Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington. -AP Photo

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s jailing of a doctor for 33 years for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden is “unjust and unwarranted,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday, vowing to continue to press the case with Islamabad.

“The United States does not believe there is any basis for holding Dr (Shakil) Afridi. We regret the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence,” she said, calling his treatment “unjust and unwarranted.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton- AFP Photo

WASHINGTON: US experts scored a cyberwarfare coup by targeting websites run by al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch and changing the message to undermine their propaganda, according to US officials.

In a speech late Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attributed the success to the State Department’s new Center for Strategic Communications, which also draws experts from the intelligence and defense communities.

One team, she said, targeted a propaganda campaign launched two weeks ago by the Yemeni-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which was “bragging about killing Americans and trying to recruit new supporters” on key tribal websites.

“Within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll al Qaeda attacks have taken on the Yemeni people,” she said during a dinner at the Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland explained on Thursday that the Al-Qaeda ads featured pictures of coffins draped in American flags, whereas the US “counter-post” showed coffins draped in Yemeni flags.

The point was “to indicate that it is Yemenis who are dying at the hands of al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen,” Nuland added.

Clinton said the US effort is having “an impact, because we monitor the extremists venting their frustration and asking their supporters not to believe everything they read on the Internet.”

It is part of a broader effort by digital experts who are fluent in Urdu, Arabic and Somali who patrol the Internet and use social media to undercut Al-Qaeda propaganda and spotlight abuses committed by al Qaeda, Clinton said.

Nuland said the US message placed on the tribal sites amounted to a “counter-spoof” and did not involve hacking.
“Whenever we do this… we identify ourselves clearly as part of the State Department’s digital outreach team, so it’s always clear who the sponsors of the alternative posts are,” Nuland told reporters.

“And let me also just make clear that we don’t hack, we don’t engage in covert activities, all of the work is attributed, as I said,” she said.

“In general, we usually do it on free sites and we do it in a free manner,”Nuland said.

In the case of posting messages on YouTube, she said, the United States pays for the service, just as everybody else.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira. — File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Thursday said that Speaker of the National Assembly had taken decision on reference against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani under the constitutional provisions and she had made up her mind after taking advice from senior lawyers.

Talking to reporters at the convention centerIslamabad, Kaira said that everyone knew the fact that despite being a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member, the Speaker had always remained impartial in conducting business in the House.

“The senior lawyers gave advice to the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza not to forward the reference against the prime minister,” he said and added that even chief justice ofPakistanalso conceded the prime minister’s right to file an appeal against the apex court order.

Responding to a question whether or not the Speaker NA had any role in forwarding the reference against the prime minister, the minister said, “If the Speaker had no right to take a decision on the reference, why the reference was sent to her and why the constitution has given her 30 days time to take a decision on any such reference.”

He said not only all the political parties but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) itself had accepted the speaker bipartisan role during the last four years.

“We know what it takes to get democracy in the country and the PPP leadership and workers have rendered sacrifices for the democratic order but on the other hand the PML-N has never done so and thus they don’t know how much blood you have to give to safeguard democratic process,” he added.

He said the PPP would not bow to threats being hurled by the PML-N leadership and the government would not retaliate to such language as it wanted to take the democratic process ahead.

Kaira said that all political forces, except for some members of the PML-N, were convinced that the prime minister had the right to file an appeal against the court order.

He also said that the apex court also had not disqualified the prime minister and rather a specific political party was repeatedly stating not to accept the hard facts.

Kaira said that the PML-N had accepted the speaker’s discretionary powers in reference against Javed Hashmi’s but were bent upon to contradict them in the Prime Minister’s case.

He also referred to the conviction of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and said if Sharif’s conviction could be overturned after lapse of nine long years why Prime Minister Gilani’s matter was being questioned.

He said all the state institutions including the international community accepted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as an elected chief executive of the country but the PML-N leadership was hell bent to distort this fact and questioned his authority.

The Minister urged Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to send his party’s nomination to the Parliamentary Committee on appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner if he believed in democratic norms.

He said though Nisar had questioned the nominations made by the Prime Minister, however, the PPP believed in upholding the democratic traditions and it would welcome the nominations made by the PML-N leader.

Rehman Malik 

Minister for Interior Rehman Malik on Thursday termed Mirza’s decision not to send reference against the prime minister to election commission “the victory of democracy”.

“The decision is based on wisdom and in accordance with country’s Constitution.As the ruling has come from a democratically elected Speaker, it is a win of democracy”, he said talking to media representatives at a local hotel inIslamabad.

The minister said that the country was facing problems and the decision would help bring an end to uncertainty.

“Speaker’s ruling is always considered final and those condemning her are in fact condemning the democracy,” he remarked.

He said the government had high regard for Supreme Court but qualification or disqualification of a member was the prerogative of National Assembly Speaker.

He said democracy in the country was restored after a great struggle and          PML-N should not take such steps which could damage it (democracy).

European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton, speaks during a press conference in Baghdad on May 24, 2012 following two days of talks between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran. -AFP Photo

BAGHDAD: Iran and world powers agreed Thursday to hold a new round of nuclear talks in Moscow on June 18-19, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after a tough two-day meeting in Baghdad.

“We will maintain intensive contacts with our Iranian counterparts to prepare a further meeting in Moscow with arrival on 17 June, with talks on 18th and 19th June,” Ashton told a news conference.

“As we have already agreed, the talks will be based on a step-by-step approach and reciprocity. We remain determined to resolve this problem in the near term through negotiations, and will continue to make every effort to that end.”

The announcement followed two long days of talks, originally scheduled to be one day, aimed at laying the groundwork to easing the crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Much of the international community suspects Iran’s nuclear activity is aimed at developing atomic weapons. The Islamic republic denies this, and Tehran’s lead nuclear negotiator later told the same news conference it has an “absolute right” to peaceful nuclear energy and uranium enrichment.

The talks followed a first session in Istanbul in mid-April, the first in 15 months, that found enough common ground to meet again in the Iraqi capital to tackle more substantive issues.

Ashton said the P5+1 powers “remain firm, clear and united in seeking a swift diplomatic resolution of the international community’s concerns on the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.”

”We expect Iran to take concrete and practical steps to urgently meet the concerns of the international community, to build confidence and to meet its international obligations,” she said.

The Briton added that the powers had proposed at the talks “clear proposals to address the Iranian nuclear issue and, in particular, all aspects of 20-percent enrichment.”

For the P5+1, this is the most worrying part of Tehran’s activity and the crunch issue because the capability to enrich to 20 percent shortens the “breakout” time needed to enrich to 90-percent weapons grade.

“Iran declared its readiness to address the issue of 20 per cent enrichment and came with its own five-point plan, including their assertion that we recognise their right to enrichment,” Ashton said.

Her proposals reportedly included demanding a suspension of 20-per cent enrichment but without the sanctions relief in return that Iran was pressing for. Ashton made no mention of sanctions in her statement.

Pakistani men walk by the Central Jail in Peshawar on Wednesday. A Pakistani doctor who helped the US track down Osama bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison for conspiring against the state, officials said, a verdict that is likely to further strain the country’s relationship with Washington. – Photo by AP

WASHINGTON: A Senate panel expressed its outrage Thursday over Pakistan’s conviction of a doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden, cutting aid to Islamabad by $33 million, $1 million for every year of the physician’s 33-year sentence for high treason.

The punitive move came on top of deep reductions the Appropriations Committee had already made to President Barack Obama’s budget request for Pakistan, a reflection of the growing congressional anger over its cooperation in combatting terrorism.

The overall foreign aid budget for next year had slashed more than half of the proposed assistance and threatened further reductions if Islamabad fails to open overland supply routes to US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Pushing aside any diplomatic talk, Republicans and Democrats criticized Pakistan one day after the conviction of Shakil Afridi.

The doctor ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden’s presence at the compound in Abbottabad where US commandos found and killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.

The United States has called for Afridi’s release, arguing that he was acting in the interest of the United States and Pakistan.

”We need Pakistan, Pakistan needs us, but we don’t need Pakistan double-dealing and not seeing the justice in bringing Osama bin Laden to an end,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, who pushed for the additional cut in aid.

He called Pakistan ”a schizophrenic ally,” helping the United States at one turn, but then aiding the Haqqani network which has claimed responsibility for several attacks on Americans.The group also has ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban. ”It’s Alice in Wonderland at best,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat. ”If this is cooperation, I’d hate like hell to see opposition.”

One of the most forceful statements came from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who also serves as the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. She pointed out that Pakistan has suffered at the hands of terrorists yet misconstrued what is treason in convicting Afridi. She also insisted that Afridi was not a spy. ”This is a very sad day,” she said.

The committee approved Graham’s amendment to cut the assistance by $33 million on a 30-0 vote. In crafting the overall legislation, the committee reduced Obama’s request to aid Pakistan by 58 percent as resentment and doubts linger in Congress a year after bin Laden was killed deep inside Pakistan.

Tensions between Washington and Islamabad have increased as Pakistan closed overland supply routes to Afghanistan after a US attack on the Pakistani side of the border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

The United States and Pakistan failed to resolve the issue at the recent Nato summit in Chicago.

Members of the Senate committee also complained about mafia-style extortion by Pakistan in seeking truck fees in exchange for opening the supply lines. The cost had been $250 per truck prior to the attack.

Pakistan is now demanding $5,000 per truck. The United States has countered at $500. The bill would provide just under $1 billion in aid to Pakistan, including $184 million for State Department operations and $800 million for foreign assistance.

Counterinsurgency money for Pakistan would be limited to $50 million. The legislation also conditions the counterinsurgency aid on Pakistan reopening the supply routes.

Islamabad will not get any of the funds for counterinsurgency or money in prior legislation unless the secretary of state certifies to the Appropriations committees that ”the government of Pakistan has reopened overland cargo routes available to support United States and Nato troops in Afghanistan, and funds appropriated under this heading can be used efficiently and effectively by the end of the fiscal year,” the legislation says If the secretary cannot certify to Congress, the money would be transferred to other accounts.

The overall legislation would fund the State Department, foreign operations and other programs at $52.1 billion, which is $2.6 billion less than what Obama requested for the 2013 fiscal year beginning Oct 1 and $1.2 billion below current spending.

The panel also cut money Obama proposed for Iraq by 77 percent, citing the deteriorating security situation there.

The bill would provide $1.1 billion for Iraq, including $582 million in foreign assistance but no money for the police development program. The panel also cut $5 million from the $250 million in economic assistance for Egypt.

Graham said it equaled the amount the US spent to get non-government workers out earlier this year, including Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Afridi’s family appealed against the verdict

The close relatives of the convicted doctor have decided to file an appeal to the FCR commissioner against Afridi’s 33-year sentence, DawnNews reported.

Prominent lawyers of Peshawar are being consulted for their legal advice on the matter.

The government has formed 12-member medical team, comprising of high officials of the health department, to medically examine Afridi on daily basis.

The US State Department report on human rights highlighted a number issues that afflicts Pakistan, including religious intolerance and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan. -AFP File Photo

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday voiced concern over extrajudicial killings and religious intolerance in Pakistan, including in its troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.

In an annual report on human rights, the State Department said that the “most serious human rights problems” in Pakistan included extrajudicial killings, torture and disappearances by both security forces and militants.

“Lack of government accountability remained a pervasive problem. Abuses often went unpunished, fostering a culture of impunity,” it said.

In presenting the report, senior US official Mike Posner also highlighted an uptick in violations of religious freedom, including through controversial anti-blasphemy laws, as well as violence in Balochistan.

“We’re very concerned about the violence in Balochistan. We’re concerned about the effects of those who’ve challenged some of the laws, like the blasphemy law,” said Posner, the assistant secretary of state for human rights.

Posner raised the case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in November 2010 for alleged blasphemy.

Assassins last year killed Salman Taseer, the governor of the central province of Punjab, and Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs, who both defended Bibi and sought reforms.

In her own remarks on the report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not name Pakistan but voiced concern over the treatment of religious minorities including the Ahmadi community.

The State Department report also accounted allegations of rights violations in Balochistan, a highly sensitive issue for Pakistan.

The report, based largely on accounts by rights groups and officials, said that disappearances in Balochistan “remained a problem” with the mutilated bodies of 355 missing people found between June 2010 and December 2011.

Baluch rebels rose up in 2004, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from oil, gas and mineral resources in the region. The unrest comes as the United States an Pakistan focus on Islamic extremism in lawless areas on the Afghan border.

The State Department report also said that prison conditions were “extremely poor” in Pakistan, with accounts of torture, sexual abuse, overcrowding, inadequate food and medical care, and discrimination against minority inmates.

“The yearning for change we have witnessed in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria is inspirational,” said US State Department report on human rights. -Reuters Photo

WASHINGTON: A US report hailed the “yearning for change” in Arab countries and moves toward openness in military-backed Myanmar, saying they may inspire a push for freedom in other dark reaches of the world.

But, in its 2011 human rights report, the State Department said the human rights situation in China was “deteriorating” and highlighted alleged abuses in Sudan, Iran, Eritrea, Russia, Syria, Pakistan and other countries.

In presenting the annual report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “this has been an especially tumultuous and momentous year for everyone involved in the cause of human rights.

“Many of the events that have dominated recent headlines from the revolutions in the Middle East to reforms in Burma (Myanmar) began with human rights, with the clear call of men and women demanding their universal rights.”

The report said “the yearning for change we have witnessed in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria is inspirational, and yet change often creates instability before it leads to greater respect for democracy and human rights.”

Following decades of repression, “it will take time to create diverse political parties, a robust civil society, a climate conducive to freedom of expression, and a transparent political culture,” it said.

It warned of transitions that can be “chaotic, unstable and at times violent,” adding they are rarely quick, smooth or easy even when they succeed.

And it recalled the high cost to demonstrators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria, where thousands have been killed and many others abused by security forces.

“But the images of demonstrators who had seemingly lost all fear, risking their lives to oppose governments they deemed illegitimate, inspired people around the world,” it said.

“Even in the most isolated places, the desire for greater freedom and political and economic opportunity began to flicker,” the report said.

The report then hailed the changes in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where the military-backed regime of President Thein Sein has surprised many observers with a spate of reforms designed to break decades of isolation.

“Burma offers an example of a government moving towards a model of greater openness, democracy, and liberty, attributes that can lead to greater innovation, prosperity, and inclusion,” it said.

“Much remains to be done to implement reforms and especially to address the legacy of decades of violence against ethnic minorities,” the report said.

“But the size of the task ahead does not diminish the excitement of these first steps, or the sense of possibility they may inspire in other closed societies, such as Iran, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Eritrea, or Sudan,” it added.

The report said that China’s human rights record was getting worse, with authorities stepping up efforts to silence activists and stifle public debate.

The report said that Chinese forces “reportedly committed arbitrary or unlawful killings” and has held activists in unknown circumstances including human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and ethnic Mongolian campaigner Hada.

The report was issued just days after China allowed one of its best-known activists, Chen Guangcheng, to go to the United States after he dramatically escaped house arrest and took refuge in the US embassy.

The State Department report covered 2011, before the high-profile saga over Chen. In the report, the State Department detailed concerns over the treatment of Chen including “severe” beatings by thugs against him and his wife.

The report was also particularly critical of Eritrea, where it said “widespread” human rights abuses continued.

“Security forces tortured and beat army deserters, draft evaders, persons attempting to flee the country and members of certain religious groups,” it said.

In Sudan, government forces staged air raids on civilian areas on the border with South Sudan, while human rights abuses “went unpunished,” the report said.

The Iranian government “continued to deny its citizens human rights, including the freedoms of expression, assembly, association, movement, and religion,” it said.

In Pakistan, security forces, extremists and separatists were implicated in “extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances,” it said.

“These affected thousands of citizens in nearly all areas of the country.”In Russia, “attacks on and killings of journalists and activists continued,” while there were reports of “significant irregularities and fraud”during parliamentary elections in December.

The “tweet” that got Kevin Pietersen in trouble with ECB. – Twitter screenshot

NOTTINGHAM: England captain Andrew Strauss issued a warning to his squad on Thursday regarding the dangers of Twitter after Kevin Pietersen’s latest spat on the social networking site.

Pietersen, one of England’s leading batsmen, was fined an undisclosed sum Wednesday by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for going on to Twitter to question the credentials of former England international Nick Knight as a Test match commentator of Sky Sports.

Strauss, speaking on the eve of the second Test against the West Indies here at Trent Bridge, said that Twitter was a double-edged sword.

“I’m far too boring to use it!,” he joked. “There are always shades of grey with Twitter. It does a really good job of publicising the game but players can find themselves in hot water occasionally.

“There is a line they need to tread with regards to their conditions of employment. We have our own code of conduct and it is manageable.

“You will get occasions when people step out of line and they will be dealt with accordingly,” he said.

Pietersen reacted to being fined an undisclosed sum, part suspended for 12 months, by insisting he had nothing against Sky, whose commentary team includes several former England captains.

“Just so as you know, (Michael) Atherton, (Nasser) Hussain, (David) Gower and (Ian) Botham, legends,” Pietersen said as he walked into the pavilion after net practice here on Thursday.

Pietersen took to Twitter last week to question the credentials of Knight, who averaged just 23.96 in 17 Tests with one hundred, as a broadcaster.

“Can someone please tell me how Nick Knight has worked his way into the commentary box for the Tests? Ridiculous,” said Pietersen, who has 20 Test hundreds to his credit.

Pietersen’s comments about Knight were especially sensitive, as Sky agreed in January a new four-year deal to show live international and county cricket believed to be worth at least $408 million – the ECB’s main source of income.

An ECB statement issued Wednesday said Pietersen had been fined for comments considered to be “prejudicial to the interests of the ECB and a breach of the England player conditions of employment in relation to clauses regarding public statements.”

ECB managing director Hugh Morris, himself a former international batsman, is wary of Twitter, once labelling its use by England players as “like giving a machine gun to a monkey”.

The 31-year-old Pietersen, 31, had previously taken to Twitter to accuse Knight of “stealing a living” from Sky last year and had also run into trouble after using the site to announce his omission from an England one-day squad.

Knight, who has questioned Pietersen’s place in that one-day team, said, in comments reported by the Daily Mail on Thursday: “He (Pietersen) has his opinions and I have had my say about him on a professional basis.

“A lot of it has been full of admiration for the way he plays and I don’t see this as a big issue.”

The second Test – in which Pietersen is expected to play – starts on Friday with England 1-0 up in the three-match series following a five-wicket win over the West Indies at Lord’s.

A woman marks her ballot before casting it at a polling station in Cairo May 23, 2012. – Photo by Reuters.

CAIRO: Egypt prepared to wrap up landmark presidential polls on Thursday after an orderly two-day vote in which candidates pitted stability against the ideals of the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule.

Polling stations were to close at 9:00 PM, after voting was extended by one hour, with only minor violations reported by the interior ministry.

“Before the revolution, I never voted, because it was not useful.  Since then, I have voted in every election because it’s my right and my duty,” said Ahmed Badreddine, 37, at a polling station in Cairo’s Giza neighbourhood.

Queues formed outside the voting centres after they opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) with authorities declaring Thursday a holiday to allow public sector employees to cast their ballots.

“We used to consider the president a knight who could solve all our problems, but we have to look at what kind of system we want, not just the person we want,” said Ayman Saad, 26, his finger stained purple with indelible ink to show he had voted.

Turnout appeared to vary across the country, with long queues outside some polling stations, and scant participation in others.

The official body supervising the election estimated that around 50 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballot.

Around 50 million voters were choosing among 12 candidates, with the front runners divided between Islamic politicians who say they will champion the uprising’s goals and Mubarak-era ministers.

Among the contenders was former foreign minister and Arab League chief Amr Mussa, seen as an experienced politician and diplomat. But like Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister, he is accused of ties with the old regime.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohammed Mursi, faces competition from Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former member of the Islamic movement who portrays himself as a consensus choice with a wide range of support.

Two of the candidates are expected to go into June run-offs after the May 23 and 24 vote, with pollsters saying the number of undecided voters made the result of the first round extremely difficult to predict.

At a school in the upmarket Cairo neighbourhood of Heliopolis, with the dome of Mubarak’s former presidential palace visible a few hundred metres (yards) away, hundreds of women braved the heat to stand in line to vote.

Noha Hamdy, 27, said it was a pleasant novelty to be voting in an election where the outcome is not predetermined.

“We go to an election not knowing who will win. I never voted before because the winner was always known in advance,” she said.

“This time I feel who I vote for, even if he doesn’t win, will make a difference.” The next president will inherit a struggling economy, deteriorating security and the challenge of uniting a nation divided by the uprising and its sometimes deadly aftermath, but his powers are yet to be defined by a new constitution.

“The big challenge for the president will be to attract foreign investors and boost tourism,” to “restore the balance of payments” and “restore the reserve” currency in the central bank, which has dropped by half in the past year, Mahmoud Abdel Fadil, a Cairo University economics professor, told AFP.

To do that, the new president will have to “reestablish political stability and assure a level of total security. Confidence must be restored,” he added.

The election seals a tumultuous military-led transition from autocratic rule marked by political upheaval and bloodshed, but which also witnessed democratic parliamentary elections that saw Islamist groups score a crushing victory.

Ballot boxes from Wednesday were kept overnight in the stations after being sealed with wax by election commission officials and left under military and police protection.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in power since Mubarak’s ouster, has vowed to restore civilian rule by the end of June, after a president is elected, but many fear its withdrawal from politics will be just an illusion.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan-   File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday regarded Speaker of National Assembly (NA) Fehmida Mirza’s ruling as worst. He said that the speaker did not meet the requirements of the law and the constitution, DawnNews reported.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Nisar said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was already ridiculing Supreme Court’s verdict of Yousuf Raza Gilani’s conviction and now the NA speaker has become a part of that group.”

He said that seven judges of the apex court had unanimously given verdict against Gilani, adding that he said, “If the principle of justice was considered, the NA speaker would have forwarded the case to the election commission (ECP).

Nisar said “by not forwarding the reference to the ECP, the speaker has tried to save Gilani’s premiership.”

Terming Mirza’s decision as ridiculous, the opposition leader said that the NA Speaker failed to provide any precedent example to support her decision fromPakistanor elsewhere in the world. “We think that the NA Speaker has misused her position and has not done justice,” he added.

Nominees for the Chief Election Commissioner

Speaking to Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Secretary General Liaqat Baloch on telephone, Nisar said that the PML-N wanted to propose the names of Justice (rtd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Justice (rtd) Fakhrud Din G. Ibrahim and the present acting CEC Justice Shakirullah Jan, for the office of the chief election commissioner.