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PM Shehbaz urgeS IndIan PreMIer to reSolve KaShMIr through talKS ISLAMABAD
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RIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif Monday asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold serious and sincere talks to resolve burning issues, including Kashmir. The prime minister, in an interview with Al Arabiya news channel, said,“My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir.” In Kashmir, flagrant human rights violations were taking place day in and day out, he said, adding India had usurped any semblance of autonomy, given to the Kashmiris according to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The autonomy was revoked in August 2019. Minorities in India were being persecuted, he said, adding,“This must stop so that message can go around the globe that India is ready to have talks.” Shehbaz said India and Pakistan were neighbours and they had to live with each other. “It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other, and waste time and re-
sources. We have three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people. We have learnt our lesson and we want to live in peace provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems. “We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity, and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, that is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi,” he added. “We are nuclear powers, armed to the teeth and if God forbid a war
breaks out who will live to tell what happened,” he remarked. He said the leadership of the United Arab Emirates could play an important role to bring India and Pakistan together, adding he would hold talks with the Indian leadership with the sincerity of purpose. He said Saudi Arabia was a friendly and brotherly country, and they had unique brotherly relations for centuries. Before Pakistan came into being and carved out of India, millions of Muslims had brotherly relations with Saudi Arabia and they were visiting Makkah and Medina, he recalled.
The PM said the United Arab Emirates was a second home for millions of Pakistanis and as prime minister he had undertaken a successful visit to the country. He said Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed was an affectionate brother and great supporter of Pakistan and wanted the people of Pakistan to progress and become prosperous. Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan was also a great friend of Pakistan and Pakistan was in his soul. “Leadership of Pakistan and Gulf countries have resolved to cooperate with each other in the realm of trade and culture and project Islam as a religion of peace and shun all forms of terrorism. We are working together as strategic partners.” The prime minister said Pakistan’s woes and difficulties would not have decreased without the tangible and substantial support of the brotherly Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia, who were reliable and trust worthy partners. He said the Pakistani nation was resilient and brave, and it would stand on its own feet by promoting trade and investment. To a question, he said survival of the world lied in co-existence and what was happening in eastern Europe had devastated the world and commodity prices had sky rocketed.
Urban Sindh LG polls: PPP leads as opposition cries foul of ‘mass rigging’ g
ECP finaly unveils official results ISLAMABAD/KARACHI Staff RepoRt
The PPP emerged the biggest winner with 93 seats and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) close second with 86 seats in the second phase of the Local Government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad marred with allegations of massive rigging and vote fraud. According to the complete results, the PTI was a distant third with 40 seats, followed by the PML-N with seven seats. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday released the final consolidated results of all 235 union councils in Sindh’s Karachi division after close to a 30hour wait amid PTI and JI crying foul. Polling in the provincial capital was held on Sunday for the posts of chairman and vice chairman. The electoral body said the remaining results will be released by night and acknowledged that the process was a complicated one and required time to prepare the result of one union council. The elections have been marred by electoral irregularities, rigging allegations, low voter turnout, and an unusual delay in results from polling stations, with many calling for stronger measures to ensure the safety of public officials. The PTI accused the PPP, provincial administration and the tribunal of misconduct and rigging, warning of
a strong reaction if any attempts were made to tamper with the election results. Jamaat-e-Islami echoed similar reservations and allegations, with its Karachi chief Naeem ur-Rehman holding a press conference in Karachi and threatening to stage sitin protests if the results of the local body elections were not announced on time. He alleged that some deputy commissioners were working in favour of the Sindh government and interfering in the process. JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem claimed that his party secured the biggest number of seats. He alleged that eight seats were “given to the PPP”, saying that the JI had the signed Form 11s of those UCs to prove it. He claimed that the party’s total seats were actually 94 and it had appealed for a recount in 10 seats. The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), the key contestant in Hyderabad and rural districts of the province, rejected the electoral process and demanded “immediate intervention” of the state institutions. Sindh Minister and President of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Karachi Division Saeed Ghani claimed that PPP had won over 100 Union Councils/Union Committees of the metropolis during the second phase of local government elections as per the unofficial results. While addressing a press confer-
g
The PPP is followed by JI and PTI
ence in a Committee Room of the Sindh Assembly, he said that after the announcement of complete results, they were in better position to nominate their own Mayor. PPP Karachi Division’s General Secretary Javed Nagori and others were also present on the occasion. Saeed Ghani said that the citizens of Karachi expressed their confidence in PPP in the previous day elections and PPP had emerged as a single largest party in the city. He also felicitated Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ‘s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, saying, that JI seemed to be runnerup in the race for the elections according to the unofficial results.
The elections on January 15 came under question when the two parties alleged that the results were deliberately being delayed. However, earlier in the day, the commission defended the delay, insisting the process of preparing and releasing results for each union council (UC) was complicated and time-consuming. Provincial Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan clarified that each UC consists of four wards and around 20 polling stations and the final result of a UC remains incomplete if a result sheet of even one polling station is left.
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Senior lawyer Latif Afridi killed in PHC bar room shooting PESHAWAR Staff RepoRt
Former Supreme Court Bar Association president and senior lawyer Latif Afridi was killed during firing inside the Peshawar High Court (PHC) bar room on Monday, according to the police. He was moved to the Peshawar Lady Reading Hospital immediately after the incident where he succumbed to his injuries during medical treatment, facility’s spokesperson Muhammad Asim said. Meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police Kashif Abbassi stated that Afridi was sitting with other lawyers in the PHC bar room when a gunman opened fire at him. “The police have arrested the accused and identified him as Adnan Afridi,” the officer said, revealing that the attacker was related to Afridi. He stated that a small weapon, an identity card and a student card have been recovered from the attacker. Abbassi further said that the police suspected the attack was carried out because of “personal enmity”. The attacker’s cousin Aftab Afridi — an anti-terrorism judge in Swat — was killed in a firing incident last year. Latif Afridi and his family members were nominated in the case but were later acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in Swabi. On the other hand, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association termed the incident a “security lapse” and questioned how a man with a weapon managed to reach the bar room. It is pertinent to mention that the PHC bar room is located inside the premises of the high court. Tight security is regularly deployed at the entrance of the PHC and people are only allowed to enter upon showing their identity cards. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep sorrow and grief over the “brutal killing” of the senior lawyer. “I pray that the bereaved family bear this loss with fortitude. The worsening law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is alarming,” the PM noted, adding that the provincial government should take immediate measures in this regard. Former president Asif Ali Zardari condemned the murder of Afridi and said he was a strong supporter of democracy and a staunch opponent of extremism. “The killing of martyr Abdul Latif Afridi is very unfortunate,” the PPP leader said in a tweet. Meanwhile, former SBCA president Ahsan Bhoon expressed shock at the murder of the senior lawyer and said Afridi had always raised his voice for people deprived of rights. “He was a part of the students union in his young days and later he joined the ANP,” Bhoon said, adding that the slain lawyer had also suffered tough times during martial law in ex-dictator Ayub Khan’s tenure. The exSCBA president said Afridi was a strong advocate of democracy. “He resisted all anti-democratic forces throughout his life.” The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and the KP Bar Council also condemned Afridi’s killing in strong words
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