IHC serves notices to respondents including ECP in the case

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD, The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday rejected the request of PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan to suspend the decision of ECP regarding his disqualification and, however, stopped the by-polls in Mianwali.

Justice Aamer Farooq of IHC heard the case filed by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI)’s Chief and disposed prime minister Imran Khan challenging the verdict of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Toshakhana case.

At the outset of hearing, Justice Aamer Farooq inquired that if the petitioner had submitted an application to file some extra documents.

Imran’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar said that they had requested the permission for submission of ECP’s notification regarding de-seating of his client.

The court questioned that whether this reference was sent by the speaker National Assembly to this Ali Zafar answered in yes and said that the ECP had to given its findings on reference.

The lawyer said that every member of the Parliament was bound to submit the assets details to the ECP on June 30.

Non submission of details within 120 days or submitting wrong information would be declared as corrupt practice, he said.

He said that the punishment for submitting the false statement or information was three year imprisonment sentence with fine. There was no punishment of disqualification as per law, he added.

The lawyer prayed the court to suspend the decision of ECP regarding the disqualification of Imran Khan. Justice Farooq remarked that the court was not suspending the decision of ECP, however, it was stopping the by-polls in Mianwali constituency.

The court also served notices to respondents including ECP in the case and sought comments.

It may be mentioned here that the ECP had disqualified Imran Khan for not declaring the information with regard to Toshakhana gifts.

Islamabad, /DNA/ – Though there are a few genuine problems with the Iranian regime, the fault-lines are being systematically targeted through media-framing and threat-perception building in an orchestrated manner which, in turn, fuels unrest by mobilizing the populace, both domestically and internationally.
This was observed during a session, titled ‘The Current Unrest in Iran and its Impact on Pakistan and the Region’, held at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).
The session was addressed by Iran affairs experts Ambassador (r) Asif Durrani and Dr. Nazir Hussain, dean faculty of social sciences and humanities, University of Wah, besides Khalid Rahman, chairman IPS, and Ambassador (r) Syed Abrar Hussain, vice chairman IPS.
The speakers were of the view that continuity of such political instability and unrest in Iran would have implications for Pakistan and the region. Moreover, the Western world, by making Iran’s unrest a pivotal debate, may produce a fallout in Pakistan and exploit its fault-lines revolving around internal issues. The speakers emphasized that in order to preempt these implications, exploitation, and media framing, it is crucial that there is unity and less polarization between all religious and political elements of Pakistan.
The speakers were of the view that incidents that caused unrest are not new for Iran but, at times, an increased level of turmoil provides an opportunity for entities to exploit it to fulfill their ulterior agendas and corner elements which are a bigger threat or problem. The current unrest in Iran follows the same trend and is of interest to many global players for varied reasons entailing domestic or international agendas.
Considering this, a prominent role in forming public political opinion on Iran’s situation is being played by the Western media, they highlighted. Though there are problems in Iran, the depiction by the media, through employing media framing and building threat perception, is inaccurate in its meaning. It is not only intensifying the disturbance but also mobilizing the demand to bring a political change in Iran.
The speakers pointed out that this is a part of non-traditional warfare in which fault-lines are exploited to fulfill an agenda. These fault-lines can be internal conflicts in a system and disagreements among the public.
In the case of Iran, they further noted that so far it has been managing well its political fault-lines, such as the extreme disagreement of people and governmental flaws, in order to avoid greater unrest by maintaining continuity in the political system. However, greater challenges regarding the continuity of the supreme religio-political leadership, another fault-line that is being eyed by hostile entities, may emerge in the future.

ISLAMABAD, OCT 30: The PTI was in the lead as per unofficial results after polling concluded for the by-election in Kurram’s NA-45 constituency on Sunday.

According to unofficial results so far, PTI chief Imran Khan — who was among a total of 16 candidates for the by-election — was in the lead with 7,094 votes, Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan’s (JIP) Jamil Khan trailed with 3,827 votes while independent candidate Saif Ullah Khan was 3rd with 213 votes.

Meanwhile, independent candidates Jahanzeb and Sarfaraz Khan garnered 92 and 79 votes, respectively.

Voting in the constituency, which began at 8am in the morning today and ended at 5pm, was largely peaceful.

Earlier in the day, PTI leader Taimur Khan Jhagra shared a video on Twitter showing a huge turnout of voters in the area.

“Unbelievable! Kurram, a remote district that should be detached from the country’s politics. Fascinating, how young these faces are,” he said. In a tweet, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that a large number of women came out to vote for their candidates.

The electoral body said that it had also established a control room to monitor the polls and the results. The ECP tweeted that “violence and interference” would not be tolerated, adding that swift action will be taken against those violating the law.

The ECP also tweeted a video of its by-election control room, in which officials could be seen seated as televisions ran in the background.

In the race

Although there are 16 candidates contesting the NA-45 seat, the main fight is expected between Imran and a candidate jointly fielded by the Pakistan Democratic Movement member parties, Jamiat Ulema-Islam-Fazl leader Jamil Khan.

Other candidates include Sher Mohammad Khan of the JI, former MNA Fakhar Zaman, who had vacated the seat and is now covering candidate for Mr Imran, and independent candidates Mohammad Zahir Shah, Sarfaraz Khan, Abdul Khaliq, Shah Nawaz Khan, Khalilur Rehman, Abdul Qadir, Mohammad Shoaib, Sadiq Khan, Jahanzeb, Niaz Badshah, Eidgul Mengal and Saifullah Khan.

NA-45 Kurram was one of the four National Assembly constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where polling for by-elections were scheduled to be held on Oct 16, but the ECP first postponed it and later fixed it for Oct 30.

In the other three constituencies of NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar, former prime minister and chief of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan had emerged successful.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 (DNA): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Sunday expressed deep grief over the demise of television channel reporter Sadaf Naeem who fell from the long march container.

In a message, the prime minister prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.

He said Sadaf Naeem was an active reporter and was committed to her work.

SADHOKE, Oct 30: Sadaf Naeem, a journalist working for a private news channel, Sunday died after being crushed under PTI’s container while its long march was headed toward Kamoke from GT Road Lahore.

Following the incident, the PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced halting the march for the day and said it will continue tomorrow.

Speaking to the participants, Khan said that the march was supposed to move towards Kamoke, Gujranwala, today. “However, due to the tragic incident, we will stop the march immediately.”

Khan also sent his condolences to the family of the deceased and said that he would pray for the departed soul. After the incident, the march was stopped at GT Road and Imran Khan stepped out of the container.

According to rescue officials, the reporter slipped and fell under Khan’s container while she was climbing down from the one she was standing on already. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to Twitter to share his grief over the incident and extended his condolences to the journalist’s family.

“Deeply saddened by the death of reporter Sadaf Naeem after falling from a long march container. Cannot feel sad enough over this tragic incident. Heartfelt condolences to the family. Sadaf Naeem was a dynamic and hardworking reporter. We pray for patience for the family of the deceased,” he tweeted. Punjab’s Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has regretted the incident and sent his heartfelt sympathies and condolences to Sadaf’s family.

PTI leaders and former ministers Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry expressed sorrow at the incident on Twitter.

“I’ve seldom seen reporters as courageous and hard-working as Sadaf. A brave girl. Her eyes lit up after I introduced her to Imran Khan as the bravest and most hard-working reporter. Who knew that the meeting will be the last one. May God have mercy on her,” Fawad wrote in his tweet.

SADHOKE, Oct 30: A journalist died as former prime minister Imran Khan’s contain ran over her. The deceased has been identified as Channel 5 reporter Sadaf Naeem.

She was conducting a TV programme with a senior journalist, Zia Shahid on channel 5, a TV channel of the Khabrian Group.

Muridke, OCT 30: Long March: Imran Khan says ‘journalists leaving the country’ as he decries ‘rule of fear’. In speech at Muridke, Imran refutes Shehbaz’s claim that he reached out to him to suggest army chief candidates

Once again calls on CJP to ‘bring those above the law, under it’

Says ‘we are with our army, our criticism is constructive’

Punjab CM Elahi claims ‘backdoor negotiations’ underway

This is the second such march by Imran this year; first was on May 25 and fizzled out after PTI reached the Red Zone

Red Zone extended to Faisal Avenue

PTI insists march will be peaceful and limited to designated areas only