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Tag: Punjab

  • ECP to announce election schedule on December 17

    ECP to announce election schedule on December 17

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will announce election schedule on December 17, allowing candidates to submit their nomination papers the next day, The News has reported on Thursday.

    ECP will take 54 days to complete the process of conducting polls in the country on February 8, next year.

    Article 220 of the constitution says that once the election schedule is announced, the caretaker government is bound to support the ECP to conduct free and fair elections in the country.

    On the other hand, ECP has halted the training of district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs) designated for the forthcoming general elections set to take place on February 8 next year.

    The ECP spokesperson issued a notification saying that the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered the training of DROs and ROs to stop.

    Election commissioners of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan have been notified. The training of DROs and ROs is currently in progress in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta.

    Previously, the high court declined the order of the ECP appointing ROs from the bureaucracy for the upcoming general election on February 8, 2024.

  • Motorways closed due to intense fog in Punjab

    Motorways closed due to intense fog in Punjab

    The season of blinding fog has officially arrived in Punjab, complete with signs of restricted movement.

    M-2 route from Lahore to Kot Momin, M-3 from Faizpur to Darkhana, M-4 from Shamkot to Pindi Bhattian, and M-5 from Sher Shah to Zahir Peer were closed due to low visibility, reports Geo.


    Routes between Lahore and Sialkot is closed due to heavy fog whereas a section between Gojra and Faisalabad is also blocked for the same reason.


    The situation of smog is also an added factor in low visibility all over Punjab where Lahore still stands at number two in the air quality index with very unhealthy levels of air.

  • Online learning driving license app launched

    Online learning driving license app launched

    Caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi, has inaugurated an online learning driving license app.

    The inauguration ceremony of the online learning driving license app was held at the Chief Minister Office in Lahore, with Information Minister Amir Mir and Inspector General of Punjab Police Usman Anwar present at the event.

    Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board Faisal Yusuf and related officials were also present in the ceremony.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Chief Minister Naqvi said that learning license facility is being provided at patrol posts, service centers and police stations. Citizens will be able to benefit from the facility of online learning license while sitting at home. Learner license facility has also been started at the front desk of police stations.

  • What is the new fee for learner’s driving licence in Punjab?

    What is the new fee for learner’s driving licence in Punjab?

    Caretaker Punjab government has announced the new fee for the learner’s driving licence, as part of the decisions taken in the 33rd meeting of the provincial cabinet, reports The News.


    After the cabinet’s approval, the fee for the learner’s driving licence in Punjab has been increased from Rs60 to Rs1,000.


    The cabinet decided that the increase in the licence fee would come into effect from January 1, 2024.


    However, citizens of the United States and Pakistani citizens living in the US, Canada and any other foreign country can get a driving licence by paying $100 online, the provincial cabinet’s official press release stated.


    Last month, the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered the authorities to arrest motorists driving without a licence and expressed displeasure over the violation of traffic rules. Justice Ali Zia Bajwa passed the remarks while hearing an appeal filed by the suspect challenging the insertion of Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

  • PML-N says Nawaz hasn’t decided to become PM for fourth time

    PML-N says Nawaz hasn’t decided to become PM for fourth time

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) head and former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has not yet decided to become prime minister for the fourth time, if his party wins the forthcoming elections, sources have disclosed to The News.

    A PML-N leader and close friend of Nawaz Sharif told The News that the PML-N supremo has not expressed any intention yet to become a fourth-time prime minister, adding that if the idea is being discussed within the Sharif family, most of PML-N leadership are not aware of it.

    The party itself wants to see Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister of Pakistan. According to a source within PML-N, the party has adopted the slogan of making Nawaz Sharif premier for the fourth time.

    “It will be a sweet revenge of democracy from those who removed Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in 2017,” said the source.

    PML-N president and senior vice president, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, are currently under consideration for the position of prime minister, with some expressing concerns about Maryam’s potential candidature due to her perceived lack of experience and potential unacceptability in certain circles. Maryam may be given an important position in Punjab instead.

    Shehbaz Sharif also has the advantage that he has a good relationship with the establishment and prefers to work with all stakeholders. On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif has a history of bad relations with the establishment.

  • 19 children arrested on blasphemy charges in Punjab in 2023

    19 children arrested on blasphemy charges in Punjab in 2023

    Nineteen children have been arrested on charges of blasphemy across Punjab between January 1, 2023 and October 16, 2023.


    In an appeal submitted to the Punjab Information Commission by the director of Legal Awareness Watch, Sarmad Ali, it was revealed by the Inspectorate General of Punjab Prisons that 19 minors were arrested out of whom six are in prison while the rest have been released, The News has reported.

    Sarmad Ali explained to The News that several children in the country are facing charges carrying severe punishment. Some of these children are not even allowed to maintain their juvenility as explained by the law. Under Section 8 of the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, he explained, “Thus, owing to inadequate and effective implementation of [the] cited law which was promulgated in May 2018, many children have been [held] without fair trial or [have been] sentenced to severe punishment in sheer ignorance of the international standards and conventions which the state of Pakistan is signatory to.”


    The law also explains that children-even if dangerous-must be given their due rights. Sarmad added, “Children that are accused of having infringed any penal law must not be treated as adults as they cannot foresee the consequences of their actions.”

  • Rifts in PTI over ‘selection’ of new Chairman

    Rifts in PTI over ‘selection’ of new Chairman

    In a dramatic turn of events within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), founding member and dissenter Akbar S. Babar has raised concerns over the nomination of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan for the party chairman’s position.

    Accusing the move of being more of a “selection than an election,” Babar, who previously filed the foreign funding case against the PTI, expressed doubts about the transparency and credibility of the intra-party election process.

    He said, “This must be a first that elections for the party’s central leadership have been announced without its electoral college in place as the electoral college of PTI’s central leadership is an elected provincial leadership which does not exist.”

    According to Babar, the prolonged intra-party election process, initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic with a one-year extension granted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has failed to live up to the party’s commitment to transparent and fair elections.

    Babar proposed that the Commission should appoint ‘obervers’ to monitor the PTI intra-party elections as it is already discussing the matter.

    Babar, who served as the party’s central information secretary and vice-president in the past, claimed that it appears that the PTI has learnt hardly any lesson from its past history of holding rigged intra-party elections.

    The decision to nominate Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, described as a ‘newcomer,’ has sparked internal discord within the party.

    Some party leaders drew parallels between this nomination and the controversial appointment of Usman Buzdar as the Punjab chief minister, a move that faced criticism for its perceived lack of merit.

    The selection of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan over other loyalists within the party, such as Ali Muhammad Khan, Senator Humayun Mohmand, and Advocate Hamid Khan, has raised eyebrows among insiders.

    One party leader, speaking anonymously to Dawn, voiced apprehensions about Khan’s association with PPP leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, considering it an unwise move given the sensitive nature of the party chairman position.

    “Unfortunately, Imran Khan has again done an experiment, just like Usman Buzdar, who left him when his difficult time started. The position of the party chairman is very sensitive and it could be used against the party,” he feared.

  • Who is Barrister Gohar Khan?

    Who is Barrister Gohar Khan?

    Barrister Gohar Khan is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and appears in all high courts as well.

    He is from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa’s Buner district and was formerly affiliated with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), contesting on a National Assembly seat from there in 2008 on PPP ticket.

    He joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2022 in the presence of former Chief Minister Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak who himself has left PTI to form his own political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTIP).

    The Barrister is a law graduate from Wolverhampton University, UK with LLM from Washington School of Law, USA. Gohar has been in active law practice with more than 50 reported judgments to his credit on subjects ranging from taxation, commercial, corporate, arbitration, banking, election, etc.

    The new chairman of PTI has civil and criminal trials experience, and even has the honour to appear before the Supreme Judicial Council, Field General Court Martial, and its Court of Appeal.

    His clients include public and private companies and important persons, including Imran Khan.

  • PPP and PMLN want timely elections

    PPP and PMLN want timely elections

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif has emphasized the importance of conducting the scheduled general elections on February 8 next year.

    Speaking to reporters after his appearance before an accountability court in Lahore regarding the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Shehbaz said, “[Holding the elections on time] is the requirement of law and democracy.”

    The NAB reference alleges that Shehbaz, the former chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority by utilizing public funds to construct a bridge to benefit mills owned by his sons.

    Despite the legal challenges, Shehbaz expressed confidence in the PML-N’s upcoming election campaign, announcing that party leader Nawaz Sharif will unveil the manifesto during the electoral activities.

    Addressing concerns raised by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) regarding equal opportunities in the polls, Shehbaz cited, “I went to court today and this is called the level-playing field and Nawaz Sharif will also produce himself in an Islamabad court today.”

    Shehbaz also delved into recent events, including the May 9 incidents and the subsequent arrest of Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case. “A conspiracy to overthrow the army was hatched on May 9 and any democratic government will not tolerate treason,” he stressed.

    During the court hearing, Shehbaz clarified the charges against him, referring to his summoning in the clean water case and subsequent arrest in the Ashiana reference

    “I will not discuss the merits of the case, my lawyer will do it,” he told the court, adding that the court gave him justice in the Ashiana case.

    “After that, NAB arrested me in the sewer case. I was told that I had issued a directive for the construction of a drain which was built by an MPA,” he said.

    The PML-N president told the court that they have installed thousands of clean water projects during his tenure.

    Shehbaz said that he transferred their inherited sugar mill to his son and the government did not give subsidies to sugar mills in his tenure.

    PPP hopeful about timely elections

    Meanwhile, PPP expressed optimism that Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa would ensure the timely holding of the next general elections on February 8.

    “We are hopeful that Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa will not let the elections be delayed,” PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi told in a press conference.

    Echoing concerns about a level playing field previously voiced by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Kundi asserted that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is poised to become the next prime minister.

    Mr Kundi claimed that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be the next prime minister of the country and he would announce the party’s future line of action about the next elections at a public meeting in Quetta on Nov 30 on the occasion of the 56th foundation day of the PPP.

    “Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari will both address the public meeting,” he said, adding that Bilawal’s sister Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari would conduct the election campaign of his brother.

    Additionally, PPP leader Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari was appointed as the secretary general of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP).

    Before Mr Bukhari’s appointment, seasoned party leader Farhatullah Babar was serving as the secretary general of the party’s parliamentary chapter.

  • Who will be the chairman of PTI?

    Who will be the chairman of PTI?

    A tumultuous day unfolded within the ranks of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as conflicting statements emerged regarding Imran Khan’s role in the upcoming intra-party polls.

    Senior Vice President Sher Afzal Khan Marwat asserted on Tuesday that Imran Khan, currently incarcerated in Adiala jail, had decided not to vie for the position of party chairman, citing legal constraints and his disqualification in the Toshakhana case.

    PTI clarified that discussions were still going on about crucial matters related to intra-party elections, emphasizing that no decision had been made regarding Imran Khan’s participation or the nomination of an alternative leader.

    Despite the party’s denial, Marwat stood by his initial statement. He took to X (former Twitter) and said, “Whatever I have said in my media talk about the intra-party election is a correct statement. The decisions were taken by Chairman PTI in the presence of Senator Ali Zafar, Barrister Gohar Umair Niazi and myself. I fail to understand who is behind the contradiction and why the misleading statement was issued. The media are advised to verify my statement with the above persons if you don’t mind.”

    Attempting to shed light on the situation, PTI Senator Ali Zafar appeared on a Geo News show on Tuesday, stating that there was no confusion within the party.

    “Two to three decisions were made together with him. Firstly, he asked what is the legal status of the ECP’s order to hold intra-party elections so I told him that it is illegal and we should appeal so the decision was made to appeal it,” he said.

    Zafar clarified that discussions also revolved around Imran Khan’s potential participation in the elections and the perception that the ECP might hinder the PTI’s symbol of the bat.

    He said finally a decision was reached that, if need be, if there was any concern arose that the ECP would raise an objection if Imran contested the elections, “then it is better than that that we at the moment hold elections in which Imran Khan doesn’t contest and we nominate someone else [for party chairman].”

    Zafar pointed out that a final decision remained to be taken on the above matter after considering all legal aspects, adding that he would announce the “exact decision” of whether Imran would contest the intra-party elections or not tomorrow.

    “If he (Imran) nominates someone else and a final decision is taken then elections will be held,” Zafar said.

    Marwat then appeared in Ary News show 11th hour with Waseem Badami and confirmed that Barrister Gohar’s name has been finalized for the chairmanship.

    While talking about the backlash he faced on social media after his initial statement, he tweeted, “Those maligning me constantly, kindly stop portraying me desperate for leadership! I didn’t come here on motive to conquer politics. It needs alot of courage to fight under these pressure circumstances. Anyone who is loyal to Pakistan, would appreciate efforts I am making. I am standing with Imran Khan and Pakistan in these difficult times because I believe in adversity, all of us must fight back against this oppression and not give up.”

    Former Governor Punjab, Latif Khosa, also entered the debate on Wednesday and said, “We can’t even think about minus Imran Khan. Imran Khan has denied all these claims.”

    The entire fiasco ended when it was officially announced by PTI that Barrister Gohar would be the candidate for chairman in intra-party election.