Story Highlights
Pak Fights Terrorism
Terrorists carried out attacks this week on media houses and security personnel. In Karachi masked gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead two military policemen. According to media reports military jeep was stuck in traffic on the city’s main MA Jinnah Road when assailants stopped the car and opened fire on them. According to witnesses militants took head-shots of the two military police personnel. Meanwhile as one- year to Army Public School attack completes this month, four terrorists involved in the attack were hanged at a civil jail in Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkwa. In the wake of the APS incident, military courts were set up for trying terrorists under amendments made to the Constitution and the Army Act and these hangings were the first executions of civilians convicted by the military courts.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Paris where two leaders were attending Paris Climate Change Conference. Following the meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif welcomed a quadrilateral initiative to restart the Afghan reconciliation and peace process. He reiterated that Pakistan is prepared to hold serious discussions on better border management so that cross border movement of terrorists can be contained. Earlier, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi also reiterated that Pakistan was ready to host another round of Afghan peace talks. However she demanded anti-Pakistan rhetoric coming from Kabul to cease.
LG Polls
Meanwhile the first local government (LG) elections were held in the federal capital this week since 1979 in which ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took the lead while its rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf came second. Residents of Islamabad went to the elections on Monday amidst tight security to elect local representatives for the first time under the newly minted Islamabad Local Government Act, 2015. The PTI obtained a majority of its seats from the urban areas of the capital, while the PML-N found more success in the rural localities. Around 2,407 candidates took part in the elections, of which 972 were independent candidates, 506 belonged to PML-N, 479 to PTI, 164 to Jamaat-e-Islami and 81 to the PPP, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Meanwhile parties are bracing for local government elections in Karachi. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan called on voters and supporters in Karachi to end what he termed the monopoly of a single political party in the city. PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami have formed an alliance in the local government elections in the city.
Pak – India
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi met in Paris and exchanged pleasantries this week where they were attending Climate Change Conference. According to media reports Indian PM Modi approached Sharif and had a brief chat with him. Diplomatic observers at the summit say there was great warmth between the two leaders. Later, talking to reporters Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that both Pakistan and India desired to move forward and ‘all states must keep the door to dialogue open.’
The prime minister, however, declined to divulge details of his brief meeting with the Indian prime minister. The meeting between the two heads comes amidst tensions between the two countries, including cross-border violations and cancelled talks. This had also led to souring cricketing ties, with an Indo-Pak cricket series scheduled for December this year is in doubt.
Earlier in a weekly press briefing, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said that Pakistan wants ‘result-oriented’ dialogue with India to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. He said that there has been no response from New Delhi so far about the participation of Indian Foreign minister in the Heart of Asia Conference being held in Pakistan next week.
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