Here’s what is happening across the border: TTP claims responsibility for blast that killed 20 and journalist suspended for ‘asking Imran Khan to be investigated’.
Poll rigging allegations stalk army
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Pakistan Peoples Party are among the political parties that have accused the army of meddling in the upcoming general election, with journalist Zahid Hussain talking about allegations of a “creeping judicial martial law” in a column in Dawn.
یہ صاحبزادہ حامد رضا تو "اپنے" بندے نہیں تھے؟
یہ بھی سچ بول رہے ہیں کہ پاکستان میں الیکشن کے نام ہو کیا رہا ہے, سچ صرف میاں صاحب نہیں, سب بول رہے ہیں,#بول_کہ_لب_آذاد_ہیں_تیرے pic.twitter.com/kVhsHiBIIK— Ambreen Fatima (@AmbreenFatimaAA) July 10, 2018
Speaking to the press in London, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif named a senior ISI officer, Major-General Faiz Hameed, for allegedly being involved in pre-poll rigging. He also alleged that Hameed intimidated PML-N candidates and forced them to leave the party.
Both PML-N & PPP complain about army officials engineering elections, threatening their candidates. Nawaz Sharif has accused ISI Counter Intelligence wing head General Faiz Hameed. PPP received complaints about Colonel Abid Shah & Major Shahzad in Sindh & Colonel Mughees in DIK pic.twitter.com/oslccBWWW4
— Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) July 11, 2018
General Hameed, head of the ISI’s counter intelligence wing, brokered a deal between Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a political party, and the central government during the 2017 Faizabad sit-in triggered by amendments to Election Act 2017, reported SAMAA TV.
Senior leaders of the PPP also held a press conference Wednesday in Pakistan and revealed that they had received complaints of pre-poll meddling against army officials.
Meanwhile, Sharif is expected to return to Pakistan by Friday, only to be arrested at the airport to serve his 10-year sentence. Vowing to protect her elder son, Nawaz’s mother said she would visit the airport to receive him, adding, “I won’t let them arrest Nawaz, and if they arrested my son, I’ll go with him,” reported The News International.
Pakistani journalist suspended for military ‘jibe’
Ahmad Mansoor, a journalist from Express News channel, has been sacked for making an unsavoury remark against PTI chief Imran Khan, which some have described as a jibe about the military’s alleged conspiracy against civilian leaders in Pakistan. While Nawaz Sharif of the PML(N) was recently convicted of corruption, Asif Ali Zardari has emerged as an accused in a major money laundering scandal.
At a press conference organised by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s PR agency, in Islamabad Tuesday, Mansoor said as Sharif and Zardari were already out of the upcoming general election on account of corruption charges, action should also be taken against Khan.
The reporter, Ahmad Mansoor, who made the comment on Imran Khan at yesterday's presser by the DG ISPR has been suspended by his news organization
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) July 11, 2018
A question to end all questions. pic.twitter.com/u9Gkq1D983
— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) July 10, 2018
ISPR chief Major Gen Asif Ghafoor, who was addressing the press conference, chose to remain silent and shifted to a different question.
However, it was reported later that Mansoor had apologised for his remarks.
Express News has sacked reporter Ahmad Mansoor after making unsavoury remarks about Imran Khan at the ISPR press conference. The reporter apologised later for his remarks. Express owner Sultan Lakshmi issued orders of sacking personally #PakistaniMedia pic.twitter.com/YI0SvtK8NI
— Pakistan Media Watch (@PakPressWatch) July 11, 2018
TTP claims responsibility for the Peshwar attack that killed 20
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that killed at least 20 people, including Awami National Party (ANP) leader Haroon Bilour, and injured 63 Tuesday night in Peshawar, reported The Express Tribune.
A spokesperson of the terrorist outfit said the attack was “revenge for ANP’s previous government”, warning of more strikes. The primarily Pashtun party has been known to be a staunch opponent of the Taliban, as well as a proponent of a secular Pakistan.
Haroon Bilour, who was up for a seat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly, was laid to rest in Peshawar Wednesday, Geo TV reported. Haroon’s father, Bashir Bilour, had also died in a TTP attack in 2012.
His son Daniyal Bilour, meanwhile, said he will not be cowed down by terrorists.
The young but mature Daniyal Bilour tells @Mashaalradio: No matter how hard the terrorists try we will stay firm. I will continue my family mission to serve Pashtuns under the flag of #ANP. We are Bacha Khan's followers and won't bow down to terrorism. #PeshawarAttack
— Bashir Ahmad Gwakh (@bashirgwakh) July 11, 2018
In response to the assassination, the Election Commission of Pakistan postponed the polls in the constituency Haroon was contesting from.
د هارون بلور شهید د ژوند اخیرنۍ ویډیو ده په کمه کی چې ورباندی ځانمرګی برید اوشو.د ویډیو اخیره کې ورباندی ځانمرګۍ برید کیږې.یه جو دشتګردی هے.اسکے پیچے وردی هے.
Pashtunistan यांनी वर पोस्ट केले मंगळवार, १० जुलै, २०१८
Government transition will not affect CPEC, says caretaker FM
Pakistan’s caretaker finance minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar has assured that the transition between governments after the 25 July election would not impact the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), reported Dawn.
Akhtar was speaking at the 55th CPEC Progress Review meeting in Islamabad Tuesday, which was also attended by Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing. “It is our job to make sure that CPEC projects are completed according to the agreed timelines and terms,” she added.
“China is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy and strategic cooperative partnership is moving from strength to strength,” the minister said.
She said substantive growth had been achieved over the past five years in CPEC projects, with 22 worth $28.6 billion still under implementation.
PTI candidate says forced to withdraw from race
A woman contesting for a national assembly seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has accused Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of forcing her to give up her ticket and withdraw from the race. Ambreen Swati will now contest as an independent.
Swati has released a recording of a conversation she had with senator Mohammad Azam Swati, where he is purportedly heard saying that she didn’t merit a ticket, and either withdraw or else be sacked from the party.
Ambereen Swati Official यांनी वर पोस्ट केले शुक्रवार, २९ जून, २०१८
Swati’s repeated pleas that she had put in 13 years of hard work for the party went unheard.
Swati has been asked to withdraw from the race reportedly because the PTI wishes to extend support to a PLM-N dissident in order to defeat Nawaz Sharif’s party in the seat.
Money laundering case: Asif Ali Zardari, sister skip FIA summons
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders and siblings Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur Wednesday skipped the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) summons regarding the alleged Rs 35 billion money laundering case, reported Dawn.
At the hearing, they were expected to record their statements and explain their position on the accounts and transactions. The duo, among seven accused of using 29 accounts in the banks to channel billions in kickbacks, has sought time until the end of the ongoing election campaign to furnish their replies.
Two junior lawyers representing Zardari and Talpur claimed neither currently had any record of transactions made in 2014. “They added that forcing the two to engage in the case would be a violation of Articles 14 and 17 of the Constitution, as it would affect their election campaigns with the polls just two weeks away,” the report added.
The report also quoted an FIA official as saying that “the agency was ‘not satisfied’ with the reply”. “Zardari had not replied to another notice sent to him by the FIA earlier as well, the official said, adding that the agency might ‘take action’ now,” it stated.
The Supreme Court has already placed the seven accused on the exit-control list.
Contributors: Sharanya Munsi, Manisha Mondal, Rupanwita Bhattacharjee, Anagha Deshpande and Soniya Agrawal, Hansa Kapoor and Alind Chauhan.