Here’s what’s happening across the border: Stamped ballot papers found in Karachi school and court orders Sharif family to pay one million rupees for dams.
Dubai-based Pakistani entrepreneur creates ‘Khanmeter’
Taking a cue from ‘Obameter’, an online tool called ‘Khanmeter’ has been created to track progress on poll promises of Pakistan’s prime minister-elect Imran Khan, reports Arabian Business.
The website created by Dubai-based Pakistani digital entrepreneur, Salman Saeed lists the promises made by the cricketer-turned-politician during his campaign. The tool will track his work and achievements in sectors such as governance, security, agriculture, water with graphical representations. Each section has also been opened to discussion.
In 2013, PolitiFact, a project run by American newspaper Tampa Bay Times, had come up with Obameter to see how then US President Barack Obama is “doing on his campaign promises”.
“This (Khanmeter) is a tool to verify compliance or non-compliance of the new government to their commitments,” the website says.
Originally thought of during Khan’s 2013 election campaign, Saeed now plans to shift to Pakistan to closely study Khan’s promise delivery.
“I’m going back because of him. We are all hoping a lot from him. He asked overseas Pakistanis to come back, and I’m taking that step,” he said.
Accountability remains one of Saeed’s motives behind the website, “I want to make sure, being a common Pakistani, that whatever political party is in power is held accountable.”
Chinese products for Pakistan’s Independence Day
With less than two weeks left for Independence Day, Pakistanis are buying products to prepare for the celebrations. However, the catch is that most items being sold for the event are made in China, reports The Express Tribune.
According to the report titled “Be Pakistani, Buy Chinese, a trader in the biggest products-market of Punjab, Urdu Bazaar, located in Lahore, pointed out that the massive influx of inexpensive and attractive Chinese merchandise has left little room for local manufacturers to sell their products. Most decorative products being sold have been imported from China, except for flags and buntings.
Pakistan will celebrate its 71st Independence Day on 14 August.
Stamped ballot papers found in a school in Karachi
A student of Government Secondary School Gizri in Karachi found stamped ballot papers in his desk on the first day of school, reports The Express Tribune.
According to a teacher, the student, Jabbar, found about 154 ballot papers stamped in favour of PTI’s opposition parties PPP, MQM and MMA.
This is second incident of stamped ballot papers being found in the city. Earlier in the week ballot papers had been found in a garbage heap in Qayyumabad, Karachi.
These are the ballot papers found in Gizri Polling station this morning #PS111 #NA247 all the ballot papers are stamp on Arrow #Elections2018 @BBhuttoZardari @AseefaBZ @BakhtawarBZ @sherryrehman @SaeedGhani1 @omar_quraishi @HamidMirPAK @Xadeejournalist @_Mansoor_Ali @Dawn_News pic.twitter.com/2JZnw9ZwlL
— Emran Brohi (@ibrohi31) August 2, 2018
Nawaz asked party workers to continue protest against ‘rigging’ of elections
Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif has directed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members from Adiala jail to continue their protests against alleged rigging of the general elections, reported Dawn.
PML-N leaders who met Nawaz Thursday were also asked to make a joint strategy with the opposition parties.
Talking to media, party leader and Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said, “The morale of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz is high and they have asked the party leaders and workers to work with other political parties to expose the results of the elections which have been stolen in favour of the PTI.”
Another senior leader said that the PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif also met the former PM and briefed him about efforts of the party for forming government in Punjab.
‘Switzerland made no offer to return Pakistani money in Swiss banks’
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued a statement Thursday clarifying that Switzerland, never at any time, offered to return even a single dollar deposited by Pakistanis in Swiss accounts, reports The Express Tribune.
The statement was issued in order to dispel misconceptions surrounding Switzerland’s offer to return $200 billion in 2014, under an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (ADTA) with Pakistan, reports The News. The misconception, however, was allegedly triggered by a segment of print and electronic media.
It was also explained in the statement that the responsibility of ADTA is to eliminate double taxation and exchange of information on request and not to retrieve assets.
Court asks Sharif’s family to deposit Rs 1 mn in ‘dams fund’
The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan heard the case of re-allocating the sugar mill belonging to former PM Nawaz Sharif’s family to South Punjab Thursday, and directed Sharif’s lawyer to deposit 1 million Pakistani rupees in the dams fund, reports Dawn. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, also denied Sharif’s request for more time to prepare for the case.
CJP Nasir remarked that there were bad intentions behind the mills’ relocation as a power plant was under construction in the area. On the basis of judicial commission’s information, he observed that Sharif’s family had lied to the court.
The case was adjourned till 20 August and Sharif’s lawyer was asked to deposit the amount in the dams fund.
Contributors: Sharanya Munsi, Soniya Agarwal, Alind Chauhan, Anagha Deshpande, Prateek Gupta, Rupanwita Bhattacharjee and Priyamvada Grover