ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s five major religio-political parties have joined hands to form an electoral alliance under the banner of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) for the upcoming general elections.
“We will take part in the general elections with one election symbol and one manifesto,” Liaqat Baloch, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami, told Arab News.
He said that all parties had agreed to the alliance and the names of its office-bearers and members of the working committee would be announced within a month.
He said that registration of two of the member parties of the alliance — Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan and Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith — was in progress with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and would hopefully be completed next week.
“We will formally apply to the Election Commission for registration of the alliance and the election symbol within weeks,” he said, adding that they were also consulting their legal team to fulfill all other legal requirements for registration of the alliance.
“We will contest the election from all over Pakistan and we are also open to seat adjustments with other political parties as well."
Baloch said that it was a difficult task to bring all religio-political parties which follow different schools of thoughts to one table but that the leadership of all the parties had decided to work together for the betterment of the country and people.
“Our electoral alliance will give people an opportunity to elect honest and noble candidates for Parliament,” he said. “Nobody will be able to raise a finger concerning the character and honesty of our candidates.”
The MMA — United Council of Action — was first formed in 2002 to contest the general election in opposition to the policies of the then military dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who had announced support for the US in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan at the time.
The alliance emerged victorious in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan provinces in the wake of the elections and formed its governments in those provinces.
The parties, however, contested the 2008 and 2013 general elections independently from their own platforms.
Now the five parties that have agreed on the alliance include Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), Islami Tehreek, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan and Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith.
JUI-F member Maulana Mohammed Khan Sherani told Arab News that they were trying to provide an alternative platform for the people to elect their representatives in the general election.
“Our sole aim is to serve the people and rid the society of social evils like usury,” he said, claiming that the majority of Pakistanis support the electoral alliance of the religious parties and would vote for it.
“We will contest elections from all four provinces but our major focus will be Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said, adding the alliance would contest the election under its previous election symbol.
Rasul Bukhsh Rais, a political analyst, believes the electoral alliance of the religious parties is only to counter the popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“The alliance will try to capture the religious vote bank in KPK, but it is premature to predict its success,” he said. “The victory of MMA in 2002 was due to the political environment at that time as people wanted to vent their anger against Gen. Musharraf by voting for it.”
Pakistan's 5 key religious parties form electoral alliance
Pakistan's 5 key religious parties form electoral alliance
India police detain second suspect in Saif Ali Khan stabbing incident
- The Bollywood star was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt
- Doctors say he out of danger after undergoing surgery in the wake of the incident
MUMBAI: Police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Saturday detained a second person suspected of involvement in a knife attack in which Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was wounded.
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt at his home in Mumbai early on Thursday. He had surgery after sustaining stab wounds to his spine, neck and hands, and is out of danger, doctors said.
“We got information from Mumbai Police that a suspect is traveling by Jnaneswari Express train,” Sanjeev Sinha, a represenatative of the Railway Protection Force, told ANI news agency, in which Reuters holds a minority stake.
“...Mumbai Police officials were contacted through video call and the suspect’s identity was confirmed. He has been detained,” Sinha said.
Police in India’s financial capital of Mumbai had on Friday detained another key suspect in the knife attack.
The attack on Khan, one of Bollywood’s most bankable and well-known actors, shocked the film industry and Mumbai residents, with many calling for better policing and security.
Melania Trump hosts Queen Rania of Jordan in Florida
- Monarch speaks of pleasure at reconnecting with returning first lady
LONDON: Jordan’s Queen Rania met incoming US First Lady Melania Trump in Florida on Thursday.
Trump hosted the queen in Palm Beach during her visit to the US.
The queen said on Instagram that “it was a pleasure reconnecting” with Melania, who will return for a second term as first lady when her husband Donald is sworn in as president on Monday.
The two women “discussed various issues of mutual interest, including children’s welfare, as well as improving their education,” the queen’s office said.
The meeting, which was followed by a lunch, is the third to take place between the two in the US.
In 2018, Trump welcomed Queen Rania and her husband King Abdullah II to the White House ahead of meetings with the president.
The royals also visited the White House in 2017 and toured an all-girls school in Washington.
Ski lift accident leaves 30 injured at Spanish resort in the Pyrenees
- Regional emergency services said that 10 people needed to be treated in hospitals
- State TV channel TVE reported that around 80 people were trapped on the chairlifts
BARCELONA: At least 30 people have been injured in a ski lift accident at the Spanish resort of Astún, in the Pyrenees mountain range, emergency services for Spain’s northern Aragon region said Saturday.
Regional emergency services said that 10 people needed to be treated in hospitals, including two who were seriously injured.
State TV channel TVE reported that around 80 people were trapped on the chairlifts in the immediate aftermath.
“It’s like a cable has come off, the chairs have bounced and people have been thrown off,” one witness told TVE.
Fernando Beltrán, a representative of Spain’s government in Aragon, later posted on X that “all the skiers affected by the accident” have been evacuated and those who were injured were receiving medical treatment.
The cause of the incident is unknown.
Several helicopters were deployed to the area to rescue those trapped and transfer the injured to nearby hospitals.
Social media images and video appeared to show a number of people lying on the snow beneath the ski lift.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “shocked” by the news of the accident, expressing his closeness to the injured and their families.
The ski resort said on X that it was “working with emergency services” and that its management expressed “consternation and support for those affected” by the incident.
AlUla is top destination as Saudi tourism gains appeal in India
- India’s outbound tourism is expected to reach 45 million travelers by 2030
- Destinations in Saudi Arabia especially popular among Gen Z tourists
New Delhi: India is seeing an increase in travelers heading to Saudi Arabia, according to a top Indian tourism body, which also said there is growing interest in the Kingdom’s heritage, especially among Gen Z Indians.
Tourism is booming in Saudi Arabia under the Vision 2030 transformation plan. In the past few years there has been significant investment in the development of destinations including its eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, eco-friendly and luxury resorts on the Red Sea coastline, and entertainment and sports complexes.
The promotion for these developments has also included Bollywood stars, and more and more Indians are looking to visit Riyadh, Jeddah and AlUla, rather than Dubai — traditionally the most popular destination in the GCC for Indian travelers.
“Earlier it was only Dubai ... but now that trend is changing,” Himanshu Kesari Patil, president of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, an organization representing over 800 travel companies and agents, told Arab News. “There are lots of inquiries for Saudi Arabia, a lot of people are going. The top-selling destination for Saudi Arabia is AlUla,”
AlUla, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, is often described as an “open-air museum.” One of its most famous areas is Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage site that features tombs and monuments from the Nabatean civilization dating back to the 1st century BCE.
Another is Elephant Rock, a natural rock formation in the AlUla desert, which has become one of the region’s most photographed natural landmarks.
Many notable Bollywood celebrities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Priyanka Chopra, have visited AlUla, while others, such as up-and-comers Janhvi Kapoor and Ali Fazal, have partnered with the local authorities to promote it, increasing the site’s appeal among Gen Z travelers, which data portal Statista refers to as the “most travel-hungry” generation.
“Gen Z, they are more tech-savvy, they are always on social media and they want to explore unexplored places. (They) are not going to the routine places where everyone else is going, they want to do something different,” Patil said.
India’s outbound tourism market is growing, and the Pacific Asia Travel Association estimates that the number of Indians traveling abroad annually will reach 45 million in the next five years.
By then, the Kingdom expects to welcome 7.5 million Indian travelers a year, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority.
“Saudi Arabia is investing a lot of money in the Indian market and I’m sure, soon, Saudi Arabia will get more numbers out of India,” Patil said.
“They are friendly, have great multicultural cuisine … for the tourists it’s amazing,” he continued. “I think, soon, with the new developments and new cities they are building, the new luxury hotels they are building, there is a bright future for Saudi Arabia on the tourism side.”
ASEAN and China must start tackling thorny issues of South China Sea code, Philippines says
- The South China Sea remains a source of tension between China and its ASEAN neighbors
- ASEAN and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but took 15 years to start discussions and progress has been slow
LANGKAWI, Malaysia: The regional bloc ASEAN and China should make headway on a protracted code of conduct for the South China Sea by tackling thorny “milestone issues,” including its scope and if it can be legally binding, the Philippines’ top diplomat said on Saturday.
The South China Sea remains a source of tension between China and neighbors the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, with ties between Beijing and US ally Manila at their worst in years amid frequent confrontations that have sparked concerns they could spiral into conflict.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but took 15 years to start discussions and progress has been slow.
In an interview ahead of Sunday’s meeting with his ASEAN counterparts on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said discussions on a code were well underway, but it was time to start thrashing out the meatier, trickier aspects.
“It’s time that we try to look at issues which are, in our view, essential, which have not really been discussed in a thorough way or even much less negotiated. These are the so-called milestone issues,” Manalo told Reuters.
Those would include the code’s scope, whether it is legally binding and its impact on third-party countries, he said, adding the aim was to make it effective and substantive.
“We have to begin addressing these important issues,” Manalo added. “This might be the best way to at least move the negotiation forward.”
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which it asserts through a fleet of coast guard and fishing militia that some neighbors accuse of aggression and of disrupting fishing and energy activities in their exclusive economic zones.
China insists it operates lawfully in its territory and does not recognize a 2016 arbitration ruling that said its claim has no basis under international law.
‘US interests are still there’
Manalo also said that as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, there was no sign the United States would reassess its engagement in Southeast Asia.
“We haven’t heard any or seen any indication of scaling down or any kind of particular change,” he said.
“We have to wait until the administration actually takes over. But from what we’ve seen so far, US interests are still there.”
Manalo said the civil war in military-ruled Myanmar remains a big challenge for ASEAN, which has barred the generals from meetings for failing to implement the bloc’s peace plan.
The junta plans to hold an election this year in which its opponents either cannot run, or refuse to contest.
Manalo said it was premature to discuss if ASEAN would make preconditions for recognizing the election, which he said must involve as much of the population as possible.
“If elections are held without being seen as inclusive, not transparent, I believe it would be very difficult for those elections to create more legitimacy,” he said.
