Category انگلثں نیوز

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General (AG) Ashtar Ausaf assured the Supreme Court on Monday that after Mehmood Bashir Virk takes the oath as the new law minister on Tuesday (today), a prosecutor general for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will be appointed within a week.

The AG put forward this assurance before a two-judge SC bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed. On Jan 3, the court had ordered the AG to explain why the government was taking such a long time to appoint someone to the office of NAB prosecutor general which had fallen vacant on Nov 23, 2017.

The court had been told earlier that one of the two accountability courts in Islamabad was without a presiding officer, while the tenure of the only judge presiding over the accountability court on additional charge — Judge Muhammad Bashir — was set to expire in March. Judge Bashir’s accountability court is seized with a number of corruption references, including the ones against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

However, Mr Ausaf had argued that the government should not have to shoulder the blame for the delay in appointment of the presiding officers because the Islamabad High Court had not provided a list of nominees for the position, despite having been sent several reminders. The AG assured the court that he would personally talk to the IHC chief justice and request him to speed up the process. Such appointments would be complete within the next 10 days, AG promised.

The court asked the government to develop a mechanism so that the process of appointing judges could commence before their terms expired. Observing that a lot of cases had been put on the back burner because of these delays, the court asked the law ministry to submit a report within two weeks on the appointment of the NAB prosecutor general and accountability judges.

In a separate case, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, while heading a three-judge SC bench, regretted that governments were yet to initiate judicial reforms and announced that the judiciary would step in and fill this gap by introducing reforms from next week.

While hearing another case about admission guidelines issued by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for private medical colleges, the SC issued a notice to Dr Asim Hussain, a confidante of former president Asif Ali Zardari, with a direction to appear in person on Wednesday.

The notice was issued after Advocate Muhammad Akram Sheikh, while representing the PMDC, accused Dr Hussain of regulatory capture of the council under his leadership, as he was the PMDC chairman and vice chancellor of the Ziauddin Medical and Dental College.

It was during Dr Hussain’s time that private medical colleges were affiliated with the council in such a large number that these colleges overwhelmed independent professionals from public medical colleges, the counsel argued.

Referring to the admission policy of medical colleges, the chief justice observed that the court would also consider the vires of various universities created to affiliate a large number of private medical colleges.
(special thanks Dawn )

SIALKOT: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated on Monday a terminal at the Sialkot International Airport Ltd (SIAL), which has been built by the city’s exporters on a self-help basis at a cost of Rs1.12 billion.

Addressing senior management of SIAL, Mr Abbasi hailed the Sialkot-based exporters for their initiative.

He assured the exporters of his full cooperation for the resolution of their problems. He said an international airport of this kind might also be established in Faisalabad by the local business community.

He said the government encourages the private sector to set up private airports. “Everyone must follow Sialkot-based exporters to ensure socio-economic and human development in Pakistan,” he said.

He added that the PML-N government has successfully completed the Nandipur Power Project, which is now producing 425 megawatts of electricity.

He said the present government has established different power projects that will produce 10,000MW. “After the completion of different power projects, the government has now focused on reducing the cost of electricity production,” he said.

Mr Abbasi said there will soon be a reduction in electricity and gas prices. The premier vowed to provide people with cheaper electricity and gas, saying the energy crisis is over.

Mr Abbasi said construction work is under way on various development projects worth Rs200bn in and around Sialkot. He said these projects, including Rs91.4bn Sialkot-Lahore Motorway, will change the destiny of the entire region.

Speaking on the occasion, SIAL Chairman Khawar Anwar Khawaja said the new building of the airport’s international terminal will provide improved aviation facilities to people.

Mr Abbasi also reviewed progress in the construction of the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway. The 91.4-kilometre-long motorway will cost Rs43.84bn. It will be built in four phases, with the first two phases completing in April and August.

The construction of several link roads leading to the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway was also under way.

Later, addressing a meeting at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the prime minister stressed the need for increasing national exports.

Mr Abbasi also addressed a convention of party workers at the residence of Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2018