Pakistan opposition leader has made a plea to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to appoint an interim prime minister and four interim chief ministers to supervise the process for the next general elections due by mid-2018.

One of the staunch rivals of the ruling party and leader of Awami Muslim League Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad in a statement issued in Lahore on Sunday has made a request to the Chief Justice Saqib Nisar to appoint a neutral interim prime minister for the country and chief ministers for Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure transparency before the next elections are held.

Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad who is also an ally of another opposition leader Imran Khan, the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf (PTI), also said the establishment of an independent and powerful interim administration was necessary before the next elections.

Pakistan’s opposition leaders are fearing the installation of a pro-ruling party interim set-up before 90-days from election, a condition elaborated in the Constitution. Officially the elections are due by the end of June or July and a set interim set up must come by April if the elections are to be held on time.

Several other political opponents of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government have also called for setting up of an interim government to supervise and ensure fair and free elections in the country.

One of the leading opponents of present government, General(Rtd.)Pervez Musharraf has also made repeated calls for establishment of a caretaker government in Pakistan to meet the rising challenges.

A caretaker government is mandated to hold the general elections within three months or 90 days and then hand over affairs of the state to the elected government as those holding official or ministerial positions cannot take part in elections.

As per the Pakistani Constitution, “the purpose of the caretaker Cabinet in Pakistan is to create a conducive environment for genuine elections, ensuring the neutrality of the government to facilitate a smooth transfer of power from one elected government to another.”

The Constitution also says that as a non-partisan administration, the caretaker’s primary role is to exercise the routine functions of government. The experience of other countries with this institution shows that an efficient caretaker government requires a clear set of rules that define its mandate, function and neutrality.

According to media reports, the ruling party’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will resume consultations with leaders of parliamentary parties next week.

But according to a report published earlier in the daily Express Tribune “these contacts will only be customary and decision for caretaker prime minister and National Assembly will be taken after proper agreement with leader of the opposition so as to avoid confrontation with parliamentary committee and the Election Commission”.

Before the elections are announced the National Assembly would be dissolved but the Senate would remain intact. The ruling party is seriously worried about the role of newly elected Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani during the interim three months period.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abbasi who is also a leader of the ruling PML-N government, has also expressed his serious reservations on election of new Senate chairman who would become an acting president of the country in the absence of PML-N- nominated current President Mamnoon Hussain.

Abbasi’s strong criticism of the Senate chairman has also drawn reactions from allied party leaders.

PML-N’s long-time ally, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam leader and Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haidri who is now part of new alliance of Islamists on Sunday criticised the prime minister’s statement against election of Sadiq Sanjrani.

Senator Haidri, a deputy secretary-general of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA or United Action Union), in his statement said that the “prime minister should represent the nation and not one party” and claimed that “the way the PM has criticised the Senate chairman election, he himself would come under criticism”.

Bina Bala, 22, who survived the attack by Rohingyas in Myanmar/ Courtesy:

Official website of Amnesty International

New Delhi: At a time when there is a dormant, underlying ongoing debate on the deportation of Rohingyas from the country, it has come to light that armed Rohingya groups massacred up to 99 Hindu women, men and children in the Rakhine state as recently as August 2017. A report by Amnesty International released on Tuesday has thrown light on the brutality with which the Rohingyas targetted and killed Hindu groups in the Rakhine state in Myanmar.

According to the Amnesty report, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked Hindu community in Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik village in northern Maungdaw Township. On August 26, 2017, they killed six Hindus- a man, three children, and two women near Maungdaw town, near Myo Thu Gyi village.

According to the report, Kor Mor La, 25, one of the survivors told Amnesty, “The people who shot us were dressed in black. … I couldn’t see their faces, only their eyes. … They had long guns and swords. My husband was shot next to me. I was shot [in the chest]. After that, I was barely conscious.”

“[It was morning], I was praying at the time,” 22-year-old Bina Bala, one of eight women taken to Bangladesh by ARSA fighters told Amnesty. “They came to our house. Some were wearing black and others were wearing normal clothes … I recognized them [from the village].” According to her statement, the men confiscated their mobile phones and ordered them to stand in the courtyard. “[The men] held knives and long iron rods. They tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us. I asked what they were doing. One of them replied, ‘You and [ethnic] Rakhine are the same, you have a different religion, you can’t live here’. He spoke the [Rohingya] dialect. They asked what belongings we had, then they beat us. Eventually, I gave them my gold and money.”

Rika Dhar, 24, another survivor said- “We didn’t have a chance to run… I was blindfolded, and they tied my hands behind my back.” The report cites that “After blindfolding the Hindu villagers, ARSA fighters marched them to a creek area on the outskirts of the village. They then divided the men from the women and children, and brought the women into the forest.”

“The fighters killed, execution-style, 53 of the Hindus from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, according to a list of the dead seen by Amnesty International that is consistent with testimony from survivors, other Kha Maung Seik residents, and Hindu community leaders. The victims include 20 men, 10 women, and 23 children, 14 of who were under the age of 8. Only 16 people – eight women and eight of their children – survived, their lives spared on the condition that the women agreed to “convert” from Hinduism to Islam and then marry people selected by ARSA fighters”- the report cites.

According to all eight survivors, the ARSA fighters took the men away and killed them. One of the survivors told the organisation that the Rohingya men “came back with blood on their swords, and blood on their hands. They told us that they had killed our husbands and the village headman.” “They slaughtered the men. We were told not to look at them … They had knives. They also had some spades and iron rods. … We hid in the shrubs there and were able to see a little. … My uncle, my father, my brother – they were all slaughtered. … After slaughtering the men, the women were also slaughtered.”

Citing two of the survivors – Aur Nika, around 18; and Formila the report says that as the fighters were leading them away, “they looked back and saw women being killed.” “I saw men holding the heads and hair [of the women] and others were holding knives. And then they cut their throats,” she said