ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Sunday launched its manifesto ahead of the upcoming national elections, promising a “new social order” in the politically and economically troubled South Asian country.
Pakistan, a country of more than 241 million people, is scheduled to hold national elections on Feb. 8, with 17,800 candidates running for 266 National Assembly and 593 provincial assembly seats. A total of 128.5 million voters will be exercising their right to vote in the elections.
But the elections have been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging and a lack of level playing field, mainly by the Khan-led PTI, whose several top leaders have either been arrested or driven underground, in the wake of a crackdown since May, when Khan supporters staged violent demonstrations over his brief arrest in a graft case.
In its election manifesto launched on Sunday, the PTI announced a comprehensive strategy to overcome persistent challenges facing the country by addressing societal divisions, establishing a truth and reconciliation commission, and ensuring uncompromising justice.
“All powerful institutions to be made subservient to serve the nation as defined in the constitution of Pakistan,” the PTI highlighted among salient features of its proposed social order. “All to be equal in front of law.”
Since his ouster in a no-trust vote in April 2022, Khan, who rose to power in 2018 with what political analysts say was the support of the military, has maintained the generals had conspired with Washington and his political rivals to end his term. The military, Khan’s opponents and Washington have denied the claims.
The ex-premier, who is in jail since August on graft charges, has since waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the powerful military, which has directly ruled Pakistan on many occasions.
In its manifesto, the PTI promised to restrict the role of state institutions to “service only,” enhance local governance, ensure inclusive education and affordable housing and austerity in all spheres of government, if it was elected to power in the elections.
The party said it would provide lands to farmers, launch an aggressive energy exploration program for the energy-starved nation, and ensure the rule of law for equal rights.
“PTI commits to diversifying the judiciary by appointing judges based on merit, diversity, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. Special emphasis will be placed on increasing the number of female judges for a balanced gender perspective,” it said.
The party said it would promote local industry, take export enhancement measures, ensure growth of the IT sector and digital economy, expand health care technology and infrastructure, enhance systemic liquidity and debt management, and launch various agricultural, educational and other initiatives to steer Pakistan to the path of development.
A day earlier, the PTI urged its election candidates to hold rallies across the country on Sunday to mobilize voters ahead of the national polls.
“Tomorrow on Sunday, all of you should take out rallies across the country in a peaceful manner,” Barrister Gohar Khan, the current PTI chairman, said in a message to the party’s election candidates. “Take your [election] symbols to the people so that the people can recognize them.”
Pakistan’s top court earlier this month upheld a decision by the country’s election regulator to strip the PTI of its electoral symbol, a cricket bat. The move came as a major blow to Khan’s party, whose nominees will now contest polls as independent candidates.
Gohar said the right to hold election rallies was guaranteed by Pakistan’s constitution and urged PTI-backed candidates to hold rallies to demonstrate the party’s support among the masses.
Ex-PM Khan’s party launches manifesto ahead of Pakistan polls, promises ‘new social order’
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Ex-PM Khan’s party launches manifesto ahead of Pakistan polls, promises ‘new social order’
- Pakistan is scheduled to hold national elections on Feb. 8, with 17,800 candidates running for 266 national and 593 provincial seats
- However, the elections have been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging, lack of level playing field, mainly by ex-PM Khan’s party
‘Precise, proportionate’: Pakistan says only targeted Indian facilities involved in civilian killings
- Four days of fighting, the worst conflict between the neighbors since 1999, has killed nearly 70 people on both sides
- The hostilities were triggered by an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 tourists on April 22
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan exercised restraint and only targeted Indian military facilities and entities that were involved in the killings of Pakistani civilians in this week’s incursions, a Pakistani military spokesman said on Sunday, a day after the United States (US) brokered a truce between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Tensions between India and Pakistan over an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir escalated on Wednesday, when India struck multiple Pakistani cities with missiles, quickly followed by what Islamabad said was the downing of five Indian fighter jets.
Both neighbors continued to attack the other’s territory with fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery until Saturday evening, when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire that has largely held, except for a few alleged violations in Kashmir.
Briefing the media about operational details, Pakistani military spokesman, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said Pakistan hit 26 Indian military facilities and dozens of its drones hovered over major Indian cities, including India’s capital New Delhi, in their counter-offensive against India.
“Pakistan’s military response has been precise, proportionate and still remarkably restrained,” Chaudhry said, sharing details of ‘Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos.’
“It was carefully calibrated to avoid civilian casualties and it exclusively targeted those entities and facilities which were directly involved in orchestrating and executing cold-blooded killings of Pakistani civilians.”
Four days of fighting, the worst conflict between the neighbors since 1999, has killed nearly 70 people on both sides, with some residents of border villages still waiting to return to their homes.
Diplomacy and pressure from the United States helped secure the ceasefire deal when it seemed that the conflict was spiraling alarmingly. But within hours of its coming into force, artillery fire was witnessed in Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.
A top Indian army officer said on Sunday the Indian military had sent a “hotline message” to Pakistan about violations of a ceasefire agreed this week and informed it of New Delhi’s intent to respond if it was repeated.
“Sometimes, these understandings take time to fructify, manifest on the ground,” Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, India’s director-general of military operations, told a media briefing, referring to the truce. “The [Indian] armed forces were on a very, very high alert [on Saturday] and continue to be in that state.”
The hostilities were triggered by the attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam resort town that killed 26 tourists on April 22. India accused Pakistan of backing the assault, Islamabad has denied it and called for a credible, international probe.
The Pakistani military spokesman said Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos had been a “great example” of coming together of all elements of Pakistan’s national power to effectively counter the threat to national sovereignty and integrity, warning of a similar response to any such attempt in the future.
“No one should have any doubt that whenever our sovereignty would be threatened and territorial integrity violated, the response would be comprehensive, retributive and decisive,” he said.
Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
On Sunday, Trump said he would try to work with both India and Pakistan to see if they can resolve their dispute over the Kashmir territory, vowing to “substantially” increase trade with both nations.
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, referring to India and Pakistan.
“Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” he added.
Pakistan’s Kashmiris return to homes, but keep bunkers stocked
- More than 60 people were killed in four days of intense conflict between Pakistan, India before a US-brokered truce was announced Saturday
- At heart of the hostilities is Kashmir, a mountainous Muslim-majority region divided between the two countries but claimed in full by both
CHAKOTHI: As an uneasy calm settled over villages on the Pakistan side of contested Kashmir on Sunday, families returned to their own beds but were sure to leave their bunkers stocked.
More than 60 people were killed in four days of intense conflict between arch-rivals Pakistan and India before a US-brokered truce was announced on Saturday.
At heart of the hostilities is Kashmir, a mountainous Muslim-majority region divided between the two countries but claimed in full by both, and where the heaviest casualties are often reported.
On the Pakistan side of the heavily militarised de facto border, known as the Line of Control (LoC), families wearied by decades of sporadic firing began to return home — for now.
“I have absolutely no faith in India; I believe it will strike again. For people living in this area, it’s crucial to build protective bunkers near their homes,” said Kala Khan, a resident of Chakothi which overlooks the Neelum River that separates the two sides and from where they can see Indian military posts.
His eight-member family sheltered through the night and parts of the day under the 20-inch-thick concrete roofs of two bunkers.
“Whenever there was Indian shelling, I would take my family into it,” he said of the past few days.
“We’ve stored mattresses, flour, rice, other food supplies, and even some valuable belongings in there.”
According to an administrative officer in the region, more than a thousand bunkers have been built along the LoC, around a third by the government, to protect civilians from Indian shelling.
Pakistan and India have fought several wars over Kashmir, and India has long battled an insurgency on its side by militant groups fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing the militants, including an attack on tourists in April which sparked the latest conflict.
Pakistan said it was not involved and called for an independent investigation.
Limited firing overnight between Saturday and Sunday made some families hesitant to return to their homes on the LoC.
In Chakothi, nestled among lush green mountains, surrounded by an abundance of walnut trees at the foothills, half of the 300 shops were closed and few people ventured onto the streets.
“I’ve been living on the LoC for 50 years. Ceasefires are announced, but after a few days the firing starts again,” said Muhammad Munir, a 53-year-old government employee in Chakothi.
It is the poor who suffer most from the endless uncertainty and hunt for safety along the LoC, he said, adding: “There’s no guarantee that this latest ceasefire will hold — we’re certain of that.”
When clashes broke out, Kashif Minhas, 25, a construction worker in Chakothi, desperately searched for a vehicle to move his wife and three children away from the fighting.
“I had to walk several kilometers before finally getting one and moving my family,” he told AFP.
“In my view, the current ceasefire between India and Pakistan is just a formality. There’s still a risk of renewed firing, and if it happens again, I’ll move my family out once more.”
A senior administrative officer stationed in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir where a mosque was struck by an Indian missile killing three people, told AFP there had been no reports of firing since Sunday morning.
In Indian-administered Kashmir, hundreds of thousands of people who had evacuated also began to cautiously return home after heavy Pakistani shelling — many expressing the same fears as on the Pakistani side.
The four-day conflict struck deep into both countries, reaching major cities for the first time in decades — with the majority of deaths in Pakistan, and almost all civilians.
Chakothi taxi driver Muhammad Akhlaq said the ceasefire was “no guarantee of lasting peace.”
“I have serious doubts about it because the core issue that fuels hostility between the two countries still remains unresolved — and that issue is Kashmir,” said the 56-year-old.
Suicide blast kills two policemen in Pakistan’s northwest, police say
- The blast targeted a police vehicle within the remits of Chamkani police station in Peshawar
- No group immediately claims responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on Pakistani Taliban
ISLAMABAD: A suicide blast killed two policemen in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province that borders Afghanistan, police said on Sunday, amid a surge in militancy in the region.
The blast targeted a police vehicle within the remits of Chamkani police station in the provincial capital of Peshawar, according to a Peshawar police spokesman. Three other persons were injured in the attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have mounted their attacks against security forces and police in the region in recent months.
“SI (sub-inspector) Laeeqzada Khan and Constable Alamzeb were martyred as a result of the blast,” Alam Khan, the police spokesman said.
Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for KP Rescue 1122 service, said they shifted the bodies and injured to hospital for medico-legal formalities.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in KP since the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), called off their months-long ceasefire with the government in late 2022.
Islamabad has frequently accused that militant groups use Afghan soil to launch cross-border attacks in Pakistan, an allegation the Afghan Taliban deny, maintaining there are no militant groups operating in their territory.
Late last month, Pakistan’s army said it had killed over 70 militants who were attempting to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
India’s diplomatic ambitions tested as Trump pushes for deal on Kashmir
- India’s rapid rise as the world’s fifth-largest economy has boosted its confidence, clout on world stage
- But the decades-old conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir touches a sensitive nerve in the Indian politics
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan have stepped back from the brink of all-out war, with a nudge from the US, but New Delhi’s aspirations as a global diplomatic power now face a key test after President Donald Trump offered to mediate on the dispute over Kashmir, analysts said.
India’s rapid rise as the world’s fifth-largest economy has boosted its confidence and clout on the world stage, where it has played an important role in addressing regional crises such as Sri Lanka’s economic collapse and the Myanmar earthquake.
But the conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir, which flared up in recent days with exchanges of missiles drones and air strikes that killed at least 66 people, touches a sensitive nerve in Indian politics.
How India threads the diplomatic needle — courting favor with Trump over issues like trade while asserting its own interests in the Kashmir conflict — will depend in large part on domestic politics and could determine the future prospects for conflict in Kashmir.
“India ... is likely not keen on the broader talks (that the ceasefire) calls for. Upholding it will pose challenges,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst based in Washington.
In a sign of just how fragile the truce remains, the two governments accused each other of serious violations late on Saturday.
The ceasefire, Kugelman noted, was “cobbled together hastily” when tensions were at their peak.
Trump said on Sunday that, following the ceasefire, “I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for his part, has not commented publicly on the conflict since it began.
India considers Kashmir an integral part of its territory and not open for negotiation, least of all through a third-party mediator. India and Pakistan both rule the scenic Himalayan region in part, claim it in full, and have fought two wars and numerous other conflicts over what India says is a Pakistan-backed insurgency there. Pakistan denies it backs insurgency.
“By agreeing to abort under US persuasion ... just three days of military operations, India is drawing international attention to the Kashmir dispute, not to Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism that triggered the crisis,” said Brahma Chellaney, an Indian defense analyst.
For decades after the two countries separated in 1947, the West largely saw India and Pakistan through the same lens as the neighbors fought regularly over Kashmir. That changed in recent years, partly thanks to India’s economic rise while Pakistan languished with an economy less than one-10th India’s size.
But Trump’s proposal to work toward a solution to the Kashmir problem, along with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s declaration that India and Pakistan would start talks on their broader issues at a neutral site, has irked many Indians.
Pakistan has repeatedly thanked Trump for his offer on Kashmir, while India has not acknowledged any role played by a third party in the ceasefire, saying it was agreed by the two sides themselves.
Analysts and Indian opposition parties are already questioning whether New Delhi met its strategic objectives by launching missiles into Pakistan on Wednesday last week, which it said were in retaliation for an attack last month on tourists in Kashmir that killed 26 men. It blamed the attack on Pakistan — a charge that Islamabad denied.
By launching missiles deep into Pakistan, Modi showed a much higher appetite for risk than his predecessors. But the sudden ceasefire exposed him to rare criticism at home.
Swapan Dasgupta, a former lawmaker from Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said the ceasefire had not gone down well in India partly because “Trump suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pronounced his verdict.”
The main opposition Congress party got in on the act, demanding an explanation from the government on the “ceasefire announcements made from Washington, D.C.”
“Have we opened the doors to third-party mediation?” asked Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh.
And while the fighting has stopped, there remain a number of flashpoints in the relationship that will test India’s resolve and may tempt it to adopt a hard-line stance.
The top issue for Pakistan, diplomats and government officials there said, would be the Indus Waters Treaty, which India suspended last month but which is a vital source of water for many of Pakistan’s farms and hydropower plants.
“Pakistan would not have agreed (to a ceasefire) without US guarantees of a broader dialogue,” said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a former foreign minister and currently chairman of the People’s Party of Pakistan, which supports the government.
Moeed Yusuf, former Pakistan National Security Adviser, said a broad agreement would be needed to break the cycle of brinksmanship over Kashmir.
“Because the underlying issues remain, and every six months, one year, two years, three years, something like this happens and then you are back at the brink of war in a nuclear environment,” he said.
‘We just want peace’: Kashmiri nomadic shepherds yearn for stability amid India-Pakistan tensions
- The lives of these nomads revolve around seasonal migrations, seeking grazing grounds for animals on different altitudes
- But this season, a far greater uncertainty loomed in front of them in the form of India-Pakistan military incursions
MUZAFFARABAD: Muhammad Jahangir, 35, continuously walked for around four hours to finally find a green patch of land along the banks of Jhelum River, just outside the town of Garhi Dupatta in Azad Kashmir, where his goats could graze, and descended from the road to survey the riverside himself.
While the grass and tree leaves there were barely enough to feed his herd of around 250 goats and a few sheep, Jahangir let out a series of sharp, familiar whistles along with others in his group and the trained animals began moving down the slope to nibble at the patchy grass.
Jahangir hails from the Kashmiri Bakarwal community that comprises nomadic, pastoral people, who are known for raising sheep and goats, in both Pakistan and India-governed parts Kashmir, particularly in the Pir Panjal and Himalayan mountain ranges.
The lives of these Bakarwals revolve around seasonal migrations with their herds, seeking grazing grounds on different altitudes depending on the time of year, but this May a far greater uncertainty loomed ahead in the form of India-Pakistan military incursions.
“We’re coming from Kharian and our destination is Deosai,” Jahangir told Arab News, standing beside his flock a surprise truce between the two countries brokered by the United States (US).
“The situation ahead is said to be tense due to firing. Some of our Bakarwal groups are stuck near Panjkot Mali. We’ll decide whether to move ahead or not depending on the conditions.”
Jahangir and three of his fellows were en route to Deosai, a high-altitude plateau in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region that is known for its lush-green meadows.
But they were forced to stop because of artillery, drone and missile strikes along the nearby Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir between Pakistan and India. Jahangir feared that if the situation continued to remain the same, they might not reach the highlands in time.
“We’ve heard that some people have lost their livestock, though we didn’t see it ourselves. Some families have already turned back from Neelum [valley in Azad Kashmir] and returned,” Jahangir said.
This particular group of nomads set out from Kharian over a week ago, traveling on the Grand Trunk Road and arriving in Muzaffarabad via Murree a resort town on the border of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province. The four men managed the herd on foot, while their families had already moved ahead on horseback to set up makeshift camps along the way.
Devoid of modern gadgets like smartphones and GPS, these nomads rely on inherited knowledge to assess the direction of the wind, position of stars, and bends of rivers to navigate the challenging terrain, though some of them carry basic feature phones that often have no signals in the mountainous regions.
Once a celebrated lifestyle built on freedom and communion with nature, the nomadic way of living is now increasingly threatened by changing climate patterns, shrinking grazing grounds, and a lack of hospitality from settled communities along their traditional routes.
“People are so cruel [now], they don’t even let us stay near their lands,” said Farooq Ahmed, another nomad.
“If we find a little government land near the river, we rest our animals there, otherwise the locals stop us from going uphill. They say the grass and trees are theirs.”
For generations, these nomads’ migration to Deosai has been about survival — escaping the blistering summer heat of the lowlands and reaching the cool, high pastures where food is abundant and livestock can thrive.
But weeks of tensions between India and Pakistan over an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 tourists on April 22, turned into a military conflict last week, leaving more than 60 people dead on both sides in four days of cross-border strikes and threatening the centuries-old nomadic way of life in the region.
Although the US-brokered ceasefire between India and Pakistan remains intact, sporadic violations have been reported by locals in Azad Kashmir.
For Ahmed, this truce offers little assurance.
“We just want peace,” he said. “It has become a problem for everyone, every human being is suffering now.”
