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ECP reserves verdict in reserved seats case

ECP reserves verdict in reserved seats case

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reserved its verdict in the reserved seats case involving five political parties and their 71 candidates.
A five-member ECP full bench heard the case on Monday.
The legal counsels from the political parties concerned appeared before the bench and gave arguments in favour of the allocation of reserved seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to the respective political parties, before the bench reserved the verdict, likely to be announced in the coming days. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) has submitted 21 nominations for the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in KPA.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has submitted 15 nominations, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 14 nominations, Awami National Party (ANP) 11 nominations and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTIP) has submitted 10 nominations to the ECP for KPA reserved seats.
The allocation of reserved seats on the part of ECP on 2nd July, in pursuance of the apex court's 27th June order, suggested that PML-N has received the largest chunk of 43 reserved seats, followed by 15 reserved seats having gone to PPP, and 12 seats to JUI-F, as the poll body has allotted a total of 74 of 77 reserved seats to other political parties in four Assemblies.
In KPA, of the 25 allotted seats, comprising 21 women and four non-Muslim seats, JUI-F received 10 seats (eight women, two non-Muslims), PML-N got seven reserved seats (six women and a non-Muslim), PPP also got seven reserved seats (six women and a non-Muslim), and ANP received a woman seat.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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And second, in continuation of how intimately we are waltzing with the new US administration in Trump's repeated infatuation with power, even if it emerged from the F-10/PL-15 combo — China brand — there was better sense and a promise when Ishaq Dar spoke to a Washington think-tank and suggested Pakistan can and may be ready to look at out-of-box solutions on Kashmir, such as moving away from the UNSC Resolutions which are binary and do not per se provide the option to expand the list of options where Kashmiris can have the right to seek a third option other than the zero-sum choice of India or Pakistan as their homeland. What if they now, after seventy-eight years, seek a country of their own? The interpretation and the argument are entirely mine. No politician worth his salt would risk being seen with these words. All he reportedly said was that it doesn't have to be one or the other — India or Pakistan — but what the Kashmiris want. There is enough plausibility for denial built into this 'official' and 'reported' statement. The rest is left to imagination, primordial or ideational. Not a soul though will stand for what is not safe and official. Hence, life will be as it has been for the rest of our lifetimes. So much for breakthroughs and an improved Pakistani recognition and space on the global stage. A few things should be clear. The US is in no position to arbitrate on Kashmir. Yes, they did the region a huge favour in intervening to stop the war but that's about it. Our compulsions are local and so are our issues though with implications that can mushroom globally and hence, the world has kept running to keep us from our periodically default conflict-prone recourse. Pakistan did great in reestablishing and reinforcing the deterrent — a combination of the conventional and the nuclear — against India. This is a huge positive which endowed greater freedom of action to Pakistan to work on challenges which are mostly internal along a broad spectrum. How long will such space remain is to be seen. Will India try another hand on testing the threshold? Probably not yet or not right away. There are serious gaps that have come to light in its own system of forces which needs time and attention. It would like to have all her bases covered before she indulges in another adventure. She might utilise other avenues in the lower spectrum with transient or lower effects as is being evinced for some time now on the Afghan border and in Balochistan. Also, not the very best of a nation's defence is needed to counter such a threat which can be effectively handled by counter-terror police and paramilitary forces. Though this threat needs to be fully neutralised early enough to avoid casting adversely on Pakistan's economy and society. 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