By Staff Reporter

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will re-open the Parent and Grandparent (PGP) program for new applications in January 2014, by which time the backlog and wait times in the program are expected to have been cut in half.

“The Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification is on track to meet the goals of cutting in half the backlog and wait times in the Parent and Grandparent program,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “It is very important that we continue to make progress and not return to the old broken system with wait times as long as a decade that would be unfair to families.”

Only 5,000 new applications will be taken in PGP sponsorship program in 2014. The Ministry has assumed that there will be two people per application, so the intake of parents and grandparents will be 10,000.

In an interview with Generation Next Minister Kenney stated that almost 90 per cent of these applicants are given permanent resident cards.

In making this announcement, Minister Kenney presented the context in which the decision to pause sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents was made, and how it has helped the government to cut the backlog, so that the wait times for processing parental and grandparental sponsorship applications have been reduced to about 3.5 years to four years.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s website, currently CIC is working on parental and grandparental sponsorship applications received between September 11, 2007 to November 17, 2009, and is issuing acknowledgement letters for applications received on April 29, 2011. These processing times are global and may vary from country to country.

As of Jan 2014, new criteria will be set in place for sponsorship of parental and grandparental applications. The criteria is stringent and requires families to be financially strong to be able to take care of their elders. This includes:

First – the threshold for minimum income required to sponsor parents or grandparents for a family of two has been increased by 30 per cent, so the family of two (husband and wife) that wishes to sponsor two parents must have an income of about $55,000.

Second – the 10 year undertaking of sponsored parents or grandparents has been increased from 10 years to 20 years.

In response to the question won’t there be a backlash from the community on these financial measures that the Government is undertaking, Minister Kenney said “no, I don’t think so.”

Minister Kenney explains that almost 66 per cent of first and second generation Canadians are not in favour of any parental or grandparental sponsorship program. And almost quarter of sponsored parents and grandparents are seeking welfare and subsidized housing after 10 years of their arrival in Canada. In addition to this the healthcare costs of sponsored parents or grandparents is almost $200,000. Canadian taxpayers’ have to fund these costs, but they shouldn’t have to as sponsoring families should be able to take care of them.

Third – Sponsoring families will have to provide three years’ of notice of assessments issued by Canada Revenue Agency to sponsor parents or grandparents rather than one year’s.

Minister Kenney says that there have been situations where families come into money one year and “then go back to being poor.” The Government wants to ensure that sponsoring families have “sustainable levels of income” to care for their elders rather than “to dump the cost .. onto taxpayers.”

Fourth – the definition of dependent child has been changed in immigration law to mean kids of 18 years of age.

Minister Kenney said that Canada welcomes young economic migrants, however they should apply on their own to come to Canada.

Minister Kenney has repeatedly said that Canada has welcomed a record number of parents and grandparents in 2012 and is on track to admit record number of parents and grandparents in 2013. Each year almost 25,000 of parents and grandparents entered Canada as permanent residents.

The Government is making ‘Super Visa” a permanent feature for families to take advantage of. Minister Kenney clarified that parents and grandparents whose sponsorship applications are in cue can also apply for Super Visa and obtain Super Visa to come to Canada while they wait for a final decision on their sponsorship application.

By 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada expects to have “a working inventory” whereby intake of applications may correspond to number of parents and grandparents being welcomed to Canada told Minister Kenney to Generation Next’s readers.

Canada has one of the most generous family reunification programs in the world. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand do not allow grandparents to be sponsored at all or only in very limited circumstances, and they have very restrictive criteria for the sponsorship of parents. Will Canada, at some point, consider doing the same given the enormous amount of resources that go into healthcare and other social services for elderly parents and grandparents?

” I actually considered doing that in these reforms,” says Citizenship and Immigration Minister. However, “only 1 per cent of the applicants in this category are grandparents .. and they are younger than what I thought .. so it was not worth the trouble at this point.”

Minister Kenney also reassures families whose applications are in cue with CIC that the new criteria will not impact the applications that are already in process. The new criteria will go in effect for applicants who will be applying as of Jan 2014.

Premier Kathleen Wynne highlighted the government’s strategy to help people lower their household expenses by reducing auto insurance premiums by an average of 15 per cent in Brampton. She was visiting NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh’s riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

This strategy was outlined in the 2013 Budget. To achieve this reduction, the strategy would reward safe drivers and crack down on fraud.

If the Budget bill is passed and proclaimed, Ontario drivers could save on average up to $225 per insured vehicle each year. This, along with other elements of the government’s strategy, would benefit more than nine million drivers across Ontario.

This strategy is part of the government’s plan to create jobs and help people in their everyday lives. The government also wants to support small business, invest in roads and transit, and help build strong communities, where people receive the health care they need when they need it.

Dr. Hasan Askari

Lahore

  The election transmission by Pakistan’s private sector TV channels and the state television, PTV, provided a detailed insight into the elections, voting and all related issues. These were long and detailed transmissions with live telecast not only from studios but also from different places in the country. The Radio Pakistan also launched election transmission on the polling day which helped more people to stay updated on the polling process.

 There was much public enthusiasm in the elections and the whole process had educative value for the common people. The quick rise of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf during the last 19 months posed a major challenge to the leading political parties, i.e., Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Group (PMLN) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that contested the elections as the Pakistan People Party Parliamentarians (PPPP).

 The elections showed the over-all commitment of the people to the electoral and democratic process. Elections do not mean that Pakistan’s problems have been resolved or these will be resolved in six months. The formation of government is going to be a challenging task and even then it is going to be an uphill task to address Pakistan’s problems.

 The promises made by the political parties in the course of the election campaign and in their manifestos were big and may not materialize. This could increase negative sentiments in the political system. However, it is important to note that the political leaders make wild promises because the ordinary people want to live in dream rather than face Pakistan’s grim political, social and economic realities.

 Whereas these elections were the biggest-ever media show and an electoral exercise in Pakistan’s history, it witnessed more violence than ever. More people were killed during the election-campaign period than ever in the past.

 It seems that the people with the negative approach have increased in Pakistan. They are still a minority but a section of people among those opposed to elections have used violence to disrupt the elections. Others engaged in propaganda campaign. Even in the course of the election-transmission some people were trashing the election process and the voting exercise. This was a narrow, one-sided and unrealistic perspective that did not comprehend the dynamics of democracy and elections.

 Most of those condemning the elections did not offer alternate methods of selecting the rulers. If democracy and elections are bad and not suitable for Pakistan, what is the suitable way of letting the people an opportunity to select their representatives?

 The criticism and condemnation of the election can be divided into five broad categories. First, the Pakistani Taliban based in the tribal areas and their affiliates based in mainland Pakistan have used the election period as an opportunity to demonstrate their capacity to challenge the primacy of the Pakistan state. They resorted to violence wherever they got the opportunity. Despite the security arrangements, they showed that they have the determination and capacity to strike in any part of Pakistan.

 Even after the use of large scale violence by Pakistani Taliban and their local affiliates, some people and groups in Pakistan including those in the official civilian and military circles, continue to view the efforts to control the militant groups as “not our struggle.” Pakistan’s security forces have lost more people in countering terrorism than the India-Pakistan wars. The question to be answered is what will make this war a Pakistani war if the human killings and sufferings, the Taliban challenge to primacy of the Pakistani state and the Taliban refusal to recognize Pakistani constitution and law do not make it Pakistan’s war for its survival?

 Second, Balochistan has experienced a lot of violence in the course of the election campaign. Here the primary responsibility for violence lies with a number of separatist Baloch groups whose leadership is based outside of Pakistan but they have their violent activists and some training camps in Balochistan.

 The third challenge to elections and democracy is by those who do not view it as Islamic. They view the elections as a western implant that does not suit our conditions. Some of them think that the system of governance that existed in the earliest period of Islam should be revived in terms of structure because without the original structure of governance the spirit of that period cannot be revived. They are literalists and pursue an orthodox approach which makes it difficult for them to accept the changed nature of the present day world.

  Fourth, there are people who could be described as anarchist because they want to disrupt the electoral process and democracy because it had, in their view, a lot of deficiencies. Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri is an illustration of this type who used his Islamic following and Islamic historical references to build his political support. As this support was not big enough to ensure the success of his political party, Pakistan Awami Tehrik, he used his support to disrupt the electoral process.

 Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri shares the objective of the Pakistani Taliban of failing the elections. However, their methods are different. The Pakistani Taliban use violence but Dr. Qadri pursues his agenda peacefully through protest marches and negative propaganda.

 Fifth, there are idealists who think that anything short of perfection is not acceptable. They argue that the political system must be perfected in all respects and then introduce it. It is a textbook approach which gives the ideal features of any political and social system.

  These are overlapping categories because more than one argument is used by those opposed to democracy and elections. The experience of the countries with working democracy is that they improved gradually by learning from experience. Democracy cannot improve unless it is practiced. No democracy started as a perfect democracy. Further, democracy can succeed if the people and society adopt democratic culture. If an effort is made to combine the norms of democracy with the notion of a religious state, it will neither become democracy nor a religious state. It will be a confused state and people. Some of these signs are visible in Pakistan.

By Indrani Bagchi

It was October 12, 1999 when Nawaz Sharif relinquished his government to a coup by General Pervez Musharraf, who swooped down in a PIA aircraft from Colombo to take over the reins of power. The people of Pakistan had, by and large, welcomed Sharif’s exit even if they did not approve of the manner of it.

May 12, 2013 and Sharif is the comeback kid of Pakistan. With a convincing electoral win in the first democratic transition in Pakistan’s history, Sharif is set to annihilate his political rival, PPP, outplay the new kid on the block, Imran Khan, and perhaps form a government all by himself. Musharraf, topping all ironies, was not only disallowed from contesting elections but has been under house arrest since he landed back from the UK in a ridiculous show of hubris.

Looking over at Islamabad from across the border, a few things stand out.

First, the elections have shown that Pakistan has turned decisively right. All leftist, or left-leaning parties like PPP or ANP fell by the wayside, even MQM performing poorly. Sharif has close ties with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat which has been behind the attacks on Shias and other minorities. Imran Khan, essentially the new leader of opposition, has openly espoused support for Islamist forces. When the Tehreek-e-Taliban declared war on “secular” parties, Sharif’s PML(N) was not on their mind.

Rana Banerji, former special secretary, RAW, said, “For arch-hardliners within the die-hard establishment, who can never forgive India for the dismemberment of the state in 1971, this electoral mandate, with right of centre parties poised to share power at the centre and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the PPP almost decimated except in Sindh, is the best thing that could have happened.”

However, Sharif’s almost absolute victory is very significant and will make both legislation and governance much easier in Pakistan. A tricky coalition was the last thing Pakistan needed. In fact, given the showing by both PTI and PPP, Sharif even has a fractured opposition, which cannot gang up against him.

For India, a known leader like Sharif has its advantages. “Our best bet in Pakistan is a strong civilian government that can change the India narrative to something we can work with,” top level officials said. PM Manmohan Singh in his message to Sharif congratulated him on his “emphatic” victory and invited him to visit India.

In the run-up to the elections, Sharif touched all the India buttons he could find – from economy and trade to probing ISI’s role in 26/11, shutting up Hafiz Saeed, not letting Pakistani territory be used for terrorism against India. But a note of caution is in order.

In February 1999, when former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee bused it to Lahore, the atmosphere was similarly euphoric. Kargil happened in May. In 2008, India was celebrating a civilian government in Pakistan. On November 26, India suffered one of the biggest terror attacks planned and executed from Pakistan. And this after Musharraf himself promised to end terrorism from Pakistan into India in a statement in January 2004.

Sharif’s victory this time is also the resounding dominance of Punjab in Pakistani politics. Both LeT and LeJ are Punjab dominated, and both groups have long links with the Sharifs. Indian officials believe Sharif will stick to lip service about investigating ISI, he wants them on his side now, not working against him.

India’s best bet would be for the new Pakistan government to focus on opening up trade and the economy. Sharif is a businessman, and understands that his victory is also a thumbs up for governance and an improved economy. Pakistan has to return to the IMF soon for another tranche, it will need a strong government to negotiate the terms. An MFN status for India is also overdue. India can expect that to be one of the first deliverables. Most Pakistan analysts in theIndian government are willing to give Sharif time to settle down and feel the pulse of the government.

Is Sharif a different person? Many in Pakistan say that his years under arrest and in exile and then as a patient opposition leader have served him well, he is more mature, less impulsive, more thoughtful. It may make him a better leader for this new Pakistan. It might make him a more responsible interlocutor for India.

Sharif will want to be careful about pushing the foreign policy front, because that is traditionally held by the army/ISI complex. Banerji reckons that if he pushes too soon, there might be a pushback from the army that could be counter-productive. Sharif has a bittersweet relationship with the Pakistan army and India will be watching carefully to see who becomes the next army chief after Ashfaque Kayani retires for the final time in November. But all accounts suggest that Sharif will disturb that power centre too early in his tenure.

While Asif Zardari will swear Sharif in, its unlikely he will be staying in Pakistan beyond September. Sharif will want to bring in someone he is comfortable with as the next president. Already the name of Mehmood Khan Achakzai is doing the rounds. The third important appointment will be of the chief justice of Pakistan, when Iftikhar Chaudhry also hangs up his boots.

Pakistan’s biggest challenge is the looming transition of the US and NATO from Afghanistan. Working through that transition has been the job of the Pakistan army. This will continue. Neither of the political parties has gone close to this particular minefield. Therefore, the crux of relations with Afghanistan, America and India will remain on the army’s table. Sharif will be able to work at the fringes of this policy, it would be foolhardy to expect more.

According to Indian observers, Sharif will focus on the economy. This will be welcomed both in Pakistan and overseas. Sharif has not revealed how he plans to tackle endemic radicalization and terrorism inside Pakistan. As Banerji observed, “The elections may engender optimism that all the complex problems facing the country, on the economic and terrorism fronts, can now be wished away.”

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Return-of-stronger-Sharif-bodes-well-for-India/articleshow/20022276.cms

Staff Writer

In his 2013-14′s budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has proposed to amalgamate Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). The Government of Canada is suggesting that it is natural to have international assistance objectives align with foreign affairs policies’, so that the Canadian government’s policies remain coherent.

Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Department of Foreign Affairs, told Generation Next in an interview that the Government is ensuring that ” both the agencies – DFAIT and CIDA – were achieving the same objectives.”

However, the Opposition parties are alleging that there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to this merger. NDP and Liberal Party of Canada are not necessarily opposed to the amalgamation of CIDA with DFAIT, however the Opposition parties are afraid that there are too many questions that the Government has left open for speculation.

“We are not opposed per se with the idea of merging. What we are worried about is that in recent years, particularly in recent months we have seen the change of focus [of CIDA],” said Hélène Laverdière, NDP MP from Laurier – Ste-Marie and Critic for Americas, Consular Affairs and International Cooperation.

NDP MP Laverdière noted that the Minister himself has said that our aid money should go to opening markets for Canadian businesses which should not be the work of international trade department.

Liberal MP Bob Rae echoed the same sentiment. He said that it remains unclear to what extent CIDA’s work will be incorporated with DFAIT.

“The idea of greater integration between various parts of the government working on foreign policy is not a bad idea. The problem is the degree of political control and partisan control, and interference in the ongoing work of CIDA,” stated Liberal MP Bob Rae. He further added that “We don’t know if CIDA’s money will be reallocated to DFAIT, will there be change in countries of focus .. so it’s all speculation.”

MP Obhrai noted that the CIDA’s projects will go on as they are. CIDA’s budget of $4.3 billion will remain as it is, and that the savings asked of DFAIT and CIDA have already been achieved.

MP Rae is critical of reduction of CIDA’s budget overtime. He cites an example of United Kingdom where all three political parties have agreed not to lower the aid money to countries that need international assistance.

NDP has concerns regarding the real mandate of Department of International Cooperation. MP Laverdière says that if the merger was taking place “with the strong minister and the strong minister, there will not be such a big problem. Problem is the context in which it is being done .. Canada’s role is being weakened .. The government has provided no answers. There is a rumour that there will be change in the countries of focus. But the Government hasn’t said anything about it. There is a big big lack of transparency.”

MP Laverdière says that the rumour is that Pakistan will be removed from “countries of focus” list which may mean that the aid money flowing into Pakistan will be impacted.

All international assistance to India has also been eliminated. MP Obhrai says that this measure has been taken on Indian Government’s request.

“It was done on Indian government’s desire .. India doesn’t need any aid from us .. India is an emerging market .. India is doing very well,” stated the Parliamentary Secretary.

MP Laverdière says that ” we should respect decision of the Indian government, it is in the best place to know what it needs .. but we should also take into consideration perspective of poor.”

“There are areas of common interest in India with respect to economic development; areas like governance, improving rural development .. the poorest of the poor still live in India,” says MP Rae in response to the question whether the Canadian Government has lost its leverage by eliminating its aid to India.

The Government acknowledges that it is not easy to measure performance on aid money delivered to various countries, however accountability of taxpayers’ dollars is crucial.

“We can’t count the performance absolutely, but definitely there is an accountability process,” said MP from Alberta. He went on to say that the Government takes it seriously that there are still power problems, education delivery issues in Pakistan.

“Efficiency is very important, international community is working very very hard to ensure that the aid money is dispersed in efficient manner .. Lots of work is being done to ensure that the money is used wisely .. but we have to realize that some activities will have very long term results, education for example. Of course we can count the number of children going to school .. but the real result can be seen in 20 or 30 years,” stated NDP critic for international cooperation.

“I don’t like what’s called a cookie cutter approach,” stated Liberal MP Rae. “There are a number of ways of assessing that you are making progress .. Reasons for making no progress is doing more and not doing less .. only statistics shouldn’t be used to measure” the performance to continue to give assistance and aid.

MP Obhrai said that the Canadian projects in Afghanistan will be committed after “re-evaluation” and “seeing how the ongoing projects go.”

NDP MP says that there should be ” a better balance in Afghanistan not only on security issues but on poverty reduction. We should work with Afghan people to build institutions – which we do – but we can do more.”

MP Rae agrees stating that all evidence suggests that Canadian help is needed in Afghanistan.

The Government has been accused of hiding CIDA’s amalgamation with DFAIT on 433rd page of the budget document. MP Obhrai dismisses all such criticism stating that it makes sense to merge the two departments “to achieve efficiency and that’s what we have done.”

MP Rae retorts ” Of course they were hiding it. There was no white paper, no warning, no indication, no presentation, there was nothing. How can one lead to any other conclusion but this that the Government wanted to hide it.”

By Staff Writer

The Liberal budget presented by Ontario Minister Charles Sousa has put the Ontario New Democrats in a powerful yet a precarious position. Liberals have gone above and beyond to meet all the demands put forth by the NDP, however, NDP leader Andrea Horwath wants to hear from Ontarians at a toll-free phone line at 1-877-341-0244 and online at www.yoursayontario.ca.

The NDP had consulted with Ontarians before making demands such as to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15 per cent, reduce wait times for home care services and so on, however MPP Jagmeet Singh, NDP MPP from Bramalea-Gore-Malton says that now that the budget is in front of Ontarians, they should have a say to whether they would like the NDP to support it or not.

Nonetheless, New Democrats are disappointed that the budget presented by the Liberal government did not force auto insurance companies to reduce the premiums within a year.

“We wanted auto insurance premiums to be reduced in under an year. In five years, it will be totally different .. so the auto insurance premium reduction is promising but the amount of time is not reassuring,” said the rookie NDP MPP in an interview with Generation Next.

He went on to say that the auto insurance companies have had $4 billion in savings and another $2 billion in savings in 2013, so the savings should be passed along to Ontario drivers.

“These savings will last forever if the savings are not passed on to the consumers .. from 2004 to 2010, these companies were losing money .. they can’t say that anymore .. and it’s very very reasonable for them to pass those savings along,” he stated.

It has been noted that up to $225 in savings will come for safe drivers and not necessarily for drivers who live in high traffic, high accident, high fraud areas. Region of Peel residents live in high growth, high traffic, high volume and high accident area, will there be savings of 15 per cent for these drivers?

MPP Singh explained that the 80 per cent of drivers never make a claim in their life regardless of where they reside. Of those 10 – 15 per cent are “genuine claims, and are “mistakes.” The rest are fraudulent claims. Finance Commission of Ontario had noted that the benefits of GTA drivers have come down the most, the cost of providing these benefits to drivers dropped the most in the GTA, “so the savings have to be in GTA.”

When it comes to providing home care services, NDP is “happy” that Liberals have committed a lot of money “which is good, but it has not committed to an actual metrics” to measure the performance just as wait times are measured at Ontario’s hospitals, said MPP Singh. He said the NDP would like the wait times to be reduced to five days rather than up to 200 days.

The NDP would also prefer to see alternative measures like more community health centres to be put in place so costs can be reduced, and people can turn to community health centres rather than hospital emergency rooms for less critical issues.

MPP Singh said that the NDP believes that instituting tolls on HOV or having HOT lanes ” won’t raise significant amount of money .. we are open to creative ways of raising funds .. we will be releasing our platform on how to raise funds for transit in June.”

NDP MPP also said that the NDP is looking for finer details that have not been provided by the budget document so far. As of now, he says that people are digesting the budget presented by the government.

Tory MPP and finance critic Peter Shurman said the fact the Grits have give in to the NDP is further proof “the Liberals will spend anything to keep their power.”

“In a bid to buy the NDP support, Premier Wynne has spent an additional $1 billion on Andrea Horwath’s laundry list of demands, further compounding Ontario’s debt crisis,” the Thornhill MPP said.

“Ontario has a big problem and the NDP-Liberal government is just making it worse.”

He has also stated that NDP is “cozying up” to Liberals.

In response, MPP Singh said that instead of rejecting the budget outright like PCs and inducing a $93 million poll, the NDP has chosen to respond to the budget in a “more educated manner”.

PC Candidate Harjit Jaswal from Bramalea-Gore-Malton “Here are the stakes: Every dollar paid in interest on the Liberals’ huge debt is money that won’t go to schools, hospitals or new investments in our transportation networks. But the government has only made the problem worse through its reckless overspending.”

Minister Harinder Takhar has noted that the PC’s plan is to eliminate the deficit at the same time as Liberals, “unless they find some massive savings somewhere.”

Thousands of members of the Sikh community from Mississauga and across the GTA paraded through Malton yesterday in celebration of the annual Khalsa Day festival.

Members of Mississauga’s Sikh community were dressed in traditional religious garb as they marched from the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Malton on Airport Rd. to the Sikh Spiritual Centre in Etobicoke.
The Sikh community celebrates the Khalsa festival to educate other Canadians about their faith and ensure the culture is kept alive by new generations of Canadian-born Sikhs.

“We have people who have come all the the way from Michigan and New York,” said Jujhar Singh Dhillon, general secretary for the Sikh Spiritual Centre in Etobicoke. “Vaisakhi is also about celebrating the season of the harvest back home, a very happy time, especially for the farmers.”

More than 75,000 people turned out last year and Dhillon said organizers were expecting about 95,000 people for this year’s event.

The sun was smiling on participants on the weekend and the sound of drums, music and cheering filled the air.

The procession, called “nagar kirtan” — the Punjabi word for “neighbourhood” — began at 1:30 p.m. at the Malton Gurdwara and ended four hours later at the Sikh Spiritual Centre, located at 9 Carrier Dr.

Similar parades and processions were held around the world. Traditionally, the celebrations include the giving of flowers and offerings at gurdwaras.

Sukhjunder Singh, 22, and Jaskirat Singh, 16, both said it’s important that all local Sikhs come out to celebrate Khalsa Day. Khalsa is a Punjabi term meaning beloved ones and refers to the collective body of all baptized Sikhs.

Originally a military order of saintly soldiers created in 1699 by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, the Khalsa were five baptized Sikhs who offered to give their lives for their religion.

Source: http://www.mississauga.com/community/citizen/article/28991

Dr. Hasan Askari 

Lahore

  The scheduled date for the general elections in Pakistan is May 11 and the Election Commission has completed the arrangements for the elections. However, some people fear that some extraordinary development can still postpone the elections for few weeks, if not months. Others think that even if the elections are held on time, some political parties and groups may refuse to accept the results after losing it. Others think that some people are expected to file petition to the Supreme Court demanding the cancellation of the results on the grounds that some rules were not fully observed. Pakistan’s Supreme Court loves to entertain cases with political implications because it gives wide media projection to the judges. Keeping in view the disposition of the Supreme Court in the case against the Election Commission by Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri, the Supreme Court may not entertain such a plea.

 Though this is the 10^th general election in Pakistan, it has some unique features that makes it different from the previous elections. This time 148 political parties applied for election symbols but only 47 political parties have put up candidates for national and provincial assemblies. Some parties have nominated less than ten candidates. It is expected that 20 to 25 political parties will get seats in the national and provincial assemblies. In the National Assembly, there may not be more than 18 political parties. A number of them will have one to five seats.

 There are more independent candidates this time. A good number of them are expected to be elected. If no party gets the majority in the National Assembly or in a provincial assembly, the role of independent members will become critical to the formation of the government. The independent members can join a party in three days after the elections or stay independent.

  There are 60 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly (total strength of the National Assembly is 342 which includes 272 general seats, 60 women seats and 10 Non-Muslims). On May 11, only 272 general seats are being contested. The reserved women seats are allocated to the political parties in proportion to the general seats won by them in the assembly concerned. However, over 30 women are contesting on general seats; a few of them will get elected. In Sindh, a Hindu women, a laborer by profession, is contesting for a National Assembly seats. Her campaign expenses are covered by her supporters who are both Hindus and Muslims. She may not be elected but she represents a new consciousness of rights among women.

  All four provincial assemblies have 128 reserved seats for women. Like the National Assembly, women are contesting on general seats. The major political parties have nominated some women candidates but the political parties are generally reluctant to nominate women to general seats.

 Non-Muslims have reserved seats in the National Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies but they can contest elections on general seats as well. A couple of them are doing that. One Christian candidate started his election campaign by church service.

 According to the Election Commission information the total number of registered voters for the 2013 elections in Pakistan is 86,189,802. Male voters are 48,592,387 and female voters are 37,597,415. The minimum voting age since 2002 is 18 years. Earlier it used to be 21 years. The minimum age for contesting election to the national and provincial assemblies is 25 years.

 The candidates have engaged in door-to-door campaigns but only two political parties have been able to hold big public meetings. These are the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Sharif (PMLN) and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) of Imran Khan. Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamiat-i-Ulema-Islam have also held small public meetings.

 Three political parties are facing violence from Pakistani Taliban and their local affiliates. These parties are Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP). The Taliban threats and their bombings of public meetings, party offices and candidates of these parties have made it extremely difficult for these parties to engage in electioneering openly. These parties have not held a public meeting during the last two week of the campaign. Their top leaders cannot address public meeting or move around openly because of the Taliban threats to their life.

 Islamic parties that are critical of the Taliban are also finding it difficult to engage in open electioneering. The Islamic parties that subscribe to Beralvi and Shia Islamic tradition are under threat. Therefore, the election campaign has become one sided and the Taliban has taken the initiative to decide who will engage in open electioneering. The Election Commission and the federal and provincial governments appear helpless.

 The Army is posting 70,000 personnel for security duties on the election-day. Hopefully, they are able to neutralize the Taliban plan to subvert the casting of votes on May 11.

 More Islamic parties are contesting the elections than ever before. Every Islamic tradition (Muslak) is represented among the candidates. However, only JUI of Maulana Fazlur Rahman is expected to perform. The Jamaat-i-Islami may not get a seat in the National Assembly. These parties may get some representation in the provincial assemblies.

  As the political parties are threatened by violence, the focus of election campaign has shifted to advertisements in the press and electronic media. The PTI is far ahead of the PMLN and the PPP in communicating its message through newspapers, television, messaging through cellular phones, emails, twitter and face-book. This has enabled the media to make a lot of money.

 Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif are using small aircraft/helicopter for travelling for electioneering. No other leader is using rented aircraft for election-related travelling. The PPP is virtually absent from open election campaign. It does not have a leader with national stature for electioneering. Bilawal Bhutto is hiding in Dubai for security reasons.

  The election process has faced more problems this time than ever before. Therefore, the holding of the May 2013 is going to be a real challenge.

Divya Kaeley

The UPA has decided not to oblige the opposition by asking for the resignation of Railway Minister P K Bansal, whose nephew was arrested in a bribery case, as also Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who is in the eye of a storm over coalgate controversy.

A meeting of the Congress Core Group, the second in as many days, saw the ruling party deciding to weather the storm at a time when Parliament is paralysed over a host of issues, including the coal scam in which the BJP is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

After the deliberations of the meeting chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi at the residence of the Prime Minister, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari ruled out resignations of either Bansal or Kumar.

A day ahead of filing a crucial affidavit in the Supreme Court on coal scam, which has rocked the UPA government, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha affirmed that the agency’s probe into the matter was “clean and clear” and that no accused or suspect had been let off. The apex court hearing the matter on May 8 may decide the political fate of Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar who is embroiled in a controversy for having had a meeting with the CBI Director and others on March 5 during which he vetted the draft of the status report on the scam that was to be filed by the CBI on the next day.

At its last hearing on April 12, the court had asked Sinha to file an affidavit stating that the details of the report had not been shared with anyone as claimed by Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval before the court.

The CBI on Sunday arrested one more accused in the Railway bribery scandal involving Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew and a board member, taking the total number of those apprehended to nine.

Attacking the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for corruption, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said after the Railway Board controversy, nobody could doubt that Congress is the problem.

“After 17 years, the Congress gets the railway ministry and what results is a scam. Does anyone still have any doubts that the Congress is the problem,” Modi tweeted.
Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew was arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 90 lakh for fixing a top level position in the Railway Board.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday backed Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, saying he is a “honest person” and that his nephew could have misused his proximity to him. ”Bansal is an honest person (Bansal ek imandar wyakti hain),” the former Railway minister told reporters here.

His kin could have taken advantage of their proximity to him as it so happens in public life, he said. Relatives do misuse their proximity with ministers, Prasad said.

Gujarat Congress on Sunday alleged that Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been spreading “blatant lies” and unnecessarily blaming the Centre for not constructing gates at the Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam. ”Gujarat Chief Minister is using the Narmada project for a canard campaign against the central government and spreading blatant lies to conceal his own failures and criminal negligence in implementing the Narmada project,” former Opposition leader Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters here.

In another big news of the week, with the trial in the Delhi gang-rape case “almost 90 percent complete”, the court verdict is expected to come by the end of May, Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said.
In an interview to a news channel, Neeraj Kumar said: “The trial of December 16 (2012) case is almost 90 per cent complete and judgment is expected by the end of May.”
On Dec 16, 2012, a 23-year-old woman was brutally raped and tortured by a gang of six people on a moving bus. She died a few days later of grievous injuries.

A British Columbia cancer survivor is giving women like her a chance at a fresh start by travelling across the world and soaking up different cultures.

Terri Wingham, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at age 30, founded the Fresh Chapter Alliance Foundation last year to help cancer survivors connect worldwide.

She recently organized a trip to India for twelve fellow cancer survivors, who were matched with local community projects.

The women spent two weeks travelling the country and volunteering. Some of them washed floors at Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying and the Destitute, some served meals to the poor, while others gave English lessons to underprivileged school children.

They also visited the Taj Mahal and other landmarks.

“Cancer is such a unifying disease,” Wingham, now 34, told CTV News. “It’s about bringing groups of people together and understanding that we are more the same than we are different.”

Wingham’s inspiration to start Fresh Chapter Alliance was deeply personal.

“I really struggled picking up the pieces of my life after cancer,” she said. “I thought that volunteering in Africa would inspire me. It helped me find myself again.”

Breast cancer survivor Alexandra Ginty was among the first to sign up for Wingham’s journey to India.

“It is completely unique. I have never heard of anything like this,” she said, adding that the trip gave her a new sense of purpose and belonging.

“You discover yourself and you feel incredibly grateful for everything you have,” Ginty said.

Wingham said another goal is to address the struggles most cancer survivors face.

“It’s not, oh you go to India and you can pretend you never had cancer and everything is better,” she said.

“But maybe you have these shifts in perspective. You meet other people who understand you and you feel less alone.”

http://www.ctvnews.ca/