“Both the parties have agreed on a power-sharing formula as we have the required number of seats in the National Assembly (NA) to form the government,” PML-N President and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday evening during a joint press conference in Islamabad.

Following days of negotiations between the two parties, it has been decided that Sharif will be the joint candidate for both parties for the slot of Prime Minister and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari will be the joint candidate for the President’s slot, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sharif said that the independent candidates, who emerged victorious in majority by securing m ore than 100 seats, were invited to form the government, but they failed to achieve the required numbers.

He added that other parties such as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League, and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party supported PML-N and PPP in the government-making endeavour.

Acknowledging that the road ahead for the coalition government will be challenging, Sharif said that the coalition alliance is prepared to confront and overcome the obstacles together.

The upcoming government will work together to pull the country out of the ongoing crises, he said, expressing the hope to be able to deliver.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the details of the sharing of key constitutional offices between the PPP and PML-N will be announced in the coming days.

Expressing hopes for success in addressing Pakistan’s challenges, the PPP Chairman said that the news of the political alliance of the PPP with the PML-N to form a coalition government will lead to a positive response from the markets and bring stability.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced the result of 265 out of 266 seats for the NA after the country held general elections on February 8 to elect a government for the next five-year term, with no political party securing a simple majority, compelling parties to make alliances to form the government in Centre.

Khan was jailed in August this year, in the cipher case, which involved an alleged violation of the Official Secret Act. It was alleged that the cricketer-turned-politician disclosed a secret diplomatic cable sent by Pakistan’s Washington Embassy in March.

The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a string of political and legal battles ever since he was ousted as prime minister in April 2022.

The Supreme Court judges, in a written court order, said they could not find “sufficient incriminating material” which could establish that Khan leaked state secrets to benefit a foreign power.

The order said Khan’s release on bail “during the period of elections would ensure ‘genuine elections’ and thus enable the people to exercise the right to express their will effectively and meaningfully. There are no exceptional circumstances to decline the concession of bail.”

However, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said he remains incarcerated over numerous separate graft cases, with a scant chance that he will be released from prison to contest elections.

Members of royal families from Arab countries are camping in the Pakistani areas across the border adjoining Jaisalmer and Bikaner to catch the rare bird Houbara bustard, which is called Tilor in the local language. They have trained hawks and eagles to catch the bird and the eagle may be one of these. The hunting eagles are of Perigon and Lager breeds, the report added quoting sources.

The ex-cricketing superstar was jailed in August for three years of graft but when his sentence was later overturned, he was instead kept in custody on the far more serious charge of sharing state documents.

The case relates to a cable that Khan had touted as proof that he was ousted as part of a US conspiracy backed by the powerful military establishment, according to a report by the government’s Federal Investigation Agency. The United States and the Pakistan military have denied the claim, the report added.

The vice chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister, has also been indicted over the case. Lawyers for Khan say the case carries a maximum jail term of 14 years.

The blast took place in the Mustang district of the southwestern province during a religious gathering marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammed, Pakistan’s Dawn reported citing the assistant commissioner of the district.

Dr Saeed Mirwani, chief executive of a memorial hospital in Mutang, said dozens were being treated at the hospital while more than 20 injured people have been referred to Quetta. “The process of moving bodies and injured persons continues even now,” the hospital CEO told the Pakistani publication.

He clarified that the figure of people wounded in the explosion was earlier wrongly reported higher due to double entries from two hospitals. The correct number of the injured was 50.

Pakistan’s interior ministry said a blast was carried out by “terrorist elements”. “The attack on innocent people who came to participate in the procession of Eid Milad-ul-Nabi is a very heinous act,” the ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, Balochistan’s Minister for Information Jan Achakzai posted on X, that the number of dead was rising.

The development came immediately after Twitter withheld the account of the national public broadcaster in Pakistan – Radio Pakistan. After these official accounts were withheld in India, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged Twitter to restore the accounts with immediate access.

Earlier the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had blocked 16 YouTube news channels including 6 Pakistan-based channels as they were found to spread disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations, and public order. In such a time the current development of banning of the above stated Twitter accouns has taken place.

According to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, these YouTube channels were spreading false, unverified information to create panic, incite communal disharmony, and disturb public order in India. The blocked social media accounts include six Pakistan-based and 10 India-based YouTube news channels, which had a cumulative viewership of over 68 crore.

None of the digital news publishers had furnished information to the Ministry as required under rule 18 of the IT Rules, 2021, the government said.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that these YouTube channels based in Pakistan were found to have been used in a coordinated manner to post fake news about India on various subjects such as the Indian Army, Jammu, and Kashmir, and India’s foreign relations in the light of the situation in Ukraine among others .

The content of these channels were observed to be completely false, and sensitive from the perspective of national security, sovereignty, and integrity of India, and India’s friendly relations with foreign States.

By Nilanchal Naik