Ottawa, April 29: Following a humiliating defeat in the Canadian federal elections, New Democratic Party (NDP) chief Jagmeet Singh, known for his pro-Khalistan stance, announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Singh was contesting for a third consecutive term but lost his Burnaby Central seat in British Columbia to Liberal Party’s Wade Chang.

While Singh managed to secure just about 27 per cent of the vote share, Chang emerged victorious with more than 40 per cent of the votes.

The results marked a devastating blow for Singh and his party. The Liberals, led by Mark Carney, won the election with over 160 seats, whereas the NDP’s presence in Parliament was reduced to a mere seven seats out of the 343 they contested.

The party’s vote share plummeted to just 2 per cent. In stark contrast, the NDP had secured 24 seats in the previous federal election.

With this dramatic decline, the NDP is now poised to lose its national party status, which in Canada requires a minimum of 12 seats in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals have retained power; however, the party fell short of securing a majority government.

Reacting to the outcome, Singh took to social media platform X and posted, “I know this night is disappointing for New Democrats.”

“But we are only defeated when we believe those that tell us we can never dream of a better Canada… I am disappointed that we could not win more seats. But I am not disappointed in our movement,” he added.

Singh, who became the leader of the NDP in 2017, holds the distinction of being the first ethnic minority politician to lead a major federal political party in Canada.

Canadian public broadcaster CBC and other media outlets projected that the Liberal Party, under Carney’s leadership, would form the next government.

However, whether the Liberals would secure a majority in the House of Commons remained unclear at the time of reporting.

Jagmeet Singh has consistently been a strong supporter of Khalistani principles, often associating himself with the goals of the Khalistan movement, which aims to establish an independent Sikh state separate from India, a view which has drawn significant criticism from New Delhi.

Tensions between India and Canada escalated significantly last year after Ottawa accused New Delhi of involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

During this period, Singh prominently emerged as a strong backer of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who levelled the allegations.

However, India rejected the “baseless” allegations as Canada failed to provide evidence.

However, Singh’s political positioning shifted in September last year when the NDP became the last among Canada’s three major opposition parties to sever ties with Trudeau’s administration.

He accused the former prime minister of surrendering to corporate interests and abandoning progressive promises.

Sindh, April 29: Protest intensified in Sindh province of Pakistan against the construction of six new canals on the Indus River, as the declaration of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) has failed to build any consensus among the protesting lawyers.

The lawyers’ association, unsatisfied with the CCI proposal, decided to continue with their sit-in protest, which started last week at the Babarloi bypass in Khairpur district, local media reported.

The CCI, recognized as the highest constitutional body in Pakistan, was originally scheduled to convene on May 2. However, it was rescheduled to meet on Monday due to the deteriorating situation in Sindh amid ongoing protests against the canal project.

But the “hurriedly-called” CCI did not announce the complete abandonment of the six-canal project. Rather, it endorsed the earlier stance of the federal government that the project will only move if the CCI and the provinces reach a consensus, Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune reported.

“The CCI endorses the policy of the federal government. The federal government has decided that no new canals will be built without mutual understanding from CCI. It has been decided that the federal government will not move further until mutual understanding is evolved among the provinces,” an official statement released after the meeting stated.

Addressing the media in Kashmore-Kandhkot district, Sindh High Court Bar Association President Barrister Sarfaraz Ali Metlo stated that the lawyers’ demand is the issuance of notifications declaring the cancellation of not only the six canals project but also the corporate farming as well. He stated that the lawyers’ sit-ins will not cease over the CCI’s announcement.

“We have been demanding from day one that the government should notify cancellation of both, the six canal projects and the corporate farming,” he stated.

He warned that if the governments delay in issuing the notifications, protests will intensify and spread in the province.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Advocate Sajjad Ahmed Chandio, a member of the lawyers committee constituted to negotiate with the government, stated that a majority of the lawyers have rejected the CCI’s decision.

The declaration of the CCI had also not gone well with the nationalist leaders and social activists who are similarly demanding the cancellation of the project.

One of the social activists, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Jr said that the CCI’s decision does not reflect their demand to cancel the canals and corporate farming project.

“The government is also not listening to the people’s wishes because this CCI meeting was called in an emergency, in fear of the people,” he added.

Seoul, April 28: South Korea’s National Fire Agency (NFA) issued an emergency response order Monday to mobilise available national personnel and equipment to put out a fire spreading in the southeastern city of Daegu, officials said.

The NFA issued the order about two hours after the blaze began around 2 p.m. on Mount Hamji in the city, some 230 kilometres southeast of Seoul, and was spreading toward nearby villages.

Under the emergency order, the fire authorities have mobilised 28 additional fire engines to aid efforts to extinguish the blaze on top of 67 fire engines and 29 fire helicopters that had already been in operation, according to the officials.

No casualties have been reported so far, but nearby residents have been instructed to evacuate to local elementary schools, reports Yonhap news agency.

Acting President Han Duck-soo also ordered related authorities to “use all available equipment and personnel” to extinguish the fire and help people evacuate to safety.

“As the wildfire is spreading rapidly due to strong winds and there are residential areas nearby, make sure to take all necessary measures for emergency rescue and evacuation to prevent any loss of life,” he said.

The Korea Forest Service also issued a Level 3 wildfire response, the highest in its three-tier scale, as strong winds continued to spread the flames.

A Level 3 response is issued when wind speeds exceed 7 metres per second, the expected damage area is over 100 hectares and firefighting efforts are expected to last over 24 hours.

As of 6 p.m., some 57 hectares of land had been affected by the fire, with the containment rate remaining at 14.5 per cent, according to fire authorities.