The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has informed all election candidates that there will be no election campaign after midnight on February 6 for the upcoming general elections set to take place on February 8.
The ECP’s spokesperson said while talking to The News that, “According to Section 182 of the Elections Act 2017, no person shall hold or participate in any public meeting, procession, corner meeting or such political activity after midnight on February 6, 2024 and February 7, 2024.”
“Therefore, legal action will be taken against any person who violates the above provision of the law,” the spokesperson added.
On the other hand, caretaker federal minister for Communications, Maritime Affairs, and Railways Shahid Ashraf Tarar briefed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on the preparations of federal and provincial governments for elections.
Earlier last week, the ECP released its ‘Code of Conduct for Security Personnel’ cautioning them to avoid bias when they are on election duty.
Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaf (PTI) has issued tickets to more than a dozen lawyers in Karachi to contest on national and Sindh assemblies in the upcoming general elections set to take place on February 8, 2024.
PTI counsels are taking part in polls on seven National Assembly (NA) seats and four provincial assembly seats in Karachi. There are a total of 22 NA seats and 47 provincial assembly seats all over the city.
Advocate Zahoor Uddin, who is the Insaf Lawyers Forum Karachi president, is contesting from NA-237 (East-III), Shujaat Ali Khan NA-243 (Keamari-II), Khalid Mehmood NA-231 (Malir-III), Advocate Haris Meo NA-233 (Korangi-II), Attaullah Khan NA-245 (West-II), Barrister Fayaz NA-247 (Central-I) and Barrister Uzair Ghauri from NA-249 (Central-III).
Ashraf Samoo PS-89 (Malir-VI), Barrister Ali Tahir PS-101 (East-V), Advocate Ali Palh PS-103 (East-VII) and Rana Imran PS-123 (Central-II) are contesting elections for provincial assembly seats.
Prominent PTI lawyers, including Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Latif Khosa, Salman Akram Raja, Shoaib Shaheen, and Sher Afzal Marwat, are also contesting elections in different cities of the country.
“Lawyers supported and stood by the PTI in its testing times and handled the cases of party leaders, including Imran Khan. They truly deserved [party tickets],” PTI leader Khurram Sher Zaman said, talking to The News.
Peace activists are urging US voters considering candidates for November’s presidential election to instead write “ceasefire” on their ballots in protest over Joe Biden’s handling of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
“Vote Ceasefire” — a coalition of local anti-war groups — says the effort allows Americans to give voice to their anger at the Democratic president over the mounting toll of civilian deaths in Gaza as Israel responds to the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Voters in New Hampshire will pick their preferred candidate in either the Democratic or Republican nominating contests on Tuesday but the push is aimed at progressives wishing to put the White House on notice.
“For the last three months, as the world has watched the war in Gaza continue to worsen, the Biden administration has refused all demands to call for a ceasefire and to end US support for Israel,” the campaign posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“So we’re taking our fight to the place Democrats care about the most — the polls. While Joe Biden will almost certainly win the Democratic nomination later this year, he must know that the road to get there will be long and hard if he refuses to listen to his constituents.”
“Vote Ceasefire” organizers have not indicated what kind of turnout would constitute a success for the campaign and it is unclear how much affect it will have.
Biden himself is not on the ballot and is largely ignoring the contest, after New Hampshire officials clashed with the national party over scheduling.
A separate campaign is urging supporters to write Biden’s name on the ballot in exactly the same manner that “Vote Ceasefire” is promoting.
The outcome will not affect the nomination process in any case, as the Democratic National Committee has declared the New Hampshire primary illegitimate.
Biden is expected to win the nomination comfortably.
“I’m doing this as over 80 percent of Democratic voters are in favor of a ceasefire for Gaza and are opposed to the continuing slaughter of civilian men, women and children in Palestine, with the United States-supplied weapons,” campaign volunteer and former Democratic state representative Chris Balch said in a video posted to X.
But self-help author Marianne Williamson, who is on the Democratic ballot, said the “Vote Ceasefire” campaign was doing nothing to help the citizens of Gaza.
“A way to actually help create a ceasefire would be to vote for a candidate who has called for one from the very beginning,” she posted in response to the campaign’s social media statements.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) head and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif addressed an election rally in Mansehra, where he is also contesting in the general elections set to take place on February 8, 2024.
PML-N leader and husband of the party’s vice president, Maryam Nawaz, Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar, was the chief organiser of today’s rally in Mansehra.
Nawaz Sharif said, “If I had not been disqualified, even the people of Mansehra would have the facility of a metro bus service.”
The PML-N supremo criticised his political opponents for ruining the country’s economy, adding that “Nawaz Sharif left a better Pakistan.”
Mansehra is the stronghold of PML-N, as the party won seats there in the 2013 and 2018 polls.
After Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan, he has been acquitted in two major corruption cases, clearing the way for his participation in the upcoming general elections set to take place on February 8.
Following Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar, Pakistan and Iran have mutually agreed that ambassadors of both countries will return to their respective posts by January 26, 2024 and the Iranian Foreign Minister is going to visit on January 29, 2024.
In a joint statement issued on Monday, the Foreign Office said that at the invitation of Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian will undertake a visit to Pakistan on January 29.
In a post on X, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran Mudassir Tipu said he was “so delighted that leaderships of both Pakistan and Iran so deftly handled a challenging moment astutely- swiftly putting relations back on track”.
I am so delighted that leaderships of both and so deftly handled a challenging moment astutely- swiftly putting relations back on track. We have great potential ahead & both brotherly countries must collectively promote peace & development in region .
Along with that the Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday that Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian would visit Pakistan on January 29.
The visit comes days after tensions escalated between the two countries following an Iranian air strike in Pakistan, leading Islamabad to strike terrorist hideouts in the neighbouring country’s Sistan-Baluchestan province.
“Following the telephone conversation between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, it has been mutually agreed that ambassadors of both countries may return to their respective posts by January 26, 2024,” the FO said in a statement.
The FO said that the Iranian foreign minister would travel to Pakistan on Jan 29 at the invitation of FM Jilani.
: PR NO. 2️⃣3️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣
Joint Press Statement of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran
Previously, Pakistan has targeted terrorist hideouts inside Iran in response to the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that killed two children and injured three girls.
Hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan Liberation Front were successfully struck in an intelligence based operation, code name ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’, ISPR has stated in a recently released statement.
According to a statement by the Foreign Office (FO), a number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’. Meanwhile, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that nine people, including seven “non-Iranian nationals”, were killed in the strike targeting a village near the city of Saravan.
The Khorasan Diary reported, that “7 BLF millitants involved in attacks in Pakistan have been killed/injured in Pakistan’s strikes in Iran.”
7 BLF MILITANTS INVOLVED IN ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN HAVE BEEN KILLED/INJURED IN PAKISTANS STRIKES IN IRAN.
A top Pakistani security official told The Khorasan Diary that 7 militants wanted to Pakistan have been killed or injured in the strike in Shamesar, Iran.
In a video posted, it can be seen the damage caused by Pakistani Strikes in approximately 200 kilometres away from PAK-Iran border.
TKD MONITORING: A video uploaded by news outlets of Saravan city at dawn shows at least one site hit by Pakistan early this morning. Multiple bodies are under the debris it states. Saravan city in Sistan wa Balochistan province of Iran is approximately 200 kilometres from… pic.twitter.com/LrLr58iMBO
Publication The Khorasan Diary also claimed that Jaishul Adal, the same militant group, Iran claimed to have targeted has taken the responsibility for the attack on Saravan Corps of Sistan Wa Baluchistan province, Colonel Hossein Ali Javadanfar, adding that the security official was assassinated along with two of his guards.”
ALERT: The deputy commander of the Saravan Corps of Sistan Wa Baluchistan province, Colonel Hossein Ali Javadanfar, was shot dead when he was returning from an administrative mission on the Khash-Zahedan road, Iran. Iranian state media reported. Jaishul Adal, a militant group… pic.twitter.com/LiizDcCVFT
Previously, The Iranian strikes were part of a series of attacks carried out by the country in recent days in Syria and Iraq as a response to recent terrorist attacks on its territory. They have heightened concerns about regional stability, particularly amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’, says the official statement released by the Foreign Office of Pakistan.
“Last night’s unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty by Iran is a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement on Wednesday.
A context to the response by the Foreign Office
Foreign Ofiice of Pakistan provided a detailed context to Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar.
“Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani origin terrorists calling themselves Sarmachars on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran. Pakistan also shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists. However, because of lack of action on our serious concerns, these so-called Sarmachars continued to spill the blood of innocent Pakistanis with impunity. This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities by these so called Sarmachars,” the statement read.
The Foreign Office described the action as a part of its resolve to “defend its national security against all threats.” Moreover it mainatianed that “Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest which is paramount and cannot be compromised.”
Strict monitoring of Air Space
Geo News’ Azaz Syed quotes Civil Aviation Authority that amid the escalation of tensions in Islamabad-Tehran ties, Pakistan has started strict monitoring of all flights from the West including Iran.
Meeting of Foreign Minister with Iranian Counterpart
Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani Wednesday told his Irani counterpart that no country should follow its path of launching an attack on a neighbouring nation’s soil against the menace of terrorism unilaterally.
“No country in the region should tread this perilous path,” Jilani told Iran’s FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a telephone call hours after Tehran claimed it had targeted “terrorists” in Pakistan.
Iranian response
There is a group called Jaishal Adal, which is an Iranian terrorist group that have taken refuge on Pakistan-Iran border. Several times we have talked to Pakistani security officials that this group killed our security personnel and we responded by killing Iranian terrorist on Pakistani soil. I have spoken to my Pakistani counterpart, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, we do respect the sovereignty of Pakistan but we don’t allow our national security be compromised and be played with. We have no hesitations when it comes to our national interest and those terrorist groups inside Pakistan and those affiliated with Israel” the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said while speaking in Davos at The World Economic Forum.
WE RESPECT PAKISTANS SOVEREIGNTY BUT WILL NOT COMPROMISE ON OUR NATIONAL SECURITY SAYS IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
There is a group called Jaishal Adal, which is an Iranian terrorist group that have taken refuse on Pakistan-Iran border. Several times we have talked to Pakistani… pic.twitter.com/NHLrTyCwqn
India India in a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said, “This is a matter between Iran and Pakistan. Insofar as India is concerned, we have an uncompromising position of zero tolerance towards terrorism. We understand actions that countries take in their self-defence.”
China, close partners of Iran and Pakistan, urged restraint, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying both should “avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension”.
United States of America
The United States, meanwhile, condemned the Iranian strikes in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria, with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller saying Tehran had violated the “sovereign borders of three of its neighbours in just the past couple of days”.
Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi stated on Monday that the government has identified over 500 social media accounts involved in a campaign against the judiciary.
“Action will be taken against those involved in the recent malicious campaign against Supreme Court (SC) judges, in accordance with the law and constitution,” he said, talking to media in Islamabad while he was flanked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials.
Solangi said that after the decision of the SC on the electoral symbol “bat” of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a vicious campaign was started against the judiciary.
“Article 19 of the Constitution marks a boundary for freedom of speech,” he stated.
On the other hand, PTA officials said that it has the authority to remove objectionable content from social media. He also said that awareness regarding the use of social media is essential, as most people spread lies on social media platforms without any authentic information.
“Social media’s outreach is enormous and easy, but people are not aware of its utility,” he said.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has confirmed that 18,000 candidates are going to contest for national and provincial assembly seats in the upcoming general elections set to take place on February 8.
ECP released its final list of candidates on Sunday.
According to the ECP, 11,785 candidates will take part as independent candidates in the polls, and 6,031 will compete under the banner of their respective political parties.
On the other hand, some well-known politicians, including founder Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and Asfandyar Wali, are out of the race for multiple reasons.
After having been denied their preferred election symbol after its intra-party elections were found to be contrary to its own constitution and relevant laws, PTI has fielded its candidates as independents, and each one of them has been allotted a different symbol.
On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif is contesting the elections from NA-15, Mansehra, and NA-130. The former prime minister and Nawaz’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif, is taking part in polls from NA-123, Kasur, and NA-132, Lahore.
The Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, urged supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday to vote for his party as the competition in the upcoming elections is between two parties symbolised by “the lion and the arrow”.
While the PTI has lost its election symbol “bat,” the PPP has secured its longtime symbol of an arrow. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also managed to secure its electoral symbol of a tiger.
“I am speaking to PTI supporters: We kept on telling Khan sahib to do politics; abusing rivals and putting them and their sisters in jail is not politics,” Bilawal said while addressing a party power show in Lahore.
Bilawal also said that he is aware of the pain that PTI workers are going through. “I respect political workers […] I’ve been through this and I do not want anyone to go through such testing times”, he stressed.
“I appeal to you [PTI supporters], in the battle between ‘lion and arrow’, support me. I will bury revenge politics,” Bilawal vowed, reminding people that when his party’s prime ministers took office, they released “political prisoners”.
Bilawal also stressed that the way of politics should change now and that all forces need to work together.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja took notice of an attack on the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate’s election office in Lahore’s Sattoo Katla area.
On Friday morning, the Lahore office of Manzar Abbas Khokhar, the candidate from the PPP, was targeted in an attack involving a Molotov cocktail (petrol bomb).
“The banners on the gate were burned after catching fire from the petrol bombs while the attackers stole the chairs and other things,” added PPP’s spokesperson.
He added that Khokhar’s son filed an application at the Township Police Station. The police said that they would take legal action against the attackers after investigating the matter.
At the same time, the ECP’s spokesperson stated that they have received instructions to file a First Information Report (FIR) following a complaint lodged by the PPP.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned the attack, saying that targeting the election office of the candidate was “open terrorism.”
Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah, addressed a seminar on the significance of freedom of expression on Saturday, shedding light on its historical context and impact on Pakistan’s trajectory.
The seminar, a part of the second law bridge workshop on superior court reporting, provided a platform for Justice Minallah to share his insights on the intersection of freedom of expression and judicial independence.
جسٹس اطہر من اللہ کا بڑا بیان جسٹس اطہر من اللہ نے آزادی اظہار رائے پر ریاست کی غیر اعلانیہ پابندی کی مخالفت کر دی pic.twitter.com/z4v1jGvH4i
Expressing his concern over the potential influence of social media on judicial decision-making, Justice Minallah asserted the importance of maintaining judicial independence, stating that any judge swayed by social media violates his/her oath and called upon fellow jurists to remain resolute in upholding justice despite external pressures.
Addressing the delicate balance between constructive criticism and trust in the judiciary, Justice Minallah emphasized that critics should retain faith in the legal system, considering it a litmus test for its strength.
He welcomed constructive criticism while underscoring the need to strike a balance in fostering trust in the judiciary.
Reflecting on the challenges of freedom of speech in the country, the Chief Justice traced the roots of censorship to historical actions following Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s speech on August 11, 1947. He stressed the necessity of balancing freedom of expression with responsible reporting to navigate these challenges.
Sharing a personal anecdote from his early days as a judge, Justice Minallah recounted a case involving a 16-year-old accused of displaying a banner against a senior apex court judge.
He highlighted the importance of judiciously addressing such incidents and cautioned against making blanket judgments without thorough investigations.
“When the matter of the 18th constitutional amendment was raised, many forces were against it. A reporter asked me, what will the Supreme Court do about the 18th Amendment. I replied ‘In my opinion, the SC should not interfere in the constitutional amendment’,” he said.
The apex court judge said he had said he would resign if the 18th amendment was annulled and the next day news was published that “Athar Minallah has threatened the court”.
Citing former Ugandan president and the modern world history’s most brutal dictator, Idi Amin, Justice Minallah said, “A society is ruined, if someone gags freedom of expression like Idi Amin.”
