Politics

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan sticks to his guns on not holding a face to face meeting with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif for consultations on appointment of two new members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

As a result, an exchange of letters continues unabated between the government and the opposition leader. So far, three missives have been sent by the government side to Shahbaz Sharif, who has responded to two of them while reply to the third one is being drafted.

“We want to wrap up the issue without further delay,” former Speaker and prominent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq told The News.

He said that Shahbaz Sharif’s letter would contain the names, firmed up by all the opposition parties. “We will not be averse to even accepting any good nomination recommended by the prime minister if that comes up to our criterion.”

Ayaz Sadiq said the opposition leader would seek the CVs of the names proposed by Imran Khan because he has only mentioned them without giving their qualifications meriting their appointment.

He said that a committee comprising Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah, PML-N stalwart Rana Sanaullah and others would recommend the names to be suggested by the opposition leader for nomination as the ECP members.

The former speaker said the opposition is not keen for a meeting between Shahbaz Sharif and Imran Khan if, without it, the process of nominating the two ECP members can be carried out in a legal and constitutional fashion.

He believed that it appears from the latest communication that Imran Khan realised that the previous way of consultations was not appropriate or sanctioned by the Constitution.

Ayaz Sadiq said that a 2011 judgment of the Supreme Court ruled while setting the parameters that there should be meaningful consultations between the prime minister and opposition leader, and all this should be brought in writing.

“In our advisory committee meeting on Wednesday, we deliberated upon the latest letter of the prime minister under his own signatures, and felt that it is also flawed and defective under the famous Supreme Court judgment that prescribes meaningful, result-oriented consultations,” another PML-N stalwart Ahsan Iqbal, who attended the session, told The News. “We believed that Imran Khan was evasive to hold the mandatory consultations.”

He said it was required under the case law as well as the Constitution that there must be mutual discussions between the two consulters on the merits and demerits of the nominees under discussion.

To avoid a physical session with the opposition leader, the prime minister, in the fresh letter to Shahbaz Sharif, has stressed, citing the case law and a Quranic verse, that “the consultations could be and should be done in writing”, and “written consultation is surely preferred”.

His communication marked the third change in his method of communication. First, he authorised Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to write the letter to Shahbaz Sharif, who did so through an additional secretary of the foreign ministry, which was seen as an unusual move involving a senior official of this department.

When this letter was rejected by the opposition leader, Imran Khan wrote another communication to him through his Principal Secretary, which too was dismissed as inconsequential by Shahbaz Sharif. Both times, the director to the opposition leader replied.

For the third time, the prime minister has directly written the letter under his own signatures to the opposition leader, also justifying the two previous notes on the touchstone of the Constitution.

Ahsan Iqbal said that it was clear from the prime minister’s letter that he has recognised that the previous process was constitutionally imperfect and he himself should directly hold consultations with the opposition leader.

Considering the kind of relationship between the ruling coalition and opposition parties, indications are that Imran Khan and Shahbaz Sharif were unlikely to reach a consensus on the names of the two ECP members if the latter sent the list of his nominees to the former in response of the new letter.

In that case, they will, as required by the Constitution, send their separate lists of choices to a 12-member bipartisan parliamentary committee for holding a hearing and confirming one name each for every ECP vacancy.

Both sides have equal representation in this forum and are therefore unable to defeat each other. They are unexpected to reach any consensus there as well. Consequently, the situation will lead to a deadlock for which the Constitution has no answer or solution. If a stalemate hit, the matter may ultimately land in a superior court for interpretation of the concerned constitutional article. In the past, the two sides, which were obviously different than the present parties, had arrived at an agreement during consultations, discounting a standoff.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has finally written a letter to the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif seeking his suggestions in writing for appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

In a four-page letter, the prime minister rejected all objections and allegations hurled by Shahbaz that the government was violating the Constitution by delaying the finalisation of names of ECP members from Balochistan and Sindh.

Imran quoted a number of examples from the earlier court decisions and even a Quranic verse from Surah Baqarah in support of his argument that consultation on the ongoing matter could be and should be done in writing.

“Written consultation is surely preferred. I again stress your good self to participate in the consultative process by giving your views in writing. In case you do not participate in the consultative process, the people of Pakistan and myself shall have no option but to presume that you are evading the legal process in which event further rights shall be reserved,” writes Mr Khan without further elaboration.

Earlier, in a letter to the prime minister, Shahbaz had opposed his way of consultation on the appointment of ECP members through nominees and accused the government of violating the Constitution by impeding the filling of two vacancies.

He had also highlighted the apparent reluctance of prime minister to hold direct consultations with him as a major factor behind the delay.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has finally ‘reconsidered’ his strategy and began ‘consultation’ with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif by suggesting to him through a letter three nominations each for the vacant posts of the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Balochistan and Sindh as the deadline set by the Constitution for the purpose was already missed earlier this month.

The letter written to Mr Sharif from the PM Office, a copy of which is available with Dawn, reveals that the government has withdrawn the previous nominations that had been sent to the opposition leader through the office of the foreign minister and new names have now been suggested for the two vacant constitutional posts.

The prime minister has suggested the names of Amanullah Baloch, former district and sessions judge, Quetta; Munir Kakar, a lawyer; and Mir Naveed Jan Baloch, a businessman and former caretaker minister in the provincial government, for their nomination as a member of the ECP from Balochistan.

ISLAMABAD: All eligible voters throughout the country have been asked to transfer their vote on their permanent or temporary address written on their computerized national identity card (CNIC) by March 31.

According to an official of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), votes would be considered as ineffective of all those voters who fail to transfer their votes on CNIC address with the ECP under the law.

He said that the commission has extended the previous date of December 31 as last date for transferring of votes as per CNIC address and asked the citizens to avail this opportunity and submit their forms with the respective district election commissioner, registration officer or assistant registration officer.

He said keeping in view the situation and to ensure the right of exercise of casting votes, the ECP while exercising its powers under article 219 (A) of Constitution of Pakistan and section 36 of Elections Act 2017, has issued orders for review of electoral rolls.

He said the decision would help all those voters who could not transfer their votes or register them as voters on CNIC address earlier.

He said that estimated eight percent to 10 percent votes of eligible voters are registered with ECP’s electoral rolls other than the CNIC address.

He said during review process of electoral rolls, the commission would point out all those votes registered with other addresses and transfer these votes on CNIC temporary or permanent address.

He said that during the process, a facility was being offered to voters to transfer their vote on CNIC address with their own choice of temporary or permanent address.

He said that voters could register or transfer their votes in respective

constituencies till issuing of schedule of national, provincial or local government elections. He added after issuing of schedule, there would be no chance of inclusion in voters’ lists.

The official said now voters could get information by sending computerized national identity card (CNIC) number to ECP’s SMS service 8300.   He asked them to contact their respective district office of ECP to ensure registering as voter on CNIC address. He added that all ECP district information office would remain open on Saturday and Sunday for the purpose.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on Tuesday told a National Assembly committee that the prime minister had yet to start consultation with the opposition leader for appointment of members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Sindh and Balochistan.

The minister told the National Assembly’s standing committee that the seats fell vacant following retirement of two members on Jan 26. He said the prime minister and the opposition leader in the National Assembly were to propose names after consultation. He said that in case of difference of opinion, they would propose three names each for members from both the provinces and a decision would be taken by the parliamentary committee on appointment of chief election commissioner and ECP members.

He said it was his desire that the matter was decided through consultation. About the commencement of process for consultation between the prime minister and the opposition leader, he said he would raise the matter in the parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday (tomorrow).

A highlight of the meeting was withdrawal of a bill by Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali seeking to give people the right to get registered as voters anywhere in Pakistan, irrespective of the addresses mentioned on their computerised national identity cards (CNICs).

Under Section 27 of the Elections Act, a person shall be deemed to be resident of an electoral area if his/her temporary or permanent address on their CNIC issued by the National Database and Registration Authority lies in the said electoral area.

The ECP has already given a deadline of Feb 28 to 15 million voters registered on addresses other than those mentioned on their CNICs to decide where they want to be enrolled, failing which they will be shifted to their permanent addresses.

This meant the persons registered as voters at addresses other than the ones mentioned on their CNICs had just a week to decide where they wanted to be registered, or they would be enrolled as voters in their permanent addresses.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqub Fateh Mohammad, expressing his views before the committee, said it was essentially required to limit the scope of registration to one of the two addresses mentioned on the CNIC to curb bogus voting.

He hinted that the deadline of Feb 28 might be extended to facilitate maximum voters. He said that around 15 per cent of the total voters were registered on addresses other than the permanent and temporary addresses mentioned on their CNICs.

Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali initially insisted that there was no harm if a resident of Chitral cast his vote in Karachi, but later agreed to withdraw the bill as most of the committee members supported the ECP position.

The NA standing committee also passed a bill seeking to provide for constitution of two ECP benches, instead of one, to decide petitions.

The parliamentary affairs minister told the committee that the bill had already been passed by the Senate.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been incomplete for a week after retirement of two members and is set to suffer from intermittent vacuum.

A senior official of the ECP told Dawn that it had swiftly acted to decide through a draw which two members would retire on Jan 26 to give 45 days to the government for appointment of replacements for the members from Sindh and Balochistan.

He said the commission had a long list of activities for the coming months warranting immediate appointment of two members. He proposed an amendment to the relevant law to make it mandatory to start the process of appointment of chief election commissioner (CEC) and ECP members two months before their retirement date and finalise the process at least a week before creation of vacancy to prevent any vacuum in the constitutional body.

Under the Constitution, the ECP comprises a chief election commissioner and four members — one from each province.

Commission is set to suffer from intermittent vacuum, fears official

The official feared that the phenomenon of delay in filling vacancies and subsequent vacuum would continue to jolt the ECP in days ahead. He pointed out that Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza will retire in December and two members on July 26, 2021. The new members from Sindh and Balochistan will retire in 2024 after completion of their five-year term. He said delay in appointments each time would cause vacuum.

The mechanism for the retirement of two members after their half-term in office was put in place through the 22nd Amendment to ensure the continuity of the electoral body. The amendment was made to avoid the repetition of the experience of 2010, when four members retired at the same time and the commission remained virtually non-functional for months. Consequently, the legality of around two dozen by-elections held by the then chief election commissioner, in the absence of members, faced legal challenges.

Article 215 of the Constitution in its amended form reads: “The Commissioner [and a member] shall, subject to this Article, hold office for a term of five years from the day he enters upon his office.”

A proviso to the article reads: “Provided that two of the members shall retire after the expiration of first two and a half years and two shall retire after the expiration of the next two and a half years: Provided further that the Commission shall for the first term of office of members draw a lot as to which two members shall retire after the first two and a half years.”

However, under the amended law, it was a one-time arrangement meaning that in future all members will complete their five-year tenure.

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had constituted the parliamentary committee on appointment of CEC and ECP members even before the retirement of the two members, but Prime Minister Imran Khan is yet to start the process for consultation with the detained Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif.

Under Articles 213 and 218 of the Constitution, prime minister in consultation with opposition leader forwards three names for the appointment of a CEC or commission member to a parliamentary committee for confirmation of one name.

The parliamentary committee, constituted by the NA speaker, draws half its members from treasury benches and half from opposition parties, based on their strength in parliament, to be nominated by their respective parliamentary leaders.

In case a consensus cannot be reached between the prime minister and the opposition leader, the law says that each will forward separate lists to the parliamentary committee for consideration. The strength of the parliamentary committee must be 12 members, one-third of whom will be from the Senate.

An official said that the process of consultation between the prime minister and the opposition leader and deliberations at the level of the parliamentary committee might take time, particularly if a difference of opinion arose.

Dr Arif Alvi was sworn in as the 13th President of Pakistan at a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad on Sunday, a day after outgoing president Mamnoon Hussain’s five-year term ended.

The ceremony, which began after 1pm, commenced with the playing of the national anthem, followed by a recitation from the Holy Quran.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar administered oath to Alvi, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader who was elected to the National Assembly from Karachi’s NA-247 constituency during the July 25 polls.

As per the 1973 Constitution, Alvi’s election to the NA seat will stand null and void once he takes oath as President of Pakistan, since an elected member of Parliament cannot hold the office of head of state.

Top civil and military leadership, including members of the federal cabinet, the three services chiefs, parliamentarians, justices of the Supreme Court, diplomats and other well-known personalities and foreign officials were in attendance at the ceremony.

Among them were Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Chief of Naval Staff Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat.

A beaming Alvi clad in a black sherwani walked into the ceremony hall accompanied by CJP Nisar. Prime Minister Imran Khan and outgoing president Mamnoon Hussain flanked Alvi and Justice Nisar at the dais as the oath was administered.

After Alvi took oath, the national anthem was played a second time. It was then directed that Alvi’s swearing in as president be notified in the Gazette.

Later in the day, the Cabinet Secretariat issued the Gazette notification saying that Alvi had “assumed the office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan” on Sept 9.

In the evening, after the swearing-in ceremony concluded, Alvi was presented a guard of honour by contingents from Pakistan’s armed forces.

Who is Arif Alvi?

Dr Alvi’s career in politics spans over five decades and began with his role in student politics as a president of the student union at de’Montmorency College of Dentistry in Lahore.

Alvi was part of the student movement of 1969 during Gen Ayub Khan’s military regime and, as his party men say, was among those who fought for democracy in the country.

For the first time, Arif Alvi emerged as an election candidate in 1977 when he secured a Pakistan National Alliance ticket for a Sindh Assembly seat for Karachi. However, he did not take part in the elections as they were boycotted by the opposition parties.

Born in 1949 and a dentist by profession, Dr Alvi was among more than 100 candidates who were fielded by the PTI in the 1997 elections. All the aspirants, including Imran Khan, lost, most of them to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Dr Alvi ran in the 1997 elections from, now erstwhile, PS-114 (Clifton Karachi) but could secure only 2,000 plus votes. He contested from another constituency — PS-90 (Karachi West) — in the 2002 elections but received fewer votes (1,276) than his previous tally.

For a long time, Dr Alvi has remained the only known face of the party in Sindh as he dedicated his time, house and money for the party.

According to the PTI’s official website, he is one of its founding members and was the party’s secretary general from 2006 till 2013.

For the first time, he was elected a member of the National Assembly from the erstwhile Clifton constituency NA-250 (now NA-247) in the 2013 polls, which was the only NA seat won by the party in Sindh.

He was re-elected to the National Assembly from the same Clifton constituency now called NA-247 (Karachi South-II) in the July 25 general election.

Alvi, who was up against PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan and JUI-F’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman for the post of president last week, won the election with at least 352 electoral votes ─ 44 more than his two rivals could collectively obtain. Fazl and Ahsan clinched 185 and 124 votes respectively.

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) approved the formation of provincial cabinets in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday.

According to the PTI’s official lists, the Punjab cabinet will consist of 23 members while the KP cabinet will have 15 members.

Prime Minister Imran Khan spent a busy day at his residence at Banigala to give final shape to the two cabinets.

The prime minister interviewed candidates for different slots in the provincial set-ups, according to federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

Mr Khan interviewed a batch of around 40 aspirants for Punjab ministries and made it clear that they would have to work round the clock to serve the masses.

The ministers’ performance will be evaluated after three months and only those would be retained whose record was adjudged to be satisfactory.

The poor performers will be issued warnings while those failing to perform would be removed.

Reliable sources told Dawn that the prime minister initially intended to name a 15-member cabinet to run government affairs in Punjab.

The prime minister held a detailed discussion with the PTI and PML-Q MPAs at his Banigala residence before announcing the Punjab cabinet. Mr Khan had also held in-depth discussions on the selection of Punjab cabinet with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Punjab PTI chief Aleem Khan in Islamabad a few days ago.

The prime minister told the aspirants that all of them would be considered, but initially the cabinet would remain short. He said those assigned ministries in the first phase would be required to work seven days a week. “The government is never on a holiday,” he said.

Imran Khan also said that all would-be ministers should visit their departments after assuming charge and begin their job by identifying and plugging undue utilisation of resources.

“Austerity measures should be taken up as a way of life,” he asserted. The state of Madina should be adopted as a model, he observed.

When the prime minister told potential ministers that they would get only one official car, Usman Buzdar said that he himself had one official car at his disposal. Mr Khan asked the chief minister to keep two official cars at his disposal.

The other vehicles in the chief minister’s secretariat will be auctioned.

Pouring his heart out, Mr Khan said ministers would be given three months to perform and their performance would be assessed by a task force.

He said the ministers found negligent in performing their duties would be removed while low performers would be told to improve performance.

Those performing well in the ministries would be allowed to continue.

An aspiring minister said the prime minister carried a diary with him and took some notes during the meeting. The meeting also discussed water shortage and decided to issue instructions for water conservation, besides declaring a water emergency.

Punjab cabinet

The names and portfolios of Punjab’s cabinet members are:

Hafiz Muhammad Ahmed (Excise & Taxation and Narcotics Control), Makhdoom Hashim Bakht (Finace), Samiullah Chaudhry (Food), Fayyazul Hassan Chuhan (Information and Culture), Muhammad Sibtain Khan (no portfolio), Sardar Asif Nakkai (no portfolio), Hafiz Ammar Yasir (without portfolio), Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz (Higher Education and Tourism Development), Mian Mehmoodur Rashid (Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering), Mian Aslam Iqbal (Industry, Commerce and Investment), Malik Nauman Langrial (without portfolio), Raja Basharat (Law and Parliament Affairs), Aleem Khan (Local Government and Communituy Development-As a senior minister), Raja Rashif Hafeez (Revenue), Hasnain Dareshak (without portfolio), Malik Muhammad Anwar (without portfolio), Dr Yasmeen Rashid (Primary and Secondary Healthcare/ Specialized Healthcare Medication Education), Taimoor Khan (Youth Affair/Sports), Mohsin Leghari (Irrigation), Murad Ross (School Education), Chaudhry Zaheeruddin (without portfolio), Ansar Majeed Niazi (Labour and Manpower), hashim Dogat (without portfolio), Muhammad Akram Chaudhry (Political Adviser).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Atif Khan (senior minister/ Tourism), Shahram Khan Tarakai (Local Government), Taimur Saleem Khan Jaghra (Finance), Syed Muhammad Istiaq Urmer (Forest), Haji Qalandar Khan Lohdi (Food), Akhtar Ayub Khan (no portfolio), Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Revenue), Mohibullah Khan (Agriculture), Dr Amjad Ali (Mineral Development), Ziaullah Khan Bangash (adviser to CM), Sultan Muhammad Khan (Law), Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan (Health), Kamran Khan Bangash (Information Technology), Abdul Karim (Adviser to CM on Industries), Shah Muhammad Khan (special Assistant to CM on Transport).

QUETTA: Eleven members of Balochistan Chief Minister Jamal Kamal Khan Alyani’s cabinet will take the oath on Monday.

Officials of the Governor House said on Sunday night that they were asked to arrange the oath-taking ceremony. However, there was no word from the Balochistan government regarding the ceremony.

Government spokesperson Bushra Rind did not confirm reports about the oath-taking ceremony taking place on Monday and said the date for the event had not been finalised.

A source in the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) said that 11 ministers were expected to take the oath on Monday. He said a meeting of the six-party ruling alliance continued till late in the night for finalising the names of ministers.

According to sources, Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetiran, Nawabzada Tariq Hussain Magsi, Mir Zahoor Buledi, Mir Arif Jan Mohammad Hasni, Sardar Noor Mohammad Domar, Metha Khan Kakar, Mir Mohammad Khan Lehri (BAP), Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind and Nasibullah Marri (Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf), Zamarak Khan Piralizai (Awami National Party) and Abdu Khaliq Hazara (Hazara Democratic Party) are expected to be inducted into the cabinet.

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the elected independent candidates in the national and provincial assemblies to join any political party till August 9.

“An independent returned candidate may join any political party, if he or she so desires, through a written consent to the leader of the political party for joining his party by August 9,” said a press release.

The party leader of the political party shall inform the commission of such joining of an independent candidate through a letter to be addressed to the commission.

Each independent candidate shall also submit an affidavit stating that he or she is joining a particular political party voluntarily and without any coercion.

The affidavit shall be duly sworn before the oath commissioner and shall be deposited with the provincial Election Commissioner concerned or with the Coordination deputy director at ECP secretariat.

ISLAMABAD/Lahore – Component parties of the joint opposition will stage their first joint protest demonstration outside the Election Commission of Pakistan office today (Wednesday) against what they termed the blatant ‘rigged’ elections.

Central leaders of the component parties would be leading the protest demonstration which according to them would be peaceful. Leaders and candidates from these parties would stage a sit-in in front of the ECP office at 1 pm.

A member of the 16-member committee which had worked out the protest strategy of the joint opposition parties told The Nation that their protest would be peaceful and in this connection, they would also be approaching the federal capital administration seeking permission for the same.

The protest demonstration would likely be addressed by the central leaders of the component parties including the Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and other parties.

The joint opposition had already demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and all the four provincial members of the commission for their failure in holding free, fair and transparent elections and the same demand would be reiterated during the protest.

Keeping in view the opposition parties’ protest, the ECP has sought enhanced security from the federal capital administration to avoid any untoward situation.

However, the 16-member committee of the opposition parties said that they would be staging a token protest against the ECP’s failure to hold free, and fair elections and to press their demand of re-elections and resignation of the ECP’s top bosses.

The 16-member committee would again be meeting on Thursday to work out a protest plan of the opposition parties in and outside the Parliament on the opening day of the upcoming session of the National Assembly when the newly elected MNAs would take the oath.

It was decided that the opposition parties’ parliamentarians would take the oath wearing black bands on their arms to express their protest over the massive rigging in the elections.

Similarly, the opposition parties would fully participate in the elections for the speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the house slots in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, Central Executive Committee of the PML-N has decided to actively participate in the joint opposition protest against ‘results manipulation’ in the last election before ECP in Islamabad today.

The CEC meeting in Lahore, presided over by the Party President Shehbaz Sharif and attended by top leadership, also received input and suggestions from the participants on the upcoming election for the top offices in Punjab and the Centre. The party has already named Shehbaz Sharif as candidate of the joint opposition for the prime minister office while it was still considering the name for Punjab offices including chief minister, speaker and the deputy speaker and also the leader of the opposition.

The meeting formed the working groups and considered strategy for protest in the federal capital.

The meeting had consensus that Islamabad protest will be participated by all elected members and the ticket holders of the party. It also resolved to continue to serve the masses as the PML-N had been doing in the past. It flayed the PTI chairman and prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan for reaching the power by dint of ‘rigged’ elections and taking support of those parties who he himself been critical of in the past. The meeting appreciated the public response to the PML-N in the election notwithstanding the fact, every hurdle was created in its way to the success.

PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurengzeb said, “The PML-N is poised to record strong protest against bogus election before the EC office in Islamabad on Wednesday. Our protest will be quite peaceful and within the limits of law.”

Talking to mediamen outside the PML-N Secretariat, Marriyum said the protest will be held by the joint opposition and the PML-N will participate as a part of it. As to how long the protest will continue, she said, nothing could definitely be said in this respect.

She said historic rigging and maneuvering had been committed in the election to steal mandate of the people. Marriyum said protest was their right but that will not be like the one seen in the past during PTI and PAT dharna when Red Zone was used for drying clothes and was littered with the dirt and attacks were mounted on the Supreme Court and the Parliament buildings.

Later, former federal minister Rana Tanvir told media that protest will be launched at 1pm and all members and candidates of the PML-N had been directed to ensure their participation. He said they could also go for protest before the EC offices in all provinces in addition to Islamabad however, he added, protest at the provincial level was up to the consensus of all. He said the PML-N served the country selflessly. He said he could not understand why certain ‘unseen forces’ did not like this party in power.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentary committee meets here on Monday (today) to nominate party chairman Imran Khan as prime minister.

The parliamentary committee is also expected to decide the names of federal cabinet members in the meeting to be chaired by Mr Khan. The PTI chief had earlier decided to keep his federal cabinet small with an initial strength of 15 to 20 federal ministers.

Read: Imran Khan opts for austere oath-taking ceremony

“The meeting will endorse the nomination of Imran Khan as next prime minister of the country,” PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry confirmed to Dawn when contacted on Sunday.

Asked if the names of cabinet members would also be announced on Monday, the spokesman said the committee was likely to finalise the names of the cabinet members.

Party’s parliamentary body also expected to finalise the names of cabinet members

PTI sources said the party was also considering one federal ministry for the Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan (MQM-P) after the party with its six MNAs-elect inked an agreement with the PTI to support its government at the Centre.

Besides, it was learnt that the PTI leadership was considering the names of Aleem Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Sibtain Khan for the slot of Punjab chief minister.

For the office of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, former CM Pervez Khattak and another PTI leader Atif Khan are said to be strong candidates.

Pervez Elahi, vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, was being considered for the position of Punjab Assembly speaker after the PML-Q decided to become PTI’s ally both at the Centre and in Punjab.

Govt formation

The PTI spokesman on Sunday claimed that the number of the party’s members in the National Assem­bly had reached 174 and 186 in the Punjab Assembly.

With 174 seats at the Centre and 186 in Punjab, the PTI was in a comfortable position to form its federal and provincial governments, he said.

He added that four seats of Balochistan National Party (BNP) had not been included in the 174 seats so far. “I have not included BNP seats in the figure of 174, because our negotiations with the party are still in progress. So far the BNP has not officially announced its support to the PTI,” he added.

The PTI spokesman claimed that the party would easily form its government at the Centre and two provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

Responding to a question about PTI’s decision to go into an appeal against the Lahore High Court (LHC) decision for recounting of votes in the Lahore (NA-131) constituency, the spokesman said the court has no right to order for the recount, as it was the responsibility of the ECP. The court had stopped the ECP from issuing notification of Imran’s victory against PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique’s and ordered recounting of votes.

The PTI spokesman said vote recount was under way in 48 constituencies, which was the highest number of constituencies where the ECP had started recounting votes in the electoral history of Pakistan.

The spokesman said the PTI wanted finality of the election results. It was for this reason that the decision was made to challenge the high court’s decision of recounting, he said. In this constituency, he added, Mr Khan had defeated Mr Rafique by a few hundred votes.

Maleeha meets Imran

Earlier, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi met the PTI chief at his Banigala residence on Sunday and congratulated him on his party’s performance in the recent elections.

Japanese ambassador, the British envoy and other foreign dignitaries had also visited the PTI chief in recent days. The envoys of China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE had called on the PTI chairman since his party emerged as the winner of the July 25 polls. Besides Afghan president, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also telephoned Imran Khan to congratulate him over his party’s victory.

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan will take oath of office as Prime Minister of Pakistan in a simple ceremony at the President House with no foreign dignitaries invited to the much-awaited event.

Senior party leader Dr. Shireen Mazari in a tweet said the decision taken was to have a simple oath-taking with no external invitees. There have been reports in media that Imran could take oath of coveted office at the D-Chowk subject to security clearance. However, this was denied later by the party.

Similarly, PTI Information Secretary and MNA-elect Fawad Chaudhry was quoted as saying that the party could invite foreign dignitaries, particularly from Saarc member countries and also some former Indian cricketers, including Sunil Gawaskar, Kapil Dev,Navjot Singh Sidhu and leading star Aamir Khan.

However, he had also said that in this connection they awaited what the Foreign Office had to say, given the paucity of time. Another party senior leader Naeemul Haq recently said that Imran Khan had expressed his desire to take oath of office before August 14.

An announcement made by the PTI central Media Department said that Imran presided over a senior leadership meeting here, which had deliberations on giving relief to public upon the installation of the party government in the centre. However, it was unclear what kind of relief was being discussed.

Imran has summoned a meeting of the MPAs-elect and MNAs-elect of the party from Balochistan on Thursday at Banigala to discuss formation of government in the province after the provincial party leadership expressed concern over straight away giving go-ahead to Balochistan Awami Party to head the proposed coalition government there, it was learnt.

“The announcement by senior party member Jahangir Tareen on Tuesday that PTI had given go-ahead to Balochistan Awami Party has not gone down well with our party chapter in that province. That is why a high-level meeting is slated for Thursday,” a source said.

He claimed that the provincial chapter of PTI felt that it was their prerogative to suggest options with regards to possibilities of future set-up in the province. “One senior PTI leader from Balochistan claimed that they are in a position to push for their party-led government after taking along like-minded parties and independents,” he said.

PTI has four seats in Balochistan Assembly, PML-N has one, MMA nine, ANP three, PkMAP 01, DHP two, BAP 15, BNP-Awami three, JWP one, BNP six and independents five. Meanwhile, two more independent MNAs-elect and three MPAs-elect joined PTI after meeting Imran here and reposing confidence in his vision and leadership. They include MNA-elect Asim Nazir and Sardar Khurram Leghari and MPAs-elect Taimur Khan, Taimur Lali and Muhammad Aslam Bharwana-all from Punjab.

So far, a total of 19 members-elect of Punjab Assembly have joined PTI while five MNAs-elect also became part of the party. Meanwhile, British High Commissioner Thomas Drew called on Imran here and greeted him over PTI victory in polls. Both sides exchanged views on strengthening of relations and cooperation in various fields.

The British diplomat appreciated Imran over his speech after the polls and said it created a lot of interests in Britain. He said the British government was ready to support and work with Islamabad and that DEFID would support PTI-led government to put more than 22 million out of school children in schools.

Chairman PTI thanked the British High Commissioner for the warm wishes and felicitations and also acknowledged the role of DEFID in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Speaking at the occasion, he stated that Pak-UK relations were very important because UK had a huge Pakistani community. He also shed light upon his government’s intentions to bring wealth laundered to UK back home and stated that we want to get our laundered money back from abroad.

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan on Thursday claimed victory in the general elections, even as the parties that took on his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf at the hustings pointed to the painfully slow counting of votes and said the polls had been rigged.

In a 25-minute speech delivered some 22 hours after polling ended on Wednesday evening, Mr Khan said he was ready to facilitate any investigation into the charges of rigging.

“First of all the election commission was not set up by the PTI, but by the PPP and PML-N jointly. And the caretaker governments were set up after due consultations,” he said.

• Says he will facilitate poll rigging investigations

• Unveils comprehensive reforms plan

• Tells opponents to let bygones be bygones

• Seeks better relations with India

This week’s elections were the country’s most transparent and clean polls, he said. “But if you want to open up a constituency [for counting of votes, etc] we will facilitate you.”

He unveiled a reforms plan aimed at alleviating poverty, reducing unemployment and improving economy through good governance.

“No outsider will come to help us solve the problems; so we will have to fix the problem ourselves.”

The government led by his party would reduce expenditure and increase income, he said. “We will reform the tax culture and I pledge to ensure that the money collected through taxes is spent only on the people.”

The cricketer-turned-politician said his aim was to lift the poor out of poverty, he said. About 45 per cent of the country’s children suffered from stunted growth because of malnutrition and 25 million children were out of school, he said.

He pledged to turn Pakistan into a welfare state by following in the footsteps of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) who set up the first welfare state in Madina.

He said that after coming to power he would improve governance by strengthening institutions and ensuring accountability for all. “Our accountability will start from myself, followed by that of my ministers, and so on.”

Clad in a white shalwar-kameez, Mr Khan vowed that his party would not resort to political victimisation of his opponents.

He said that no politician had had to fend off more personal attacks than him. “But all that is in the past because my cause is greater than my personality.”

He said that after a struggle of 22 years, he was now in a position to turn into reality the dream that he had for Pakistan. “God has given me the opportunity to come to power and implement what I had set out to, back in 1996,”said the PTI chairman.

He said he had entered politics because after making considerable progress the country had begun to decline. “I wanted to correct that; otherwise God had already bestowed on me all that I could wish for.”

The financial and other problems being faced by the country were such that peace with neighbouring countries had become a necessity, he said. “We want to improve our relations with China further because we can learn so much from them,” he said.

The areas in which Pakistan could learn from China were poverty alleviation and eradicating corruption.

“Afghanistan too is important because we cannot ensure peace in Pakistan without peace in Afghanistan. So we will try to bring about peace in Afghanistan.”

Mr Khan said he wanted to see Pakistan forge balanced and mutually beneficial relations with the US. “In the past, our ties with the US have been one-sided, with Washington giving us aid and we fighting their battle.”

Turning to ties with India, he said the two neighbours should have better relations if their people were to make progress. “But the core issue should be addressed.

“That’s why I feel that the two countries should negotiate and find a solution to the Kashmir issue.”

He told the Indian leadership that if they took one step forward, Pakistan would take two steps, as it sincerely wanted to resolve all the disputes and improve ties.

He was critical of the Indian media and said the way his image was portrayed in the last few days it looked as if he was some kind of a villain from Bollywood movies.

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after winning 119 National Assembly seats have emerged as major political party, however it requires 137 seats to form government with simple majority at centre.

For this, PTI has decided to approach five political parties to form coalition government at centre, sources said and added that Imran Khan’s party has completed initial consultation over it.

Sources confirmed that Imran Khan held consultative meeting with senior party leaders and decided to contact Independent candidates, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Awami Muslim League (AML) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P).

The number of independent candidates in National Assembly is 15, GDA 2, AML 1, PML-Q 4, BAP 1 and MQM-P 8.