Tag chief justice

ISLAMABAD:(Net News/Media 92 News) The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed annoyance over the persisting ‘blame game’ between the finance ministry and the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) – a federally-managed fund to ensure workers’ welfare like provision of low-cost residential accommodation and other amenities.

Resuming hearing of a case pertaining to the funding of the WWF, the apex court observed that nobody seemed to know who possessed the Rs124 billion funds.

“The finance division is saying the funds are with WWF; WWF is saying the money is with the finance division. This is a joke being played with the court,” Justice Azmat Saeed remarked.

“Is it written somewhere that truth will not be [uttered] before the court? Are there any instructions to prevent the court proceedings?” the judge questioned.

He further remarked that the hearing of the case would not be adjourned.

During a previous hearing on the matter earlier in September, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar had observed that the government was not contributing to the fund, as per the complaints of WWF officials. The top judge had stated that the WWF should be utilised as per the law.

The apex court had also directed all four provinces to submit a detailed response in the case.

LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Saturday dissolved the Punjab Healthcare Commission’s (PHC) board of commissioners and directed that a new board to be formed within two weeks.

A special bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the matter of PHC board appointments at the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry. Provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid appeared before the court for the hearing.

As the hearing went under way, the chief justice turned to Dr Rashid and remarked, “I had high hopes from you. What kind of people have you included in the board?”

The provincial health minister responded, “The board was formed as per the directives of the Supreme Court and members were named according to the set procedure. The chief minister accorded approval for the appointments.”

Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed, “The institution is a regulator but politics is taking place over there.” The bench further remarked, “The board should be unbiased and independent.”

The chief justice then ordered that a new board be formed comprising esteemed and qualified individuals.

During the hearing, PHC board member Shafqat Chohan informed the court, “Member Hussain Naqvi and Justice (retd) Amir Raza, chairperson of the commission, had a heated exchange which has nothing to do with the other board members.”

“Hussain Naqvi did not ask Justice (retd) Amir Raza to resign from his post as commission chairperson. In fact, Naqvi said he will resign himself,” Chohan added.

Justice Nisar then said, “Where is Hussain Naqvi because of who Justice (retd) Amir Raza resigned?”

When board member Naqvi appeared before the court, the chief justice asked him, “Who are you?” To which, the board member responded, “I was the union secretary of Islamia College.”

Justice Nisar in response said, “So then leave the board and run the union.” Expressing anger at Naqvi, the top judge asked, “Why did you misbehave with Justice (retd) Amir Raza?”

Naqvi then pleaded, “Hear me out. I am sorry for raising my voice.” However, Justice Nisar said, “How dare you. We will give you a contempt of court notice.”

The board member responded, “I am 20 years your senior. Hear what I have to say.” Justice Nisar, however, asked Naqvi to apologise which the board member did. The chief justice further ordered, “Take Naqvi out of my court.”

The court then dissolved the PHC board and ordered that a new board be formed within two weeks. The hearing of the case was then adjourned.

ISLAMABAD: A joint investigation team constituted on the directive of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has summoned Azam Swati today in its ongoing probe against alleged misuse of authority, misconduct and encroachment by the federal minister.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice of Islamabad IGP Jan Muhammad’s abrupt transfer last month. The IGP was transferred on October 27 after he allegedly refused to take action on a complaint by the son of Federal Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati, regarding a fight over purported encroachment with a family at their farmhouse.

The apex court had formed a JIT to probe allegations of misuse of authority, misconduct and encroachment against the minister. The JIT is headed by DG National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi Irfan Mangi and includes top officials from the Intelligence Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency. The team was tasked to submit its report to the court within 14 days.
IGP transfer: SC forms JIT to probe Azam Swati’s misconduct

According to sources, the JIT has prepared a questionnaire in light of its findings so far, and has summoned Swati for questioning today.

The JIT has already questioned Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi and other government officials in the case.

The Supreme Court had suspended the transfer of Jan Muhammad but had to withdraw its order after he excused himself from performing duties as Islamabad IGP.

Asia Bibi’s acquittal is a mighty courageous verdict from the current Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar and future Chief Justice Saeed Khosa.

Nine long years in prison for Asia Bibi and lives of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti was the price paid to arrive at this bold acquittal. And if these incidents were not enough we witnessed Mashal Khan, artist Qutub Rind and other innocent fellow Pakistanis murdered in the name of religious transgressions.

I wonder who will come forward to rescue those hundreds of people languishing in jails facing similar false allegations. How will this anomaly be resolved? Who will raise the issues, who will participate in the debate and who will provide answers and contribute to solutions?

Salman Taseer once took the courage to challenge the injustice and became a victim of a cold-blooded, revered and celebrated murder. He raised the question of the need for revisions in the blasphemy law so people may not misuse it for their vested interests and to suppress fellow Muslims and minorities alike and blackmail them.

This file handout photograph taken on November 20, 2010 and released by the Punjab Governor’s House shows Asia Bibi at the Central Jail in Sheikhupura
Upon reading the whole judgement, it is clear that this was a case of personal enmity but who will question the judges of the Lahore High Court, who upheld the conviction and death sentence of Asia Bibi? Will they answer for the nine years Asia Bibi spent in prison without her family and children?

What reasoning did they offer, who were they afraid of, and why did they not question the law to be contrary to Islamic principles? I wonder what harm a lady like Asia Bibi can give to their religion. I don’t say ‘my’ religion because the Islam I follow teaches me the opposite of what these people believe. My beloved Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) emphasised on respect of non-Muslims and categorically said that:

“I will fight their case (minorities) on the day of judgment in front of almighty against those who hurt them and create trouble for them” (Abu Dawud).

It is high time that we inspect the blasphemy law in the light of religion. Most Muslims in the subcontinent follow Imam Abu Hanifa and according to him, blasphemy is not a crime itself and there is nothing mentioned about its punishment in Quran and Hadith. But because it hurts the feelings of people who follow our beloved Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) so Ta’zir (punishment) can be decided according to the seriousness of the misconduct and stubbornness of the delinquent.

No one says that there shouldn’t be any law to deal with sacrilege, it’s just that our religion hasn’t recommended any punishments. It is upon the state or people who should try to tell that person that his action is not right, listen to his point of view, give them a chance to apologise and, after all these steps if he still continues to transgress, there can be a punishment pronounced by the State (death penalty being a possibility if the alleged person is a Muslim and because of his transgression, he becomes an apostate or if the action comes under the definition of fasad fil arz).

But here some of our religious clerics insist that there is no place for apology, justification, clarification, repentance, or correction. There is just death for the person who has been alleged of blasphemy even if they insist that they didn’t do it, that they couldn’t even think of doing such an act.

In civilised societies and Islamic tradition, aalims (teachers) are the people who educate their students and followers and tell them about patience, respecting difference of opinion, and use of good language during debate and argument. But here this is not the case. In our part of the world, some religious clerics are the ones encouraging their students/followers not to obey and respect the rule of law, destroy everyone who dares to differ, issue fatwas, declare people kafir and maloon at their free will!

The current state of our cities is appalling. Is this what our religion has thought us? Is this what Rehmat-ul-Lil Alameen (Peace Be Upon Him) preached and practiced? Abuse, road blockage, inciting violence, destroying public property, challenging the writ of state? That too in the name of religious duty? Aren’t these exactly opposite to basic Islamic principles?

PESHAWAR:(Net News/ Media 92 News) The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday declared several provisions of the Fata Interim Governance Regulation, 2018, including assigning of judicial powers to administrative officers in the tribal districts being merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in conflict with the Constitution.

In a short order pronounced by a two-member PHC bench, headed by Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and also comprising Justice Mussarat Hilali, the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments were directed to make alternative arrangements in accordance with the Constitution within 30 days.

The bench accepted a writ petition filed by Advocate Ali Azim Afridi, who had challenged the Fata Interim Governance Regulation, 2018, on multiple grounds and had requested the court to declare the same unconstitutional.

Directs federal, KP governments to make alternative arrangements within a month

The court pronounced the order after the petitioner and the counsel for the federal and KP governments concluded their arguments.
A detailed judgement will be issued later.

The petitioner earlier argued that the interim governance law was in conflict with Article 175 of the Constitution, which guaranteed separation of the judiciary from the executive.

According to the petitioner, the permission granted to commissioners to act as judges, formation of a council of elders to decide civil and criminal matters, constitution of a qaumi jirga, modification of some chapters of the code of criminal procedure and inclusion of the Third Schedule in the regulation through which judicial powers were assigned to administrative officers violated the Constitution.

The petitioner had implicated the federation through law secretary; the president through his principal secretary; state and frontier region ministry through its secretary, KP government through law secretary, and secretary of the home and tribal affairs department as respondents in the case.

Then president Mamnoon Hussain had promulgated the impugned notification on May 25, which was notified in the Official Gazette on May 29.

The regulation also caused repeal of the colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

Mr Afridi said the impugned regulation mentioned that agencies in Fata were declared tribal districts and tehsil and frontier regions subdivisions, while nomenclature of political agent was changed to deputy commissioner, additional political agent to additional commissioner and assistant political agent to assistant deputy commissioner.

He said all those administrative officers had been empowered to act as judges in their respective capacity.

In sheer disregard to the law, the petitioner argued, the deputy commissioner had been allowed to constitute a council of elders for settling disputes of civil nature, while a likeminded individual called a ‘judge’ was allowed to form a council of elders for deciding disputes of criminal nature.

He said the interim governance regulation provided for the executive to be considered part of the judiciary, which was against Article 175(3) of the Constitution. He argued that following the passage of the Constitution (Twenty-fifth Amendment) Act, 2018, through which tribal areas were merged with the KP, the government continued to operate under the impugned regulation instead of regular laws, which was illegal.

The petitioner recalled that the federal and provincial government representatives had given undertakings before the Supreme Court that after Fata’s merger with KP all federal and provincial laws would be applicable to the tribal districts.

In their response, the federal and KP governments had pointed out that there was a legal vacuum due to the repeal of FCR and the interim governance regulation was introduced for an interim period and not as a permanent law.

The additional advocate general told the court that the KP government had committed before the Supreme Court that all laws in practice in the province and rest of the country would be made applicable to the tribal districts of former Fata within 30 days.

KARACHI:(Net News/ Media 92 News) Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah met with Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar in his court chamber on Saturday.

Addressing media following his meeting with the chief justice, Murad Ali Shah clarified that he had not been summoned by the top judge.

“It was incorrectly reported in the media that I had been summoned. I had not been summoned. Chief Justice had requested for a meeting with me,” the chief minister reiterated.

He said the meeting was not held over the purported lack of cooperation by the Sindh government with the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the mega money laundering scam.

“I discussed [a number of] provincial issues with the Chief Justice. I [also] told the Chief Justice about the JIT’s complaints. Providing information is the responsibility of the institutions, not the chief minister’s,” Murad said.

He shared that the JIT had asked for details regarding irrigation works and services, but it had given the provincial government only two days’ time to provide the information.

“How can we provide the data [in such short time]? It’s not like a button that [you can] press to provide the records.”

Murad said the chief justice congratulated him on his re-election as the province’s chief minister. He also appreciated the conditions of hospitals in Karachi and said they were better in comparison to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s hospitals, the minister shared.

Declining to offer any further details, Murad said he also discussed the National Accountability Bureau with the top judge.

Media reports on Friday suggested that the chief justice had asked to meet the chief minister over the JIT’s complaint that the Sindh government was not cooperating in the money laundering and fake bank accounts case.

The Supreme Court had resumed hearing the case against fake bank accounts that were used to launder over Rs100 billion out of Pakistan, at its Karachi Registry on Friday.

The Federal Investigation Agency is investigating 32 people in relation to money laundering from fictitious accounts, including former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

Zardari’s close aide Hussain Lawai was arrested in July in connection with the probe. The former president’s another close aide and Omni Group chairman, Anwar Majeed, and his son, Abdul Ghani Majeed, were also arrested by the FIA in August. Lawai, Majeed and his son remain under custody.

Earlier this week, FIA sources informed that the mastermind of the money laundering and fake accounts case, Aslam Masood, had been arrested by the Interpol from Jeddah.

KARACHI:(Net news/ media 92 news) The aggrieved father of the slain 10-year-old Amal has called for the probe findings to be made public so that the culprits can be publicly named and shamed.

Amar Umer was killed by a stray bullet during an alleged police encounter with suspected robbers in Karachi’s DHA area on Independence Day eve. The bullet, as police officials admitted later, was fired by a constable who was aiming to shoot at a robber who had mugged Amal’s family a few minutes prior to the incident.

On September 18, the Chief Justice of Pakistan took notice of the incident and constituted a six-member committee to ascertain those responsible in the child’s death. The Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry is hearing the case today.

Amal’s father, ahead of today’s hearing, spoke to Geo Pakistan and demanded that the probe findings be made public so that the culprits are brought to the fore.

Thanking the Supreme Court for taking notice of the killing and shifting the case hearing to Karachi, Umer called for strict action against those responsible for the tragedy.

“[There are] many flaws in the system, there was negligence. We are hoping for strict action against [the culprits], to eradicate this negligence,” he said.

“People will follow rules only if there is accountability. Everything [all the report findings] should be shared with the public so that everyone knows [what happened]. There should be no closed-door inquiry.”

Umer expressed hope that the issue won’t fade out and the case will be taken to its logical conclusion.
When asked if he had contacted the Sindh government and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Amal’s father said Bilawal himself had suffered as a result of the system’s failure.

“It’s time for action, whether it’s the Sindh government or the federal government that takes action,” he said.

Umer pointed out that even after more than two months, no lights or cameras have been installed at the traffic signal where the tragic shooting took place.

ISLAMABAD:(Net News/ Media 92 News) A two-day international symposium on water crisis will begin in the federal capital on today (Friday).

President Dr Arif Alvi will inaugurate the symposium titled ‘Creating a Water-Secure Pakistan’, to be held at the Supreme Court premises in the afternoon. The concluding session will be chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.

The symposium has been organised by the Law and Justice Commission on the direction of Justice Nisar to highlight issues relating to water shortage in the country and devise immediate remedial measures.

Jurists and experts in water resource management and researchers from different countries will present their research papers in the symposium.

Themes pertaining to legal aspects of the Indus Basin, construction and financing of dams and reservoirs and management of water resources will be discussed in the meeting.

ISLAMABAD:(Net News/ Media 92 News)The Islamabad High Court approved the protective bail of Mansha Bomb’s son Tariq Mansha, who was wanted to the Lahore police in land-grabbing cases.

Besides Tariq, other sons of Mansha are also accused of illegally occupying land in Lahore’s Johar Town.

Tariq’s protective bail has been approved for five days, after which he will have to approach the trial court, according to the directives of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani.

Mansha was arrested on October 15 from the Supreme Court after he surrendered demanding to meet the chief justice.

Prosecutor requests ATC for physical remand of Mansha Bomb

Last month, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar had ordered the immediate arrest of Mansha, however, the authorities had failed to fulfil the court’s orders. At least 70 cases are registered against the alleged land grabber, according to the Punjab police.

Mansha claimed that he has not grabbed land illegally. He has said that he possesses documentary evidence to prove that the land he owns belongs to his father.

The man has alleged that ‘false cases’ were created against him by former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif after his son contested the election on a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ticket.

ISLAMABAD: (Media 92) The Supreme Court on Friday granted the final extension to the accountability court hearing two corruption references against the Sharif family.

The apex court’s deadline to conclude a corruption trial against the Sharifs had ended on October 7, after which, an extension plea had been submitted to the SC.

A three-member bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing the petition today.

As the hearing went under way, Nawaz Sharif’s legal counsel Khawaja Haris appeared before the apex court and requested an eight-week extension to conclude the Flagship Investment and Al-Azizia corruption references.

The top court, however, rejected the plea, stating that it could not grant more than four weeks to conclude the cases.

Haris then requested the court to accept his plea. ‘Please accept my request for once,” he said. To this the chief justice responded by saying that Haris’ requests had always been accepted, however, an impression contradicting the reality had been given.

“You can work over the weekends if you want. If the corruption trial is not concluded till November 17, we will schedule hearings on Sundays as well,” Justice Nisar said.

Further, the chief justice remarked that the accountability court judge will be questioned if the trial is not wrapped up during the given time.

Setting November 17 as the deadline for the accountability court to wrap up the Flagship Investment and Al-Azizia references, Justice Nisar remarked that SC will not grant further extensions to conclude the trial.

According to sources, Judge Arshad Malik of Accountability Court II had written a letter to the SC to request an extension in the deadline. He had apprised the top court of the progress in the Al-Azizia and Flagship corruption references against the Sharif family.

On August 27, the Supreme Court had directed the accountability court to decide the Al Azizia and Flagship corruption references within six weeks.

So far, six extensions to wrap up the corruption references initiated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have been granted by the apex court.

The Supreme Court had initially set a six-month deadline to conclude the four corruption references against the Sharif family.

The trial

The trial against the Sharif family commenced on September 14, 2017.

On July 6, after four extensions in the original six-month deadline to conclude all three cases, the court announced its verdict in the Avenfield reference.

Nawaz and his sons, Hussain and Hasan, are accused in all three references whereas Maryam and Safdar were accused in the Avenfield reference only.

The two brothers, based abroad, have been absconding since the proceedings began last year and were declared proclaimed offenders by the court.