Friday, 17 June, 2022 I 17 dhul-Qadah, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII no 348 I 12 Pages I Islamabad edition
MQM-P retains na-240 seat after violence Marred by-Polls g
One killed, dOzen injured in viOlence and gunfight amOng pOlitical wOrkers
KARACHI
M
staff report
Qm-p candidate abu Bakr won the by-election to na240 by obtaining 10,683 votes against his rival tlp’s shahzada shahbaz who got 10,618 votes in by-election that was marred by violence and gunfight, which left one person dead and over a dozen others injured. the armed clashes took place among the political workers of rival parties including pak sarzameen party, mQm-p and tehreek-e-labbaik pakistan (tlp) during polling for by-election in karachi’s na240 constituency on thursday. according to unofficial results reported by geo news, results of the total 309 polling stations showed that mQmp’s abu Bakr won the seat with 10, 683 votes while tlp candidate shahzada shahbaz remained runner-up, bagging 10,618 votes. the results of polling station 51 have been withheld due to violence in the area. according to sindh election commission, turnout remained 8.32 percent in the by-election.
VIOLenCe MARRed POLLInG: One person was killed and over a dozen injured in armed clashes between political workers of rival parties including pak sarzameen party, mQm-p and tehreeke-labbaik pakistan (tlp) during polling for by-election in karachi’s na-240 constituency on thursday. all these political parties accused each other’s workers of causing the violence. jpmc head dr shahid rasul confirmed to the media that the hospital received three injured and one body. mQm-p leader and federal minister aminul haq said at least 10 workers of his party sustained injuries during the clash. similarly, the tlp said that workers of a political party opened fire on the car of its chief saad hussain rizvi. the armed activists also demolished the election camps of their rival parties and exchange of fire between them caused a stampede in the area. tensions flared in the area after the incident with a contingent of police and rangers reached the spot to bring the situation under control. sp landhi said that efforts were being made to control the commotion and some persons were detained on the spot.
meanwhile, sindh chief minister murad ali shah, taking notice of the firing incident in na-240, said that nobody would be allowed to take the law in his hands. he directed ig police ghulam nabi memon and the karachi police chief to take strict action against the persons involved in firing incidents and skirmishes. the chief minister also urged political parties participating in the byeelection to demonstrate responsible attitude. “we are political people and should not allow violence.” POLLInG PROCeSS: polling for by-poll to the national assembly constituency na240 started at 8am and continued till 5pm without any interruption. the contestants include mQm-p’s muhammad abu Bakar, tehreek labbaik pakistan candidate shahzada shahbaz, shabir ahmed Qaim khani of psp, syed rafiuddin of mohajir Qaumi movement, nasir rahim of ppp, syed faizan anis of pml-n, and tanveer ahmed of grand democratic alliance (gda). the pti has boycotted the election while jamaat-e-islami is also not participating in the election. the total number of registered voters in this constituency of the national assembly is 529,855, of which 235,470 are female. police surgeon dr summaiya syed confirmed that the casualties were brought to jinnah postgraduate medical centre from the landhi area. she said saifuddin kaleem was brought dead to jpmc and had suffered bullet injuries in the head. some of the injured were identified as 18-year-old waleed Qudrutullah, mohammed idrees, 30, khalid chohan, 42, salman aslam, 35, zeeshan waris, 34, aslam ali, 35 and nabeel habib, 38.
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PM Shehbaz to share details on PTI govt’s deal with IMF soon ISLAMABAD staff report
prime minister shehbaz sharif on thursday promised the nation that his government would release details regarding the previous pti regime’s deal with the international monetary fund (imf) soon. his message on twitter comes a day after the government raised fuel prices by as much as nearly rs60, with petrol reaching rs233.89 — unprecedented in the country’s history. “acutely aware of the impact that a fuel price hike causes. govt is left with no choice but to raise the prices due to imf deal that pti govt signed. will take the nation into confidence on the specifics of the imf-pti deal soon,” wrote the prime minister. “we will get out of these economic difficulties, inshaallah,” he added. pm shehbaz followed by criticising the past government’s handling of negotiations with the global lender, saying: “i wonder whether those who struck the worst ever deal with imf and took patently bad economic decisions have the conscience to face the truth. how can they pretend to be innocent when what the nation is going through is clearly their doing?”
Imran calls for fresh round of protests on Sunday against petrol price hike ISLAMABAD staff report
pti chairman imran khan thursday called on the masses to hold demonstrations across the country against the massive increase in the petroleum prices by the “imported government” this sunday, as he hopes to launch a fresh round of protests after halting them last month. the pti chairman on may 26 called off the long march in islamabad fearing “bloodshed” as, during the events leading up to the protest at d-chowk, three people had been killed — a police constable and two pti workers. the pti chairman’s criticism comes as the government hiked the price of petroleum products yet again a day earlier, taking the per litre rate of petrol to a record high of rs233.89. in less than a month, the government has increased the price by around rs84. But officials have stressed that there was no other way as the subsidy was unaffordable and the international monetary fund (imf) had also demanded abolishing the subsidies. khan, who was ousted from
power in april, has not accepted the government and has repeatedly said that he will march once again to islamabad despite cutting short his long march. “this sunday, all of you have to protest at 9pm and i will address all of you via video link at 10pm,” the
pti chief told his supporters and common people in a video message, asking them to hold “peaceful” demonstrations. khan invited political parties and women to join the pti’s protest against rising inflation. “it is our democratic and constitutional right to
protest; we have always held peaceful protests.” in a scathing attack on the government, khan said: “i want to give a message to these people: if you could not handle the affairs of the country, then why did you conspire?” the pti chairman has claimed that the united states backed the then-Opposition’s no-confidence motion against him and also issued a “letter” threatening pakistan’s sovereignty. khan said the government is claiming that his party installed “landmines” for the incoming set-up as it was unable to manage affairs. “why did you derail a country that was moving in the right direction. [You] did it just to save your corruption,” the pti chairman lashed out at the coalition government. khan said the government, giving reasons for the rising inflation is stating that there is an international crisis, therefore, it has impacted pakistan as well. “You have understood this now? we were facing these issues as well. i repeatedly stated that we were saving our people from inflation despite a global increase in prices,” khan said.
“details soon,” he reiterated. the surge in prices, although a highly unpopular move that has the nation fuming, had been a key demand of the imf for a long time. finance minister miftah ismail on monday said that if the government does not abolish the subsidies on petroleum products by july (in effect raising the prices), then the country will default. speaking in geo news programme “capital talk”, the finance minister said the imf has “insisted” on abolishing the subsidies on petroleum products. in a bid to bring economic stability and revive the stalled multi-billion-dollar imf programme, the government had increased the price of petrol by a whopping rs60 per litre last month. AddITIOnAL MeASUReS needed, SAyS IMF: pakistan had signed a 39-month, $6 billion extended fund facility with the imf in july 2019. it received disbursements of about $3bn but further tranches were stopped when an agreement could not be reached with the previous government. the lender had expressed concerns over the status of some of its objectives, including fiscal consolidation.
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more inside
Usual suspects: Sharif shifts blame for historic POL prices hike onto Imran STORY ON PAGE 02
pti leadership defaming institutions for personal gains: hamza STORY ON PAGE 03
Imran: If India can import discounted Russian oil, why can’t Pakistan? STORY ON BACK PAGE
shehbaz administration taking measures to improve economy: maryam STORY ON BACK PAGE