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PM Imran Khan says government is ‘stable’ in meeting with Punjab CM, governor

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  • PM Imran Khan to meet PTI parliamentary party in Lahore.
  • PM will discuss political developments with CM Usman Buzdar.
  • Two Tareen group members will also meet PM.
  • PM Imran Khan also holds meeting with Punjab MPAs elected on minority and women’s seats.

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan told Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Governor Chaudhry Sarwar that the government is “stable” as they face the threat of a no-confidence motion.

Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived on a day’s visit to Lahore Thursday as the Jahangir Tareen group ramped up the pressure on CM Punjab, demanding his removal amid political uncertainty in the country due to the no-trust motion against the premier.

In the meeting between the three leaders, the prime minister said the most important political matters would take place in Islamabad — given that the National Assembly is situated there.

“A detailed discussion on Punjab’s political situation will be held after due diligence,” the prime minister said during the meeting, where the country’s political situation came under discussion among other matters.

Federal ministers Asad Umar, Shafqat Mahmood, Hammad Azhar, Khusro Bakhtiar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi are with the PM in Lahore.

The prime minister is expected to hold a meeting of the PTI parliamentary party in the provincial capital to seek assurance of the party members and address their grievances ahead of crucial voting on the motion, according to Geo News.

According to reports, the PM will also meet CM Buzdar during his visit to Lahore, who will brief the premier on his contacts and support in the Punjab Assembly.

The PM will also meet Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and several senior Punjab party leaders, including provincial ministers Samsam Bukhari and Asif Nakai, who are members of the Tareen group.

The Jahangir Tareen group has already announced a boycott of the parliamentary meeting.

Governor Sarwar will brief the prime minister on the latest political developments in the province. They will also hold discussions on the disgruntled Tareen group and other matters related to the government in Punjab.

Tareen group asks Pervaiz Elahi’s support 

The prime minister’s visit came a day after a delegation headed by Tareen Group’s provincial minister Nauman Langrial called on PML-Q leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at his residence.

The delegation comprised provincial minister Ajmal Cheema, Aun Chaudhry, Lala Tahir Randhawa, Abdul Hayyi Dasti and Imran Shah. During the meeting, detailed consultation was held regarding the prevailing political situation in Punjab. 

Elahi and Tareen Group agreed to continue contacts for the betterment of the province and the people.

Langrial said that Punjab had been destroyed and the group would have to come to the fore in the interest of the people as they had decided to remove Usman Buzdar. 

He called upon Pervaiz Elahi to support the Tareen Group in this regard. He said that he would also call on Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain soon.

PM meets Punjab MPAs

PM Imran Khan also held a meeting with Punjab MPAs elected on minority and women’s seats.

The premier said that female and minority lawmakers in the national and Punjab assemblies play an “important role” in legislation. He added that the PTI considers merit while appointing people on reserved seats.

“In the past, political parties used to appoint people on reserved seats based on nepotism,” claimed PM Imran. He added that when the PTI came to power, it inherited a “bankrupt economy” and the incumbent government’s “successful” policy stabilised it.

The premier told the lawmakers that the country’s economy is on sustainable growth now.

Separately, the premier also held a meeting with provincial ministers Sardar Asif Nakai and Samsam Bukhari.

According to the PM Office, the overall political situation of the country was reviewed during the meeting.

PM Imran also held a meeting with Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht and Head of Special Monitoring Unit Punjab Faisal Asif to review the development projects in the province.

On the other hand, sources told Geo News that six PML-N lawmakers were present when Prime Minister Imran Khan held a meeting with Punjab MPAs.

Sources privy to the meeting said that the PML-N lawmakers have assured PM Imran Khan of “unwavering support” and assured him of getting support from more lawmakers.

Officials also shared that the PM told the lawmakers that ahead of the vote he will hold the country’s “biggest” rally. The PM also told the lawmakers to focus on Islamabad.

Politics

Imran Khan surpasses political rivals in popularity survey: Miftah

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  • Miftah, Abbasi, Khokhar testing waters for launch of a political party.
  • Khokar is more keen to launch the party than the other two.
  • There is space for launching a new political party, they believe. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan had surpassed all political leaders in popularity in a recent opinion poll, The News reported on Wednesday.

Miftah along with Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Mustafa Khokhar, who had earlier come up with the idea of seminars on “Reimagining Pakistan”, is also presently testing waters for the launch of a political party.

Miftah told The News no decision has been taken as yet, but presently they are seriously thinking on the issue.

He disclosed that they had also done a public opinion survey in July this year, which showed Imran way ahead of all in popularity.

What Abbasi said about his political future in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and about the need for a new political party is part of the trio’s strategy to test the waters before reaching a final decision.

Abbasi, Miftah, and Mustafa are presently discussing the launch of a political party with different people besides encouraging discussion on the issue in the media and social media to assess whether it is a doable option. 

Among the three, Khokar is more keen to launch the party than the other two who are not fully clear as yet whether they should do it or not.

All three, according to Miftah, agree there is space for launching a new political party in the present political situation. The question, he said, remains whether they have the capacity to attract people to join a new political party.

Through a leading entity, conducting public opinion polls, Miftah said they have also got a survey done to assess the popularity of different political parties and leaders. Their reading of the survey report made them reach the conclusion of a need for a new political party.

The three believe a significant number of voters, who are presently inclined towards Imran Khan and PTI for their rejection of PML-N, can be attracted by a new political party because neither the staunch supporters of Imran Khan nor of Nawaz would vote for any other political party.

In view of the post-May 9 difficult situations faced by Imran Khan and his party, the PTI, it is believed the new political party may attract significant voters (not the staunch supporters) of the PTI, who would never vote for PMLN or other political party in Punjab.

Among the three, Khokhar, left the PPP after the party’s leadership objected to his certain statements criticising powerful quarters. Miftah got the cold shoulder from the PML-N top leadership for publicly defending his economic solutions, which are different from that of Ishaq Dar’s.

Miftah also criticised Dar’s policies as finance minister and argued that he too was criticised as finance minister by Dar. However, his criticism of Dar’s policies has made him an alien to Sharifs.

Abbasi has started distancing himself from the PML-N top leadership for the last several months. The PML-N top leadership was keen not to let Abbasi drift from them, but the latter sounded dissatisfied with the politics of all the three leading political parties including PML-N.

Abbasi also did not show his keenness in the PML-N ticket for the next elections, while he had already declined to continue as senior vice-president of the party after Maryam Nawaz was announced as senior vice-president and chief organiser of PML-N.

On the direction of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam had visited Abbasi at the latter’s residence in Islamabad to convince him not to leave the office of senior vice-president of PMLN. Shahid had politely declined. Now, he appears to be quitting the PML-N anytime.

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Politics

What will happen when Nawaz Sharif lands in Pakistan?

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  • Nawaz Sharif to attend rally on Oct 21, appear before court the next day.
  • “Consultations being held on seeking protective bail from another court.”
  • Dastagir adds that Nawaz can get nation out of difficulties even today. 


LAHORE: The legal minds of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are holding consultations on challenges party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif faces upon his return to the country, it emerged on Tuesday.

Speaking to Geo News, former federal minister Khurram Dastagir said that Nawaz will go to attend a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan after landing at the Lahore airport on October 21 and will appear before a court the next day.

However, he added, the party is holding discussions on legal matters for the intervening period between his arrival and appearance before the respective court and consultations are being held on seeking protective bail from another court [to avoid arrest].

The former prime minister has been in London since November 2019 after he left the country for medical treatment. He was serving a jail term in corruption cases when the Lahore High Court (LHC) allowed him to seek treatment from abroad.

On Monday, Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti created a stir when he said that the PML-N supremo would be arrested upon return but backtracked his remarks following a strong response from the party.

The PML-N is preparing for a grand reception for Nawaz and plans to hold a massive rally of 1 million people in their stronghold — Lahore.

Dastagir, while responding to a question, said that the former premier had gone abroad on the permission granted to him by two courts and would enter with their approval.

“An appeal is pending before a court and Nawaz Sharif will pursue it upon return,” he said.

The former minister added that people should understand that those responsible for the corruption are those who have been doing political engineering since 2014.

“The situation was bad in 2013 but Nawaz Sharif brought the country out of the worst situation and even today, he can get the nation out of these difficulties.”

To a question, Dastagir said the 15-party coalition is responsible for the successes and failures of the 16-month government.

“PML-N’s 16-month performance is a story of pulling the country out of crises,” he added.

When asked about the reports of the formation of a new political party, he responded, “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should have told that there is peace in Karachi today and credit goes to the PML-N.”

Referring to the spike in militancy in the country, the PML-N leader said the terrorism that is increasing today is because of Imran Khan and Arif Alvi who offered amnesty to the Taliban in 2021.

About a rumoured “secret” meeting of Shehbaz Sharif earlier this month, he said, “I do not know about the meeting in Gujranwala, I cannot deny or confirm it.”

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Pakistan

Senate committee recommends ECP hold polls within 90 days

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  • Committee recommends ECP announce polls schedule at earliest.
  • ECP official says preliminary delimitations will be published on Sep 27.
  • About 60 days are required for filing and disposal of representations, ECP.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct elections within 90 days by reducing the time for filing representations for delimitation from 30 to seven days, The News reported.

In a meeting presided over by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider, the committee also drew the electoral body’s attention towards its constitutional obligation of holding polls in the context of the National Assembly’s dissolution.

The Senate panel recommended that the commission announce the schedule of the election at the earliest to ensure clarity on the uncertainty around conducting elections.

Briefing the committee on the polls-related matters, ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan said the preliminary delimitations will be published on September 27. 

However, he explained a period of approximately 60 days will be required for filing and disposal of representations.

He told the committee that some 91,809 polling stations were to be established out of which 49,919 had been designated as sensitive or highly sensitive. 

He pointed out that out of the 49,919 polling stations, 17,411 had been categorised as highly sensitive and another 32,508 as sensitive while 41,809 (around 45%) were designated as normal.

He contended that the general election will encompass 266 National Assembly constituencies and 593 provincial assemblies’ constituencies. Moreover, he noted around 1 million polling staff will be required for the upcoming general election.

The committee inquired about the methods for the consolidation of results. The secretary of ECP said electronic devices having ECP-developed software will be used to send snapshots of Form-45 to returning officers and software was also equipped to keep track of time and place of snapshots in order to ensure the legitimacy of elections.

Regarding the use of funds for development schemes, Senator Haider emphasised that funds should be allocated to the approved schemes. The secretary ECP explained that there was no ban on development schemes approved prior to August 15.

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