ISLAMABAD: Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan is hoping to become Pakistan’s prime minister after 20 years of being dismissed at the polls, as the country prepares to vote in a tense election pitting him against the party of jailed ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.
Just over a decade after the end of Pakistan’s most recent era of military rule, Wednesday’s vote features competing narratives of democracy amid Sharif’s accusations elements of the powerful army are working to throw the race to Khan, which he denies.
Khan, 65, has hailed Sharif’s conviction on corruption charges this month as proof democracy is maturing in the nuclear-armed Muslim-majority nation of 208 million by finally holding its venal political elite accountable.
Supporters of Sharif, whose party is now led by his younger brother, Shehbaz, argue his downfall was politically motivated and engineered by the army establishment, representing a blow to the “sanctity of the vote” that gave his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) a majority in the last elections.
The election comes as Pakistan’s economy is in crisis, with the rupee’s 20 percent decline spiking inflation and dwindling foreign currency reserves likely to force the second International Monetary Fund bailout since 2013.
Recent nationwide polls indicate a tight race, with Khan’s party ahead on 30 percent in one survey, compared to 27 percent for PML-N. Sharif’s party tops another poll with 26 percent compared to 25 percent for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).
In third place was the Pakistan People’s Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 29, the son of two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. The PPP could emerge as a coalition kingmaker if no party wins a majority, as many expect.
“PRE-POLL RIGGING“
Khan, however, is wary of governing with the established parties.
“If we have to make a coalition with either of the two main parties, then it means we can’t bring about any major reforms,” said Khan, who as captain led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
“So, I wonder if it is worth even forming a government if you have to make an alliance with one of those two parties.”
PPP leaders recently have joined PML-N in decrying “pre-poll rigging” involving restricted campaigning, quashed media coverage and candidates intimidated by military officers to change allegiance to Khan.
The military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its 71-year history, denies any effort to influence the election.
The divisive campaign is likely to complicate any coalition negotiations after the vote, if they are necessary.
“I think you could have a complete collapse in terms of ability to form a government right after the election,” said Moeed Yusuf, a Pakistani analyst at the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank.
To gain a majority, a party needs 137 of the 272 elected National Assembly seats. A further 70 seats for women and minorities are awarded proportionally based on the voting percentages.
In 2013, the PML-N won 126 seats, while Khan’s party came third with 28 seats. After the results, 27 winning independent candidates joined Sharif’s party to give it a majority.
SYMPATHY VOTE
Khan has banked on gains in the PML-N stronghold of Punjab, Pakistan’s most-populous province that has 141 elected seats, for his path to victory, successfully courting many so-called “electables” — entrenched local power brokers who often hold sway over about a quarter of Punjab’s seats.
Two new hard-right Islamist parties also may cut into the PML-N’s conservative voter base.
However, the PML-N could reap a sympathy vote after Nawaz Sharif returned to be arrested on July 13 along with his daughter Maryam, leaving his cancer-stricken wife in a London hospital. They deny wrongdoing.
Sharif released an audio recording from jail on Monday, urging supporters to send his party back to government for a second term.
“Even in this prison ... I can hear the chants of ‘give respect to vote’ from all directions,” Sharif said.
Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a PML-N senator, said the party had delivered on promises to reduce electricity shortages and improve infrastructure.
Those who voted for Sharif may also be annoyed that the three-times elected prime minister has been never been allowed to complete a term.
“It’s two planks,” Sayed said of the PML-N’s appeal to voters. “Democracy and development.”
Sharif, 68, was removed by presidential decree in 1993, in a military coup in 1999, and last year by the Supreme Court, which ordered his corruption trial.
The PML-N has taken hope in another opinion poll focusing on Punjab only — Sharif’s party had a lead of 51 percent to PTI’s 30 percent, according to the IPOR Consulting survey conducted from April 15 to June 2.
Respondents listed top two election issues as access to clean water and gas for cooking, each at 17 percent. Inflation and corruption were ranked last, at 1 percent each.
Pakistan's Imran Khan seeks election win over jailed ex-PM's party
Pakistan's Imran Khan seeks election win over jailed ex-PM's party
Paris court sentences Pakistani who targeted Charlie Hebdo to 30 years jail
- When he carried out attack, 29-year-old Zaheer Mahmood wrongly believed satirical newspaper was still based in the building
- Newspaper had moved in the wake of an earlier attack, which killed 12 people including eight of the paper’s editorial staff
PARIS: A Paris court on Thursday sentenced a Pakistani man to 30 years in jail for attempting to murder two people outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in 2020 with a meat cleaver.
When he carried out the attack, 29-year-old Zaheer Mahmood wrongly believed the satirical newspaper was still based in the building, which was targeted by Islamists a decade ago for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The newspaper had in fact moved in the wake of the attack, which killed 12 people including eight of the paper’s editorial staff.
The killings in 2015 shocked France and triggered a fierce debate about freedom of expression and religion.
Originally from rural Pakistan, Mahmood arrived in France illegally in the summer of 2019.
The court had earlier heard how Mahmood was influenced by radical Pakistani preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who had called for the beheading of blasphemers to “avenge the Prophet.”
Mahmood was convicted of attempted murder and terrorist conspiracy, and handed a ban from ever setting foot on French soil again.
Pakistan says three militants killed trying to infiltrating its border with Afghanistan
- Islamabad frequently accuses Afghanistan of sheltering, supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks
- Afghan officials deny state complicity, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have killed six militants attempting to enter the country through its border with Afghanistan in the southwestern Balochistan province, the Pakistan military said on Thursday.
Islamabad frequently accuses neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. The Taliban government in Kabul says it does not allow Afghan soil to be used by militants, insisting that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
In the latest incident, the Pakistan army said security forces had picked up on the movement of a group of militants who were attempting to infiltrate the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on the night between Jan 22. and 23 in Balochistan’s Zhob District. Six militants were killed, it said, and a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was recovered.
“Pakistan has consistently been asking Interim Afghan Government to ensure effective border management on their side of the border,” the army said. “Interim Afghan Government is expected to fulfill its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by Khwarij for perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan.”
The Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have frequently targeted Pakistani forces in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The group also has some presence in Balochistan, the site of a low-level insurgency for decades by separatists fighting for the province’s independence.
On Jan. 19, Pakistani security forces killed five militants as they tried to infiltrate Pakistan’s border in Zhob district.
No talks with India on resumption of trade, Pakistan foreign office says
- In 2019, Indian PM Modi withdrew Indian-administered Kashmir’s autonomy to tighten grip over the territory
- Move provoked outrage in Pakistan and the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspension of bilateral trade
KARACHI: The Pakistani Foreign Office said on Thursday Islamabad and New Delhi were not holding talks to resume trade, suspended in 2019 when India revoked the special status of the part of Kashmir that it controls and split the region into two federally administered territories.
The disputed Himalayan region is claimed in full, though ruled in part by both India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947, with the nuclear-armed neighbors having fought two of their three wars over the territory.
In 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Indian-administered Kashmir’s autonomy in order to tighten his grip over the territory, provoking outrage in Pakistan and the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspension of bilateral trade.
Speaking to reporters at the Indian embassy in Washington this week, Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said no talks on trade resumption had been held between his country and Pakistan.
“Pakistan decided to suspend bilateral trade in response to India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 relating to ... Kashmir,” Shafqat Ali Khan, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Arab News when asked to respond to the Indian minister’s comments.
“High level engagement between Pakistan and India remains suspended at the moment. In that backdrop, both sides are not holding talks on resumption of trade.”
Khan said the volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and India stood at $1.907 billion in the financial year 2018-19. He said India had in 2019 withdrawn the Most-Favored Nation status granted to Pakistan and imposed 200 percent duty on all Pakistani items, “posing a serious setback to Pakistan’s exports.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Jaishankar said it was Pakistan that had suspended trade.
“Their [Pakistan] government took a decision in 2019 not to conduct trade with India, that was from their side,” Jaishankar said.
“Our concern regarding this issue from the beginning was that we should get MFN status. We used to give MFN status to Pakistan, they didn’t give [it] to us.”
For decades, the armies of India and Pakistan have faced off over the the Line of Control (LoC), a UN-monitored ceasefire line agreed in 1972, that divides the areas each administers.
The foes fought a 1999 battle along the LoC that some analysts described as an undeclared war. Their forces exchanged regular gunfire over the LoC until a truce in late 2003, which has largely held since.
PM launches World Bank’s $20 billion Country Partnership Framework for Pakistan
- 10-year-plan will focus on development issues like impact of climate change and boosting private-sector growth
- Last year, Pakistan secured $7 billion IMF loan deal though Sharif has vowed to reduce dependence on foreign loans
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday launched the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Pakistan, a plan to focus $20 billion in loans to the cash-strapped nation over the coming decade on development issues like the impact of climate change and boosting private-sector growth.
Pakistan in 2023 nearly defaulted on the payment of foreign debts when the International Monetary Fund rescued it by agreeing to a $3 billion bailout to Pakistan. Last year, Islamabad secured a new $7 billion loan deal from the IMF. Since then, the country’s economy has started improving with weekly inflation coming down from 27 percent in 2023 to 1.8 percent earlier this month. Sharif has vowed to reduce dependence on foreign loans in the coming years.
The World Bank’s lending for Pakistan will start in 2026 and focus on six outcomes: improving education quality, tackling child stunting, boosting climate resilience, enhancing energy efficiency, fostering inclusive development and increasing private investment.
“Together, this partnership fosters a unified and focused vision for your county around six outcomes with clear, tangible and ambitious 10-year targets,” Martin Raiser, the World Bank vice president for South Asia, said in an address at the launch ceremony of the loan program.
“We hope that the CPF will serve as an anchor for this engagement to keep us on the right track. Partnerships will equally be critical. More resources will be needed to have the impact at the scale that we wish to achieve and this will require close collaboration with all the development partners.”
Speaking at the ceremony, PM Sharif said the CPF was a “vision to transform Pakistan’s economy, building climate resilient projects, alleviating poverty and unemployment and promoting digitization, agriculture and IT led initiatives.”
Separately, Raiser met Ahad Cheema, Pakistani minister for economic affairs, to discuss in detail the framework’s next steps and its implementation.
“The two leaders also discussed the need to address key challenges in project implementation, such as land acquisition, project start-up delays, and ensuring compliance with social safeguards,” Cheema’s office said in a statement.
“Cheema stressed that effective coordination between the World Bank and other development partners, as well as streamlined approval processes, would be essential to overcoming these hurdles.”
Cheema also called on the World Bank to enhance Pakistan’s allocation of concessional resources, especially in support of climate change mitigation and foreign debt management.
Afghans in Pakistan awaiting US resettlement feel betrayal after Trump order
- Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by US government to resettle are having flights canceled
- President Trump on inauguration day passed an order suspending US refugee programs
ISLAMABAD: A decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to halt visa processing for refugees has caused uncertainty and shock at an English school for Afghans in Islamabad who are awaiting resettlement in the United States.
Normally enthusiastic students were quiet or crying in class after the news broke on Tuesday, said Sayed Hasseb Ullah, a 20-year-old teacher whose application for resettlement in the US is in process.
Some feel betrayed, with many — including those who fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan — having already spent years in limbo.
“It was really a horrible moment for us. We have been waiting for almost three years and there is no hope anymore,” he told Reuters at the school in Pakistan’s capital.
The sudden delay has upended the plans of many Afghans in Pakistan and left them in despair after undergoing extensive vetting and making preparations for new lives in the US
In an intermediate language class, about half of which had US visa applications in process, a 16-year-old girl broke down in tears.
“I feel very bad from this news,” she said, unable to focus on her work — practicing a list of English phrases for giving formal presentations that was written on the class whiteboard.
She hopes to enroll in high school in the US after being barred from pursuing her education at school in Afghanistan.
The tutoring academy, which has roughly 300 students, is one of the few spaces available for studying for many Afghans waiting for US visas. They cannot legally work or formally study in Pakistan.
Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, the leading coalition of resettlement and veterans groups, said there were 10,000-15,000 Afghans in Pakistan waiting for special immigration visas or resettlement in the US as refugees.
Many have waited for years after being instructed when applying to travel to a third country for processing. For many the only option was Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan but, facing economic and security crises, began deporting tens of thousands of Afghans in 2023.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment on the US announcement.
FLIGHTS CANCELLED?
Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the US government to resettle in the US, including family members of active-duty US military personnel, are having their flights canceled under the order suspending US refugee programs, Reuters reported on Monday.
One of Hasseb Ullah’s students, Fatima, has no idea whether an official email she received on Jan. 14 — and seen by Reuters — seeking documents to proceed with her family’s travel arrangements for the US is still valid.
The 57-year-old women’s rights and development advocate who worked for years for US-funded organizations in central Daikundi province began learning English a few months ago.
She said she had previously never imagined leaving Afghanistan and that she and many others had trusted the US — which spent two decades leading foreign forces in Afghanistan, backing the now-collapsed government and spending billions of dollars on human rights and development programs.
“You supported us at that time and raised us up so we worked with you and after that you invited us to a third country (for visa processing) and now you are doing something like this,” she said.
In addition to concerns about her own safety following her advocacy work, Fatima is particularly worried about her 15-year-old daughter. She hopes she can enroll in school in the US after years out of high school, and that her 22-year-old daughter can complete her engineering degree.
Many students and teachers said they had contacted UN agencies and the US embassy this week and were sharing any information they could find on the Internet in WhatsApp groups. But there were few clear answers.
The US embassy and State Department did not immediately provide comment in request to a question from Reuters on whether the new order would affect Afghans waiting in Pakistan for visas.
“We have been living here for three years with a hope of going to America to be safe but now when President Donald Trump came ... and told us we will not process these case or maybe we will delay it, indeed you feel betrayed,” Hasseb Ullah said.
“I just wanted to tell them respectfully that we have helped you and now we expect help back from you.”
