Revolution only through elections: Nawaz

 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan’s future is connected to democracy and Constitution and the revolution in Pakistan will only come through election.
He said the political forces would join hands to face the people having a useless agenda. He said that the nation would be triumphant in the war against terrorists.He expressed these views while talking to a delegation of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) here on Thursday.

Referring to the slogans of revolution by some politicians, Nawaz said they were working for vested interests. He said the fate of Pakistan would be changed during the tenure of the incumbent democratic government.

The premier also stressed the need to work for the supremacy of law. He said the country’s integrity in the worldintegrity in the world had improved and trade ties with the world community had also strengthened.

The prime minister said that operation Zarb-e-Azb would wipe out terrorists and bring peace in the country.Regarding talks with Taliban, he said that it was the terrorists who were responsible for failure of the dialogue process.

He said all sanctuaries of terrorists would be destroyed so that they could not re-establish themselves.He said the nation stood by the armed forces and expressed the confidence that security forces would be successful in flushing out the terrorists.

Nawaz said the IDPs would not be left in disarray. He said the government would extend all state resources to help the IDPs. He appealed to all the segments of society to come forward and join hands with the government for IDPs rehabilitation.

He said the country would be put on the path to progress and development by overcoming energy crisis.He said the government had launched digitisation of Pakistani laws, which would provide all the laws of the land in soft forms.On the occasion, the PM assured the delegation the difficulties of the bench and bar would be addressed properly.

Media house can't rig elections: FAFEN chief

KARACHI: Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) chief Mudassar Rizvi said that only those who have the power and authority could rig elections, media couldn’t do it.

Briefing journalists about election reforms at the Karachi Press Club, FAFEN chief, Syed Mudassar Rizvi and FAFEN member Sarwar Bari urged upon the political parties to immediately start debating over the issue in a bid to give a collective shape to the scattered electoral laws and facilitating the holding of transparent elections.

He said that all the members of the Election Commission should be appointed for one year and besides including two females, the tribal areas and Islamabad should also be given representation in the Commission.

He further said that the Election Commission should have the legal justification for all of its actions and should have not only the power and authority to issue directives to the administration, but to punish those failing to comply.

Syed Mudassar Rizvi said that the biometric system should be tested, but its enforcement at this point of time would not be wise.

Responding to a question relating to the allegation of a media house rigged elections, Syed Mudassar Rizvi said that only those who have the power and authority could rig elections, a media house couldn’t do it.

CJP has nothing to do with elections: Former CJP

ISLAMABAD: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that country’s top judge had nothing to do with the elections.

The former CJP said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan to appoint Returning Officers (ROs) adding that he did not want to respond to useless allegations being made.

Justice (retd) Chaudhry emphasised the importance of the judiciary and defence institutions saying talks of a clash between them should not be taking place. The former CJP further said that a strong foundation for democracy had been laid in the country and there was no threat to it.

Elections 2014: Will 'Modi wave' rout NC rule in J&K?

Sushmita Dutta

The political scenario in Jammu and Kashmir has been volatile for quite a long time - issues like civil rights, alleged excesses by the Army, the issue of Article 370, Kashmiri Pandits and the separatists movement have kept the state on tenterhooks since early 1990s.

Although the National Conference is in alliance with the Congress and remains firmly with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the national level, Omar Abdullah has already made it clear that his party's support should be taken as granted.

Interestingly, Omar Abdullah’s uncle and General Secretary of the NC has hinted that if Modi becomes Prime Minister after next General Elections, NC would develop ‘harmonious’ relationship with him.

In other words, National Conference might be willing to support the BJP.

In 2009, the National Conference had won three seats (in Baramulla, Anantnag and Srinagar) whereas Congress had won two seats (in Udhampur and Jammu) and independent had won 1 seat in Ladakh.

The other important player is Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The party would be hoping to break into the NC-Congress vote bank in the valley.

The BJP on the other hand will hope for the Modi magic to work in the Jammu region.

The poll surveys are projecting 2 seats for BJP, 2 for PDP, 1 to National Conference and 1 to Congress. As many as 3.5 lakh first-time voters would exercise their right to franchise in the Lok Sabha polls in J&K which are scheduled to be held in five phases- April 10, 17, 24, 30 and May 07, 2014. The counting for the seats will be held on May 16, 2014.

Six parliamentary seats would go into polls in the five phases announced by the Election Commission. The six seats are Baramulla, Srinagar, Anantnag, Ladakh, Udhampur and Jammu.

Srinagar parliamentary seat is a matter of prestige for the National Conference. Omar Abdullah, the present CM of J&K, was Member of Parliament three times from Srinagar. After him this seat was won by his father Farooq Abdullah. National Conference is believed to have complete control over the Srinagar seat. Farooq Abdullah, who is a minister in the UPA government, has already said that he will continue to fight till he lives from this seat.

Jammu has been won by the Congress for eight times and currently holds the seat. Jammu is the largest among the six Lok Sabha constituencies with almost 1.8 lakh voters. The BJP has claimed the seat thrice and hopes to win this time riding on the NaMo wave.

Sitting MP Madan Lal Sharma of the Congress will be challenged by state BJP chief Jugal Kishore.

Congress heavyweight Ghulam Nabi Azad might take up the fight from the Udhampur seat.

Afghanistan begins voting in presidential elections

KABUL: Afghans have begun voting in the country's third presidential election to choose a successor to Hamid Karzai, who has led the country since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The Taliban have rejected the election as a foreign plot, and urged their fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces.

The NATO coalition force is pulling out its last 51,000 combat troops this year, leaving Afghan forces to battle the resilient Taliban insurgency without their help.

Poll security is a major concern following a string of high-profile attacks in the capital Kabul, most recently a suicide bombing at the Interior Ministry on Wednesday that killed six police officers.

Interior Minister Omar Daudzai said all 400,000 of Afghanistan's police, army and intelligence services were being deployed to ensure security around the country.

The polling would end at 4 PM.

 

Elections in Afghanistan today

 

JALALABAD, Afghanistan: The Taliban have launched a violent campaign to disrupt the presidential election in Afghanistan being held on Saturday, but in a restive eastern corner of the country they are paying villagers to surrender their voting cards.
Residents in Nangarhar province, which lies on the border with Pakistan, said local Taliban militants had been offering voters 500 Pakistani rupees — the equivalent of just over $5 to opt out of the election.

“At first we thought the Taliban were trying to trick us and wanted to find out who had voter cards, but later we found out that they were honest and paid money,” said Ahmad Shah, a youth in a village just outside the city of Jalalabad.

The Taliban did not respond to a request for comment. The Saturday’s election will bring the first democratic transfer of power in the war-torn Afghanistan and an end to the rule of President Hamid Karzai, who has led the country since the ouster of a Taliban regime in late 2001.

The Taliban have branded the election a Western-backed sham. The Independent Election Commission has said at least 10 percent of polling stations will not be able to open due to the threat of violence, the majority of them in the east where the insurgents are most active. “When the Taliban are in control and warn people not to vote, and instead pay money for your voter card, it’s not a bad thing,” said Haji Khan Wali, another man in the village, where the Pakistani rupee is more commonly used than the local currency, the Afghani.

“People here have to think more about finding bread to feed their families than the election. To tell you the truth, half the people here don’t know anything about the election,” said Khan, wearing a white turban and long beard.

Local officials said they were aware of such reports from remote areas of Nangarhar, which are under the Taliban influence. The southern and eastern parts Afghanistan are dominated by Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group, which has traditionally enjoyed strong political influence.

New schedule for PTI UK party elections announced

LONDON: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that the party’s intra-party elections will be held on Sunday 13th April in 12 regions of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

PTI leader Imran Khan had directed the postponement of the elections about two weeks ago to first review structure for its overseas chapters. A ‘Special Committee’ comprising of Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood, Saifullah Niazi and Dr Arif Alvi was tasked to review functioning of international chapters and submit recommendations for improvements.

A source in the PTI informed that the ‘Special Committee’ submitted their report to the PTI Central Executive (CEC) and Core Committees (CC) on 17th March in which several recommendations to strengthen Office of International Chapters (OIC) were made as well as recommendations on how to cater to the needs of party’s overseas chapters.

The PTI CEC and CC showed their satisfaction over functioning of the UK chapter and it was agreed that it was already in compliance with all the recommendations made by the committee. It was recommended that no reason existed to further put UK intra-party elections on hold and it was important that new schedule should be announced.

It has been announced that the election voting day will be Sunday 13th April; Monday 31st March will be the membership cut-off deadline; and Sunday 6th April has been set as the candidate panel nomination deadline. The elections will be held in 12 regions which include London, East of England, South East, South West, North East, North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, Wales, Yorkshire and Humber, East of, Scotland, West of Scotland.

Each region will elect a body comprising of president, vice president, information secretary and general secretary. Thereafter, national body for UK consisting of president and general secretary will be elected from amongst regional elected representatives.

These are 3rd intra-party elections in UK and the chapter has become an important overseas arm of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which is contributing financially as well as in policy making of the party. Britain has played an important role in taking the PTI in the top league of Pakistani political parties. Its UK chapter is considered a leading overseas chapter in terms of all organisational aspects. The PTI has the distinction of being the only Pakistani political party that is now holding elections on time in a proper democratic manner. The MQM in the UK has a disciplined chapter like it has in Karachi. The PPP and the PML-N are fast becoming irrelevant because both parties lack any democracy in their ranks and these parties are divided in various factions. PTI has become probably the strongest overseas Pakistani party with more than 3,000 paid-up members, mainly youth. As compared the parties lag far behind.

New schedule for PTI UK party elections announced

LONDON: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced that the party’s intra-party elections will be held on Sunday 13th April in 12 regions of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
PTI leader Imran Khan had directed the postponement of the elections about two weeks ago to first review structure for its overseas chapters. A ‘Special Committee’ comprising of Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood, Saifullah Niazi and Dr Arif Alvi was tasked to review functioning of international chapters and submit recommendations for improvements.

A source in the PTI informed that the ‘Special Committee’ submitted their report to the PTI Central Executive (CEC) and Core Committees (CC) on 17th March in which several recommendations to strengthen Office of International Chapters (OIC) were made as well as recommendations on how to cater to the needs of party’s overseas chapters.

The PTI CEC and CC showed their satisfaction over functioning of the UK chapter and it was agreed that it was already in compliance with all the recommendations made by the committee. It was recommended that no reason existed to further put UK intra-party elections on hold and it was important that new schedule should be announced.

It has been announced that the election voting day will be Sunday 13th April; Monday 31st March will be the membership cut-off deadline; and Sunday 6th April has been set as the candidate panel nomination deadline. The elections will be held in 12 regions which include London, East of England, South East, South West, North East, North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, Wales, Yorkshire and Humber, East of, Scotland, West of Scotland.

Each region will elect a body comprising of president, vice president, information secretary and general secretary. Thereafter, national body for UK consisting of president and general secretary will be elected from amongst regional elected representatives.

These are 3rd intra-party elections in UK and the chapter has become an important overseas arm of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which is contributing financially as well as in policy making of the party. Britain has played an important role in taking the PTI in the top league of Pakistani political parties. Its UK chapter is considered a leading overseas chapter in terms of all organisational aspects. The PTI has the distinction of being the only Pakistani political party that is now holding elections on time in a proper democratic manner. The MQM in the UK has a disciplined chapter like it has in Karachi. The PPP and the PML-N are fast becoming irrelevant because both parties lack any democracy in their ranks and these parties are divided in various factions. PTI has become probably the strongest overseas Pakistani party with more than 3,000 paid-up members, mainly youth. As compared the parties lag far behind.