Sunday, 17 July, 2022 I 17 Zil Hajj, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 376 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition
Punjab heads to by-Polls amid rigging, violence fears g
eCP SeTS uP CoNTRoL CeNTReS IN ISLAMABAd, LAHoRe To MoNIToR PoLLINg SITuATIoN
Islamabad/laHORE
W
saleem jadoon
ITH Punjab hours away from the make-or-break by-polls on Sunday, the election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) announced to have set up special control rooms at central and provincial levels to monitor election on 20 seats of the provincial legislative assembly. According to the agency, the control
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ARMy, RANgeRS, FC dePLoyed To ‘ASSIST’ 52,000-STRoNg PoLICe
rooms will continue working till compilation of polling results. Returning officers (Ros), respective deputy commissioners (dCs), representatives of police, Rangers and Pakistan Army personnel will be present in the control rooms to deal with any untoward situation. The control rooms will promptly resolve any election-related complaints which could be registered in the central control room established in Islamabad by calling on dedicated helplines 051-9210837, 051-
9204403, 051-9204402, and 051-9210838. “The complaint can also be communicated through fax number 051-9204404 and email ddmonitoringisb@gmail.com,” the commission shared. The provincial control room in Lahore could be contacted at landline 04299212620, 042-99212209 and by email at pecpunjabcontrolroom@gmail.com. Rangers, Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabulary personnel will be deployed in Punjab. The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan to review the security measures ahead of the elections. The meeting was attended by the officials of the Ministry of Interior and security agencies. The participants reviewed the law and order situation during the by-elections and also reviewed the letter of Chief election Commissioner (CeC) Sikandar Raja Sultan regarding the deployment of forces in “sensitive constituencies”. during the meeting, the participants expressed satisfaction with the security measures in the constituencies. Meanwhile, the meeting has imposed a ban on the display and possession of arms in Punjab and Sindh. A special control room will be set up at the Interior Ministry on July 16 and 17.
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By-election in Punjab to bury PTI narrative, politics: Marriyum Islamabad staff report
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday said that byelections in Punjab would bury the narrative and politics of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). “Today, Imran Khan admitted his defeat in his speech, the way Imran Khan was talking, it seemed that his language and mind were not under his control, and this only happens when a person is scared, defeated, rejected and failed,” she said while addressing a press conference here. Taking a dig at the PTI chairman, she said Imran Khan was fully aware that these four things were in him, he had been rejected and failed, he had already lost the crucial by-election.” “The people of Punjab have
declared war against the unemployment, inflation and economic destruction caused by Imran Khan who has given nothing but pain to the people in the country during four years”, she maintained. She said that Imran Khan made all out efforts to push the country into a Sri Lanka like economic crisis. In the by-elections, the party will emerge victorious which always brought Pakistan out of economic crises and led it towards economic stability, she said. The PML-N took steps to reduce inflation by taking people out of record inflation, and it was the only party that could overcome loadshedding and it freed the country from the scourge of terrorism, broke the back of the terrorists and restored the peace.
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Lot of work to be done to save country from bankruptcy, says Miftah Islamabad staff report
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to save Pakistan from bankruptcy. Miftah Ismail along with the Minister for information and broadcasting held a press conference and said that Pakistan
is still at the fourth or fifth place among the countries prone to bankruptcy, so there is still a lot of work to be done to save the country from bankruptcy. I can say with certainty that good days have come for Pakistan, but we all have to work together now, adding that he said we will reduce the inflation. Miftah also said that the reason for
the country’s economic problems is not only the subsidy on petrol by the PTI government, but the continuation of their 4year policies as there was a deficit of 5,100 billion rupees in the last year. The finance minister also said that Imran Khan increased the debt of the country by Rs20,000 billion in just 4 years. The country had a debt of Rs25,000
billion in 71 years while the debt of the country increased by Rs20,000 billion in the 4 years of Imran Khan. Miftah Ismail said that the record budget deficit increased in the PTI government due to which the current account deficit also increased. He said that more than seven and a half thousand megawatt power plants
closed in the country on the day when Shahbaz Sharif took oath as the Prime Minister. He said that 5,000 megawatt power plants were closed because there was no fuel and 2,500 megawatt power plants were closed because they were not repaired in time.
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