The Kashmir Pulse

TRAL — Peoples Democratic Party President Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said that an unstable Pakistan is not good and it will have a negative impact on India.

While reacting to the prevailing situation in Pakistan, Mehbooba Mufti said that every new government in Pakistan targets the opposition and there is nothing new in it.

She said opposition leaders are being jailed in Pakistan and unfortunately there is nothing new in it.

Mehbooba Mufti also appealed to people to help in rebuilding Jamia Masjid Noor-ul-Islam Tral which suffered damage in a fire incident yesterday. She visited the mosque to assess the situation and interacted with the locals.

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SRINAGAR — National Conference leader and Parliament member Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that an unstable Pakistan is quite dangerous for India. He said he hopes Imran Khan will be released and not harmed.

While reacting over the prevailing situation in Pakistan after the arrest of Imran Khan, Farooq Abdullah said that it’s been a tragedy for Pakistan for a long time, unfortunately, they have a checkered history right from the time of independence.

“The first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was also assassinated. There is a constant history of assassinations. Prime Minister Zulfqar Ali Bhatto was also hanged. His daughter Benazir Bhutto was also assassinated. Unfortunately for us in India, unstable Pakistan is dangerous,” Farooq Abdullah said, as per the news agency KNT.

While talking to reporters, Farooq Abdullah said, “We need a stable Pakistan which is essential for peace in the subcontinent. Now with the present situation that they are in, economically in very desperate condition. Also, recent floods in Balochistan have put that country in a miserable situation. I can’t tell you the condition of the people in Balochistan. What we see from the media, because I am not there, it is very vital that the country must stabilize itself.”

Farooq Abdullah added, “Today the ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is very popular as there is no doubt about it, has been arrested. He is asking for an election in that country which will be probably in four months’ time, I hope it does. I hope he is released and I hope he is not harmed. The most important thing is that I hope his life is saved. We would wish that country well. It’s our neighbour and we hope something better will come and the people of that nation will have a peaceful life.”

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PUNJAB (PAKISTAN) — According to local media on Sunday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, defeated the ruling coalition by winning 17 out of the 20 seats up for election in Punjab by-polls.

According to Pakistani media, the vast coalition of powerful figures, including former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Maryam Nawaz, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and leader of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, is on the verge of suffering a significant defeat in the province. Only 2 seats have PLM-N in the lead, while only 1 seat has an Independent candidate.

Up until April, when then-Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar resigned following the federal parliament's vote of no-confidence in Khan, Punjab was governed by the PTI party.

A portion of the party's state parliamentarians voted in favour of the PMLN's candidacy, which led to the PTI's subsequent nomination for the position being rejected. Khan then successfully petitioned the Pakistani Election Commission to dismiss the state Assembly legislators for improperly voting against the party's request, creating vacancies for 20 seats.

Sharif's party now owns 165 seats, while PTI retains 163, thus it will be a close contest. Sharif and coalition members are in charge of the Assembly.

There are now 20 open seats in the Punjab Assembly, which has a total membership of 371, bringing the total number of MPAs there to 351.

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ISLAMABAD — Shehbaz Sharif, the 70-year-old brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the leader of Opposition PML-N, has been elected unopposed as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan, succeeding Imran Khan, who was removed by a no-trust vote on Saturday.

Ahead of the election of the new Prime Minister, Imran Khan resigned as a member of the National Assembly, saying he will not sit in the assemblies with "thieves". His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, boycotted the voting and staged a walkout before resigning en masse, effectively ending any opposition to Mr Sharif's election.

The PTI had fielded Shah Mahmood Qureshi as its Prime Ministerial candidate. But minutes before the session, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said all PTI lawmakers will resign from the National Assembly and not become part of any government which was being formed under a "foreign agenda", the reference was to Mr Khan's allegation that the US was involved in a conspiracy with the Opposition to topple his government.

The decision, Mr Chaudhry said, was taken at a meeting of lawmakers of the party ahead of prime ministerial elections.

"A man who has one corruption case of 16 billion rupees and another corruption case of 8 billion rupees against him…for that person to be selected and elected as the Prime Minister, there cannot be a bigger insult to the country. We are resigning from the National Assembly," Imran Khan was quoted as saying by PTI's official Twitter account.

In his maiden speech as the Prime Minister in the National Assembly, Mr Sharif said if Imran Khan's claims of foreign conspiracy prove correct, he "will go home". "Pakistan will celebrate this day," he added.

Shehbaz Sharif and his sons, Hamza Shehbaz and Suleman Shehbaz, have been named in a high-profile money laundering case in November 2020. Suleman is residing in the UK.

Earlier today, a Pakistani court deferred the indictment of Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz until April 27 and gave an extension on their anticipatory bail, allowing the PML-N chief to become the new Prime Minister.

The no-trust vote against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was held in the National Assembly late on Saturday night. The Opposition had mustered 174 votes to oust Imran Khan, who became the first Prime Minister to be removed by a no-trust vote.

The process of electing the new leader of the house began on Sunday. The nomination papers of Shehbaz Sharif were accepted by the National Assembly Secretariat after objections raised by the PTI – that he is involved in several court cases – were rejected.

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ISLAMABAD — Deposed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to return from London next month after Eid, a senior PML-N leader has said, amid a whirlwind of political developments that have embroiled the country following Imran Khan’s ignominious ouster from power.

Mian Javed Latif said a decision on PML-N supremo and the three-time prime minister Sharif’s anticipated return will be discussed with the coalition partners. "All decisions would be first brought up with constituent parties of the coalition," The Express Tribune newspaper quoted him as saying.

Eid will be celebrated in the first week of May.

Several corruption cases have been launched by the government of Prime Minister Khan against the 72-year-old supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz since his ouster from the office by the Supreme Court in July 2017 in the Panama Papers case.

Sharif in November 2019 left for London after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission allowing him to go abroad for his treatment. He had given an undertaking to the Lahore High Court to return to Pakistan, citing his record to face the process of law and justice within four weeks or as soon as he is declared healthy and fit to travel by doctors.

Sharif was also given bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving seven-year imprisonment in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail.

Commenting on the political uncertainty in the country, Latif said the coalition government will not last longer than six months and the only solution to the prevailing woes was to hold fresh elections. However, there was this task of election reforms that had to be done prior to elections, he said.

He noted that the issues regarding the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and overseas voting rights were two primary issues that are to be addressed at the earliest.

EVMs are susceptible to external interference and similar to RTS, this system can be tampered with easily. As for overseas Pakistanis, exclusive seats can be created for them to elect their own representative, similar to the seats in Kashmir where seats are reserved for migrants, he said.

Sharif’s return to Pakistan has again made headlines in the country after ex-prime minister Khan became the first premier in the country’s history to be voted out of power through a no-confidence motion held early Sunday.

The joint Opposition’s no-confidence motion, which required 172 votes in the 342-strong parliament to pass, was supported by 174 lawmakers on Sunday, ending Khan’s prime ministerial term and seemingly bringing an end to the protracted political crisis in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, which ruled for over three-and-a-half years, had been struggling to stay in power as its allies joined hands with the joint Opposition that had been vying for an in-house change.

The much-anticipated vote followed on the heels of the perpetually drawn-out session of the National Assembly punctuated by long adjournments amid the high political drama, as well as unverified swirling speculation gripping the nation.

Sharif on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to restore the National Assembly after the deputy speaker dismissed a no-trust motion against Khan. "People of Pakistan are thanking God that this decision has been announced. The premier made the common people of Pakistan starve," he said.

"I would like to congratulate everyone in the country. People have gotten rid of such a person who ruined the country. He made common people starve. The dollar has reached 200 today and people are frustrated with inflation in the country," he said.

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ISLAMABAD — Imran Khan was ousted from his position as prime minister of Pakistan after 174 legislators voted against him in a no-confidence motion early on Sunday morning.

The vote came after the speaker of the house resigned, saying he could not oversee the ouster of his close ally of 30 years, and after Khan's own lawmakers delayed the vote all Saturday, only allowing voting close to midnight. Before discussion of the vote began, all of Khan's allies walked out of the chamber.

The Supreme Court had ordered the vote to take place no later than Saturday, after it dismissed as unconstitutional an earlier attempt by Khan to dissolve the parliament in an effort to forestall the vote.

Imran Khan accuses opponents of colluding with the US

In an impassioned speech on Friday, Khan doubled down on his accusations that his opponents colluded with the United States to unseat him over his foreign policy choices, which often seemed to favor China and Russia and defied the U.S.

Khan said Washington opposed his February 24 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin hours after tanks rolled into Ukraine, launching a devastating war in the heart of Europe.

The U.S. State Department has denied any involvement in Pakistan's internal politics. Deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters on Friday there was "absolutely no truth to these allegations."

Imran asks supporters to take to streets

Still, Khan urged his supporters to take to the streets, particularly the youth who have been the backbone of his support since the former cricket star turned conservative Islamist politician came to power in 2018. He said they needed to protect Pakistan's sovereignty and oppose U.S. dictations.

"You have to come out to protect your own future. It is you who have to protect your democracy, your sovereignty and your independence. ... This is your duty," he said. "I will not accept an imposed government."

Khan's options are limited and should he see a big turnout in support, he may try to keep the momentum of street protests as a way to pressure Parliament to dissolve and go to early elections.

The no-confidence vote loss for Khan may bring to power some unlikely partners. Among them is a radically religious party that runs scores of religious schools. The Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam, or Assembly of Clerics, teaches a deeply conservative brand of Islam in its schools. Many of Afghanistan's Taliban and Pakistan's own homegrown violent Taliban graduated from JUI schools.

Most opposition leaders tainted with alleged widespread corruption

The largest among the opposition parties — the Pakistan People's Party, led by the son of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and the Pakistan Muslim League — have been tainted by allegations of widespread corruption.

Pakistan Muslim League leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was convicted of corruption after being named in the so-called Panama Papers. That's a collection of leaked secret financial documents showing how some of the world's richest hide their money and involving a global law firm based in Panama. Sharif was disqualified by Pakistan's Supreme Court from holding office.

If the opposition wins the no-confidence vote, it is up to Parliament to choose a new head of government, which could be Sharif's brother, Shahbaz Sharif. If the lawmakers are unsuccessful, early elections would be called.

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