Blast in Swabi: ANP candidate office targeted

SWABI: 

A parked car was damaged in an explosion in Mohallah Nazar Khel Maal Lara near Swabi city on the hujra of an Awami National Party (ANP) candidate on Friday.

A police official said they reached the site around 5pm, immediately after the explosion.

Reports suggest that unknown militants had planted a small intensity bomb near the election office of the ANP candidate. However, no one was present in the hujra and only a car that was parked in the building was damaged.

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President Zardari casts his vote by post

ISLAMABAD: 

President Asif Ali Zardari has cast his vote through the postal ballot system ahead of Saturday’s landmark general election, his spokesperson confirmed.

“Yes he has cast his vote through a postal ballot,” presidency spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said.

The postal balloting system was introduced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure maximum participation of the voters. The voters to whom postal ballots are issued will not be entitled to vote in person at the polling stations.

It is unclear if Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will vote. Babar said that the party chairman had been denied permission to avail the postal ballot facility.

Party officials have said the threats against Bilawal are too serious for him to appear in public. On Thursday, the last day for electioneering, Bilawal had to resort to a pre-recorded video message to address a political gathering in Rawalpindi.

Zardari’s two daughters, Aseefa and Bakhtawar, though, have been granted permission to cast their votes by post, the spokesperson said, providing no further information.

The precise whereabouts of the family has not been announced.

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Saudi Arabia warns illegals will face jail after July 3

The Saudi government warned on Friday that illegal foreign workers risk being slapped with prison sentences and fines after a three-month grace period runs out on July 3.

Additionally, employers or those who shelter illegal workers will be liable to up to two years in prison, the interior and labour ministries said in a joint statement.

Last month, Saudi Arabia amended its labour laws, setting tough restrictions for overseas workers to qualify for employment. The new changes barred sponsors from letting their workers work for others. They also barred them from employing workers of other sponsors, which resulted in employees being bound to work with their sponsors only.

At the same time, the Saudi labor ministry launched a crackdown against the foreign owners of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

It urged those whose work and residency permits have expired to take advantage of the amnesty without penalty, including “special measures” that would allow a change of employer under certain conditions.

The amnesty does not cover those who entered the oil-rich Gulf state illegally.

Saudi Arabia hosts eight million foreign workers, mostly in very low-paid jobs, according to official figures, but economists say there are another two million unregistered non-Saudi workers in the kingdom.

New regulations introduced by the labour ministry aim to reduce the number of foreign workers to create jobs for millions of unemployed Saudis.

Yemenis and South Asians — Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis — who work in low-paid jobs across the kingdom will be worst affected.

Some 200,000 people were expelled from the kingdom in the first three months of the year, according to the immigration service.

According to the labour ministry, there were at least 250,000 SMEs that didn’t employ a single Saudi worker and most of those firms were run by foreigners.

Reports indicate that at least 2 million expatriates may lose their jobs or leave the kingdom shortly due to the new laws. A large number of expatriates, including Indians, Pakistanis, Yemenis and many others have been arrested for violating residential permit and labour regulations.

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Security fears: Indian government urges Pakistan to cancel Ajmer Sharif visits

ISLAMABAD: 

Indian government on Friday said that it cannot guarantee security for Pakistani travellers visiting Ajmer Sharif on Friday, Express News reported.

A handout by the foreign ministry read that the Indian Deputy High Commissioner had communicated to Pakistan about security concerns for Pakistani visitors and advised Pakistanis to cancel their scheduled visit.

As many as 600 people were hoping to travel to Ajmer this month for the annual Urs.

The shrine of Ajmer Sharif is famous because of the spiritual leader Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. It is considered one of the holiest places of worship in India not only for the Muslims but also for the people of other faiths and is a famous tourist spot in the city of Ajmer.

Lately, India-Pakistan relations have been in turmoil over the prison violence and resulting protests that erupted when an Indian spy, Sarabjit, on death row in Pakistani jail was attacked by the inmates and died few days later.

Following the death of Sarabjit, Pakistani prisoner, Sanaullah, in an Indian prison was hit with a sharp weapon and succumbed to his injuries on May 9.

Earlier this year, India and Pakistan ties were hit by a border flare-up that undermined efforts to build trust.

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Imran Khan gains in Pakistan, haggling over government expected

ISLAMABAD: 

Former Pakistan cricket star Imran Khan’s party was enjoying a late surge of support on Friday, the eve of a landmark election, raising the prospect of a fragmented parliament that could lead to weeks of haggling to form a coalition government.

The failure of other parties to capture a commanding lead raises the risk a weak government will emerge, clouding optimism over the first transition between civilian governments in a country that has been ruled by the military for more than half its history.

In a sign of Imran’s popularity, 35,000 supporters turned up on Thursday at a rally in Islamabad that he didn’t even attend.

The 60-year-old is in hospital after suffering injuries in a fall from a mechanical lift at a rally this week, which may also win him sympathy votes.

“While Imran was initially handicapped by the lack of party organisation and the absence of a formal presence at the provincial level, he managed to overcome these challenges by establishing a network of volunteers who have campaigned frenetically and held massive public rallies in recent weeks,” said Shamila Chaudhary, senior editor at Eurasia Group.

Imran, Pakistan’s most well-known sportsmen who led a playboy lifestyle in his younger days, has emerged as a tough challenger to dynastic politicians who have relied heavily on a patronage system to win votes and are often accused of corruption.

Campaigning officially ended at midnight on Thursday.

Election-related violence that has killed more than 110 people continued on the eve of the vote.

Five people were killed in bomb attacks on party offices on Friday, one in Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan, and the other in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The al Qaeda-linked Pakistan Taliban, which regards the elections as un-Islamic, are responsible for the attacks that have made this the country’s bloodiest election yet, and on Thursday they revealed plans for suicide bombings on polling day.

“Fractured mandate” warning

Imran, who appeals mostly to young, urban voters, has won support by calling for an end to corruption, a new political landscape and a halt to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil.

Early opinion polls had put the share of votes for Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party as low as single figures.

However, a survey released on Wednesday showed 24.98 percent of voters nationally planned to vote for his party, just a whisker behind former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).

The Herald magazine poll showed Sharif’s party remained the front-runner in Punjab, which, with the largest share of parliamentary seats, usually dictates the outcome of elections.

It also pointed to an upset for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which led the last government, placing it in third place.

The political landscape has long been dominated by the PML-N and the PPP, whose co-chairman is President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

“The PPP didn’t take care of the poor masses and always engages in corrupt practices whenever they come to power,” said Sher Nabi, a banker from Peshawar.

“So we’ve decided to vote for the PTI candidate this time and test Imran Khan to see if proves as honest as he claims.”

Sharif, who was prime minister twice in the 1990s, has said he would reconsider Pakistan’s support for the US war on militancy and promote free-market economics if he won.

He has warned that any coalition politics would paralyse policy-making.

“Whichever party wins, it needs to have a very clear majority for it to have the necessary policies to deal with the serious challenges the country faces, for the state to have a strong writ,” he told the Dawn newspaper.

“A fractured mandate, a split mandate, would be worse than the last five years.”

While the outgoing PPP made history by becoming the first civilian government to serve a full five-year term, it failed to tackle a dizzying array of problems.

The economy is feeble and may need another International Monetary Fund bailout to stay afloat. Chronic power cuts can last more than 10 hours a day in some places, crippling key industries like textiles and enraging ordinary people.

After months of campaigning, political parties may now become enmeshed in negotiations that might only delay the huge task of putting the nuclear-armed country on the right track.

“While a hung parliament is a possibility given the expected fractured outcome of polling, it is the least desirable outcome for all parties,” said analyst Chaudhary.

“It would lead to an unstable minority government that could conceivably be led by PML-N, PPP, or even PTI, inevitably leading to another round of elections that, given physical and financial requirements, the full range of parties would rather avoid.”

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Opportunity but risk for US as Pakistan votes

WASHINGTON: 

After years of crisis, Pakistan’s election offers a window for the United States to try to reset the relationship, but Washington could face hard choices if the next leader allies with right-wing politicians.

Experts believe the fundamental calculus of the United States will remain unchanged whatever the outcome of Saturday’s election – that it needs Islamabad’s cooperation to fight militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The United States has been careful not to take sides in the election, knowing that its blessing could be the kiss of death in a country where a recent poll put US popularity at a mere 11 percent.

Instead, the United States has confined its public remarks to praise of the election itself. Despite violence, the vote marks the first democratic transition in Pakistan’s nearly 66-year history.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell called the election “a historic development of which the people of Pakistan can be very proud” and said:

“We look forward to engaging with the next democratically elected government.”

Nawaz the ‘pragmatist’

Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, seen as the front-runner, has criticised the US-friendly policies of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Nawaz has demanded an end to unpopular US drone strikes inside Pakistan and called for negotiations with the Taliban.

But the United States knows Nawaz well from his two stints as prime minister in the 1990s and most US experts see him as a pragmatist rather than ideologue.

Nawaz has campaigned not about the United States but the troubled economy – an issue on which it makes little sense to alienate Washington, which would be critical to securing another IMF package and has provided $20 billion to Pakistan since the countries entered a troubled partnership in 2001.

Seth Jones, an expert at the Rand Corp and former US military adviser, noted that tensions have eased considerably since the crisis following the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

“There is an opportunity for engaging a new civilian leadership that will ideally have at least a short honeymoon period,” Jones said.

“I think there is an opportunity to reset the US relationship with Pakistan on some key issues – the security threats in Pakistan, some key economic issues,” he said.

President Barack Obama’s administration put an early priority on strengthening democratic rule in Pakistan, although it quickly learned that the long-dominant military remained a vital power-centre.

Secretary of State John Kerry has met army chief General Ashfaq Kayani three times since taking office, although the administration recently named a special envoy, James Dobbins, to step up interaction with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Coalition imminent 

A third key player in the election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, has been more outspoken than Nawaz or Zardari in criticism of the United States. But whoever wins will likely need to put together a coalition – which could prove unwieldy and, in Nawaz’s case, include figures anathema to Washington.

A congressional aide who follows Pakistan warned that Nawaz could enter a coalition with hardline parties viewed as supportive of the deadly wave of violence against the country’s Shias and other religious minorities.

While US officials have focused on the historic milestone of the democratic election, “it’s going to be important for the administration to focus on what happens next in Pakistan, and which leaders we are going to have to work with to advance our interests in Pakistan,” the congressional aide said.

“It doesn’t seem as if the administration has thought that far along yet,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Analysts said that no matter who wins, vital US interests will remain in the world’s sixth most populous nation with its nuclear arsenal, youth bulge and extremism problems.

The next government may try to renegotiate an agreement on supply routes into Afghanistan, a critical priority as the United States plans to pull out combat troops next year.

Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called a US exit from Pakistan “simply impossible.”

“That does not mean we have to continue on with the degree of involvement that we have,” he said, “but we will remain engaged with the challenge that is posed by this country, Pakistan, forever.”

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Cricket: Kirsten set to quit as South Africa coach

JOHANNESBURG: 

Gary Kirsten will not renew his contract as South Africa coach when it expires at the end of July, the national cricket body said Friday.

Kirsten, who guided hosts India to the 2011 ICC World Cup title, signed a two-year contract with the Proteas the same year, and had the option of a two-year renewal.

However, the Cape Town-born coach told Cricket South Africa (CSA) officials he would quit his post at the end of July having established the Proteas as the top-ranked cricket Test nation.

“Gary has a young family and it is understandable that he wishes to spend more time at home,” CSA president and board chairman Chris Nenzani said in a statement.

“It is obvious to all of us – whether we have been close to the Proteas or simply fans watching from the stands — the standard of excellence he has brought to our national team.”

Kirsten thanked CSA for giving him the responsibility of growing the team and for allowing him the flexibility to combine his coaching role with his family life.

“There have been many highlights over the past two years which have been well documented and I have every confidence that the Proteas will continue to go from strength to strength.”

Kirsten will lead South Africa at the ICC Champions Trophy during June in England and Wales, where the AB de Villiers-skippered side hope to ditch the long-held tag of ‘chokers’ after numerous tournament flops.

“It will be wonderful if Gary can complete his tenure by bringing home the Champions Trophy next month,” said Nenzani of the one-day international event staged every four years between World Cup tournaments.

South Africa lost only two of 19 Tests under Kirsten, who led them to series victories against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England, arch-rivals Australia, and Pakistan.

The 45-year-old former Test opening batsman was less successful with the limited-over teams, winning 13 of 24 one-day internationals and nine of 18 Twenty20 matches.

South Africa are away to Sri Lanka during July and August and Pakistan during November before hosting India — who draw the biggest crowds among teams touring the republic – and Australia next season.

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US balks at Japan sanctions over child abductions

WASHINGTON: 

The US State Department called Thursday for Japan to take action on child abductions but rejected lawmakers’ calls to threaten sanctions to force action on one of the allies’ few open disputes.

Hundreds of non-Japanese parents, mostly men from the United States and elsewhere, have lost access to their children as estranged partners took them to the country where joint custody is never granted to fathers.

Japan has taken steps to join the 1980 Hague treaty on child abductions, but US officials and lawmakers have voiced concern that the ratification would apply only to future cases.

Testifying before Congress, Susan Jacobs, the State Department’s special adviser on children’s issues, called for greater progress from Japan and other countries but called sanctions a “two-edged sword.”

“I think threatening countries is often an unsuccessful way to get them to cooperate with us because most of the relationships that we have are very complex and involve many issues,” she said.

“The return of these children is incredibly important to us and we pledge to work to do the best we can to get these children returned. But I don’t think that we’re going to sanction Japan, or threaten them with sanctions, because I think that would be detrimental to our bilateral relationship,” she said.

Representative Chris Smith, who heads the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee handling human rights, has proposed a bill that would call off cultural or scientific exchanges or deny export licenses to countries that do not promptly resolve abduction cases.

Smith said that the bill would “give the president tools” and that the mere threat of sanctions could spur action.

“Remember, these are American kids. American human rights are being violated,” said Smith, a Republican from New Jersey.

While Japan has the most cases of abducted US children, lawmakers have also voiced concern over other countries including India and Egypt.

The Hague treaty requires countries to return children to the country where they usually reside. Parents say they often face barriers even if they win court orders.

Colin Bower told the committee that his two sons, Noor and Ramsay, were abducted in 2009 to Egypt and that he has failed to see them during eight visits despite an Egyptian court order.

“On these trips, I sat alone at a park with bags full of letters, toys, magazines, sports equipment, other mementos, waiting six hours hoping to see, speak with and hold my boys again. They were never brought to these visits.”

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Boston police chief not warned about Tsarnaevs

WASHINGTON: 

Boston’s top cop said Thursday his department was not briefed on a Russian intelligence warning about alleged bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev ahead of last month’s devastating marathon blasts.

Russian authorities had alerted the FBI in 2011 that Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen and legal US resident who authorities say set the bombs with his younger brother, may have been radicalised.

And federal authorities in Washington were also aware of his travels to Russia’s southern region of Dagestan last year, perhaps to join underground groups.

In the first congressional hearing into the deadly double bombing, lawmakers expressed outrage, particularly at a lack of intelligence sharing that left Boston officials in the dark about potential terror threats.

“My understanding is that at no time prior to the bombing did any member of Massachusetts State Police or the (intelligence-gathering) fusion center have any knowledge of the Tsarnaev brothers,” Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis told the House Homeland Security Committee.

He and another official, Massachusetts Undersecretary for Homeland Security Kurt Schwartz, testified that the intelligence information was never shared with their departments.

Davis said he was not made aware that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had launched its own probe of the Tsarnaevs after the Russian alert, and he learned about the older brother’s background only after he was killed in a shootout with police three days after the bombings.

Such shortcomings are resurrecting concerns about the “stove-piping” of intelligence data within US agencies – a problem highlighted in the aftermath of the failed attempt by “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria to blow up a commercial airliner on Christmas Day 2009.

Republican Michael McCaul, who chairs the panel, sounded incredulous about US officials’ inability to coordinate data.

“My fear is that the Boston bombers may have succeeded because our system failed,” he said.

“The idea that the feds have the information and it’s not shared with the state and locals defies why we created a Department of Homeland Security in the first place.”

The FBI, perhaps in an effort to deflect accusations it was hoarding intelligence, assured that all local members of a Joint Terrorism Task Force have “unrestricted access” to counter-terrorism data and are “responsible for maintaining awareness of possible threats to their respective jurisdictions.”

And FBI Boston’s Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers made clear that Boston police “specifically had representatives assigned to the JTTF squad that conducted the 2011 assessment of deceased terrorism suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.”

Davis acknowledged in the hearing that his department has access to “all the databases,” but it was not directly made aware of the Tsarnaevs, and he said he “absolutely” would have followed up on them had he been briefed on the FBI probe and the Russian alert.

Ex-senator Joseph Lieberman, who worked at length on improving US security after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, testified that the latest missteps were an “aggravating omission.”

“Why didn’t they involve local law enforcement, who could have stayed on this case?” Lieberman asked. “How do you explain it? People are imperfect.”

Concerned Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee said “it still baffles all of us” that Tsarnaev’s Russia trip did not trigger heightened intelligence gathering on the brothers.

Davis said it was too early to start pointing fingers.

“I’m not ready to vilify anybody at this point in time, but there are questions that need to be answered,” he told reporters.

In his testimony, Davis called for heightened security and surveillance technology at major public events in order to help thwart attacks.

“In the future, we will need to deploy more assets, including technology, cameras, undercover officers and specialized units,” he said, while insisting that constitutional liberties must be upheld.

“I do not endorse actions that move Boston and our nation into a police state mentality, with surveillance cameras attached to every light pole in the city.”

Meanwhile, police in Massachusetts said Tsarnaev’s body finally had been buried, following a row over what to do with the remains.

“His body is no longer in the City of Worcester and is now entombed,” the local police department said in a statement, without providing a location of the burial.

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Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia hope to see a 'Naya Pakistan'

RIYADH: 

Saudi Arabia, the oil rich country with an estimated population of 16 million people, has around 9 million registered expatriates, 1.5 million of which are Pakistanis who are anxious about which way the elections swing on May 11.

Expats are fed up with the situation in their native land and are looking forward to the forthcoming elections. Hope is finally in the air. Despite the bomb blasts shaking the nation, people are anticipating a positive change after the elections.

The Pakistani diaspora across the globe was disappointed on April 29 when the Election Commission informed the apex court that overseas Pakistanis could not vote this time around. Some say it is a deliberate move to deter those who wanted to vote for the charismatic Imran Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Manzur, who runs a small transport company, said that many of his Pakistani students have informed him that their parents are travelling to Pakistan simply to vote. He regrets that he had to come back before May 11 or he would have certainly given his vote to the PTI.

Malik, a taxi driver and a staunch supporter of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has changed his opinion about the Sharif brothers after the power shortages in Punjab.

Similarly, another Malik, married and settled here with his family, confided that he has converted at least three PML-N supporters into PTI adherents.

In the same vein, Zahra, a young house wife residing in Riyadh said that her vote would definitely have gone to Imran, has she been allowed to vote from overseas.

Seemingly, all candidates and old political horses know that this year the voters’ attitude is different. People are more aware of their problems and might cast their ballot in a different way. With the power outages, lack of law and order and inflation, empty rhetoric may fall short this time around.

“Now, with Musharraf out of the race, I want Imran Khan to become the prime minister,” remarked Mehreen, a housewife living in Dammam.

However, Ali Abbasi, another resident of KSA, expressed some apprehension. How can there be change when 70% of the votes are controlled votes, coming from villages and tribes, where there is only the law of the feudal lord, he asked. He remained uncertain whether Imran had done enough to convince this large stratum of society.

And yet, Pakistani teenagers who have grown up away from home are unhesitatingly excited and vocal.

They share their thoughts on social media, they blog zealously, and they sing songs of change.  These young Pakistanis remain positive that the time has come for their countrymen to rise and bring about change.

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Miracle survivor pulled from Bangladesh ruins

SAVAR: 

A woman was pulled alive Friday from the ruins of a garment factory complex in Bangladesh more than 16 days after it collapsed and killed over 1,000 people, live television footage showed.

The miraculous rescue came shortly after emergency officials announced that the woman called Reshmi had been located under the rubble of the nine-storey Rana Plaza complex after crying out for help.

A report on Bangladesh’s Somoy TV said that she had been found sheltering in the ruins of a basement mosque.

Rescuers cheered loudly as she was carried to an army ambulance, managing a faint smile at the crowds who had gathered.

The country’s fire service chief told AFP that the woman appeared to have had access to water during her marathon ordeal trapped underneath the wreckage of the nine-storey Rana Plaza complex, which had caved in on April 24.

“She has been located in a gap between a beam and a column. Her name is Reshmi. She may have reserves of water or have drunk some of the water that we’ve pumped into the building,” Ahmed Ali told AFP.

One of the rescuers said that the woman had cried out for help as recovery teams sifted through the wreckage in the town of Savar on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka.

“As we were clearing rubble, we called out if anyone was alive,” the unnamed rescuer told the private Somoy TV channel.

“Then we heard her saying ‘please save me, please save me’.”

Another rescuer said that the woman had had access to food supplies for the first fortnight of her ordeal but had run out two days ago.

“She said she has not eaten for the last two days. She said she has eaten some dried food like biscuits,” said the rescuer.

“She said she had found a safe place and found some air and light.”

News of the miracle survival came as recovery teams were preparing to wrap up their work at the site after discovering scores more corpses in the tangle of concrete overnight.

Brigadier General Siddiqul Alam, one of the leaders of the recovery operation, said the toll now stands at 1,041, making it one of the world’s deadliest industrial disasters.

Alam said many of the bodies were little more than skeletons and the stench from under the rubble suggested that many more were still to be located.

“We have found a huge number of bodies in the stairwell and under the staircases. When the building started to collapse, workers thought they would be safe under the staircases,” he said.

“Each time we moved a slab of concrete, we found a stack of bodies.”

More than 3,000 workers were on shift on the morning of April 24 when the building suddenly caved in.

Most were earning around $40 a month to make clothing for Western brands such as Italy’s Benetton, Britain’s Primark and the Spanish label Mango.

Efforts to identify victims have been hampered by the decomposition of bodies, although some were found with mobile phones in their pockets or identity cards around their necks.

The preliminary findings of a government probe blamed vibrations from four giant generators on the upper floors for triggering the collapse.

Police have arrested 12 people including the plaza’s owner and four factory bosses for forcing people to work on the day of the disaster, even though cracks appeared in the structure the day before.

The collapse was the latest in a string of disasters to blight the textile industry, with a factory fire last November killing 111 workers.

A fire at a textile factory in Dhaka on Thursday killed eight people, including its owner.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel maker and the $20 billion industry accounted for up to 80 percent of annual exports last year.

But it has a shocking safety record and Western retailers have been threatening to pull out unless authorities come up with a credible programme to raise standards in the 4,500 factories. Disney has already done so.

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Gillani brothers are right in demanding election suspension: Javed Hashmi

MULTAN: 

A day after former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son was abducted by armed men in Multan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf president Javed Hashmi has supported calls to postpone elections in that constituency.

Ali Haider Gillani was kidnapped from Multan on Thursday May 9 by unknown armed men while he was campaigning for his provincial assembly seat.

His distraught brothers Moosa Ali Gillani and Abdul Qadir Gillani demanded that election be suspension in their respective constituencies.

Hashmi, while talking to media after his visit to the vetran Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member Yousuf Raza Gillani’s home to offer sympathy over the kidnapping of his youngest son, said the brothers were right in their demands.

The emotions of both, Moosa and Abdul Qadir Gillani, should be respected as it is the love for their kidnapped brother which is forcing them to give such statements, Hashmi explained.

The PTI president said that all those criticising the statement calling for postponing elections in the constituency should understand and respect their emotions given they are young and passing through the worst times of their life.

Hashmi had visited Gillani late Thursday night to express his support and sympathy and condemn the kidnapping. He also paid condolences for the two PPP workers who were murdered as they tried to prevent the kidnapping.

It is the negligence of the Punjab government because they did not take threats to the PPP and especially the Gillani family seriously, Hashmi said blaming the government of Punjab and their law enforcement authorities.

He appreciated Gillani’s earlier statement about going ahead with the elections despite his son’s kidnapping and attacks on the PPP.

We condemn the kidnapping and will not let terrorists kidnap our elections. All parties should stand united in this time of terrorism and should work united for the evolution of a new Pakistan, Hasmi clarified PTI’s stance on the matter.

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MQM-Haqiqi candidate killed in Landhi

KARACHI: 

An independent candidate Shakil Ahmed, previously linked to the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), was killed in a shoot out with another group in Landhi area,Express News reported on Friday.

Ahmed was provincial assembly candidate standing for PS-95 constituency situated in Orangi Town.

Earlier on May 3, at least two people were wounded and a taxi was set on fire during a clash between the MQM and the MQM-H in Landhi.

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.

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ECP volte face: Mobile services no longer suspended in Sindh

KARACHI: 

The notification to suspend mobile services across Sindh just ahead of the elections has been taken back, Express News reported.  

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had earlier issued a notice saying mobile services will remain suspended across the province from 7pm tonight till 5pm tomorrow. This decision has now been taken back.

Cellular services in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can still be suspended, however.

Mobile services have been suspended in the country in the past as a preventative security measure.

On May 6, Secretary Election Commission Ishtiaq Ahmed said, “there are chances that mobile service can be suspended (on polling day) as part of security arrangements as provinces are working on this in collaboration with federation”.

Election threats

The Tehreek-e-Taliban have stepped up their threats against the elections, warning voters to boycott polling stations to save their lives as bloody attacks targeted party offices over the last 30 days.

The TTP have singled out the secular-leaning PPP and its main coalition partners, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi, and the Awami National Party in the northwest.

More than 600,000 security personnel, including tens of thousands of soldiers, have been ordered to deploy to guard against attacks on polling day.

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