Want friendly ties, talks with India: Imran Khan
Islamabad, July 26 : Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who is set to be the new Pakistan Prime Minister, on Thursday said his government would seek good relations with India and would like leaders of the two countries to sit across the table and resolve all disputes, including the "core issue" of Kashmir.
"If Indian leadership is ready, we are ready to improve relationship. If you take one step, we are ready to take two. Now it is one sided blame on Pakistan. We have to resolve the main issue through dialogue. This is important for the sub-continent," Khan told the media here as results indicated that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was close to majority in the 272-member National Assembly.
At the same time, he blew hot over the Kashmir issue, alleging that there were human rights violations by security forces.
"Kashmiri people have suffered in the last 30 years," said Khan, known for his hardline towards India and is widely believed to be having the backing of the Pakistan Army.
He said there has been a blame game between India and Pakistan with New Delhi holding Islamabad responsible for all its problems. And Pakistan is blaming India for what is happening in Balochistan, he said.
"We are (back to ) square one. We are ready to improve relationship with India. Now it is a one way blame on Pakistan."
He said trade between India and Pakistan can be instrumental in eradicating poverty in the sub-continent which should be the focus of the two countries.
Khan lamented that the Indian media had projected him as a Bollywood villain. "I am a Pakistani who is most popular in India because I played there. I am a Pakistani who wants friendly relationship with India."
Khan said his government would take all efforts for bringing peace in Afghanistan with which Pakistan would like to have open border while trying to strengthen ties with Pakistan's all-weather friend China.
With the US, he said, his administration would like to have mutually beneficial ties. "This has been one way so far. We should have a balanced relationship."
Set to capture power after being in politics for 22 years, the firebrand politician said he would not indulge in political victimization but would implement the law against those who go against the law of the land.
He said he would root out corruption which was the bane of the country and he would himself be accoutable first.
"The National Accountability Bureau will be strengthened and the law will be same for everyone.
He said the Pakistan economy was the most challenged and dysfunctional with high fiscal and trade deficits and the value of rupee plunging deep.
Khan pledged austerity measures for the government and said he himself won't live in a "palace like" Prime Minister's residence but would prefer a house in the ministers enclave.
On his priorities as the head of the new government, Khan said governance system had collapsed in Pakistan and he would like to set it right first with all policies for poor and the common man and not for elites.
"All our policies will be for workers, farmers. We are not able to give proper healthcare and Pakistan has the highest maternal mortality rate."
Rejecting his rivals' charges that the just concluded elections were rigged in his favour, Khan said this was one of the cleanest polls Pakistan ever held.
"I want to tell those who are saying that elections are rigged that we are ready to investigate." he said.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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