ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulator on Wednesday reserved its judgment on petitions filed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) party seeking its share of reserved seats for women and religious minorities in the National Assembly, a day before the inaugural session of the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament is held.
The SIC’s numbers in parliament were bolstered after candidates backed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party joined it after the Feb. 8 elections, aiming to secure a share in the reserved seats. Khan-backed candidates won the highest number of seats in the polls but since a court ruling in January forced them to contest as independents, they cannot form a government on their own and are not entitled to the reserved seats.
Khan-backed candidates joined the SIC to avoid that technicality but the party has not been allocated a share in the reserved seats in national and provincial legislatures so far. The SIC has filed at least four separate applications with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking its share of the reserved seats.
The inaugural session of Pakistan’s National Assembly is scheduled to take place on Feb. 29 at 10:00 a.m. Khan’s PTI has warned that any assembly session held before reserved seats are not officially notified would be “illegal.” The PTI has also dismissed the Sindh and Punjab Assembly sessions held earlier this week where the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) elected their members as chief ministers of the provinces.
A five-member bench of the ECP, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday, heard petitions filed by the SIC and other political parties, including the PPP, the PML-N and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) concerning the reserved seats.
“It is the legal right of the Sunni Ittehad Council to get the reserved seats,” Barrister Ali Zafar, representing the SIC, argued before the bench, insisting it had become a parliamentary party after it was joined by independent candidates backed by Khan.
The PTI’s rivals argue that the SIC is not a parliamentary party as its candidates had not contested the Feb. 8 polls from its platform.
Zafar urged the ECP to decide the matter “as early as possible,” saying that reserved seats allocation would also affect the upcoming presidential and Senate elections. He accused the Pakistani election regulator of resorting to “intentional delay” in the matter.
The chief election commissioner responded by saying the ECP had held at least three meetings to discuss the allocation of reserved seats, and decided to hear the matter after a “detailed consultation.”
“The SIC is a registered political party with an electoral symbol and it could not be denied of its share in the reserved seats,” Zafar argued.
Farooq H. Naek, the PPP’s counsel, argued that the SIC had not submitted a priority list with the ECP before elections and had missed the deadline to claim their share in the reserved seats. Likewise, the PML-N’s counsel, Azam Nazir Tarar, said that a political party should contest elections, win at least a few seats to get their share in the reserved seats. However, he said the SIC did not contest polls as a party.
“Reserved seats cannot be given to independents as per law,” Tarar argued.
Farogh Nasim, the MQM-P’s lawyer, pointed out that the SIC was not a parliamentary party hence the ECP should allocate the reserved seats to his party as per its quota.
“The SIC chief himself contested this election as an independent, therefore the party does not deserve the reserved seats,” he added.
The election commission reserved its judgment on the matter after the arguments were concluded.
Pakistan’s election body reserves verdict on reserved seats for party joined by Khan-backed candidates
https://arab.news/nrjse
Pakistan’s election body reserves verdict on reserved seats for party joined by Khan-backed candidates
- Sunni Ittehad Council, joined by ex-PM Khan’s candidates, are seeking reserved seats for women, minorities
- The inaugural session of Pakistan’s lower house of the parliament is scheduled to take place on February 29
Pakistan welcomes Afghan scholars’ reported resolution against use of soil for cross-border attacks
- Around 1,000 Afghan scholars passed a resolution this week prohibiting use of Afghan soil for cross-border attacks against another country, Afghan media reported
- Development takes place as tensions persist between Pakistan and Afghanistan amid Islamabad’s allegations of Taliban supporting cross-border attacks against it
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Thursday welcomed a resolution reportedly passed by Afghan scholars against allowing the use of Afghan soil for attacks against any other country, but still demanded written assurances of the same from the Afghan leadership.
According to a report published by Afghan news channel Tolo News, around 1,000 Afghan scholars gathered in Kabul on Wednesday to pass a resolution that, among other things, said no one will be allowed to use Afghanistan’s soil against other countries for attacks. The resolution also said that if anyone fails to comply with this decision, the Afghan government has the right to take action against them.
The development takes place as tensions persist between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both countries have engaged in border clashes since October, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harboring militants that launch attacks on Pakistan.
Afghanistan denies the allegation and says it cannot be held responsible for Pakistan’s security.
Speaking to reporters during a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said he had not seen the full text of the resolution.
“Any developments with regards to the fact that Afghan leadership, the segment of Afghan society, realized the gravity of the situation that their soil is being used by not just TTP, but also by their own nationals to perpetrate terrorism in Pakistan — any realization to this effect is positive and one would certainly welcome it,” Andrabi said.
However, he said similar commitments by Kabul on preventing cross-border attacks have been made in the past but were not honored.
Pakistan and Kabul engaged in a series of peace talks in Istanbul and Doha recently after their deadly border clashes in October. Andrabi pointed out that Islamabad had insisted on getting written assurances from the Afghan leadership that they would prevent Afghan soil from being used by the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups. However, he said Islamabad had not received any.
He said the resolution by Afghan scholars does not qualify as a proper written assurance from Kabul as it does not explicitly mention Pakistan or the Pakistani Taliban.
’NO FORMAL EXTRADITION TREATY’
Commenting on media reports of Islamabad seeking extradition of certain individuals from the UK, Andrabi confirmed that there exists no formal extradition treaty between Pakistan and the UK. However, he said cases can still be processed individually.
“In the absence of a formal treaty, the extradition cases can be processed on a case-to-case basis,” the FO spokesperson said. “And certain cases were submitted to the British High Commission in Islamabad for their consideration.”
Pakistan last week asked the UK to extradite two prominent pro-Imran Khan figures, former accountability aide Shehzad Akbar and YouTuber-commentator Adil Raja, saying they were wanted on charges of anti-state propaganda.
The issue had been brought up during Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s meeting with British High Commissioner Jane Marriott in Islamabad. The Interior Ministry said Naqvi had formally handed over Pakistan’s extradition documents, requesting that Raja and Akbar be returned to Pakistan without delay.
