern at the communication, terming the language used by the foreign official as undiplomatic.

The committee concluded that the communication amounted to blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan by the country in question, which was unacceptable under any circumstances.

 

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Pakistan registers strong protest to US government over 'threat letter'

Pakistan summoned the US acting deputy chief of mission in Islamabad over a ‘threat letter’ and registered strong protest for the undiplomatic language used against Pakistan in the memo.

The development came after the National Security Committee (NSC) Thursday decided to issue a strong demarche to the country whose official communicated the "threat" as a day earlier Premier Imran Khan shared the 'threat letter' with military leadership and the federal cabinet.

Later, the PM in his address to the nation Thursday said that he would not resign at any cost and would "never allow this conspiracy" to succeed.

In an apparent slip of the tongue, he named "the United States..." but quickly moved on and stated that "a foreign country" had sent a "threatening memo" which was against the Pakistani nation.

However, in line with the decision of the NSC, the foreign office has handed over the requisite demarches through diplomatic channels, a statement from the foreign office issued late night Thursday said.

According to the sources in the foreign office, Pakistan has registered a strong protest over the undiplomatic language used in the 'threat letter' and told the US envoy that interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan is unacceptable.

'Foreign hand' behind efforts to topple the government

On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed that "foreign elements" are involved in the attempts to topple his government and said, "some of our own people" are being used in this regard.

The premier, while flashing a letter before the public, said that he has "written evidence" that "money has been pouring in from abroad," while "some of our people are being used to topple the government."

He said that for months, "plotting and planning is being carried out to influence the foreign policy of Pakistan from outside."

US government denies involvement in no-trust motion against PM

Reacting to the PM's statement the US government categorically rejected any kind of involvement in the no-trust motion against PM Imran, saying the allegations of the US involvement are baseless.

“Allegations of US involvement in the no-trust motion and ‘threat letter’ to PM Imran Khan are baseless,” said the State Department.

Pakistan to issue 'strong demarche' to a foreign country

PM also shared the gist of threat letter with journalist and military leadership, subsequently on Thursday, the 37th meeting of NSC took place at the PM Office with PM Imran Khan in the chair, where National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf briefed the committee on the formal communication of a senior official of a foreign country to Pakistan’s ambassador in the said country in a formal meeting.

The Pakistani ambassador "duly conveyed" the message of the foreign official to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the statement said.

The NSC expressed grave concern at the communication, terming the language used by the foreign official as undiplomatic.

The committee concluded that the communication amounted to blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan by the country in question, which was unacceptable under any circumstances.

 

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Pak vs Aus: Babar Azam and co chase team's highest ODI target to level series

Pakistan Thursday defeated Australia by six wickets in the second ODI at the Gaddafi Stadium to level the three-match series.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and opener Imam-ul-Haq's sensational centuries were key to help Pakistan trump Australia.

The first ODI was won by Australia and the final ODI will be on Saturday — also in Lahore.

Australia had set a 349-run target for Pakistan and the Green Shirts chased the score in the 49th over to level the three-match series. This was Pakistan's highest run chase in their ODI history.

Teams:

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-Ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Saud Shakeel

Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Ben McDermott, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Adam Zampa

 

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