Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party on June 23 reiterated its demand for Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja’s immediate resignation for failing to hold “free and fair” elections and protested against the “injustices” being committed against the party, according to media reports.

“Leaders of 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, along with other National Assembly members, led a protest rally from the Parliament to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad,” The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Led by Leader of Opposition and party leader Omar Ayub, the protesters demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja and election commission members for alleged poll rigging.

The controversial February 8 general elections in Pakistan were marred with massive rigging allegations. During the rally, Mr. Ayub called for the immediate resignation of CEC Raja and other members of the ECP, alleging that the only job of the Election Commission was to conduct clean and transparent polls, but it failed to fulfil its constitutional duty, The News International newspaper reported.

“The protesters were stopped from reaching the electoral body’s central office, as large contingents of security personnel were deployed outside the ECP building,” the report said. Slogans were also chanted for the release of party founder and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.

Mr. Khan has been incarcerated in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since September last year. He was shifted to this prison from the District Jail Attock, where he had been lodged after his arrest on August 5, 2023, following his conviction in the Toshakhana case.

Addressing the rally, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said, “The doors of courts have been closed on Opposition leaders; our women are in jail, and history will remember them.” He said that it was a matter of regret that all the Parliamentarians were coming out on the streets and protesting for the release of PTI founder Khan,” the report said.

“Today, we have come out against this injustice. Our voice is not being heard in this House (Parliament). Whatever we said in the House, our voice was silenced. We want the women’s release. This is a clear violation of human rights,” he said.

Addressing the protesters, the party’s central leader, Asad Qaiser, said, “On May 9, we were targeted on the pretext that we are not negotiating with anyone. Our voice is not heard in Parliament, which amounts to our gross abuse.”

After the controversial general elections, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party formed a coalition government after intense negotiations following a fractured poll verdict. Independent candidates – a majority backed by the PTI party – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats contested in the February 8 election.

The Election Commission of Pakistan said reserved seats cannot be allocated to the Sunni Ittehad Council.
| Photo Credit: AFP

“Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party-backed Sunni Ittehad Council is not eligible for reserved seats as the party does not allow non-Muslims to be a part of it, Pakistan’s Election Commission has said in a response submitted to the Supreme Court,” according to media reports.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on June 23 filed a reply before the Supreme Court to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) plea against the rejection of its claim on reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies after the general election.

The ECP said reserved seats cannot be allocated to the SIC, which is backed by 71-year-old Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as the party failed to submit the list of nominees for the reserved seats by the deadline of December 24, Geo News reported.

The top polls body added that as per the SIC constitution, a non-Muslim person cannot be a part of the party, which is unconstitutional.

“According to the constitution of the SIC, a non-Muslim cannot become a member of the party. The provision against the inclusion of non-Muslims in the constitution of SIC is unconstitutional. The SIC is not entitled to reserved seats for women and minorities,” the election watchdog said.

It added that the independent candidates joined the SIC after the elections, after which the ECP gave the majority 4-1 verdict of not allocating the reserved seats to the party, and later the Peshawar High Court (PHC) upheld the ruling.

“SIC is not eligible for the reserved seats. There is nothing wrong with the ECP and the PHC’s decision of not giving reserved seats to SIC. The decision is in line with the laws and Constitution,” the ECP said, according to the report.

There are 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies, and the SIC was not given any seat as it had not contested the election. The party gained strength when independently elected candidates backed by the PTI party joined it after the elections.

The PTI-backed independent candidates took the lead in the February 8 elections after they won the 92 National Assembly seats followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) (79) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) (54).

The reserved seats were allocated to all political parties according to their strength in the assemblies except the PTI-backed SIC. The SIC filed a plea which was rejected by the ECP and the PHC, and subsequently, the party challenged it in the Supreme Court.

“A full Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez will hear the case of reserved seats on Monday,” the report said. Earlier, on May 6, in a major relief to the PTI, the apex court suspended the PHC’s decision about rejecting the SIC plea.

Following the ruling, the ECP on May 14 suspended the victory notifications of 77 candidates declared successful on the reserved seats.

The final ruling by the top court in the case would decide the fate of those 77 reserved seats. Though it may not change the current power structure, the changes in the overall number game in the assemblies may impact the law-making in the country.

Representational image of Pakistan Supreme Court
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) in Pakistan’s Punjab has been jolted as the provincial assembly’s speaker restrained 27 lawmakers on reserved seats after the Supreme Court’s ruling suspending a lower court’s verdict denying the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) its share of reserved seats for women and minorities, according to media reports.

Speaker Malik Mohammad Ahmed Khan issued the ruling barring the women and non-Muslim members appointed to the reserved seats via past notifications of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

According to the ruling, they cannot function as members or partake in assembly proceedings until their status is clarified by either the ECP or the Supreme Court.

Of the suspended MPAs, 23 belong to the PML-N, two to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and one each to Pakistan Muslim League -Quaid-e-Azam Group (PML-Q) and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), the Dawn newspaper reported.

The decision by the speaker was taken on a point of order raised a day ago by opposition lawmaker Rana Aftab of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed SIC during the house proceedings.

Mr. Aftab had argued that the apex court had suspended the decision of the ECP of allocating the reserved seats of the SIC to other parties on the plea that the SIC had neither contested elections nor had submitted a list of nominees for the seats reserved for women and minorities.

But Speaker Mr. Khan ruled that he had sought the opinions of the advocate general as well as the provincial law department and would take a decision only on receiving their reports, the Dawn reported.

After the beginning of the house proceedings on May 10, the speaker soon read out the SC order and gave the ruling that Mr. Aftab’s point of order was lawful and suspended the 27 members immediately.

When Mr. Aftab pointed out that the suspended MPAs had unlawfully voted for the resolution condemning the May 9 violence, the chair said he should have raised the issue when the resolution had been put to vote a day ago.

The Supreme Court’s decision and the Punjab Assembly speaker’s action puts the ruling coalition in the National Assembly in a dilemma as it is set to lose nearly two dozen members ahead of the crucial budget session.

President Asif Ali Zardari on May 10 summoned the National Assembly session on May 13 and the SIC members are expected to seek a similar ruling from Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

The ECP had allocated reserved seats to the parties in the National Assembly in proportion to the general seats won by them in the February 8 elections.

The ECP had withheld the notifications on 23 reserved seats — 20 for women and three for minorities — due to the dispute on the allocation of the seats after the decision of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents to join the SIC, the report said.

Later, the ECP refused to allocate these seats to the SIC and issued notifications distributing these seats to the parties in the ruling coalition headed by the PML-N.

The ECP allocated 15 seats reserved for women to the PML-N, four to PPP and one to the JUI-F. It allocated one seat each reserved for the minorities to the PML-N, the PPP and the MQM-P.

As a result, PML-N became the largest party in the National Assembly with 123 seats while the tally of the PPP and the JUI-F rose to 73 and 11, respectively, the report said.

Former Pakistan prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad. File photo
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Former Pakistan prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has been nominated by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as its candidate for the coveted post of Senate chairman as part of the power-sharing agreement between his party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), according to a media report on Friday, April 5, 2024.

A notification nominating Mr. Gilani was issued on Thursday by Jamil Soomro, political secretary to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Geo News reported.

Post-poll agreement

According to a post-poll agreement between the PPP and the PML-N that formed a coalition government after the February 8 general elections, the post of president, Senate chairman and governorship of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were given to the PPP, while the posts of Senate deputy chairman, National Assembly speaker and governorship of Sindh and Balochistan were given to the PML-N.

Presently, the 71-year-old veteran leader, who served as the country’s prime minister from 2008 to 2012, has the support of 24 senators from the PPP, 19 from the PML-N, four from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), three from Awami National Party (ANP), three independents and one from the National Party, taking the tally to 54, the report said.

If he gets the support of three Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) (MQM-P) and five Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) senators, then the tally will be 62, suggesting a comfortable position for the ruling coalition nominee.

On the other hand, jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has the support of 20 senators and one each from the Balochistan National Party (BNP) and PML-Q, taking its tally to 22.

If the JUI-F opts to sit with the opposition, then it would have a total of 27 members, the report said.

Eleven Senate seats from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are lying vacant as the Election Commission of Pakistan has postponed the election there.

Mr. Gilani’s election victory would set a unique record as he would be the first person to have served as the National Assembly speaker, prime minister and Senate chairman.

The Senate is expected to meet for its inaugural session on April 9 when the newly-elected members of the upper house of Parliament will be administered oath.

According to parliamentary sources, following the recent appointment of Senator-elect Ishaq Dar as presiding officer because of the slots of chairman and deputy chairman Senate lying vacant, preparations are afoot to summon the session.

Both Sadiq Sanjrani and Mirza Muhammad Afridi had completed their three-year terms as chairman and deputy chairman before the recent Senate elections. Therefore, it was necessary to appoint a presiding officer before the Senate session.

It is for the first time that the House would be holding a session without polling in an assembly. Hence, the now 96-member Senate will be shy of 11 members when it meets, Geo News reported.

Last month, Mr. Gilani won a Senate seat in the National Assembly from Islamabad, polling 204 of the 301 votes cast, while his rival Sunni Ittehad Council’s Ilyas Mehrban got only 88 votes.

In the February 8 general elections, Gilani won a National Assembly seat from Multan in Punjab province.

Gilani, who took oath as a member of the lower house on February 29, then vacated the seat on March 22.

Senior PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on February- 26, became the first-ever woman Chief Minister of a province in Pakistan when she was elected to head the Punjab province, describing it as an ‘honour’ for every woman in the country.

Maryam, the 50-year-old senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, won the chief ministerial elections amidst a walkout by lawmakers of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

In her maiden speech at the provincial legislature, Maryam thanked God, her father, Nawaz Sharif, uncle Shehbaz Sharif and the lawmakers who voted for her.

Maryam said that she was happy to sit in the seat where her father used to sit. “My father trained me how to run the office,” Maryam, considered the political heir of Nawaz Sharif, said.

“Today, every woman of the province is proud to see a woman Chief Minister,” she said and hoped that the tradition of female leadership would continue in the future as well.

The PML-N leader said she had seen hard times like imprisonment but was thankful to her opponents for making her strong.

“But I will not seek revenge,” she said, indirectly referring to former Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.

Maryam received 220 votes and won the chief ministerial elections for the politically crucial Punjab province, home to 120 million people. She defeated Rana Aftab of the PTI-backed SIC, who received no votes as his party boycotted the election.

“The votes have been counted according to which Maryam has obtained 220 votes, and SIC candidate Rana Aftab Aftab secured zero votes,” said newly-elected Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan while presiding over the session.

To win the Chief Minister’s election, a candidate needs to win the backing of the majority, which is 187 members in the House that currently has 327 seats, according to Geo News. The newly-elected Chief Minister, Maryam, enjoyed the support of the majority in the House.

The PTI-backed SIC’s 103 members have taken oath from its total 113 lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly. Ms. Maryam was backed by PML-N allies, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP).

The walkout by at least 103 SIC members— including the PTI-backed independent lawmakers— was staged after the SIC nominee for Chief Minister, Mr. Aftab, was not permitted to speak at the point of order.

“In today’s session, only elections will be held for the Chief Minister. You cannot speak in today’s session,” Speaker Khan told the SIC candidate as he tried to speak up.

The speaker eventually moved forward with the proceedings to elect a new leader of the House after efforts to bring back the boycotting lawmakers went in vain, according to Dawn newspaper.

Before boycotting the session, the opposition chanted slogans of “Queen of Mandate Thieves” as the PTI claimed that Maryam had lost his seat with a margin of over 800 votes in the February 8 polls besides the party’s over 100 Punjab Assembly seats that had been stolen. It decried that the irony is a “defeated” candidate has become Chief Minister.

Taking a swipe at the walkout by the SIC lawmakers, Maryam said, “Today, I am upset that the respectable members of the opposition benches are not present here […] I wish they would be a part of the political and democratic process.” She said that despite several challenges and difficulties, her party members and the PML-N never left the ground empty.

“If the opposition was present today, and if they had protested during my speech, I would have been happy,” she said.

Meanwhile, the PTI nominee for the chief ministerial post, Mr. Aftab, said, “It seems as if dictatorship persists even today,” according to the report.

Speaking to the media in Lahore as the Punjab Assembly voted for the new leader of the House, Mr. Aftab said, “I am a political worker […] the way I had to pass from there [the assembly], this is shameful for me, and it is also a moment of reflection for all politicians.” He added that the PTI wanted justice as per the law and Constitution to take “this manoeuvred democracy forward”.

Maryam paid a visit to her mother’s grave at Jati Umra before going to the Punjab Assembly, where the election for the post of Chief Minister took place.

In a post on X, the PML-N said Maryam also visited the graves of her paternal grandparents.

“For the first time in the history of our nation, a woman will become the CM Punjab. Maryam Nawaz Sharif will be the first woman to take the oath as CM Punjab!” the PML-N said in a post on X earlier in the day.

Senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah, while speaking to the media outside the Punjab Assembly, has said that Maryam will carry her father, Nawaz Sharif, and uncle Shehbaz Sharif’s legacy as Punjab Chief Minister, Geo News reported.

Terming the need to address prevailing political instability as the “biggest challenge”, Mr. Sanaullah said that everyone, including the bureaucracy, would cooperate with Maryam during her term as the Chief Minister.

Maryam is considered the political heir of the 74-year-old PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who surprisingly nominated his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, 72, as his party’s prime ministerial candidate.

The PML-N clinched both speaker and deputy speaker offices in the Punjab Assembly.

In a marathon session of the Punjab Assembly on February 24, the lawmakers elected PML-N leader Malik Ahmad Khan as the custodian of the House and Zaheer Iqbal Channar as his deputy.

The PML-N won 137 seats, while independents backed by 71-year-old Khan’s PTI party won 113 in the Punjab Assembly. Separately, 20-odd independents, not PTI-backed, have already joined the PML-N.

The PTI-backed independent candidates have joined the SIC to get reserved seats for women and minorities besides saving their elected members from being forced to change their loyalty by the military establishment.

However, the SIC may not get reserved seats for women and minorities, leaving the PML-N with a simple majority in Punjab.