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The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah has said that an extension in the tenure of High Court judges and bureaucrats is under consideration.
His statement comes days after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that an extension in the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s tenure is not on the table.
Speaking at the talk show ‘Redline with Talat Hussain’, Sanaullah said that the retirement date of High Court judges should be extended and fixed to sixty-five years of age from sixty-two years, and there is nothing wrong with it.
He clarified that extending a Judge’s tenure can only be achieved through a parliamentary constitution amendment, a process that the government currently lacks the numbers to execute.
Commenting on the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) announcement, Sanaullah said, “The next CJP announcement will be appointed on time.”
He added, “Lately, the Government made the mistake of announcing the name of CJP Qazi Faez Isa too early; this time, the incumbent government doesn’t want to repeat the mistake.”
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said on August 27 that Pakistan will invite Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Islamabad.
Commenting on the invitation to the Indian Premier, the Defence Minister said, “Yes, certainly there should be no doubt about it.”
Asif said that the host country has no right to choose which country’s head of state to invite, and SCO does not allow such moves.
He said, “Ministry External Affairs (MEA) hasn’t commented on Indian media speculation of Modi refusing to attend the regional summit.”
The SCO is a strategic partner of the United Nations (UN) on political affairs, peace, and security issues.
Commenting on Iran’s final notice to Pakistan on the gas pipeline delay project, Asif remarked, “The project should be completed; it suits Pakistan economically.”
“Iran is our neighbour country, and if we need oil, gas or other mineral resources, then the neighbourly countries are economically beneficial,” he concluded
Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi has claimed that extensive operations are not required to fight against militants and that they can be dealt with by a Station House Officer (SHO).
Later, however, when a journalist questioned his statement, he clarified that it was “symbolic.
Responding to the inquiry of militants challenging the state, Naqvi said, “Militants assaulted secretly and conspiringly.”
He asserted that there is no science required to counter these militants; “they are terrorists, and our civil armed forces, armed forces, and police know how to combat them”.
“Balochistan incident is unbearable, and our hearts are aggrieved,” he added.
Chief Minister Balochistan Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti remarked, “Terrorists find an inch of the road out of four thousand kilometre road and kill innocents.”
“Militants attack the softest target after finding the weakest place,” he stated.
Iran has sent a final notice to Pakistan before approaching the Paris Arbitration Court (PAC) regarding the delay in the gas pipeline project even after the extended 180-day deadline, a government official told The News.
In 2009, a Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) was signed under French law. The project was delayed for ten years due to United States sanctions. However, the French arbitration court does not accept the US embargos.
The agreement read, “The Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) of Pakistan and the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) inked the revised contract in September 2019, and under that contract, Iran would not approach any international court if there was a delay in the construction of the pipeline. However, Pakistan would erect its pipeline by 2024, after which it would have an intake of 750 million cubic feet of gas from Iran daily.”
Under the French GSPA, if Iran does not exercise its right to move the arbitration court till September 2024, it will lose its battle for legal rights against Pakistan.
Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives of Pakistan, Ahsan Iqbal, became the victim of pickpocketing as he lost his mobile phone while he was attending the funeral of party leader Rana Afzaal Hussain who passed away on August 26.
The Minister went to Sheikhupura to attend the funeral prayers of the late brother of Federal Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain.
Dunya News reported that Iqbal was offering the funeral prayers when his mobile was stolen.
The police have launched an investigation into the incident and are working to trace the minister’s phone.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for national unity and a firm stance against terrorism, emphasising the need to recognise and confront the nation’s enemies.
During a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad, he stressed that there is no room for weakness in addressing terrorism.
Sharif expressed the government’s willingness to engage with individuals in Balochistan who respect Pakistan’s constitution and flag, but warned that those who act as enemies while pretending to be allies will face no leniency.
He described recent terrorist attacks as deeply troubling and underscored the government’s resolve to overcome these challenges.
The Prime Minister highlighted that terrorist groups aim to disrupt the country’s progress and sabotage the development of Balochistan. He called for decisive action to eliminate these threats and ensure the security and stability of the nation.
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has said that the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) will be appointed on seniority basis, rejecting rumors that Qazi Faez Isa might get an extension in his tenure.
Speaking on the Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, he said, “Seniority will be of paramount importance in appointing a new chief justice. The senior-most judge will be the chief justice.”
He also said that ordinary legislation cannot bypass the appointment of the CJP, as enshrined in Article 175-A(3) of the constitution.
Tarar further stated that the top judge will retire on October 25, 2024, and has “no interest” in getting an extension. Senior Justice Mansoor Ali Shah will replace Qazi Faez Isa as CJP.
A special central court of Lahore has ordered the blocking of former Chief Minister (CM) Punjab’s Chaudhary Parvez Elahi son Moonis Elahi’s Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) and passport, along with those of six other suspects, in an alleged money laundering case.
The court, presided over by judge Tanveer Ahmed Shaikh, also directed that the names of other proclaimed offenders (POs), including Farasat Ali Chatha, Imtiaz Ali Shah, Amir Sohail, and Aamir Fayyaz, be included in the ECL.
The court also ordered freezing Moonis’ bank account and assets, including 26 kanal acres in Kasur, a plot, and a house in Gulberg, Lahore.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) alleged that Parvez Elahi’s son and daughter-in-law committed money laundering through a peon, Qaiser Iqbal Bhatti, an employee of the Punjab Assembly.
FIA stated that the suspects were arrested after an unexplained transaction of millions of rupees in Bhatti and Mooni’s accounts.
A local court on Monday acquitted a man who was arrested for spreading misinformation that reportedly provoked riots in the UK earlier this month.
The decision came less than a week after Farhan Asif, a 32-year-old web developer and so-called journalist, was arrested in a raid on his home in Lahore. He was charged with cyberterrorism by Lahore police.
After a hearing on Monday (today), the judge ordered Farhan’s acquittal in the case. He told the judge that he deleted his social media post only six hours after realizing that it was not correct.
Rana Rizwan, a defence lawyer, told reporters that the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) told the judge that they had no evidence to prove that he was guilty of intentionally spreading misinformation.
Farhan Asif was taken into custody from Lahore for being involved in spreading fake news, which sparked far-right racist riots in the United Kingdom a few weeks ago after a fatal stabbing incident at a children’s dance class resulted in the death of three young girls in Southport, England.
Background
On August 8, BBC’s Marianna Spring reported about the involvement of a Lahore man in spreading misinformation regarding the Southport stabbing.
The BBC report was followed by an ITV report stating that Farhan Asif was the owner of the website which misquoted the name of the stabber as Ali Al-Shakati and declared him an immigrant from Syria, who had arrived in the UK on a boat. Later, a UK court announced that the name of the teenager charged with the murders was Axel Rudakubana, who turned out to be a British national.
ITV said that they couldn’t find out who is the real owner of the website but Farhan Asif has “a significant role in a network of news websites that have promoted falsehoods.”
Dawn’s sources in Pakistan said that the person identified in the ITV report was a freelancer working for Channel3Now, which collects crime-related news from the UK and the USA and republishes the stories for the sake of clicks and advertisements.
The BBC report also cracked down on people attached to Channel3Now and asserted that it was actually “a commercial operation attempting to aggregate crime news while making money on social media”. The analysis of the website also showed that all the the freelance writers were recruited from several countries, including Pakistan and India.
The BBC report elaborated that there are “more than 30” people in the US, UK, Pakistan and India who work for the site, which usually recruits freelancers.
According to ITV, Channel3Now regularly publishes sensational news stories under the garb of being an American-style TV channel.
However, BBC quoted Kevin as saying that Farhan Asif in particular was not involved in the false Southport story, which the site has publicly apologised for, and blamed there UK based team for that.
Wider disinformation network
Even though the report speculated that the website had links with Russia, it could not come up with a proof for that. Marianna Spring stated, “I did not find any evidence to substantiate claims that Channel3Now’s misinformation could be linked to the Russian state. [A] person claiming to be from Channel3Now‘s management told me that the publication of the false name “shouldn’t have happened, but it was an error, not intentional”.
Atika noted that there are chances of website be linked to Srivastava Group, an Indian company that ran a vast network of anti-Pakistan fake news websites, which was unearthed by the EU DisinfoLab in a 2019 investigation.
Veteran journalist Azaz Syed has revealed why Geo News and Dawn News were shut down in 2018, a tale full of revelations about what happened at the time.
Speaking on Absar Alam’s talk show, Mere Sawal, Syed said that he, along with other journalists, was briefed on the situation regarding the Geo News shutdown.
He said, “Former spymaster Faiz Hameed and former Director General Inter Service Public Relation DG (ISPR) Asif Ghafoor made four demands from the Geo News administration, one of which was to call former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif a thief.”
“The second demand was to highlight founder Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan’s campaign, and the third demand was not to criticise any remarks made by the judiciary,” he added.
Syed stated, “The fourth demand was to either expel some journalists from Geo News or bar them from saying anything critical.”
Former Chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Absar Alam said Geo News and Dawn News were shut down to “capture the policy.”
Responding to halt the distribution of The News and Jang Newspaper, Alam claimed, “These newspaper distributions were barred in the Cantonment and Defence Housing Society (DHA).”
