The Youm-I-Istehsaal-i-Kashmir Day Resolution, presented by Safron and Kashmir Affairs minister Amir Maqam in the national assembly, was unanimously supported, demonstrating strong unity in the cause of Kashmir except for one lawmaker, Chief of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
The Member National Assembly opposed the resolution, arguing that the draft should be amended before being passed by parliament.
In a hard-hitting speech, he said, ‘‘We should ask the Kashmiris which country they want to join’’.
The resolution demanded India release political prisoners, stop the ongoing violation of human rights, provide humanitarian aid, and sincerely implement the relevant resolution of the United Security Council so that Kashmiri people can determine their future through the democratic process of a fair and partial plebiscite under the define guidance of the United Nations.
In response, after being called ‘havaldar’ by the achakzai, the speaker elaborated that he was proud of being called a havaldar as he is the country’s frontline soldier.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Omar Ayub has been notified as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.
Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of the National Assembly, declared Omar Ayub as the opposition letter after completing the due process.
Ayub met the speaker with Gohar Ali Khan and Malik Amir Dogar, also opposition members.
Ayub’s name was proposed by the majority of the opposition. The PTI-Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) alliance had nominated him on March 10 as the leader of the opposition.
Leader of the opposition enjoys the status of a federal minister. He gets a separate office where opposition parties hold meetings. Moroever, the Public Accounts Committee is usually headed by leader of the opposition, as well.
The coalition government, led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and allies has secured a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly (NA) after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) allocated them reserved seats but not to opponent Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
A total of 224 seats out of 336 are a requirement for any government to secure a two-thirds majority in NA.
Considering the current numbers, the Shehbaz Shairif-led coalition government — comprising Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), and National Party (NP) — has 230 members in the lower house.
The PML-N currently has 123 seats in NA, of which 75 are general seats, which the party won in the February 8 polls. After that, nine independent MNAs joined the party, taking the number to 84. However, PML-N secured 23 reserved seats, including 16 for women and 4 for minorities.
Similarly, after the ECP ruling on the remaining reserved seats, the party got the lion’s share, bagging 15 out of the remaining 20 reserved seats for women and one out of the three remaining seats reserved for minorities.
The PML-N now has 123 members, becoming the largest party in the NA.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed SIC stands at the second position with 82 seats, PPP now has 73 seats, including 54 general seats, 16 women and another three reserved seats for minorities.
Moreover, MQM-P stands at number four with a tally of 22 MNAs, including 17 general seats and five reserved seats — four women and one minority.
IPP has four seats in the National Assembly, including three general and one reserved for women.
Similarly, six political parties have one general seat, including BAP, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), PML-Z, Balochistan National Party (BNP), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the National Party (NP).
In all honesty, 2023 was more like a crazy roller coaster than a democratic process when it comes to Pakistani politics. Here are some of the significant events that happened this year:
Assemblies dissolved
On January 14, 2023, the provincial assembly of Punjab was dissolved while on January 16, 2023, Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was dissolved as former Prime Minister Imran Khan was pushing for early national elections.
May 9
On May 9, 2023, former prime minister and founder chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan was submitting his biometric data for a court appearance when paramilitary forces broke down a window inside the court to get to apprehend him.
The dramatic and sudden arrest of the former cricket star turned leader resulted in violent clashes between supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and law enforcement agencies protests to mark the arrest of the former Prime Minister turned into riots.
Several military installations, including GHQ and the Lahore corps commander’s official residence, were attacked across the country within hours of Imran Khan’s detention.
May 9, termed a “black day” by the Pakistani state, ended up provoking a harsh military crackdown on Khan’s party.
PTI Dismantled
Thousands of PTI members, including many women, were rounded up and arrested after May 9 riots.
More than two dozen members of PTI resigned from the politics following the protests.
Notable figures like Shireen Mazari, Asad Umer, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Fawad Chaudhry, Maleeka Bokhari, Abrar ul Haq, Murad Ras, Ali Haider Zaidi, Imran Islamil, Usman Dar, Farrukh Habib, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Andleeb Abbas, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Shaukat Tarin and others either left PTI or quit politics.
Imran Khan Jailed
Police arrested Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore on August 5, 2023, after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, potentially barring the opposition leader from contesting an upcoming election.
On September 26, 2023, Imran Khan was shifted to the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi from Attock prison, a day after the Islamabad High Court ordered authorities to relocate him to the high-security jail.
Qazi Faez Isa
On September 17, 2023, Justice Qazi Faez Isa was sworn in as the 29th chief justice of Pakistan.
A ceremony was held at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad during which President Arif Alvi administered the oath of office. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir were also present.
Justice Isa was accompanied by his wife, Sarina Isa, while he was taking oath.
Imran Riaz ‘safely’ returns
On the evening of May 11, 2023, police arrested Imran Riaz Khan, a former anchor with the privately owned broadcaster Express News and host of a YouTube channel with over three million subscribers.
Imran Riaz Khan, often called Imran Riaz, was trying to flee the country over fears of his arrest. At the time, authorities accused him of inciting people to violence through his reporting.
He was said to have been freed a few days later, but there was no trace of him and police denied keeping him in custody.
On September 25, 2023, his lawyer Mian Ali Ashfaq took to X (former Tiwtter) and posted a picture of Imran Riaz, after his return, stating that the recovery took a long time due to “countless difficulties, a weak judiciary” and the ineffectiveness of the Constitution. He also shared a photo of him with Khan.
The rift between Zardari and Bilawal
On November 23, 2023, the former president of Pakistan and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari‘s father, Asif Ali Zardari, during an exclusive interview with Hamid Mir on Geo News’ program “Capital Talk”, said that Bilawal is “inexperienced” and that it would take some time for him to gain more exposure, on Thursday.
“Bilawal is much more talented than I am, but he isn’t experienced,” he said.
On November 24, 2023, in a seeming act of defiance to his father, Bilawal changed his profile picture on X on Friday afternoon, to a photo with his mother Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister and head of the PPP till her assassination in 2017.
PPP denied all the claims of a rift between the father-son duo.
Afghan Refugees Repatriation
On October 3, 2023, Pakistan’s caretaker government announced it would carry out mass deportations — known under domestic law as an Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan — asking all concerned to leave the country before 1 November. Although the plan purported to apply to all foreigners residing in the country illegally, it appears designed to target Afghans, millions of whom have sought refuge in Pakistan over the years.
As of December 29, 2023, the total number of allegedly illegal Afghans who left Pakistan reached 453,480 and the process is still underway.
Nawaz Sharif Returns
On October 21, 2023, Pakistan’s thrice-elected former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) supremo Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan, ending four years of self-imposed exile in London.
Nawaz Sharif was disqualified when the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) announced its decision on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case. After that, Nawaz Sharif and three of his children were referred to an accountability court, which was ordered to file corruption cases against Sharif’s family within six weeks.
In July 2018, the expelled prime minister was imprisoned for 10 years in the Avenfield properties corruption case, an assets-beyond-means trial.
In the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case, the PML-N supremo was sentenced to seven years in jail on December 24, 2018. Nawaz Sharif was taken to Adiala jail in this case, and then he was shifted to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail on the very next day. He was also fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million in this case.
The former prime minister was released from jail in March 2019. After that, the Lahore High Court (LHC) allowed Nawaz Sharif to go to London for treatment for fast-depleting platelet levels, and then he left for London in November 2019.
Elections Date Announced
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on November 3, 2023, that 8th February 2024 is the poll date for the General Elections for the National Assembly of Pakistan and Provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The date was announced by the President House in a statement following a meeting between the top election officials and President Alvi, hours after the election commission lawyer told the Supreme Court that elections will be held on February 11.
PTI New Chairman
On December 2, 2023, The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) on Saturday elected Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as the new chairman in the intra-party elections held on the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Gohar won the chairman’s position unopposed.
The change was forced on the party after the Election Commission of Pakistan warned the PTI last month that it risked losing its emblem – a cricket bat – unless an internal ballot was held for party officers.
Election symbols are crucial in a country where the adult literacy rate is 58 percent, according to World Bank data.
Baloch Long March
Demanding the release of all “missing persons” and an end to “extrajudicial killing” in Balochistan under the leadership of activist Dr Mahrang Baloch and Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), the march started in Turbat, Balochistan, on December 6 after the alleged extrajudicial killing of 24-year-old Balach Baloch.
According to BYC, when the march reached the capital, the city administration didn’t allow them to protest in front of the press club. Maharng Baloch said in her live video from the Facebook page of BYC that Islamabad police arrested 300 male protesters, eight women, and 10 children.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is scheduled to meet India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the country’s deputy IT minister as part of his visit to inaugurate the tech giant’s first retail store in India.
Cook’s visit to Mumbai and New Delhi to open the first official company-owned outlets in the country highlights Apple’s growing interest in India, despite only having a 3 per cent market share.
The company has been expanding iPhone assembly through contract manufacturers and increasing its exports. Cook will meet Modi on Wednesday in New Delhi, and he is also expected to meet India’s deputy IT minister, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Apple and the IT ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Modi’s office declined to comment. Cook’s meetings with Indian officials come as Apple focuses more on India, which is the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
According to data from the India Cellular and Electronics Association, iPhones accounted for more than 50 per cent of the $9 billion worth of smartphones exported from India between April 2022 and February 2023.
On Monday, Apple opened its first store in Mumbai, but only for a private event where bloggers and tech analysts reviewed the store layout and design. The Mumbai store is located in the Reliance Jio World Drive mall, which is home to luxury clothing and jewellery brands like Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Swarovski. It is 20,800 square feet, far larger than the planned Delhi outlet, according to local registration documents.
Apple has sold its products in India through resellers or e-commerce websites such as Amazon. The Mumbai store will open to the public from Tuesday, while a second store will be inaugurated inside a New Delhi mall on Thursday.
In India, iPhones are assembled by three of Apple’s contract manufacturers – Foxconn, Wistron Corp, and Pegatron Corp. Apple plans to assemble iPads and AirPods in India as well.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that dissolving assemblies is not the solution to the current economic crisis in the country.
Speaking outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office in Islamabad, he said, “The government is working hard to get the situation under control” and urged that political parties should sit together to derive a solution.
Khaqan said that the decisions need the support of institutions and the people because Pakistan is everyone’s responsibility.
“Our country has always had unconstitutional intervention in politics. That intervention also plays a role in getting us where we are today,” he added.
“This destruction started four years ago when the PTI government came to power,” he claimed. “Today, Imran Khan is the sole person responsible for the economic turmoil in Pakistan. You cannot expect a government to immediately fix things that he spoiled.”
The PML-N leader’s statement has come when the dollar rate is at its peak. This spell of the dollar’s persistent rise against the rupee began last week.
Earlier, it was reported that government would either dissolve the assemblies or increase the petrol prices in the upcoming days.
It was said that if the government does not increase the fuel prices Pakistan may face a much worse situation than what is happening in Sri Lanka.
