ISLAMABAD: The dispute over reserved seats in Pakistan’s parliament lingered on Friday after several lawmakers took oath in the National Assembly to fill them out amid the opposition protest just a day ahead of the presidential election in the country.
Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been striving to get its share of 70 reserved seats for women and religious minorities in the National Assembly and a total of combined 149 of them in provincial legislatures.
However, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declined to allocate these seats to Khan’s faction since PTI lawmakers were forced to contest last month’s general elections as independent candidates after their party lost its symbol in a legal battle days ahead of the electoral contest.
PTI lawmaker joined a right-wing religious group, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), to iron out the problem, but the ECP’s decision prompted the party challenge it in the Peshawar High Court and secure a stay order in its favor.
As the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq started administering oath to lawmakers on the reserved seats, PTI leader Omer Ayub Khan declared it “contempt of court.”
“This oath-taking is illegal,” he said on the floor of the house. “It must be declared null and void.”
The government’s viewpoint was the Peshawar High Court’s order to halt the swearing-in of assembly members for reserved seats only applied to eight members from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Meanwhile, one of the candidates for Saturday’s presidential election, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, wrote a letter to the ECP, demanding postponement of contest while point out that the electoral college for the office of the head of state was incomplete until the reserved seats remained vacant.
Achakzai, who is backed by the PTI-SIC alliance, also noted the case related to these seats remained pending in front of the higher judiciary.
“Without completion of electoral college i.e. election on the reserved seats, issuance of election schedule or holding of election to the office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan would be illegal, unlawful and against the spirit of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” he noted in the letter.
“Under the above circumstances,” Achakzai continued, “it is submitted that the proposed election to the office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is clearly impossible, therefore the same may kindly be postponed or delayed till completion of electoral college accordingly in the best interest of justice, fair play and equity.”
The presidential election is scheduled to begin at 10am on Saturday.
Reserved seat row simmers in Pakistan as lawmakers prepare for presidential election
https://arab.news/48hnz
Reserved seat row simmers in Pakistan as lawmakers prepare for presidential election
- Mahmood Achakzai, a presidential candidate, demands postponement of Saturday’s poll amid ‘incomplete’ electoral college
- Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administer oath to new lawmakers on reserved seats as opposition terms the exercise ‘contempt of court’
Vaughan calls for probe into reports Pakistan stars sidelined from Hundred
- The Hundred is an English 100-ball-per-side franchise cricket competition with eight teams
- BBC says Indian-owned teams may avoid selecting Pakistani players at next month’s auction
LONDON: Michael Vaughan has urged the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to “act fast” on reports that Pakistani players will be overlooked by Indian-owned teams in the domestic Hundred competition.
Longstanding political tensions between India and Pakistan have led to the border rivals only playing each other in international cricket events, although their recent Colombo showdown at the ongoing T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka only went ahead after Pakistan called off a threatened boycott.
It has been claimed that politics has also led to an effective ban on Pakistani players participating in the Indian Premier League, world cricket’s most lucrative T20 franchise competition.
And with several IPL owners now owning teams in several different countries, opportunities for Pakistani cricketers to participate in various leagues are in danger of being reduced further.
The BBC has now reported that the issue could be a factor during next month’s player auction for English cricket’s Hundred, a 100 balls-per-side competition featuring eight franchises rather than the traditional 18 first-class counties.
Players will go under the hammer in London on March 11-12, with the BBC reporting that the four Indian-affiliated Hundred teams — Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds will deliberately avoid selecting players from Pakistan.
More than 50 Pakistani cricketers have registered their availability, with four other teams involved in the bidding.
The ECB have been unable to substantiate the BBC allegations, but former England captain Vaughan has called for the governing body to investigate the issue thoroughly.
Vaughan, referencing the ECB’s stated aim of cricket becoming the most inclusive sport in the country, posted on Friday on X: “The ECB need to act fast on this... they own the league and this should not be allowed to happen... the most inclusive sport in the country is not one that allows this to happen.”
An ECB spokesman said: “The Hundred welcomes men’s and women’s players from all over the world and we would expect the eight teams to reflect that.
“Almost 1,000 cricketers from 18 nations have registered for The Hundred auction, with representation on the longlist of over 50 players respectively from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies.”
Only two Pakistan internationals — Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim — — appeared in last year’s Hundred, the final edition before new investors became involved.
