Tag: lawmakers

  • 60 American lawmakers ask Biden to push for Imran Khan’s release

    60 American lawmakers ask Biden to push for Imran Khan’s release

    Over 60 democratic lawmakers of the United States House of Representatives called on US President Joe Biden in a letter to use Washington’s leverage with Pakistan to secure the release of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.

    The lawmakers, on Wednesday, wrote a letter to Joe Biden, noting: “We write today to urge you to use the United States’ substantial leverage with Pakistan’s government to secure the release of political prisoners, including former Prime Minister Khan, and curtail widespread human rights abuses.”

    Pakistan government denied any such unfair treatment toward the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi.

    Meanwhile, the State Council today, while appearing before Islamabad High Court, stated that the Punjab government imposed a ban on meeting lawyers with Imran Khan in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi amidst security concerns, following that meeting between Khan and lawyers could not be possible.

    Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan responded to the State Council, saying: “Is there a ban on lawyers meeting him? If the Punjab government has prohibited the meeting of the lawyers, it would have committed contempt of court; whoever issued this notification has also committed contempt of court.”

    However, later in the day, it was reported that Adiala Jail authorities had arranged for a meeting between Imran Khan and lawyers Salman Akram Raja, Faisal Fareed Chaudhary and Shoaib Shaheen.

  • CM Elahi will take confidence vote before Jan 11: Fawad Chaudhry

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry has announced that Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, will get a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly before January 11.

    Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan has already summoned a session of the assembly on Jan 11.

    In a press conference on Saturday, Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the coalition government in Punjab has the support of 187 lawmakers.

    He added that Imran Khan chaired a meeting of the party’s senior leadership on Saturday where it was decided that the vote of confidence would take place at the earliest.

    Earlier in the week, the Lahore High Court had reinstated Elahi as the chief minister and also issued notices to all parties involved in the case, summoning them to appear before the bench on January 11.

    The court suspended Punjab Governor Muhammad Baligur Rehman’s order till the next hearing (Jan 11) and also did not make it compulsory for the CM to take a vote of confidence on his orders.

    In a meeting on Saturday, PTI chief Imran Khan predicted that the next general elections would be held in March or April.

    On Friday, CM Elahi said that the Punjab Assembly would be dissolved in line with Khan’s directives. His statement came moments after he assured the high court that he would not dissolve the legislative.

  • Opposition lawmakers and their supporters block access to the Balochistan Assembly

    Opposition lawmakers and their supporters block access to the Balochistan Assembly

    Chaotic scenes erupted outside Balochistan Assembly Friday as Opposition lawmakers and supporters held a protest outside the assembly and were baton-charged by the police.

    https://twitter.com/HoorainPervaiz/status/1405877399326117889

    Police said Opposition lawmakers had locked all four doors of the Balochistan Assembly to prevent the budget session from taking place today.

    The Opposition’s protest and clashes intensified when Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan arrived at the assembly.

    “We will not let the budget be passed until our demands are met,” the protesting lawmakers said.

    The sit-in has been staged against the “disregard for Opposition constituencies and release of funds to unelected persons”.

    Clashes erupted when police arrived at the assembly gate at the MPA Hostel when Opposition lawmakers and police exchanged heated words. Police managed to open the doors of the assembly so that the government lawmakers could enter for the budget session.

    Prior to this, supporters of the Opposition parties had blocked national highways in several cities of Balochistan. The Opposition accused the government of ignoring development projects in the budget.

    Opposition lawmakers had warned they would not let the provincial government present the budget on Friday.

    Leaders of the Opposition parties, according to Dawn, said they would not allow any MPA to enter the assembly on Friday if their proposed development projects were not included in the provincial Annual Development Programme (ADP).