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PTI yet again announces countrywide protest from tomorrow

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  • Imran Khan to join protesters after three weeks.
  • PTI rejects notion of technocrat government.
  • Party reiterates en masses resignation from NA.

The Pakistan Tehrkeek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced Thursday it would start a country-wide protest movement starting tomorrow (Friday) as the party seeks to force the coalition government into early elections.

The PTI has been repeatedly calling for snap elections since ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s ouster in April as it refuses to go back to the National Assembly and keeps on stressing that “early polls” are the only solution to the country’s ongoing crisis.

But the government has ruled out staging early polls and has told the PTI that given the current situation — floods, census, and new delimitation — the elections cannot be held before October.

“From tomorrow, country-wide protests will start against rising inflation, deteriorating economy, and shortage of gas,” PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry told journalists in Lahore after the party’s high-level meeting with Khan in the chair.

In the first phase, Fawad said PTI’s members of national and provincial assemblies would lead the protests for three weeks in their constituencies across the country.

“After three weeks, Imran Khan will join the campaign and this process will continue till this government is ousted,” the PTI leader said, asking the nation to join hands with the party.

The announcement to return to the streets comes after PTI’s chief in November called off the long march in Rawalpindi and announced plans for the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, but it is yet to materialize.

The dissolution of the KP Assembly has been linked to Punjab, whose disbandment plans hit a snag last week when the Lahore High Court reinstated Parvez Elahi as Punjab’s chief minister and ordered him to not dissolve the legislative.

Vote of confidence

ٖFawad said PTI and its ally, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), have a majority — 190 lawmakers — in the Punjab Assembly, and they are currently mulling over the vote of confidence.

“We will try that CM Elahi takes a vote of confidence before January 11. 177 Punjab Assembly lawmakers are in contact with us,” the former information minister said.

He also blamed Punjab Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman for becoming part of “a conspiracy” in de-notifying Elahi as the chief minister. “The governor and the chief secretary will have to come to the assembly and answer for their actions.”

The governor had de-notified Elahi as the chief minister, and subsequently, the chief secretary had issued a notification for the dissolution of the cabinet — but the LHC suspended the notifications.

Fawad said it was the PTI’s prerogative to either continue the Punjab government or dissolve it as he slammed the opposition for allegedly horse-trading.

“Whenever a market [for buying lawmakers] is staged, Zardari comes to Punjab with bags full of money,” the PTI leader said, slamming the PPP co-chairman.

‘No space’ for technocrat set-up

In his response to reports about the plans to bring forth a technocrat government, the PTI leader said there was “no space” for such a set-up in the country anymore.

“PTI’s senior leadership has rejected the plans regarding the imposition of a technocrat government,” Fawad said, asking those “dreaming” of the set-up that their dreams would not come true.

He said that the only solution to the country’s ongoing problems is snap and transparent election, and some elements did not want polls to take place, rather they are aspiring to appoint technocrats for running the affairs.

“The Pakistani nation will not, in any shape or form, accept a technocrat government. Nawaz Sharif wants the imposition of martial, however, it is due to Khan’s patience that no such plans were executed.”

He also warned that no matter who is appointed in the technocrat government, they would not be able to overcome the crisis as he told the establishment that the idea would be a “complete flop”.

In conversation with Geo News’ Shahzeb Khanzada, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had also ruled out the possibility of a technocrat set-up’s imposition.

PTI chief Khan, who was removed from premiership through a vote of no-confidence in April this year, told journalists in Lahore that the proposal regarding a government of technocrats is under consideration and he does not foresee polls taking place anytime soon.

But claiming that Khan was misquoted, Fawad said: “Imran never stated that he does not see elections not taking place. He said that the government does not want to hold elections.”

Resignations en masse

The PTI leader also rejected National Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Ashraf’s demand that the party’s lawmakers submit their resignations in person and reiterated that they would resign en masse.

PTI lawmakers — including Asad Qaiser, Qasim Suri, Amir Dogar, Dr Shabbir Hussain, and others — met Ashraf in his chambers earlier today, where the speaker told them once more that for verification of the resignations, the party’s lawmakers will be called individually.

“None of our members want to rejoin the National Assembly. 123 MNAs had announced their resignations in the house. It is a ‘joke’ that every MNA will have to individually come and verify their resignation. We will not submit the resignations individually.”

The former information minister asked the speaker when he accepted 11 resignations of the PTI MNAs, why didn’t he call them for verification. “They thought that they could win the by-elections, but they faced a humiliating defeat.”

“You have our resignations, but still, you’re adamant that you won’t accept them. If this goes on, we will have no other option but to knock on the Supreme Court’s doors,” he added.

Elections

Atta Tarar’s triumph over NA-127 in the LHC is contested

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The victory of Attaullah Tarar, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) from Lahore’s NA-127 constituency in the general elections on February 8 has been contested in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Samiullah Khan’s victory from PP-145 has also been contested. The petitions will be heard by Election Tribunal Judge Sultan Tanveer. The petitions have included the Pakistani Election Commission (ECP) and other parties as parties.

In the meantime, Attaullah Tarar stated during a discussion with Miss Zoe Ware, the Political Counselor of the British High Commission, that fake news, misinformation, and disinformation were global issues that needed to be managed.

According to the minister, fake news is the largest issue on social media, and the government is working to address it.

The conference covered a wide range of topics, including the two nations’ relationship and how to foster media collaboration. Collaboration in the drama and cinema industries was also covered.

According to Attaullah Tarar, social media verification should be adopted by journalists, and a global code of conduct for social media usage should be created.

Miss Zoe Ware thanked Attaullah Tarar on taking over as Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) on establishing the cabinet.

She was given the assurance that the UK diplomat will work with her to promote bilateral ties between Pakistan and the UK.

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Pakistan

US commitment to resolving Pakistan’s energy crisis is prioritized

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According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Pakistan was assisted by the United States in producing an extra 4,000 megawatts of sustainable energy.

According to him, these kinds of initiatives have given Pakistan more capacity to produce energy, allowing it to power millions of people.

The spokesman restated that both nations will cooperate through the green alliance to address the environmental issues.

At a news briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “Earlier, the United States advised Pakistan to halt the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project, as engaging in business with Iran poses the risk of encountering U.S. sanctions.”

“We always advise everyone that doing business with Iran carries the risk of encountering our sanctions, and we would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” he continued. “I’m not going to preview any potential sanctions.”

He said, “We do not support this pipeline going forward, as the Assistant Secretary made clear last week.”

The Pakistan-Iran pipeline project was approved for completion a few months ago by the caretaker administration in Pakistan. But after this permission, Pakistan received an official statement from the US expressing its worries. Pakistan again put a stop to the project’s execution when the United States expressed concerns.

Miller said, “We condemn the attack on a convoy of PRC engineers in Pakistan,” in response to a query. Miller also denounced the terrorist attack on Chinese engineers in Pakistan. We offer our sincere condolences to all impacted by the incident and are extremely saddened by the deaths and injuries incurred.

He declared, “Terrorists have caused enormous suffering to the Pakistani people, and Chinese nationals living in Pakistan have also been the targets of terrorist strikes.” Such acts of terror should not occur in any nation.

In response to a question concerning a letter from Pakistani judges, the spokesperson stated that while he had seen the letter, he had not yet conferred with his colleagues and would not be making any comments.

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Pakistan

Fazlur Rehman says the government led by Shehbaz won’t be able to deliver

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Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), expressed doubts on Wednesday over the viability of the Shehbaz Sharif administration, stating that he believes the new system will fail if citizens go to the streets.

Fazlur Rehman stated on Wednesday’s “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath” segment of Geo News that “the parliament will likely be a rubber stamp.” There are simply too many obstacles for this government to handle. In the end, politicians will be held accountable for all of their shortcomings.”

The “crime is committed by someone else and the politicians take responsibility,” he said, calling it bizarre. The leader of JUI-F declared that his organization will demonstrate against the establishments that had turned the elections into a “game.”


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Fazl has previously said that he would abstain from the by-elections for the National Assembly and provincial assembly seats. In addition, he declared that on April 25, following Ramadan, he will start a protest campaign against the purported election manipulation from Balochistan.

“We firmly believe that there will be a rigged general election in 2024. And the factor that changed the outcome would be our aim. We reject the findings that led to the formation of this government,” he declared.

The leader of JUI-F stated that they disagreed with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election results.

“[Earlier] the issues with the PTI were ideological and not election-related,” he said.

He stated that the party had not yet made the decision to work with the PTI. He did concede, though, that the Imran Khan-led party’s attitude has changed for the better. He remarked that it was a positive attitude and that it would not be a problem if the two parties moved together.

Fazl also revealed that he told Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, that he thought of him as a new blue-eyed boy during their meeting.

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