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ECP denotifies Imran Khan from six NA seats

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  • Poll authority allows Khan to keep NA-45 constituency.
  • Denotification of 32 PTI MNAs from Punjab suspended.
  • PTI chief won seven seats in October by-polls last year.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday denotified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan from six National Assembly seats — on which he emerged victorious last year.

The electoral authority, in a notification, stated that the former prime minister — who was ousted from power last year — had been de-notified from his seats in NA 22 Mardan, NA 24 Charsadda, NA 31 Peshawar, NA 108, NA 118 Nankana and NA 239 Karachi.

Earlier, on January 19, a three-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, announced its verdict to notify the PTI chief of his victory on seven seats in the by-elections held in October last year.

The notification had previously been withheld due to his alleged failure to submit the party’s funding details to the electoral body. However, the January 19 verdict stated that Khan had submitted the required details to the electoral body after which it decided to notify him as the winning candidate on all the seven NA seats.

After his de-notification from the six earlier seats, Khan now holds the Kurram seat, for which he may take oath and join the NA.

Denotification of 32 PTI MNAs from Punjab suspended

In a separate notification, the election commission also suspended its denotification announcement of 32 PTI MNAs. Following the ouster of Khan from the government, PTI lawmakers resigned en masse from the NA.

At first, the resignations of only 11 MNAs were accepted by NA speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf. However, on January 17 and January 20, the resignations of 34 and 35 more PTI MNAs were accepted respectively.

Several MNAs then withdrew their resignations and requested the speaker not to accept them. However, on January 25, the NA speaker accepted the last batch of resignations.

Subsequently, the 43 MNAs took their grievance to the Lahore High Court (LHC), which on February 8 suspended the ECP’s orders.

Later, several other PTI MNAs approached the LHC for similar relief. The court, however, only instructed the ECP to suspend the denotification of PTI MNAs from Punjab.

The ECP statement issued today said that the electoral body was suspending its notifications from January 17, 20, 27, and February 3 to “the extent of the following constituencies/reserved seats falling in the province of Punjab”.

The statement said that the notification of denotification of 27 members on general seats from Punjab had been suspended, along with the notification to denotify five women members from Punjab.

The commission would also delay holding elections for these seats until further guidance from the LHC, the statement mentioned.

The women MNAs whose denotification notice has been suspended include Aliya Hamza Malik, Kanwal Shauzab, Andleeb Abbas, Asma Hadeed and Maleeka Ali Bukhari.

Moreover, the denotification notices of Sadaqat Ali Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Fawad Chaudhry, and Syed Faiz Ul Hassan have also been suspended.

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LHC requests report on dangers to PTI founder’s life

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The Punjab Advocate General’s report about threats to the life of PTI founder Imran Khan while he was incarcerated was requested by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday.

Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan of the LHC Court made the order while considering a request for the PTI founder’s security in jail made by President Afzal Azim of the Tehreek-e-Insaf Lawyers Forum.

Advocate Afzal requested that the court impose severe security measures on the PTI founder, arguing that the jail authorities had prohibited their meeting with him due to security concerns.

Advocate General Khalid Ishaq questioned the application’s maintainability as soon as the proceedings began. He stated that since it was the Punjab government’s responsibility to safeguard him, he would request a report on security concerns.

We cannot afford any more significant mishaps, Chief Justice Khan said. While Benazir Bhutto and Liaquat Ali Khan were slain, the founder of the PTI managed to elude a murderous attempt on his life.

He gave the counsel general instructions to find out how concerned the PTI founder is about security.

The plea can be heard in the Rawalpindi bench, not in the primary seat, the advocate general objected.

The hearing was postponed till April 3 by Chief Justice Khan, who instructed Attorney Afzal to present his petition on the following date.

Recall that on Thursday, Advocate Afzal petitioned the court to order the Punjab Home Department and the federal government to give the PTI founder greater security.

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“Nawaz Sharif Kisan Card” for farmers gets approved by CM Punjab

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At a meeting on agricultural reforms, Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz presided over the approval of the “Nawaz Sharif Kisan Card” for farmers.

Farmers would receive a variety of subsidies through the Kisan Card scheme, and 500,000 small farmers in Punjab will be eligible for loans totaling Rs 150 billion over the course of a year. Each farmer will receive Rs 30,000 for every acre of land used for agriculture.

CM Maryam Nawaz announced during the meeting that a model agriculture center will be constructed in each district of the province with the assistance of the commercial sector, enabling farmers to discard phony fertilizers and medications.

The establishment of a cutting-edge center of excellence for research development on cotton, wheat, and rice crops was approved during the conference, and the Agriculture Department was instructed to gather comprehensive data on the production and demand of each crop.

Participants in the conference decided to link the research center with local universities and to give the board authority over administrative matters.

It was also decided to construct a research and development center at Agricultural University Faisalabad with Chinese participation, at a cost of Rs 2 billion.

In addition, it was decided to hire 500 agricultural graduates, update the Punjab Seed Corporation and Punjab Agricultural Research Board’s organizational structures, provide a bill that forbids the use of agricultural land for residential purposes, and outfit the Agricultural Extension Wing with cutting-edge machinery.

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Khalid Maqbool calls the ‘non-local’ police that were placed in Karachi ‘injustice’.

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Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), described the imposition of “non-local” police and administration on the port city as an injustice for the people, as reported by The News on Friday.

During a labor wing of the party-organized iftar dinner in North Nazimabad, the politician claimed that Karachi had non-local police, calling this an injustice to the city’s residents.

Siddiqui questioned why the province’s capital city had a non-local police force, pointing out that other major centers in Sindh had their own citizens working in state and federal organizations.

We are going through numerous political phases as a country, and we are forced to use non-local administration and law enforcement. However, the MQM-P has once again reclaimed from the non-locals the mandate of the province’s metropolitan districts,” Siddiqui stated.

Siddiqui claimed that “ghair maqami,” or non-local, bandits were killing young people in Karachi through street violence, citing the city’s growing number of youth fatalities from such incidents.

“Young people in the city are being brutally murdered by out-of-town bandits during Ramadan,” the MQM-P leader claimed.

He went on to say that Sindh’s “racist” administration had been given free rein and that although his party had been silent throughout Ramadan, it will now speak out about the deaths of young people in the city at the hands of outside bandits.

Siddiqui emphasized that if it took going to the streets to defend women’s honor, the MQM-P would not think twice about making any sacrifice. The ad hoc organizing committee of the party was also present at the occasion.

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