Awaz Apni

CNews ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has been elected as the 12th President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan with thumping majority. He received 479 electoral votes out of total 702 votes of the Electoral College. His contenders Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui received 153 votes while Mushahid Hussain Syed got 43 electoral votes. It is worth mentioning here that 352 votes were needed for the election of the President. The voting for the election of the president held in the Parliament House for National Assembly and Senate; and in the four provincial assemblies today (Saturday) from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. There were three candidates contesting the presidential election including ruling coalition backed Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N nominated former Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice (retd) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and former ruling party PML-Q’s secretary general Mushahid Hussain Syed. In Parliament (National Assembly + Senate), 436 members cast their votes out...

CNews PESHAWAR: Chief Minister NWFP, Amir Haider Hoti Monday said he proposed postponement of by-polls after receiving a word from Advisor to Prime Minister, Rehman Malik.According to CNews News an official hand out proposed a short delay in by elections.Rehmand Malik said in the above hand out that the three provinces have agreed to put off the by-polls and NWFP should also follow suite.The Chief Minister NWFP said Rehman Malik talked to him on telephone.He said the federal government and not the provincial ones made the postponement in by-polls.

CNews ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan has said it can review the postponement of by-elections in case the political parties suggest so.The ECP’s statement came after the political parties showed a strong reaction against the postponement of by-polls.Secretary ECP, Kanwar Dilshad termed the letter received from NWFP as a red alert and led all the members of the Commission to make the decision of delaying the by-polls.He said the ECP may review its decision if the political parties send a common reference in this regard.The political parties also have an option to go the Supreme Court in this connection.

CNews ISLAMABAD, Feb 27 (APP): Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad Wednesday called for reforms in the electoral laws so as the influence of Nazims in the electoral process could be restricted. "The country needs reforms in electoral laws to restrict the Nazims' to refrain from influencing the electoral process especially during the conduct of the polls. As our electoral laws are based on recommendations prepared by Lord Minto Commission in 1911, Pakistan should gear up working on reforms in the electoral laws with the help of civil society organizations, political parties, bar council and the media as has been already done in India and Bangladesh," he said while addressing a symposium held to launch the final report of CMD International Observer Group on the polling process in Pakistan. Seeking proposals form the civil society and the media in this regard, Dilshad said the media had played a 'crucial and positive role' and the recent...

CNews ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The Election Monitoring Secretariat of the Centre for Media and Democracy (CMD) Pakistan in its preliminary release congratulates the Pakistani nation on completion of the electoral process in a peaceful manner keeping in view the law and order situation of the country. Though there have been reports of some law and order incidents on the Election Day, the CMD is satisfied to note that the number of incidents of violence has been quite low.The CMD expresses gratitude to the political parties and rival candidates for keeping the temperature low. The CMD also expresses gratitude to the President of Pakistan, federal and provincial government authorities, law enforcement agencies and district governments for tight security arrangements on the polling day and for holding of a peaceful election as per schedule.The arrangements, facilities and procedures for the elections were satisfactory. The CMD election observers received cooperation and support from Election Co...

CNews ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan has made transparent arrangements for general elections, an election commission official here said.Talking to CNews News Secretary Election Commission Kunwar Dilshad Saturday said that the election material of international standards has been sent to the concerned officials and ballot papers will be handed over to the Returning Officers tomorrow. Replying a question about election results, Dilshad said the presiding officers have been directed to hold counting in presence of polling agents of candidates and provide the result to them. The presiding officers would forward the results to the Returning Officers who will immediately announce the result, he further said.They have been also directed to write the results in words as well as in figures, he said. The copy of the result will also be provided to media and would be put on at the polling station for general public. The result would later sent to the provincial and central election c...

CNews KARACHI: The whole country has caught the election fever, as the date for general election is drawing near with flags and banners of various political parties are being seen in nearly every nook and corner of the country.The election activities are in full swing.The ballot papers and inerasable ink have been transported to all Sindh districts including Karachi. Talking to Geo News, Provincial Election commissioner Chaudhry Qamaruz Zaman said that all important arrangements have been completed for holding the elections on February 18.The electoral materials of sensitive nature including inerasable ink and ballot papers have been handed over to all district Returning officers.The Provincial Election Commissioner said postal ballots for people offering duties in various parts of the country, overseas Pakistanis and prisoners have been received on the assigned date.All the party workers are seen canvassing voters to cast their votes in favour of their respective parties with flags, b...

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued CDs containing computerized voter lists; the CD for any constituency can be bought by paying Rs 200.Talking to CNews News, Secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad Ahmed said the commission has published CDs comprising the names of 81 million voters for 272 constituencies of the National Assembly.He said political parties have started collecting the CDs of voters’ names, adding CDs of electoral lists have also been handed to People’s Party Election Monitoring Committee Chairman Lateef Khosa as well as the representatives of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and PML-N also obtained these CDs.The Secretary said other political parties also could get these CDs; however, a final list of voters would be provided after Eid holidays.Referring to the training of electoral staff, Dilshad said the second phase of the process would be completed by the end of this month; 550,000 election workers would be trained in this phase.Secretary Election Commission said...

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf on Friday amended various articles of the Constitution providing protection and continuity to the superior courts judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), and removed those who did not take oath under the PCO. However, they would be entitled to pension and other retirement benefits.The amendments were made a day before he intends to lift emergency and restore the Constitution. The president, in exercise of powers under the PCO, has amended Articles 41, 44, 193, 194, 208 and 270-C.Amendment to Article 193 has lowered the age of appointment of high court judges from 45 years to 40 years. This will facilitate entry of judges into high courts at younger age to remain in service for a longer period. Previously, the minimum age to become a high court judge was 40 years, which was raised to 45 sometime back and now it is again reduced to 40 years.Article 270-C of the Constitution has been amended to provide that the judges who ...

Election Tribunals decide all appealsISLAMABAD: Appellate Tribunals Friday completed the hearings regarding acceptance or rejection of nomination papers of the election candidates.The final list of candidates will be issued on Sunday.According to the schedule of Election Commission, the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers on Saturday.In Lahore High Court four Tribunals were constituted for deciding the appeals and about 226 total appeals were filed before the Tribunals o .... Mideast Conference: Betrayal of Palestinians: Al-ZawahiriCAIRO: Al-Qaida's deputy leader denounced last month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, as a "betrayal" of Palestinians in a new audio message posted Friday on an Islamic militant Web site. It was the first reaction by the terrorist network to the Mideast conference, sponsored by President Bush and attended by key Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt, as well as Palestinian and Israeli leaders."The ...

Benazir, Nawaz Sharif dabbling in dodging politics: Sheikh Rashid ISLAMABAD: Former Federal Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said that Benazir and Nawaz Sharif were engaged in dodging politics.Talking to Geo News, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that Muslim League-N was under pressure to contest elections, as they have a vote bank, but the leadership was not deciding. He said that it gets difficult for the candidates to remain sitting at home, when the election bugle sounds off.Regarding Jamaat-e-Islami, Sheikh Rashid said that it didn’t have vote bank as much, but it was a strong organization, however they could not win the election under only one umbrella.He further said that he didn’t consider any existence of the APDM, which has only three major parties, while the rest were ‘Tanga’ (carriage) parties. EC asks parties to appear on Dec 9 for symbols allocation (Updated at 1340) ISLAMABAD: With two of Muttahida Majlas-e-Aml parties already applied for election symbols individually, the Ele...

CNews ISLAMABAD: president Pervez Musharraf has directed provincial governments to ban protest demonstrations, rallies and sit-ins to ensure peaceful holding of Jan 2008 General Elections.Chairing a high-level meeting at his Camp Office in Rawalpindi, the President also urged the political parties to do away with confrontational politics and prepare for the elections.Governors and caretaker Chief Ministers of the four provinces also attended the meeting. The meeting discussed preparations being made for the holding of elections and the law and order situation in the country.President Musharraf asked the provincial governments to ensure level playing field for all the political parties. He directed the governors and chief ministers to improve law and order situation for holding the elections peacefully.He also directed the provincial governments to facilitate the foreign observers and media during the elections and also to release political workers, lawyers and civil society activists w...

CNews RAWALPINDI: President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday reiterated the government resolve to establish peace and maintain law and order in the country.In a meeting at the President’s Camp Office, the president and the Prime Minister said that no stone would be left unturned to establish peace, law and order across the country.The meeting was held to discuss the prevailing political situation.They also exchanged views on the arrangements being made for the forthcoming general elections, the draft code of conduct issued by the Election Commission and the need for ensuring security in the run up to the polls. They also discussed measures to ensure that the elections are held in a free, fair and transparent manner. During the meeting the two leaders reviewed the progress on several development projects and schemes, initiated by the present government in various parts of the country. It was noted that the overall pace of development was at a record l...

CNews PESHAWAR: Caretaker chief minister of NWFP, Shams-ul-Mulk has summoned the chief election commissioner NWFP and secretary law for deciding strategy regarding forthcoming elections.According to official sources, chief minister NWFP Shams-ul-Mulk has directed the department of law and the provincial election commission to brief him about duties of all provincial departments during the next elections.Secretary law Shaid Nasim and chief election commissioner will give briefing to the caretaker chief minister regarding the next elections after which the strategy for the elections will be determined.

CNews ISLAMABAD: Railways Minister Shaikh Rashid has said a bond of trust has been built between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto and they need no intermediary now for communication between them. He said the NWFP Assembly was heading towards dissolution and it is a big crack in MMA. In a chat he called for conciliation with other parties. Replying a question Rashid said that he has spoken at every forum that Nawaz Sharif and all other political parties should be allowed to contest in the election. He said that no political leader in the country could bag 2/3 majority in the assemblies in upcoming election. Commenting on dissolution of NWFP Assembly, Shaikh Rashid told Geo News that the step doesn’t applied any pressure over the government but it shows cracks in the MMA ranks.

CNews ISLAMABAD: Federal minister for information and broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani said Monday that the caretaker government would be formed after November 15. Addressing a press conference here, he said, the government has chalked out a plan to form the caretaker government soon after the November 15. The names of neutral and non-political personalities were under consideration to form the caretaker government to hold free, fair and transparent general elections, he said.

ISLAMABAD: Police have thrashed newsmen covering scrutiny of the nomination papers of the presidential candidates in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan. According to reports policemen used baton charge, teargas and pelted stones at newsmen causing injuries to several of them, while some of them were fainted in the police action.Policemen also cut cables of media cameras and ordered newsmen to leave the area.