Nawaz Sharif, daughter given parole; Kulsoom's burial on Friday
Islamabad, Sep 12 : Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar have been released from prison on a three-day parole to attend the funeral of Kulsoom Nawaz, who passed away in London after months of battle with cancer.
The three, now serving prison sentences in Rawalpindi on corruption charges, were released hours after Sharif's wife died in a London hospital on Tuesday.
The funeral prayers of the former Premier's wife will held at London's Regent Park mosque on Thursday and her body will then be flown to Lahore, Geo News reported.
The Sharif family said that Kulsoom Nawaz will be laid to rest on Friday at their residence in Lahore.
Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and her husband were escorted by the police from the jail to the Nur Khan Airbase from where they flew to Lahore on Wednesday.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif accompanied the three on the flight. Later, he departed for London to bring Kulsoom Nawaz's body home.
According to the Punjab Home Department spokesperson, it was decided that Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Safdar's parole be extended by three days. "In case of a delay in Begum Kulsoom's funeral, the parole will be further extended," the spokesperson said.
According to Dawn daily, Kulsoom Nawaz's sons in London would not accompany her body to Lahore though her daughter Asma and grandson Zikriya Sharif would go with the casket to Pakistan.
A large number of relatives, party leaders, workers, politicians and well-wishers visited the Sharif residence to condole the death.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
