2024

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s independent human rights commission said Monday there is little chance of free and fair parliamentary elections in the country next month because of “pre-poll rigging.” It also expressed concern about authorities rejecting the candidacies of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and most other members of his party.

At a news conference in Islamabad, the co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Munizae Jahangir, said other political parties have been subjected to similar tactics to varying degrees.

“At this point, there is little evidence to show that the upcoming elections will be free, fair or credible,” Jahangir said.

She said Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, was “being dismembered in a systematic manner” and that the rejection of nomination papers for most of its candidates raised questions about the country’s Election Commission.

People should be allowed to vote for their candidate of choice on February 8, she added, and there are “apprehensions that the electoral process is being engineered.”

Jahangir condemned the state’s “clampdown” on dissent, saying it has further constricted civic discourse at a time when Pakistanis should be allowed to express their views freely given the upcoming election.

Farhatullah Babar, a veteran human rights leader, said the Election Commission’s decisions keeping Khan and other PTI members off the ballot amounted to “apparent pre-poll rigging.”

He said Pakistan’s caretaker government has a duty to ensure free and fair elections and the Election Commission’s is responsible for providing all political parties equal opportunities.

Some of the country’s main parties would not accept the outcome of a rigged election, and a disputed vote would create further political instability, Babar warned.

Khan is in currently in prison and serving a three-year sentence for corruption. He also faces a stack of other charges, making it difficult for him to run for office. Despite knowing his nomination papers could be rejected, Khan through his legal team sought to run for a seat in the National Assembly.

According to election officials, Khan was barred from running because of his conviction.

His disqualification was a fresh blow for the 71-year-old former cricketer, who is the country’s most popular opposition figure. He was ousted from office in April 2022 following a no-confidence vote in Parliament by his political opponents.

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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Landlocked Ethiopia signed an initial agreement with Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland on Monday to use its Red Sea port of Berbera, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said.

The Horn of Africa country currently relies on neighbouring Djibouti for most of its maritime trade.

“This has been now agreed with our Somaliland brothers and an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) has been signed today,” Abiy said at the signing ceremony with Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

President Abdi said as part of the agreement, Ethiopia would also be the first country to recognise Somaliland as an independent nation in due course.

The MoU pave the way to allowing Ethiopia to have commercial marine operations in the region by giving it access to a leased military base on the Red Sea, Abiy’s National Security Adviser Redwan Hussien said.

Somaliland would also receive a stake in state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, Hussien said, without providing further detail.

Somaliland has not gained widespread international recognition despite declaring autonomy from Somalia in 1991. Somalia says Somaliland is part of its territory.

Somalia’s SONNA state media agency reported last week that following mediation efforts led by Djibouti, Somalia and Somaliland had agreed to resume talks aimed at resolving their disputes.

(This story has been corrected to fix the attribution in paragraph 6)

(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, writing by Bhargav Acharya; editing by Andrew Heavens and Jason Neely)

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By Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier will return to its home port, the U.S. Navy said on Monday, ending its deployment to the eastern Mediterranean, which started in support of Israel after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.

The nuclear-powered Ford, the Navy’s newest carrier with over 4,000 personnel and eight squadrons of aircraft, became a powerful symbol of American support by rushing closer to Israel after the Palestinian militant group’s attack.

The attacks triggered a war in Gaza with Israeli forces reducing much of the territory to rubble, killing thousands and plunging its 2.3 million people into a humanitarian disaster.

Israel says the Hamas attack killed 1,200 people. Palestinian health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say Israeli forces have killed nearly 22,000 people.

“Immediately following Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group was ordered to the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to our regional deterrence and defense posture,” the Navy said in a statement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had extended the Ford’s deployment three times in hopes that its presence would deter Iran and Iran-aligned groups, particularly Lebanon’s Hezbollah, from attacking Israel.

U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have endured drone and rocket attacks by Iran-backed militia. Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen have disrupted global trade by attacking commercial tankers and container ships in the Red Sea with drones and missiles.

“DoD (Department of Defense) will continue to leverage its collective force posture in the region to deter any state or non-state actor from escalating this crisis beyond Gaza,” the Navy said.

The Ford will return to its home base in Virginia.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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