pakistan

Ahsan suggests delinking NFC award from population

Published

12 months ago

May 18, 2023

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Ahsan suggests delinking NFC award from population

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has hinted at changing the National Fina¬nce Commission (NFC) award mechanism to divide resources among provinces. At present, the NFC award is divided on the basis of population.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the minister termed the existing NFC “regressive” as it gives 80 percent weight to population and actually “incentivise population growth.”

Ahsan claimed that as the NFC encourages population growth, it has become impossible to hold population census – the 7th census showed over 2.8pc growth making Pakistan the “fastest growing country in the world”.

The minister quoted the example of Sindh and Balochistan saying that “there exist serious fault lines” in the shape of urban-rural and Baloch-Pakhtun divide, respectively.

Every segment wanted to show its higher population to have greater say in matters of employment, finance, representation and so on, he continued.

His comments came on the sidelines of a meeting on updates of the just concluded 7th population census in which the Punjab and Sindh dema¬nded another extension – five and four days, respectively – to complete the re-verification process.

The minister, who heads the monitoring committee on census, directed that evidence-based justification be provided for “verification and rectification of census data”, to reach a decision, according to an official, indicating the census process may take time to conclude despite official announcements for its field work completion on May 15.

Successive governments have not been able to deliver an NFC award for distribution of resources among the centre and federating units after the expiry of previous one in December 2014, though the constitution makes it mandatory to have a fresh NFC every five years. The consensus award of 2009 had been under criticism for transferring too many resources to the provinces, chiefly on the basis of population, and for leaving the centre as a pauper to deal with heavy debt servicing and defense.

Ahsan said there would be no solution to authenticity of census data unless it was delinked from resource distribution. The minister, who was also assisted by chief census commissioner, said the population growth under the new census was about 2.7pc compared to 2.4pc under the sixth national census. “This has very serious ramifications and Pakistan will become a joke,” he warned, adding that India had delinked the population from resource distribution for two decades and made progress.

“No enemy needs to pull us down, this population growth alone will do,” the minister remarked, reiterating that the government would have to separate population from NFC and incentivise provinces to demographic and social improvement.

He said the government was working on three key elements — investment in education, health and population control — to ensure equity among the citizens as part of 5Es-based public. He said five Es — export growth, e-Pakistan, environment, energy and equity — would be centre of next year budget.

He said the government had been heavily focused since it came to power on plugging the gaps on CPEC created by four years of mismanagement, incompetence, bad mouthing and stalling Chinese investment for appeasement of the west and related projects.

Replying to a question, he said ML-1 railway project that remained stalled all these years was in “very advance stages” and terms of financing were being negotiated and the Chinese side was finalising its firms for bidding of the railway project.

He said the $10bn worth of 1872-km Karachi to Peshawar railway project would be undertaken in three phas

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pakistan

Court reserves verdict on PTI founder’s bail plea in May 9 case

Published

20 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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Court reserves verdict on PTI founder's bail plea in May 9 case

The Islamabad district and sessions court has reserved verdict on the bail plea of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder in the May 9 case.

Judicial Magistrate Omar Shabbir heard the case against the PTI leader registered in Shahzad Town police station.

Naeem Haider Panjhota, Sardar Masroof and Amina Ali appeared before the judge as counsel for the PTI leader.

The lawyers said the case against the PTI founder had not been pursued by an authorised officer. All cases against him had been instituted on the basis of politics and should, therefore, be quashed, they demanded.

The court after listening to the arguments reserved the verdict.

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pakistan

Rawalpindi court bins plea for initiating case against former commissioner Liaquat Chattha

Published

20 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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Rawalpindi court bins plea for initiating case against former commissioner Liaquat Chattha

The Rawalpindi Sessions Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking the registration of a case against former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Hakim Khan issued a two-page written order on the petition.

In its order, the court observed that apart from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a departmental inquiry was also being conducted against the former commissioner.

If the allegations were proven in the ECP and departmental inquiries, a legal action was certain, the order stated, adding that in this situation, there was no justification for registering a separate case against the former Rawalpindi commissioner.

Two lawyers from Rawalpindi had filed the petition seeking the registration of a case against former commissioner.

In a Feb 18 presser, the former commissioner admitted that elections in his division were “rigged”.

The commissioner accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja of being complicit in the rigging and asserted that he, along with the CEC and Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, deserved punishment, even the death penalty, for their injustice.

Chattha expressed remorse for forcing his subordinates to engage in wrongdoing and admitted that winning candidates were made to lose on 13 seats in the Rawalpindi division.

Later on Feb 23, Chattha retracted his earlier statement in a written statement submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

In the statement, Chattha confessed to having supported the narrative of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) about rigging in the general elections and maligning state institutions in exchange for a lucrative position in the future.

He stated he had been made this offer by a Lahore-based PTI leader with whom he had developed a close friendship.

Chattha alleged that “this entire planning had been formulated after consultation and approval of the senior leadership of PTI”.

He stated that this proposal was made by the said [PTI] individual in consideration of the fact that he was about to retire from service after having remained a part of the services for 32 years and enjoyed all the perks and privileges.

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pakistan

IHC orders Zartaj Gul to appear before court with record in ECL name removal case

Published

20 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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IHC orders Zartaj Gul to appear before court with record in ECL name removal case

Islamabad High Court (IHC) has sought the record from Zartaj Gul’s counsel on a petition seeking the name removal of PTI leader and MNA Zartaj Gul from the Exit Control List (ECL).

IHC’s Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the case on Zartaj Gul’s name removal from ECL.

During the hearing, the state counsel stated that Zartaj Gul’s name has been included in the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL).

Upon inquiry from the court, the state counsel informed that Zartaj Gul’s name was included in PNIL on the order of Islamabad and Punjab police, and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was responsible for including the name in PNIL.

Also read: PTI’s Shibli Faraz, Raja Basharat, Zartaj Gul secure bail in May 9 cases

State counsel added that five cases were registered against Zartaj Gul in Islamabad and Punjab.

The petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Usama, disclosed that Zartaj Gul has been granted bail in those cases. He reiterated that the name was being included in the PNIL list despite being on bail.

During the hearing, Justice Tariq Jahangiri inquired about how many cases Zartaj Gul has been granted bail in and ordered the petitioner to appear before the court in the next hearing.

Consequently, IHC has adjourned the case hearing until next week by directing Zartaj Gul’s counsel to appear before the court in the next hearing with records.

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