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Election commission 'damaged' democracy by allowing secret ballot, says PM Khan

A bystander listens Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan addressing the nation on television, in Karachi on March 4, 2021, after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that Khan would seek a confidence vote in the National Assembly. (AFP)
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Updated 05 March 2021
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Election commission 'damaged' democracy by allowing secret ballot, says PM Khan

  • The prime minister blames the regulatory body for providing space to 'criminals' by not making votes traceable during the Senate polls
  • Khan made the statement while addressing the nation after his preferred candidate lost a general seat to an opposition politician in Islamabad
Updated 05 March 2021
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan bitterly criticized the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) during his address to the nation on Thursday, accusing it of "damaging democracy in the country" by holding Senate elections through secret ballot.

Khan and his ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party believe that lawmakers in national and provincial assemblies sold their votes ahead of the Senate polls on Wednesday.

While the PTI managed to win 25 seats in the upper house of parliament, it lost a major contest in Islamabad where Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was defeated by the joint candidate of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement alliance.

The outcome of the election was followed by demand for the prime minister's resignation since the opposition claimed that his administration had lost its majority in the assembly.

After the government's announcement that Khan would seek vote of confidence on Saturday, he decided to address the nation in which he reminded the election commission that its foremost duty was to hold free and fair elections.

"I could not understand why you went to the [apex] court and said that Senate polls should be held through secret ballot," he said while referring to recent Supreme Court proceedings focusing on the mode of Senate elections in response to a presidential reference.

In response to the commission's argument in front of the court that it was not possible to allow open ballot under the constitution, Khan asked: "Tell me, does any constitution permits anyone to steal or bribe which has been happening [in Pakistan] for the past 30 years?"

He said that the Supreme Court had allowed the ECP to continue with secret balloting but make all votes traceable to prevent corrupt practices.

"I kept saying before the election that people were putting themselves up for sale," Khan continued. "Why couldn't you barcode 1500 ballot papers even after getting the opportunity from the Supreme Court? You gave full opportunity [to politicians] to discredit democracy in the country."

"You protected criminals through secret balloting," he added. "You have damaged our democracy. Tell me, what kind of a democracy is this where people become senators by using money?"

The prime minister also accused the ECP of "damaging the morality of the country."

Khan also told his party members that he recognized their right to say no to his leadership during the vote of confidence on Saturday, saying he would respect their decision and "sit in the opposition."

Topics: Pakistan Senate Elections 2021 Imran Khan Democracy

Pakistan court halts Afghan musicians’ repatriation for two months, orders decision on asylum cases

Updated 10 January 2025
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Pakistan court halts Afghan musicians’ repatriation for two months, orders decision on asylum cases

  • Afghan musicians feared persecution and fled their country after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021
  • They filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court last year amid the government’s deportation campaign
Updated 10 January 2025
WASIM SAJJAD

PESHAWAR: A Pakistani court issued a short order on Friday, barring the forced repatriation of about 150 Afghan singers and musicians who fled their country after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 and directing federal authorities to determine their status within two months.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued the order after the musicians filed a petition last year, seeking asylum amid fears of persecution in their home country.
The Taliban had imposed a strict ban on music during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, suppressing musical expression and leading to the persecution of artists across Afghanistan.
A single-member bench of Justice Wiqar Ahmad issued a two-page short order, accepting the plea of the musicians and restraining the government from forcibly repatriating them to Afghanistan.
“The Federal Government or its notified officer shall decide cases of all these petitioners for grant or refusal of asylum within a period of two months,” the PHC order said.
“Till the final decision, these petitioners shall not be ousted from the territory of Pakistan nor otherwise compelled to leave Pakistan and go back to their native country Afghanistan,” it added.
Afghan nationals in Pakistan have lived in a state of uncertainty since 2023, when the government launched a major deportation drive against migrants living illegally in the country. The campaign primarily targeted Afghans amid an uptick in militant violence, with the government alleging that several of them were involved in attacks on Pakistani civilians and security forces.
The Afghan authorities in Kabul denied the allegations, saying their citizens were not responsible for Pakistan’s security challenges.
The court order said if the federal authorities were unable to decide the cases within 60 days, the interior ministry’s secretary should issue permission allowing the petitioners to stay for a period sufficient to reach a final decision.
“Law Enforcement Agencies of the Federal Government as well as the Provincial Government are restrained from taking any adverse action against these petitioners for their stay in Pakistan for a period of 60 days or such extended time if allowed by the Federal Government,” it added.
Afghan musicians described the court order as a “ray of hope,” saying the recent crackdown on their fellow nationals had sent shockwaves through their community.
“We were in fear, but the recent decision of the court has sparked happiness among our community,” Zarwali Afghan, a musician from Afghanistan, told Arab News. “We hope that the government will consider our cases on humanitarian grounds.”
The Afghan Taliban hold the belief that music is forbidden in Islam, though several schools of thought within the religion differ with their interpretation.
Last year, authorities in Kabul were compelled to clarify their stance after their diplomats in Pakistan and Iran refrained from standing during the playing of national anthems at official ceremonies.
The incident was perceived by both countries as disrespectful and contrary to diplomatic norms. However, the Afghan Taliban explained that their representatives meant no harm and would have stood if the national anthems had been played without background music.
Arab News attempted to seek a response from the interior ministry over the court order, but its spokesperson did not respond.

Topics: Afghan musicians

Pakistani PM, OIC chief urge global push for Gaza ceasefire

Updated 10 January 2025
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Pakistani PM, OIC chief urge global push for Gaza ceasefire

  • The OIC leader is currently in Islamabad to attend a global conference on girls’ education in Muslim countries
  • Shehbaz Sharif also met with the secretary general of the Muslim World League, the co-host of the conference
Updated 10 January 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha agreed on Friday the OIC must intensify pressure on the international community to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during their meeting in Pakistan’s federal capital.
The top OIC official arrived in Islamabad earlier in the day to attend a two-day global conference on girls’ education in Muslim countries, set to begin on Saturday. He was received by Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui upon arrival.
During the meeting, the prime minister thanked the OIC for its consistent support regarding the Kashmir dispute with his country’s nuclear rival, India.
Sharif strongly condemned Israel’s ongoing “genocidal campaign” in Gaza and stressed the need for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid for Palestinians and global accountability for Israel’s conduct of war.
“Both leaders agreed that the OIC must maintain its pressure on the international community for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” read an official statement released by Sharif’s office after the meeting. “They emphasized that the resolution of the Palestine issue must align with UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”
The meeting also touched on combating Islamophobia and other global and regional matters of mutual interest.
GIRLS’ EDUCATION
The OIC secretary general expressed gratitude for Pakistan’s warm reception and praised the country’s leadership role in addressing critical issues facing the Muslim world.
“The hosting the international conference on girls’ education in the Muslim world is an example of Pakistan’s leadership role in addressing important issues,” he said.
Separately, the prime minister also met with Sheikh Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL).
Sharif commended the MWL’s partnership in co-hosting the two-day conference and emphasized that the event would send a strong global message about the Muslim world’s commitment to advancing girls’ education.
Dr. Al-Issa informed Sharif the conference would culminate in the Islamabad Declaration, a consensus document promoting girls’ education in Muslim countries.
He also informed the conference would feature renowned scholars, educators, and thought leaders from around the globe to address a wide range of issues affecting the Muslim world.

Topics: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

Stitching hope: Sindh’s artisan program uplifts rural women through handicrafts

Updated 10 January 2025
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Stitching hope: Sindh’s artisan program uplifts rural women through handicrafts

  • The Sindh Rural Support Organization has trained over 6,000 women in some of the poorest areas in Pakistan’s south
  • Woman artisans in Sindh say the organization has not just brought them financial stability, but dignity and hope as well
Updated 10 January 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Dressed in a vibrant pink embroidered dress with traditional patterns depicting the Sindhi culture, Ponam Shaam Lal proudly displays her handcrafted cushions to visitors at an upscale mall in Karachi. Had it not been for Sindh’s rural artisan programs, Lal, in her late 30s, would have been bereft of skill, and the means to earn her bread and butter.
Lal’s creations were among the 5,800 handicrafts showcased at a four-day exhibition launched by the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO), a not-for-profit organization, in Karachi’s Ocean Mall on Thursday. The event, a collaboration with the Sindh government, featured 3,545 rural woman artisans displaying products ranging from traditional shawls to embroidered accessories.
The SRSO has trained thousands of rural women in different trades from some of the most under-developed regions of Sindh such as Jacobabad, Kandhkot-Kashmore, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Badin districts in the last 16 years.
Lal, who rarely ventured beyond her remote village near Rohri up until a few years ago, is one of those thousands of artisans at the Karachi event, which aims to help these women sell to high-end customers in Pakistan’s urban cities.
“Before, we never went out; we didn’t know the outside world. Only my husband would earn. We would sit idle, wondering how to make ends meet or pay for our children’s education,” Lal told Arab News, as she showed her handicrafts to a customer.
“We were poor, but when we started doing this work, took on orders, and worked hard, our circumstances improved.”
Lal says the crochet and embroidery work she learned due to the SRSO’s training program has helped her send her children to school, and life is “finally stable.”
Shahida Baloch, an artisan and trainer from Sindh’s Sukkur city, learned embroidery from her mother and grandmother, but she had little formal education or access to markets where she could sell her products.
“I am a rural woman from the village,” Baloch, a mother of seven, told Arab News.
“We learned embroidery and sewing at home from our grandmothers, without attending any institute or training center.”
But things changed for Baloch, when the SRSO reached her village almost a decade ago. She says the organization provided her recognition for her embroidery and sewing skills by showcasing her work at exhibitions across the country.
As one of the few trainers at the SRSO, Baloch now guides woman artists on how to transform traditional craft into marketable products. 
“I trained women to make cushions, bags, and pouches from the same art. We also worked on color combinations, blending traditional Sindhi colors — blue, yellow, red, green, all natural colors — with modern preferences. This way, the color became more appealing to urban customers,” she said.
“Similarly, we taught them to create buttons as a supplementary product. For instance, if no one buys large, embroidered fabrics worth fifty thousand or a hundred thousand rupees, they might buy a few buttons to embellish their shirts.”
SRSO CEO Muhammad Dittal Kalhoro said the organization has trained over 6,000 women in Sindh’s poorest areas through 316 Business Development Groups.
“Our aim is to connect these women with high-end markets and ensure better incomes,” he said.
Sindh government spokesperson Sadia Javed said the SRSO, part of a larger poverty-reduction initiative, provides loans and support to woman artisans, and with a 98 percent repayment rate, it has proven highly effective.
“Earlier, this program was limited to a few districts,” Javed said. “Now, it has expanded to urban slums in Karachi and Sukkur.”
For women like Lal and Baloch, the SRSO has brought more than financial stability.
It has brought them dignity and hope.
“I am extremely grateful to Allah for making the SRSO the means through which I was empowered,” said Baloch, who could not study beyond the fifth grade, but has managed to send two of her daughters to university.
“Today, I am successful, and so are my children.”

Topics: Sindh artisan program Sindh art

Pakistani forces kill five militants in intelligence-based operation in northwest

Updated 10 January 2025
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Pakistani forces kill five militants in intelligence-based operation in northwest

  • Operation took place a day after more than a dozen atomic energy workers were abducted in Lakki Marwat
  • The prime minister lauds the professionalism of security forces, saying the whole nation stands with them
Updated 10 January 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistani security forces killed five militants in an intelligence-based operation on Friday in the volatile northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to a statement by the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The operation comes amid a surge in militant violence in the region, which Pakistan has attributed to cross-border attacks from Afghanistan by groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Afghan authorities have denied these allegations.
The operation followed an incident a day earlier when armed militants abducted 17 Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission workers and their driver in the restive Lakki Marwat district. Eight of them were freed after a few hours.
“On 10 January 2024, Security Forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in general area Maddi, Dera Ismail Khan District on reported presence of khwarij [TTP militants],” the ISPR said in the statement.
“During conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged khwarij’s location,” it continued, adding that five of them, including their ring leader, Shafiullah alias Shafi, were killed as a result.
Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the militants, who were involved in attacks on security forces and the targeted killings of civilians, the statement said.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the professionalism of security officials, vowing to continue the fight against militancy until it was eradicated from the country.
He said the whole nation stood united with the security forces.
“The entire country pays tribute to the bravery of our security personnel who risk their lives to combat these enemies of the state,” he added.

Topics: militancy in Pakistan KP militancy

Four bodies recovered from coal mine in Pakistan’s southwest after deadly methane explosion

Updated 10 January 2025
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Four bodies recovered from coal mine in Pakistan’s southwest after deadly methane explosion

  • Twelve coalminers were trapped after the explosion on Thursday, with little chances of finding anyone alive
  • Mines in Balochistan are known for hazardous working conditions, where such accidents are not uncommon
Updated 10 January 2025
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: Rescue teams in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province have retrieved four bodies from a coal mine following a methane gas explosion a day earlier in the Sanjdi coal field, about 40 kilometers from Quetta, which left a dozen miners trapped inside the mine.
According to a senior official of the provincial mining department overseeing the rescue work, the search for the other miners is still ongoing, though he maintained the chances of finding anyone alive were almost negligible.
Rescue teams from the mining department and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) have been working for the last 19 hours with heavy machinery.
“We have recovered four bodies after nearly 24 hours of the incident,” Abdul Ghani, Chief Inspector Mines Balochistan, told Arab News. “The workers were digging coal 4,000 feet inside the mine, and we have recovered the bodies at 3,000 feet. The search for other workers is still underway.”
Responding to a question, he said the entire mine had caved in due to the intensity of the explosion.
“An excavator from Quetta reached the site at midnight, and we succeeded in opening the mouth of the mine this morning,” he said.
“The mining department will conduct a thorough investigation to assess what kind of safety measures were put in place by the private mine owners,” he added.
Many coal mines in the province are operated by private companies, often under lease agreements with the government.
Ghani said that 11 of the miners were from Shangla, a town in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while one was a resident of Balochistan.
Mines in Balochistan are known for hazardous working conditions and poor safety standards, where deadly incidents are not uncommon.
According to the provincial mining department, 82 coal miners working on different projects were killed in Balochistan last year in 46 reported mining accidents.

Topics: Pakistan coalminers coal mines

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