ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Thursday challenged the decision of an election tribunal that refused to accept his nomination for the upcoming election and disqualified him for life.
Abbasi claimed the tribunal overstepped its authority under a controversial constitutional clause that requires aspiring candidates and public office holders to be truthful and honest.
The former PM, who is seeking to contest the poll from his home constituency in Murree, was disqualified on Wednesday after the tribunal in Rawalpindi scrutinized his nomination documents and said he had concealed facts and withheld information.
The tribunal ordered that Abbasi “is not a sadiq (truthful) and ameen (honest) person” and is, therefore, “not a qualified person to be elected or chosen as a Member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)” under the conditions set by Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973.”
The same constitutional proviso was used to disqualify Abbasi’s ousted leader and predecessor Nawaz Sharif in July last year.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart and former foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif was also disqualified under the same clause near the end of the party’s tenure, but a court later overturned the decision.
PML-N information secretary Mushahidullah Khan claims the party is being systematically persecuted and victimized. “The disqualification decisions since July are one-sided, partial and biased,” Khan told Arab News.
The latest blow to the PML-N signals pre-poll engineering to create obstacles for the party leadership, he said.
“If it were any other political party, it would have collapsed, but we have been unified and resilient.”
Khan said he is confident the party will win in the upcoming polls unless the elections are rigged.
Although Abbasi has been granted permission by the tribunal to stand for elections from the Islamabad constituency after a temporary setback of rejection, Khan fears more challenges as the polls approach.
“If he has been disqualified for one constituency, I don’t see how the tribunal is allowing him campaign in another,” said Khan.
In a statement sent to Arab News after meetings with the European Union Chief Election Observer, Michael Gahler, and the President of the National Democratic Institute, Kenneth Wollack, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the PML(N) Central Media Committee, said his party would resist any attempt at rigging or interference, intimidation or manipulation of the elections.
Political pundits observe a misuse of the controversial constitutional clauses inserted during military rule in the 1980s to squeeze politicians and crush their popularity.
Political analyst Dr. Nazir Hussain told Arab News that politics in Pakistan “wouldn’t be politics without some sort of manipulation” and agreed that the constitutional clauses were being used against some politicians.
Another political expert, Qamar Cheema, said that with the antigraft watchdog “NAB and judicial activism over-stretching its authority, the public perception is that state institutions are proactive for a particular purpose, which is not to let PML-N have a favorable environment for contesting elections.”
“Institutions will have to dispel this impression, otherwise their credibility will be at stake. PML-N’s leadership is in trouble. Elections are around the corner and this makes PML-N’s case of victimhood more serious,” said Cheema.
Former Pakistani PM challenges election ban
Former Pakistani PM challenges election ban
- PML-N claims ‘election bias’ following leadership disqualifications
- PML-N accuses state forces of poll rigging and targeting of party leaders, but vows to work its way to victory
Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin
- Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones”
MOSCOW: Russia has welcomed changes in the US National Security Strategy, saying the adjustments that marked a radical departure from Washington’s previous policy were “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Washington’s new National Security Strategy, published early Friday, took aim at allies in Europe, calling it over-regulated, lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.
The document stated that the United States would also prevent other powers from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
Commenting on the new US strategy, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones.”
“The adjustments we’re seeing, I would say, are largely consistent with our vision,” Peskov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday.
“President Trump is currently strong in terms of domestic political positions. And this gives him the opportunity to adjust the concept to suit his vision,” Peskov added.
The publication of the updated security strategy came as officials from Kyiv held talks in Florida with Trump’s envoys on the US-drafted plan to end the near four-year war in Ukraine.
Three days of talks produced no apparent breakthrough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky committed to further negotiations toward “real peace,” as Russia in the early hours of Saturday launched another series of drone and missile strikes at Ukraine.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — in London on Monday to take stock of the negotiations.
