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Independent candidates, most backed by Imran Khan, lead in Pakistan election race

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A journalist is silhouetted against the screen as he checks on the live results of the general election at a makeshift media centre at town hall In Lahore, Pakistan, on February 9, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 09 February 2024
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Independent candidates, most backed by Imran Khan, lead in Pakistan election race

  • The party of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is in second place with 46 seats
  • A party needs 133 parliamentary seats for majority but vote may not produce clear winner
Updated 09 February 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Independent candidates, many of whom were backed by ex-PM Imran Khan’s party, have clinched a majority of parliamentary seats in Pakistan national elections, followed by three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party, as results of Thursday’s vote continue to trickle in.

The independents, backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party after it lost its unifying election symbol of cricket bat, have won 42 seats, according to official results shared by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by around 230pm on Friday.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has secured 34 seats of the National Assembly, lower house of Pakistan parliament, followed by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which has secured 27 parliamentary seats.

A party needs 133 seats in parliament for a simple majority but many analysts believe the vote may not produce a clear winner. With the vote count still continuing, a clear picture is likely to emerge later in the day. The main battle is expected between candidates backed by Khan, who has been in jail since August on graft charges, and Sharif, who analysts see as the frontrunner in Thursday’s vote.

However, analysts have raised concerns over the ECP missing its deadlines for the announcement of results after polling closed at 5pm on Thursday, saying any further delays would lead to allegations of result-tampering and manipulation of election, already marred by accusations of pre-poll rigging.

“The delay in results is catastrophic for the credibility of the results of the election,” Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst, told Arab News. “It is hard to imagine the election day itself having been better managed and hard to imagine the vote tallying having been worse managed.”

The ECP set a deadline of 2am for the announcement of results in constituencies where polling continued without any delays, while the deadline was 10am on Friday for the constituencies where obstructions were witnessed in the voting process.

Salahuddin Safder, a spokesperson of the FAFEN election observer group, said the delay in the announcement of results “remained a concern” for them.

“We did not receive many results till the first deadline of 2am and [the ECP] even missed the second deadline given in the law which is 10am next morning after the polls,” he noted.

He, however, said that FAFEN’s observers reported no major issues during the process of polling.

Huma Baqai said the social media was clearly indicative of a “recipe for trouble” because the masses, including a sizeable number of Khan supporters, did not have any direction at the moment.

“Their [PTI supporters] leadership is in jails and will probably remain so,” she said. “It’s going to create unrest.”

'PML-N single largest party in center and Punjab'

As results continued to trickle in on Friday, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz said her party was emerging as the “single largest party in center and in Punjab.”

 

 

“As opposed to the false perception deliberately built by a section of media last night, PML-N, Alhamdolillah (praise be to God) emerging as the single largest party in center and in Punjab,” she said on X.

“Some results awaited. MNS (Mian Nawaz Sharif) will head to PMLN HQ for the victory speech as soon as final results are received. Insha’Allah. Stay tuned.”

On Thursday, Sharif dismissed talk of an unclear result in the elections.

“For God’s sake, don’t talk about a coalition government,” he told reporters after casting his vote in Lahore’s upscale Model Town neighborhood. “It is very important for a government to get a clear majority.”

Thursday’s vote was the culmination of an especially contentious election season in which allegations of military meddling took center-stage, casting a shadow over a historic event that marks only the country’s third-ever democratic transition of power. The army, which has ruled for over three decades of Pakistan’s history since independence in 1947, strongly denies interfering in political affairs.

The government’s decision to suspend mobile data services across the country minutes before voting began was also seen by many as an effort to keep opposition voters from getting information or coordinating activities, but the interior ministry said it opted for the blockade to ensure the security of polling stations after at least 28 people were killed in two explosions near election offices in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Wednesday.

Despite the heightened security, 12 people, including two children, were killed in 51 bomb blasts, grenade attacks and shootings by militants, mostly in the western provinces, the military said in a statement.

The victims included five police killed in a bomb blast and firing on a patrol in the Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district in the northwest, authorities said. Two children died in a blast outside a women’s polling station in Balochistan province.

'Peaceful conduct'

Interior Minister Gohar Ejaz on Friday expressed satisfaction over the “generally peaceful conduct” of the elections, under exceptional security circumstances.

“Deployment of hundreds of thousands of regular & civil armed forces, other law enforcement agencies and civilian officials across thousands of square kilometers of varied terrain and harsh weather within a limited time was no mean feat,” he said in a statement shared by his ministry.

“The successful conduct of the mammoth exercise can only be attributed to the collective efforts of all elements of state.”

He said the deaths of 28 people and injuries to 64 others in incidents of violence just a day prior to the elections forced the state to take several measures for ensuring safety of citizens.

“This also included the difficult decision of suspending the mobile phone services across the country to disallow terrorists the means to communicate, coordinate and conduct terrorist operations,” Ejaz said.

“Mobile devices are also instrumental in initiating the trigger mechanisms for modern explosive devices for mass casualties.”

The minister said they were fully aware the suspension of mobile phone services would impact the transmission of election results across Pakistan and delay the process, however, the “choice between this delay and safety of our citizens was quite straightforward and the decision was taken.”

 

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Topics: elections 2024 Pakistan elections 2024

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On Eid Al-Adha, animal accessories are all the rage 

Updated 17 June 2024
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On Eid Al-Adha, animal accessories are all the rage 

  • Animal traders decorate bulls, lambs and goats to make them stand out and fetch higher prices
  • Customers buy animals, then purchase anklets, bells and colorful collars from decoration stalls
Updated 17 June 2024
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Ashraf Khan picked up a colorful anklet and showed it to a customer from a range of collars, beads, bells and other ornaments at his stall of animal accessories at the Sangjani cattle market on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

The 33-year-old, who sets up a makeshift stall at the market every year, said the demand for animal accessories went up just as the demand for animals and their prices surged ahead of the major Islamic festival, marked by devout Muslims by slaughtering animals and sharing the meat with family and the poor.

Khan, who has been selling animal accessories for the last several years, said his clients not only included members of the public, but also traders who wanted to adorn their cows, sheep and bulls before putting them up for sale in order to better attract customers and fetch higher prices.

“We receive goats, lambs and bulls [at our decoration stall],” Ashraf said. “It takes Rs1,000 to Rs1,500 ($3-5) to decorate a goat with different types of materials. Decorating bulls ranges from Rs2,000 to Rs2,500 ($7-8).”

The 33-year-old sources ornaments from Islamabad’s twin city of Rawalpindi and sets up his stall in the Sangjani capital market a week before Eid.

“The price tag depends on the number and quality of items,” Khan said. 

Naik Muhammad, who brought 50 lambs to sell at Sangjani market, said a lamb cost him around Rs25,000 ($90) this year and he was looking to sell it for between Rs85,000 to Rs95,000 ($305-$341).

“The purpose of decoration is that customers like them more and the rates get better,” Muhammad said. “When customers like the animal then we can ask rates of our choice.”

Alamgir Khan, a fruit vendor in Islamabad, purchased a lamb for Rs77,500 ($278) after haggling with sellers for around three hours and brought it to Khan’s stall to buy accessories for decoration.

“We have spent some money on its decoration to make it look beautiful and then the children at home will see it and be happy, and that is a rewarding thing,” Alamgir told Arab News. “This is an animal for sacrifice, it should be adorned.”

Topics: eid al-adha

Pakistan among big nuclear arms spenders amid swelling global tensions — studies

Updated 17 June 2024
AFP
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Pakistan among big nuclear arms spenders amid swelling global tensions — studies

  • Spending for 2023 by the nuclear-armed states jumped more than 33 percent from the $68.2 billion spent in 2018
  • SIPRI says “we have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since Cold War”
Updated 17 June 2024
AFP

GENEVA: Nuclear-armed countries hiked spending on atomic weapons arsenals by a third in the past five years as they modernized their stockpiles amid growing geopolitical tensions, two reports showed on Monday.

The world’s nine nuclear-armed states jointly spent $91 billion on their arsenals last year, according to a new report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

That report, and a separate one from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), indicated that nuclear weapons states are dramatically scaling up spending as they modernize and even deploy new nuclear-armed weapons.

“I think it is fair to say there is a nuclear arms race under way,” ICAN chief Melissa Parke told AFP.

Wilfred Wan, head of SIPRI’s weapons of mass destruction program, meanwhile warned in a statement that “we have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War.”

SIPRI’s report showed that the total estimated number of nuclear warheads in the world actually declined somewhat to 12,121 at the start of this year, from 12,512 a year earlier.

But while some of that included older warheads scheduled to be dismantled, it said 9,585 were in stockpiles for potential use — nine more than a year earlier.

And 2,100 were kept in a state of “high operational alert” on ballistic missiles.

Nearly all of those were held by the United States and Russia, but China was for the first time believed to also have some warheads on high operational alert, SIPRI said.

“While the global total of nuclear warheads continues to fall as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” SIPRI director Dan Smith said.

The spending surge reported by ICAN appeared to back that up.

The report showed that in 2023 alone, nuclear weapons spending worldwide jumped by $10.8 billion from a year earlier, with the United States accounting for 80 percent of that increase.

The US share of total spending, $51.5 billion, “is more than all the other nuclear-armed countries put together,” said ICAN.

The next biggest spender was China, at $11.8 billion, followed by Russia, spending $8.3 billion.

Britain’s spending meanwhile rose significantly for the second year in a row, swelling 17 percent to $8.1 billion.

Spending for 2023 by the nuclear-armed states — which also include France, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea — jumped more than 33 percent from the $68.2 billion spent in 2018, when ICAN first began collecting this data, it said.

Since then, the nuclear armed states have spent an estimated total of $387 billion on the deadly weapons, the report showed.

Parke slammed “the billions of dollars being squandered on nuclear weapons” as “a profound and unacceptable misallocation of public funds.”

She highlighted that that money was more than what the World Food Programme estimates is needed to end world hunger.

“And you could plant a million trees for every minute of nuclear weapons spending,” she said.

“These numbers are obscene, and it is money that the state says is going toward weapons that... will never be used,” she said, pointing to the nuclear deterrence doctrine.

The investments are not only wasteful but also extremely dangerous, she warned.

“What happens when deterrence fails?“

Geneva-based ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021.

Seventy countries have ratified it to date and more have signed it, although none of the nuclear weapons states have come on board.

“Instead of investing in Armageddon, the nine nuclear-armed states should follow the example of almost half the world’s countries and join the treaty... and make a real contribution to global security,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre, a co-author of Monday’s ICAN report.

Topics: Pakistan nuclear

Karachi’s professional butchers are the real heroes of Eid Al-Adha 

Updated 17 June 2024
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Karachi’s professional butchers are the real heroes of Eid Al-Adha 

  • Butchers are booked in advance by customers ahead of Eid holiday 
  • Seasonal butchers also use the holiday to make some extra income 
Updated 17 June 2024
KHURSHID AHMED   

KARACHI: Qayamuddin Qureshi, a 70-year-old butcher affectionately known as Qamo Bhai, works year-round near Jubilee Chowk in the Old City Area of Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi. 

But ahead of Eid Al-Adha each year, the third-generation butcher’s phone rings off the hook as customers call him for advance bookings to visit their homes and slaughter cows, sheep and goats to mark the annual religious holiday.

The demand for professional butchers surges on Eid Al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, traditionally marked by the slaughter of animals, whose meat is shared with family members and the poor, while amateur and seasonal butchers also try to make an extra buck during the holiday season.

“People book us [professional butchers] in advance and those who book in advance get the benefit of this early reservation,” Qureshi, a self-described ‘man of his word’ who has been working as a butcher since the age of 10, told Arab News, as he cut up a piece of meat at a shop in Hassan Ali Hothi Market. 

“By the grace of Allah, I am a family butcher... and this is our second and third generation in the profession … I do a lot of work, execute the job in the best manner and make customers satisfied and that’s why they keep calling me back again.”

Last year, Pakistanis sacrificed over six million animals worth $1.9 billion during the three-day Eid Al-Adha festival, according to estimates shared by the Pakistan tanners’ association.

“What we earn during the three days [of Eid Al-Adha] is enough to eat for the six months,” Qureshi said.

Earlier this month, the Meat Merchants Association in Karachi announced the official rates for animal slaughtering services during Eid, with the price for cows set at around $70, for goats at $32 and camels at $144. Amateur butchers often charge as low as $18.

The service charges are highest on the first day of Eid.

“There is a lot of demand for the first day. For example, a cow that costs about a million rupees would be slaughtered for Rs50,000 on the first day,” Qureshi said, adding that the charges gradually decreased by the third day.

Muhammad Naseem Qureshi, another longtime butcher, said he had many returning customers. 

“You can’t find good butchers,” he said. “So the people catch us by themselves. They know that we are good butchers.”

Naseem said he was now refusing orders as his services were fully booked. 

“We have so much work that we have to refuse people,” he said. “We have a ‘Housefull’ sign displayed outside.”

SEASONAL BUTCHERS

Old hands like Qureshi said amateur butchers were easy to identify, particularly though their “tools and slaughtering skills.” 

“They slaughter and work on one animal with the help of four people, but a professional butcher works on the animal alone,” he said. 

But with butchers in such high demand over Eid, not everyone gets to book the craftsman of their choice, particularly as the professionals charge more. 

“The animals are also very expensive,” Karachi resident Hajji Noshad said. “We are [often] compelled to bring in unprofessional butchers who mostly ruin the meat and our sacrifice.”

But for seasonal butchers, Eid Al-Adha is too good an opportunity to let go to generate some extra income.

“We have a family business of sanitary hardware,” Saeed Akbar Ali, who works as a butcher over Eid, told Arab News.

“The job of butcher we do... we slaughter 10-12 animals a day... to meet the expenses for Eid.”

Topics: Eid al-Adha 2024 Pakistan Eid Butchers heroes

Pakistan joins Muslim world in celebrating Eid Al-Adha, the ‘Feast of Sacrifice’

Updated 17 June 2024
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Pakistan joins Muslim world in celebrating Eid Al-Adha, the ‘Feast of Sacrifice’

  • The Pakistan government has announced a three-day holiday for Eid, from Monday to Wednesday
  • Over six million animals valued at around $1.9 billion were sacrificed during the three-day holiday last year
Updated 17 June 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Muslims in Pakistan started celebrating Eid Al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, on Monday with food and prayers for the people of Gaza and Kashmir, facing “brutal foreign occupation” but fighting for their right to self-determination.

One of the most important Islamic holidays, Eid Al-Adha is a joyous occasion on which food is a hallmark and during which devout Muslims buy and slaughter animals and share the meat with family, friends and the poor. The revered observance coincides with the final rites of the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

As the day began, top leaders shared wishes with the Pakistani people, with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif both urging the nation to “reaffirm their commitment to the values of brotherhood, sacrifice, and selflessness on this occasion.”

“Sharif said the day serves as an occasion to unite the people and foster the bonds of brotherhood and fraternity as well as to look after the less fortunate among us and make them part of our collective celebration,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 

“He said on this Eid day, we pray for our Palestinian and Kashmiri brothers and sisters who are bravely facing brutal foreign occupation but remain steadfast in their struggle to achieve their right of self-determination.”

A girl with henna patterns on her hand looks towards a sacrificial animal being slaughtered, as she accompanies her father during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan on June 17, 2024. (REUTERS)

The Pakistani military and its top leaders also extended wishes to all Pakistanis on the occasion of Eid.

“This sacred event embodies the spirit of sacrifice for the greater good. On this auspicious day, we are indebted to our martyrs and ghazis [warriors] for the independence and peace which prevail in the country, and pay tribute to their ultimate sacrifices,” the army’s media wing said. 

“May Allah Almighty continue to bestow His blessings upon Pakistan and protect it from the nefarious designs of its adversaries, Ameen.”

Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers at the Eidgah ground in Rawalpindi on June 17, 2024. (AFP)

The Pakistan government has announced a three-day holiday for Eid, from Monday to Wednesday.

According to tanners associations, over six million animals valued at approximately Rs531 billion ($1.9 billion) were sacrificed during the three-day Eid festival in 2023. As many, if not more, animals are expected to be sacrificed this year.

Muslims greet each other after offering Eid al-Adha prayers at the Eidgah ground in Rawalpindi on June 17, 2024. (AFP)

 

Topics: Eid Al Adha Eid Pakistan

Government accuses ex-PM Khan party of sponsoring resolutions in US to halt Pakistan military aid

Updated 16 June 2024
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Government accuses ex-PM Khan party of sponsoring resolutions in US to halt Pakistan military aid

  • Spokesman says Khan’s party began a ‘concentrated smear campaign’ against Pakistan in foreign countries following his ouster in 2022
  • The House Rules committee declared the resolutions against the facts and set them aside after Foreign Office intervention, Aqeel Malik adds
Updated 16 June 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government on Sunday accused former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of hiring lobbyist firms in the United States (US) to move resolutions in the Congress that sought to halt Pakistan’s military aid.
The PTI began a “concentrated smear campaign” against Pakistan in foreign countries after the ouster of Khan in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022, according to Aqeel Malik, a Pakistani government spokesman.
The resolutions tabled last year urged Washington to limit US military assistance to Pakistan until the South Asian country ensured free and fair elections, and independent judiciary and reasserted separation of powers.
Speaking at a press conference, Malik said these resolutions had been sponsored by Khan’s party to promote “anti-Pakistan agenda and narrative,” but the US House of Representatives rejected them.
“In the amendments submitted, they [PTI] said that Pakistan’s security and other assistance should be stopped and requested the secretary of state to submit a report in which human rights violations in Pakistan, other assessments and any irregularities should also be reported,” he said.
“Our Foreign Office had this campaign neutralized, set aside and defeated it. These three amendments were dropped because the House Rules committee declared them against the facts.”
He criticized the PTI for shaping an anti-US narrative in Pakistan following the ouster of Khan from the PM’s office and yet hiring lobbyist firms to promote “anti-Pakistan agenda and narrative” in the US.
In a post on X, the PTI said Congressman Ro Khanna’s call for the US to sanction Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, and other military leaders over transnational repression marked a “crucial turning point.”
“The international community can no longer ignore the blatant human rights abuses and systemic corruption that plague Pakistan. The recent rigged election, with Imran Khan still unjustly imprisoned, is a testament to the military’s stranglehold on the country,” it said.
In the last several months, the PTI has sought support from US lawmakers in investigating alleged rights abuses and crackdown on its supporters in the wake of Khan’s unprecedented campaign of defiance against Pakistan’s powerful military.
In May 2023, 65 congressmen wrote a letter to the US Secretary of Defense to prioritize the promotion of protection of human rights and democracy in Pakistan, according to Malik.
Eleven congressmen wrote a letter to US Secretary of State in November last year to suspend US assistance to Pakistan, while 31 others wrote to the US secretary of state and the president to not recognize the Pakistani government formed after February 2024 election.
Khan’s PTI was severely hamstrung ahead of the February 8 polls, with rallies banned, its party symbol taken away, and dozens of its candidates rejected from eligibility to stand. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan, who has been in jail since last August, says all cases against him are politically motivated to keep him out of politics.

Topics: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party

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