Islamabad: Today marks the diamond jubilee of 1st Constituent Assembly of Pakistan which held its first session on 10th August 1947.

On the occasion, Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the parliament being representative of masses can ensure prosperity and inclusive development in the country.  

He said the incumbent parliament is cognizant of its responsibilities and exercising its parliamentary oversight of the executive.

He said both the treasury and opposition benches have a vital role in strengthening parliament as it is the place where decisions are made based on the aspirations of the masses.

Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani said the incumbent parliament is a true representative of people who would strengthen democracy and democratic norms in the country.

He said the coalition government is especially focusing on bringing positive changes in the lives of common man.

Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the schedule for by-polls on four vacant and one reserved seat of the National Assembly.

As per the schedule, the process of filing nomination papers for by-polls began today which will continue till Saturday while the list of candidates will be published on Sunday.

The ECP will scrutinize nomination papers by 17th of this month.

Candidates will be able to file appeals against approval and rejection of nomination papers by by 20th of this month.

Polling for the by-polls will be held on 25th of next month.

The vacant constituencies include NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar and NA-45 Kurram.

Taipei: About 20 Chinese navy and Taiwan navy ships continued to stay close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait as of Wednesday morning, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters. 

Several Chinese navy ships continued to conduct missions off Taiwan's eastern coast as of Wednesday morning, the source said.

SOURCE: REUTERS