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RAWALPINDI: The Senate Standing Committee on Aviation was on Thursday informed that a significant number of pilots have recently fled the country as a result of major salary cuts in the form of high taxes. PIA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amir Hayat informed the committee that 15 pilots had recently left the country and that a Supreme Court appeal for hiring young male staff for the national flag carrier had not yet been entertained. The committee’s chairman Senator Hidayatullah remarked that the future of aspiring pilots was in jeopardy. He asked Senator Saleem Mandviwalla to take up the issue with the FBR through the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate committee was briefed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CIA) about the reasons behind the decline of routes of foreign airlines. CAA’s Director Genral Khaqan Murtaza said 31 international airlines had applied for operations to and from Pakistan with a total tally of 576 weekly frequencies from all international airports ...

ISLAMABAD: The Constitution does not grant unilateral and arbitrary power to the country’s top judge to list cases for hearing, form special benches and select judges, Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday. He proposed that cases under Article 184(3) of the Constitution be postponed until amendments were made to Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) discretionary powers to form benches. “With respect, the Chief Justice cannot substitute his personal wisdom with that of the Constitution,” Justice Isa said in his remarks, part of a 12-page judgement he authored. “Collective determination by the Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court can also not be assumed by an individual, albeit the Chief Justice,” he said. Justice Isa was heading a three-judge special bench, which was formed by CJP Bandial, to hear a suo motu case related to the award of an additional 20 marks to candidates for memorising the Holy Quran by he...

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Tue­sday warned that the current political crisis was designed to “stall the democratic process” and undermine the efficacy and legitimacy of the parliament. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, HRCP Chairperson Hina Jilani demanded all politicians sit together and reso­lve issues to stre­ngthen the democratic process. She said political parties should also not look towards the Supreme Court and armed forces to resolve their problems and should sit together to amicably solve their issues. The HRCP chairperson alos noted how the dissenting order issued by two judges of the Supreme Court had ‘vindicated’ the political parties’ apprehension on the court’s decision on holding elections. Hina Jilani says dissenting note by judges vindicates political parties’ apprehensions on SC order Ms Jilani said the order, authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, was “an eye opener” and it was...

ISLAMABAD: Ending almost a year-long boycott, opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senators returned to the joint sitting of parliament on Monday with their signature noisy protest, causing disruptions to the proceedings as both the Senate opposition leader and a minister accused each other of causing chaos in the country. For the first time since assuming the office in April last year, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was seen struggling in running the house smoothly as members from both sides continued sloganeering against each other despite warnings from the chair. Speaker Ashraf on a couple of times was seen losing temper when he warned the opposition senators that they might also not be allowed to speak if they continued interrupting Minister for Communications Asad Mehmood’s speech. He taunted the PTI members by saying, “end your protest now as you have marked your attendance before someone”. The PTI senators, carrying placards inscribed with anti-government slogans, gat...

LAHORE: PML-N lea­der Maryam Nawaz on Mon­day pledged to expose what she called Imran Khan’s facilitators in the judiciary “with full force” and tasked the party spok­es­persons with doing so. Presiding over a meeting of PML-N’s spokespersons at the party office in Model Town, the party’s chief organiser asked them to bring forth the facts related to the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case in which her father Nawaz Sharif was convicted and ousted from the Prime Minister’s House. “The meeting also form­ulated a strategy to expose Imran Khan’s facilitators’ corruption. Khan’s facilitators in the judiciary will also be exposed with full force,” the PML-N said in a statement issued after the meeting. “Imran Khan has become a story of the past and now it’s time to think about Pakistan’s future,” Ms Nawaz said. The PML-N leader said that so much evidence of “Nawaz’s innocence” had come forth that both sides of the scale of justice sho­uld have been equal by now. “Mary...

LAHORE: Chief organiser of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz has said that former premier Imran Khan desires to be ‘selected again’, this time through what she called ‘judicial establishment’. “This time Imran Khan has found ‘judicial establishment’ for his selection [as prime minister], while the remnants of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa are still there in the [military] establishment,” she told a gathering of PML-N lawyers’ wing at her Jati Umra residence here on Sunday. According to her, the PTI is demanding immediate elections only because a new chief justice of Pakistan would take charge in October while PTI’s politics revolved around some appointments. “First they relied on the establishment and now the judiciary. They tried to make the army chief’s appointment controversial. They have always depended on facilitators. Now, they are banking on the remnants of the former establishment to save them.” Asks for guarantee that PTI chief will accept man...

QUETTA/ISLAMABAD: While a judicial magistrate in Quetta rejected the police request seeking five-day physical remand of Hassaan Niazi and granted interim bail to him in a case registered against him by the Balochistan police, the PTI leader and nephew of former prime minister Imran Khan was not released from jail till late Saturday evening. The Balochistan police brought him to Quetta from Islamabad on Saturday morning and produced him before the judicial magistrate (Quetta-III) Jamil Ahmed Sheikh. In his statement before the court, Hassaan Niazi said his only fault was that he was Mr Khan’s legal adviser. The magistrate then rejected the police plea and granted interim bail to him against surety bonds of Rs100,000. Islamabad magistrate observes prosecution yet to prove the case However, he was not released and was still in district jail of Quetta in the evening. “Despite issuing release orders of the judicial magistrate, the jail authorities have not released Hass...

• Fears further delays in elections; calls on people to participate in today’s rally at Minar-i-Pakistan • Claims police officers informed him about Punjab IG’s ‘murder plan’, asked him to move to GB or AJK LAHORE: Visibly upset over the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to postpone the April 30 Punjab Assembly elections until October, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has asked how the situation would be any different five to six months from now. “Will the economic or the security situation improve by then,” he asked, saying the ground realities suggested that the situation would be worse in October. “Does this mean the ECP will stretch the elections even further,” he questioned, stressing that the nation was now looking towards the Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution of Pakistan. Speaking to media persons after appearing at the Lahore High Court on Friday, the former prime minister said if authorities had decided once to violate the Constitution, any...

TAXILA: Punjab Caretaker Health Minister Dr Jamal Nasir has said that development projects worth Rs28 billion in the health sector across the province are being completed at a fast pace and this would improve the treatment of patients. He expressed these views while talking to journalists during his surprise visit to Government Asfandyar Bukhari District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Attock. On this occasion, Deputy Commissioner Rao Atif Raza, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Waqas Aslam Marth, Chief Executive (District Health Authority) Dr Asad Ismail, Medical Superintendent Dr Jawwad Ellahi, Assistant Commissioner Shagufta Jabeen and other relevant officers were also present. During his visit, he inspected various wards and reviewed the health care system besides interacting with patients and their attendants, and inquired about the standard of facilities and medicines from them. He said that efforts are being made to further reform and strengthen critical aspects of th...

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said on Wednesday the Supreme Court protects the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as it enjoys complete authority in accordance with the Constitution to perform statutory and constitutional functions, but the top court would interfere in case of any abuse of authority or mala fide on part of the commission. Since it is the ECP’s responsibility to ensure free and fair elections and it can allow transfer and posting in accordance with the constitution, the SC will protect the commission just as it protects other constitutional bodies such as parliament, he noted. The chief justice made these observations on Wednesday at the hearing of former Lahore CCPO Ghulam Mehmood Dogar case in which the Supreme Court on Feb 17 suspended the order for his repatriation to the federal government. Pleading that he was being subjected to victimisation due to political vendetta between the centre and provincial governments, Mr Dogar th...

ISLAMABAD: A counsel for PTI chief Imran Khan has conceded the veracity of an affidavit Mr Khan submitted before a court in California stating that he had surrendered the guardian rights of his alleged daughter Tyrian Jade White Khan. Salman Akram Raja, the counsel, admitted before a three-member larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday that “Mr Khan never denied, nor disowned the affidavit”. The bench had taken up a petition seeking disqualification of Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter. The bench comprised Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir. The affidavit was submitted by Mr Khan to the Superior Court of California in response to a notice issued to him on a suit filed by Tyrian’s aunt, who sought her custody. Earlier, Tyrian’s mother Sita White had filed a suit seeking the grant of a decree that Mr Khan was the father of Tyrian Jade White. The PTI chairman initially joined the p...

ISLAMABAD: The Islam­ab­­ad High Court (IHC) is expected to decide on Tuesday (to­­day) the maintainability of a petition seeking the disqualification of former prime minister Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter Tyrian White. In his reply to the court, Mr Khan objected to the petition, stating he was no longer a public office holder as his resignation from the National Assembly was “irrevocable” when he has no inte­ntion of taking up a seat in the present assembly. In his reply, Mr Khan stated that the court has no jurisdiction to examine the veracity of any declaration or affidavit by a person who had cea­sed to hold public office. During Monday’s hearing, counsel for the petitioner, Hamid Ali Shah, concluded his arguments in response to Mr Khan’s objections. The matter was taken up by the ben­ch comprising Chief Jus­tice Aamer Farooq, Just­ice Mohsin Akhtar Kaya­­ni and Jus­tice Arbab Muhammad Tahir. Justice Farooq inqui­red about the status of a returned cand...

ISLAMABAD: PTI’s senior vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sun­day assailed Finance Mini­ster Ishaq Dar for speaking on the country’s missile programme on the floor of the house and demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should issue a policy statement on the matter. Last week, Mr Dar, while speaking about the ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the Senate, had snubbed the demand for abandoning the long-range nuclear missiles programme and made it clear that nobody had any right to dictate Pakistan as to what range of missiles it can have. Addressing a press conference, Mr Qureshi said that if it was not possible for the prime minister to give a policy statement then an in-camera session could be held to discuss the issue. Mr Qureshi, a former foreign minister, expressed surprise as to why a deal with IMF was not being finalised despite the fact that Pakistan has fulfilled all the demands of the global lender. “No one has the right to tell us...

• Alleges ‘queen of lies’ behind actions against him • Says Minar-i-Pakistan power show to serve as referendum • Plans to sue policemen who broke into his house LAHORE: In startling remarks, PTI Chairman Imran Khan has claimed that he did not disembark from his vehicle at the Judicial Complex in Islamabad — where he went to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case against him on Saturday — because “unknown people” were positioned there with plans to kill him. “Had I not moved from the complex immediately that might have resulted in bloodshed as the police, Rangers and unidentified people were making all-out efforts to provoke my party workers to create a battleground and use it as a cover to kill me,” claimed Mr Khan, adding the incumbent rulers had made this plan on the instructions of PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz. The former PM also gave a call for his party’s power show at Minar-i-Pakistan on Wednesday, which he said will serve as a referendum. In a video-link address...

LAHORE: PTI-Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid has approached the Lahore High Court against the alleged harassment by the police officials despite being on pre-arrest bail in cases registered against her. In a petition, Ms Rashid states that she was going to her clinic in Shadman when police vehicles stopped her car and tried to arrest her despite having knowledge of her bail. The PTI leader states she made hue and cry upon which people gathered and she called her lawyers who came at the spot and rescued her from illegal and unlawful harassment by the police. She asks the court to restrain the police from harassing, blackmailing, threatening and humiliating her. She also urges the court to summon the CCPO and the CIA SSP in person along with reports. Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2023 http://dlvr.it/Sl70yJ

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday decided to start distribution of free wheat flour among 185,000 families of the Federal Capital by March 18, as part of an initiative to provide relief to inflation-hit poor people during Ramazan. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif here who said the government was striving to provide maximum possible relief to the people amid inflation. As per the decision, the eligible people would be able to get flour from 40 outlets of the Utility Stores. In order to avoid any inconvenience, the people have been asked to check their eligibility for the free flour by sending an SMS containing their CNIC number to the 8717 helpline of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) as the data has been linked with the BISP. As per the criteria, the families registered with the BISP and having a poverty score of 60 or lesser will be eligible to avail of the facility. The registered families will be entitled to get 30 ...

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday allowed a request of Punjab IGP Dr Usman Anwar to search the Zaman Park residence of PTI Chairman Imran Khan for investigation into attacks on police teams when they went there to execute warrants issued by an Islamabad court for Mr Khan’s arrest in the Toshakhana case. Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh of LHC also ordered Mr Khan’s counsel to cooperate with the police investigation team. Mr Khan’s counsel Azhar Siddique requested the court to allow only the investigating officer to visit the Zaman Park. Justice Sheikh observed that police were stopped from the execution of the warrants, which reflected that there was no writ of the state. He then directed the IGP to send only the investigating team to Mr Khan’s residence for investigation. Police, PTI reach agreement Later, the police and PTI reached an agreement for investigation into incidents that took place on March 14 and 15 outside the Zaman Park. Senator Shibli Fraz and Ali M...

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) central Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid was allegedly intercepted by the Lahore police who tried to arrest her but in vain on Thursday. A cancer survivor and septuagenarian, the PTI leader sent a message to the party leadership, stating: “I am in my vehicle and the police have intercepted me in the Jail Road underpass. They want to arrest me without showing any arrest warrants”. The police blocked Dr Rashid’s car while placing barriers on the road. They stated that they were there to arrest her; however, they could not produce any arrest warrants when she asked for it. Dr Rashid said she had already got a bail in the Ali Bilal’s torture and murder case. After a large number of PTI workers reached the underpass and cleared the barriers, the policemen left the scene. Later, talking to the media, Dr Rashid said the male policemen along with a policewoman stopped her vehicle and asked to court arrest. “As I asked the police from ...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Cou­rt Bar Association (SCBA) on Wedn­esday condemned the use of excessive force against former prime minister Imran Khan in Lahore as well as alleged refusal of the government to provide adequate funds and support for holding provincial elections on the pretext of security concerns. Such a delay amounts to open violation of the March 1 Supreme Court judgement as well as the Constitution, says a joint statement issued by the SCBA president and secretary, Abid S. Zuberi and Muqtedir Akhtar Shabbir. Separately, members of the legal community opined that by obstructing his arrest, PTI activists and supporters were adding to their leader’s potential legal troubles. According to senior lawyer Raja Inam Ameen Minhas, police went to Mr Khan’s residence to execute an arrest warrant issued by a competent court and he was under obligation to cooperate with them. Lawyers say PTI supporters inviting more trouble for their leader by ‘obstructing arrest’ He...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought written arguments explaining how the parties interpret harassment at workplace, observing that the court may hear the matter in detail if it was convinced that the definition needed further elaboration. Presided over by Justice Yahya Afridi, a three-judge Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Ayesha A. Malik asked Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Shehzad Ata Elahi and petitioner Nadia Naz to furnish detailed arguments on the maintainability of their review petitions. The court had taken up a set of petitions moved by the AGP office, seeking review of the July 6, 2021 judgement in which the apex court had held that the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act (PAHWWA) 2010was a cosmetic legislation that blinkered in its application. “When the PAHWWA is examined as a whole, it does not live up to expectation as titled and preamble of the act suggests,” Justice Mushir Alam had...

LONDON: A UK High Court Judge has ruled that the words used by three PTI representatives against Murtaza Ali Shah, London-based correspondent for Geo TV and The News, were defamatory at common law. At a preliminary trial on the meaning of the defamatory words, High Court Judge, the Honourable Mrs Justice Steyn DBE, sitting at the King’s Bench Division of the Royal Courts of Justice said that, “an allegation that a journalist has knowingly publish false or baseless reports strikes at the heart of their professionalism, and undoubtedly meets both the consensus requirement and the threshold of seriousness. The statement of opinion that he has been misusing his professional position for his own purposes also meets those requirements. These are serious allegations to make against a professional journalist.“ The case was brought by Mr Shah through his lawyer barrister, Mr Jacob Dean, against PTI leaders Mohammad Imran, Shanaz Saddique and Riaz Hussain, who launched a defamatory social ...

The PTI and the family of MPA Arsalan Taj Ghumman alleged on Sunday that the Sindh lawmaker was “abducted” from his home in Karachi by men in plainclothes who were accompanied by police. The PTI’s Karachi chapter shared a video of Ghumman’s wife on Twitter. In the video, she said that police attacked their home at around 5:30am without a female police constable and broke down the doors. “We were harassed. My question is where was the search warrant if they had arrived to arrest my husband? “When we asked them this, they had no answer. They abducted my husband without any reason or search warrant.” She alleged that her husband was being persecuted for opposing the PPP. She said the family did not know about Ghumman’s whereabouts and called on the judiciary to take notice. PTI spokesperson and MPA Jamal Siddiqi told Dawn.com that a few men in plainclothes, who were also accompanied by police, broke down the lock of Ghumman’s home in Gulshan-i-Iqbal near Disco Ba...

LAHORE: A two-day festival, called EconFest, for debates and discussions on the economy of the country and the related sectors being organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) kicked off at Alhamra Art Centre, Mall Road, on Saturday. Sessions on myriad topics like economic and energy crisis, investment, identity, agriculture, climate and education were held on the opening day while many more on similar topics were scheduled for Sunday (today). One of the first sessions was on ‘climate change and resilient cities’ on the opening day. Moderating the session, environmental lawyer Rafay Alam said the climate change and greenhouse gases were disrupting the weather system, which was balanced since the last ice age. Giving an example of the hot weather conditions in early March in Lahore, he told the audience that it was actually going to be the coolest summer for the rest of their lives. “The Pakistani cities are right in the middle of several fault lines...

• ISI representative suggests delaying elections for three to four months • IB official talks about presence of armed militants in Punjab • Meeting with defence ministry postponed to next week ISLAMABAD: Clouds of uncertainty overhang the polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with military and civilian intelligence agencies joining the chorus of voices opposing general elections in the two provinces at this point in time. An important meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was held on Friday to discuss security arrangements for the general elections for the two provincial assemblies. Chief Election Commis­sioner Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired the meeting, which was attended by ECP officials and representatives from the Inter-Services Inte­lli­gence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and counterterrorism departments (CTDs) of the two provinces. Sources privy to the developments told Dawn that all the representatives of intelligence agencies and CTDs were unanimous i...

KHYBER: Pakistani and Afghan authorities have agreed to work together to improve and facilitate cross-border trade and pedestrian movement. The agreement came during a meeting of the Pak-Afghan Border Management Committee in the Afghan customs offices in Gumrak area on Wednesday. The Pakistani delegation comprised Lt-Colonel Mujtaba, retired Colonel Sattar of the National Logistic Cell, ADC Rizwan and officials of the police, Anti-Narcotics Force and health department, while Afghanistan was represented by director-general (customs) Abdul Hadi, deputy director (import and export) Qazi Hamid, and border security and health officials. Participants discussed the reasons for the week-long unilateral closure of the Torkham border by Afghan border forces on Feb 19 accusing Pakistani forces of manhandling Afghan patients and denying them and their attendance the permission to enter their country without visa. Bilateral border management committee discusses issues Sources priv...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a suo motu hearing it initiated to consider vires of Section 25(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), which empowers National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman to approve voluntary return, with the observation that the lacuna in the law had been removed through last year amendments in the accountability law. Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, a three-judge bench disposed of the matter since it achieved the objective for which the top court had invoked its inherent jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution in Sept 2, 2016. On Oct 24, 2016, the Supreme Court had restrained NAB chairman from approving voluntary return – a provision under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 that allows the guilty of corruption to pay certain portions of the embezzled money and be released. When the case was taken up on Wednesday, Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Aamir Rehman ...

LAHORE: A sessions court on Tuesday granted interim pre-arrest bail to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry in a case of inciting people against the state institutions and obstructing traffic flow outside Zaman Park, Canal Road. Accompanied by his counsel, the PTI leader appeared before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Nadeem Waseer. The lawyer argued that the police registered a baseless case against the petitioner at the behest of the federal government. He said the petitioner wanted to join the police investigation to prove his innocence. The judge granted pre-arrest bail to Chaudhry till March 20 and directed him to join the investigation. The judge also ordered the police to produce the case record on the next hearing. Racecourse police had registered an FIR against Fawad Chaudhry and other leaders of the PTI for “hate speech” during a press conference outside Zaman Park residence of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and incit...

KARACHI: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officials will meet on Wednesday (today) to decide on a date for polls to the provincial assembly. On Monday, Governor Ghulam Ali had written a letter to the ECP suggesting the dates March 7 or 8 for consultations. In its letter to the governor on Tuesday, the ECP said a team comprising the secretary, the special secretary and the DG (Law) has been formed for consultations. The governor in his reply late on Wednesday set March 8 as the date for the meeting and asked the team to come “prepared on all the issues associated with the peaceful conduct” of the election. As per the Constitution, holding elections was ECP’s responsibility and law enforcement agencies, along with the caretaker government assist the commission in ensuring peaceful polls, the ECP said. According to ECP sources, the governor’s words didn’t sit well with the election watchdog. The commission said the governor has n...

LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan will formally launch his party’s election campaign by leading a rally from his Zaman Park residence to Data Darbar on Wednesday. The chairman will be riding on a bomb and bullet proof vehicle during the rally, PTI central Punjab general secretary Hammad Azhar announced at a press conference on Monday, underlining threat to Mr Khan’s life. Mahmoodur Rasheed and other PTI leaders were present on the occasion. On Sunday, the former premier wrote a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan, seeking adequate security arrangements for him. As he faces dozens of cases, the PTI chief requested that he be allowed to join court proceedings through video link to avoid his exposure in public. While recalling that an attempt was made to assassinate him, Mr Khan accused the prime minister, interior minister and a senior intelligence agency officer of involvement in the Wazirabad attack. Mr Azhar said that on his way to Data Darbar the former PM would address party w...