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Posts published in November 2009

3 militants blow themselves up in Muzaffarabad

By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Nov 22 MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 21: Three suspected militants blew themselves up after police and villagers gave a chase and surrounded them in a mountainous area here on Saturday. According to officials, police launched a search in a suburb of the Azad Kashmir capital after residents reported that three men had dumped a bag of weapons behind a house. Police and civil defence department officials found three Kalashnikovs along with…

Sardar Atiq sees solution to crises in AJK

The Dawn, Nov 22 LAHORE, Nov 21: Former Azad Kashmir prime minister Sardar Atiq Khan has said Kashmiri immigrants are not investing their liquid assets worth over £20 billion at home due to federal government’s policies. Making a presentation about the economic potential of Azad Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting of the Lahore Economic Journalists Association here on Saturday, he said the Kashmiri immigrants would willingly exploit the investment potential of their assets in…

G-B Polls -Historic Elections: Comment

by FAROOQ MOIN in The Nation, Nov 21 The writer is a freelance contributor The historic elections of the new Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly for ’empowerment’ and ‘self-governance’ would usher in all-round socio-economic development of the people of the region, thus fulfilling their long-standing aspirations. The elections would strengthen democracy, give identity to the people and accelerate the pace of development for which already substantial funds have been allocated. For the first time in the history…

Mehdi set to become GB’s first CM

ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: Syed Mehdi Shah, chief of the Gilgit-Baltistan chapter of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is set to become the first chief minister of the region after his nomination as the party’s parliamentary leader in the Legislative Assembly here on Thursday. Mehdi Shah was nominated parliamentary leader at a meeting of the members-elect of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. The decision was announced by PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab at a news conference. The PPP…

G-B Assembly: PPP names Mehdi leader

The Daily Times, Nov 19 LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has appointed Syed Mehdi Shah as leader of the House in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA), a private TV channel reported on Wednesday. Shah said the PPP would not seek an alliance with other parties in forming the government. Separately, PPP candidate Aftab Haider won the polls from LA-3, Gilgit-3. Returning Officer Raja Minhaj said Haider was declared successful. Meanwhile, police arrested Mehboob Hussain,…

Gilgit-Baltistan elections: editorial comments

The Nation, Nov 17 THE elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, held on November 12, amid the charge of pre-poll rigging against the PPP, later caused other major political parties also to take to the streets of Skardu, the principal town in the region, in protest at what they alleged was massive manipulation of the polls. The exercise of conducting elections, the first since the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order was promulgated last August, was not without unpleasantness.…

Post-election clashes in Skardu

By Farman Ali in The Dawn, Nov 16 SKARDU, Nov 15: Eight people were injured in clashes between supporters of rival political parties in two different areas of Skardu district on Sunday. In Gulabpur village, an MQM procession led by its winning candidate Raja Mohammad Azam Khan was pelted with stones by supporters of PPP candidate Imran Nadeem. Police immediately intervened and brought the situation under control. A clash took place in Hussainabad village between…

PML factions, MQM step up protests in Gilgit

The Dawn, Nov 15 GILGIT, Nov 14: The N and Q factions of Pakistan Muslim League and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement organised separate protests here on Friday against alleged rigging in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections. Hundreds of political workers took to the streets and raised slogans against the government, calling for re-elections in LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 constituencies. The PML-N candidate in LA-1, Jafarullah, and his supporters held a demonstration outside the Supreme Appellate Court to…

Beyond the election: EDITORIAL

THE DAWN, NOV 15 ELECTIONS and irregularities sadly go hand in hand in Pakistan. The landmark polls in Gilgit-Baltistan were no exception with reports of sporadic violence, allegations of the state machinery’s biased deployment and gross inaccuracies in voters’ lists. In some constituencies, the number of registered voters almost matched the area’s total population. That would suggest that nearly every person in the constituency is of voting age, which doesn’t seem plausible unless populations have…

Walkout in NA over Gilgit-Baltistan vote

By Raja Asghar in The Dawn, Nov 14 ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: Two opposition parties that did not fare well in Thursday’s polls for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly staged a “ritual walkout” in the National Assembly on Friday to protest against the alleged rigging, to be counter-charged by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who said it would give a wrong message vis-à-vis the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India. Both the prime minister and one of…

HRCP sees flaws in Gilgit-Baltistan elections

The Dawn, Nov 14 LAHORE, Nov. 13: In its preliminary report, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Observers’ Mission has expressed satisfaction over the relatively peaceful conclusion of the Gilgit-Baltistan elections and appreciated the enthusiastic turnout of voters. At the same time, the mission expressed its sorrow over a few incidents of violence which resulted in the death of two persons and injuries to at least 40 others. The mission also regretted that the…