Saturday, 25 December, 2021 I 20 Jamadi-al-Awwal, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 177 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition
KP DEBACLE
PM Khan dissolves PTi organisaTions across counTry g
New committee formed to oversee party affairs
ISLAMABAD staff report
M
iNister for information and Broadcasting fawad chaudhry on friday said prime minister imran Khan has dissolved pakistan tehreek-i-insaf (pti)’s all organisations across the country after consultation with the senior leadership of the party. talking to media after the meeting of senior leadership of pti, chaired by prime minister imran Khan, fawad said all the office bearers of the pti’s organisational setup have been removed from their posts. the meeting discussed Khyber pakhtunkhwa (Kp)’s local government elections and the general situation of the country. He said that a committee, comprising himself, pervez Khattak, mahmood Khan, murad saeed, asad Qaiser, ali amin Gandapur, shah mehmood Qureshi, Hammad azhar, Khusro Bakhtiar, chaudhry muhammad sarwar, saifullah Niazi, amir Kayani, Usman Buzdar, mir Jan muhammad
Jamali, Qasim suri, imran ismail, ali Zaidi and asad Umar has been formed, which is working on the new constitution of the party. fawad said new organisations of the pti would be constituted after approval from the committee. the minister informed the media that the premier has expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of pti in the first phase of local body elections in Kp. the way pti should had played its role as a major party was not witnessed in the Kp’s local body elections, he said. He said that councils’ election results are coming, which show that the pti is still the largest party in Kp. He said the pti has the status of a national federal party, whereas imran Khan is the leader of the federation and his vote bank is present everywhere. “No party other than pti is capable of fielding candidates for around 1200 seats of the national and provincial assemblies in the general elections,” he said, adding that the ppp is now the party of sindh whereas the pmL-N is confined to punjab only.
coronavirus in
PaKisTan
“as members of pti, we have a responsibility to fulfill the responsibilities of the federation diligently, considering them as national responsibilities,” he maintained. He said if the pti’s politics is affected, it would affect the politics of pakistan badly. the minister said the meeting has decided that a special committee would be formed to look into the matter of giving tickets to relatives of pti leaders and in future, such cases would not be decided at local level, rather they would be sent to the committee, which would decide whether to give tickets or not. He said a ticketing mechanism for elections would be set up with the approval of the prime minister. fawad said Kp chief minister mahmood Khan has been given responsibility for the second phase of local body elections in Kp, adding that the pti considers local government institutions very important for democracy. He said there is no concept of family politics in pti as imran Khan never allowed personal relationships to dominate his mission in his political career. “if the culture of ppp and pmL-N seeps into the pti, there will be no difference between them and us,” fawad said emphatically. replying to a question, he said the finance bill is not a personal bill of the pti, and if the opposition parties do not want to go to the international monetary fund programme, they should come up with an alternative solution. He reminded that billions of dollars were borrowed by the previous governments of pakistan people’s party and pakistan muslim League-Nawaz, which are to be repaid by the present government. “if they have any alternative proposal or agenda, they should bring it in the parliament”, he said. to another question, he said the opposition parties had claimed that they would table a no-confidence motion against senate chairman sadiq sanjrani, but they failed to do so.
ECP vows to resist ‘all pressure tactics’ on EVMs ISLAMABAD staff Correspondent
the election commission of pakistan (ecp) friday resolved to carry out its responsibilities with regard to the use of electronic voting machines (evms), making it clear that no pressure was being exerted to the body. reacting to some media reports suggesting that the ecp was baulking at its responsibilities with regard to the use of evms, the ecp clarified in a statement that it was carrying out its tasks diligently, maintaining it will continue fulfilling its responsibilities without “buckling under pressure”. “even before the government’s legislation on the use of evms, the commission had been taking various steps regarding the use of technology,” the statement said. the ecp said that the three committees it had formed immediately after the legislation also presented their reports to the commission on thursday. “acquisition of evms is a technical process that has to undergo various stages, including international tendering,” it said and out-
COAS stresses on sincere efforts to avert looming Afghan crisis
CONFIRMED CASES:
1,292,728
lined some of the important features of the procedure. the ecp said it cannot ignore the international standards in tendering of machines, noting and emphasising that third-party testing of the machines was critical to the process. it said that a few persons who lacked clarity and information were making “irresponsible comments” which, it said, was tantamount to “misguiding the general public, civil society and the media”. “if anyone needs an explanation of any sort then the doors of the ecp are open for them. they can visit the ecp any time. However, intervention into the work of the ecp should be avoided,” the ecp stated. the alarms and misgivings of the ecp appeared to be stirred by a statement from the federal minister for science and technology shibli faraz issued earlier in the day. talking to the media in islamabad, shibli faraz charged the commission of using “delaying tactics” and showing disregard for the government’s concerns.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
more inside
After PTI’s drubbing in KP, PM to focus on Punjab LG polls STORY ON PAGE 02
over 14000 rape cases reported in past four years: Na told
LAST UPDATED AT 7:29 AM ON DECEMBER 24, 2021
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
NEW CASES:
4
322
STORY ON PAGE 03
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
1,254,301 28,898 SINDH:
PUNJAB:
480,077
444,438
KPK:
BALOCHISTAN:
181,121
33,617
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
34,654/10,429
108,392
RAWALPINDI staff report
chief of army staff (coas) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has stressed upon the need for sincere efforts to avert a looming humanitarian crisis in afghanistan. the army chief’s expressed these views during a meeting with australian High commissioner dr Geoffrey shaw who paid a farewell call on him at the General Headquarters (GHQ) on friday, according to a press release issued by the interservices public relations (ispr).
during the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security situation and bilateral cooperation were discussed, said the ispr. the army chief underscored the importance of peace and reconciliation initiatives in afghanistan. He thanked the visiting dignitary for his services in pakistan and acknowledged his contributions for fostering strong ties between the two countries. dr Geoffrey shaw appreciated pakistan’s role in the afghan situation as well as in regional stability. He pledged to keep working for better relations between the two countries.
PM seeks SAARC role to transform quality of life in South Asia STORY ON BACK PAGE
air Headquarters asks dG oil to resolve refineries’ storage issue STORY ON PAGE 03