The Kashmir Pulse

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 — 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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