Day: April 4, 2022

Posted on

Imran would have been removed through the no-confidence vote since we had 197 votes in the National Assembly: Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari 

Islamabad, April 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressing a press conference with the other leaders of the opposition parties has said that the no-confidence is the only democratic, legal and constitutional means to remove a prime minister. The government has tried to sabotage the no-confidence and does not realise that he has committed a huge crime. He has broken the constitution. He could have not dissolved the assembly before the vote on the no-confidence motion.

The Chair PPP said that the political parties drafted this constitution in 1973 and again purge out dictators illegal inclusion of clauses by the dictators by 18th amendment. The PPP workers are happy that the selected has gone home but we are not happy that any illegal act is committed. We want voting on no-confidence motion. The democracy must continue. Imran and his party is so naive that they are celebrating the removal of their own government. Imran’s government has committed suicide. Imran is the person who was thumping the desk when I had called him a selected prime minister, Chairman PPP said.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that we are the people who protect the democracy and the constitution. Imran would have been removed through voting on no-confidence as we have shown 197 votes in the national assembly. The deputy Speaker, prime minister and president broke the constitution through a conspiracy. Now the Supreme Court has to decide that whether the ego of Imran Khan is important or the constitution. Today is 4 April, the date when the Quaid-e-Awam was judicially assassinated. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of this constitution and the Presidential reference of this murder is still pending in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court failed to stop the coup of General Zia and General Musharraf. Now we request the Supreme Court to stop the coup attempt by Imran Khan. The constitution is not a piece of paper, it binds the federation. We request the constitution of a full bench of the Supreme Court to hear this case. The process of no-confidence must be completed. If we cannot implement the constitution in the Parliament then where can we implement it. The fate of Pakistan will be decided by the verdict of the Supreme Court.

Responding to questions of the journalists he said that it is written in the constitution that how a prime minister is elected and how the Prime minister is removed. When there is no leader of the house and the leader of the opposition then consultation on an interim government is futile. No one has power to dissolve the assembly when a no-confidence motion had been tabled. We hope from the judiciary to stop the coup by an individual. Imran has made himself an interim prime minister. We want free and fair elections not compromised elections like in 2018.

This is an opportunity for the judiciary to remove blot on it in the past rather we all including the Parliament and all other institutions have to remove the blot on them. The opposition had submitted a no-confidence against the Speaker so his powers were ended to prorogue the session. The Supreme Court should tell us that whether Qasim Suri had the power to declare more than half the strength of the National Assembly? This joke must end. We hope that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.

For more information, contact:
PPP Media Cell (Sindh)
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,
Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan
Cell: +92-305-3370383
Email: contact@ppp-tu.com
Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk

Posted on

PAT CEC calls for strict implementation of Articles 62 and 63 

Lahore, April 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):Pakistan Awami Tehreek called an emergency meeting of its Central Executive Council (CEC) to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country. The participants of the meeting were of the unanimous view that the only solution to the ongoing political and constitutional crisis is new elections and the implementation of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution in letter and spirit. They said that Parliament failed again to resolve the crisis like before and the decisions were left to the other branches of the state to make. They demanded an imposition of a life-term ban on the political turncoats who have held the system hostage.

The CEC also decided to launch a countrywide public awareness campaign after Eid. A committee was constituted to contact the like-minded parties, personalities and lawyers for political reforms. The CEC meeting was presided over by central PAT president Qazi Zahid Hussain who joined the meeting through a video link. While speaking on the occasion, he said that the present crisis is not new. Rather it dates back to the four decades. He said that unless people with impeccable integrity are elected to assemblies, neither will political stability be possible nor will the politics of sale and purchase of loyalties come to an end.

PAT Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said on the occasion that the PAT led a long march in 2013 for the implementation of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. He said that Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri told the nation that thieves, corrupt people and defaulters would join the assemblies if Articles 62 and 63 were not implemented. He said that Dr Qadri also made it clear to Imran Khan that change would be of no meaning without reforms and today the nation can see the dream of change going sour. PAT Secretary General further reminded that Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri had also suggested to Imran Khan to not trust the winning horses.

The CEC meeting expressed its grave concern on unannounced load-shedding, escalating price hike, and the illegal profiteering and asked the government to bring things under control. It also requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take a suo moto notice of the price hike so that people could be given some relief. He said that all issues are discussed in the assemblies except unemployment, education, health and the national problems.

The CEC meeting was attended by Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, central Punjab president Mian Rehan Maqbool, Northern Punjab president Qazi Shafique, South Punjab president Noor Ahmad Sahu, Raja Zahid Mahmood, Naseer Khan Jadoon, Rao Kamran, Ijaz Saddozai, Noorullah Siddiqui, Ibrar Raza Advocate, Naeem-ud-Din Advocate, Sultan Mahmood Ch Advocate, Mian Kashif, and Ayesha Mubashir.

Central President Qazi Zahid Hussain further said that those who have given false evidence in the courts of law are also the candidate for the office of the prime minister’. Arif Chaudhry, secretary coordination PAT, said that the history of Nawaz Sharif’s contact with the foreigners is very old. He said that Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri had presented evidence of the Indian nationals working in the factories owned by the Sharif family. He said that if Imran Khan had ordered investigation into Model Town tragedy and the issue of Indian spies, he would not have needed to talk about the foreign conspiracy today.

For more information, contact:
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)
365-M, Model Town,
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-140-140
Email: info@pat.com.pk
Website: www.pat.com.pk

Posted on

FAFEN outlines critical challenges to early elections 

Islamabad, April 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):Expressing grave concerns at the recent political developments and ensuing constitutional crisis, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has identified multiple constitutional, legal and operational challenges to the conduct of an early election.

While the constitutionality of the measures leading to the dissolution of the National Assembly will be decided by the Supreme Court, FAFEN hopes for a prompt decision by the apex court, which rightly took up the matter suo moto, as any delay will continue to accrue collateral issues arising out of the constitutional deadlock. Public confusion and political divisions that have already arisen as a result can potentially translate into violent expression. Political parties have a great responsibility to manage their workers and make sure that political disagreements do not turn into violence especially ahead of an early election.

According to FAFEN, an early election may not be a smooth process in view of several constitutional and legal complications. The most critical factor for the legitimacy of any election will be the completion of the Election Commission. The Commission Members from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have yet to be appointed. The constitutional procedure for the appointment of Members of the Commission after the dissolution of the National Assembly under a caretaker setup remains unclear under Article 213 (2B), which requires the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to initiate the process in a specially formed committee comprising only senators.

Another concern is the constitutional and legal status of the current delimitation of National and Provincial Assembly seats since it was carried out on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 census. The 25th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2017 through a proviso to Article 51 (5) of the Constitution provided for only a one-time exception to delimitations on the basis of provisional census results for GE-2018. A fresh delimitation on the basis of the last preceding census officially published is, therefore, essential for the legality of future elections as per Section 17(2) of the Elections Act, 2017. However, the process of delimitation cannot be completed within three months as per the requirements of Chapter III of the Elections Act, 2017 and corresponding rules.

Similarly, confusion continues to shroud the practicality and enforcement of the recent amendments to the Elections Act, 2017 pertaining to the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the facilitation of overseas Pakistanis to vote in their country of residence, which were passed by the Joint Sitting of the Parliament without the support of the opposition parties. FAFEN has always urged the need for electoral reforms through political consensus as majoritarian changes to election law always lead to challenges to the legitimacy of the election outcome and political stability. Nevertheless, there is a need to grant representation to overseas Pakistanis as all political parties have made such commitments to the country’s diaspora in their election manifestoes.

The under-registration of women on the electoral rolls is also one of the major issues that the Election Commission had started to successfully address through targeted campaigns. While the ECP has been able to arrest the rising gender gap on the electoral rolls, there still are 11.37 million women who remain unregistered as voters. In case the elections are called within three months, the electoral rolls will have to be frozen thirty days before the announcement of the election program as per Section 39 of the Elections Act, thereby rendering millions of women voters disenfranchised. Although ECP can employ powers under Sections 4(3) and 49 of the Elections Act to maximize voter registration, such efforts may not yield adequate results considering the scale of the gender gap on the electoral rolls in a short time.

Another challenge to early elections is the operational and logistical preparation by the ECP involving recruiting and training around one million polling staff, and printing, publishing and transportation of election materials as well as selection of locations for more than 10,000 polling stations that are to be established due to the addition of more than 15 million voters on the electoral rolls since GE-2018. The quality of these critical electoral processes is vital to the integrity of any election.

FAFEN believes in the continuity of the democratic process as the only way to resolve the political disputes and disagreements particularly related to the country’s election system. Even sincere efforts to correct the election system-related issues that are devoid of a larger political consensus will be counter-productive and will add to post-election political instability. Protecting the integrity of any future election is vital to strengthening democracy as well as ensuring the much-needed stability of political institutions that is critical to the country’s social and economic development.

For more information, contact:
Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)
FAFEN Representative
FAFEN Secretariat 224, Margalla Road F-10/3 – Islamabad
Tel: +92-51-2211026
Fax: +92-51-2211047
Cell: +92-321-5017355, +92-301-8549188
Email: media@fafen.org
URL: www.fafen.org

Posted on

Two-day wall climbing contest held to mark International Women’s Day 

Lahore, April 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):The University of Lahore Adventure Club organized a two-day Wall Climbing Contest to mark the International Women’s Day, celebrated around the globe on March 8, 2022. The event, which was exclusively organized for female participants with the aim of promoting women in sports, commenced on March 7 at the UOL Main Campus Lahore amidst joy among the students.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk

Posted on

Over 1500 students contest in the UOL Innovation Olympiad 2022 

Lahore, April 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):The UOL Innovation Olympiad 2022 kicked off on March 10, 2022 with the ribbon cutting ceremony done by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf (Rector) and Mrs. Ammara Awais (Director, Office of Student Affairs). More than 1500 participants from different universities across Pakistan took part in this 3-day event in which teams were competing in numerous fields tailored towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The remarkable contest had 72 modules split into 17 categories such as business, engineering, project exhibition, law, arts, drama, photography, videography, music, debating, gaming, cooking, Islamic heritage, sports and fashion.

At the closure, certificates, cash prizes, trophies, and shields were distributed among the winners by Mrs. Ammara Awais (Director, Office of Student Affairs), Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ibrar Hussain (Dean, Faculty of Information Technology, Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology and HoD, Software Engineering) and representatives of Bank Al-Habib and COTHAM (the Sponsors of Innovation Olympiad 2.0). The University of the Punjab bagged the Winner Team Trophy and Air University, Islamabad, took the Runners-up Trophy.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk

Posted on

UOL Clubs and Societies emerge victorious in DAIRA 2022 

Lahore, April 04, 2022 (PPI-OT):In the pursuit of their goals beyond academics, the Dramatic, Arts and Culture, Sports and Debating societies partook in “DAIRA 2022”, held at FAST University, Faisalabad on March 25-27, 2022. The UOL students bagged First Position in different categories including Chess, Table Tennis (Female), Graphite and Theater Makeup and stood runners-up in Table Tennis (Female), Sketching, Red Light- Green light, Theater Makeup and Theater.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk