LAHORE: Newly elected representatives from Pakistan’s most politically important province of Punjab took oath today, Friday, at the provincial legislative assembly’s inaugural session, amid claims from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, that its elected MPs were being blocked by police from entering the parliamentary building.
An agreement to form a coalition government at the center between Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of three-time Premier Nawaz Sharif late Tuesday night ended days of uncertainty and negotiations after an inconclusive Feb. 8 election produced a hung national assembly.
PML-N’s 79 and the PPP’s 54 seats in the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, together make a simple majority to form a government, though the two parties will also rope in smaller parties in the coalition. Independent candidates backed by Imran Khan won 93 seats, but do not have the numbers to form a government. He and his party have rejected the results of the elections, alleging widespread rigging and holding daily protests since the polls.
The Punjab Assembly is the first house to convene its opening session, out of five assemblies that went to the polls on Feb. 8. The assembly meeting, scheduled to start at 10am, began after 2pm, because of the delayed arrival of the outgoing Punjab Assembly speaker, Sibtain Khan, still a member of the PTI.
Social media and TV footage showed a large number of police and other security officials standing guard outside the premises.
After his arrival, Khan chose to praise the show of strength demonstrated by “PTI loyalists” within the assembly halls.
“We are showing that we are still the largest party in Punjab,” he said. “They [the police and PTI rivals] cannot stop us even if they try. If anyone is denied entry into the assembly, I will go out and bring them in myself.”
The considerable delay in the assembly session led to altercations between PML-N and PTI-backed MPs, marked by mutual political sloganeering.
The speaker directed his criticism toward the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) before entering the hall, condemning its “disappointing behavior” by pointing out it had taken away his party’s election symbol right ahead of the national polls to deprive the PTI of reserved seats in the house.
PTI-backed MNAs and MPAs filed affidavits with the ECP on Wednesday to join the Sunni Ittehad Council party, aiming to secure these seats for women and members of religious minorities to bolster their numbers.
“It is the right of all political parties [to get the reserved seats] and we will fight this battle on all legal fronts. For now, we have official matters to take care of,” he said before entering the assembly hall to administer oath to 313 newly elected members.
“POLITICAL HEARTLAND”
A party requires 186 members to form the government in Punjab. The PML-N won the greatest number of seats in the province, 137, has been joined by about two dozen independent members and is also likely to bag a significant number of reserved seats which are allocated based on the number of seats won in polls.
The session will then be prorogued to be summoned on Saturday for the election of the new speaker and deputy speaker of the house, to be followed by the election of the leader of the house, the chief minister.
The Punjab Assembly is the largest elected house in the country, with 371 seats, comprising 297 general seats and 74 reserved seats, including 66 for women and eight for minorities.
The province of more than 127 million people, over half of Pakistan’s population, is known as the country’s most heated battleground, contributing 173 of the 326 seats in Pakistan’s Parliament and is the heartland of the nation’s political, military and industrial elite.
Historically, the party that secures a stronghold in Punjab often manages to form the government at the center. Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the daughter of three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, is poised to make history as the first woman chief minister of a Pakistani province. The PML-N’s candidate for prime minister is Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s brother.
Earlier in the day, Maryam called a party meeting at the provincial assembly to discuss her party’s governance strategy to consolidate its position in the province.
She was joined by former federal minister for information and broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, who has moved to the province to provide her political assistance.
“I hope that God gives us another chance at service in Punjab,” Maryam told reporters before entering the Punjab Assembly on Friday afternoon. Media footage later showed her sitting in the assembly holding a large portrait of her father.
Newly elected MPs take oath at legislative assembly in Pakistan’s key Punjab province
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Newly elected MPs take oath at legislative assembly in Pakistan’s key Punjab province
- Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N emerged as the largest party in Punjab Assembly in elections held earlier this month
- PTI speaker assembly Sibtain Khan unhappy that they weren’t given reserved seats despite joining Sunni Ittehad Council
In blow to ruling coalition, Pakistan’s electoral watchdog suspends 77 lawmakers elected on reserved seats
- Ruling follows top court overruling earlier verdict that party aligned with ex-PM Khan backed candidates not eligible for reserved seats
- Suspension of lawmakers means ruling coalition has lost two-thirds majority in National Assembly, which is required to amend constitution
Pakistan’s election regulator has suspended 77 lawmakers elected on reserved seats, dealing a blow to the fragile ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif which has lost the third-thirds parliamentary majority needed to make constitutional amendments.
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s ruling comes a week after the Supreme Court overruled a verdict by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) that a party aligned with candidates backed by former premier Imran Khan was not eligible for reserved seats in the legislature.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party couldn’t contest the Feb. 8 elections under its traditional electoral symbol, a cricket bat, which it was denied on technical grounds, and subsequently struck an alliance with another party, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), in a bid to secure reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament. Under Pakistan’s election rules, political parties are allotted reserved seats in proportion to the number of parliamentary seats they win in the election. This completes the National Assembly’s total strength of 336 seats.
The Election Commission had ruled in March that the SIC was not eligible for reserved seats, a decision the alliance had appealed in the Peshawar High Court, which rejected the petition. The SIC then approached the Supreme Court to appeal the high court’s decision, which last week suspended the PHC’s ruling.
“Pursuant to the order on 6th May, 2024 passed by the honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan, the notifications of the following returned candidates against under mentioned categories of reserved seats are hereby suspended till further orders,” the ECP’s notification read.
With the ECP’s notification, the strength in the National Assembly of PM Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has reduced from 121 to 107 while that of its main coalition partner Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is down from 72 to 67.
This means the ruling coalition has lost its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, with its numerical strength decreasing to 209 from 228. In the 336-member National Assembly, the figure to attain two-thirds majority is 224, without which the government cannot enact reforms or amend laws.
Sharif formed a weak coalition with other parties after February general elections produced a hung parliament. The PML-N’s 79 and the PPP’s 54 seats together made a simple majority in parliament to form a government and they also roped in smaller parties in the coalition.
Candidates backed by Khan won the most seats, 93, but did not have the numbers to form a government. Khan and his party have rejected the results of the elections, alleging widespread rigging.
According to the breakdown of the 77 suspended lawmakers, 44 belong to Sharif’s PML-N party, 15 to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 13 to the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), and one each to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P).
The 77 suspended lawmakers include 22 legislators elected on reserved seats in the National Assembly, 25 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, 27 in the Punjab Assembly, and three in the Sindh Assembly.
Azad Kashmir demonstrators call off protests as government cuts electricity, wheat prices after violent protests
- Protests began on May 11 and lasted for days until the Pakistan government approved $83 million in subsidies
- One police officer and three young demonstrators were killed as protests turned violent in the Himalayan region
ISLAMABAD: An alliance of civil rights groups on Tuesday called off a protest that had lasted for several days across Azad Kashmir and led to serious clashes with police and paramilitary Rangers after the government met its demand to reduce electricity and wheat prices in the region.
The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) organized the protests that started on May 11, seeking subsidized wheat flour and a reduction in electricity tariffs to bring them in line with the hydropower generation cost in Azad Kashmir.
The demonstrations led to four deaths, including one police officer who was reportedly killed by protesters in gunfire, while three demonstrators lost their lives in clashes with Rangers in Muzaffarabad.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Chaudhry said at a news conference on Monday his government had notified reduced wheat and electricity prices after the Pakistani government approved Rs23 billion ($83 million) in subsidies.
“On the appeal of the Awami Action Committee, it has been decided to end the ongoing lockdown and wheel-jam strike across Azad Kashmir,” Amjad Ali Khan, a member of the JAAC core committee, told Arab News on Tuesday.
He said JAAC demanded compensation for the three young demonstrators killed in clashes with Rangers. He also informed that a day of mourning and a shutter-down strike would be held today across Kashmir to honor the three demonstrators.
Speaking about the details of JAAC’s agreement with the government, Khan said the authorities had agreed to drop all the cases and release the arrested individuals.
“The Awami Action Committee demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate police violence in the Mirpur Division and Muzaffarabad,” he added, saying the judicial commission’s investigation should be made public and those responsible should be punished.
Abdul Majid Khan, a spokesperson for the AJK government, said the authorities had shown utmost restraint to pacify the situation.
“All the demands of the protesters have been fulfilled, and the situation will hopefully return to normalcy now,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the situation in Azad Kashmir had been addressed after the federal government approved the grant to deal with people’s concerns.
“With the grant given by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the issue has been resolved to meet the people’s demands,” he told the media in Islamabad.
He mentioned Azad Kashmir’s special status, pointing out that its affairs were managed with the grants of Pakistan’s federal government.
“The government will look after the police personnel who fell victims of the protests,” he added.
The Himalayan territory of Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947, with both countries ruling part of the territory but claiming it in full.
The western portion of the larger Kashmir region is administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity, while India rules the southern portion as a union territory.
While the Indian portion has faced an ongoing insurgency for decades and multiple armed attempts by the state to quell it, the Pakistani side has remained relatively calm over the decades, though it is also highly militarized.
Protesters call off march in Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir after demands met
- March called off day after Pakistan’s PM Sharif approves $86 million grant to subsidize flour, electricity
- Clashes between protesters and police, which began last week, claimed lives of three civilians, one cop
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan: An alliance of civil rights group on Tuesday called off a protest march in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir after several days of clashes over high prices in which four people have been killed and over 100 injured, officials said.
Protesters called off the march a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a grant of 24 billion rupees ($86 million) to help meet most of their demands, which included subsidies on flour and electricity prices.
The alliance’s head, Shaukat Nawaz Mir, announced the decision in Muzaffarabad, the capital city of the scenic Himalayan region.
“The government has accepted all of our demands,” he said, calling on protesters to return to their homes and businesses.
Mir also demanded the government give financial compensation for the families of three protesters and a police official who were killed in the violence.
The protesters were killed on Monday evening after paramilitary troops opened fire when they were attacked, said local government official Adnan Khurshid. The police official died in clashes over the weekend.
Kashmir’s Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Chaudhry said late on Monday that the funds would help lower some prices in the region.
The subsidized rate for 40 kgs (88.2 lb) of flour will be 2,000 rupees, down from 3,100 rupees, he said. He also announced a substantial dip in the electricity prices.
The protests coincide with the visit of an International Monetary Fund mission to negotiate a new long-term loan with Islamabad.
The IMF has already warned that social tensions triggered by the high cost of living could weigh on policy implementation, adding that fiscal slippages could present a challenge for the government.
PM says Pakistan to privatize all state-owned entities except ‘strategically important’ ones
- Finance Minister Aurangzeb last week said there is “no such thing as strategic” public entities
- Privatization of debt-ridden state entities is major reform demanded by IMF as Pakistan negotiates new bailout
KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday that his government would privatize all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) except for those deemed “strategically important” or essential ones, state-owned media reported, as Islamabad looks to overhaul its public entities to improve their performance.
The announcement is in direct conflict with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s statement from Sunday in which he said that all public entities would be handed over to the private sector. The minister had said he and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar were on the same page that “there is no such thing as a strategic SOE.”
Former finance minister Dar had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization on May 10 in which he had said the government’s business would only be limited to essential or strategic SOEs. Dar said while priority would be accorded to loss-making entities, even SOEs who were earning profits would be considered for privatization.
PM Sharif chaired a high-level meeting on matters related to the Ministry of Privatization and Privatization Commission on Tuesday, the state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced to privatize all government-owned enterprises with the exception of strategically important state-owned enterprises,” Radio Pakistan said. “The Prime Minister directed all federal ministries to take necessary action in this regard and cooperate with the Privatization Commission.”
Pakistan’s Finance Division has defined strategic entities as those whose functions have significant strategic, security, or social importance in addition to economic values for the country. It has defined essential SOEs as those which are critical for the execution of government policies and where the private sector is unable to assume those functions due to various reasons.
The Oil & Gas Development Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan State Oil (PSO), National Bank of Pakistan, and hydropower projects are considered strategically important enterprises owned by the government. However, the government has not classified strategic assets for privatization yet.
Pakistan agreed to overhaul its public entities under a $3 billion financial bailout agreement it signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, a deal that helped it avert a sovereign debt default in 2023. The IMF has said Pakistan’s SOEs whose losses are burning a hole in government finances would need stronger governance. Pakistan is currently negotiating with the international lender for a larger, longer program for which it must implement an ambitious reforms agenda, including the privatization of debt-ridden SOEs.
Among the main entities Pakistan is pushing to privatize is its national flag carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The government is putting on the block a stake ranging from 51 percent to 100 percent.
Sharif instructed authorities to ensure transparency in the privatization process of all state-owned entities, including the PIA.
“He directed to televise live Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited’s privatization including bidding and other important steps,” Radio Pakistan said. “The process of privatization of other institutions will also be broadcast live.”
The prime minister was informed that the pre-qualification process for PIA’s privatization would be completed by the end of May. He was told loss-making SOEs would be privatized on priority and that a “pre-qualified panel of experts” is being appointed in Pakistan’s Privatization Commission to speed up the process.
Separately, Aurangzeb chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises on Monday which was attended by ministers of maritime affairs, economic affairs, housing and works, the governor of Pakistan’s central bank and other officials. The meeting was held to evaluate the performance of the country’s public entities and review the progress of the government’s privatization agenda.
Aurangzeb directed concerned ministries and divisions to submit proposals for the categorization of their respective public entities by May 20. The step is aimed at reviewing the rationale for retaining any commercial functions within the public sector, the finance ministry said.
“The objective is to retain only the essential functions within the public sector & to assign the remaining functions to the private sector,” it said. “At the same time the entities which remain in public sector have to be more competitive, accountable, and responsive to the needs of citizens.”
Participants agreed to foster transparency, efficiency, and sustainable growth within the SOEs, reflecting the government’s dedication to ensuring the optimal utilization of public resources, the ministry said.
Tahir Abbas, the head of research at Arif Habib Limited, considered Pakistan’s largest securities brokerage company, said the conflicting statements between Sharif and Aurangzeb showed lack of coordination between them.
“There seems lack of coordination between them on the classification of assets for privatization,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan face dangerous Ireland in T20I series decider today
- Buoyed by stellar performances from Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Pakistan beat Ireland on Sunday to level series 1-1
- After Ireland series, Pakistan will head to England for four-match T20 series as preparation before T20 World Cup
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will face a dangerous Ireland cricket team today, Tuesday, in the third and final T20 match of the series between the two teams in Dublin, as both sides look to gain momentum with less than a month to go before the World Cup kicks off in June.
The visitors were shocked by minnows Ireland last week when they lost in the series opener on Friday. However, the South Asian country bounced back in the second T20I on Friday, beating Ireland by seven wickets in a match that saw stellar performances from Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi and a late blitz from Azam Khan.
“The third and last T-20 between Pakistan and Ireland will be played at Dublin today,” state-run Radio Pakistan reported. “The match will start at 7:00 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time.”
Pakistan and Ireland are both in Group A of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the USA. They will face each other in the tournament on 16 June, Sunday, in Florida. Ireland have given Pakistan a tough time in the series, losing the second match after taking early breakthroughs and handing skipper Babar Azam’s side an impressive 194-run target.
Pakistan’s bowling attack, considered its main strength which features the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Amir, has been in the spotlight for conceding too many runs and failing to trouble the Irish batters much.
Separately, Cricket Ireland on Monday officially confirmed a first men’s tour of Pakistan in August and September in 2025. The series will see both countries play three T20Is and three ODIs against each other. It was part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) of the ICC scheduled for September 2025.
The decision was finalized after Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi met Cricket Ireland Chairman Brain MacNeice. A statement released by the PCB, however, did not mention any dates and venues for the schedule of the series. It follows in the wake of Ireland Women touring Pakistan, who also played three ODIs and three T20Is in November 2022.
The Pakistan men’s team will head to England for a four-match T20I series after the third T20I against Ireland. Following the England series, with matches scheduled at Headingley (22 May), Birmingham (25 May), Cardiff (28 May), and The Oval, London (30 May), both England and Pakistan will head to the US for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
England will face Scotland in Barbados on June 4 in their opening match, while Pakistan will launch their campaign against the United States (US) in Dallas on June 6. Pakistan will take on arch-rivals India on June 9 in New York which is set to be one of the most anticipated clashes of the T20 World Cup.
Squads:
Ireland: Paul Stirling (captain), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir (unavailable for first T20I), Mohammad Rizwan, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Usman Khan
