Seeking representation: Hold polls of vacant S Waziristan seat: PTI
Says ballots should be held in neighbouring areas; seat has been vacant due to the law and order situation.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has filed a petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct the elections of NA-42, a constituency in militancy-plagued South Waziristan, at an alternative venue due to the deteriorating law and order situation, officials said.
The NA-42 seat has been lying vacant since the 2008 general elections, owing to restive law and order situation of the tribal areas. The people of the constituency concerned have lodged complaints with the ECP for holding the elections so that they can choose a representative.
The PTI chairman, along with Dost Muhammad Khan, filed a petition before the ECP seeking an order for holding polls for the seat in the upcoming general elections in neighbouring areas or other areas such as Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Tarnol (Islamabad), Rawalpindi, Taxila or Karachi (Sohrab Goth, Landhi, Sultanabad).
The petition stated: “Most of the people of South Waziristan are temporarily living in huge numbers in different areas, and keeping in view the security measures, necessary and convenient arrangements may please be made for this purpose”.
The petitioners also referred to similar arrangements already made for the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Rawalpindi and for the people of Northern Areas in Karachi.
Zardari-Manmohan encounter
Meanwhile, the PTI on Thursday called for details of a meeting scheduled to take place in New Delhi on Sunday between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be made public.
PTI senior leader Dr Shireen Mazari demanded that the government take Parliament into confidence by sharing the contents of the Zardari-Singh meeting and also questioned the need for the president to visit India at this time and demanded details regarding the funding of the trip. Mazari also expressed regret over the fact that India continued to take a hard line against Pakistan in terms of détente, the latest reflection of which was the cancellation of the Indian hockey team’s tour of Pakistan, she said.
Zardari plans to meet Singh over lunch on April 8 before making a private visit to the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has filed a petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct the elections of NA-42, a constituency in militancy-plagued South Waziristan, at an alternative venue due to the deteriorating law and order situation, officials said.
The NA-42 seat has been lying vacant since the 2008 general elections, owing to restive law and order situation of the tribal areas. The people of the constituency concerned have lodged complaints with the ECP for holding the elections so that they can choose a representative.
The PTI chairman, along with Dost Muhammad Khan, filed a petition before the ECP seeking an order for holding polls for the seat in the upcoming general elections in neighbouring areas or other areas such as Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Tarnol (Islamabad), Rawalpindi, Taxila or Karachi (Sohrab Goth, Landhi, Sultanabad).
The petition stated: “Most of the people of South Waziristan are temporarily living in huge numbers in different areas, and keeping in view the security measures, necessary and convenient arrangements may please be made for this purpose”.
The petitioners also referred to similar arrangements already made for the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Rawalpindi and for the people of Northern Areas in Karachi.
Zardari-Manmohan encounter
Meanwhile, the PTI on Thursday called for details of a meeting scheduled to take place in New Delhi on Sunday between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be made public.
PTI senior leader Dr Shireen Mazari demanded that the government take Parliament into confidence by sharing the contents of the Zardari-Singh meeting and also questioned the need for the president to visit India at this time and demanded details regarding the funding of the trip. Mazari also expressed regret over the fact that India continued to take a hard line against Pakistan in terms of détente, the latest reflection of which was the cancellation of the Indian hockey team’s tour of Pakistan, she said.
Zardari plans to meet Singh over lunch on April 8 before making a private visit to the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.