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SIC’S AHMED KHAN BHACHAR SECURES 96 VOTES OUT OF A TOTAL OF 327 CAST VOTES
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LAHORE
MALIK ZAHEER IQBAL CHUNNER BECOMES NEW DEPUTY SPEAKER BY OBTAINING 220 OUT OF 323 VOTES
STAFF REPORT
AKISTAN Muslim LeagueNawaz’s (PML-N) Malik Ahmed Khan was elected as Punjab Assembly (PA) speaker on Saturday, secured a commanding 224 votes out of the total 327 cast during the second session on Saturday night. Ahmed Khan Bhacher of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), comprising PTIbacked elected independent candidates, secured the second position with 96 votes, showcasing a competitive electoral atmosphere in the assembly. The second session of the newlyelected Punjab assembly, presided over by outgoing Speaker Sibtain Khan, saw members of PML-N and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) — which includes MPAs who won with PTI’s backing — chanting slogans against each other. Following his election, Khan promptly took the oath of his new post, marking the commencement of his responsibilities as the Punjab Assembly Speaker. The election proceedings took place during a meeting chaired by the now-former speaker Sabtain Khan. All 327 members participated in the voting process, contributing to the democratic selection of the Speaker.
However, the assembly meeting did not escape the fervour of political differences, with both sides engaging in passionate slogans against each other. The next order of business involves the election for the deputy speaker's slot, with Malik Zaheer Iqbal Chunar from PML-N and Mohammad Moinuddin Riaz from SIC in contention for the position. Assembly Secretary Aamir Habib guided the members through the election procedures, with three designated booths facilitating the voting process. The booths accommodated members from various constituencies, ensuring a systematic and
fair electoral process. It's noteworthy that the PML-N has a substantial number of candidates, adding to the competitive nature of the election. The oath-taking ceremony occurred the day prior, with 321 out of 371 members of the Punjab Assembly taking their oaths. CHUNNER ELECTED PA’S DEPUTY SPEAKER: Malik Zaheer Iqbal Chunner, the candidate from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), secured victory in the election for the new deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly. Chunner garnered significant support, obtaining 220 out of 323 votes during the
session held on Saturday night. Mohammed Moinuddin Riaz from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) emerged as the second-place candidate with a total of 103 votes. Earlier, six MPAs, including Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shafay Hussain and Sunni Ittehad Council's (SIC) Hafiz Farhat Abbas and Waseem Khan Badozai, and independent candidates Rai Murtaza Iqbal Khan, Fateh Khaliq, Tashakul Abbas Warraich, who were not present in the House's inaugural session on Friday, took their oaths. The swornin MPAs then marked their attendance in the register after the oath, following which the session was briefly adjourned for 20 minutes for the Maghrib prayer. In the current composition of the provincial assembly, the PML-N leads with 193 members, followed by the Sunni Ittehad Council as the secondlargest party with 98 members. Additionally, there are 13 members from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 10 members from the Pakistan Muslim LeagueQuaid (PML-Q), five members from the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), and one member each from Tehreek-e-Labbaik and Pakistan Muslim League-Ziaul Haq in the Punjab Assembly.
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US Senator calls on Pakistan to probe allegations of fraud, interference in Feb 8 polls
ATC decides to proceed with May 9 cases against Imran in his absence LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
Rs 20.00 | Vol XIV No 238 I 8 Pages I Islamabad Edition
An Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday decided to continue legal proceedings against PTI founder Imran Khan in cases linked to May 9 even in his absence. During the hearing on Imran’s interim bail pleas in cases related to the arson at Jinnah House, Askari Tower, PML-N House and other locations, the court extended the bail till March 1. ATC Judge Arshad Javed said the PTI founder did not have access to a video link or WhatsApp either, hence his attendance could not be recorded. The court said that the Adiala jail superintendent was liable for contempt as he did not ensure Imran’s attendance through electronic means and the hearing on bail pleas would have been delayed by several days. Deputy Prosecutor Abdul Jabbar Dogar did not object to the decision based on merit. The prosecutor asserted that the accused’s presence is not crucial as everyone knows that Imran is presently incarcerated at Adiala jail. Imran’s lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, concurred with the suggestion and agreed to the proposal to complete the arguments without the accused’s presence and requested the court to decide on temporary bail today.
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
United States Senator Chris Van Hollen has called on the Pakistani authorities to “fully investigate allegations of fraud and electoral interference” into February 8 polls largely marred by allegations of rigging, vote fraud and result manipulation. In a letter addressed to Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Masood Khan, the lawmaker underscored that the polls were tainted by claims of unfair restrictions on political expression and rigging. His letter comes as various political parties including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have been decrying mass rigging and result manipulation in the general elections. PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat moved the Supreme Court under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution to halt the process of formation of federal and provincial governments, further praying the court to set aside Form 47 of all national and provincial constituencies, prepared in violation of Section 13 (3) of the Election Act 2017. Doubts over the polls were further exacerbated by the revelations made by now-former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaqat Ali Chatha, who last week, tendered his resignation out of “guilty conscience” for abetting large-scale electoral rigging
in the garrison city further raising the political mercury in the country. The former bureaucrat has since then retracted his allegations while stressing that his actions were carried out with the PTI, who had also given him “lucrative positions in future”. Meanwhile, former prime minister Imran Khan has also written to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asking the global lender to hold an audit of the election results before approving any new loan for Islamabad. Senator Hollen’s letter further underscores that any new government will struggle to bring the nation together without a credible investigation as the country requires a strong government with the people’s backing to make difficult but necessary decisions in light of the prevailing economic and security challenges. “Respecting the decision of the
Pakistani people, expressed through their votes, is the only way a new government will be empowered to tackle issues facing Pakistan such as negotiating a new IMF agreement,” the letter reads. Earlier this week, Washington had called on Islamabad to ensure a full and transparent investigation of “any claims of interference or fraud” in the February 8 general elections as per Pakistani laws and procedures. In a statement, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller called for a probe when he was asked about the explosive rigging allegations made by Chatha. “Any claims of interference or fraud should be fully and transparently investigated in accordance with Pakistan’s own laws and procedures. And that, of course, includes this claim as well,” Miller responded.
Food ministry officials caught clearing 117 metric tons of infested chickpeas g
THREE DPP OFFICIALS, INCLUDING A DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION & QUARANTINE, HAVE BEEN ARRESTED PROFIT
GHULAM ABBAS
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has apprehended three key officials of the Department of Plant Protection (DPP), an attached Department of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), for their involvement in clearing highly infested food shipments with expired, invalid, and forged documents from Karachi port. This action violates plant quarantine regulations and poses life risks to public health. Among those arrested is Dr. Muhammad Qasim Khan Kakar, Director of Administration & Quarantine, tasked with enforcing phytosanitary regulations on importable and exportable agricultural commodities at ports, land terminals, and airports. Other individuals detained include entomologists Mr. Waleed Mukhtar and Mr. Shahzad Salman from the DPP. As per details they stand accused of contravening Rule 45(1), 45(6), & 46(4) of the Pakistan Plant Quarantine Rules (PPQR) 2019 and sections 420, 468 & 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) by issuing a “Biosecurity Clearance and Plant Protection Release Order” on January 13, 2024, entertaining incomplete and incorrect applications which had expired and forged phytosanitary documents. This was done without determining the poison level (Aflatoxin) in the expired food consignment. Due to unhygienic and muggy weather at the port, continued fungi activity was observed in the chickpea shipment. According to the FIR filed by the FIA Corporate Crime Circle Karachi, The shipment was more than a year old and arrived in Pakistan on 8th October, 2022 from Australia. Zaamin Enterprises (NTN-7247322-0), located at the New Challi Trade Centre Building, Shahrah-e-Liaquat Karachi, imported a consignment of 117 metric tons of chickpeas in five containers from Australia through a fabricated bill of lading(B/L). It is significant to point out that the B/L was issued on 8th September 2022 but Zaamin Enterprises misrepresented the date of B/L as 8th September 2023 in the General Declaration (GD) filed with the Customs. From October 2022 till January 2024, the consignment was lying at Karachi port in open sun and under poor storage conditions without clearance for unknown reasons and had already expired in February 2023 after the expiry of import permit and phytosanitary certificate. According to further details, after lying at the port for so long, on 13 January 2024, Mr. Waleed Mukhtar and Mr. Shahzad Salman, gave biosecurity clearance and plant protection release order to the expired food consignment of Zaamin Enterprises. This clearance was given against import and phytosanitary counterfeit documents without proper inspection protocols for the detection of invasive biosecurity and foodborne risks, allegedly benefitting Zaamin Enterprises at the expense of the country’s biosecurity, natural resources, domestic agriculture, and public health. The inspection of the consignment was not even mandatory because it had an expired and invalid import permit and phytosanitary certificate. However, Mr. Waleed Mukhtar, the entomologist, entertained the application of expired food shipment and conducted inspection in sheer violation of enforced rules. According to the law, the shipment was required to be either destroyed or re-shipped from Pakistan in accordance with Rule 46(4) of PPQR by rejecting the request of biosecurity clearance. Mr. Shahzad Salman, an entomologist, also signed and issued the biosecurity clearance order and Zaamin Enterprises. It was later revealed that Waleed Mukhtar did not even draw a sample from the expired food shipment as given in Rule 45(6) of PPQR for confirmation of poisoning (aflatoxin) level in the commodity whether it was safe for human consumption or not, which prima facie revealed that inspection for biosecurity clearance and plant protection release order is either collusive or criminally negligent.
More than 100 Gazans killed in a day in Israeli bombardment GAZA STRIP AGENCIES
Israeli air strikes targeted homes in southern Gaza, witnesses have said, with the health ministry saying more than 100 people were killed over the previous day. According to AFP, Israeli bombardment destroyed one house and left a gaping hole in the earth east of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where about 1.4 million Gazans have converged in a futile search to escape the fighting. “We were sleeping in our house when we heard the sound of a missile,” said Abdul Hamid Abu el-Enein. “We rushed to the site and found people martyred and injured” in the strike which “completely erased” the two-storey home. An Israeli air strike on Friday destroyed the home of well-known Palestinian comedian Mahmoud Zuaiter in Gaza, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens more, according to the Gaza health ministry. Most of the victims were women and children, it added. Health ministry in Gaza says Israeli bombardment death toll at 29,606 The health ministry in Gaza said that at
least 29,606 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the Israeli bombardment. The toll includes at least 92 fatalities in the past 24 hours, while 69,737 people have been injured since the conflict began on October 7, a statement read. Israeli strike kills 23 at family home of Gaza comedian: ministry Meanwhile, An Israeli air strike on Friday destroyed the home of a well-known Palestinian comedian in Gaza, killing at least 23 and injuring dozens more, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Mahmoud Zuaiter’s family home in the Deir al-Balah area of central Gaza was flattened, with most of the victims women and children, it added. Zuaiter, who was injured in the attack, has more than 1.2 million fans on Instagram while his videos have been seen widely on YouTube. In a video posted online after Friday’s attack, Zuaiter, who is in his late 30s, is seen holding an injured child. “I have spoken strongly against anyone leaving Gaza and I was praying to God, please don’t force me to leave Gaza… because I love Gaza and its people so much,” he is heard saying.
“But it seems they want us to leave Gaza.” He then bursts into tears. The strike came with no let-up in Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, as it seeks to destroy Hamas after the October 7 attacks on Israeli communities near the border with the Palestinian territory. Some 1,160 people were killed in Israel, mostly civilians, with about 250 others taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 29,514 people across Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory. More than four months of fighting and bombardment have flattened much of Gaza and pushed its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine as disease spreads, AFP quotes the United Nations as saying. “We have reached the point of extreme poverty and hunger,” 62-year-old Zarifa Hamad, a displaced woman living in a camp in northern Gaza, told AFP. “Children are dying of hunger.” Netanyahu’s plan for post-conflict Gaza draws US criticism Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled a plan for post-conflict Gaza that drew criticism from key ally the
United States and was rejected by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, AFP reports. The new plan came after airstrikes targeted homes in southern Gaza, and as an Israeli delegation arrived in Paris hoping to “unblock” truce discussions. Netanyahu’s plan envisages civil affairs in a post-crisis Gaza being run by Palestinian officials without links to Hamas. It also lays out that, even after the conflict, the Israeli army
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would have “indefinite freedom” to operate throughout Gaza to prevent any resurgence of terror activity, according to the proposals. The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority and drew criticism from the United States. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington had been “consistently clear with our Israeli counterparts” about what was needed in post-conflict Gaza.