Tag: Pakistan

  • ‘One-man show tabaahi ka baayis banega’: Maryam Nawaz criticises CJP Bandial for facilitating PTI

    ‘One-man show tabaahi ka baayis banega’: Maryam Nawaz criticises CJP Bandial for facilitating PTI

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz took to Twitter and without naming Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial criticised him, stating that “one man show will lead to disaster.”

    In a thinly veiled jibe at the crisis in the apex court, Maryam wrote, “A person whose own brothers judges mistrust him, raise questions, the decision given by him will have no legal or moral status.”

    “It is the responsibility of the entire nation to prevent the House of Justice from becoming the House of Tehreek-e-Insaaf on behalf of a few facilitators. A one-man show will lead to disaster.”

    It is pertinent to mention here that Maryam Nawaz’s tweet comes at a time when the SC judges have recused themselves from hearing the PTI’s petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to delay polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

    The initial five-member bench comprising CJP Bandial, Justice Ahsan, Justice Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail held three hearings on the matter from Monday till Wednesday. 

    Another three-member bench was formed today after two of the five judges of the original five-member larger bench recused themselves.

  • ‘Sexist’: NADRA slammed for declaring men head of family

    ‘Sexist’: NADRA slammed for declaring men head of family

    Twitter users have slammed a sexist policy authorized by The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) after a user shared a screenshot of the message she received from the government organization that informed her that the husband was designated as the head of the household.

    The user went on to criticize NADRA as she had not nominated her husband as the head of the household, per the message stated.

    https://twitter.com/yougoglencocco/status/1640997625821380608?s=20

    The user further went on to question how this policy would become a threat for women trying to escape abusive marriages, because their private information is being sent to their spouses without their consent.

    Other women also slammed NADRA for refusing to recognize female agency, and pointed out how this policy alienates single parent households, especially with women who had escaped abusive relationships.

    Sharing their experiences of being turned away from offices while applying for their CNIC card, female tweeps blamed the policy that demands that a male guardian verify themselves as the head of their household.

    NADRA responded to the tweet by sharing that this policy was designed to guard family data from unauthorized access, because of which they had decided to inform the family head about procedures related to family data.

    “It is one of the security features to guard family data from unauthorised access. In order to maintain the integrity of family data, @NadraPak informs every family head about any processing through which someone becomes part of his family.”

    This tweet was bashed by Twitter users are regressive for refusing to recognize women as the head of their households, as activist and researcher Ammar Rashid tweeted that the government body should not have violated the privacy of women by leaking their data this way.

    “Maybe @NadraPak should try to institute measures to confirm identities that don’t openly violate the constitutional right to privacy of adult female citizens? Other countries seem to be managing data security just fine without such archaic rules.”

    Another user said: “A married woman is usually above the age of 18 and that makes her legally a citizen. She must have access to her OWN security features without having man govern her changes to the card.”

    https://twitter.com/dcfaiqalethal/status/1641077646548148227?s=20

    The Chairman of NADRA, Tariq Malik addressed the controversy in a tweet on Thursday, sharing that the policy did not discriminate against women from becoming the head of the household, and shared statistics that showed more women were nominated for this position than men.

    “@NadraPak policy of declaring head of family is not gender specific. See thru lens of #realdata 28 million citizens declared their mother, 291,039 declared their sisters, 116,800 men declared their wife as head of family. And, 3.69 million females who are self head of family.”

    Malik further went on to reveal that the backlash to this policy has encouraged the department to reform it in order to prevent discrimination of any kind:

    “Declaring head of family is self reported event. I have directed our Public Engagement Department to sit down with social scientists and subject matter experts to bring reform in policies and SoPs. Suggestions welcomed. We have revamped quite a few since a year.”

  • ‘Mera bhi dil hai’, Chief Justice Bandial ki ankhon mein aansoo aa gaye

    ‘Mera bhi dil hai’, Chief Justice Bandial ki ankhon mein aansoo aa gaye

     Now at three members — resumed hearing the PTI’s petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to delay polls in Punjab on Friday.

     The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the government’s request to form a full court on the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election delay case. 

    A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, rejected the request put forward by Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan on behalf of the government. 

    During the hearing it was reported that CJP Bandial got teary eyed and said that he too has a heart and emotions.

    SC bench dobaara toot gaya; After Justice Amin, Justice Mandokhail recuses from hearing election delay case

    Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, who was part of the four-member bench hearing the case against the delay of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections, has excused himself from hearings on Friday morning, adding to the turmoil gripping the Supreme Court.

    Justice Mandokhail said that Justice Amin-ud-Din excused himself from hearing the case. After Justice Amin’s decision, the order was awaited. “I received the court order yesterday at home. I have written a separate note on the order, Attorney General, please read the dissenting note,” said Justice Mandokhail.

    The Attorney General read the dissenting note of Justice Jamal Mandokhail, in which it was said that he was a member of the bench; he was not consulted while writing the judgment. “I think I am a misfit in the bench,” the justice wrote in his note.

    A four-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial was to hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea against the delay in elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab today.

    Initially, a five-member larger bench of the top court was hearing the case.

    The original bench comprised CJP Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.

    However, on Thursday the bench was dissolved after Justice Khan recused himself from the case after a Supreme Court order halted proceedings under Article 184(3).

    After the dissolution of the bench, Supreme Court announced that the bench would continue hearing the case without Justice Khan.

    Taking to Twitter, the PTI Chairman Imran Khan said, “Whether it’s a 5 mbr SC bench or Full Bench, it makes no difference to us bec all we want to know is if elections will be held within the 90 days’ constitutional provision.”

    “Before we dissolved our two provincial assemblies, I consulted our top constitutional lawyers, all of whom were clear that the 90-day constitutional provision on holding elections was inviolable.”

    “Now Imported Govt of crooks, their handlers & a compromised ECP are making a complete mockery of Constitution. By cherry picking which Articles of Constitution they will abide by, they are threatening the very foundation of Pakistan, which is the Constitution & Rule of Law. So petrified are they of elections & so desperate to whitewash their convicted ldrs that they are prepared to destroy the Constitution & any semblance of Rule of Law.”

  • Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, and Islamabad airports to be outsourced by govt

    Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, and Islamabad airports to be outsourced by govt

    The government has approved a draft to outsource three of its major airports in a bid to boost its dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

    The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the government considered a summary presented by the Ministry of Aviation regarding the engagement of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is part of the World Bank Group, as a transaction advisor for the outsourcing process.

    The airports that will be outsourced are the Jinnah International Airport Karachi, Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore, and Islamabad International Airport.

    The committee, headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, initiated the outsourcing process under the Public-Private Partnership Act-2017 to engage private investors/airport operators to run the airports, develop associated land assets, and enhance commercial activities. The committee also approved the draft Transaction Advisory Agreement (TASA) reached with the IFC by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) for the outsourcing of the airports after a detailed discussion.

    The details of the partnership or any agreement have not been made official. According to officials, Pakistan has been in talks with Qatar to jointly run terminals at the three airports.

    Prime Minister visited Doha last year to seek Qatari investment in the country’s energy and aviation sectors, and the Qatar Investment Authority pledged $3 billion to Pakistan.

    Pakistan’s national flag carrier is struggling with accumulated losses of nearly Rs400 billion Pakistani rupees, and the government hopes that outsourcing the airports will help attract direct foreign investment and provide world-class facilities to passengers.

  • PM Shehbaz orders withdrawal of review petitions against Justice Isa

    PM Shehbaz orders withdrawal of review petitions against Justice Isa

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday directed Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar to withdraw the curative review reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court.

    “On my direction, the government has decided to withdraw the Curative Review Petition against senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” tweeted the PM.  

    In a tweet posted today, the PM said that the curative review was based on “ill-will and meant to harass and intimidate the honourable Judge at the behest of Imran Niazi”.

    Separately, in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) today, PM Shehbaz said that Justice Isa and his family were “harassed and defamed” in the name of the reference.

    “This was not a reference, but a vendetta by Imran Khan Niazi, a vindictive person, against a fair-minded judge who followed the path of the Constitution and the law,” the statement quoted the PM as saying.

    “Imran Niazi misused the constitutional office of the president for this criminal act and President Arif Alvi became an instrument in the attack on the judiciary and an accomplice to a lie.”

  • ‘Larger bench toot gya’: Justice Amin-Ud-Din recuses from hearing delay in elections case

    ‘Larger bench toot gya’: Justice Amin-Ud-Din recuses from hearing delay in elections case

    The Supreme Court was set to resume the hearing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to defer the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 11:30 but the hearing was delayed following Justice Amin-Ud-Din’s recusal.

    At the outset of today’s hearing, when the five-member bench came to the courtroom, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said Justice Amin wanted to say something.

    “I recuse myself from the instant case in light of SC order issued by Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” the judge stated. 

    The original bench comprised CJP Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Aminuddin, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.

    Justice Amin-Ud-Din concurred with Justice Isa while Justice Shahid Waheed dissented with the majority order of 2-1 in a suo moto case regarding the grant of 20 marks to Hafiz-e-Quran students while seeking admission to MBBS/BDS Degree under Regulation 9(9) of the MBBS and BDS (Admissions, House Job and Internship) Regulations, 2018.

  • Teach boys to be better: here are some hot takes Twitter has on desi culture

    Everyone can agree that desi culture may have the finest food or the grandest weddings, but will also have the biggest closet full of family secrets and important discussions we need to talk about.

    It’s incredibly important that adults and children in the family learn to keep their communication open with each other and discuss things that we often prevent opening up about.

    So when a Twitter user asked their followers tat if given an opportunity, what are the things they wished desi culture would change?

    And it turns out, there are a lot of them. We’re happy to share them with our followers.

    A little louder for the people in the back.

    If you’re grumbling about disrespectful children, maybe some adults should reflect if it is them who are being disrespectful.

    We completely agree. Getting divorced is not a shameful thing.

    https://twitter.com/yixewoah/status/1641306625972527106?s=20

    We should encourage more people to be respectful at funerals and stop treating it like a meet-and-greet moment

    YOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT YOUR PROPERTY!

    Choose yourself over toxic relationships

  • Lahore High Court strikes down sedition law

    Lahore High Court strikes down sedition law

    Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday annulled Section 124-A, of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), dealing with sedition.

    The order of the court came on a set of petitions filed by citizens challenging sedition laws on grounds that the government used it against its opponents.

    It was stated in the petition that the Constitution of Pakistan gives every citizen the right to freedom of expression but still, Section 124-A is imposed for making speeches against the rulers.

    According to the petitioners, Section 124-A of sedition is being used for political purposes and should be struck down.

    What is Section 124-A of PPC?

    The law states: “Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Federal or Provincial Government established by law shall be punished with imprisonment for life to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”

  • BCCI sources say entire Asia Cup to be shifted to UAE or Qatar

    BCCI sources say entire Asia Cup to be shifted to UAE or Qatar

    Sources within Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have denied media reports that Pakistan will likely play their World Cup 2023 matches in Bangladesh.

    According to media reports, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has been continuously pressurised by BCCI to shift Asia Cup to a neutral venue, however Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has stuck to its stance that if they are deprived of hosting Asia Cup, then they will boycott the tournament and will not travel to India for World Cup 2023.

    PCB has dragged BCCI towards a ‘hybrid model” for the tournament.

    Under this proposed model, other teams would play their Asia Cup matches in Pakistan, while the Indian team would play their matches in another country. Now, according to media reports, Pakistan is also considering the possibility of playing their World Cup matches at a neutral location.

    However according to sources in BCCI that talked tto Press trust of India (PTI), these are just pressure tactics from PCB, while there is a probability of shifting entire Asia Cup to Qatar or United Arab Emirates.

    “We understand that this is a kind of pressure tactic applied by PCB because of the Asia Cup issue. But let me tell you, ultimately, Asia Cup will also be played in UAE or Qatar and probably Pakistan will also have to play its matches in one of these countries,” BCCI source said.

    “As far as Pakistan playing its Asia Cup games in Pakistan is concerned, the budget for the tournament is passed by the Asian Cricket Council. If ACC says that it’s not a commercially viable proposition to hold Asia Cup in two countries, how can Pakistan play its games at home? ACC, for all you know, might not pass the budget,” the BCCI source added.

  • ‘Pakistani institutions have been making this Frankenstein’: Bilawal’s fiery speech on Khan

    ‘Pakistani institutions have been making this Frankenstein’: Bilawal’s fiery speech on Khan

    In a fiery speech delivered on Wednesday on the floor of the National Assembly, Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that for the past 30 years, “Pakistani institutions have been making this Frankenstein”, referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

    “This happens all the time,” he said in a speech that took aim at Imran Khan, the establishment and the judiciary. “Some Einsteins sit in our institutions; they make the decisions for the country. They manufacture these strategic assets, and then the assets come back to haunt the rest of us,” said Bilawal.

    The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman reminded the members that the nation bravely fought against terrorists and eradicated terrorism from the country.

    It was unfortunate that the terrorism eliminated due to sacrifices of the Pakistan Army, police and common masses had been revived by Imran Khan, the minister remarked.

    Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who lost his mother- former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto – to a terrorist attack, also said that militants “played Holi” with the blood of the Pakistani nation for years yet the former prime minister pardoned the terrorists and brought them back to resettle them.

    “There is no example in the world of how our tribal people fought with terrorists,” he added.

    Taking aim at the former heads of Inter-Services Intelligence, the PPP head said that General Hameed Gul held [Imran’s] finger, while the role of General Pasha, General Zaheerul Islam, and General Faiz Hameed is obvious to everyone.

    “Dictatorship in the Supreme Court (SC) was started by Iftikhar Chaudhry, and he was also a part of this hybrid war, his aim was the end of the Constitution; General Faiz and General Pasha are gone but Imran remains,” he added.

    The foreign minister said that they have been talking about the supremacy of the Constitution and free media, but undemocratic steps were taken in response to their democratic step.

    He said that they did not do anything undemocratic by expelling an “undemocratic prime minister” and it is not appropriate to remain silent for the sake of democracy.

    “The nation must be told why such situations have happened,” he added.

    He further said that in response to the no-confidence motion, the then-prime minister, the-then speaker of the lower house, and the current president of the country “broke the Constitution”. “What did Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif do in response to this? If the constitution and law have been broken, file a case,” he demanded.