Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: After scrutinising the judiciary’s working, the National Assembly on Friday turned towards bureaucracy as Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf directed “action” against federal secretaries of the ministries whose officials were found absent from the proceedings during the Question Hour. Besides asking Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi to take notice of the absence of the officers of below grade …

ISLAMABAD: Justice Yahya Afridi of the Supreme Court, who in a February short order dismissed all three proceedings related to poll delays as not maintainable for adjudication in the apex court, has explained the reasons for his stance in an additional note issued on Friday. In the note, Justice Afridi wrote that as he had decided to declare the present …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court witnessed high drama on Friday, with one more judge recusing himself from the remaining four-member bench hearing a PTI petition against the delay in elections to the Punjab Assembly, with the chief justice making a passionate appeal to the warring parties to forget the past and engage in dialogue. Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail withdrew himself from the bench …

RAWALPINDI: The Aircraft Owners and Operators Association (AOOA) of Pakistan has condemned the government’s decision to outsource operations and land assets at three major airports to the Inter­national Finance Corpora­tion (IFC) — the private sector arm of the World Bank Group — without following the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules. The association in a statement issued here on Friday claimed that all …

KARACHI: Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed at the mortuary of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital on Friday, where the bodies of those who had been killed in the stampede in a SITE factory were lying over stretchers and their relatives were mourning their death. The stampede occurred when a large number of inflation-hit people gathered at a factory to collect zakat and …

LAHORE: The high court on Friday stopped the handover of 45,267 acres of land on a lease to the Pakistan Army for the purposes of corporate farming. The Punjab caretaker government recently agreed to hand over the land in question to the army in three districts — Bhakkar, Khushab and Sahiwal — on a 20-year lease (with the possibility to …

LONDON: Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Friday hit out at members of the superior judiciary for what he termed “selective” suo motu notices benches. In a rare press conference, held at Stanhope House, the former premier criticised incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial as well as ex-CJP Saqib Nisar and said there was consensus “among …

KARACHI: PTI Chair­man Imran Khan said it would make no difference if a five-member bench or a larger bench of the Supreme Court takes up his party’s petition against delay in polls in Punjab as his only concern was whether or not elections will be held in 90 days. “Whether it’s a 5 [member] SC bench or Full Bench, it …

ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking registration of a criminal case against former army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, ex-director general Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Faiz Hameed and two journalists for making certain revelations in an interview of the ex-army chief. The registrar office of the IHC, however, raised objections on the petition and asked …

PTI leader Azhar Mashwani returned home on Friday, he announced on Twitter, more than a week after he was picked up. “Alhumdullilah I have just returned home safe and sound,” Mashwani tweeted. “Your prayers, efforts, and support in these eight days have left us forever indebted.” Mashwani added that he prayed that other “captive workers” also return home soon and …