Month: July 2023

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms has expedited the work on the amendments to the election laws by examining 73 rectification proposals presented before it

The panel has reportedly decided to finalise the recommendations by the next week and get the reforms to the Election Act approved by both houses of parliament before the end of the tenure of the National Assembly, which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said will be in August.

An in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms headed by its chairman and Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Committee members, including Law Minister Azam Tarar, Dr Fehmida Mirza, Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Senator Taj Haider, MNA Afzal Dhandla, Senator Manzoor Ahmed, Senator Kamran Murtaza and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) secretary attended the meeting.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Sadiq ruled out the possibility of banning any political party, saying there was no proposal to ban any party as the committee’s job was to make electoral reforms.

“We will review the contentious issues on Thursday besides drafting the agreed-upon proposals. The controversial issues which need further discussion will be examined on Monday,” he said.

Sadiq said there was a thorough discussion on proposals for electoral reforms, and effective proposals were taken into consideration for the transparent conduct of elections.

He said many things were done during former chief justice Saqib Nisar’s tenure, and the committee was trying to fix controversial decisions related to elections.

The proposals

Sources said that the committee was suggested to give a specific time limit to the presiding officer to compile results and to call them to account in case of any delay in the process.

Binding the presiding officer to give a sound reason for the delay in compiling election results was also suggested.

Moreover, it was proposed in the meeting that the presiding officer would send a photocopy of the signed result to the returning officer and also proposed to provide the presiding officer with high-speed internet and smartphone. Allowing polling agents to carry camera phones was also suggested.

The committee was suggested installing CCTV cameras at each polling station booth for assistance in poll review, counting and compilation of results and in case of complaints, and provision of camera recordings as evidence.

Further suggestions include jacking up election expenses limit for both national and provincial assemblies’ candidates, allowing the candidates to be able to get the video of any polling station by paying a fee, taking action against the presiding and reviewing officer under the criminal law over negligence, displaying the complete voters list outside each polling station, and allowing security personnel deployed outside the polling station to enter the polling station with the permission of the presiding officer in case of emergency.

Under the proposal of increasing the poll expenses, Rs4 million to Rs10 million were suggested to be spent for the NA seat electioneering, and Rs2 million to Rs4 million on provincial assembly seat electioneering.

Awarding a 6-month to 3-year jail term to the election staff over involvement in rigging the election was also discussed in the meeting.

Meanwhile, a proposal to decide the violation of the code of conduct in seven days instead of 15 days was also given in the meeting.

Another proposal was uploading the final list of polling staff on the ECP website so that the candidate would be able to challenge the appointment of polling staff to the constituency within 10 days.

Six people were killed on Wednesday in clashes between police and demonstrators who joined banned opposition protests against tax hikes, police officers told AFP.

After the violence, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki issued a warning that the authorities would no longer tolerate it.

“Lives have been lost, scores of law enforcement officers and civilians have been grievously injured and unimaginable loss to the country’s economy has been occasioned,” he said in a statement condemning “widespread violence, looting and destruction of private and public property”.

“This culture of impunity will stop,” he vowed. Police had earlier fired tear gas on protesters in and around Nairobi, with five of the six deaths reported in the towns of Mlolongo and Kitengela on the capital’s outskirts.

Tear gas was also used to disperse crowds attacking a highway connecting Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa, with one death recorded in Emali, a town located along that route.

“We have three deaths in Mlolongo, where a group of demonstrators had blocked the road to protest, and we also have two others in Kitengela and one in Emali,” a police officer said.

“There was a confrontation with police officers deployed to quell the riots and some (people)… were shot in the process,” he said on condition of anonymity.

A second policeman said, “I can confirm the deaths in Mlolongo, Emali and Kitengela,” without elaborating further.

In Nairobi’s Kangemi slum, dozens of children were hospitalised, some unconscious, after teargas was fired near their classrooms, the head of the clinic told AFP.

“We took 53 of them to the hospital and they are all now in a stable condition awaiting discharge,” he said.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, pursuing a protest campaign against the government, had urged demonstrations against a tax law that has seen fuel prices surge, adding to the difficulties faced by poor Kenyans.

But late Tuesday, police chief Japhet Koome said the authorities had not received any official notification of rallies, as required by law.

“All lawful means will be used to disperse such demonstrations,” he warned.  Major roads in several western cities where Odinga commands significant support were deserted as protesters took to the streets.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Jakarta in a crucial development that underscores the escalating tensions between the United States and China.

The meeting comes as officials from both nations gather in Indonesia for ASEAN meetings, marking the latest in a series of interactions between the rival superpowers. The talks aim to manage the strained relationship and prevent further conflict.

During their second meeting in as many months, Blinken and Wang will engage in discussions on the sidelines of the ASEAN-plus-three foreign minister talks. The meeting’s significance lies in the flurry of recent diplomacy between the world’s two largest economies, which have been grappling with numerous issues, including China’s regional assertiveness and US restrictions on semiconductor exports.

While both countries acknowledge the need to manage the relationship, no breakthroughs are expected at this stage. The primary goal is to prevent friction from escalating into outright conflict. As one analyst suggests, “It’s about managing the competition…trying to prevent things from spiraling out of control.”

The meeting follows Blinken’s historic visit to Beijing last month, the first by a US Secretary of State in five years. President Xi Jinping, along with Wang and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, met with Blinken during the visit. These engagements, along with recent visits by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and climate envoy John Kerry, highlight the ongoing efforts to stabilise the intense rivalry between the superpowers.

However, it is important to note that tensions remain high, as evidenced by recent events. Microsoft’s revelation of Chinese hackers breaching US government email accounts, including those of the State Department, has added another layer of complexity to the already strained relations. Nevertheless, both sides are keen to continue diplomatic engagements, with hopes of a potential summit between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this year.

The Jakarta meetings, involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and partner countries, provide a platform for Blinken and Wang to address their countries’ respective interests and concerns. While the focus of the discussions may be on managing conflicts, the meetings also aim to foster stability and explore avenues for cooperation.

VILNIUS: President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having a “craven lust for land and power” at the end of a NATO summit on Wednesday where Ukraine won new security assurances from the US and its allies for its defence against Moscow.

Members of the world’s most powerful military bloc offered the prospect of long-term protection a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy decried as “absurd” a refusal to offer an invitation or timetable for Ukraine’s entry into NATO.

Ukraine has been pushing for rapid membership while fighting a Russian invasion unleashed in February 2022 that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Instead, a declaration by the G7 group of the world’s most industrialised countries launched a framework for bilateral negotiations to provide military and financial support, intelligence sharing and a promise of immediate steps if Russia should attack again.

“Our support will last long into the future. It’s a powerful statement of our commitment to Ukraine,” Biden said alongside Zelenskiy and leaders of the G7, which is made up of the US, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, at the end of the two-day meeting on Russia’s doorstep, Biden said Putin had badly underestimated the resolve of the US-led military alliance.

“NATO is stronger, more energized and yes, more united than ever in its history. Indeed, more vital to our shared future. It didn’t happen by accident. It wasn’t inevitable,” Biden said.

“When Putin, and his craven lust for land and power, unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, he was betting NATO would break apart … But he thought wrong.”

Swallowing his disappointment over the lack of a membership timetable, Zelenskiy hailed NATO’s “practical and unprecedented support for Ukraine” and said that at the summit, Ukraine had obtained “unambiguous clarity that Ukraine will be in NATO”.

He tweeted: “I believe we will be in NATO once the security situation stabilises. Put simply, when the war is over, Ukraine will be invited into NATO and Ukraine will clearly become a member of the Alliance. I felt no thoughts of any other sort.”

At a meeting with Zelenskiy, Biden promised him the US was doing everything it could to meet Ukraine’s needs and acknowledged Zelenskiy’s frustration about the scale and speed of support.

“Your resilience and your resolve has been a model for the whole world to see,” Biden said. “I look forward to the day when we’re having the meeting celebrating your official, official membership in NATO.”

“The bad news for you is, we’re not going anywhere. You’re stuck with us,” Biden joked, prompting laughter from Zelenskiy.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan had said Biden would discuss the issue of long-range missiles with Zelenskiy when they met.

Speaking to reporters later, Biden said: “One thing Zelenskiy understands now is that whether or not he’s in NATO now is not relevant” as long as he has the commitments that have been made at the summit. “He’s not concerned about that now.”

Zelenskiy told Biden he wanted to thank “all Americans” for the billions of dollars in aid his country had received.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he had told Ukraine that its international allies were “not Amazon” and Kyiv needed to show gratitude for weapons donations to persuade Western politicians to give more.

Zelenskiy said: “We were always grateful to the UK, prime ministers and the minister of defence because the people are always supporting us.”

Britain, France, Germany and the US have been negotiating with Kyiv for weeks over a broad international framework of support, encompassing modern advanced military equipment such as fighter jets, training, intelligence-sharing and cyberdefence.

In return Ukraine would pledge better governance, including through judicial and economic reforms and enhanced transparency.

The first sitting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council was also held on Wednesday, a format designed to tighten cooperation between Kyiv and the 31-nation alliance.

‘Potentially very dangerous’

NATO is built around mutual security guarantees whereby an attack on one is an attack on all, and it has carefully avoided extending any firm military commitments to Ukraine, worried it would risk taking it closer to a full-on war with Russia.

Ukraine has been wary of any less-binding security “assurances”, given Russia’s invasion already trampled the so-called Budapest Memorandum under which international powers committed to keeping the country safe in exchange for Kyiv giving up its Soviet-era nuclear arms.

Speaking earlier alongside Zelenskiy, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine was closer to the alliance than ever before, and brushed aside new warnings from Russia about the consequences of supporting Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the security arrangements for Ukraine were not designed to be a substitute for full NATO membership and said the commitments at the summit marked a high point for the West’s support for Kyiv.

Russia, which says NATO’s eastward expansion is an existential threat to its own security, swiftly lashed out.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “potentially very dangerous” for the West to give Ukraine security guarantees.

The Russian foreign ministry said the summit showed that NATO was reverting to “Cold War schemes” and added that it would respond “in a timely and appropriate manner, using all means and methods at our disposal.”

More than 13 million Americans were under flood watches and warnings from Eastern New York state to Boston and Western Maine to the northeast, the National Weather Service said in its forecast Monday, after storms that began over the weekend inundated rivers and streams.

Meanwhile, a Vermont reservoir threatened to overwhelm a dam protecting the state’s capital on Tuesday and exacerbate “catastrophic” flooding that has already shut roadways leading out of town and trapped some residents in their homes.

Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated damages and economic loss at $3 billion to $5bn, preliminarily, based on its own method of evaluation.

More than 1,000 flights to and from airports across the region, including New York’s LaGuardia and Boston’s Logan, were delayed or cancelled on Monday due to the rains.

Amtrak suspended passenger train service between the state capital Albany and New York City after flooding damaged tracks, as did the Metro-North commuter railroad which shares some of the same track.

New York and Vermont were the hardest-hit states.

Vermont officials were calling the flooding the worst since Hurricane Irene reached the state as a tropical storm in 2011.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck” event, Vermont Governor Phil Scott told a news conference.

Parts of Vermont had already received between seven and eight inches of rain, turning streets into raging rivers.

Some 50 isolated people were rescued by swift boat, said Mark Bosma, spokesperson for Vermont Emergency Management, on WCAX television. Officials expected rivers to flood overnight, posing risks to cities such as Montpelier, the state capital.

“We really want people to be hyper-vigilant and monitoring the weather and don’t wait too long to get higher ground,” Bosma said.

 

Swiftboat crews rescued about a dozen campers in Andover, said Jeanette Haight, the town’s clerk.

“A bridge washed out, and that was the only way in or out,” she said. “The call for help went out at 4am and they set up a swift-boat rescue. Everyone is safe this morning.”

In New York, more than eight inches of rain fell from Sunday to Monday in Stormville, a small town just over 50 miles northeast of New York City.

The weather claimed the life of an Orange County, New York, woman, swept away by floodwaters as she tried to leave her home with her dog on Sunday, officials said.

“Her fiance literally saw her swept away,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference in the town of Highland Falls.

Much of the New York flooding was along the Hudson River north of New York City including the Orange County town of West Point, home to the Army’s US Military Academy.

Video and photos posted on social media showed washed-out roadways and raging floodwaters reaching houses on Sunday and early Monday morning.

 

 

“Oh my God. It’s up to my knees,” Melissa Roberts said in a video showing floodwaters rushing past her and several vehicles and up to homes in Orange County.

More rain forecast

Concerns over the Vermont dam have worsened as more rains threaten to cause additional flooding across Vermont, the northeastern corner of New York state and parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, the National Weather Service said.

Light to moderate showers were in the forecast on Tuesday, before gradually diminishing throughout the day.

As much as another half an inch of rain was expected for the area, the service said, while rain showers and thunderstorms were in the forecast each day this week.

The Winooski is one of three major Vermont rivers that were cresting on Tuesday morning at or near record levels, said Weather Service forecaster Marlon Verasamy.

In Johnson, in central Vermont, the Lamoille River was at 21 feet, some five feet above its normal flood stage, he said.