Thursday, 24 December, 2020 I 8 Jumada Al-Awwal, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 175 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
President seeks sC oPinion on oPen balloting for senate eleCtions
ISLAMABAD staff report
P
resident dr arif alvi on Wednesday approved a proposal from Prime minister imran Khan seeking the opinion of the supreme court (sc) on holding the senate elections through open ballot and show of hands to end the practice of horse-trading. the prime minister in november suggested changing the voting process for senate elections as he sought an end to the “commonplace practice” of bribes and corruption. With a show of hands, he had said, everyone could see which parliamentarian voted for what candidate. Following the development, attorney general Khalid Jawed Khan suggested to seek the opinion of the apex court under article 186 of the constitution. a statement by the Press information department (Pid) issued Wednesday said that the president approved the prime minister’s proposal to send a reference to the apex court. “the president has sought the opinion of
the apex court on the premier’s proposal to hold the elections using open ballot/show of hands,” the statement said. in the reference, the president has sought the top court’s opinion on amending section 122(6) of the election act, 2017, without amending the constitution, it added. the government last week had announced to organise the election for the upper house a month earlier than previously scheduled and decided, following ag Khan’s suggestion, to seek the apex court’s guidance on the matter. the elections are to be held for 52 seats because as many members of the 104-member senate are due to retire on march 11. reports suggest the proposal to hold an early poll was given by minister for science and technology Fawad chaudhry, who is also a barrister and constitutional expert, during a meeting of the federal cabinet last week. When a participant of the meeting was asked if an amendment to the law would be required for it, he replied in the negative and said there was room in the constitution for it.
Coronavirus in
Pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
462,814
LAST UPDATED AT 8:21 AM ON DECEMBER 23, 2020
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
84
RECOVERED:
NEW CASES:
2,142 DEATHS:
415,352 9,557 SINDH:
PUNJAB:
206,489
133,179
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
55,811
17,980
8,040/4,832 36,483
in a subsequent cabinet briefing on the matter, ag Khan said that if section 122(6) of the elections act, 2017 was amended through an ordinance before the commencement of the election schedule by the election commission of Pakistan (ecP), the elections to the senate could be held through open voting instead of secret ballot. “However, keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter and given the fact that there is sufficient time before the next election to the senate, the government may seek ‘clarity’ on the issue by filing a reference to the sc under article 186 of the constitution,” he had said. “this course is not necessary but as the matter is of utmost significance and would affect the functioning of the senate, it may be prudent to seek the opinion of the sc,” he had said. the ag had said that the senate election was scheduled to be held in or about march 2021 to fill the seats as mentioned in article 59 of the constitution. the prime minister had made a public statement conveying the desire of his government to hold the elections by open ballot/show of hands as against secret balloting. He said that at present section 122(6) of the elections act, 2017 provided for senate elections by secret ballot. article 226 of the constitution provides that all elections under the constitution other than those of prime minister and chief ministers ‘shall’ be held by secret ballot. therefore, the ag had said, unless the constitution was amended, the senate election could not be held through open voting/show of hands. However, Khan had said, contrary to this convocational understanding, there was another view which was that the senate election was not an election under the constitution. “it is held in terms of the provisions of the elections act, 2017. the elections under the constitution to which article 226 refers include the election of [the] president of Pakistan under article 41(3) read with second schedule to the constitution. likewise, the elections of speaker and deputy speaker of the national assembly and chairman and deputy chairman of the senate are elections held under the constitution,” he had said.
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Govt in contact with virus vaccine developers for early doses, NCOC told ISLAMABAD staff report
the national command and operation center (ncoc) was informed Wednesday that the government was “in close liaison” with leading international manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines to secure early doses of the antidote. the government earlier this month announced it had begun the vaccine procurement process. the government has approved $150 million in funding to buy the vaccines, initially to cover the most vulnerable 5 percent of the population. the amount was later increased to $250 million following a surge in the cases. the initial phase of vaccinations would focus on providing free shots for frontline health workers and people above the age of 65 years, dr Faisal sultan, the prime minister’s special adviser on health, had announced. a panel of experts was
Imran announces health insurance, houses for Islamabad police g
Premier says Police Play a role vital in national develoPment by ensuring Peace ISLAMABAD staff report
Prime minister imran Khan has announced to provide islamabad police officials with healthcare cards and residence. addressing the passing out parade of islamabad police at Police lines Headquarters Wednesday, the prime minister said: “i want to say two things to islamabad police: every policeman will be given a health card, meaning each household will have access to quality treatment at any government or private hospital, and a residence.” the police and government staffers will also be able to buy their own houses under the naya Pakistan Housing scheme, he said. “the installments you pay will go towards you owning your homes. this is a big part of our programme, especially for government employees and police officials like yourself.” Highlighting the importance of the police in society, imran said: “a police force has a very big role in society. but, up till now, that role has not yet
compiling a list of recommendations on how to procure the vaccine, dr Faisal said. “We will see whether we need to tap more than one source, including some Western manufacturers or some chinese, so we will move forward with all these options.” Pakistan has launched Phase iii clinical trials for cansino biologics’ vaccine candidate, ad5-ncov, led by the national institute of Health (niH) and pharmaceutical company aJm Pharma — the local representative of cansino. another chinese candidate, chinese academy of sciences (cas), has also developed a vaccine which was found to be safe and triggered immune responses in early and mid-stage trials. a late-stage trial of the ZF2001 vaccine began last month in china and aims to recruit 29,000 people from Pakistan among other countries.
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more inside
PM Imran orders expediting work on Ravi Riverfront project STORY ON PAGE 03
soldier martyred in exchange of fire with indian forces STORY ON PAGE 02
been realised.” He said that due to colonialism, the people feared the police. “the british had a different sort of force that looked after the people and considered them their own.” “but because they considered us slaves, the attitude of the police was different.” the premier said that he wanted the nation to consider the police as their own and to “love them”. He said that when the Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) came into power in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KP), they saw that the police were the target of terrorism. “more than 500 police officers had been martyred and morale was low. but the force changed in front of our eyes and fought terrorism. then there came a time when the people of Peshawar and mardan staged rallies in support of the police,” he said, adding that he felt pride at seeing the force changing in front of his eyes.
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Pakistan not holding any backdoor talks with India: FM Qureshi STORY ON PAGE 02
Pakistan and afghanistan should have integrated economies, says Pm’s aide STORY ON BACK PAGE