Month: August 2023

ISLAMABAD: The upcoming general elections in the country will likely be delayed as the Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting on Saturday “unanimously” approved the 2023 census.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of the CCI to decide the fate of the 2023 census amid reports of division among the coalition partners over the matter.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Adviser to the PM on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira and other officials also participated in the huddle.

According to a statement issued following the meeting, the census 2023 was approved with the consensus of all four chief ministers and representatives of all political parties.

During the meeting, PM Shehbaz appreciated the provincial governments and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) for playing an important role in completing the census.

The Ministry of Planning briefed the participants on the digital census. Moreover, the results of 2023 census were also presented during the CCI meeting.

The current total population of Pakistan is 241.49 million as per the seventh census with an annual growth rate of 2.55%.

The population growth rate of Balochistan is 3.2% — higher than the rest of the provinces.

“The population has increased by 350 million in the last six years which is a matter of concern. Pakistan’s population growth rate is more than its economic growth,” the PM said.

PM Shehbaz added that the government will have to stop the population growth as well as overcome the challenges by increasing the pace of economic development.

The population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 40.85 million, Punjab 127.68 million, Sindh 55.69 million, Balochistan 14.89 million and Islamabad’s population stands at 2.36 million, the meeting was briefed.

The CCI huddle unanimously approved the latest digital census despite the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a key ally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government, had publicly expressed reservations over it.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) also reportedly informed the federal government that it had completed all the formalities.

The general elections are likely to be delayed by a couple of months as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would need additional time to conduct the delimitation exercise afresh.

Under the law, if a new census is notified, the ECP is bound to hold elections on the basis of new data.

It is important to note that the ruling coalition has agreed to dissolve the National Assembly prematurely on August 9 — three days before its term ends — giving the electoral body 90 days to conduct polls.

PPP, MQM-P divided

Meanwhile, the two main coalition partners of PM Shehbaz Sharif — Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and PPP had opposite views on the enumeration.

The PPP has on multiple occasions said that polls should be held on the basis of the 2017 census, reiterating that any delay in polls will not be accepted.

On Friday, while speaking on the floor of the Senate, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said that the census issue was controversial and would open up a new Pandora’s box of delimitation of constituencies.

“This issue could be used to delay the election. We don’t want elections to be delayed, rather it should be held on time and under the Constitution,” she maintained.

On the other hand, MQM-P has shared its concerns on the matter with the prime minister, stressing that elections on the previous enumeration would not be acceptable.

PML-N ‘ready’ to address concerns

Moreover, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Talal Chaudhry told Geo News that there’s no harm in delaying polls as it is more important that the election results are acceptable to everyone.

‘Polls may be delayed by 4 months’

Talking to Geo News on Friday, former secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad said that if the CCI approves the census 2023, elections will be held in 2024.

“If the gazette notification of the new digital census is issued on the recommendations of the CCI, then the ECP is legally bound under Article 51(5) of the Constitution to conduct fresh delimitation,” he said.

Officials reported the deaths in Baoding, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Beijing, adding that 18 people were missing.

Storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon that hit mainland China last Friday, has brought the most severe rains to the region since records began 140 years ago.

By noon Saturday (0400 GMT), more than 600,000 of Baoding’s 11.5 million residents had been evacuated from areas deemed to be at risk, officials said.

The torrential rain that hit northeast China on Saturday battered the provinces bordering Russia and North Korea.

A red alert remains in force in Beijing due to “geological risks” such as landslides linked to the bad weather.

Clean-up operations are ongoing after the overwhelming rainfall, which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire districts.

China has been hit hard by extreme weather in recent months, from record-breaking heatwaves to deadly flooding.

Natural disasters caused 147 deaths or disappearances last month, China said Friday, after the heaviest rains since records began hit the country’s capital.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said 142 of the deaths or disappearances recorded in July were caused by flooding or geological disasters.

Streets became rivers

Dramatic aerial photographs taken by AFP of Zhuozhou on Wednesday showed shopping streets turned into rivers of brown water, while others showed farmland in the surrounding areas completely submerged and floodwater stretching for miles.

AFP saw rescuers using boats to ferry instant noodles, bread and drinking water to residents who could not or did not want to leave properties engulfed by water.

Millions of people have been hit by extreme weather events and prolonged heatwaves around the globe in recent weeks, events that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change.

Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said that while the typhoon had brought the rain, rising ocean temperatures due to climate change were also causing the extreme weather.

“China has suffered unprecedented extreme heatwaves since last year… This year, there are record-breaking high temperatures in Northern China,” Ma told AFP this week.

“These heatwaves are linked to global warming, and this is what most climate scientists around the world tend to agree,” he said.

The meeting, which Ukrainian organisers had said would include representatives from around 40 countries but not Russia, began on Saturday in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, participants said.

Agenda of the session features three hours of statements from various delegations before a two-hour closed discussion and a dinner.

“I predict that the conversation will not be easy, but the truth is on our side,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said in an interview broadcast earlier.

“We have many disagreements and we have heard many positions, but it is important that we share our principles,” added Yermak, who also heads Kyiv’s delegation to Jeddah.

“Our task is to unite the whole world around Ukraine.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24 last year, failing in its attempt to take the capital but seizing swathes of eastern territory that Western-backed Ukrainian troops are fighting to recapture.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said this week that the meeting would focus on his 10-point peace formula that calls for the full withdrawal of Russian troops and restoration of Ukraine’s borders, including the territory of Crimea, annexed by Russia since 2014.

However, Russia has in the past made it clear that any negotiations would need to take into account “new territorial realities”.

Bringing in BRICS

The Jeddah meeting follows talks in Copenhagen in June that were designed to be informal and did not yield an official statement.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is leading Washington’s delegation to the Saudi city, a senior White House official said.

While Washington does not expect a major breakthrough or joint statements to come out of Saturday’s session, diplomats instead said the Ukraine-organised meetings were intended to engage a range of countries in debates about a path towards peace — notably members of the BRICS bloc with Russia that have adopted a more neutral stance on the war in contrast to Western powers.

China, which says it is a neutral party in the conflict but has been criticised by Western countries for refusing to condemn Russia, announced it would send its special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, to the meeting.

The meeting highlights Saudi Arabia’s “readiness to exert its good offices to contribute to reaching a solution that will result in permanent peace”, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The world’s biggest crude exporter which works closely with Russia on oil policy, Riyadh has touted its ties to both sides and positioned itself as a possible mediator in the war.

“There should be some resonance of reciprocity from New Delhi as well,” said Pakistan’s US ambassador, and a former president of Azad Kashmir, while addressing a meeting in Washington. “It takes two to tango. It can’t be a monologue. It needs to be a dialogue.”

Addressing a summit in Islamabad earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had expressed his willingness to hold talks with India.

On Aug 3, the US also backed efforts to resume India-Pakistan talks. Asked to comment on Mr Sharif’s offer, US State Depart­ment spokesman Matthew Miller said: “As we have long said, we support direct dialogue between India and Pakis­tan on issues of concern.” India, however, has rejected Pakistan’s offer, saying that Islamabad needs to create an ‘environment’ for peace before the talks resume.

Ambassador Khan, however, reiterated the talks offer at a meeting called to mark Aug 5 as the “day of usurpation”.

A large number of Pakistani and Kashmiri Americans, members of civil society and human rights activists attended the event. Messages from President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Sharif reiterated their unswerving commitment to the Kashmir cause.

Videos highlighting the struggle of Kashmiri people and Indian atrocities were also played. Pakistan released a set of documents, authored by human rights groups and media activists, showing the situation in the Indian-occupied territory.

Britain’s Shadow Minister for Legal Aid Afzal Khan said Labour MPs had urged the government not to abdicate its historical responsibility and to play its part in promoting sustainable peace and prosperity in the region. Human rights activist Shamim Shawal said that 9,000 girls were missing since 2019 and 181 children were missing since 2022.

‘Adapt and innovate’

Muzammil Ayub Thakur, president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, advised the people of Kashmir to “learn to adapt and innovate” to make sure that their struggle for freedom succeeds.

The Chancellor of East West University, Chicago, Wasiullah Khan, urged Kashmiris to continue their peaceful struggle for freedom.

Senator Abdul Qayyum said peace-loving nations must stand with all oppressed people of the world, including the Kashmiris.

Mohsin Ansari, the presi­dent of Islamic Circle of North America, offered continued support of his organisation to the people of Kashmir.

Professor Imtiaz Khan of George Washington University said the people of India should learn to look beyond the rhetoric of their government and see how it was suppressing the Kashmiri people.

The meeting of national security advisers and other officials in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah underscores Riyadh’s “readiness to exert its good offices to contribute to reaching a solution that will result in permanent peace,” the official Saudi Press Agency said Friday.

Invitations were sent to around 30 countries, Russia not among them, according to diplomats familiar with the preparations.

The SPA report said only that “a number of countries” would attend.

It follows Ukraine-organised talks in Copenhagen in June that were designed to be informal and did not yield an official statement.

Instead, diplomats said the sessions were intended to engage a range of countries in debates about a path towards peace, notably members of the BRICS bloc with Russia that have adopted a more neutral stance on the war in contrast to Western powers.

Speaking on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the wide range of countries represented in the Jeddah talks, including developing countries which have been hit hard by the surge in food prices triggered by the war.

“This is very important, because on issues such as food security, the fate of millions of people in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world directly depends on how fast the world moves to implement the peace formula,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter which works closely with Russia on oil policy, has touted its ties to both sides and positioned itself as a possible mediator in the war, now nearly a year and a half old.

“In hosting the summit, Saudi Arabia wants to reinforce its bid to become a global middle power with the ability to mediate conflicts while asking us to forget some of its failed strategies and actions of the past, like its Yemen intervention or the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” said Joost Hiltermann, Middle East programme director for the International Crisis Group.

The 2018 slaying of Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post, by Saudi agents in Turkey once threatened to isolate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.

But the energy crisis produced by the Ukraine war elevated Saudi Arabia’s global importance, helping to facilitate his rehabilitation.

Moving forward Riyadh “wants to be in the company of an India or a Brazil, because only as a club can these middle powers hope to have impact on the world stage,” Hiltermann added.

“Whether they will be able to agree on all things, such as the Ukraine war, is a big question.”

‘Balancing’

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, failing in its attempt to take Kyiv but seizing swathes of territory that Western-backed Ukrainian troops are fighting to recapture.

Beijing, which says it is a neutral party in the conflict but has been criticised by Western capitals for refusing to condemn Moscow, announced on Friday it would participate in the Jeddah talks.

“China is willing to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

India has also confirmed its attendance in Jeddah, describing the move as in line “with our longstanding position” that “dialogue and diplomacy is the way forward”. South Africa said it too will take part.

Saudi Arabia has backed UN Security Council resolutions denouncing Russia’s invasion as well as its unilateral annexation of territory in eastern Ukraine.

Yet last year, Washington criticised oil production cuts approved in October, saying they amounted to “aligning with Russia” in the war.

This May, the kingdom hosted Zelensky at an Arab summit in Jeddah, where he accused some Arab leaders of turning “a blind eye” to the horrors of Russia’s invasion.

In sum, Riyadh has adopted a “classic balancing strategy” that could soften Russia’s response to this weekend’s summit, said Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.

“They’re working with the Russians on several files, so I guess Russia will deem such an initiative if not totally favourable then not unacceptable as well.”