By SARFRAZ ALI
Environment has never been matter of concern for Pakistan and the
tendency goes further chronic as all mainstream political parties,
bracing for participation in the forthcoming polls, have placed
environment issues at the bottom of their draft manifestos for 2013
elections. Continue reading »
The ECP finally completed receipt of nomination papers from 425 returning officers (ROs) across the country, six days after the deadline for submission of nomination papers. Continue reading »
KHAR: A Pakistani housewife, who cannot read or write despite being married to a headteacher, has made history by becoming the first woman approved to run for election in the Taliban-infested tribal belt.
Badam Zari, 53, may have little chance of winning, but her enthusiasm has been seized upon as a step towards emancipation in one of the most conservative parts of Pakistan, where women live in purdah and few even vote.
“I am contesting the election with passion, with a clean heart and a clear conscience. My passion is to educate the future generation, girls and women, and to serve them,” she told AFP in a telephone interview from Bajaur district.
“I know I am the first woman to contest and I am hopeful that I will win.” Continue reading »
British Councel Survey
More than half of young Pakistanis believe democracy has not been good for their country and nearly 40 percent are in favour of having Islamic sharia rule, according to a survey published Wednesday.
Pakistan goes to the polls in a historic general election on May 11, but the report by the British Council found deep pessimism about the political system among voters aged 18 to 29. Continue reading »
According to the official statistic issued by the ECP, till March 20, in total 86,132,751 voters have been registered including 37,560,654 female and 48,572,097 male.
Pakistan Observer report by Afzal Bajwa
Asserting as the only unwavering institution amid political transition, Pakistan army has urged upon political leader-ship to go for law and order be-sides accountability before general elections, well placed sources told Pakistan Observer.
According to the sources, the armed forces’ top brass believes that politically elected functionaries must be held responsible for the misgivings, lacking, and blatant failures on their part. “The army does not want to share the responsibility of the outgoing government’s miserable failure in the counter terror measures,” the sources added. Continue reading »
The first gathering of Tehreek-i-Insaf at Minar-i-Pakistan Lahore had turned the table of Pakistani Politics but since then, a lot of events have taken place resulting in negative impact on Imran Khan’s popularity among Pakistani youth and civil society. Lahore gathering was an eye opener for PML (N) because their vote bank was likely to be affected more than any other party. The bigwigs of PML devised the strategy to target youth by announcing Laptop schemes and boosting development schemes in big cities of Punjab like Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan. This strategy has worked well and PML-N is now in much better position comparatively.
PML-N already enjoys the support of influential politicians in rural areas of Punjab. Imran Khan’s decision to win the support of winning candidates from rural areas has caused a lot of damage to his popularity among civil society.
Latest statistics indicate PML being the winner in Punjab but still a lot of happenings will take place in coming days and months which can influence voter trends in urban areas. Ongoing elections in PTI will definitely help gaining support of educated class of voters. If Tahir-ul-Qadri decides to support Imran Khan, it will definitely help PTI give tough time to PML in Punjab whereas in KP, PTI is likely to perform better than other political parties. In rural Sindh, still PPP is likely to dominate.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Party vows to restore confidence of investors; create 10 million new jobs for youth
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday unveiled its nine-point industrial policy, vowing to revive the industry by restoring confidence of investors and creating around 10 million new jobs for the youth.
“Industry in Pakistan is in dire straits due to a crippling energy crisis, lack of access to finance and shortage of skilled workforce. The PTI’s industrial policy aims at building solid foundations for the revival of industry by creating 10 million new jobs for the youth over the next five years and making the sector more viable and competitive in the international markets,” said Asad Umar while unveiling the party’s industrial policy. Continue reading »
By Saeed Qureshi
Tuesday, January 08, 2013 – If Dr Allama Muhammad Tahirul-Qadri can bring about a change for the better in Pakistan, it should be diligently welcomed. His political party Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) that he founded in 1990 outlines the mission “to introduce the culture of true democracy, economic stability, improve the state of human rights, justice and the women’s role in Pakistan”. The PAT also aims to remove corruption from Pakistani politics.
Continue reading »
Veteran lawyer Asma Jahangir has said that there were numerous reservations and questions with regards to the Arsalan Iftikhar case. She proposed to call a Scotland Yard team to probe the case if country’s institutions were not trustworthy for judiciary.
While talking to media at Lahore High Court Bar Association, Asma said that the Supreme Court was not meeting the requirements of delivery of justice in the case of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s son, Arsalan Iftikhar.
Continue reading »
By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: The 22-day-long lifeline to a prime minister who was in a Catch 22 situation only a day earlier on whether to appear before the Supreme Court’s special bench hearing NRO implementation case can safely imply as a show of restraint on both the sides as well as an explicit desire to find a middle way out of the deepening quagmire of more than three-year-long stand-off between the executive and the judiciary.
If on the one hand the top PPP leadership had ignored the most popular demand within the party circles that the PM should not appear before the bench to express displeasure over the disqualification of his predecessor, the special bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on the other hand granted 22 days to the government to amicably resolve the lingering dispute over writing a letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening alleged graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Continue reading »
Ex-PM says no need for elections as judges want to govern the country.
He would advise Raja to not to go to court.
MULTAN: Terming judiciary similar to dictators, former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said sarcastically that there was no need of elections as the judges want to govern the country.
Speaking to reporters during an iftar party, he said, “We have fought against all dictators and were always successful, but today the judiciary has become a dictator.” Continue reading »
* Abidi says SC verdict on new contempt law has laid foundation of confrontation between state institutions
* CJP should resign for ‘crime’ of his son
Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Senator Faisal Raza Abidi on Sunday asked the CJP to quit for taking oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and for alleged involvement of his son in a financial impropriety case.
Addressing a press conference at the PPP Secretariat on Sunday, Abidi alleged that the son of the CJP, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, had misused the Chief Justice House, Islamabad. He questioned if former CJP Dogar was held responsible for the crime of his daughter, referring to the undue increase in marks of Farah Dogar in FBISE exams, why could not the present CJP be held responsible for the crimes of his son. Abidi said the annulment of the contempt of court law had laid a basis for confrontation between two major pillars of the state.
Continue reading »
The man at the centre of the PML-N vs Imran Khan controversy over Shaukat Khanum investments, Imtiaz Hydari has come out publicly and blasted Khwaja Asif and his party declaring that his company handling $1.8 billion in funds has already absorbed the drop in value of a sound investment decision taken by the board.
“My company, HBG has taken steps to absorb the impairment in value by granting increased shares to SKMT i.e. the reduced value of Sugarland shares will be compensated by higher percentage shareholding of SKMT in Sugarland BVI. This preserves and protects SKMT investment. Additionally, HBG has also provided an undertaking to assist SKMT’s exit from the investment with Capital Protected,” Hydari said in a response released to the media on Saturday. Continue reading »
Article by I. A. Rehman, published in Daily Dawn on 21st June 2012
ALL praises to the Almighty that the people of Pakistan have been blessed with two history-making judgments of the apex court and this within a matter of days.
The more momentous of the two verdicts has ended the months-old agony of Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani by pushing him off the prime ministerial gaddi. Since the issue was contempt of the highest court in the land the verdict was not unexpected, though the scale of punishment is.
While all Supreme Court verdicts must always be honoured even if they do not appear to be sound, it may not be possible to avoid a prolonged discussion on the present judgment. There are quite a few issues that will need to be clarified. Continue reading »