ISLAMABAD / MUZ­AF­FAR­ABAD: The Iste­kham-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) has been officially registered as a political party, paving the way for it to contest elections, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

An ECP notification on Thursday stated that IPP has been registered under sections 208 and 209(3) of the Elections Act, 2017, read with Rule 158(2) of the Election Rules, 2017.

The move takes the to­­tal number of political parties regis­tered with the ECP to 172.

Other than IPP, the commission has recently registered three more parties: Kadmeen-i-Sindh, Pakistan Kesan Labour Party and Tehreek-i-Ehsas Pakistan.

The Iste­kham-i-Pakistan Party was formed by disgruntled PTI leader and sugar baron Jahangir Tareen, once a close aide of the PTI chief, in June.

AJK court declares regional chapters of PPP, PML-N, PTI ‘unlawful’

Talking to Dawn, Dr Awan, IPP’s information secretary, called her party “a breath of fresh air in the current suffocating political environment”.

Separately, the ECP has written letters to the Sindh and Balochistan chief secretaries directing them to withdraw protocol and security privileges from former provincial cabinet members and political leaders.

Dr Muhammad Fakh­are Alam, Sindh’s top bur­eaucrat, has been advised to ensure ex-prime ministers, chief ministers, MNAs, and MPAs from the province vacate government homes and stop using official vehicles.

A compliance report has also been sought within three days.

Balochistan CS Shakeel Qadir Khan has been ordered to reshuffle key bureaucrats within three days.

They include the additional chief secretary (Development), services and general administration department secretary and secretaries of home and finance.

AJK top court annuls parties’ registration

In another development, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court has nullified the registration of regional chapters of the PPP, PML-N and PTI by the region’s Election Commission for being unlawful.

A larger bench comprising Chief Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, Justice Mian Arif Hussain, Justice Sardar Muhammad Ejaz and Justice Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry also cancelled ‘show-cause’ notices served by these parties on their recently elected councillors for alleged violation of party discipline during elections to the reserved seats and heads of the local government institutions.

The 20-page judgement — on four petitions filed between January and March by some councillors from Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot — was announced on Thursday in open court.

The bench pointed out that the prevailing AJK Elections Act 2020 had laid down the procedure for registration of a political party and, according to Article 4 (4) (7) of the AJK Constitution, every state subject had been granted the right to form or become a member of a party in accordance with the prevalent law.

It further noted that Section 128 of the act clearly stipulated the process for forming and registering a political party.

The bench perused the record of the PML-N, PTI and PPP and noted that even though they had failed to fulfil the laid down criteria, including the mandatory intra-party elections, among other conditions, they were granted “provisional” registration in the first place and regular registration afterwards.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023