ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interim information minister Murtaza Solangi stressed the importance of unfettered political participation in the upcoming national elections on Sunday, saying the state media must remain impartial during the political contest.
Solangi’s issued the statement at a time when supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have tried to highlight attempts to eliminate their top leader from the political landscape of the country.
Khan has been facing a number of cases since his ouster from power in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April of last year and remains incarcerated in a high-security prison on charges of corruption and violating the Official Secrets Act.
Addressing a ceremony at Radio Pakistan Karachi, Solangi said it was clearly written in the constitution that the country would be run by democratically elected leaders.
“The state media should not support or oppose any political party,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press of Pakistan news agency.
He said it was the responsibility of the caretaker government to provide the right environment for transparent polls. He instructed the country’s official media to provide fair coverage to all registered political parties in the country.
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday it was “absolutely absurd” to say Pakistan’s powerful military would want to manipulate the election results keep ex-PM Khan from winning.
However, he also maintained in the same conversation it was possible to hold fair elections without the former premier and his jailed party leaders since they were involved in violent protests on May 9 and were facing legal action as a consequence.
Pakistan’s interim government advocates inclusive elections, calls for impartial state media coverage
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Pakistan’s interim government advocates inclusive elections, calls for impartial state media coverage
- Murtaza Solangi says it is the responsibility of the caretaker government to create the right environment for transparent polls
- PM Kakar told international media on Friday it was possible to hold fair elections without ex-PM Khan who was facing legal action
A Pakistani province aims to deport 10,000 Afghans a day
- The measure is part of a crackdown following a sharp decline in the expulsion of undocumented Afghans living in Pakistan
- Some of those targeted for deportation have apparently gone to remote areas in Pakistan to avoid arrest, authorities say
QUETTA: A Pakistani province is setting targets for police to arrest and deport hundreds of thousands of Afghans who are in the country illegally, officials said Thursday.
The measure is part of a nationwide crackdown following a sharp decline in the expulsion of Afghans living in Pakistan without legal permission. Near the Chaman border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, local residents were protesting against new travel visa requirements aimed at cutting down on illegal immigration that have disrupted traffic in the area.
Some of those targeted for deportation had apparently gone to remote areas in Pakistan to avoid arrest, authorities said.
“Instructions have gone to police to arrest Afghans living in Pakistan illegally,” said Jan Achakzai, spokesperson for the government in southwestern Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. He said authorities have been asked to deport 10,000 Afghans a day.
Achakzai made his comment days after authorities at the two key northwestern Torkham and southwestern Chaman border crossings acknowledged that there has been a sudden decrease in the number of Afghans who were sent back to Afghanistan after being arrested on the charges of living in Pakistan illegally.
An estimated 1.7 million Afghans were living in Pakistan in October when authorities announced the crackdown, saying that anyone without proper documents had to go back to their countries by Oct. 31 or be arrested.
Since then, more than 400,000 Afghans returned to their home country.
Pakistani officials say they are deporting only those foreigners, including Afghans, who are in the country illegally, and an estimated 1.4 million Afghans who are registered as refugees should not worry as they are not the target of the anti-migrant drive. Police in Pakistan have been going door to door to check migrants’ documentation.
Pakistan has been hosting Afghans since the 1980s, when millions of Afghans fled south and east to the neighboring Islamic nation during the Soviet occupation of their country. The numbers spiked after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
As part of its crackdown, Pakistan stopped recognizing special permits under which hundreds of thousands of residents in the Baluchistan province border town of Chaman could cross between the two countries. The new visa requirement angered residents who have been rallying near the border, disrupting normal traffic toward the border crossing.
The protesters want Pakistan to allow them to continue using the special permits for business purposes and to meet with relatives who live in the Afghan border city of Spin Boldak.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban-led administration says it is providing shelter and food to returnees. According to Tolo News, an private Afghan outlet, Afghan refugees have complained of mistreatment by Pakistani soldiers after returning home.
The alleged mistreatment of migrants by Pakistani authorities drew widespread condemnation from human organizations.
On Tuesday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Pakistani authorities have committed widespread abuses against Afghans living in the country to compel their return home.
“Pakistani officials have created a coercive environment for Afghans to force them to return to life-threatening conditions in Afghanistan,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately end the abuses and give Afghans facing expulsion the opportunity to seek protection in Pakistan.”
Pakistani authorities have denied such allegations, saying anyone found guilty of mistreating Afghan immigrants lacking permanent legal status would be punished. Achakzai said migrants who are in the country illegally are held at deporting centers in a dignified manner before transporting them to border crossings so they can go back home.
Another appeal filed in Pakistan top court against deportation of Afghan nationals
- Thousands of Afghans, many of whom lived in Pakistan for decades, have left under government’s deportation policy
- Petition says government committing violations of human rights, constitution and international law with new policy
ISLAMABAD: A group of top academics on Thursday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the government’s campaign to deport Afghans and seeking orders to restrain law enforcement agencies from implementing the expulsion policy.
Islamabad last month announced it would expel over a million undocumented migrants, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges that it harbors anti-Pakistan militants. Since the announcement of the deportation drive on Oct. 3, tens of thousands of Afghans, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for decades, have had to leave the country, and authorities are rounding up many more in raids across the country.
Politicians and right activists earlier this month moved the Supreme Court against the government’s deportation order. The latest plea has been filed by six faculty members of the country’s top higher education institute, the Lahore University of Management Sciences, under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. The case is fixed for hearing on Dec. 1.
Article 184 (3) empowers the Supreme Court to hear cases from individuals who believe their fundamental rights have been violated and the issue is of public importance.
The plea names the federation, all four provinces, the Islamabad chief commissioner, the chief commissioner for Afghan refugees, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), the director general of Immigration and Passports and the United National High Commissioner for Afghan refugees as respondents.
It stated that the petitioners, as concerned citizens, were compelled to file the plea in the interest of poor Afghans living in Pakistan, “whether refugees, asylum seekers, so-called illegal foreigners or Pakistani citizens of Afghan origin.”
“This petition is necessitated due to the serious human rights abuses and blatant violation of the Constitution and international law being committed by the federal government, the provincial government and other government authorities in the name of Pakistan.”
The plea said the caretaker government’s decision to expel Afghans “is not contained in any formal written letter” and does not “appear to have been passed under any legal authority such as the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any other statute.”
The petition highlighted that during the process of expulsion, Rs50,000 was taken from Afghan nationals at the borders while many were forced to abandon their homes, properties and businesses in Pakistan.
“Since the impugned decision was made and the expiry of the deadline was given, Afghans are being subjected to forced expulsion, harassment, extortion, physical abuse, racial discrimination, separation from family members, and inhumane treatment in violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution and international law,” the plea said.
In the 1980s, millions of Afghans fled to neighboring Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of their country. The numbers witnessed a spike after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Even before the expulsion drive began, Afghans have long complained about constant harassment due to the lack of citizenship rights for those who have spent decades living and working in Pakistan.
Human rights activists have for years called for Afghans born in the country to be given nationality in accordance with Pakistani law, which grants citizenship to anyone born in the country, except for children of diplomats and enemy aliens.
Protests over custodial death in southwestern Pakistan renew debate on extrajudicial killings
- Family says Balach Baloch killed in “fake encounter,” counterterrorism officials say Baloch had confessed to being involved in militancy
- Protests and shutter down strikes observed across Makran division over killing as government sets up ‘fact-finding’ commission
QUETTA: A protest in southwestern Pakistan over the alleged extrajudicial killing of a 24-year-old ethnic Baloch man entered its seventh day on Thursday, in an ongoing saga that has renewed debate over extrajudicial detentions and deaths and police impunity in Balochistan province where such incidents are not uncommon.
Last week, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Balochistan issued a statement, seen by Arab News, saying Balach Baloch had confessed in custody to being a militant and carrying out a number of attacks. He was arrested on Nov. 20, as per the statement, in possession of five kilograms of explosive materials. Baloch was later killed in a raid on a militant hideout in the city of Turbat, the CTD said.
His family, which finally buried him on Wednesday but vowed to continue protests, has refuted CTD claims, saying Baloch was not involved in any unlawful activities but was picked up by the CTD on Oct. 29 and killed in a “fake encounter.”
Political leaders, human rights activists and families of victims have for decades spoken against killings by the police and other security agencies in staged encounters, a practice where officials claim the victim was killed in a gunfight though they were executed. Authorities deny involvement in such incidents.
“Things are in progress,” a senior official in a “fact-finding” committee set up to probe the case told Arab News, declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media about the inquiry.
The body has five members and has been tasked to submit a report within 15 days.
“The families of the deceased blame others, but the Chief Minister Balochistan has constituted an inquiry commission to ascertain the circumstances,” Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti told reporters on Wednesday. “There are actions that need to be taken under the law, we can’t speak on assumptions.”
A spokesperson for the government of Balochistan and the deputy commissioner’s office did not respond to Arab News queries.
“SIT-IN WILL TURN INTO MOVEMENT“
Baloch’s killing has triggered outrage in cities across the Makran division, with a complete shutter down strike observed in Turbat and other towns on Wednesday while roads leading from the area to Pakistan’s main business hub, Karachi, were blocked by protesters.
Following a demand by Baloch’s family, a local court in Turbat had ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR), or police complaint, against the CTD team involved in the operation in which the 24-year-old was allegedly killed.
“Now we are protesting because despite court orders, why are the authorities not registering an FIR against the people who killed my brother,” Balach’s elder sister Najma Baloch told Arab News.
On the government’s inquiry tribunal, she said:
“Neither do I know anything about the inquiry committee nor has anyone from the committee contacted us.”
“Now hundreds of people have joined the protest and are demanding registration of FIR against the CTD team,” she added, saying her family’s “clear demand” was that Baloch’s murderers be punished.
Waseem Safar, a local member of the Baloch Yakjehti Council (BYC) that is organizing the protests, said the protest would continue in Turbat and be expanded across the province if the police case was not filed.
“Now the sit-in will turn into a movement until authorities register an FIR against the personnel involved in Balach’s murder,” he said. “We will expand the protest across Balochistan against this extrajudicial killing.”
Senior analyst Dr. Amir Rana, who is the director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, said extrajudicial detentions and killings would continue as long as the pattern of releasing suspects involved in such crimes continued.
“If the authorities register an FIR against the CTD team involved in the recent Turbat killing, the state and its institutions, including the courts, will release them,” Rana told Arab News, adding that those involved needed to be brought to justice as per the law to set a precedent for the future.
Provincial government in Balochistan to sponsor Palestinian students at Bolan Medical College
- Tuition fees of 17 Palestinian students would be waived
- Rs10,000 paid for hostel fee, Rs25,000 for daily expenses
ISLAMABAD: The government in Balochistan announced on Thursday it would bear the expenses, including tuition and hostel fees and a stipend, of 17 Palestinian students studying at a top medical university in the southwestern Pakistani province.
The announcement comes after the government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province also instructed all its public educational institutions to exempt Palestinian students from tuition fees and hostel charges, and provide stipends and scholarships in light of the war in Gaza.
“Balochistan Government has issued a notification for payment of sponsorship and educational expenses of 17 Palestinian students of Bolan Medical College,” the chief minister’s office said in a statement.
“Caretaker Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Ali Mardan Domki had announced to pay the tuition fee and other expenses of the Palestinian students studying in Balochistan at the official level.”
The tuition fees of the Palestinian students would be waived and they would be paid Rs10,000 each for hostel fees and Rs25,000 for daily expenses, the statement added.
Over 300 Palestinian students are currently enrolled in Pakistani universities nationwide, including 50 in Sindh’s public educational institutions, according to the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Pakistan.
Over the years, more than 50,000 Palestinian nationals have graduated from educational institutions in Pakistan.
Pakistan mulling army crackdown against electricity theft, line losses in distribution companies — official
- Power secretary says plan to bring in army will begin with Hyderabad Electric Supply Company as a pilot project
- Energy Minister Mohammad Ali had said in September a crackdown would start to stop power theft of $1.92 billion
ISLAMABAD: The government has “carved out a plan” to involve the army in a crackdown against electricity theft and line losses of state-run power distribution companies, the federal secretary of the power division said in an interview to a top Pakistani newspaper published on Thursday.
The South Asian nation’s power sector has been plagued by high rates of power theft and distribution losses, resulting in accumulating debts across the production chain — a concern also raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during recent bailout talks.
There are ten distribution companies in Pakistan, which are locally called DISCOs. The high performing ones, with high recovery of bills, are based in the major eastern urban centers of Gujranwala and Faislabad, as well as in the capital, Islamabad, but other state-run companies make massive losses because of low recovery rates due to theft and line losses.
The caretaker energy minister Mohammad Ali had said in September a crackdown would start to stop power theft of 589 billion rupees ($1.92 billion).
“We have carved out a plan which is yet to be approved by higher authorities. However, the top functionaries of Power Division have made up their minds to start implementing the plan from HESCO (Hyderabad Electric Supply Company) as a pilot project,” Secretary of the Power division Rasheed Langrial told The News, one of Pakistan’s top English newspapers, referring to plans for the army to supervise a crackdown against electricity theft and distribution losses.
“This will help identify unscrupulous elements within the DISCO and people hand in glove with theft of electricity and causing billions of rupee losses to national exchequer.”
The army has not yet commented on Langrial’s remarks but the news comes after a crackdown on dollar hoarding and smuggling that has led to a continuing appreciation of Pakistan’s national currency and which currency dealers have widely credited the country’s all-powerful army of spearheading. Tens of millions of dollars have poured back into Pakistan’s interbank and open markets since raids on black market operators began on Sept. 6.
While there have been other attempts to curb the black market when the rupee has been under stress, the latest push came after licensed dealers requested army chief General Asim Munir to take action, rather than leave it solely to the civilian caretaker government that was put in place in August to run Pakistan till elections, currently expected to be held early next year. Munir had reportedly promised dealers “transparency in dollar exchange and interbank rates.”
According to the data for the financial year 2020-21 quoted in The News, the recovery of electricity bills in HESCO was at 73.7 percent, Sukkur Electric Supply Company 64.6 percent, Quetta Electric Supply Company at 34.66 percent and Tribal Electric Supply Company at 25.29 percent.
Pakistan’s resolve to undertake power sector reforms was crucial to reaching a staff level agreement unlocking a $3 billion standby arrangement from the IMF earlier this year.
The power sector has been specifically mentioned by the IMF, which called for a “timely” rebasing of tariffs to ensure that costs are recovered. This means hiking prices for consumers despite already record high inflation.
