Author: Theph

Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan wants his party leaders to “stick firmly to the ideology” of the party, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said on Thursday.

Following the Islamabad High Court’s order to jail authorities to facilitate meetings for legal consultation, lawyers Barrister Salman Safdar and Advocate Latif Khosa were able to meet Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, at the Adiala jail on Wednesday.

According to both lawyers, the meeting lasted at least three hours and mainly focused on the couple’s legal and health issues. However, they did not divulge further details; the government often objects to lawyers using such meetings to make political statements.

Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’ on Thursday, Raja said that he had multiple detailed conversations with Barrister Safdar following the latter’s meeting with Imran.

“Imran Khan’s fundamental message was to stick firmly to the ideology,” the PTI secretary general said, conveying details he heard from Safdar.

“I have also been directed to stick to [our] ideology,” Raja added, noting that Imran’s “fundamental message is not to bow”.

He further said Imran reiterated his support for National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, whom the PTI founder had picked for their respective roles.

He quoted Imran as saying that Achakzai and Abbas were not individuals who would “bow down or be sold”, and he had nominated them after deep contemplation.

“Imran Khan sahib’s directives will be acted upon,” the PTI secretary general declared.

He added that Imran had also issued instructions on the issue of the formation of new provinces during his meetings with Safdar, including the one on Nov 2.

“Imran Khan is not ready to step back from his ideology of democracy and public welfare […] the rule of the people is the foremost priority of Imran Khan,” Raja stated.

He said that Imran considered concerns related to his well-being as unnecessary; however, the party was concerned about his health, as Imran’s blood pressure was not stable.

Raja claimed that Imran had also reported in yesterday’s meeting about his blood pressure “reaching 193 on Saturday”.

Asked whether this message could be considered political and thereby hinder chances of future jail meetings, Raja contended that although a handful of matters were discussed during the three-hour-long huddle, everything was monitored and recorded via microphones.

He noted that Khosa, who was also an MNA, has made several statements after the meeting, which “compelled Safdar to clarify matters”.

Regarding himself, the PTI secretary general said Imran had issued instructions to him regarding standing with the principles and reorganisation of the party.

He acknowledged that there was a small faction in the PTI which is displeased with him. However, he emphasised that Imran’s directives conveyed to him were different.

“Imran Khan’s message for me is to create space while upholding the principles and move forward,” Raja said, denying other notions coming from different circles within the PTI.

Regarding directives issued by Imran on a possible 28th constitutional amendment, the PTI secretary general said he would put this matter before the party leadership first.

The directions were related to standing with democratic principles and the rights of small provinces, he said, adding that the PTI founder had always supported the creation of new administrative units.

However, Raja noted that there had been some concerns related to the “context” behind the formation of new administrative units and stressed the importance of the public’s opinion.

Source: dawn

One person was killed and four were wounded in a shooting at and outside a fitness center in an upscale residential neighborhood of downtown Washington on Thursday, police said.

Jeffery Carroll, Washington’s interim police chief, told reporters the suspect in the shooting had been found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after barricading himself in his nearby apartment unit.

Carroll said the man, who was not identified, was apparently in “some sort of a conflict” with the homeowners association of the apartment building, which is located in the Logan Circle area of the nation’s capital, about a mile north of the White House.

The police chief said the person who died had been shot inside a fitness centre and that one of the four wounded was in critical condition, while the injuries to the others did not appear to be life-threatening.

The condition of the gunman was not immediately known.

Earlier, DC Council member Brooke Pinto said in a post on X that the shooting took place “at and outside” a VIDA fitness club and that multiple people had been shot.

One person who described himself as having witnessed the incident told Reuters that he heard gunshots and saw one man run to another man who had apparently been struck by a bullet.

“Blood was pouring immediately, and he said, ‘He’s dead,’” the witness said. “We didn’t know if the gunman was still on the premises, so we just ran frantically.”

He said he heard more gunshots after running away from the gym.

The incident was unfolding in the Logan Circle neighbourhood, about 1.6 kilometres northeast of the White House. Officers with rifles could be seen positioned atop buildings nearby, while dozens of police vehicles shut down the area.

Multiple law enforcement agencies could be seen at the scene of the shooting and police helicopters were hovering over the area.

Some residents were being evacuated from the area by police, while others were being urged to shelter in place. Some gathered on a nearby rooftop to watch the police response.

Source: dawn

The Sindh government decided on Thursday to launch a large-scale crackdown to remove encroachments from major roads in Karachi.

According to an official handout, the decision came during a meeting chaired by Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon.

“According to the decision of the Sindh government, in the first phase, an operation will be carried out on a priority basis on major roads of the city, including University Road, as well as various routes of the People’s Bus Service,” the statement said.

“It was decided that the police, city administration and transport department would jointly take action against encroachments,” it added.

According to the statement, the concerned departments were directed to take “immediate measures” to remove established encroachments along the bus service routes as well as illegal encroachments that blocked traffic flow.

It was also decided that measures would be taken to shift illegal bus terminals established in various parts of the city, including Sohrab Goth, to outside the city.

The senior minister said that encroachments on the roads and bus routes caused “serious difficulties for citizens and passengers”.

“Illegal occupations and obstructions on roads affect the smooth flow of traffic, increase fuel expenses and also create difficulties in the movement of public transport,” Memon was quoted as saying.

“To provide better travel facilities to citizens, it is necessary to make major roads and bus routes free from encroachments,” he said.

He directed the concerned departments to take action against illegal encroachments under a joint strategy, and to launch an operation against illegal bus terminals “so that traffic pressure on the city’s roads could be reduced and citizens could be provided with ease in their daily commute”.

According to the statement, the meeting also discussed establishing modern bus terminals outside Karachi under a public-private partnership and the project for the expansion of the Karachi Bus Terminal.

Memon directed the concerned officials to accelerate efforts for the establishment of a logistics park, saying that “all relevant departments should work together to improve traffic flow in the city and organise the transport system”, the statement concluded.

University Road, a main thoroughfare in the metropolitan city, faces severe traffic congestion due to the construction of the Bus Rapid Transit Red Line project, which was launched in March 2022 and estimated to complete within 30 months after its ground-breaking.

In September, Memon said that the difficulties faced by the commuters on University Road were “almost over”. Earlier in August, the minister had promised that the government would make University Road “100 per cent motorable” by Sept 15.

Source: dawn

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Thursday accused the federal government of trying to sabotage the local government elections in Islamabad, clarifying that the polls would be held as scheduled.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has scheduled the polls for Dec 20. The last LG term expired in Feb 2021, and the ECP was supposed to conduct elections within 120 days. However, the federal government and the ECP spent the last several years carrying out delimitations and announcing election schedules, only to postpone the polls later.

On Thursday, a three-member bench headed by the CEC heard the case about alleged violations of the electoral code in the NA-77 by-election.

Raja mentioned that the federal government has ordered that teachers would not be assigned duty in the Islamabad LG polls.

“Where will the [ECP] bring staff from?” he asked.

“The [ECP] issues directions to the prime minister and the government; directions do not come from them to us,” the election commissioner said.

Taking notice of the Centre’s order, the CEC claimed: “The federal government wants to sabotage the Islamabad local government elections.

“I make it clear that local government elections will be held in Islamabad,” Raja clarified.

During the hearing of the code of conduct violation case, ECP Secretary Omar Hamid recalled that a candidate of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) had filed an application with the district returning officer, stating that Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Farooq Tarar had visited NA-77.

Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal said the application stated that the information minister had visited the constituency and violated the code of conduct.

“Attaullah Tarar can be sentenced to two years for violation of the code of conduct. The [ECP] should take strict action. MNAs and ministers holding office kept roaming in the constituency,” he said.

The CEC asked where the information minister was, as he had been summoned in his personal capacity.

Counsel for Tarar, Sajeel Swati, said the minister was currently on an official foreign visit, referring to him accompanying the prime minister to Turkiye.

“These are serious allegations. The Commission is held in great respect,” the counsel said.

CEC Raja remarked that the information minister only “had to do media coverage on the visit; what else was he to do”.

The CEC then addressed PML-N MPA and office-bearer Asma Naz, saying she kept roaming inside a polling station.

“Your position as MPA can go. Such tactics do not increase votes; they decrease them. You are smiling; it seems you have no remorse. A notice of contempt of the [ECP] can be issued to you,” he warned.

MPA Qudsia Batool, who had also been accused of violating the election code, said she was in her car and about to leave when the video was made.

The Gujranwala deputy commissioner appeared and said they had no information about Tarar’s visit to the constituency.

The CEC observed that the minister had come by helicopter, so a helipad must have been prepared. “How are you a DC that you do not even know that a minister is coming?”

The DC replied that the helicopter had landed in the cantonment, which was not in their jurisdiction. The CEC then said the DC did not know what his powers were in the cantonment. “Go and read the law. We have also held these offices.”

Raja said a fact-finding inquiry had been conducted on the violation of the code of conduct in the by-election, a copy of which would be given to all.

“You will all be given that order. You respond to the report; the commission will pass an appropriate order against you, DC. Action will be taken against all three, the DC, the [returning officer] and the [district monitoring officer].”

On the request of Tarar’s counsel, the CEC said, “We give you 10 days. On the next hearing, all members will appear in person.”

The hearing was then adjourned till Dec 1.

ECP issues updated list of registered parties

Meanwhile, the ECP issued an updated list of 160 political parties registered with it.

The names of the heads of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) — Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mahmood Khan Achakzai — have been removed from the list.

In April, the ECP had given MQM-P time till Oct 15 to hold its intra-party elections as it heard a case on the matter.

A senior ECP official explained to Dawn that MQM-P had not been delisted as of yet. He said the ECP had issued a show cause notice to MQM-P over failure to hold intra-party elections, with directives to respond within 14 days.

He said a reply has been received, and if it fails to satisfy the commission, the case will be fixed for hearing and the matter will be decided accordingly.

The PkMAP chief’s name has also been removed, as the case of its intra-party elections and an amendment to its constitution remains pending before the ECP.

PTI, which lost its bat electoral symbol in January 2024 as the Supreme Court upheld the ECP’s decision in the case of its intra-party polls, also remains registered without the name of its party head.

The Pakistan Sunni Tehreek is also listed without the name of its party head.

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, which was declared a proscribed organisation a year ago, is included among registered parties, but the name of its head has been removed.

The name of Awaam Pakistan, headed by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, which had already been delisted by the ECP, is also on the list.

The list also includes Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), a nine-party alliance formed in 1988 and dissolved over 33 years ago.

The list also mentions some less popular political parties, including Ittehad-i-Ummat Pakistan, Jamaat-i-Suffah, Labour Qaumi Movement, Awami Democratic Party, Pakistan Qabail Movement, and Tehreek-i-Tarraqi o Kamal, without naming their party heads.

Source: dawn

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday notified a Rs25.30 per unit revised incremental consumption package (ICP) for industry and agriculture to encourage higher consumption.

The order comes despite dissenting notes from two of its four members on Friday, when the authority made the announcement, and protest from industrial consumers.

The revised ICP replaces the previous rate of Rs22.98 per unit, which was introduced in December last year for six months to encourage industrial and agricultural consumers to consume more electricity at a marginal cost of Rs22.98 on additional consumption, instead of their normal rate that stood at Rs34.50 per unit last month.

In a statutory regulatory order (SRO) issued in the Gazette of Pakistan, Nepra said it notified the authority’s decision dated Nov 6, along with dissent notes from Nepra members Amina Ahmed and Maqsood Anwar Khan; as well as an additional note and casting vote of Nepra Chairman Waseem Mukhtar in the matter of the “semi-annual review of the ICP for industrial and agricultural electricity consumers of XWDiscos and K-Electric”.

The decision, opposed by the industrial sector, is likely to have a negative impact on all electricity consumers, including those served by K-Electric and other distribution companies (Discos).

Industrial consumers complained that the Rs25.30 per unit revised ICP — against the actual marginal cost of Rs31.83 or Rs29.65 per unit calculated by Nepra —resulted in higher monthly fuel cost adjustments (FCAs) and burdened all consumer categories across the country.

This was despite the fact that the ICP announced in December last year on the prime minister’s instructions was based on the commitment that any additional costs arising from the package would remain ring-fenced, and that the difference between consumer-end tariff and ICP would not be shifted to any other consumer category except the ICP beneficiaries, the consumers said.

Nepra members’ observations

In the determination issued on the ICP last Friday, all four members of the regulator unanimously held the Power Division and its subordinate entities responsible for failing to fulfil their legal obligations within the prescribed timelines, pushing Nepra into an unprecedented deadlock and potentially increasing costs for electricity consumers across the country.

Nepra chairman Mukhtar fully endorsed the written arguments and positions taken by the dissenting members, but subsequently exercised his special casting vote to approve the revised rate of Rs25.30 per unit. The authority was divided 2-2 on the matter.

Member (Tariff and Finance) Amina Ahmed and Member (Development) Maqsood Anwar, in a joint dissenting note, had maintained that even the proposed revised rate of Rs25.30 per unit was a “random number” unsupported by evidence. They said that Nepra’s own institutional calculations put the marginal cost at Rs31.83 per unit.

“The revised incremental rate of Rs25.30 per unit proposed by the Ministry of Energy (MoE), and allowed by the honourable chairman and Member (Law), is based on the generation mix apparently assumed at the design stage of the package, with updated fuel prices,” the two members observed.

They called for the immediate suspension of the ICP until authentic data became available.

The dissenting members argued that compliance with the federal cabinet’s decision and Nepra’s own directives required a reassessment of the existing rate of Rs22.98 per unit to determine whether it should be retained, revised or suspended. However, this exercise had not been carried out, resulting in the continuation of the package at a rate below the actual cost of supplying incremental electricity.

“The resulting misalignment has had implications for consumers in two ways. First, to the extent incremental consumption increased the system’s average fuel cost, the resulting impact was recovered from all consumers through the FCA mechanism. Second, because incremental units are excluded from quarterly tariff adjustments, the exclusion of such units increases the quarterly adjustment borne by consumers not availing the package,” they said.

They questioned how a package based on the principle of cost-reflectivity could continue without a validated cost-reflective rate, arguing that since the alternative rate had no credible link with the actual marginal cost, continuation of the package was no longer justified.

They said other consumers should not be made to bear the cost of a review that the MoE was required to submit five months ago but had yet to provide.

In his casting vote, Mukhtar observed that the dissenting members’ conclusions “need serious consideration”. However, he said suspending the package at this stage would not be appropriate and that the MoE should be given another opportunity to provide the information repeatedly sought by the regulator, including in its latest determination.

All four members agreed that the Power Division was required to submit revised calculations six months ago but had failed to do so, despite repeated reminders from Nepra. They also regretted that the ministry had not responded adequately to the questions and queries raised by the regulator.

“The marginal price, in proper form, was not provided to the regulator by either the Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO) or the Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC), which were duty-bound to do so. Since the ISP is a flagship project of the ministry, it should give due consideration to the observations of Nepra and the lack of inter-agency coordination among the entities working under the ministry,” the members observed.

The determination also sets deadlines for the relevant entities to provide the required information. The four members warned that failure to meet these deadlines could lead to an adverse outcome in the review of the programme, including its suspension or termination.

“Furthermore, any entity that fails to provide the required information within the stipulated timeline shall lead to initiation of legal proceedings under the applicable legal framework,” they stated.

Explaining his decision, the chairman said: “I hereby exercise, in due and faithful discharge of the functions of the authority, my second and casting vote envisaged and entrusted to me under the Nepra Act in favour of the first opinion, thereby breaking the deadlock in relation to the aforesaid issues. Accordingly, the first opinion constitutes the order of the authority.”

Source: dawn