ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday vowed to introduce a resolution in response to the United States House of Representatives’ call for an impartial probe into the allegations of election irregularities in Pakistan’s recent national polls on February 8, saying it was important for the country to assert its sovereignty.
The US lawmakers overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that urged Islamabad to uphold the democratic process and ensure the rule of law, freedom of media and speech.
The US resolution, which saw bipartisan support, followed the Pakistani elections marred by violence, communication blackouts and delayed results that led to allegations of rigging denied by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
“We will bring a resolution in response to the US resolution,” Dar said while addressing the National Assembly. “We must show our sovereignty. We must show our unity. We must show that we mean business. There is no sense to this [US resolution]. We can also criticize a number of things about other countries. But we refrain.”
“I believe that mutual dignity and respect is that they should reciprocate,” he continued. “We have taken notice of this, the draft resolution is ready. It will be shared with all the parliamentary leaders of both treasury benches and the opposition, and I would request that we must come in unity with a clear resolution in response to the US resolution.”
Dar said the National Assembly was currently busy passing the budget since it was a time-bound priority.
However, he noted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had allowed to move the resolution, which would be done as soon as the budget adoption process was complete by Friday evening.
Pakistan’s foreign office said a day earlier the US resolution was grounded in “an incomplete understanding of the political situation and electoral process in Pakistan.”
It noted the resolution’s timing and context clashed with the improving dynamics of bilateral ties.
“Such resolutions are therefore neither constructive nor objective,” it added.
Pakistan’s deputy PM vows tit-for-tat resolution in response to US election criticism
https://arab.news/bf3un
Pakistan’s deputy PM vows tit-for-tat resolution in response to US election criticism
- US House of Representatives adopted a resolution, calling for impartial probe into the allegations of election rigging in Pakistan
- Ishaq Dar says Pakistan has prepared the text of its counter resolution and will soon share it with treasury benches and opposition
Opposition protests over Imran Khan’s eye treatment as government offers specialist care
- Opposition alliance says protest in front of parliament to continue until Khan is admitted to Shifa Hospital
- Government says the ex-premier’s medical report will be compiled again amid judicial oversight of the case
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance staged a sit-in outside Parliament House on Friday demanding that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be shifted to a private hospital for treatment of his worsening eye condition, as the government promised the best possible treatment and said the case was under judicial oversight.
Police locked the gates of parliament and cordoned off surrounding roads, preventing protesters from gathering in front of the building, witnesses and opposition leaders said. Security was also tightened around Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) House, where officials and lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were stopped from approaching parliament.
The province is governed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party which is in the opposition at the center.
“We have staged a sit-in for the earliest medical check-up of Imran Khan, which would take just ten minutes,” Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and head of the opposition Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan alliance, told reporters at Parliament House.
“If it is conducted, we will end our protest,” he added.
In a post on X, the alliance said its leadership would continue the sit-in “until Imran Khan is admitted to Al-Shifa Hospital.”
A group of protesters, led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, also camped outside the KP House in the federal capital after an initial scuffle with police.
During the clash KP government spokesperson Shafi Jan was arrested but later released as more protesters gathered outside the facility.
Jan warned that if PTI activists were prevented from joining the main protest, they “will give a call for a countrywide strike.”
“We want to proceed toward Parliament to join the protest,” he added. “We want the Supreme Court’s verdict to be implemented that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa Hospital, treated there and then brought back.”
The protest follows a rare prison visit earlier this month by Barrister Salman Safdar, appointed as amicus curiae by the Supreme Court to assess Khan’s health and living conditions at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Safdar submitted a detailed report that was made public on Thursday.
The report said that in view of the seriousness of Khan’s ocular condition, “it is imperative that the seriousness of the condition be independently ascertained without delay.”
Safdar also recommended that the court consider involving Khan’s personal physicians or other specialists of his choice, warning that “any further delay poses a serious risk to the Petitioner’s well-being.”
According to a Feb. 6 medical report from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) cited in Safdar’s filing, Khan was diagnosed with “right central retinal vein occlusion” after reporting reduced vision in his right eye. He underwent an intravitreal injection at PIMS and was discharged with follow-up advice.
In his interaction with Safdar, Khan said he had suffered “rapid and substantial loss of vision over the preceding three months” and claimed his complaints had not been addressed promptly in custody. He further said he had been left with “only 15 percent vision in his right eye.”
Safdar’s report noted that the 73-year-old former premier appeared “visibly perturbed and deeply distressed” over the loss of vision, though it also recorded that he expressed satisfaction with his safety, basic amenities and food provisions in prison.
Responding to the controversy, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry rejected PTI’s claims that Khan had been suffering from an eye issue since October last year.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, he said Khan was visited by his sister on Dec. 2 but she did not mention the medical issue.
“Medical report will be compiled again, the chief justice of the Supreme Court is himself monitoring this case,” he said. “Wherever it will be requested, Imran Khan’s eye will be examined at.”
Chaudhry vowed there would be no negligence.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar earlier rejected claims of mistreatment, saying the “narrative being propagated to international media” by Khan’s family had “fallen flat on its face,” and that prison records showed he enjoyed facilities “more than any other prisoner.”
Khan has been in custody since August 2023 in connection with multiple cases that he and his party describe as politically motivated. The government denies the allegation.
Concerns over his health resurfaced after authorities confirmed he had briefly been taken from prison to a hospital in Islamabad for an eye procedure. While the government said his condition was stable, Khan’s family and PTI leaders alleged they were not informed in advance and that he was being denied timely and independent medical access.
