ISLAMABAD, APR 7: The National Security Committee (NSC) meeting is underway to deliberate on political and economic turmoil and security situation in the country, reported on Friday.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is chairing the high-powered huddle at PM with senior cabinet ministers, services and intelligence chiefs as well as all the relevant officials in attendance.

Sources said the meeting would discuss the “current situation”, particularly after the Supreme Court ruling that directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold elections in Punjab on May 14.

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The Supreme Court had nullified the electoral watchdog’s decision about the delay in holding polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and fixed May 14 as the date for polls in the province.

The verdict was announced by a three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — on the PTI’s petition challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s order postponing the elections in Punjab and KP.

NA rejects SC verdict
The National Assembly Thursday passed a resolution rejecting the three-member Supreme Court bench’s verdict on the Punjab polls.

The resolution, moved by Balcohsitan Awami Party (BAP) lawmaker Khalid Magsi, was approved by a majority of the lawmakers.

The motion urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet not to abide by the three-member Supreme Court ruling.

Reading out the resolution on the floor of the National Assembly, Magsi said: “This House rejects the minority decision of the three-member bench and binds the prime minister and the cabinet not to implement the unconstitutional and unlawful decision.”

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The resolution noted that multiple sections of the society had called on the top court to form a full court bench but it was ignored and only one political party was heard in the case.

It further said that the house considers the conduct of general elections simultaneously across the country as the solution to all the problems. The resolution also demanded the formation of a full court bench to review the “wrong interpretation” of Article 63-A.

‘Pitting armed forces against judiciary’

Former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that ‘it is now clear what wants – any which way to get out of elections’.

While slamming the rulers, Imran Khan wrote on Twitter, “They brought in an unconstitutional bill on SC [Supreme Court] & an NA [National Assembly] resolution against judiciary. Now tomorrow an NSC meeting is called to try & use security as pretext for postponement of elections. This will pit armed forces directly against not just judiciary but also the nation.”

IT IS NOW CLEAR WHAT PDM WANTS – ANY WHICH WAY TO GET OUT OF ELECTIONS. THEY BROUGHT IN AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL BILL ON SC & AN NA RESOLUTION AGAINST JUDICIARY. NOW TOMORROW AN NSC MTG CALLED TO TRY & USE SECURITY AS PRETEXT FOR POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTIONS. THIS WILL PIT ARMED FORCES…

— IMRAN KHAN (@IMRANKHANPTI) APRIL 6, 2023

ISLAMABAD, APR 05 (DNA) — President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi has called for the creation of specific jobs for differently-abled people (DAPs) to make them financially independent.  He emphasised that DAPs needed to be trained and well-equipped with specific skill sets to make them useful and productive citizens of the country.

The President gave these remarks during a meeting with the Vice Chairman of Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB), Dr Anis-ur-Rehman, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday. During the meeting, the President said that society should not neglect DAPs, adding that it was the collective responsibility of the public and private sectors to encourage and support persons with disabilities.

Dr Anis-ur-Rehman apprised the President about the steps taken by PFFB for the welfare of the visually impaired persons in Pakistan. He said that his organization had transformed the lives of more than 50,000 visually-impaired students/persons at the national level, during the last ten years, through educational services, capacity-building trainings, awareness campaigns, career counselling, and Assistive Technology.

He highlighted that the major challenge being faced by the visually-impaired children was the lack of hostel facilities, particularly for the visually-impaired girls in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Balochistan. The meeting was also informed that another major issue being faced by visually-impaired students was the non-availability of writers to help them during examinations as these students were unable to write themselves.

The President underscored that it was the responsibility of the Government and the private sectors to help address the issues being faced by the visually-impaired people. He also stressed the need for raising awareness about the rights and issues of persons with disabilities to bring positive behavioural change towards them. — DNA

ISLAMABAD: Amid controversy over the Supreme Court ruling that declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order to postpone elections in Punjab as “unconstitutional”, the electoral body on Wednesday announced the holding of polls on May 14 as directed by the top court.

The ECP took the decision in an emergency meeting held today for consultations on the SC verdict. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired the session.

After SC ruling, ECP announces polls in Punjab on May 14
SC orders polling in Punjab on May 14

The Supreme Court on Tuesday voided the ECP’s decision on Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections. A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan announced the decision in open court and declared the ECP’s decision to hold polls on October 8 as “unconstitutional”.

The apex court directed the ECP to reinstate its previous election schedule under which polls were to be held and extended it by 13 days.

The Supreme Court also clarified that the ECP could not go beyond the 90-day stipulated time and stated that 13 days were wasted because of the ECP’s unlawful decision.

The court also directed the caretaker government in Punjab to assist the ECP and instructed the commission to inform it if the government refused to do so.

The Constitution and laws of the election commission did not allow an extension of the date, it added.

According to the decision, candidates would be able to submit nomination papers from April 10, the electoral body would publish the list of candidates on April 19, and electoral symbols would be issued by April 20.

The court also directed the government to release Rs21 billion for elections in Punjab by April 10 and told the ECP to submit a report on the matter in court the same day. In the case of non-provision of funds, the court will issue an appropriate order, it added.

PM calls SC ruling ‘murder of justice’
In his reaction, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif equated the judicial murder of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto with the verdict of the apex court and said that it was ironic that the ex-premier was judicially murdered on April 4 and once again on the same day justice was “murdered”.

Speaking in the National Assembly, the prime minister said the cabinet meeting had demanded that the reference over the judicial murder of the late premier pending for the last 12 years should be taken up and decided by the full court.

“The world knows that ZAB’s case was a judicial murder as one of the former judges who had decided the case, had accepted it in his memoirs,” he said.

Praising ZAB, PM Shehbaz said he was among the founders of the 1973 Constitution and his historic contribution would always be remembered.

“The events that took place in the past 72 hours are tantamount to the murder of justice.”