RAWALPINDI /DNA/ – On 15 Dec Five terrorists including a suicide bomber attempted to attack the Police Lines in Tank City, however, brave policemen offered stiff resistance. Security forces in the vicinity were immediately mobilized to support the Police force and in the ensuing operation, all 5 x terrorists were sent to hell.

However, during intense fire exchange with the terrorists, three brave Policemen, having fought gallantly, embraced shahadat.

Effective response of the Policemen is a testament of their unrelenting resolve in the fight against terrorism.

Pakistan’s security forces stand shoulder to shoulder with other law enforcement agencies to ensure peace and stability in the country.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa are mulling over the possible repercussions of the Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict, which affected the polling process, sources told.

During the high-level huddle, attended by Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Tariq Masood, CEC Raja apprised the apex court judges regarding the LHC’s December 14 decision, suspending the electoral body’s notification requesting returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy for the general elections slated for February 8, 2024.

LHC’s Justice Ali Baqir Najafi had Wednesday night ruled on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea, which contended that the electoral body’s move to appoint DROs and ROs from bureaucracy would hinder the prospects of impartial and transparent elections.

Accepting the PTI’s plea, Justice Najafi suspended the ECP’s notification and referred the matter to referred the case to the LHC chief justice, recommending constituting a larger bench to hear the case.

Sources have told that it is expected that the top court might take notice of the issue to ensure the implementation of its earlier decision regarding holding timely elections.

The sources said that it is possible that the apex court might not interfere in administrative affairs but simply empower the ECP to appoint ROs and DROs.

The court, to ensure the implementation of the 54-day period —minimum threshold from the announcement of elections scheduled to the holding of polls — might take a decision either today or tomorrow in this regard as the ECP needs to announce the poll schedule by December 17 for holding of Elections on February 8, the sources added.

It is to be noted that a larger bench of the LHC will take up the issue of the appointment of ROs and DROs on December 18 (Monday).

To ensure that polls take place on time, the election commission has decided to file a plea in the SC, with major political parties — Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid — also deciding to become parties in the case pending before the LHC.

Sources have told Gethat the ECP’s application will be filed today under Article 185 of the Constitution.

SC is likely to constitute a bench on the issue as soon as the ECP files its petition against the LHC verdict, sources added.

Earlier, following the LHC’s decision, experts said that the verdict may result in a delay in polls as the ECP — which is already facing a shortage of staff — has stopped the training of ROs and DROs who were appointed for the upcoming general elections.

Responding to such concerns, the country’s top electoral body had earlier rebuffed the possibility of any delay in the upcoming polls.

In its statement, the ECP said that it would soon announce a plan of action and added that it “cannot be blamed in any manner for the current situation.

The meeting comes as, in line with the Supreme Court’s orders, the CEC and President Arif Alvi had agreed holding the elections on February 8 — back on November 2.

The top court’s three-member bench led by CJP Isa had ruled that the date has been “set in stone”, stressing that no institution should delay the elections any further.

ECP’s prerogative
With all the uncertainties surrounding the polls, caretaker Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi said the election commission would announce its “action plan” in the light of the Constitution and law.

Talking to the media outside the ECP, he said under Article 218(3) of the Constitution, the only constitutional body responsible for conducting elections in the country was the election commission.

Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi speaks to journalists in Islamabad, on December 15, 2023. — Radio Pakistan
Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi speaks to journalists in Islamabad, on December 15, 2023. — Radio Pakistan
“We neither can question the election commission, nor we can supervise it, in fact, the election commission supervises the caretaker government,” Solangi maintained.

He said if anyone had a complaint with the ECP, he could contact the commission. The ECP, under the Constitution, enjoyed the power to appoint DROs, Solangi remarked.

Election conundrum
Upon the advice of then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Alvi dissolved the 15th National Assembly three days before the completion of its 5-year term.

The former government prematurely dissolved the lower house to ensure that the polls were scheduled 90 days later — in line with the Constitution.

However, that did not seem to happen, as the commission had said that it could not follow up on the 90-day deadline as it had to work on fresh delimitation of constituencies after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved the results of the 2023 digital census

The ECP did that because Section 17(2) of the Elections Act states that “the commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published” — which is in contrast with the constitutional deadline.

In October, the Raja-led ECP announced that the polls would be staged in January next year, but did not announce the exact date, and in return, received flak.

In response to the ECP’s decision to hold the polls later than the constitutional deadline, the PTI and several others filed a plea in the top court seeking timely polls. On the same plea, the SC ordered the ECP and the president to consult, which resulted in a consensus date of February 8.

But that did not seem to shut down the rumour mill and fears of the political parties who repeatedly voiced concerns that since the election schedule hasn’t been announced, the polls would be delayed.

PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari had also said that a delay of “eight to 10 days” in the general elections would make no difference.

ISLAMABAD, /DNA/ – The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, today.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Communication, Railways & Maritime Affairs Mr. Shahid Ashraf Tarar, the Minister for Privatization Mr. Fawad Hasan Fawad, Minister for Power & Petroleum Mr. Muhammad Ali, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr. Waqar Masood, Federal Secretaries, and other senior government officials of the relevant ministries.

ECC took up the matter of approval of the draft PPAA, ICA, TDA & Mediation Agreements to be signed with K-Electric. Ministry of Energy (Power Division) briefed the Committee on the observations made by the members of the ECC and provided the requisite additional data on the working of CPPA-G.

After detailed discussion and deliberation, ECC decided to approve the proposal of Power Division for signing of the draft PPAA, ICA, TDA & Mediation Agreements between K-Electric & GoP Entities. ECC also directed Power Division to present the matter related to KE’s generation enhancement plan to the CCOE, which should focus on reducing the cost of electricity as well as on the resultant subsidies.

Paris, Dec ):The number of journalists killed in the line of duty fell this year, despite reporter deaths in Gaza in the past two months, media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said Thursday.
              In the first 11 months of 2023, 45 journalists were killed carrying out their work, down from 61 last year, according to the annual report by RSF. 
              It was the smallest number since 33 died in 2002, largely due to a major drop in Latin America. 
              While some 63 journalists have been killed in the Middle East since the October 7 start of fighting between Israel and Islamist group Hamas, only 17 of those deaths fell under RSF's definition.
              "It takes nothing away from the tragedy in Gaza but we are observing a regular decline, and are very far from the 140 journalists killed in 2012 and again in 2013" because of the wars in Syria and Iraq, RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire told AFP.
              The decline is due to efforts by inter-governmental organisations and NGOs to combat impunity, as well as to greater "prudence" by reporters themselves, he said.
              Of the 17 journalists RSF counted as killed carrying out their profession in the Middle East since October 7, 13 were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, three died in Lebanon and one was killed in Israel by Hamas.
              RSF in November said it filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court for "war crimes" for these deaths.
              AFP last week said its investigation showed that Israeli tank fire was responsible for killing Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah on October 13 and wounding six others, including AFP photographer Christina Assi. 
              A spokesperson for the Israeli army said the journalists were in an "active combat zone" in southern Lebanon, an answer that Deloire called "not satisfactory."
              The war in Ukraine cost the life of two reporters in 2023, including AFP reporter Arman Soldin, "the only reporter to have lost their life outside their own country", RSF said.
              A total of 11 reporters have been killed since the start of the conflict in February 2022. 

              There was a sharp drop in Latin America where six reporters were killed, down from 26 in 2022. In Mexico alone, the number fell to four from 11 the previous year.  
              RSF warned that Mexico remains dangerous for journalists, citing continued kidnappings and attacks.  
              Of the 84 journalists counted as missing worldwide, about a third are Mexican. 
              The number of jailed reporters declined to 521 from 569 in 2022, with Belarus joining China and Myanmar as "one of the three biggest prisons in the world".
              Turkey and Iran also repeatedly jail journalists, the report said.  
              A total of 54 journalists are being held hostage, compared to 65 in 2022.

DNA

ISLAMABAD, DEC 13: /DNA/ – General Ìsmail Güneykaya, Combat Commander Turkish Air Force, called on Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force in his office today. The meeting underscored several key areas of mutual interest with a special focus on bilateral training, progress of current joint ventures and exploration of further avenues of collaboration in the aviation industry.

During the meeting Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force, shared the framework of PAF’s comprehensive modernization strategy involving integration of emerging technologies, bolstering critical infrastructure and a comprehensive restructuring of its training set-up, in order to address contemporary air warfare challenges. The Air Chief highlighted that both the brotherly countries enjoy long-standing religious and historic ties which are manifested through unprecedented strategic partnership. Appreciating the participation of Turkish Air Force in Exercise Indus Shield, the Air Chief reiterated his resolve to further enhance the existing bilateral relations in military-to-military cooperation, strategic alliance and the training domain. The Air Chief further remarked that PAF pilots are playing an active role in imparting nursery to tactical level training to Turkish aircrew. He reiterated Pakistan Air Force’s commitment to provide training and capacity-building assistance to the Turkish Air Force.

General Ìsmail Güneykaya, acknowledged the impressive progress made by Pakistan Air Force in developing a robust indigenous aviation industry and reiterated his resolve to further enhance the existing ties between the two brotherly countries. In order to cultivate tactical brilliance for Turkish aircrew, the visiting dignitary expressed profound interest in exploring avenues for training of Turkish Air Force pilots in the Combat Commanders Course being offered at the prestigious Air Power Centre of Excellence. Both the commanders also agreed to explore further areas of cooperation through bilateral and multilateral military exercises with special focus on collaboration in the technology based future programs. During his visit, the Combat Commander Turkish Air Force also visited various installations and technological infrastructure established at Air Headquarters, Islamabad including PAF’s National ISR and Integrated Air Operations Centre and PAF’s Cyber Command. He also visited National Aerospace Science and Technology Park, which is a major landmark in Pakistan’s journey towards progress and is all set to play a pivotal role in shaping the country’s aerospace industry, fostering strategic partnerships and contributing to the economic growth of Pakistan.

The visit of Combat Commander Turkish Air Force to Pakistan signifies a resolute commitment from both nations to reinforce their strategic partnership through fostering collaboration and promoting robust relations between their respective Air Forces.

BAKU, DEC 13 /DNA/ – Azerbaijan expressed profound grief and stands in solidarity with Pakistan following the tragic terrorist attack claiming the lives of 23 soldiers.

We offer our deepest condolences to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan during this difficult time.

MFA Azerbaijan condemned all forms of terrorism and stand united against this heinous act.

ISLAMABAD, DEC 13: /DNA/ – In a significant event held today in Islamabad, WaterAid Pakistan unveiled its visionary Country Programme Strategy for the period 2023–2028.

This strategy aims to expedite Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) progress in the country, with a strong emphasis on enhancing the resilience of water, sanitation, and hygiene services in the face of climate change. Furthermore, the strategy seeks to prioritize WASH integration within the health sector to significantly bolster public health outcomes.

The launch brought together a diverse array of stakeholders, including representatives from academia, community-based organizations, media, and more. Other distinguished guests included Ms. Sitara Ayaz, Secretary-General of the International Parliamentarian Congress; Senator Seemee Azdi, Chairperson of the Climate Change Committee.

A Panel Discussion was also arranged to discuss the role of stakeholders, academia, and civil societies in improving WASH conditions in Pakistan. The panellists included Dr. Hifza Rasheed, Director-General of PCRWR; Mr. Liaqat Ali, Executive Coordinator of the Doaba Foundation; Muhammad Nawaz, Climate Integration Lead at USAID Pakistan; Dr. Muhammad Rafiq, Head of the Center for Water Informatics and Climate Resilience at IM Sciences, Peshawar; and Sehr Afsheen, Country Representative of VSO.

Mr. Muhammad Fazal, Head of Program Strategy and Policy at WaterAid, concluded the discussion with a commitment to collaborative actions by all stakeholders, academia, development agencies, government ministries, and parliamentarians to mainstream access to WASH for all in all policies and plans.

Arif Jabbar Khan, Country Director of WaterAid Pakistan, expressed gratitude to all stakeholders who attended the event and reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to working hand in hand with local communities, government bodies, and organizations to ensure access to clean water and sanitation for all.