Here’s what is happening across the border: US looks forward to working with the upcoming Imran Khan government while all-party conference rejects election results
UN hails Election Commission of Pakistan, US lauds voters
Two days after Pakistan voted in the general elections, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday congratulated the country on the polls and commended the Electoral Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the organisation of the elections, reported Dunya News. The statement published on UN’s webcast further read that “The United Nations is committed to continue to support the Electoral Commission”, the report said.
Similarly, the US looks forward to “working with the Imran-led government in Pakistan to advance goals of security and stability in South Asia and the issue of Afghan peace talks”, Dawn reported.
Heather Nauert, the spokesperson for the US Department of State, commended the courage of the Pakistani people, especially women, who turned out to vote but condemned the ‘flaws’ during elections, reported Geo TV.
We commend the courage of the Pakistani people who voted to determine their country’s future, and condemn the attack in #Quetta. Along with the int’l community, we continue to encourage broad political participation in #Pakistan and the strengthening of democratic institutions. pic.twitter.com/NodYFj4ts4
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) July 27, 2018
While Nauert expressed USA’s deep reservations over the participation of terrorist-affiliated individuals in the elections, she lauded the “Pakistani voters for fully rejecting these candidates at the ballot box.”
PML-N, PTI reach out to independents to form a government in Punjab
Both the frontrunners in the elections, the PML-N and the PTI, are battling it out to form the government in Punjab, the country’s biggest provincial assembly.
At a press conference in Lahore Friday, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif’s son, Hamza Shahbaz, said that the party was in talks with independent MPA-elects and would hopefully form the government in Punjab, reported Dawn.
Shahbaz urged PM-in-waiting Imran Khan to respect the PML-N’s mandate of being the largest party in Punjab. He recalled that after 2013 polls, PTI was in a similar situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but Nawaz Sharif accepted Imran’s mandate and allowed PTI to form the government.
Meanwhile, PTI has also started to reach out to the independents. The party already has PML-Q as an ally. Reports suggest that leaders of both the parties have a close friendship with the independents and may seek their help for coming to power. Talking to media, PTI leader Naeemul Haq said, “We have the required numbers (of MPAs) to form the government. The PML-N will sit in opposition in Punjab as well.”
All party conference rejects poll results but divided on boycotting assemblies
An all-party conference (ACP) held in Islamabad, Friday, rejected the 25 July election results but remained divided on the question of boycotting the new assemblies, reported The Express Tribune.
LIVE from Islamabad: APC presser https://t.co/398jijRyLL
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 27, 2018
The ACP saw many parties coming together including Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the PML(N) represented by Shahbaz Sharif. However, two major parties, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) didn’t show up.
Addressing the conference, Rehman said that the APC has agreed to launch a movement for re-election in the country. Sharif supported the movement to ‘restore democracy’ but said that a decision on Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan’s proposal of boycotting the oath-taking ceremonies would be taken only after consultations within the party ranks.
FAFEN approves of general elections, says conducted in a fair manner
Free and fair elections network (FAFEN) — an electoral watchdog of more than 50 domestic civil society organisations — said in its preliminary report that elections this year were transparent in many aspects and were managed relatively peacefully till disruptions erupted, reported The Express Tribune.
The report lauded the Election Commission of Pakistan’s effort to make sure women voters turn up. It, however, requested the ECP to assuage concerns of the parties crying foul over the process.
As many as 811,491 personnel to be deputed for election day duties were trained to perform functions as presiding officers, assistant presiding officers and polling officers at 85,317 polling stations with 242,088 polling booths that were set up in 272 National and 577 provincial assembly constituencies, the report further said.
Request for recounting rejected, PML-N says ECP ‘under pressure’
PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif’s request for recounting of votes at NA-249 in Karachi West was rejected Friday by the returning officer (RO) of the constituency, reported Dawn. While PTI leader Faisal Vawda had emerged as the official winner with 35,344 votes, Sharif lost to him by a narrow margin of 718 votes.
A senior leader of the party, Mushahidullah Khan, alleged that in many constituencies it was noticed that PML-N was at a winning position, but they had been ‘defeated through rigging’ and now their applications for recounting of the votes were rejected “under pressure”.
Meanwhile, the PML-N received another shock as it has lost Rawalpindi, where it has been winning since 1988, to PTI, reported Dawn. The newspaper said that the friction within the party members, growing popularity of Imran Khan among the youths and resentment in people for failing to serve them resulted in the defeat.
Although the party had lost many seats in the district in 2002 during the Pervez Musharraf time, in 30 years it was never wiped out completely.
A slum school to teach child labourers
‘Slum schools’, an initiative by 23-year-old Pakistani social activist and educationist Rohayl Varind, offers night classes to child labourers, reported Quartz. The school depends entirely upon solar energy to light its open-air classroom as there is no electricity in the area. The two branches of the school in Faisalabad have a total of 100 students and the subjects taught include English, Urdu, math, and science.
The school, which runs from 7 pm to 9 pm, takes no cash donations but instead, accepts food, stationery, and laptops.
Pakistan’s First Solar Night School #Pakistan Faisalabad @AliSahin501 @ZKhanOfficial @rehman_azhar @miqazi pic.twitter.com/YrWfZ5Fnn6
— Müjdat GÖKÇE (@MujdatGOKCE) July 23, 2018
Contributors: Alind Chauhan, Hansa Kapoor, Anagha Deshpande, Manisha Mondal, Prateek Gupta, Rupanwita Bhattacharjee and Sharanya Munsi.