Haq Do Tehreek leader hints at ‘armed struggle’ if demands not met

<p>QUETTA: Haq Do Tehreek Chairman Maulana Hidayatur Rehman has warned if Gwadar’s issues are not addressed, they would not hesitate to initiate an armed struggle.</p>n<p>Addressing a press conference on Monday, he said the demands for which they held <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1728490">extended sit-ins</a> in Gwadar remain unresolved.</p>n<p>He claimed the “trawler mafia” continued to operate in the province’s waters, resulting in a loss of livelihood for local fishermen.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1728328"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Mr Rehman, who is also the Jamat-i-Islami Balochistan general secretary, emphasised that this situation continues despite the presence of fisheries and other relevant officials.</p>n<p>He cautioned that they would resort to “an armed struggle” if their peaceful efforts were overlooked.</p>n<p>“We have organised extended sit-in demonstrations at approximately nine areas of Gwadar and various other cities. These protests aim to prevent the intrusion of the trawler mafia into Balochistan waters, address the issue of drug smugglers, eliminate unnecessary checkpoints, and address various other concerns,” Mr Rehman said.</p>n<p>He added that former chief minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo had signed an <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1664172/gwadar-protesters-end-sit-in-after-govt-accepts-all-demands">agreement</a> and pledged to curtail the trawler mafia’s fishing activities and abolish unnecessary check posts. “However, no concrete action has been taken to date.”</p>n<p>“We will continue our peaceful, democratic struggle within the Constitution as it directly concerns the survival of the local population,” he said.</p>n<p>According to Mr Rehman, he conveyed these demands to the caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, “but unfortunately, no measures were taken”.</p>n<p>He pointed out that both previous and present governments have shown indifference to the trawler mafia and accused the Fisheries Department of accepting bribes from each trawler.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

September 26, 2023

PTI women activists rearrested in Lahore soon after their release

<p>LAHORE: The investigation police re-arrested the prominent women activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), including Sanam Javed and Shah Bano, shortly after they were released from the Kot Lakhpat Jail here on Monday night.</p>n<p>An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday last had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777487">ordered the release</a> of nine members of the PTI, including its women activists, in connection with the Jinnah House attack case.</p>n<p>This decision had come after legal proceedings surrounding the incident that took place earlier this year.</p>n<p>Others who secured bail included Robina Jameel, Afshan Tariq, Ashma Shuja, Faisal Akhtar, Qasim, Ali Hasan, and Hussain Qadri.</p>n<p>The court approved their bail pleas against surety bonds worth Rs0.1 million each, paving the way for their release.</p>n<p>A police official confirmed to <em>Dawn</em> that the investigation police re-arrested Sanam Javed, Shah Bano, Afshan Tariq and Ashma Shuja from outside the Kot Lakhpat Jail soon after they were released.</p>n<p>He said the women have been arrested in another case related to May 9 attack, which was registered with the Sarwar Road police station.</p>n<p>The PTI activists have been shifted to the police station for further investigations, the police official said.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

Cartoon: 26 September, 2023

Ogra cautions against &amp;lsquo;jumping the gun&amp;rsquo; on petroleum prices

<p>ISLAMABAD: In an unusual public rebuke, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has advised against speculation on petroleum prices, which could “disrupt” the smooth supply chain.</p>n<p>In a public statement on Monday, the petroleum regulator emphasised “the importance of avoiding speculations regarding the prices of petroleum products”.</p>n<p>Even though the statement excluded any explicit reference, the caution was apparently in response to the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777467">statements</a> by two caretaker federal ministers, who had hinted at a reduction in prices in the next fortnightly review, due on Sept 30.</p>n<p>Their optimism was based on the improved value of the rupee, which has gone up by Rs16.24 against the dollar since hitting a record low of 307.1 in the inter-bank market on Sept 5.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>Regulator’s ‘unusual’ warning comes on heels of optimistic statements by two members of caretaker cabinet</p>n</blockquote>n<p>On Monday, Ogra pointed out that the prices are determined on the basis of international market prices and the exchange rate.</p>n<p>While the exchange rate “has shown improvement”, there is still one week remaining before the announcement of new prices.</p>n<p>It also added that there has been a surge in international prices recently, implying that it could offset the anticipated relief.</p>n<p>“Therefore, any speculation about price increases or decreases during this period is highly speculative and could potentially disrupt the smooth functioning of the oil supply chain.”</p>n<p><strong>Price reduction ‘not guaranteed’</strong></p>n<p>An official involved in the pricing process said the international prices are going up while the exchange rate is slowly coming down, but there are also some outstanding adjustments that may need to be allowed to oil marketing companies (OMC).</p>n<p>“Price movement could go either way over the remaining five days.”</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed '>n <div class='media__item media__item–youtube '><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/x__n2f-WuN0?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0' allowfullscreen='' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='100%' height='100%'></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Similar views were expressed by the caretaker petroleum minister, Muhammad Ali, who said at a news conference that it was very premature to predict prices as the rupee had strengthened while international prices had appreciated.</p>n<p>In the past, the regulator routinely urged journalists not to speculate on petroleum prices even when it formally sent working papers to the government a day before the announcement of new prices.</p>n<p>However, this time, the federal cabinet ministers started the speculations a week after the government increased the prices by Rs26 per litre. The massive surge came on the back of cash flow constraints, dwindling foreign exchange and high financing costs.</p>n<p>Between August 15 and September 15, petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) prices have increased by Rs58.43 and Rs55.83 per litre, respectively.</p>n<p>Interestingly, the hints at price reductions were <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777467">made</a> by caretaker Commerce Minister Gohar Ejaz and caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, both of whom have no role in determining the prices.</p>n<p><strong>Regulator’s role</strong></p>n<p>While the regulator, Ogra, is independent under the law, its role in pricing is also very limited, so much so to the extent of being ‘an accountant’.</p>n<p>It merely calculates the landing cost — provided by Pakistan State Oil — of products along with the exchange rate, adds taxes and commissions for dealers and OMCs, and presents a working paper to the Ministry of Finance.</p>n<p>The ultimate decision is made by the Ministry of Finance after the prime minister’s nod.</p>n<p>At present, the general sales tax is zero on all petroleum products, but the government is charging Rs60 and Rs50 per litre petroleum development levy on petrol and HSD, respectively. The prices also include about Rs18 to Rs22 per litre customs duty.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

Imran still in Attock Jail despite orders to the contrary

<p><strong>• Legal team, jail officials at odds over ex-PM’s shifting to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail<br />n• IHC reserves order on plea seeking in-camera proceedings of cipher case<br />n• Jail officials don’t allow PTI chief to be produced in court over ‘security concerns’</strong></p>n<p>TAXILA / ISLAMABAD: Des­pite <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777797/ihc-cj-orders-imran-be-shifted-to-adiala-jail">directions</a> from the Islamabad High Court, PTI Chairman Imran Khan was not shifted to Rawal­pindi’s Adiala Jail until late on Monday, mainly due to two reasons; security concerns and the absence of a written order.</p>n<p>However, one of his lawyers claimed that the former prime minister had indeed been transferred to the Adiala Jail, triggering confusion on social media platforms.</p>n<p>While hearing petitions seeking Mr Khan’s transfer to Rawalpindi, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq observed that under-trial prisoners (UTPs) of all the courts in the federal capital were kept at Adiala and issued directions to shift Mr Khan to that prison.</p>n<p>The direction followed arguments by Mr Khan’s counsel Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, who said the court had suspended Mr Khan’s sentence in the Toshakhana case and the ex-PM was facing a trial in the cipher case before a special court in Islamabad. As a UTP from the federal territory, Mr Khan must be kept in Adiala Jail, he argued.</p>n<p>Justice Farooq remarked that pursuant to suspension of the sentence, Mr Khan’s status had also changed.</p>n<p>Addressing AAG Barrister Mun­a­war Iqbal Duggal, he inquired about the status of other UTPs.</p>n<p>Mr Duggal replied that all UTPs of Islamabad’s courts are kept in the Adiala Jail. Justice Farooq ord­ered that Mr Khan shall be shifted to Adiala and further directed the jail administration to provide all facilities to which he is entitled.</p>n<p>Mr Khan, however, could not be shifted to Adiala Jail until going to print as Justice Farooq did not issue a written order due to other engagements at the Federal Judicial Academy.</p>n<p>Later, Mr Khan’s lawyers, quoting authorities, claimed the court’s directions had been implemented. Barrister Naeem Panjhota, a prominent member of Mr Khan’s legal team, claimed that Mr Khan had indeed been shifted to Adiala Jail.</p>n<p>However, the Attock Jail administration refuted the claim, saying Mr Khan had not been shifted due to security reasons, and they were still “hosting” him.</p>n<p>In his message on X, Mr Panjhota said he had been informed that Imran Khan had been shifted to Adiala Jail but “it is beyond understanding that Attock Jail [authorities] are also saying that they have PTI chairman”.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/NaeemPanjuthaa/status/1706292069155893315"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p><strong>Cipher case</strong></p>n<p>Meanwhile, IHC Chief Justice Farooq reserved verdict on an FIA application seeking in-camera proceedings of the cipher case.</p>n<p>The application came up when the chief justice was hearing a petition seeking post-arrest bail for Mr Khan in the case.</p>n<p>FIA prosecutors argued that since the cipher case had been registered under the Official Secrets Act, the hearing of petitions related to this case should be held in-camera.</p>n<p>However, Mr Khan’s counsel argued that a notification issued by the law ministry had cited security reasons for holding the ex-premier’s trial inside the jail.</p>n<p>He requested the court to grant post-arrest bail to Mr Khan.</p>n<p>According to the law ministry’s notification, the judge of Special Court (Official Secrets Act) had requested for conducting Mr Khan’s trial inside the prison due to security reasons.</p>n<p>The law ministry stated it had no objection on the trial being conducted inside the jail.</p>n<p><strong>Marriage case</strong></p>n<p>A court in Islamabad had also summoned Mr Khan in a case pertaining to his alleged ‘un-Islamic’ marriage to Bushra Bibi, but Attock Jail officials expressed their inability to produce him, citing security risks.</p>n<p>A contingent of Islamabad Police comprising 13 vehicles, including an APC, scores of policemen and elite force officials led by DSP Qasim Khan, arrived at Attock Jail in the morning, but jail authorities did not hand over custody of Mr Khan to them.</p>n<p>In the evening, a helicopter was seen hovering over the Attock Jail at low altitude, raising speculations that Mr Khan would be shifted to Adiala Jail by air, but the helicopter was not seen landing on jail premises.</p>n<p>Earlier, the superintendent of Attock Jail, in a letter addressed to senior civil judge Qudrat Ullah, had expressed apprehensions that potential security risks could arise during Mr Khan’s journey to Islamabad.</p>n<p>Mr Khan was shifted to Attock Jail on Aug 5, after being convicted in the Toshakhana case. His conviction also resulted in him being barred from contesting elections for five years. On Aug 29, the IHC suspended his prison sentence, but he remains in custody due to the cipher case.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

Situationer: Is Canada becoming &amp;lsquo;the new Pakistan&amp;rsquo; for India?

<p> <figure class='media sm:w-full w-full media–stretch media–uneven media–stretch'>n <div class='media__item '><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class='media__caption '>OTTAWA: Demonstrators gather in front of the High Commission of India, on Monday.—Reuters</figcaption>n </figure></p>n<p>THE <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776704/indian-envoy-expelled-as-pm-trudeau-links-delhi-to-sikh-leaders-deathhttps://">revelation</a> by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of ‘credible allegations’ that agents of the Indian government were behind the June 18 killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar has sent shockwaves all around the globe, with Canada being the epicentre.</p>n<p>The announcement dominated media headlines here all of last week, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776725">adding chill</a> to an already strained relationship between the two countries. While in India, for the G20 summit a few days earlier, Trudeau brought up the issue in his discussions with PM Modi, ‘directly and in no uncertain terms’.</p>n<p>The cold shoulder and the snub the Canadian PM received there is also attributed to the raising of the allegation during a bilateral ‘side meeting’.</p>n<p>It seems that in a bid to paint a macho and muscular image of himself, India’s Narendra Modi may have triggered some landmines.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>At home, Trudeau’s handling of spat with India is seen as ‘weaker’ than his response to allegations of Chinese interference in elections</p>n</blockquote>n<p>In the process, to borrow a phrase from Shekhar Gupta of <em>The Print</em>, Canada has been transformed in India, into the ‘new Pakistan’ or even a Pakistan Plus — responsible for everything from aiding terrorism and harbouring criminals to supporting organised crime. What a transformation!</p>n<p>But at home, it seems that Canadians stand united on the issue. Such a killing is ‘entirely unacceptable’, was the loud message from the House of Commons.</p>n<p>Immediately after the announcement by Trudeau, the leader of the opposition in the House, Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party, in a calibrated statement called on parliament to “put aside our differences, to stand up for the rule of law. If these allegations are true, these represent an outrageous affront to Canada’s sovereignty, he underlined.</p>n<p>Poilievre’s statement was significant. The previous Conservative go­­vernment in Canada under Prime Minister Stephen Harper had pursued strong bilateral relations with India. Under his leadership, ties between the two countries blossomed and Poilievre was twice a cabinet member in the Harper government.</p>n<p>But Trudeau’s speech in the House of Commons was not authoritative and the way he has played his cards has been questioned by some at home.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed '>n <div class='media__item media__item–youtube '><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/T_jgZ2rsdDU?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0' allowfullscreen='' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='100%' height='100%'></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>It seems the prime minister wasn’t prepared to put all of Canada’s cards on the table and his statement accusing India of involvement in the killing “was carefully crafted, to say just enough but not too much,” wrote <em>Toronto Star</em> columnist Andrew Phillips in an <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/hardeep-singh-nijjar-s-murder-now-a-balancing-act-for-justin-trudeau/article_606ee73c-9edf-57ab-b1b3-f51f05db1325.html">opinion piece</a>.</p>n<p>Judging from the breakneck pace at which events are unfolding, however, it seems more revelations could be in the pipeline.</p>n<p>“We have to assume the government knows an awful lot more than it has been prepared to reveal up to now, given how far it has gone in putting relations with India in jeopardy,” Mr Phillips stressed.</p>n<p>While striving to tread a very fine line on the issue, the vagueness of Trudeau’s revelations continues to be debated. Just a day after showing complete unity with the government in the House of Commons, opposition leader Poilievre urged the Trudeau government to “come clean” with more information about the (Nijjar) case.</p>n<p>The reaction of its close allies on this issue is also being closely watched here. The vagueness of the allegations is aiding allies, including the US, to take a comparatively softer line on the issue, as compared to the harsh stance they took on China when it was revealed that Beijing has attempted to influence the outcome of Canadian elections.</p>n<p>To counter the impression, in a press interaction before leaving the annual UN summit in New York on Thursday, PM Trudeau had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777275">stressed</a>: “I can assure you the decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons … was not done lightly.” Cabinet ministers also have been underlining that the situation is still evolving.</p>n<p>Some here feel the Canadian response to the issue of possible Chinese interference in Canadian politics was slow. Trudeau and his governing Liberals were raked over the coals by their political rivals for having intelligence that included suggestions MPs were being targeted, but doing nothing with that information.</p>n<p>The issue became a political firestorm, lasting several months and cooled down only a couple of weeks ago, when the government finally agreed to a public inquiry into foreign interference. Many here believe that on India, the government didn’t want to be seen through the same prism.</p>n<p>But not everyone was surprised by the explosive revelations, as the development had been on the radar for ‘some weeks now’. A couple of media outlets had been circling around these allegations — at least one of them — for several weeks through the summer.</p>n<p>The <em>Globe and Mail</em> had also caught wind of the allegations, says Susan Delacourt in her <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/here-s-why-justin-trudeau-went-public-with-an-explosive-allegation-against-india/article_0eac7d09-3ca7-5924-9c12-f2ce8e54a7e8.html">opinion piece</a> in the <em>Toronto Star</em>. <em>Globe</em>‘s bureau chief Robert Fife later gave the government 24 hours’ notice of his intent to publish the India story. Some believe this may also have spurred the government into action.</p>n<p>The issue is delicate.</p>n<p>Repercussions of this evolving crisis would have reverberations for long. <em>Globe and Mail</em>, Canada’s only national newspaper, says there is also the need to keep the peace domestically.</p>n<p>There will be many Sikh Canadians who will be left shaken by Mr Nijjar’s killing; some will be enraged, and some of them may be tempted to engage in reprisals of some kind. The risk of ethnic and sectarian bloodshed in Canada is real, the newspaper said in one of its reports.</p>n<p>On Sunday, Chandra Arya, the lawmaker from Trudeau’s Liberal party, slammed his own government for inaction against Khalistan extremists. While talking to <em>CBC News</em>, he asserted that Hindu Canadians were fearful after reprisal threats issued to them.</p>n<p>There could be some economic consequences too. Already, trade talks with India have been suspended. As per some estimates, there are some 250,000 to 300,000 Indian students in Canada, among some of the largest avenues of funds for educational institutions in the country.</p>n<p>A lack of oversight on the issuance of visas to many of them has already been under the spotlight here for the last few months and the fresh episode with New Delhi may further impact the flow of Indian students to Canada.</p>n<p>Immigration is also an important source of labour here and Indian immigrants are the largest source of immigrant labour reaching Canada. All these could now be up for review.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

Party pressing Nawaz to revisit &amp;lsquo;accountability&amp;rsquo; narrative

<p><strong>• Insiders say Shehbaz, sons are trying to talk the elder Sharif down<br />n• Ex-PM says no changes to elder brother’s homecoming plan</strong></p>n<p>LAHORE: With his <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776664">aggressive stance</a>, demanding the accountability of former generals and judges, making some within the party uneasy ahead of his planned return to Pakistan on Oct 21, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is giving his stated position “a second thought”, party insiders told <em>Dawn</em> on Monday.</p>n<p>“Although the elder Sharif had refused to accept the request made by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif to shun the ‘anti-generals narrative’ during a huddle in London last week, it seems he has now agreed to review his stated position,” said a party insider privy to developments.</p>n<p>Another source said the party’s so-called ‘narrative committee’, which consists of senior leaders, had also asked the elder Sharif not to be a ‘prisoner of the past’.</p>n<p>“Mr Sharif has been asked to present himself in his speeches as the hope of the future and assume the role of the statesman,” the source said.</p>n<p>When contacted, senior PML-N leaders Rana Sanaullah, Marriyum Aurangzeb, and Attaullah Tarar did not confirm or deny the development.</p>n<p>The unease within party ranks over the seeming ‘war of narratives’ between the elder Sharif and his younger brother came to a head recently when former PM Shehbaz Sharif rushed back to London a mere 48 hours after returning to Pakistan from the UK.</p>n<p>It was widely believed that the reason for his swift return to the UK was to convince his elder brother to tone down his demands for the accountability of judges and generals, which were not finding favour with power corridors that had otherwise been quite friendly to the party during the previous government’s tenure.</p>n<p>The bone of contention was Nawaz Sharif’s recent outburst against former COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa, ex-spymaster Faiz Hamid, and former CJPs Asif Khosa and Saqib Nisar during an address to party ticket holders.</p>n<p>The elder Sharif has refused to budge from his demand, but his brother, sons, and party leaders have apparently been trying to convince him otherwise.</p>n<p>“Shehbaz… some other party leaders… and his sons are trying to persuade the elder Sharif to revisit his strong position on the accountability of former generals,” the source said.</p>n<p>The narrative committee has also asked the supremo to talk about the promotion of regional peace, constitutionalism and the rule of law, the constitution of a truth and reconciliation commission for national reconstruction, and economy. “This is the time for reforms, not slogans and confrontation,” insiders said.</p>n<p><strong>Homecoming plan ‘final’</strong></p>n<p>As the rumour mills continued to churn and anticipation built around the return of Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif told reporters on Monday that the programme for his return was final.</p>n<p>“The programme is final for October 21 and Mian Nawaz Sharif is returning to Pakistan,” the former PM said in a brief media interaction outside Stanhope House after meeting the elder Sharif.“I appeal to PML-N representatives to pause international travel till October 21 and prepare for a resounding welcome… There are many who wish to meet their ‘Quaid’ in London, but now they should plan to meet him in Pakistan.”</p>n<p>When asked what the party’s narrative would be ahead of elections, he reiterated what he said a few days earlier about the achievements of the government in Nawaz’s last term, saying the ex-PM had ended 20-hour loadshedding, facilitated billions in investment into CPEC, and boosted employment and exports. “In Nawaz Sharif’s term, inflation was low, GDP was higher than 6.5pc…he is returning to continue that journey for prosperity in the country.”</p>n<p>Monday marked yet another day of heightened activity at Stanhope House, the de-facto headquarters of the PML-N in London, where the party’s senior leadership met and deliberated on the logistics and preparations for Nawaz Sharif’s return.</p>n<p>Maryam Nawaz is set to leave London for Pakistan via Dubai on Monday evening, and has been tasked with supervising all the arrangements and preparations for Nawaz’s return. Shehbaz is also expected to leave London in the next few days to return to Pakistan ahead of his brother’s arrival.</p>n<p>Similarly, the PML-N issued directives for all its senators, former lawmakers and ticket-holders on Monday to make sure that they remain in the country and those abroad should return within three days to consume their energies only for mobilisation of the people for ‘historic homecoming’ of their self-exiled leader Nawaz Sharif.</p>n<p>“All party senators, former MNAs and MPAs and ticket-holders must remain in country and those abroad return within three days, and all those planning to go to London to meet Nawaz Sharif drop their programme and only focus on mobilisation of the people in their constituencies to accord historic welcome to him,” said the president’s directive.</p>n<p><em>Atika Rehman in London also contributed to this report</em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

Free and fair?

<p>IS it possible to hold ‘free and fair’ elections with a widely popular political leader facing disqualification by the courts? Should such an election be morally acceptable? And can a government formed through such an election ever make a legitimate claim on the public’s mandate?</p>n<p>In a country as full of internal contradictions as Pakistan, there are no easy answers to these questions.</p>n<p>Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar recently <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777637/fair-elections-can-take-place-without-imran-jailed-pti-leaders-pm-kakar">made a statement</a> suggesting that ‘free and fair’ elections are possible even if former prime minister Imran Khan and other PTI leaders are not allowed to participate.</p>n<p>He argued that all politicians who violate the law must pay for their transgressions. In technical terms, he is correct, and if Pakistan were a country where institutions abided by the law, no one would disagree, since the continuity of the democratic process can never be dependent on the legal status of a handful of its leaders.</p>n<p>However, we are clearly not such a country, and, therefore, the PM’s position needs greater debate.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1774736"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In recent months, the state has applied overwhelming force against Mr Khan, his party, its loyalist leaders, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1755411">their supporters</a>, and even some supporters’ families.</p>n<p>From <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773448">refusing to obey release orders</a>, to outright disappearing people; from <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771196/human-rights-lawyer-imaan-mazari-ex-lawmaker-ali-wazir-arrested-islamabad-police">breaking into suspects’ homes</a>, to kidnapping their family members to forcing them to surrender — the authorities have ridden roughshod over fundamental rights and legal norms in their effort to cut the PTI to size.</p>n<p>Even the ECP has repeatedly violated the Constitution to deny the party the advantage of having public opinion on its side. This excessive action against the PTI has placed it at a considerable disadvantage compared to other parties.</p>n<p>It is therefore disingenuous, given this context, to suggest that the freeness and fairness of any eventual polling exercise should be considered without regard to all that has preceded it.</p>n<p>The lesson that the establishment should have learnt by now from the suppression of the PPP in the Zia era, and PML-N’s persecution in the Musharraf and Bajwa eras, is that thwarting the public will by artificial means only creates long-term instability in return for short-lived gains.</p>n<p>Banning parties, disqualifying key leaders, forcing politicians to switch allegiances, restricting candidates from campaigning, and queering the pitch in other ways just to secure an electoral outcome that is favourable to a handful of powerful individuals has caused demonstrable and lasting harm to Pakistan’s political structure.</p>n<p>One should, therefore, reasonably expect that removing Mr Khan from the political equation now will do as much good as removing Nawaz Sharif did for the country in 2017-18.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1777782"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Pakistan’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777782/editorial-the-economic-quandary-that-pakistan-finds-itself-facing-today-is-of-its-own-making">precarious present condition</a> should be warning enough against repeating these failed past experiments. If this cycle is not broken, we will be doomed to repeat it.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

Initial probe finds Avastin repackaging problems behind contamination

<p>LAHORE: The initial investigation has reportedly detected the chronic problems in repackaging (compounding) the Avastin drug and its supply and the maintenance of the cold chain that led to the outbreak of the disease in Punjab.</p>n<p>The official figures unveiled that the contaminated drug has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777801/punjab-cm-says-seized-injection-that-affected-vision-being-examined-to-trace-culprits">severely affected</a> the vision of 68 patients in the province since the scam surfaced.</p>n<p>Of the total patients, 25 were reported in Lahore, 19 in Multan, five in Bahawalpur, four each in Kasur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and Khanewal while three patients were reported in Mian Channu, according to the official figures.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1777926"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>There are reports that more cases are surfacing across the province and the health authorities are assessing them to make them a part of the government data.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>Swiss company says cancer drug wasn’t approved for diabetes-related eye conditions; govt sacks 12 officials over negligence</p>n</blockquote>n<p>According to senior doctors, including the eye specialists, the diabetic patients who were administered the drug may develop a life-threatening disease, endophthalmitis, an inflammation of the inner coats of the eye and the experts fear that the patients may face more severe impact in the coming days.</p>n<p>According to the initial inquiry, the injection was to be used within six hours of its repackaging, also called compounding.</p>n<p>Quoting the inquiry, an official says, the owners were repackaging (compounding) the drug/injections in a highly unsterilized environment at a laboratory situated in the basement of a private hospital in Model Town, Lahore. He says the health department teams have sent the samples of the suspected drug from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Saira Memorial Hospital to the Drug Testing Laboratory and added that the staff assigned with the task was neither wearing gloves, nor kits designated for manufacturing of drugs. He further lamented that the drug was being compounded in the unsterilized environment of operating theatre.</p>n<p>The official reveals that the drug in question needs to be strictly kept at -2ºC to -8ºC while stocking and transporting it to the destinations with caution to be used within 24 hours.</p>n<p>The experts in their inquiry report, however, claimed that the drug was to be administered within six hours of its drawing from the vial. Unfortunately, the employees were transporting the drug on motorbikes in ice packs to maintain cold chain in Lahore and there were also reports that the same was being sent to the distant cities, including Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and Mian Channu, probably by passenger buses.</p>n<p>The official says 25 injections were sent to Multan alone and other cities of south Punjab where the cases of adverse reactions to the drug surfaced. The experts have suggested to the government to ban transportation of such drugs from one city to another if the duration of the distance is more than three hours. They have recommended that the affected patients should immediately be treated with intravitreal antibiotics with and without core vitrectomy accordingly.</p>n<p>Meanwhile, the Punjab health department has suspended from service 12 drug inspectors, deputy drugs controllers and drugs controllers over negligence related to manufacturing, distribution and sale of injection Avastin (bevacizumab) that has led to the vision loss of patients.</p>n<p>The action was initiated against them a day after Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi ordered the health authorities to initiate action against the drug inspectors and other officers concerned for not ensuring the manufacturing, supply and safe use of the drug.</p>n<p>According to a notification issued here on Monday, the officials placed under suspension included former drug inspector of Allama Iqbal Town Dr Danyal Elahi, present drug inspector of Allama Iqbal Town Sher Mohammad Zaman, former drug controller of Gulberg Town Rana Muhammad Shahid from Lahore, drug controller Jhang Atia Nawaz, drug controller Bahawalpur Ali Raza, deputy drug controller tehsil Bahawalpur Saddar Amjad Farooq, drug controller Rahim Yar Khan Ameer Shahid, deputy drug controller Sadiqabad Farrukh Saleem, drug controller Kasur Sanaullah, former drug controller Bahawalnagar Rao Sajid, drug controller Khanewal Rana Mohammad Akram and deputy drug controller Multan Mehmood Khan.</p>n<p>These officers have been directed to report to the primary and secondary healthcare department.</p>n<p><em>Reuters</em> adds: On its website, Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, said its Avastin was approved in more than 130 countries, including the United States, to treat several types of cancer.</p>n<p>“Roche strongly condemns this criminal act of counterfeiting and is doing everything in its power to cooperate with the authorities to protect patients from counterfeits,” said Roche in a statement to <em>Reuters</em>.</p>n<p>“In Pakistan, the vision loss from Avastin has been identified by the authorities as a case of contamination by a third-party supplier,” it added.</p>n<p>The regulator said, in its statement, that in the cases concerned Avastin had been used off-label, meaning outside its approved use, to treat diabetes-related eye conditions.</p>n<p>Cancer drug Avastin, when used at much lower doses, is similar to eye drug Lucentis and is used in many countries as a low-cost option to treat certain blindness-causing conditions.</p>n<p>Roche added: “Avastin is not approved for any use in the eye. Counterfeit medicines pose a health risk to patients because their content may be ineffective and contain harmful ingredients.”</p>n<p>Alam Sher, Punjab’s deputy drug controller who filed the police complaint against the distributors, told <em>Reuters</em> that some companies buy Avastin and repackage it in smaller doses to make it more affordable for patients.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023</em></p>

CJP Isa says trend of seeking another date for hearing will no longer fly

<p>With the Supreme Court (SC) facing a significant backlog of cases, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa remarked on Monday that the trend of seeking another date for hearing would no longer fly.</p>n<p>The CJP made the remarks as a three-member SC bench heard a case related to a land dispute, during which one of the lawyers sought to adjourn the hearing for a later date.</p>n<p>In response, CJP Isa reprimanded the lawyer and told him to forget the idea of seeking a later date.</p>n<p>“Through you, this is also a message for everyone that the trend of seeking adjournments will no longer fly. The number of cases pending before the apex court is quite high,” he said.</p>n<p>He further said that “notice [should be issued] during one hearing while arguments should be heard at the next”.</p>n<p>He said that in other courts, another date was given for the hearing in order to furnish more documents. “If a case comes to the SC, then all the paperwork should be complete,” he said, as the court rejected the lawyer’s plea.</p>n<p>Last week, CJP Isa had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777039">constituted</a> a committee of judges on case management that will also determine the fate of complaints against judges, pending before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).</p>n<p>The committee, which will also include representatives of premier bars, namely the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), has been tasked with coming up with guidelines on how to clear a whopping backlog of 57,000 cases pending before the top court, speedy administration of justice and fixation and hearing of cases etc, PBC Vice Chairman Haroonur Rashid and PBC Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha told reporters after attending an over two-and-a-half-hour-long session called by the CJP to deliberate on a mechanism for case management.</p>n<p>Subsequently, the apex court had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777550/sc-orders-weekly-updates-on-cases-filed-disposed-of">decided</a> that details of the number of cases filed each week and disposed of by the court would be issued regularly on a weekly basis. In a statement, the top court said the decision to share weekly details of cases was taken to ensure transparency.</p>

September 25, 2023

TV anchor Imran Riaz Khan &amp;lsquo;safe at home&amp;rsquo; after being missing for over 4 months

<p>Anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan — who had been <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1753583">missing</a> for more than four months — is now “safe at home”, Punjab Inspector General (IG) Dr Usman Anwar confirmed to <em>Dawn.com</em> on Monday.</p>n<p>Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Hassan Iqbal and Riaz’s lawyer, Mian Ali Ashfaq, also confirmed the development to <em>Dawn.com</em>.</p>n<p>Riaz — a YouTuber and television anchor — was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1753179/lhc-to-resume-hearing-petition-against-anchorperson-imran-riazs-arrest-tomorrow-as-his-whereabouts-remain-unknown">arrested</a> two days after <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1752003">violent protests</a> broke out across the country following PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1751782">arrest</a> on May 9.</p>n<p>He was last known to be taken to Cantt police station after his arrest and later to the Sialkot prison. On May 15, a law officer <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1753583">told the Lahore High Court</a> (LHC) that the anchorperson was released from jail after taking an undertaking in writing.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776706"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>On September 20, the LHC had given the Punjab police chief a “<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776891">last opportunity</a>” to recover Riaz by September 26 (tomorrow). During the hearing, LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti had stated that his patience was “running out”.</p>n<p>In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) during the early hours of Monday, the Sialkot police said, “Journalist/anchor Mr Imran Riaz Khan has been safely recovered. He is now with his family.”</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/DpoSialkot/status/1706099599172096256?t=xGGgsffZK1y9Ucka3oAFaQ&amp;s=19"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Separately, his lawyer Ashfaq, said in a post on X, “By God’s special blessing, grace, and mercy, I have brought back my prince.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/MianAliAshfaq/status/1706111828630151524"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>“It took a lot of time due to the mountain of difficulties, the last limit of understanding of the matter, a weak judiciary, and the current ineffective public constitution and legal helplessness,” he said.</p>n<p>In another post on X in the afternoon, Ashfaq shared a photo with Riaz, the latter’s first since his disappearance.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/MianAliAshfaq/status/1706227164100583490"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<h2><a id="weak-not-in-the-best-of-health" href="#weak-not-in-the-best-of-health" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>‘Weak, not in the best of health’</h2>n<p>Journalist Wajahat S Khan said that he had spoken to Riaz’s family, adding that the anchorperson was “weak and not in the best of health but he’s back”.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/WajSKhan/status/1706127982341820612"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>PTI leader Hammad Azhar said that the entire nation was rejoicing over Riaz’s return.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/Hammad_Azhar/status/1706140615543534023"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Lawyer Khadija Siddiqi termed the development a “positive sign”.</p>n<p>“Latest modus operandi of brazenly silencing voices of dissent seems to have failed miserably! Citizens of Pakistan must not be antagonised by our own state!” she said.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/khadijasid751/status/1706145543578173714"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The PTI, meanwhile, called for the release of all political prisoners under “illegal incarceration”. “Law and sense must prevail,” the party said.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1706132283231551830"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>PTI leader Asad Qaiser termed his return a “good move” and demanded that other PTI leaders also be produced before courts so they “could decide what their crime was”.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/AsadQaiserPTI/status/1706235024930980035"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Former senator Advocate Babar Awan said the “ordeal of Imran Riaz, his family, friends and the citizens of Pakistan” had ended.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/BabarAwanPK/status/1706231089663230179"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<h2><a id="timeline" href="#timeline" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Timeline</h2>n<p>Imran Riaz — a YouTuber and television anchor — was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1753179/lhc-to-resume-hearing-petition-against-anchorperson-imran-riazs-arrest-tomorrow-as-his-whereabouts-remain-unknown">arrested</a> two days after <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1752003">violent protests</a> broke out across the country following PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1751782">arrest</a> on May 9.</p>n<p>He was last known to be taken to Cantt police station after his arrest and later to the Sialkot prison. On May 15, a law officer had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1753583">told the LHC</a> that the anchorperson was released from jail after taking an undertaking in writing. His whereabouts however remained unknown.</p>n<p>Subsequently, a first information report (FIR) of Riaz’s alleged abduction was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1753691">registered</a> with Sialkot Civil Lines police on May 16 on the complaint of the anchorperson’s father, Muhammad Riaz.</p>n<p>The FIR was registered against “unidentified persons” and police officials for allegedly kidnapping Riaz, invoking Section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) of the Pakistan Penal Code.</p>n<p>The journalist’s father had also filed a plea in the LHC for his recovery.</p>n<p>During a May 19 hearing of the case, the anchorperson’s father had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1754354">become teary-eyed</a> in the LHC, pleading for mercy, as the whereabouts of his son remained unknown. The next day, the LHC chief justice had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1754596">ordered</a> the police to recover and present the anchorperson by May 22.</p>n<p>On that date, the LHC had directed the ministries of interior and defence to “discharge their constitutional duties to effect the recovery” of the anchorperson after IG Anwar <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1755001">revealed that there was no trace</a> of the journalist at any police department across the country.</p>n<p>The LHC was subsequently <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1755705">informed</a> that both the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence had said the anchorperson was not in their custody. On May 26, the high court had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1755976">directed “all the agencies”</a> to work together to find the anchorperson and produce him in the court by May 30.</p>n<p>When that date arrived, IG Anwar had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1756838">told the LHC</a> that phone numbers that had been traced back to Afghanistan were involved in the case.</p>n<p>The anchorperson’s lawyer had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1758272">contended</a> in the June 6 hearing that their patience was “wearing thin” even as the Punjab government had informed the high court that efforts to find the journalist were underway.</p>n<p>During the July 5 hearing, the LHC had established a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1763122">deadline of July 25</a> for the police to locate the missing journalist. However, no hearing could be held on the designated date due to the bench’s unavailability.</p>n<p>In that particular hearing, retired Brigadier Falak Naz, representing the Ministry of Defence, had informed the court: “We are working on tracing locations and other issues. We are trying to recover Imran Riaz as soon as possible.”</p>n<p>On September 6, IG Anwar had told LHC that the police <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1774366">would deliver “good news”</a> in the next few days, following which he was granted time till September 13.</p>n<p>However, failing to deliver any major “good news”, the IG on September 13 had assured the court that the probe was “<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1774366">going in the right direction</a>”.</p>n<p>On September 20, the LHC had given the Punjab police chief a “<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776891">last opportunity</a>” to recover Riaz by September 26, adjourning the proceedings in a petition demanding his recovery till then.</p>

HRCP says PM Kakar&amp;rsquo;s statement on elections sans Imran &amp;lsquo;anti-democratic and ill-judged&amp;rsquo;

<p>The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Monday took “strong exception” to caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777637/fair-elections-can-take-place-without-imran-jailed-pti-leaders-pm-kakar">remarks</a> that “fair elections” were possible even without PTI Chairman Imran Khan and other jailed party workers.</p>n<p>Imran, who was originally <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1768528">jailed</a> for “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case — although his conviction has since been <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1772860">suspended</a> — is currently on <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775787">judicial remand</a> in the cipher case.</p>n<p>In an <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-elections-sharif-khan-kashmir-afghanistan-a81c125c0abe3bc963294733a15ef7b0">interview</a> with <em>The Associated Press</em> over the weekend, the prime minister had said that “fair” polls were possible without Imran and his party leaders, who were jailed as part of a state crackdown in the aftermath of violent riots across the country on May 9.</p>n<p>PM Kakar had also stated that thousands of PTI members, who were not a part of “unlawful activities”, “will be running the political process” and “participating in the elections”.</p>n<p>The interim prime minister’s statement came days after the Election Commission of Pakistan finally <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777085">announced</a> that polls in the country would be held in January next year. Subsequently, major political parties in the country began preparations for elections.</p>n<p>During the interview, the prime minister had also dismissed the possibility of the military establishment manipulating the election results to ensure the PTI doesn’t win as “absolutely absurd”.</p>n<p>In a statement issued today, the HRCP reminded the prime minister that courts were yet to establish guilt in the cases against Imran and his party leaders. “Mr Kakar’s claims are anti-democratic and ill-judged,” it stated.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/HRCP87/status/1706277280300032295"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>“The prime minister should be aware that it is not for him or his government to decide unilaterally what constitutes a ‘fair’ election,” the commission highlighted.</p>n<p>It noted that the “systematic way in which the PTI leadership has been dismantled — in the shape of mass arrests and rearrests — forced disassociation from the party, the disproportionate number of cases filed against political leaders and workers (including in military courts), and curbs on their freedom of expression and assembly — has not produced a level playing field”.</p>n<p>The HRCP said this was a cause for concern because it perpetuated a “pattern of pre-election manipulation that was also visible in 2018”.</p>n<p>The commission also condemned the treatment meted out to former chief minister and PTI president Parvez Elahi, who has been <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776380">arrested and rearrested</a> a number of times against the directives of the high court.</p>n<p>“HRCP reminds the government that responsibility for ensuring free and fair elections falls on the Election Commission of Pakistan.</p>n<p>“The caretaker government must desist from making irresponsible, partisan statements on matters not within its mandate. Instead, it must ensure that an environment conducive to free, fair, credible and inclusive elections is created and maintained,” it added.</p>

COAS Munir lauds Christian community for &amp;lsquo;outstanding&amp;rsquo; role in defence of Pakistan

<p>Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir on Monday commended the Christian community’s contributions to Pakistan’s national development and praised their “outstanding” role in defending the motherland.</p>n<p>The army chief made these remarks during a meeting with President Bishops (Church of Pakistan and Bishop of Raiwind) along with a 13-member delegation of the Christian Community who called on him at the General Headquarters, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.</p>n<p>The meeting comes a month after a violent mob of hundreds <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770582/5-churches-many-homes-ransacked-in-faisalabads-jaranwala">ransacked and torched</a> nearly two dozen churches, attacked the residences of members of the Christian community and the office of the local assistant commissioner in Jaranwala, sparking nationwide outrage and condemnation.</p>n<p>COAS Munir had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770733">denounced</a> the attacks on churches a day later and vowed no leniency for “intolerance and extreme behaviour”.</p>n<p>“It’s imperative for the people to discern the difference between truth, half-truth, lies, misinformation and disinformation,” he had said.</p>n<p>In a more recent development on Saturday, two human rights activists, who were part of the Christian community and had travelled from Karachi to Faisalabad, were reportedly subjected to a brief <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777458">detention and alleged mistreatment</a> by the police. In response, police countered the claims, accusing the duo of misconduct.</p>n<p>The incident was brought to light by lawyer and human rights activist Jibran Nasir on Friday through a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter).</p>n<p>Today, the Christian community delegation called on the army chief and discussed matters of “mutual interest, religious and inter-faith harmony”, according to the ISPR.</p>n<p>The ISPR quoted the army chief as lauding “the contributions of the Pakistani Christian Community in national development, including promotion of quality education, healthcare and philanthropic services and the outstanding role played by them for the defence of the motherland”.</p>n<p>While expressing “deep respect” for the Christian community, the army chief stressed the need to promote greater interfaith harmony in society in order to “follow Quaid’s true vision of a united and progressive Pakistan”.</p>n<p>“Islam is a religion of peace and there is no space for intolerance and extremism in Islam and society. No one can be allowed to take law into his own hands in a civilised society,” COAS Munir remarked.</p>n<p>In response, the visiting delegation acknowledged the Pakistan Army’s efforts in combating terrorism and providing a secure environment for the minorities in the country.</p>n<p>“They appreciated the army chief’s gesture as an inspiration for Pakistani minorities to take greater and more active part in nation building and in restoring their faith in a cohesive and tolerant society,” the ISPR added.</p>

On the brink

<p>IT is Pakistan’s moment of reckoning. <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777422/pakistans-economy-on-edge-of-precipice-warns-world-bank">Words of warning</a> are pouring in to remind the leadership and the people that the country continues to face existential challenges.</p>n<p>The other day, the IMF chief <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777063/imf-chief-urges-pakistan-to-tax-the-rich-protect-the-poor-on-sidelines-of-unga">urged</a> the caretaker prime minister and Pakistanis to collect taxes from the wealthy and subsidise the poor, who are being crushed under the soaring cost of living.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1774316"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>On Friday, Najy Benhassine, World Bank country manager for Pakistan, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777422/pakistans-economy-on-edge-of-precipice-warns-world-bank">underscored</a> that the state was at a crucial juncture where it must decide whether it wants to continue with 40pc of its population living below the poverty line, with policy decisions being driven by a military, political and business elite that has vested interests, or to change direction towards a better future.</p>n<p>“This may be Pakistan’s moment in making policy shifts,” he argued, while releasing a set of policy notes — <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/09/21/world-bank-launches-reforms-for-a-brighter-future-time-to-decide-to-contribute-to-the-public-debate-on-development-polic">Reforms For a Brighter Future: Time to Decide</a> — to be discussed and finalised before a new government takes over after elections, due to be held in the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777085">last week of January</a> next year.</p>n<p>He pointed out that states with steady and higher economic growth, such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam, were able to fend off similar difficulties as they tackled their respective crises through making the right decisions.</p>n<p>The economic quandary that a country of 240m people finds itself facing today is of its own making. Stuck in the midst of grave human resource and financial troubles, Pakistan is contending with complex challenges that need to be addressed and tackled simultaneously if it is to extricate itself from the current crisis and move forward.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776498"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>One cannot expect to <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773388">collect more taxes</a> and to grow economically without improving sound public services such as education, healthcare and drinking water.</p>n<p>Likewise, balance-of-payments issues cannot be resolved without boosting productivity, and investing in an educated and healthy labour force as well as in climate-resilient infrastructure. Everyone and every sector has to rise together, in sync, if this country is to put itself on a progressive trajectory.</p>n<p>This is not the first time that global lenders such as the IMF and World Bank, which we <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777260">always lean on</a> for help during what seem to be perpetually hard times, have advised us on what we should do. And it is not as if our ruling classes and policymakers are unaware of the problems or their solutions.</p>n<p>Yet these constant reminders underline how the vested interests that the World Bank country chief alluded to are impeding much-needed reforms to restructure the economy.</p>n<p>If we are to revive the economy, every stakeholder that Mr Benhassine has mentioned should ask themselves whether they want short-term gains at the expense of the country and its people, or longer-term stability that can allow us to function and have a future to look forward to.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2023</em></p>

India&amp;rsquo;s overreach

<p>INDIA is having its moment in the sun; the economy is booming, it has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">landed on the South Pole of the moon</a> and New Delhi just <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775114">hosted the G20</a>, which was a massive coming-out party for Modi. Earlier, Modi had the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761117">red carpet rolled out for him in Washington</a> where the administration fawned over a man who, up until fairly recently, was barred from entering the US due to his complicity in the Gujarat massacres in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and countless women raped, often in front of their families.</p>n<p>However, times change, and India’s burgeoning economy and its value as a hedge against China meant that Modi must be courted and the performative pearl-clutching over the usual Western obsessions with human rights and such was to be dispensed with. That’s not a complaint; that’s realpolitik.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1777621"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>But the thing with having your moment in the sun is that it can go to your head; as Washington was finalising the menu and selecting silverware, an Indian intelligence operation was underway in America’s ally Canada. There, a pro-independence Sikh leader and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.</p>n<p>Some months later, and conveniently right after the G20 summit had concluded its speeches and photo-ops, came <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776704/indian-envoy-expelled-as-pm-trudeau-links-delhi-to-sikh-leaders-death">Justin Trudeau’s bombshell</a> where he accused India’s intelligence agencies of being behind the attack. What followed were furious, tit-for-tat <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776725/in-tit-for-tat-move-india-expels-canadian-diplomat-after-pm-trudeau-links-delhi-to-sikh-leaders-murder">expulsions and exchanges</a>, with the accused mastermind, Pavan Kumar Rai, being compelled to leave Canada. India, in its typical style of accusing others of what it itself is guilty of, warned its citizens to “exercise caution” when visiting Canada due to “growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” there. After this spectacular example of a pot calling the kettle black — most hate crimes in Canada are committed against Jews, Muslims and Catholics, in that order — India then suspended the processing of visas for Canadians, which is terrible news for the millions of Canadians presumably queuing up to visit India. Diplomatic presence is also being cut back by both countries.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>New Delhi believes it can get away with murder abroad.</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Meanwhile, India is reacting with typical narrow-minded nationalist bravado, with its media thumping its chest over the ‘muscular new India’ and pointing out the examples of Gen Suleimani and Osama bin Laden while also fervently denying the accusation. Indian social media, in its usual toxic manner, is heaping abuse upon Canada and Trudeau for ‘sheltering terrorists’ while celebrating the fact that along with yoga, assassination is also one of India’s exports. This sells well in the domestic Indian market, where the populace has been fed a daily diet of hate and religious supremacy which often translates into state-condoned violence against Muslims and other minorities.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1777453"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Seemingly secure in its Western alliance, India has taken the world’s silence as a signal that it can get away with murder abroad, as it has within its own borders and in the region. Unsurprisingly, no one is questioning the possible fallout for fear of being labelled traitors. So in that scenario, any indications of India projecting its power is appreciated, and certainly the more robust the Indian diplomatic offensive is, the better it’ll play in the upcoming Indian polls, especially with the INDIA alliance trying to take the BJP down a peg.</p>n<p>For Canada, taking a soft line would be suicidal; home to many diasporas and dissidents due to its liberal immigration policies, allowing an India-ordered assassination to take place without a reaction would mean there would be no stopping other countries with equal or greater capabilities from doing the same. What if, for example, China were to start eliminating Tibetan, Uighur or Falun Gong activists in Canada? So, as India escalates, Canada has started to drip out information and as per a report in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ottawa is in possession of intercepted communications by Indian officials regarding the murder, along with intelligence provided by another member of the Five Eyes network, of which Canada is a part. They have receipts, and will show them in due course.</p>n<p>This places the West in a tight spot, having to balance between India and their old ally Canada. So far, the responses have been muted amid diplomatic calls for the investigation to be completed, but among analysts, think tanks and influential media outlets, the mood seems to be changing amid a realisation that the Indian alliance carries unexpected costs, among which is giving New Delhi the impression that it can do as it likes, and can use the same tactics and policies it uses in the subcontinent, in their own countries as well. While realpolitik will eventually prevail, the mask is well and truly off.</p>n<p><em>The writer is a journalist.</em></p>n<p><em>X (formerly Twitter): <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://twitter.com/ZarrarKhuhro">@zarrarkhuhro</a></em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2023</em></p>

PML-N voted for extension in return for help with Imran problem: Rana Sanaullah

<p>LAHORE: As the top leadership of the PML-N continues to <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776664">rail against</a> the former generals, in an apparent bid to reclaim their “<em>vote ko izzat do</em>” narrative before going into elections, a key leader confessed on Thursday that the party had supported an <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1500427">extension</a> for former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in order to contain PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s onslaught.</p>n<p>“Voting for Gen Bajwa’s extension [in 2020] was a tactical move by the party to fight the fitna (anarchy),” former interior minister Rana Sanaullah said during an appearance on <em>Samaa TV</em> on Thursday, using a term he frequently employs to refer to the PTI chief.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ianumofficial/status/1704979274590199873?"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The former army chief’s extension became a bone of contention between the judiciary and the PTI regime in 2019 when the top court suspended then-PM Imran Khan’s notification, granting Gen Bajwa an extension. After much legal wrangling, the court had allowed the general to continue in office for six months after the government assured it that it would legislate to provide legal cover to this ‘grey area’.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1519792"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Eventually, in early 2020, parliament had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1525766">unanimously passed</a> <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1527033">amendments</a> to the Army Act that cemented the extension, with the PML-N being among the parties that voted for it.</p>n<p>This was Mr Sanaullah’s second outburst against the former top brass in as many days. A day earlier, he had assailed former generals Bajwa and Faiz Hameed, declaring them “national criminals” and demanded action against them. “The way the PML-N brought Gen Pervez Musharraf to justice, it will do the same to [both men],” he had said on Wednesday.</p>n<p>He had also reinforced party supremo Nawaz Sharif’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776664">recent statement</a>, seeking ‘strict accountability’ of former generals and judges, saying that it was a policy statement on behalf of the party.</p>n<p>In an online address to party ticket holders in Lahore a couple of days ago, the elder Sharif had said: “(Former) chief justices Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa were tools of former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and his spy chief Gen Faiz Hameed. Their crime is bigger than a murder offence. Pardoning them will be an injustice to the nation. They don’t deserve a pardon.”</p>n<p>However, it should be noted that on the same day, the elder Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776949">tried to walk back</a> some of the venom in her father’s comments by saying that “neither he nor she believed in taking revenge”.</p>n<p>Sources told <em>Dawn</em> that the party supremo had told the leaders to adopt “an aggressive stance” against both Gen Bajwa and Gen Hameed and some former and incumbent judges.</p>n<p>Meanwhile, a leader from the Shehbaz camp, while talking to <em>Dawn</em>, said that after Mr Nawaz’s outburst, some quarters advised the party not to take an extreme position on the matter.</p>n<p>Mr Shehbaz, who <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777043/shehbaz-rushes-back-to-london-within-48-hours">left for London</a> on Wednesday, might talk to his brother and convince him to dilute his tone.</p>n<p>“Mr Shehbaz never uttered a word against Gen Bajwa since he assumed the prime minister’s office and even after leaving the position, showing how careful he is in such matters,” the leader said.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2023</em></p>

September 22, 2023

Cartoon: 22 September, 2023

Faulty refrigeration system blamed for UAE meat ban

<p>LAHORE: A faulty refrigeration system of the shipping line has been blamed for the fungus detected in the fresh chilled meat shipment of a Pakistani company to the United Arab Emirates that prompted the Gulf state to <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1777025/uae-bans-meat-imports-from-pakistan-via-sea">ban imports</a>, at least for the time being, and bringing a bad name to Pakistan.</p>n<p>The ban follows the arrival of several containers of substandard fresh beef in Dubai, as reported by the Dubai Municipal Authorities. Some local companies, however, claim that their organic chilled meat exports have escaped the restrictions.</p>n<p>“Initial investigations have revealed that the substandard quality of meat was allegedly due to inefficient/non-functioning refrigeration system installed in the reefer containers, which is a responsibility of the shipping lines,” says the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), claiming it is actively addressing the recent ban imposed by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment on the export of fresh chilled meat by sea from Pakistan effective Oct 10.</p>n<p>A press release issued by TDAP says that the exporters concerned have filed a damages petition against the shipping line, while the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai has engaged with stakeholders to ascertain the reason for this unfortunate event.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>Exporters file a damages petition against shipping line</p>n</blockquote>n<p>A request for a formal meeting with the UAE ministry has also been made to present Pakistan’s viewpoint, assuaging UAE concerns and advocating for vacation of the ban, it adds.</p>n<p>The Organic Meat Company Ltd (TOMCL), a Pakistani meat processor, has said that it will continue to export frozen and vacuum-packed chilled meat products to its market in the UAE via sea route.</p>n<p>The company, which exports meat products to the GCC market, shared the development in its filing to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.</p>n<p>Referring to the UAE ban, it said there are no restrictions on frozen or vacuum-packed fresh chilled meat shipments via sea and the restriction is only on fresh chilled meat exports and shipments via sea.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22th, 2023</em></p>

Caretakers will only rescue viable SOEs, says Shamshad Akhtar

<p>ISLAMABAD: Care­taker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar said on Thursday the government would prioritise the impro­vement of 85 out of some 200 state-owned entities (SOEs) which had the capa­city to pay dividends, and were either profitable, or could become profitable.</p>n<p>Speaking at a hurriedly-called news conference, the minister said caretakers have decided to review the draft policy on SOEs circulated by the previous government and carry forward the “good work it had inherited”.</p>n<p>She said it had been decided to provide another opportunity for the ministries and other stakeholders to come up with their views on the draft policy which could then be presented to the federal cabinet for approval.</p>n<p>She said the ministry had finalised a list of top 10 profitable entities and top 10 loss-making companies, which could be turned around and taken up for privatisation.</p>n<p>She said the majority of the bad performers had been marred over the years by inefficiency, misgovernance and external interference but the SOE’s Governance and Opera­tions Act of 2023 passed in February could not be implemented.</p>n<p>But these decisions have been taken on the basis of three-year-old financial results, showing over Rs500bn in annual losses in FY2020.</p>n<p>The interim minister said the performance of the SOEs deteriorated because of a lack of autonomy, external interference, appointment of inappropriate boards of directors and CEOs who did not meet the proper criteria, leading to a decline in their service quality and a massive drain on public resources.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed '>n <div class='media__item media__item–youtube '><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/M4h-asFxdQI?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0' allowfullscreen='' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='100%' height='100%'></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>She said a central monitoring unit (CMU) had been created in the finance ministry that would collect and update the financial results of all SOEs within two months and act as a hub for coordination with and monitoring of SOEs. The CMU will not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the SOEs but take up issues with the cabinet committee on SOEs or the cabinet and maintain comprehensive data on financial, commercial and operational matters.</p>n<p>Under the SOE’s Governance and Operations Act, the majority of the members on the boards would be appointed on independent nominations and would be given security of tenure. The board would then be responsible for the selection of CEOs without any interference from the ministries concerned or the government except the policy guidelines approved by the federal cabinet.</p>n<p>The government would retain strategic SOEs but phase out non-strategic entities. Under the draft SOE policy, the government will not set up new SOEs in future unless required for strategic reasons or under an agreement with any country and gradually off-load the majority of the existing lot of 200 entities mostly operating in losses. All this is required under the IMF programme.</p>n<p>The only exemption where the federal government could consider establishing a new SOE would be if there is no private sector firm operating within the relevant sector providing the goods and/or services that the new SOE will provide and that the government wants to establish a particular market in any sector of the economy which will be supported by the creation of an SOE, provided that such SOE shall under no circumstances be given exclusivity in provision of services or goods and shall strictly adhere to the principle of competitive neutrality.</p>n<p>In case, a new SOE has been formed through the corporatisation of an existing government function, the new SOE will be clearly categorised as either commercial or non-commercial and should be created if required under the law or the services could not be procured through any private sector firm due to a legal restriction. The exemption for new entities would also be there if SOE is required under any government-to-government agreement with another sovereign nation.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2023</em></p>

&amp;lsquo;Resurrected&amp;rsquo; graft cases back in court

<p>ISLAMABAD: Cases that were closed as a result of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1703176/nab-wont-be-able-to-probe-graft-cases-below-rs500m">amendments</a> made in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) by the PDM government have been revived by accountability courts after the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776105/cjps-parting-shot-opens-new-can-of-worms">set aside</a> the amendments last week.</p>n<p>An apex court bench, headed by former Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, had on Sept 15 declared the amendments void and directed the NAB to revive the closed cases within seven days.</p>n<p>NAB sources said that the cases had been returned to the accountability courts of Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Quetta.</p>n<p>NAB prosecution submitted the record of 80 cases to the accountability court, Islamabad.</p>n<p>It may be mentioned that the judges of two accountability courts were transferred as the amended law curtailed the NAB’s jurisdiction.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>Zardari, Gilani, Shaukat Aziz among those who will be facing cases</p>n</blockquote>n<p>The cases transmitted to the local accountability court included the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1733675">Park Lane case</a> against PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1498507">Universal Services Funds</a> in which former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and others are suspects, the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1565158">Rental Power Projects case</a> against NA speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1628135">case</a> of Benazir Income Support Programme’s former chairperson Farzana Raja.</p>n<p>The references against former prime minister <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1471288">Shaukat Aziz</a> and fake accounts cases against Mr <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1717291">Zardari</a> and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1654040">Omni Group’s directors</a> also stand revived.</p>n<p>The Supreme Court in its ordered had directed: “The NAB and/or all other fora shall forthwith return the record of all such matters to the relevant fora and in any event not later than seven days from today, which shall be proceeded with in accordance with law from the same stage these were at when the same were disposed of/closed/returned.”</p>n<p>It explained that Section 3 of the Second Amendment pertaining to Section 5(o) of NAO sets the minimum pecuniary threshold of NAB at Rs500 million and Section 2 of the 2022 amendments pertaining to Section 4, which limits the application of the ordinance by creating exceptions for public office-holders, were declared void ab initio.</p>n<p>Likewise, Section 3 of the Second Amendment and Section 2 of the 2022 amendments pertaining to Section 5(o) and Section 4 of the NAO were declared to be valid.</p>n<p>Under this provision, the persons in the service of Pakistan have been omitted from the NAO since these persons can still be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 for the offence of corruption and corrupt practices even if they stand excluded from the jurisdiction of NAB.</p>n<p>The phrase “through corrupt and dishonest means” inserted in Section 9(a)(v) of the NAB ordinance along with its Explanation II was also struck down from the date of commencement of the First Amendment for references filed against elected holders of public office. Similarly, Section 14 was also omitted, which allowed the accountability court to draw different evidentiary presumptions against the suspects.</p>n<p>Likewise, Section 21(g) of NAO was restored from the date of the commencement of the First Amendment. The amendment had omitted this provision, which allowed evidentiary material transferred by a foreign government through Mutual Legal Assistance as evidence. Consequently, Sections 10 and 14 of the First Amendment are declared void.</p>n<p>Therefore, “all orders passed by the NAB and/or the Accountability Courts placing reliance on the above sections are declared null and void and of no legal effect”, the judgement said.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2023</em></p>

Pre-partition Ahmadi worship place threatened in Punjab&amp;rsquo;s Daska

<p>LAHORE: Tension gripped Daska on Thursday as the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) threatened to raze the minarets of a historic worship place of the Ahmadiyya community.</p>n<p>The worship place, located in the old Daska city, was built before Partition by Sir Zafarullah Khan, a member of the Pakistan Movement and the first foreign minister of the independent nation.</p>n<p>According to the district police, the wor­ship place was next to Mr Khan’s house and its minarets were hardly visible. There is no board or inscription of a mos­que on the worship place — an act outlawed in the Pakistan Penal Code.</p>n<p>Concerns have been raised after TLP announced a rally for Friday (today) over alleged desecration by Ahmadi community members of Islam’s Holy figures and the non-cooperation of authorities over the issue.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>TLP says it will demolish minarets of building built by Sir Zafarullah Khan</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Banners have been put up across the city while videos being shared on social media urged people from all walks of life to join the rally.</p>n<p>Scores of TLP supporters gathered on Thursday and threatened to demolish the minarets of the worship place.</p>n<p>They claimed the minarets were illegal and in violation of laws introduced during the military government of Gen Ziaul Haq in 1984.</p>n<p>Earlier, the party also filed a complaint with the Daska police, demanding action against the administration of the worship place.</p>n<p>The police suggested the party take up the matter with the assistant commissioner as the issue was the district aut­h­ority’s domain and only it could make a decision about the legality of the minarets.</p>n<p>However, the TLP on Thursday called upon its members to gather at Daska to “decide the issue”.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/MonaChaudhryy/status/1704576430749720830"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Some users on X, previously Twitter, claimed the district police had decided to demolish the minarets. However, talking to <em>Dawn</em>, Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Hassan Iqbal denied the reports.</p>n<p>He said the structure was intact and police had increased security in and around the worship place following TLP’s threats.</p>n<p>“No one so far has demolished the minarets of the Ahmadi worship place at Daska”, he said, adding negotiations were underway with both sides for a peaceful resolution of the issue.</p>n<p>About the claim of the TLP regarding the illegal construction of minarets, he said according to initial inquiries, the worship place was old and didn’t violate any law.</p>n<p>The DPO added that the Lahore High Court had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775742">issued an order</a> last month, declaring the minarets on Ahmadiyya co­mmunity’s worship places, raised before the 1984 law, can’t be razed or altered.</p>n<p>Members of the minority community reserved the right to practise their faith safely at the worship site, the DPO said, while assuring complete security.</p>n<p><strong>Repeated attacks</strong></p>n<p>Despite the LHC order, several worship places of the Ahmadi community have been attacked and vandalised in recent months.</p>n<p>According to Amir Mehmood, a spokesman for the Jamaat Ahmadiyya in Pakistan, five such attacks on Ahmadi worship places have taken place in the span of nine months.</p>n<p>The actions attracted the ire of the UN, prompting its Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to express concern over the treatment of Ahmadis.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22th, 2023</em></p>

Double standards

<p>THE US-led West does not tire of telling the rest of the world to abide by the so-called rules-based world order. But while doing so, Western countries conveniently omit explaining that this order was established in the aftermath of World War II primarily for legitimising and maintaining their own global hegemony.</p>nn<p>The architecture of the political, security and economic institutions established under the UN or under the Bretton Woods system to regulate the post-World War II international security and economic system was, in the ultimate analysis, aimed at securing this overarching goal of the West. This is particularly true about the UN Security Council as well as the IMF and World Bank where no decision can be taken without the approval of the US and its Western allies.</p>nn<p>Before World War II, there were numerous examples of Western countries blatantly flouting recognised principles of international law, or interpreting them to suit their convenience. This was particularly true during the colonial era, which witnessed the cruel subjugation of the people of occupied lands and the ruthless exploitation of their resources.</p>nn<p>Even the establishment of the post-World War II global order did not prevent predatory Western nations from violating the recognised rules of interstate conduct to impose their will on the weaker nations. The invasion of Egypt by Great Britain and France in 1956 in league with Israel, and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 were clear examples of the violation of the UN Charter. </p>nn<blockquote>n <p>Western nations have often violated the rules of interstate conduct.</p>n</blockquote>nn<p>In the sphere of international economic, commercial, and financial exchanges, the US-led West has exploited its powerful positions in such institutions as the IMF and World Bank to impose its own choices and preferences on economically weaker nations.</p>nn<p>It is also ironic that the US, which used to champion the cause of free trade, has now started imposing economic and technological sanctions against China to slow down the latter’s economic and technological progress, especially in such fields as semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing. But this is nothing new. As pointed out by Kishore Mahbubani in his book, Has China won?, in the face of the tough competition given by the Japanese automakers to their American counterparts, “President Ronald Reagan had to twist the arms of the Japanese to agree to a voluntary export restraint.”</p>nn<p>The double standards of the Western cou­ntries are also exposed by their positions on such subjects as the situation in Hong Kong, Palestine, occupied Kashmir and Taiwan. When Hong Kong was being governed by the UK, Western concerns about democratic values in the territory were non-existent even though colonial rule is the very anti-thesis of a truly representative form of government. But this issue became a major source of concern for the West once Hong Kong reverted to Chi­n­ese sovereignty. Since Israel is a virtual Western outpost in the Middle East, its excesses against the national rights of the Palestinian people in violation of UN resolutions are generally ignored by the US-led West.</p>nn<p>The same conclusion applies to the treatment of the UN-recognised right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people by the Western countries because of their desire to cultivate India as an emerging Great Power and build it up as a bulwark against China. Taiwan is recognised by the international community, including even the US, as part of China. But that has not prevented Washington from offering political and military support to Taiwan’s adm­inistration to encourage separatist tendencies in the territory, even though it is internationally recognised as an integral part of China.</p>nn<p>Repeated calls by the US-led West on China and others to abide by the rules of the global order established by it in the aftermath of World War II are aimed at protecting its own security and economic interests. Therefore, whenever these rules come into conflict with the Western countries’ own narrow national interests, they have no hesitation in ignoring them. Logically, China and other emerging major powers can be expected to insist on rewriting these rules to make them equitable for global security and economic progress, rather than solely promoting Western interests.</p>nn<p>In light of the foregoing, the coming decades will witness growing tensions between the established and the emerging major powers. Pakistan and other countries of the Global South need to navigate carefully in the unfolding turbulent global scenario. This scenario is marked by multipolarity and by the primacy of national power over recognised principles of interstate conduct.</p>nn<p>The writer is a retired ambassador and author of Pakistan and a World in Disorder — A Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century.<br />n<a href="http://mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p>nn<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22th, 2023</em></p>

Lawless city

<p>A GRIM milestone has just been passed in Karachi. The recent death of a teenage robbery victim brings the number of people killed in street crime incidents in the city between January and September 2023 to 100. To put things in perspective, the total number of people to have died in incidents of terrorism across Sindh during the first six months of the current year is 19. This once again underscores the unsettling fact that Karachi is a deadly city for its people, where armed killers have complete freedom to take citizens’ lives. From posh neighbourhoods to teeming slums, no area of this forsaken metropolis is safe. Muggers strike whenever they can and are ready to kill their victims at the slightest resistance. Figures compiled by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee illustrate just how large the epidemic of street crime is. According to the CPLC, over the past nine months, some 60,000 incidents of street crime have taken place in Karachi. The figure for all of 2022 was 85,000. Police say between 50 to 60 gangs are active in this deadly business, while mobile-snatching and motorbike-lifting top the list of crimes.</p>nn<p>Various factors are fuelling high street crime rates, including inflation, joblessness, and the lure of easy money. People often resist parting with their hard-earned cash or valuables, with the result that they end up paying with their lives. However, addressing the underlying factors behind crime is a long-term project; the immediate need is to quell the deadly wave of killings. Here, the Sindh government has failed miserably. The PPP, which has been ruling the province since 2008, has much to answer for where law and order goes. The caretaker government can only do so much, and it is hoped that the next elected government that takes power in Sindh has solid proposals to beat crime. Otherwise, precious lives will continue to be snuffed out by trigger-happy criminals.</p>nn<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 22th, 2023</em></p>

Change in gas prices to be announced soon: energy minister

<p>Caretaker Minister for Energy Muhammad Ali on Thursday said gas prices in the country had consistently been a matter of concern, underlining that forthcoming announcements would detail the impending changes in the price of the commodity.</p>n<p>The minister made these remarks during a visit to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). Caretaker Federal Minister for Commerce, Industries, and Production, Gohar Ejaz, was also attended the event.</p>n<p>The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had in June this year <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757641">asked</a> the government to increase gas tariff by 45 per cent to 50pc for all consumer groups across the country to meet revenue requirement of two gas utilities — Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) — during fiscal year 2023-24.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1777063"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The government is yet to take a formal decision on the matter.</p>n<p>During a visit to the LCCI today, Ali addressed the issue of gas prices, emphasising regional disparities “The price of gas varies between regions, with the North having higher prices than the South,” he said.</p>n<p>He also highlighted the challenge of insufficient long-term LNG contracts and ongoing efforts to combat electricity theft.</p>n<p>During the meeting, he conveyed that measures were being taken to reduce the disparity in energy prices, but cautioned that “reducing energy prices overnight was not possible” due to the country’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund programme.</p>n<p>“We are under the IMF programme and all steps have to be taken carefully in this regard.”</p>n<p>Speaking at the meeting, Commerce Minister Ejaz underscored the ongoing efforts to address issues related to Afghan Transit Trade (ATT), stating, “Only essential goods will be allowed under ATT to curb dollar flight and smuggling.”</p>n<p>He drew attention to the substantial impact of the Afghan transit trade on the surge in the dollar rate, which had risen from Rs160 to over Rs300 in the past months.</p>n<p>The minister also highlighted the vulnerability of industry inputs, raw materials, and energy prices to international market fluctuations, which posed challenges to exports due to currency devaluation.</p>n<p>However, he noted that recent measures to stabilise the exchange rate had yielded positive outcomes.</p>n<p>Furthermore, he pointed out that the devaluation of the local currency had hindered export growth and underlined how disparities in gas supply and prices had impeded development efforts across the country.</p>n<p>Ejaz stressed the importance of unity and collaboration, saying “traders are the country’s assets, and everyone needs to work together for the country’s strength and prosperity.”</p>n<p>It is pertinent to mention here that the caretaker government had on Sep 16 pushed through another hike in the prices of petrol by Rs26.02 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs17.34 per litre.</p>n<p>The increase brought the price of petrol to Rs331.38 per litre while HSD is Rs329.18 per litre. The increase sparked widespread criticism across the country, with sporadic <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776753">protests</a> erupting in various cities due to the substantial price surge amidst already soaring inflation.</p>

September 21, 2023

What next?

<p>A CRACK of the whip was all that was needed. The dollar, which had lately been racing to a new high each day, has now reversed course thanks to an <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775014">army-sanctioned operation</a> against hoarders and black marketeers.</p>n<p>Local media <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776858">reports</a> that confidence in the rupee has strengthened and that now there are more sellers than buyers in the market.</p>n<p>Meanwhile, social media has been flush with <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://twitter.com/FIA_Agency/status/1702716051845521564">accounts</a> of unscrupulous elements being <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://twitter.com/FIA_Agency/status/1703999473377239188">arrested</a> with breathtaking <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://twitter.com/FIA_Agency/status/1703999106560176390">stashes</a> of foreign currencies, which have subsequently been confiscated by the state.</p>n<p>It remains difficult to sift truth from fiction, however: after all, the state has not shared how this crackdown was planned and executed, who was targeted, and precisely what role the suspects arrested so far played in manipulating the exchange rate.</p>n<p>While the sharp improvement in exchange rates cannot be denied, the citizenry also deserves to know how and why the market was rigged in the first place.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1769661"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>One wonders that if administrative measures were all that were needed to arrest the rupee’s sorry slide, why were they not taken sooner? Why did the finance minister in the PDM government not consider this option as he struggled and failed for months to keep the exchange rate in check?</p>n<p>After all, the cost to the country of rounding up a few dozen big fish involved in the currency market racket would have been far lower compared to the lasting cost of creating distortions in the economy by placing artificial and unsustainable controls on the exchange rate.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1728433"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The same question can also be extended to ask why the civil administration was never utilised during the PDM era to control market manipulation in other segments of the economy either. Why were the country’s regulatory authorities not mobilised to safeguard the interests of common citizens pleading for support under record inflation?</p>n<p>It seems that when economic historians sit down to reflect on the PDM era, they will find themselves hard-pressed to say anything charitable about the competence of the people at the helm during one of the country’s worst crisis periods.</p>n<p>That is not to say that the current lot offers much hope. The country is presently managed by a caretaker set-up, but its ministers’ promises seem to betray a wider mandate. Yet they seem to be in very little hurry to take the ‘difficult decisions’ that are supposed to justify them overstaying their welcome.</p>n<p>Successful though it may be, a crackdown against currency dealers can only create limited breathing space. The situation demands that an empowered government, elected by the people, take over post-haste so that responsible decisions can be taken to protect the public’s interests.</p>n<p>Alas, this more permanent solution seems to be unacceptable to the wise souls managing Pakistan’s affairs these days.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2023</em></p>

UAE bans meat imports from Pakistan via sea

<p>LAHORE: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned the import of frozen meat from Pakistan through sea route after allegedly finding fungus in a consignment of meat.</p>nn<p>The meat consignment had been sent by a Karachi-based company by sea and the whole shipment was destroyed by the UAE authorities, while a ban was imposed on all further imports of frozen meat from Pakistan through maritime channels at least up till Oct 10.</p>nn<p>However, meat exports by air will continue without any break.</p>nn<p>Pakistan exports meat worth around $144 million per year to the UAE.</p>nn<p>Naseeb Ahmad Saifi, a meat exporter, explains that it is not a ban rather the UAE authorities have put an embargo until Pakistani frozen meat exporters start following the protocol prescribed by the destination country for future shipments.</p>nn<p>Under the protocol, the exporters are required to vacuum-pack their products before shipping them in a refrigerated container by sea, he says. The company in whose consignment fungus was allegedly detected had shipped the meat by wrapping it in cloth, he said, regretting that negligence while sending the export consignment has brought a bad name to the country. He confirmed that the ‘embargo’ on meat exports is only on the sea route, while the exports by air will continue without any interruption.</p>nn<p>The country produces around 4.9 million tonnes of meat and of it exports only 95,991 tonnes or around 2pc of the total production. Gulf Cooperation Council states and some Far East countries are its major markets, while meat exports to China, Egypt and Indonesia have also started a few months ago.</p>nn<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2023</em></p>

Shehbaz rushes back to London within 48 hours

<p>• Ex-PM had only returned on Tuesday; ‘N’ leader says issues ‘that can’t be discussed over the phone’ on the table<br />n• Maryam holds meeting with uncle, will also arrive in UK today by separate flight for pre-planned visit</p>n<p>LONDON / LAHORE: Merely 48 hours after he returned to the country from the UK, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif is heading back to London today (Thursday), a development that has raised many eyebrows.</p>n<p>The former prime minister left London earlier in the week after <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771284">spending several weeks</a> here, but upon reaching Lahore, made a sudden plan to return in order to have a face-to-face meeting with his elder brother, party supremo Nawaz Sharif.</p>n<p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/Marriyum_A/status/1704546915164057860"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>His visit will coincide with the London trip of party vice-president Maryam Nawaz, who is expected to land in London just before her uncle arrives, on a separate flight.</p>n<p>Party insiders said on Wednesday that the two leaders would hold an “important huddle” with Nawaz Sharif regarding his planned return to Pakistan.</p>n<p>Sources told <em>Dawn</em> the former PM is returning to discuss important matters with his elder brother, adding that there are “important discussions regarding the return of Nawaz” that must take place in person.</p>n<p>A party insider said the discussions are going to be about the prevailing political situation, as well as the party’s plan for the upcoming general election.</p>n<p>“Obviously it is something urgent that cannot be discussed over the phone,” the party leader said, on condition of anonymity.</p>n<p>Another party insider told <em>Dawn</em> that Shehbaz Sharif had also held a one-on-one meeting with Maryam Nawaz in Lahore on Wednesday, where matters related to the elder Sharif’s return were discussed.</p>n<p>They also discussed the situation arising out of the reopening of accountability cases against him and other members of the Sharif family in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the NAB amendments, and legal implications they could face in its aftermath.</p>n<p>Sources say the question of who would be the party’s pick for the PM’s slot in the next government was also on the table.</p>n<p>Unlike Shehbaz Sharif’s rushed return, Maryam Nawaz’s trip to the United Kingdom holds no surprises, as the party had already announced she was headed there to sort out her daughter’s admission, and see her father.</p>n<p>A party insider said Maryam’s trip was scheduled long ago and was for family reasons, adding that it will be a short trip as Nawaz wants her to return to Pakistan and make preparations ahead of his planned arrival on October 21.</p>n<p>The former premier’s return to London comes as a surprise to many, even within the party. The party chief had already spent nearly a month in London for his medical check-ups, as well as holding discussions with his elder brother.</p>n<p>It was Shahbaz who, flanked by Nawaz, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775482">told reporters</a> outside Stanhope House that the elder Sharif is set to return to Pakistan on October 21. The brothers held several discussions with each other during his last trip, with other party members also dropping in. In recent weeks, Mohammad Zubair, Abid Sher Ali and Khawaja Asif have all met Nawaz in London, and conveyed their messages surrounding the plan for Nawaz’s return.</p>n<p>Sources said that in order for his return to go smoothly, the elder Sharif needed to secure protective bail in the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1510190">Chaudhry Sugar Mills</a> case.</p>n<p>However, he would have to surrender before the court in the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1452815">Al-Azizia case</a>, in which he was convicted for seven years and was serving his sentence at Kot Lakhpat Jail before he was allowed to leave the country on ‘medical grounds’ in 2019.</p>n<p>“Will NAB oppose Nawaz’s protective bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case… this remains to be seen when the party chief applies for it ahead of his planned return,” the insider said, adding that the Sharifs were looking for ‘certain guarantees’ to be in place before Nawaz’s arrival.</p>n<p>Under the reopened cases, Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif will mainly have to contend with cases regarding the allotment of plots and the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1659203">Ramzan Sugar Mills</a>, respectively.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2023</em></p>

&amp;lsquo;A sick organisation&amp;rsquo;: Khawaja Asif suggests PIA be shut down, replaced by new airline

<p>PML-N leader Khawaja Asif has termed the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which is facing financial difficulties, a “sick organisation” and suggested that the national carrier should be shut down.</p>n<p>“It should have been privatised 30 to 35 years ago. It’s a sick organisation that is haemorrhaging,” he said while speaking to <em>DawnNewsTV</em>, adding that it was “criminal” to even say that the flag carrier should not be sold to private parties.</p>n<p>“It owes around Rs700 billion in loans on which Rs86bn are paid annually in interest,” the ex-defence minister highlighted, adding that the airline should be shut down.</p>n<p>“Its operations should be closed, and it should be replaced by a new airline. As for its employees, they should be given golden handshakes,” he said.</p>n<p>Asif added that any new airlines replacing the PIA should not be operated by the government but the private sector.</p>n<p>On September 6, the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) had decided to form a technical committee for the resolution of bottlenecks in the way of privatisation and restructuring of the PIA, and had asked the aviation division to work with the privatisation commission to present a detailed action plan to the CCoP with clear timeline framework in a sequence.</p>n<p>Around a week later, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775966">tasked</a> newly appointed Privatisation Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad with expediting the PIA’s privatisation of process.</p>n<p>And as recently as yesterday, the Privatisation Commission <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776844">agreed</a> on a clear timeline for the PIA’s privatisation. However, no details of the proposed timeline have been shared by the commission yet.</p>n<p>These developments came against the backdrop of the PIA’s increasing financial woes.</p>n<p>In August, a <em>Dawn</em> <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771459">report</a>, citing sources, said the PIA had reportedly resorted to ground several aircraft as it struggled to secure funds to maintain its operations for the next few months. Some <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.geo.tv/latest/509664-pia-on-verge-of-collapse-as-funds-shortage-risks-flights-suspension">media reports</a> also claimed that the operations would be ceased by Sept 15, evoking a strong response from the airline’s management and lawmakers in the Senate.</p>n<p>The Ministry of Aviation, while seeking a cash injection of Rs23 billion, had also informed the government that Boeing and Airbus — two of the leading commercial jet manufacturers — were on the verge of discontinuing spare parts’ supply by mid-September, according to reports.</p>n<p>Last week, PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776100/no-threat-of-imminent-closure-pia-spokesperson">refuted</a> reports of the flag carrier’s closure as baseless and said the flight operation was continuing. He added that the airline was also disbursing most urgent domestic and international payments.</p>n<p>Later, the airline <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776394">said</a> it had managed to get Rs17bn loan, after which salaries of employees had been paid and the flight operation was running smoothly.</p>n<p>It stated that PIA was releasing funds and fulfilling its national and international obligations and payments would be made to fuel companies. Spare parts of the aircraft for immediate repair would also be purchased.</p>n<h2><a id="pias-woes" href="#pias-woes" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>PIA’s woes</h2>n<p>Regrettably, PIA serves only a fraction of the country’s population, accounting for less than 3pc of citizens using air travel while consuming significant public funds. This stands in stark contrast to the highly criticised and loss-making power companies that cater to nearly 80pc of the population with electricity.</p>n<p>The government of Pakistan holds a 92pc share in PIA, which was once known for its slogan “Great People to Fly With”. However, since the late 1990s, the airline has faced mounting losses, attributed to competition from emerging regional airlines, a lack of entrepreneurship, external influences, internal mismanagement, and insufficient funding for fleet expansion, as highlighted by the Aviation Division.</p>n<p>To cope with its financial losses, PIA accumulated significant debt, which has now reached unmanageable levels. As of Dec 31, 2022, PIA’s debt and liabilities stood at Rs743bn — five times more than the total value of its assets, the Aviation Ministry said, adding that its total losses for the last financial year (2022-23) stood at Rs86.5bn, out of which Rs11bn were operational losses.</p>n<p>“If the situation continues as such, PIA’s debt and liabilities will rise to Rs1,977bn and its annual losses will rise to Rs259bn per annum by 2030,” it put on record, warning that Rs383bn of the current debt liability of PIA stood underwritten by the government of Pakistan and being 92pc owner, the responsibility for the remaining payables also ultimately rested with it.</p>n<p>Several attempts were made in the last decade or so to make PIA sustainable. These attempts followed two basic approaches. The first approach mainly focused on turning the PIA around by cutting down cost, improving internal management and increasing fleet size with capital investment from the government. However, several attempts of this nature failed to make any headway.</p>n<p>The second approach focused on financial, legal, operational, commercial and human resources restructuring of PIA to clean its balance sheet, aiming to attract private investment through divesting government shares. This approach was identified first in the Dubai Islamic Bank Consortium Report of 2017 that was engaged by the Privatisation Commission and later in Dr Ishrat Hussain Report on PIA Restructuring Plan in 2020.</p>n<p>PIA also carried out a study to formulate a sound business plan to make it profitable by engaging IATA, which also recommended a similar approach while indicating a capital injection of $3.5bn over a period of five years to enhance fleet size from 29 aircraft in 2021 to 49 in 2026. However, none of these reports could be implemented for various reasons.</p>n<p>In view of the continued deterioration of the financial condition of PIA, in June 2023, it was decided to restructure PIA broadly on the lines recommended by the Dubai Islamic Bank Consortium Report. To steer this process, a committee under the then finance minister was constituted to steer and guide the restructuring effort.</p>n<p>Under the directives of this committee, the PIA’s board of directors approved a plan on July 25 this year to restructure PIA in light of the aforesaid report by incorporating a new holding company to retain legacy loans, non-aviation assets and existing PIACL subsidiaries (PIA-IL, Skyrooms Limited, and Saber Travel Network), with PIACL as its wholly owned subsidiary retaining aviation assets and relating liabilities.</p>n<p> <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1762313"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Another major hurdle in that direction has also been removed since then. The previous provisions of PIACL Act, 2016 did not allow the transfer of management control and more than 49pc shares of PIACL to a private entity and hence were not conducive for attracting private investment. However, an amendment act was promulgated on Aug 12 and these restrictions have now been removed and PIACL was included in the privatisation list of the Privatisation Commission with the approval of the cabinet on Aug 7.</p>n<p>The restructuring plan is yet to be approved by the government. The Aviation Division last week asked the government to inject Rs23bn funds to cover the markup payment, suspend Rs1.3bn and Rs700m to the FBR and the Civil Aviation Authority, respectively, and defer loans and markup till restructuring is complete in about eight months.</p>n<p>This did not impress Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar at the back-to-back meetings of the ECC and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation.</p>n<p>The two committees then decided to form a separate panel to assess PIA’s restructuring plan and directed the finance ministry and the State Bank of Pakistan to support the airline to tackle its financial challenges after a concrete plan of restructuring had been finalised.</p>

Ahmadi worship place vandalised in Karachi for second time in 9 months

<p>A group of people vandalised an Ahmadi place of worship in Karachi’s Martin Road area for a second time in a span of nine months, police and spokesperson for the community said on Thursday.</p>n<p>Jamshed Quarters Superintendent of Police (SP) Farhat Kamal told <em>Dawn.com</em> that around 20 to 25 persons broke into the building and damaged minarets and window before fleeing the scene.</p>n<p>According to the official, the police rushed to the spot and obtained information from the watchman about the incident.</p>n<p>SP Kamal added that the police were trying to obtain CCTV footage to ascertain identity of the suspects. “But there was no power in the locality at the time of the incident,” he regretted.</p>n<p>Meanwhile, Amir Mehmood, a spokesman for the Jamaat Ahmadiyya in Pakistan, said the same worship place was also attacked in January 2023. A first information report was registered but no arrests were made.</p>n<p>Providing details of today’s attack, he said the incident took place around noon when a group of eight to 10 “extremists” entered the premises of the worship place using a ladder.</p>n<p>“The attack has resulted in massive damage to the belongings of Ahmadis inside the worship place, including windows, glass doors, wooden door, cameras, LED, tables, chairs etc.</p>n<p>“They also damaged and humiliated pictures of the founder of the Ahmadiyya community and its head,” he told <em>Dawn.com</em>. “The remaining two minarets at the worship place were also demolished.”</p>n<p>Mehmood added that the police was immediately informed about the attack but they arrived after the suspects managed to escape. “Efforts are underway to register a first information report of the crime.”</p>n<p>Today’s attack, the spokesperson added, was the fifth such attack on a Ahmadi worship place in the span of nine months. He highlighted that such incidents could be prevented if stern action was taken against the attackers.</p>n<p>Earlier this month, the Karachi police <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1774097">booked and arrested</a> three persons for vandalising a place of worship of the Ahmadi community in Saddar.</p>n<p>A case was registered against the suspects at the Preedy police station under Sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 382 (Theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to the committing of the theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.</p>n<p>Around Eidul-Azha, several <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1762197">complaints</a> and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1762570">cases</a> were filed with police in Punjab to restrain the Ahmadi community from sacrificing animals and seeking action against them for performing the ritual.</p>

Cartoon: 19 September, 2023

September 19, 2023

The Isa epoch

<p>IN a ceremony marked by constitutional gravitas as well as what some might term rightful vindication, Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776510/symbolism-marks-justice-isas-swearing-in-as-cjp">assumed</a> the mantle of the chief justice of Pakistan on Sunday, heralding what the nation hopes will be a period of judicial prudence and wisdom.</p>n<p>The optics of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378/justice-qazi-faez-isa-sworn-in-as-29th-chief-justice-of-pakistan">event</a> were rich with irony, with the president, who had previously filed a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1701952">reference</a> against the Supreme Court judge over alleged misconduct and non-disclosure of assets, himself administering the oath.</p>n<p>With the new chief justice’s spouse standing by his side, it was a symbolic moment that sent “a clear message of steadfastness”, as put by one participant.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_SqfkGdZYw?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The new chief justice jumped right into action and constituted a full court to preside over his inaugural hearing as chief justice, one that aims to resolve <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">nine challenges</a> to a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">law</a> that, among other things, requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior Supreme Court judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776069"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In a first for the country, he also ordered the proceedings to be <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776540/in-a-first-sc-live-streams-hearing-on-law-limiting-cjps-powers">broadcast live</a> to the public. The constitution of a full court — a rarity in the court of the previous Supreme Court chief justice — and the live telecast of the hearing, can be viewed as a promising start, a sign that Chief Justice Isa is keen to chart a path firmly rooted in jurisprudential integrity rather than the shifting sands of populism that marred his predecessor’s tenure.</p>n<p>Former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial was at one point lambasted by fellow members of the judiciary for having begun to run a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744823">“one-man” show</a>, and so his time in office saw more controversy than judicious stewardship of the nation’s highest legal office.</p>n<p>Justice Isa takes charge at a time when the judiciary faces a myriad of challenges, from more than 50,000 cases pending before the apex court out of some 2.2m to be decided overall, to the critical task of restoring the public’s confidence in the justice system.</p>n<p>Moreover, there is the ever-looming test of safeguarding the judiciary’s independence in the face of executive incursions.</p>n<p>Some of the more pressing concerns, however, include the delay in general elections, the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767708">trial of civilians</a> in military court, and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757046">pending references</a> against the chief justice’s colleague Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776547"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>It is precisely these challenges that lend the new chief justice the opportunity to carve out a legacy of robust judicial leadership, guided by a moral compass that remains unswayed by the tempestuous winds of political expedience.</p>n<p>As he embarks on this pivotal journey, we hold out measured, but optimistic hope that under his leadership, the top court will not only adjudicate, but guide the nation towards a path paved with justice, equality and the rule of law.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

IMF pressure spurs prompt actions in gas sector

<p>ISLAMABAD: Amid the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) persistence for retrospective <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775220">gas price adjustments</a> to curb runaway circular debt, the caretaker government has to take a series of immediate steps.</p>n<p>These steps include increasing cash payments to urban recipients of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), allocating funds for winter gas in Balochistan, and making cash and non-cash book adjustments to settle inter-corporate payables and receivables among energy entities.</p>n<p>In addition, the government will need to initiate long-term structural changes, like the separation of transmission network from the two existing Sui gas companies, moving towards weighted average cost of local gas and imported LNG and enhanced production of oil and gas molecules.</p>n<p>Informed sources told <em>Dawn</em> that Oil &amp; Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the ministries of finance and energy along with representatives from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) remained engaged on pricing mechanism and restructuring of payables and receivables of the energy sector entities and would continue consultations on Tuesday as well.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>Rs10bn subsidy planned to protect the poor in Balochistan; more cash proposed for urban BISP recipients</p>n</blockquote>n<p>At the centre of the challenge is how to insulate poor households in urban centres from the gas price shock. Urban households are accustomed to cheaper gas prices compared to their rural counterparts, who pay a heavy price for LPG and other expensive alternative fuels.</p>n<p>In Balochistan, where gas supply is crucial for the survival of tens of thousands during freezing winters, this becomes even more critical. This must be done at the cost of unaccounted-for gas (UFG) losses of SSGCL, which fluctuate between 14pc and 18pc.</p>n<p>About Rs10bn in subsidy is being envisaged to protect the poor in Balochistan, while an increase in cash payments under BISP is being worked out to allow poor domestic consumers in the cities to absorb the additional burden of the gas price increase determined by Ogra at 45-50pc for the current fiscal year.</p>n<p>“We have to take care of the low-income consumers through safety nets, for instance in Balochistan, where low-income consumers are comparatively vulnerable because of the severe drop in temperature and annual cold wave during the winter season,” said a senior government official, adding that a special tariff for Balochistan’s low-income consumers was being worked out at a cost of Rs10bn this year and estimated to increase in the future.</p>n<p>The official noted that residents in remote areas are forced to use expensive gas cylinders, while those in urban centres with piped gas connections enjoy much lower prices.</p>n<p>Interim Minister for Power and Petroleum Muhammad Ali has reported gas sector’s circular debt at Rs2.9 trillion on September 15, up from Rs2.7tr a week earlier. His predecessor had reported Rs1.7tr on his last day in office on Aug 9.</p>n<p>While the numbers remain fluid, circular debt’s substantial chunk could be settled through book adjustments against each other’s payables and receivables and dividend payments against the government shareholding. But the major hole has to be bridged through price adjustment before Sept 30 and with effect from July 1 so that part of the burden is billed to the consumers before heaving consumptions of winter.</p>n<p>Due to pressure from the upcoming IMF review at the end of September, stakeholders will convene again on Tuesday to finalise a summary for the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) regarding gas price adjustments and subsequent ratification by the federal cabinet and formal notification.</p>n<p>Gas prices will increase for all consumers, including both protected and unprotected consumers, with varying percentage increases. The heaviest burden will fall on high-consumption consumers.</p>n<p>The source said the IMF had linked its go-ahead to the government’s relief to unprotected electricity consumers using 200 units a month to pay their inflated bills in three-month instalments.</p>n<p>The Ogra on June 2, 2023, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757641">announced</a> a 50pc increase (Rs415.11 per MMBTU) for consumers of SNGPL, pushing the subscribed gas price to Rs1,238.68 per MMBTU. The regulator raised the gas price by 45pc (417.23 per MMBTU) for consumers of SSGCL for 2023-24.</p>n<p>The SNGPL still carries the previous year’s accumulative shortfall of Rs560.378bn up to FY23, while the SSGCL has a shortfall of Rs97.4bn and this is how the existing shortfall of both the gas companies stands at Rs657.766bn.</p>n<p>The official also went on to say that the government is working on seven areas including the area to optimise gas production from deleting gas fields and those wells that are closed down through using the technologies.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

FM, not interim PM, should attend UN summit: Bilawal

<p>OKARA: Criticising PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s participation in the upcoming UN session, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday said that the foreign minister should represent Pakistan at the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776385">General Assembly</a> instead of the prime minister, as the interim government only enjoys a limited mandate.</p>n<p>Addressing a press conference here at Baloch House, the former foreign minister asked the caretaker government to confine itself to its task of running basic affairs of the country and holding fair and free elections with a level-playing field being provided to all stakeholders.</p>n<p>Mr Bhutto-Zardari said the ECP should announce the schedule for general elections without any further delay, so that there is an elected government in place to deal with these matters.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘><span>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/PPP_Org/status/1703715969183686951"></a>n </blockquote>n</span></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The PPP leader visited Baloch House to offer condolences over the murder of the younger brother of PPP central Punjab’s deputy secretary, Meer Asif Khan Baloch.</p>n<p>Responding to a question, he said PPP would decide whether it wanted to enter into an electoral alliance once the poll schedule was announced.</p>n<p>He said that during the party’s recent CEC meeting, it was demanded that the ECP should immediately announce the poll schedule.</p>n<p>He said the country was facing many challenges, including law and order, terrorism and political crisis, adding that some quarters wrongly believed the political crisis had been resolved after putting Imran Khan behind bars.</p>n<p>Talking about the new top judge, he said Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had delivered a silent and strong message by ensuring his spouse’s presence beside him during his oath-taking.</p>n<p>“The saying goes that behind every successful man is a powerful woman. It has been proved by Sarina Isa that she is a powerful woman,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari was quoted as saying in a press release issued by Bilawal House. He urged CJP Isa to restore judiciary’s credibility.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFvpNpGI0Ko?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>He said subsidy should be provided to the poor instead of the elite or fertiliser factories.</p>n<p>He said PPP had prepared a project under which two million people would get apna makan in Sindh, adding, “We would also start a Youth Cards scheme like the Benazir Income Support Programme.</p>n<p>The PPP leader said the way the <em>jiyalas</em> of Okara had received the party’s long march made it clear why Benazir Bhutto considered it ‘mini-Larkana’, said the press release.</p>n<p><em>Tariq Saeed in Toba Tek Singh also contributed to this report</em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

The Isa epoch

<p>IN a ceremony marked by constitutional gravitas as well as what some might term rightful vindication, Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776510/symbolism-marks-justice-isas-swearing-in-as-cjp">assumed</a> the mantle of the chief justice of Pakistan on Sunday, heralding what the nation hopes will be a period of judicial prudence and wisdom.</p>n<p>The optics of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378/justice-qazi-faez-isa-sworn-in-as-29th-chief-justice-of-pakistan">event</a> were rich with irony, with the president, who had previously filed a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1701952">reference</a> against the Supreme Court judge over alleged misconduct and non-disclosure of assets, himself administering the oath.</p>n<p>With the new chief justice’s spouse standing by his side, it was a symbolic moment that sent “a clear message of steadfastness”, as put by one participant.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_SqfkGdZYw?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The new chief justice jumped right into action and constituted a full court to preside over his inaugural hearing as chief justice, one that aims to resolve <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">nine challenges</a> to a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">law</a> that, among other things, requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior Supreme Court judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776069"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In a first for the country, he also ordered the proceedings to be <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776540/in-a-first-sc-live-streams-hearing-on-law-limiting-cjps-powers">broadcast live</a> to the public. The constitution of a full court — a rarity in the court of the previous Supreme Court chief justice — and the live telecast of the hearing, can be viewed as a promising start, a sign that Chief Justice Isa is keen to chart a path firmly rooted in jurisprudential integrity rather than the shifting sands of populism that marred his predecessor’s tenure.</p>n<p>Former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial was at one point lambasted by fellow members of the judiciary for having begun to run a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744823">“one-man” show</a>, and so his time in office saw more controversy than judicious stewardship of the nation’s highest legal office.</p>n<p>Justice Isa takes charge at a time when the judiciary faces a myriad of challenges, from more than 50,000 cases pending before the apex court out of some 2.2m to be decided overall, to the critical task of restoring the public’s confidence in the justice system.</p>n<p>Moreover, there is the ever-looming test of safeguarding the judiciary’s independence in the face of executive incursions.</p>n<p>Some of the more pressing concerns, however, include the delay in general elections, the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767708">trial of civilians</a> in military court, and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757046">pending references</a> against the chief justice’s colleague Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776547"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>It is precisely these challenges that lend the new chief justice the opportunity to carve out a legacy of robust judicial leadership, guided by a moral compass that remains unswayed by the tempestuous winds of political expedience.</p>n<p>As he embarks on this pivotal journey, we hold out measured, but optimistic hope that under his leadership, the top court will not only adjudicate, but guide the nation towards a path paved with justice, equality and the rule of law.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

The fear of India-Pakistan bonding

<p>THERE’S no gainsaying that vested interests within and without do not want India and Pakistan to have friendly relations. In the early days, conjured falsehoods placated a vile nationalist streak in Pakistan, with an evenly distributed belief among a section of the elite and the masses that Hindus were a weak and cowardly lot, no match for muscular and valorous Muslims.</p>n<p>In the absence of the push-button media we have today, there were fortunately fewer avenues to express this absurd and ignorant formulation, which mostly circulated by word of mouth. Any mention of a federated South Asia was shouted down as a leftist plot. The lacuna was spurred partly by ignorance of Mughal history that average Pakistani students were tutored to be inheritors of. The fact that without the Hindu Rajput warriors forming its iron frame, the Mughal Empire could not be imagined was airbrushed from history books. That without the fearsome guerrilla warfare of the Marathas, Jats and Sikhs, it would be inconceivable to think of the great empire collapsing with the death of Aurangzeb remains a mostly unshared fact.</p>n<p>The boot is on the other foot today, exacerbated by the rise of a mindlessly self-regarding Indian middle class. While the advent of TV, pirated copies of movies and other forms of connectivity helped in disabusing Pakistanis of their long-held prejudices about Indians, the same contraptions and gadgets have become a means to vent ill-founded prejudice against Pakistan, which is then stirred and spiced up with vicious invectives against Indian Muslims.</p>n<p>Prime Minister Modi is, of course, singularly responsible for honing this narrow-mindedness into a full-blown political faith that sponsors marauding Hindutva mobs to run amok against everyone and everything that challenges the right-wing trope. Fahmida Riaz anticipated the blinkered India in a poem she recited at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2002. “Tum bilkul hum jaise nikle, ab tak kahaan chhupe thay bhai?” described Hindu middle classes as imitating the worst in Pakistani Muslims.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>Persistently, despite the odds, there have been partisans of peace and goodwill on each side of the border.</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Calls to boycott Pakistan and in particular its cricketers have intensified as Mr Modi prepares to face the voters in May. A grudging World Cup match between India and Pakistan has been assigned to Ahmedabad, a city that Hindutva politics has turned into the BJP’s ideological factory. That the rest of India doesn’t quite share the enthusiasm for the BJP’s anti-Pakistan rhetoric was evident in Chennai, for example, when the stadium gave a standing ovation to Pakistani players after their narrow victory over India. On the other hand, the other day at a cricket stadium in Colombo, the camera panned on to a young Pakistani girl who gushed about her journey to Sri Lanka to watch India’s Virat Kohli in action. Implicit in the applause for the Indian player was a regret that she could not watch him in India or Pakistan because of India’s narrow politics.</p>n<p>On a different canvas, persistently, despite the odds, there have been partisans of peace and goodwill on each side of the border. Among them Mani Shankar Aiyar stands out for his outspokenness, wearing as he did different hats as diplomat, politician and author. His recently released first tranche of a two-part memoirs is suffused with heartening reminiscences from his days as India’s consul general in Karachi starting with his arrival there in 1978.</p>n<p>This was followed by countless trips to what he told Karan Thapar in an interview was his second most favourite country. A few pointers would help track Aiyar’s maverick but distinctly democratic politics. He says he hated Indira Gandhi’s Emergency even as he quietly supported someone calling her successor, Morarji Desai, by an unpublishable name. An ardent critic of Hindutva, Aiyar gives credit to its leaders where it is due.</p>n<p>When Desai took charge as the Janata Party’s short-lived prime minister in 1977, he appointed Atal Bihari Vajpayee foreign minister. “I was deeply disappointed,” says Aiyar, “for I thought Vajpayee, as an RSS man, would base his Pakistan policy on the deep-running anti-Muslim prejudices of the saffron brotherhood to which he belonged. Instead, to my delight, he promoted a most constructive approach to Pakistan.” Aiyar’s praise for Vajpayee’s Pakistan policy comes with a somersault of sorts, however, as he backs Desai’s refusal to plead with Ziaul Haq to spare Z.A. Bhutto’s life.</p>n<p>Determined to restore the flow of Pakistani visitors to India Aiyar immediately set about increasing the capacity to process the teeming requests. The move fetched him an uncanny spotlight on a momentous day for Pakistan for quite another reason.</p>n<p>When, in early February 1979 the Supreme Court finally confirmed Bhutto’s death sentence, it was, of course, the lead story in all newspapers. “And, in the widely circulated Sun newspaper then, the second lead on the right-hand front-page boomed, ‘Visa Office to open shortly: Aiyar’”.</p>n<p>People were desperate to visit their relatives, and some came with spurious telegrams to expedite the Indian visa. One applicant was wailing that he must be given a visa immediately to visit India to see his ailing mother. Aiyar found the telegram mentioned his father, not his mother. The man grabbed the telegram and swore barely audibly, “That bas***d Hindu!” The reference was to a Hindu tout who charged Rs50 to forge telegrams.</p>n<p>On another occasion at L.K. Advani’s pleading, a Hindu sadhu was permitted by the Pakistan authorities to return to Sadhu Bela, near Sukkur, to provide spiritual succour to Hindus there. A problem arose when Muslim murids (devotees) of the Hindu saint insisted on meeting the visiting priest to secure his blessings. “Would I please give him permission to let them do so? I could barely believe that this was going to be my first task as consul general. Somewhat grandiloquently, I granted the permission. It was my first — and lasting — lesson in how gaping was (and is) the abyss between the stereotype of Pakistan and Pakistanis that most Indians carry in their heads, and the ground reality.”</p>n<p><em>The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.</em></p>n<p><strong><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="http://mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></strong></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

Defence ministry denies any role in audio leak affair

<p>ISLAMABAD: The defence ministry has denied any involvement in the recording and leaking of telephone conversations between government officials and other prominent personalities.</p>n<p>The ministry made this statement on Monday in its response submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which was hearing <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775580">petitions</a> filed by former first lady Bushra Bibi and Najam Saqib, the son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.</p>n<p>The two were allegedly featured in purported telephonic conversations, recordings of which were <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1750099">leaked</a> on social media.</p>n<p>The interior ministry and Pakistan Telecommunication Aut­ho­rity also submitted their replies before the IHC.</p>n<p>Justice Babar Sattar, who was hearing the case, remarked that the replies show the government has no means to record telephonic conversations.</p>n<p>He sought a detailed report from the government and warned the court could implead Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelli­gence, Intelligence Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency as respondents in the case.</p>n<p>The reply by the government submitted in the court was termed unsatisfactory by the judge.</p>n<p>Bushra Bibi’s counsel told the court that FIA had summoned the former first lady multiple times for her voice-matching test after which she filed the appeal seeking a restraining order.</p>n<p>Justice Sattar observed he could not stop an ongoing inquiry and suggested to the counsel he could file a petition against any violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioner.</p>n<p>During the previous hearing on Tuesday, the court clubbed separate petitions filed by Mr Saqib and Ms Bushra.</p>n<p>The wife of former PM Imran Khan had petitioned seeking a restraining order against the FIA’s ongoing probe into her purported leaked audio with PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari regarding the sale of Toshakhana gifts.</p>n<p>In his petition, Mr Saqib had challenged the parliamentary proceedings against him over the alleged audio where he purportedly sought a bribe from a candidate for PTI’s ticket for the Punjab Assembly elections.</p>n<p>Ms Bushra had also criticised the media for broadcasting the leaked conversation and claimed that it tarnished her reputation.</p>n<p>Her petition stated, “the alleged audio leaks and ulteriorly motivated discussions on the electronic and print media were orchestrated and manoeuvred in order to impair the dignity, integrity and reputation of the petitioner and her husband, the then prime minister of Pakistan.”</p>n<p>The audio was being aired in connivance with the electronic media and law enforcement agencies, which is a violation of Article 4 of the Constitution, she stated in the petition.</p>n<p>The petition cited a judgement of the Supreme Court that stated that the “federal government or any other state agency has no authority or jurisdiction to record private conversations between citizens and undertake their surveillance.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

The Isa epoch

<p>IN a ceremony marked by constitutional gravitas as well as what some might term rightful vindication, Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776510/symbolism-marks-justice-isas-swearing-in-as-cjp">assumed</a> the mantle of the chief justice of Pakistan on Sunday, heralding what the nation hopes will be a period of judicial prudence and wisdom.</p>n<p>The optics of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378/justice-qazi-faez-isa-sworn-in-as-29th-chief-justice-of-pakistan">event</a> were rich with irony, with the president, who had previously filed a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1701952">reference</a> against the Supreme Court judge over alleged misconduct and non-disclosure of assets, himself administering the oath.</p>n<p>With the new chief justice’s spouse standing by his side, it was a symbolic moment that sent “a clear message of steadfastness”, as put by one participant.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_SqfkGdZYw?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The new chief justice jumped right into action and constituted a full court to preside over his inaugural hearing as chief justice, one that aims to resolve <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">nine challenges</a> to a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">law</a> that, among other things, requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior Supreme Court judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776069"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In a first for the country, he also ordered the proceedings to be <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776540/in-a-first-sc-live-streams-hearing-on-law-limiting-cjps-powers">broadcast live</a> to the public. The constitution of a full court — a rarity in the court of the previous Supreme Court chief justice — and the live telecast of the hearing, can be viewed as a promising start, a sign that Chief Justice Isa is keen to chart a path firmly rooted in jurisprudential integrity rather than the shifting sands of populism that marred his predecessor’s tenure.</p>n<p>Former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial was at one point lambasted by fellow members of the judiciary for having begun to run a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744823">“one-man” show</a>, and so his time in office saw more controversy than judicious stewardship of the nation’s highest legal office.</p>n<p>Justice Isa takes charge at a time when the judiciary faces a myriad of challenges, from more than 50,000 cases pending before the apex court out of some 2.2m to be decided overall, to the critical task of restoring the public’s confidence in the justice system.</p>n<p>Moreover, there is the ever-looming test of safeguarding the judiciary’s independence in the face of executive incursions.</p>n<p>Some of the more pressing concerns, however, include the delay in general elections, the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767708">trial of civilians</a> in military court, and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757046">pending references</a> against the chief justice’s colleague Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776547"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>It is precisely these challenges that lend the new chief justice the opportunity to carve out a legacy of robust judicial leadership, guided by a moral compass that remains unswayed by the tempestuous winds of political expedience.</p>n<p>As he embarks on this pivotal journey, we hold out measured, but optimistic hope that under his leadership, the top court will not only adjudicate, but guide the nation towards a path paved with justice, equality and the rule of law.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

Three Pakistans

<p>OUR 75-year history contains three eras of about 25 years, each starting and ending in a crisis, marked by lengthy army rule, hybrid regimes and debatable progress. This torrid history came from four huge prenatal gaps, which made the new state vulnerable to multiple problems, all oddly starting with an ‘E’.</p>nn<p>Perhaps only unstable Lebanon and South Sudan globally lacked at birth both historical statehood and natural nationhood. Our freedom drive was uniquely pre-emptive, faith-based and elitist — based more on the Muslim elite’s fears about their interests under Hindu rule rather than the abuses of the masses. It thus lacked mass politics in its western half. Finally, the country largely received India’s poorest areas. So, at birth, it faced the huge task of creating a state, nation, polity and an economy under an inept coterie. Oddly, 75 years later, it faces the same four tasks and inept coterie, any progress soon reversing itself.</p>nn<p>Elitist Pakistan (1947-71): This era started with the blood-soaked Partition. The elite-headed freedom drive soon generated its first three ‘E’ issues: elitist economy, establishment sway and ethnic gripes. A fourth — enmity — emerged soon with India on Kashmir. The four ‘E’s’ mix led to the second tragic partition.</p>nn<p>Extremist Pakistan (1972-98): This era started with the 1971 trauma and ended with huge economic, political and external crises due to the nuclear tests and another army coup. The four ‘Es’ soon led to other ‘E’ issues. To deal with enmity and ethnicity, the establishment stoked extremism, this era’s lasting legacy. The economy, which earlier at least had efficiency if not equity, lacked both now to become another major ‘E’ issue. Finally, the nuclear tests and coup triggered external exclusion and isolation.</p>nn<blockquote>n <p>We face possible collapse in almost all realms.</p>n</blockquote>nn<p>Excluded Pakistan (1999-2023): This era started and ended with huge economic and political crises and external exclusion. But the two ends hide eras of progress based on deep ties with the US and China, which were weakened due to the legacies of several ‘E’s’ — elitism, establishment and extremism. Other ‘E’s rose soon. Educationally, we have the world’s second highest number of illiterate children. Globally, we have had three mega emergencies since the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 and 2022 floods, plus many smaller ones.</p>nn<p>Electorally, the establishment is again ignoring the Constitution and is seen to delay the polls. Ecologically, we are one of the states most vulnerable to climate change, which is forcing eviction and emigration. Exclusion globally is back as we shun the world socially due to extremist xenophobia, while it shuns us politically and economically, as in the case of the new meandering India-Europe corridor that the G20 chose over the straight India-Pakistan-Iran-Turkey-Europe route due to our tense ties with India and the US. To this long list of existential ‘E’ threats, one can add some ‘D’s — demography, despotism and despondency.</p>nn<p>Today, we face possible collapse in almost all realms — institutional, constitutional, judicial, political, economic, social, security, ecological and external — all deeper variants of the original pre-1947 gaps in state, nation, polity and economy that persist even after 75 years.</p>nn<p>The new post-poll regime will face the huge task of rebuilding a collapsed country — much like the post-partition 1947 and 1971 set-ups — and work for a better fourth 25-year era, which may, sadly, prove worse than the previous eras. The past two set-ups largely failed. The run-up to this one looks worse. Polls will surely be rigged and the old root causes of our pains — elitism and the establishment — remain at a time we badly need a legitimate, pro-poor and able regime. The teary activist heart yearns for it now while the cold analyst head says bluntly that it is a dream. </p>nn<p>Can society push back to at least cut the risk of doom from a grim mix of demography, ecology, emergencies, evictions, emigration, economic collapse, extremism, external exclusion, nuclear calamity, political instability and ethnic strife? The key challenge for society is to push against enmity with India as it is the one ‘E’ that can have a big domino effect on all ‘D’s and ‘E’s. It may cut external exclusion, despotism, the establishment’s sway, and its use of extremism, and election rigging, and generate money to better manage the economy, education, epidemics, emergencies, the ecology, ethnic gripes, evictions and emigration. This raises the teasing query of how better our history may have been without this enmity.</p>nn<p>The extent to which society can push the elites may decide which E-word history assigns to our next 25-year centennial era: emerging, entropic or even extinct. </p>nn<p><em>The writer is a political economist with a PhD degree from the University of California, Berkeley.</em></p>nn<p><strong><a href="http://mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br />nX (formerly Twitter): <a href="https://twitter.com/NiazMurtaza2">@NiazMurtaza2</a></strong></p>nn<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

The Isa epoch

<p>IN a ceremony marked by constitutional gravitas as well as what some might term rightful vindication, Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776510/symbolism-marks-justice-isas-swearing-in-as-cjp">assumed</a> the mantle of the chief justice of Pakistan on Sunday, heralding what the nation hopes will be a period of judicial prudence and wisdom.</p>n<p>The optics of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378/justice-qazi-faez-isa-sworn-in-as-29th-chief-justice-of-pakistan">event</a> were rich with irony, with the president, who had previously filed a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1701952">reference</a> against the Supreme Court judge over alleged misconduct and non-disclosure of assets, himself administering the oath.</p>n<p>With the new chief justice’s spouse standing by his side, it was a symbolic moment that sent “a clear message of steadfastness”, as put by one participant.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/z_SqfkGdZYw?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The new chief justice jumped right into action and constituted a full court to preside over his inaugural hearing as chief justice, one that aims to resolve <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">nine challenges</a> to a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">law</a> that, among other things, requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior Supreme Court judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776069"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In a first for the country, he also ordered the proceedings to be <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776540/in-a-first-sc-live-streams-hearing-on-law-limiting-cjps-powers">broadcast live</a> to the public. The constitution of a full court — a rarity in the court of the previous Supreme Court chief justice — and the live telecast of the hearing, can be viewed as a promising start, a sign that Chief Justice Isa is keen to chart a path firmly rooted in jurisprudential integrity rather than the shifting sands of populism that marred his predecessor’s tenure.</p>n<p>Former chief justice Umar Ata Bandial was at one point lambasted by fellow members of the judiciary for having begun to run a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744823">“one-man” show</a>, and so his time in office saw more controversy than judicious stewardship of the nation’s highest legal office.</p>n<p>Justice Isa takes charge at a time when the judiciary faces a myriad of challenges, from more than 50,000 cases pending before the apex court out of some 2.2m to be decided overall, to the critical task of restoring the public’s confidence in the justice system.</p>n<p>Moreover, there is the ever-looming test of safeguarding the judiciary’s independence in the face of executive incursions.</p>n<p>Some of the more pressing concerns, however, include the delay in general elections, the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767708">trial of civilians</a> in military court, and <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757046">pending references</a> against the chief justice’s colleague Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776547"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>It is precisely these challenges that lend the new chief justice the opportunity to carve out a legacy of robust judicial leadership, guided by a moral compass that remains unswayed by the tempestuous winds of political expedience.</p>n<p>As he embarks on this pivotal journey, we hold out measured, but optimistic hope that under his leadership, the top court will not only adjudicate, but guide the nation towards a path paved with justice, equality and the rule of law.</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023</em></p>

Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s other crisis

<p>PAKISTAN’S macroeconomic crisis, the most serious in its history, continues to warrant urgent and sustained attention.</p>n<p>As is well known, the roots of this crisis lie in chronic fiscal deficits and external imbalances that are responsible for its perpetual balance-of-payments problems, high inflation and macroeconomic instability, necessitating repeated financial bailouts.</p>n<p>Today, this crisis has to be addressed in an adverse global environment where financial market conditions remain tight. All the economic trends for the country are negative and unlikely to be reversed any time soon.</p>n<p>Internal and external financial imbalances remain wide, foreign exchange reserves are fragile despite injections of funds from the IMF and friendly countries, inflation is at a historic high, domestic and foreign debt have reached unsustainable levels, the rupee has lost record value against the dollar, exports have fallen, overseas remittances have declined and foreign direct investment has plunged to a new low.</p>n<p>But there is another crisis that is worsening and is also consequential for Pakistan’s future. This is the crisis in human development — with most indicators of literacy, education, health and other aspects of social justice and human welfare deteriorating in recent years.</p>n<p>The World Bank calls it a “silent, deep human capital crisis”. Its recent report Pakistan Human Capital Review quantifies this crisisand urges increased investment in human capital, pointing out that lack of this will continue to limit the country’s growth and development prospects. Many national and international reports and documents paint a grim picture of the state of human development.</p>n<p>According to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf">UNDP’s Global Human Development Report of 2022</a>, Pakistan’s Human Development Index rank remains at 161 out of 192 countries with no progress recorded from 2019 to 2022. The WB report places Pakistan in the company of sub-Saharan African countries in the Human Capital Index, which at 0.41, is the lowest in South Asia.</p>n<p>The country’s education deficit should be treated as an emergency but barely figures in government priorities. No issue is more important for Pakistan’s future than the coverage and quality of education available to our children.</p>n<p>Yet the facts remain dismal. Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of children, over 20 million (aged five to 16) out of school. Twelve million are girls. It means 44 per cent of children in this age group do not go to school. This violates the constitutional obligation set out in Article 25A that enjoins the state to “provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years”.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>The country is sleepwalking into a human development disaster of serious consequences for its future.</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Of those who do go to school dropout rates are high. All this is the result of decades of neglect and chronic underspending on education. Just 2.4pc of GDP makes it among the lowest in South Asia. Only 14 of 195 countries spend less on education than Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s youthful demographic profile and education poverty, young people face a jobless and hopeless future unless the scale and quality of education is expanded.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1749885"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Literacy levels have shown little improvement in recent years. Latest available official sources put literacy at 59pc, which means over 40pc of the population are illiterate. The literacy level has been virtually stagnant for the past five years or more, with spending on education also declining. No country has predicated economic progress on an illiterate base. Yet these levels remain largely unchanged.</p>n<p>In youth literacy, which is around 75pc, Pakistan is second from the bottom in South Asia. The gender gap is telling. According to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR354/FR354.pdf">Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18</a>, almost half of women in the age group 15-25 are uneducated. 61pc of rural women are illiterate.</p>n<p>The poverty numbers are equally disturbing. With anaemic growth, soaring inflation (especially food inflation) and limited job creation, poverty has risen and become more severe. Of course, the Covid pandemic and megafloods of 2022 (reflecting the effects of climate change) contributed to this.</p>n<p>But the result is that more people have been driven below the poverty line. According to the WB, poverty is estimated to have risen by five percentage points to 39.4pc in FY23, with 12.5m more people pushed into poverty as compared to the previous year.</p>n<p>One of the most troubling phenomena is that of child stunting, which the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar/publication/pakistan-human-capital-review-building-capabilities-throughout-life">Human Capital Review</a> calls a “public health crisis”. The report finds around 40pc of Pakistani children under five are stunted — a shocking number.</p>n<p>This condemns these children to a life of physical disability, poverty and deprivation and also exposes them to premature mortality. This is mostly the result of malnutrition primarily associated with poverty. Malnourished mothers are more likely to have stunted children. It is also the result of high fertility.</p>n<p>Stunting is worse in Sindh where it is 50pc of under-five children and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it is 48pc. Again, this hardly attracts the attention of governments. The HCR report rightly calls for raising the national profile of stunting, which it describes as “a major human capital catastrophe” that merits national and local efforts to address it.</p>n<p>Progress in gender empowerment has been underwhelming despite some modest gains. Gender gaps in education, health, access to employment, financial services, information, political and other opportunities continue to be wide. In the Human Development Report’s (2022) Gender Inequality Index, Pakistan is ranked 161 out of 191 countries.</p>n<p>It does worse in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/">World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023</a>, where it is 142 out of 146 countries — among the bottom five countries. In educational attainment it is ranked 138 and at 132 for health and survival. Female labour force participation remains low — among the lowest in Muslim countries — 22pc compared to over 80pc for males. These statistics do not fully capture the multiple deprivations and injustices women face but they do underline how much needs to be done for half the country’s population.</p>n<p>The overall picture of various dimensions of human development is so bleak that it suggests Pakistan may be sleepwalking to a disaster that can only be ignored at great peril to the country’s stability, economic progress and prosperity.</p>n<p><em>The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.</em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

September 18, 2023

Inflation forces people into debt cycle, asset sale

<p>• From Karachi to small towns in Punjab, households struggle to make ends meet<br />n• Families skimp on food or enrol kids in seminaries instead of schools</p>n<p>KARACHI / TAXILA: Growing up in a Pakistani household, lessons in “saving something for a rainy day” are inculcated into children from a young age. These savings could be in the form of cash or assets, like gold. For every family, the definition of a “rainy day” varies, but in our parlance, they broadly refer to any event that throws the family’s finances off the rails — a wedding, sudden illness and business losses, etc.</p>n<p>Such savings were allocated for major expenses, not meeting day-to-day needs. However, in recent times, amidst a spiralling economic crisis and ballooning inflation, this distinction is fast eroding. More families are now compelled to cut into their financial safety nets to meet daily needs, like power bills, sch­ool fees for children, house rent and other expenses.</p>n<p>Zubaida Bibi is a widow who lives in a rented house in Taxila’s Bilal Colony.</p>n<p>When her electricity bill for August upended the household budget, she was left with no other option but to pawn her three-decade-old engagement ring with a neighbour and borrow money to pay the bill.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1773719"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>She hoped to get the ring back after receiving her pension funds, which were yet to be released.</p>n<p>Karachi resident Ahmed Zaman, 40, is the sole breadwinner for his family of six. His monthly salary of Rs150,000 was enough to manage household expenses up until last year, but not anymore.</p>n<p>“This month, I asked my wife for some help and she sold her gold earrings which she got at our marriage,” he told <em>Dawn</em> while giving a breakdown of his daily cost of living which has “gotten out of hand”.</p>n<p>“The house I live in has Rs35,000 rent, and my last electricity bill was over Rs40,000,” he said, explaining how half of his salary is consumed in only two expenses.</p>n<p><strong>Debt cycle</strong></p>n<p>It is also tough going for families with multiple Living in Pakistan’s largest city, three of the seven members of Hussain Shabbir’s family contribute to the household budget. Even then, it has become impossible for them to take care of their expenses, Mr Shabbir, 25, told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“My father, brother and I work. We have a combined income of around Rs130,000, but for the last couple of months, I had to borrow money from friends near the month’s end.”</p>n<p>For him, this is becoming a “debt cycle”.</p>n<p>“I return the money to one person and immediately find myself in need to borrow more from another for the next month,” he said, adding that his father and brother were also dealing with similar debt cycles.</p>n<p>For now, Mr Shabbir’s family has created some fiscal space for themselves by selling their car to pay off some debts. But with inflation not slowing down, they fear the respite would only last them a couple of months.</p>n<p><strong>Cutting expenses</strong></p>n<p>Those who are not in dire need to sell assets or borrow money are trying to squeeze their spending by cutting out expenses that are not the bare essentials needs.</p>n<p>31-year-old Sameer Rashid recently became a father. He thought a monthly income of Rs100,000 would be sufficient to sustain his nuclear family, but ground realities beg to differ.</p>n<p>Sharing his monthly budget, he said: “The expenses of my newborn alone are Rs12,000 to Rs13,000. Sometimes even more than that, but not less.”</p>n<p>This month, Mr Rashid paid Rs30,000 for electricity. He owns a motorcycle and spends Rs13,000 on fuel to get to work.</p>n<p>“Ration and other necessary items cost no less than Rs25,000 for two people [and] these are just the most basic expenses,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“I have stopped going to family functions and other ceremonies because I just don’t have the money to buy gifts to give on such occasions.”</p>n<p>While rationalising expenses seems to be a logical outcome of the crunch economic situation, it is inadvertently causing a spiral of distress for retailers and others in the services industry who rely on this spending.</p>n<p><strong>Skimping on food</strong></p>n<p>Ehsan Ali owns a poultry shop in the Lalarukh area of Taxila. In the recent past, he has seen his sales drop to almost 60 per cent of what they used to be.</p>n<p>With the number of his daily customers declining, he has been relying on hotels, restaurants and marriage halls to keep his shop running.</p>n<p>The prices of poultry have gone out of reach of the common man due to inflation, Mr Ali told <em>Dawn</em>, adding that customers now buy off cuts such as pota, kaleji and chicken legs instead of meat, as they cannot afford it anymore.</p>n<p>Aftab Hussain, who runs a hotel on Taxila Chowk, has also seen his income dip considerably. Of all things, he has registered a marked decline in the number of orders for tea at his establishment.</p>n<p>“Most of my customers are vendors, drivers and daily wagers. They now order the token (half-cup) tea instead of a full cup as it costs them half the price,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>Similarly, the meat dishes he cooks at his hotel, like qeema, qorma and beef, now attract 80 per cent fewer consumers, as they now prefer cheaper dishes such as vegetables and lentils.</p>n<p>The alterations to lifestyle have gone beyond cutting basic expenses. People have been forced to move a notch down and choose a cheaper alternative to almost everything — their food choices, their homes, cars and their children’s education.</p>n<p><strong>Alternatives to education costs</strong></p>n<p>Hamyuan Butt, an administrator of a seminary on Faisal Shaheed Road, claims the enrollment has doubled in the past two months as people take their children out of private schools and opt for religious seminaries, which cost far less in terms of fees and other expenses.</p>n<p>Even people from the middle class are enrolling their children in the seminary, which provides free-of-cost accommodation facilities to pupils.</p>n<p>In the past, he says, primarily orphans and children from lower-income or religious backgrounds used to enrol in the seminary.</p>n<p>“But the situation is changing with each passing day. Now people cannot afford to feed their children and are enrolling them in institutions where free food and lodging are provided for,” he added.</p>n<p><strong>Long-term effects</strong></p>n<p>So what happens if such economic adversity is sustained over a long period?</p>n<p>Noted economist Dr Kaiser Bengali recalls a study he worked on over a decade and a half ago, which followed the lives of 30 families of those with medical conditions for over a year. Half of the patients needed dialysis, while the other half had a person living with cancer in the household.</p>n<p>“We saw that families sold their cars, gold and even property to afford the medical expenses, and in many cases, the patient didn’t even survive as the disease was chronic.”</p>n<p>This has a crippling effect on the family, emotionally as well as financially.</p>n<p>Something similar, he says, is happening with middle-class families now, as they are forced to sell assets to pay for recurring expenses, such as electricity bills and fuel or commuting costs. Ultimately, he fears, it is not sustainable.</p>n<p>He noted that many people had already stopped using cars and shifted to motorbikes, while those who previously owned two-wheelers had resorted to public transport.</p>n<p>If something does not change, it may soon be a choice between sending your children to school or putting fuel in the tank to get to work every day.</p>n<p>Recalling another study by the Social Policy Development Centre from two decades ago, Mr Bengali shared that he and his team found that people had stopped socialising to avoid giving gifts.</p>n<p>Such choices are not normal, and take a toll on people’s health, both physically and psychologically.</p>n<p>“What will a man do when his family would ask him for something and he would not be able to provide it? How will he face his children and wife?”</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

SC law: 3-member panel comprising CJP and 2 senior most judges to constitute benches

<p>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa on Monday ruled that a three-member committee, including himself and the two most senior judges, will decide bench formations as the apex court began hearing a set of petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.</p>n<p>The Act requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior judges of the court. In a pre-emptive move, the Supreme Court — then led by former CJP Umar Ata Bandial — in April had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">barred the government</a> from implementing the bill seeking to curtail the chief justice of Pakistan’s powers once it became a law.</p>n<p>In a first, the hearing today was broadcast live on television with all 15 judges of the top court presiding over the case.</p>n<p>After hearing arguments from two lawyers and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, the court adjourned the hearing to October 3, with CJP Isa directing the parties’ lawyers to submit their written arguments by September 25.</p>n<p>Dictating his order, the chief justice said: “In view of the challenge thrown to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 and as the matter is pending adjudication. We will be consulting with two senior colleagues with regard to the constitution of benches,” adding that senior puisne judges Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsan agreed with him too.</p>n<p>Shortly thereafter, the court roster for this week was issued with five benches. The rosters were decided by CJP Isa in consultation with the two senior-most puisne judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEUNbDvOqJY?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Shortly after taking oath on Sunday, CJP Isa — whose 13-month tenure will end in Oct 2024 — had formed a full court to take up the set of pleas challenging the legislation.</p>n<p>Headed by CJP Isa, the bench consisted of Justice Masood, Justice Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Before the hearing began, the federal government urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the law.</p>n<p>In a detailed reply submitted by AGP Awan, the government contended that the petitions challenging an act of Parliament were inadmissible.</p>n<p>At the outset of the hearing, the lawyers arguing the set of the pleas came to the rostrum.</p>n<p>Addressing the lawyers, Justice Isa said, “Appreciate that some of us have heard this matter and some of us are going to hear it for the first time.”</p>n<p>He said that since one member of the bench had retired there was a matter of reconstituting the bench. “A question had also arisen whether I should be a part of the bench […] then the related question that all those who will become CJP should become part of the bench […] so I think the best way to resolve it was to constitute a full court if you agree […].”</p>n<p>Advocate Khawaja Tariq Rahim kicked off the arguments in the case, with Justice Ayesha asking what would happen to Section 5 in the event the law was upheld.</p>n<p>“There is a right of appeal that is provided under this law. How do you visualise that right being exercised,” she asked. Justice Isa then asked Rahim to read the law out loud. However, the lawyer kept getting sidetracked, with the judges repeatedly telling him to read the Act.</p>n<p>“The country expects 57,000 cases to be decided. We would love to hear you. But let’s focus on your petition […] proceed with your arguments,” CJP Isa remarked. Rahim then proceeded to read out the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64230b4c044c0_115.pdf">Act</a>.</p>n<p>However, he again stopped reading out the law and said, “Framing of these rules, under Article 191, is the prerogative of the SC. When they framed the 1980 rules, the entire court sat together and together they framed the rules.”</p>n<p>Article 191 reads: “Subject to the Constitution and law, the Supreme Court may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the Cou­rt”.</p>n<p>“This intrusion by the Parliament into the affairs of the SC prompted me to come forward and file this petition. Because I feel that every institution must remain in its domain,” Rahim said.</p>n<p>Justice Naqvi, however, wondered whether the lawyer was suggesting that he did not have any objection to the “unaccountable powers in one office”.</p>n<p>“Is that your question? Are you supporting what has happened in the past? What is your legal proposition?” he asked. CJP Isa again asked Rahim to read the Act out loud.</p>n<p>“You read the Act. Either you say this entire Act is ultra vires the Constitution, that’s one contention […] You don’t need to respond to every query immediately, it will make your life very difficult […] when you are done with your arguments, you can absorb the questions and respond,” Justice Isa said.</p>n<p>In the middle of reading out the Act, Rahim said that Parliament should not have a say in functions that lay with the top court. He said that tomorrow Parliament could order that a particular bench hear a case.</p>n<p>“Let’s not go into what they may or may not do […] what Parliament decides to do in the future, you can bring another petition and we can look at it then. restrict yourself to your case,” CJP Isa interjected.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then wondered if Parliament could whittle down judicial power under Article 184(3) by providing that a committee, comprising three senior judges, be formed to decide the constitution of benches.</p>n<p>Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens.</p>n<p>In this connection, Justice Minallah further pointed out that since this power earlier resided solely with the chief justice, an argument was raised that the outcomes of cases could be influenced by constituting benches and this eroded the independence of the judiciary.</p>n<p>“If this argument is accepted, then the earlier traditional model would be acceptable to you that one person can actually control the outcome of cases by the constitution of benches and this probably was the mischief that the Parliament wanted to address?” he asked.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Ahsan referred to a previous SC judgement, which he said that had given a verdict on the procedure to be followed by the chief justice to invoke the SC’s jurisdiction under Article 183.</p>n<p>“It says where a bench […] comes to a conclusion that there is a matter of public importance affecting fundamental rights, they may recommend to the honourable chief justice that a bench be constituted.</p>n<p>“And the chief justice, after perusing the reasons that the bench assigns for recommending may or may not [proceed with its suggestion]. But at least he would record why he thinks he disagrees with the recommendations,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then said, “It seems to me that the power to constitute the bench is the subject matter of Section 2. Constituting a bench does not block the exercise of judicial power. It simply determines which is the bench that is to exercise the judicial power.”</p>n<p>He then remarked that Section 3 of the Act seemed to go beyond this. “It actually confers on the three-member committee, exercising administrative powers, to actually block the exercise of judicial powers.</p>n<p>“It is not a question of constitution of benches […] The question here, it seems to me, is the very blocking of the judicial power itself and [can] Parliament do that,” Justice Akhtar said.</p>n<p>During the hearing, Justice Hilali wondered if the office of the CJP would become “redundant” after the passage of the Act. Justice Mandokhail also asked whether the powers of the SC had been curtailed or the powers of the CJP.</p>n<p>In his arguments, after much prompting from the CJP Isa, Rahim said that Sections 5, 6 and 7 were ultra vires the Constitution. At one point, the CJP again reminded the lawyer that he could note the questions put forth by the court and answer them once he was done reading out the Act.</p>n<p>He took exception to the lawyer’s argument thus far, saying that he had not referred to the Constitution at any point. “Stick only to constitutional arguments,” he said.</p>n<p>Advocate Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui then came to the rostrum and said that the fundamental question was whether Parliament had the power to promulgate this Act or not.</p>n<p>“No, that is not the fundamental question, with utmost respect. The primary question is whether Article 184(3) can be invoked. First, you overcome that hurdle and then you argue that,” he told the lawyer.</p>n<p>“You have filed a petition not in the normal jurisdiction, you have come in the original jurisdiction of the SC which is not a right. You have to comply with certain provisions of the Constitution,” CJP Isa said.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer began referring to a previous court judgement but was interjected by the CJP.</p>n<p>Justice Isa explained to him that the court sought his arguments on the invocation of Article 184(3), under which two primary points were to be established: that the case was a matter of public interest and it sought the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>He further said that had the high courts been moved on the matter prior to the SC and it had allowed the pleas, then “you would have come to us in the appellate jurisdiction”.</p>n<p>But the petitioners had opted to move the court under Article 184(3), which had a narrow scope, he added.</p>n<p>Despite this explanation, when the lawyer proceeded to refer to previous judgements, the CJP asserted that the judgements were secondary to the Constitution.</p>n<p>He then asked the lawyer to read out Article 189, which says: “Any decision of the Supreme Court shall to the extent that it decides the question of law or is based upon or enunciates a principle law be binding upon all other courts in Pakistan.”</p>n<p>The CJP pointed out that the phrase used in the provision was “all other courts”, not the SC. “So don’t cite our own precedents to us. You are being asked a constitutional question,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Minallah then said that Parliament had diluted the chief justice’s discretionary powers. “That is all Parliament has done. It picked three judges. No one has come from the outside. It’s still the chief justice and the two senior-most judges. No one’s fundamental rights are being affected, instead institutional independence is being strengthened,” he said.</p>n<p>He further said that a right of appeal was being provided under the new law. “So which fundamental rights of the petitioner have been violated under which you have [approached the court] under Article 184(3)?” he asked.</p>n<p>Siddiqui contended that the entire Act was ultra vires the Constitution as “this domain was not available to Parliament”.</p>n<p>However, Justice Minallah asked the lawyer to clarify whether he thought this was a much-needed law but thought that Parliament did not have the power to legislate on the matter.</p>n<p>When the lawyer answered in the affirmative, the judge asked him to explain whether the status of SC rules was higher or lower than Parliament.</p>n<p>However, in his later arguments, the lawyer said he did not accept that this was a good law. “I think the idea is good,” he said.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah asked whether the lawyer thought that the chief justice should have unbridled powers.</p>n<p>Siddiqui said that under the trichotomy of powers, Parliament, the executive and the top court were to make their own rules. “Those rules have a constitutional post and [on] a higher pedestal than ordinary law.”</p>n<p>When the judges again asked Siddiqui which fundamental rights were being violated, he specifically said those under Articles 9, 10 and 10-A.</p>n<p>“My proposition is that the legislature is bound by the scheme of the Constitution, and the Constitution requires that the legislature will make its own rules. There are three organs of the state and they will function independent of one another,” Siddiqui said.</p>n<p>“It is my fundamental right to ensure and protect that this constitutional encroachment is not made by Parliament. And these are judgements on the issue which say that these are issues of violation of fundamental rights […] and if it affects a large community of people then it is a question of public importance,” he said.</p>n<p>However, CJP Isa again pointed out that the counsel was not developing his arguments and was stating articles of the Constitution.</p>n<p>At one point, Siddiqui said that the question of fundamental rights being violated was raised when Parliament did not follow due process when legislating and if there was evidence of “constitutional deviation”.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then asked whether the independence of the judiciary was a fundamental right and whether the independence of the judiciary was not a salient feature of the Constitution.</p>n<p>He asked whether each time a full court was constituted, whether it was given a “blank slate” to disregard settled law and fundamental rights. “Is this even in the power of the full court? If we are to do that, disregarding previous precedents, then surely we have to have weighty reasons to declare, for example, that independence of the judiciary is not a salient feature of the Constitution,” he said.</p>n<p>He wondered if Parliament could pick and choose which judges were included in the committee. “Today, Parliament says no less than five judges to hear Section 4. Tomorrow it says that family matters are not to be heard by less than seven judges. Is that part of access to justice?” he asked.</p>n<p>“As the SC, the defenders of the Constitution, are we to allow any erosion of the independence of the judiciary? Will that not be the grossest violation of fundamental rights?” he wondered.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah stated that the independence of the judiciary was not just an external aspect. “Independence of the judiciary is not just the external aspect. The most important are internal independence and institutional independence. Now you have conceded that this law actually secures internal and institutional independence,” he said.</p>n<p>He said that if the CJP had the rights which could be used to achieve certain outcomes in cases, then that was a “complete erosion of the independence of the judiciary — an aspect which this court has never taken into consideration”.</p>n<p>Justice Shah said that countries like Nepal used a ballot to determine benches, noting that the chief justice did not have any say. “So this law is making these things clearer and improving independence [of the judiciary],” he said.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Minallah said Advocate Siddiqui was perhaps confused and there was a need to understand that the powers of the CJP were different from the jurisdictional power of the SC.</p>n<p>“This entire law has not touched the power of the Supreme Court. It’s only the chief justice, and the chief justice, not the Supreme Court.”</p>n<p>But the lawyer argued against it, saying the law had “obliterated” rule 9.</p>n<p>“The chief justice himself said in his judgement that benches cannot be constituted as per rule 9 when they have been constituted by the chief justice,” he said.</p>n<p>Asked whether the CJP could be separated from other judges in the SC, the lawyer said “no”.</p>n<p>“Then how was the power given to the CJP [alone]?” the court asked.</p>n<p>To that, the lawyer said: “Sir, you surrendered … you authorised the chief justice and agreed to oblige with his decision.”</p>n<p>At that, Justice Mandokhail pointed out to him that the judgements were passed on the basis of rules before the Act under discussion was made.</p>n<p>“Now there is an Act. Are the judgements superior to the act?” he asked.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer argued that the judges themselves said in their rulings that the rules were on a “higher pedestal”.</p>n<p>Justice Ahsan then observed: “If this court interprets the law in a certain way — the law, an ordinary law — and the parliament changes that law, nobody has stopped them from doing that [in retrospect] … The distinction here is that the rules which have been framed in 1980 in the exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution are not interpreting any ordinary law which can be changed by any ordinary legislation.</p>n<p>“This power has been exercised under the Constitution and it says so specifically ‘in exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan the Supreme Court makes the following rules’.”</p>n<p>So, he explained, if the SC interpreted a law that the parliament then decided to change, it may do so.</p>n<p>“Because they have made the law, they can change it,” he said, adding that likewise, the SC too could change the rules it made.</p>n<p>This aligned with the doctrine of separation of powers and trichotomy of powers, he added.</p>n<p>After Advocate Siddiqui’s arguments, the court took a short break and resumed the hearing with AGP Awan presenting arguments on the maintainability of the pleas.</p>n<h2><a id="agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" href="#agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>AGP argues maintainability of pleas</h2>n<p>The AGP said his arguments for the rejection of the petitions centred on their “failure to meet the test criteria under Article 184(3), which is that the matter must be of public importance and it must relate to the enforcement of fundamental rights”.</p>n<p>“In so far as public importance is concerned … this law, in fact, deals with the concentration of powers … in one office,” he said, adding that the Act endeavoured to “democratise this institution, bring more transparency and structure the discretion”.</p>n<p>He further said the law dealt with issues that were important for the public — which were the litigants.</p>n<p>As far as the independence of the judiciary was concerned, he said “no external element, which is to say that no other institution, [was] given any role whatsoever under this Act in so far as practice and procedure of this court is concerned. It is all confined within this court”.</p>n<p>That also sufficed to establish the lack of any basis to challenge the Act under the purview of the violation of fundamental rights, he contended.</p>n<p>He added that the Act addressed public concerns.</p>n<p>At that, Justice Ahsan said both parties agreed that there was a question of public importance.</p>n<p>“The only question now is whether a fundamental right has been violated, and if a fundamental right has been violated, which one,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Isa further noted that a law was “sustainable unless otherwise proven”, saying that the burden of proof was on the one who challenged the law in this case.</p>n<p>When Justice Afridi asked him to elaborate on the distinction between the enforcement of fundamental rights and the infringement of fundamental rights, he explained that the petitioner was required “to show is that this law does not in fact enforce this right of access to justice”.</p>n<p>Justice Yahya then asked him whether the petition in question talked about the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>To that, the AGP said the petitioners’ argument was that the CJP’s powers had been curtailed under this law which made it unconstitutional.</p>n<p>But it was not the case here, he said, adding that the Act did not, in any way, prevent the enforcement of any right.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Shah said it could be that enforcement and infringement were being used interchangeably.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Akhtar observed that since Pakistan had a federal structure, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies must remain within their constitutional limits.</p>n<p>“It seems to me that if the parliament or the provincial assembly makes a law that is ultra vires, it is in the public interest to challenge that law. Because if remaining within the constitutional limits is in the public interest then going beyond those limits and making an ultra vires law is surely a breach of public interest,” he reasoned.</p>n<p>On this, the CJP was of the view that the fundamental question here was not if the law was unconstitutional but whether it was within the parameters of Article 184(3).</p>n<p>For his part, the AGP contended that clause 3 of Article 184 required that a matter of public importance related to the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>Following that, Justice Malik raised the question of how could a party appeal the full court’s decision if it decided that a plea was not maintainable.</p>n<p>“Are they not entitled to their appeal in the event that the court decides that these petitions are not maintainable? They cannot challenge it? Does that not go the fact that once again you have put the burden on the court itself to decide when it wants to constitute a full and block that right of appeal and when it wants to constitute a smaller bench and allow that right of appeal?” she questioned.</p>n<h2><a id="law-limiting-cjps-powers" href="#law-limiting-cjps-powers" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Law limiting CJP’s powers</h2>n<p>The previous government of PDM had enacted the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aimed at limiting the powers of the top judge. The <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">legislation</a> deprives the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity.</p>n<p>The law states that a three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the apex court, will decide whether or not to take up a matter suo motu. Previously, this was solely the prerogative of the CJP. Additionally, it adds to the review jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, giving the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in suo motu cases.</p>n<p>On April 13, an eight-judge SC bench headed by former CJP Bandial had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432">suspended</a> the enforcement of the Supreme Court (Practice &amp; Procedure) Act, 2023.</p>n<p>When the law was suspended, Justice Bandial had observed that the court had great respect for the Parliament but it also had to examine if any constitutional deviation, violation or transgression had taken place while enacting the legislation.</p>n<p>The petitioners in the case had pleaded before the apex court that the concept, preparation, endorsement and passing of the law was an act tainted with mala fide. Therefore, the bill should be struck down after declaring it to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the petition contended.</p>n<p>Moreover, they said the federal government could not frame any law that seeks to interfere or regulate the functioning of the apex court or the powers exercised by it or its judges including CJP, under the Constitution.</p>n<h2><a id="justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" href="#justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Justice Isa refuses guard of honour</h2>n<p>Separately, Justice Isa refused to receive a guard of honour upon arriving at the SC for his first day as the new chief justice. He was given a warm welcome by the SC staff and was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the registrar.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right ‘>n <div class=’media__item ‘><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class=’media__caption ‘>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa was given a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at the Supreme Court. — DawnNewsTV</figcaption>n </figure></p>n<p>“Thank you all so much. We need a lot of cooperation from you all,” he told the staff, adding that he would hold detailed meetings with them later as he had meetings and the full court hearing scheduled for today.</p>n<p>CJP Isa observed that people did not approach the top court when they were “happy”, adding that the people wanted an end to the issues that plagued them.</p>n<p>He urged the court staff to treat visitors like “guests”, calling on them to keep the doors of the top court open and accessible for all.</p>n<p>“Help those coming [to the SC],” he said.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–instagram media__item–relative’><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CxUqHp5om7W/" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; 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overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CxUqHp5om7W/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank"></a></p></div></blockquote><script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></div>n n </figure></p>

The real test begins: Can CJP Qazi Faez Isa deliver justice without fear or favour?

<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em>“That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. And that, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”</em></p>n</blockquote>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em><strong>— Oath of the Chief Justice of Pakistan</strong></em></p>n</blockquote>n<p>As Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378">dons the robe of the country’s top judge,</a> <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761420">over a hundred civilians are in military custody,</a> draconian legislation that <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771203">never received the President’s assent</a> has been published in the gazette, elections on time seem impossible, and the pendency of cases in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">Supreme Court has soared to over 56,000.</a></p>n<p>In April, Justice Isa attended a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1746928">convention on the 50th Anniversary of the Constitution.</a> In his speech, he held up a copy of the Constitution and said: “This book is our identity, Pakistan’s identity. I want to say on behalf of my institution that we are also defenders of the Constitution. And if I do not do that, then you can criticise me.”</p>n<p>The real test begins now. And here are its toughest questions:</p>n<h2><a id="amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" href="#amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Amendments to the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act</h2>n<p>In 2015, through the 21st Amendment and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1420800454_327.pdf">corresponding amendments</a> to the Army Act, military courts were empowered to try civilians for certain terrorism related offences. Terrorists were at war with our nation — terrorists responsible for the savage and inhumane murder of children.</p>n<p>In the District Bar Case, the majority of the Supreme Court upheld the 21st Amendment. Per the majority, “we appear to be confronted with a warlike situation and consequently the Federation is duty bound by the constitution to defend Pakistan.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771206"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1198632">Justice Isa did not agree,</a> and instead held, “the constitution does not permit the trial of civilians by the military as it would contravene fundamental rights.” Per Justice Isa, “no normal person can sympathise with killers who must be prosecuted and punished, but in accordance with the law and the Constitution. If we rush to convict terrorists through unconstitutional means we stoop to their level.”</p>n<p>Even when it came to the trial of suspected terrorists, Justice Isa held that justice could not be handed over to the military. And so, he struck down a constitutional amendment.</p>n<p>Last month, the amendments to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64e204089f786_138.pdf">Pakistan Army Act</a> and the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://molaw.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Official%20Secrets%20(Amendment)%20Act,%202023.pdf">Official Secrets Act</a> were published in the gazette. The amendments to the Army Act entrench and give legal cover to the role of the military in national development. Neither of these amendments received the President’s assent, which the nation later discovered through his tweet.</p>n<p>Yet, members of the caretaker government rushed on national television, claiming that the President’s assent was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771326">deemed to be given.</a> The simple problem with this interpretation is that this is not what the Constitution says. The deeming provision of the Constitution under Article 75(3) only kicks in when a bill has been passed a second time by a joint sitting of Parliament. This never happened.</p>n<p>Regardless of the draconian nature of these amendments, members of an unelected setup were eager to deem assent. The amendments to the Pakistan Army Act extend the jurisdiction of military courts over a person who “is or has been” subject to the Army Act. This suggests that the amendment applies to serving and retired members of the military. Retired army officers can now be tried by military courts for defamation, electronic crimes, and unauthorised disclosure. Previously, the jurisdiction of a court martial over retired army officers was far more restricted.</p>n<p>Under the Official Secrets Act as it stood, the focus was on espionage which was prejudicial to the “safety or interests of the state”. The amendment, however, introduces an additional element of intentionally acting in a manner which is prejudicial to “public order”. Under the new law, it is a criminal offence to be “in the vicinity of” a military establishment for any purpose prejudicial to “public order”.</p>n<p>What does acting prejudicial to “public order” mean? How much vicinity is considered enough? The room for abuse is glaring.</p>n<p>Both these amendments have now been challenged in the apex court. The institution, now headed by Justice Isa, will hear this challenge and determine whether these laws will remain in the gazette.</p>n<h2><a id="delay-in-elections" href="#delay-in-elections" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Delay in elections</h2>n<p>The <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1549886415_632.pdf">preamble of the Constitution</a> provides that “the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people.” A core constitutional principle is the right to be governed by your elected representatives.</p>n<p>On dissolution of the national assembly or a provincial assembly, a general election shall be held within a period of ninety days after dissolution. Despite the efforts of some, there is no other interpretation possible. The constitutional command is unambiguous.</p>n<p>Yet, two provinces have been unrepresented for several months. A decision of the Supreme Court has been and continues to be violated. Even today, there is no definitive date for general elections at the provincial or national level.</p>n<p>Currently, the ECP is busy arguing over which authority has the duty to announce the date for elections, and using the census to justify the delay. Article 48(5) of the Constitution states that where the President dissolves the National Assembly, the President shall appoint a date for elections. The language is crystal clear.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1775467"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The ECP, however, insists that, in fact, they have the authority to announce the date. The clash over the announcement of the election date will inevitably lead to further unnecessary litigation.</p>n<p>As regards the census, it was approved by the Council of Common Interests including the caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Election Act, 2017, expressly prohibits a caretaker government from taking major policy decisions. The very edifice of the approval of the census is questionable. Even otherwise, the census and fresh delimitation cannot override the 90-day time limit.</p>n<p>“Democracy demands elections, the Constitution demands elections. Democracy is meaningless without such an exercise. To concede to the [Election] Commission the power, especially on the constitutional plane, to interfere with the electoral process in so fundamental a manner could be tantamount to derailing democracy itself,” per the decision authored by Justice Munib Akhtar ordering provincial polls.</p>n<p>Without elections, there is no democracy.</p>n<p>The court should not need to tell us what is clearly written in the Constitution. As the ECP and the caretaker governments shirk their responsibility (like the governors did earlier this year), the stage is set for the matter to end up in the courts.</p>n<h2><a id="administration-of-the-court" href="#administration-of-the-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Administration of the court</h2>n<p>Justice Isa inherits a court <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">with over 56,000 pending cases.</a> This cuts at the basic right to access justice. There can be no trust and confidence in the legal system when it takes several years for litigants to be heard. Unfortunately in Pakistan, the right to be heard has become a privilege, not a right.</p>n<p>Years are spent while families of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearances are granted a hearing. Citizens continue to be detained in internment centers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At times, persons wrongly convicted have already served the entirety of their sentence while awaiting an appeal. A dysfunctional legal system itself acts as a punishment for many. This cannot continue. Reducing the backlog must be a priority.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776501"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In March this year, Justice Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744932">called for the postponement of cases under Article 184(3)</a> until amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, were made. In a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1745162">“circular” issued through the registrar,</a> former CJP Umar Ata Bandial asserted that the observations made by Justice Isa were to be disregarded. In response, Justice Isa claimed, “history witnesses, that when in an individual power is concentrated, disastrous consequences follow.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Justice Isa has been vocal about the need to democratise the court. Currently, the power to form benches, the invoking of the court’s original (<em>suo motu</em>) jurisdiction, and the convening of a judicial commission meeting for the appointment of judges are all powers that lie with the chief justice. As the absolute power he spoke against now vests in his office, it is for Justice Isa to honour his word.</p>n<h2><a id="a-united-court" href="#a-united-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>A united court</h2>n<p>Justice Bandial was not able to unite his court. On provincial elections, not one judge in the court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1739739">disputed the need for provincial elections within 90 days.</a> The only dispute was regarding the manner in which the court’s <em>suo motu</em> jurisdiction was invoked.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776211"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Yet, weeks were spent needlessly arguing over whether the decision ordering provincial elections was accepted by a majority of 3:2 (or whether the petitions were rejected by 4:3). The majority was clearly 3:2. While the judges agreed on the principle of 90 days, they could not speak with one voice. The fact that the citizens of two provinces were unrepresented became secondary.</p>n<p>The divisions in the judiciary were exploited by the former coalition government in their brazen defiance of the court, and the moral authority of the highest court was diminished.</p>n<p>It now falls to Justice Isa to take his institution along with him. This is not to say that there should be no dissent. Ultimately, the judiciary does not need to be united in their decisions. It does, however, need to be united in its objective to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And to dispense justice without fear or favour.</p>n<p>This is their oath to the nation, and its people.</p>

SC law: 3-member panel comprising CJP and 2 senior most judges to constitute benches

<p>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa on Monday ruled that a three-member committee, including himself and the two most senior judges, will decide bench formations as the apex court began hearing a set of petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.</p>n<p>The Act requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior judges of the court. In a pre-emptive move, the Supreme Court — then led by former CJP Umar Ata Bandial — in April had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">barred the government</a> from implementing the bill seeking to curtail the chief justice of Pakistan’s powers once it became a law.</p>n<p>In a first, the hearing today was broadcast live on television with all 15 judges of the top court presiding over the case.</p>n<p>After hearing arguments from two lawyers and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, the court adjourned the hearing to October 3, with CJP Isa directing the parties’ lawyers to submit their written arguments by September 25.</p>n<p>Dictating his order, the chief justice said: “In view of the challenge thrown to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 and as the matter is pending adjudication. We will be consulting with two senior colleagues with regard to the constitution of benches,” adding that senior puisne judges Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsan agreed with him too.</p>n<p>Shortly thereafter, the court roster for this week was issued with five benches. The rosters were decided by CJP Isa in consultation with the two senior-most puisne judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEUNbDvOqJY?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Shortly after taking oath on Sunday, CJP Isa — whose 13-month tenure will end in Oct 2024 — had formed a full court to take up the set of pleas challenging the legislation.</p>n<p>Headed by CJP Isa, the bench consisted of Justice Masood, Justice Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Before the hearing began, the federal government urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the law.</p>n<p>In a detailed reply submitted by AGP Awan, the government contended that the petitions challenging an act of Parliament were inadmissible.</p>n<p>At the outset of the hearing, the lawyers arguing the set of the pleas came to the rostrum.</p>n<p>Addressing the lawyers, Justice Isa said, “Appreciate that some of us have heard this matter and some of us are going to hear it for the first time.”</p>n<p>He said that since one member of the bench had retired there was a matter of reconstituting the bench. “A question had also arisen whether I should be a part of the bench […] then the related question that all those who will become CJP should become part of the bench […] so I think the best way to resolve it was to constitute a full court if you agree […].”</p>n<p>Advocate Khawaja Tariq Rahim kicked off the arguments in the case, with Justice Ayesha asking what would happen to Section 5 in the event the law was upheld.</p>n<p>“There is a right of appeal that is provided under this law. How do you visualise that right being exercised,” she asked. Justice Isa then asked Rahim to read the law out loud. However, the lawyer kept getting sidetracked, with the judges repeatedly telling him to read the Act.</p>n<p>“The country expects 57,000 cases to be decided. We would love to hear you. But let’s focus on your petition […] proceed with your arguments,” CJP Isa remarked. Rahim then proceeded to read out the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64230b4c044c0_115.pdf">Act</a>.</p>n<p>However, he again stopped reading out the law and said, “Framing of these rules, under Article 191, is the prerogative of the SC. When they framed the 1980 rules, the entire court sat together and together they framed the rules.”</p>n<p>Article 191 reads: “Subject to the Constitution and law, the Supreme Court may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the Cou­rt”.</p>n<p>“This intrusion by the Parliament into the affairs of the SC prompted me to come forward and file this petition. Because I feel that every institution must remain in its domain,” Rahim said.</p>n<p>Justice Naqvi, however, wondered whether the lawyer was suggesting that he did not have any objection to the “unaccountable powers in one office”.</p>n<p>“Is that your question? Are you supporting what has happened in the past? What is your legal proposition?” he asked. CJP Isa again asked Rahim to read the Act out loud.</p>n<p>“You read the Act. Either you say this entire Act is ultra vires the Constitution, that’s one contention […] You don’t need to respond to every query immediately, it will make your life very difficult […] when you are done with your arguments, you can absorb the questions and respond,” Justice Isa said.</p>n<p>In the middle of reading out the Act, Rahim said that Parliament should not have a say in functions that lay with the top court. He said that tomorrow Parliament could order that a particular bench hear a case.</p>n<p>“Let’s not go into what they may or may not do […] what Parliament decides to do in the future, you can bring another petition and we can look at it then. restrict yourself to your case,” CJP Isa interjected.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then wondered if Parliament could whittle down judicial power under Article 184(3) by providing that a committee, comprising three senior judges, be formed to decide the constitution of benches.</p>n<p>Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens.</p>n<p>In this connection, Justice Minallah further pointed out that since this power earlier resided solely with the chief justice, an argument was raised that the outcomes of cases could be influenced by constituting benches and this eroded the independence of the judiciary.</p>n<p>“If this argument is accepted, then the earlier traditional model would be acceptable to you that one person can actually control the outcome of cases by the constitution of benches and this probably was the mischief that the Parliament wanted to address?” he asked.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Ahsan referred to a previous SC judgement, which he said that had given a verdict on the procedure to be followed by the chief justice to invoke the SC’s jurisdiction under Article 183.</p>n<p>“It says where a bench […] comes to a conclusion that there is a matter of public importance affecting fundamental rights, they may recommend to the honourable chief justice that a bench be constituted.</p>n<p>“And the chief justice, after perusing the reasons that the bench assigns for recommending may or may not [proceed with its suggestion]. But at least he would record why he thinks he disagrees with the recommendations,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then said, “It seems to me that the power to constitute the bench is the subject matter of Section 2. Constituting a bench does not block the exercise of judicial power. It simply determines which is the bench that is to exercise the judicial power.”</p>n<p>He then remarked that Section 3 of the Act seemed to go beyond this. “It actually confers on the three-member committee, exercising administrative powers, to actually block the exercise of judicial powers.</p>n<p>“It is not a question of constitution of benches […] The question here, it seems to me, is the very blocking of the judicial power itself and [can] Parliament do that,” Justice Akhtar said.</p>n<p>During the hearing, Justice Hilali wondered if the office of the CJP would become “redundant” after the passage of the Act. Justice Mandokhail also asked whether the powers of the SC had been curtailed or the powers of the CJP.</p>n<p>In his arguments, after much prompting from the CJP Isa, Rahim said that Sections 5, 6 and 7 were ultra vires the Constitution. At one point, the CJP again reminded the lawyer that he could note the questions put forth by the court and answer them once he was done reading out the Act.</p>n<p>He took exception to the lawyer’s argument thus far, saying that he had not referred to the Constitution at any point. “Stick only to constitutional arguments,” he said.</p>n<p>Advocate Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui then came to the rostrum and said that the fundamental question was whether Parliament had the power to promulgate this Act or not.</p>n<p>“No, that is not the fundamental question, with utmost respect. The primary question is whether Article 184(3) can be invoked. First, you overcome that hurdle and then you argue that,” he told the lawyer.</p>n<p>“You have filed a petition not in the normal jurisdiction, you have come in the original jurisdiction of the SC which is not a right. You have to comply with certain provisions of the Constitution,” CJP Isa said.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer began referring to a previous court judgement but was interjected by the CJP.</p>n<p>Justice Isa explained to him that the court sought his arguments on the invocation of Article 184(3), under which two primary points were to be established: that the case was a matter of public interest and it sought the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>He further said that had the high courts been moved on the matter prior to the SC and it had allowed the pleas, then “you would have come to us in the appellate jurisdiction”.</p>n<p>But the petitioners had opted to move the court under Article 184(3), which had a narrow scope, he added.</p>n<p>Despite this explanation, when the lawyer proceeded to refer to previous judgements, the CJP asserted that the judgements were secondary to the Constitution.</p>n<p>He then asked the lawyer to read out Article 189, which says: “Any decision of the Supreme Court shall to the extent that it decides the question of law or is based upon or enunciates a principle law be binding upon all other courts in Pakistan.”</p>n<p>The CJP pointed out that the phrase used in the provision was “all other courts”, not the SC. “So don’t cite our own precedents to us. You are being asked a constitutional question,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Minallah then said that Parliament had diluted the chief justice’s discretionary powers. “That is all Parliament has done. It picked three judges. No one has come from the outside. It’s still the chief justice and the two senior-most judges. No one’s fundamental rights are being affected, instead institutional independence is being strengthened,” he said.</p>n<p>He further said that a right of appeal was being provided under the new law. “So which fundamental rights of the petitioner have been violated under which you have [approached the court] under Article 184(3)?” he asked.</p>n<p>Siddiqui contended that the entire Act was ultra vires the Constitution as “this domain was not available to Parliament”.</p>n<p>However, Justice Minallah asked the lawyer to clarify whether he thought this was a much-needed law but thought that Parliament did not have the power to legislate on the matter.</p>n<p>When the lawyer answered in the affirmative, the judge asked him to explain whether the status of SC rules was higher or lower than Parliament.</p>n<p>However, in his later arguments, the lawyer said he did not accept that this was a good law. “I think the idea is good,” he said.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah asked whether the lawyer thought that the chief justice should have unbridled powers.</p>n<p>Siddiqui said that under the trichotomy of powers, Parliament, the executive and the top court were to make their own rules. “Those rules have a constitutional post and [on] a higher pedestal than ordinary law.”</p>n<p>When the judges again asked Siddiqui which fundamental rights were being violated, he specifically said those under Articles 9, 10 and 10-A.</p>n<p>“My proposition is that the legislature is bound by the scheme of the Constitution, and the Constitution requires that the legislature will make its own rules. There are three organs of the state and they will function independent of one another,” Siddiqui said.</p>n<p>“It is my fundamental right to ensure and protect that this constitutional encroachment is not made by Parliament. And these are judgements on the issue which say that these are issues of violation of fundamental rights […] and if it affects a large community of people then it is a question of public importance,” he said.</p>n<p>However, CJP Isa again pointed out that the counsel was not developing his arguments and was stating articles of the Constitution.</p>n<p>At one point, Siddiqui said that the question of fundamental rights being violated was raised when Parliament did not follow due process when legislating and if there was evidence of “constitutional deviation”.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then asked whether the independence of the judiciary was a fundamental right and whether the independence of the judiciary was not a salient feature of the Constitution.</p>n<p>He asked whether each time a full court was constituted, whether it was given a “blank slate” to disregard settled law and fundamental rights. “Is this even in the power of the full court? If we are to do that, disregarding previous precedents, then surely we have to have weighty reasons to declare, for example, that independence of the judiciary is not a salient feature of the Constitution,” he said.</p>n<p>He wondered if Parliament could pick and choose which judges were included in the committee. “Today, Parliament says no less than five judges to hear Section 4. Tomorrow it says that family matters are not to be heard by less than seven judges. Is that part of access to justice?” he asked.</p>n<p>“As the SC, the defenders of the Constitution, are we to allow any erosion of the independence of the judiciary? Will that not be the grossest violation of fundamental rights?” he wondered.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah stated that the independence of the judiciary was not just an external aspect. “Independence of the judiciary is not just the external aspect. The most important are internal independence and institutional independence. Now you have conceded that this law actually secures internal and institutional independence,” he said.</p>n<p>He said that if the CJP had the rights which could be used to achieve certain outcomes in cases, then that was a “complete erosion of the independence of the judiciary — an aspect which this court has never taken into consideration”.</p>n<p>Justice Shah said that countries like Nepal used a ballot to determine benches, noting that the chief justice did not have any say. “So this law is making these things clearer and improving independence [of the judiciary],” he said.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Minallah said Advocate Siddiqui was perhaps confused and there was a need to understand that the powers of the CJP were different from the jurisdictional power of the SC.</p>n<p>“This entire law has not touched the power of the Supreme Court. It’s only the chief justice, and the chief justice, not the Supreme Court.”</p>n<p>But the lawyer argued against it, saying the law had “obliterated” rule 9.</p>n<p>“The chief justice himself said in his judgement that benches cannot be constituted as per rule 9 when they have been constituted by the chief justice,” he said.</p>n<p>Asked whether the CJP could be separated from other judges in the SC, the lawyer said “no”.</p>n<p>“Then how was the power given to the CJP [alone]?” the court asked.</p>n<p>To that, the lawyer said: “Sir, you surrendered … you authorised the chief justice and agreed to oblige with his decision.”</p>n<p>At that, Justice Mandokhail pointed out to him that the judgements were passed on the basis of rules before the Act under discussion was made.</p>n<p>“Now there is an Act. Are the judgements superior to the act?” he asked.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer argued that the judges themselves said in their rulings that the rules were on a “higher pedestal”.</p>n<p>Justice Ahsan then observed: “If this court interprets the law in a certain way — the law, an ordinary law — and the parliament changes that law, nobody has stopped them from doing that [in retrospect] … The distinction here is that the rules which have been framed in 1980 in the exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution are not interpreting any ordinary law which can be changed by any ordinary legislation.</p>n<p>“This power has been exercised under the Constitution and it says so specifically ‘in exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan the Supreme Court makes the following rules’.”</p>n<p>So, he explained, if the SC interpreted a law that the parliament then decided to change, it may do so.</p>n<p>“Because they have made the law, they can change it,” he said, adding that likewise, the SC too could change the rules it made.</p>n<p>This aligned with the doctrine of separation of powers and trichotomy of powers, he added.</p>n<p>After Advocate Siddiqui’s arguments, the court took a short break and resumed the hearing with AGP Awan presenting arguments on the maintainability of the pleas.</p>n<h2><a id="agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" href="#agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>AGP argues maintainability of pleas</h2>n<p>The AGP said his arguments for the rejection of the petitions centred on their “failure to meet the test criteria under Article 184(3), which is that the matter must be of public importance and it must relate to the enforcement of fundamental rights”.</p>n<p>“In so far as public importance is concerned … this law, in fact, deals with the concentration of powers … in one office,” he said, adding that the Act endeavoured to “democratise this institution, bring more transparency and structure the discretion”.</p>n<p>He further said the law dealt with issues that were important for the public — which were the litigants.</p>n<p>As far as the independence of the judiciary was concerned, he said “no external element, which is to say that no other institution, [was] given any role whatsoever under this Act in so far as practice and procedure of this court is concerned. It is all confined within this court”.</p>n<p>That also sufficed to establish the lack of any basis to challenge the Act under the purview of the violation of fundamental rights, he contended.</p>n<p>He added that the Act addressed public concerns.</p>n<p>At that, Justice Ahsan said both parties agreed that there was a question of public importance.</p>n<p>“The only question now is whether a fundamental right has been violated, and if a fundamental right has been violated, which one,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Isa further noted that a law was “sustainable unless otherwise proven”, saying that the burden of proof was on the one who challenged the law in this case.</p>n<p>When Justice Afridi asked him to elaborate on the distinction between the enforcement of fundamental rights and the infringement of fundamental rights, he explained that the petitioner was required “to show is that this law does not in fact enforce this right of access to justice”.</p>n<p>Justice Yahya then asked him whether the petition in question talked about the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>To that, the AGP said the petitioners’ argument was that the CJP’s powers had been curtailed under this law which made it unconstitutional.</p>n<p>But it was not the case here, he said, adding that the Act did not, in any way, prevent the enforcement of any right.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Shah said it could be that enforcement and infringement were being used interchangeably.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Akhtar observed that since Pakistan had a federal structure, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies must remain within their constitutional limits.</p>n<p>“It seems to me that if the parliament or the provincial assembly makes a law that is ultra vires, it is in the public interest to challenge that law. Because if remaining within the constitutional limits is in the public interest then going beyond those limits and making an ultra vires law is surely a breach of public interest,” he reasoned.</p>n<p>On this, the CJP was of the view that the fundamental question here was not if the law was unconstitutional but whether it was within the parameters of Article 184(3).</p>n<p>For his part, the AGP contended that clause 3 of Article 184 required that a matter of public importance related to the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>Following that, Justice Malik raised the question of how could a party appeal the full court’s decision if it decided that a plea was not maintainable.</p>n<p>“Are they not entitled to their appeal in the event that the court decides that these petitions are not maintainable? They cannot challenge it? Does that not go the fact that once again you have put the burden on the court itself to decide when it wants to constitute a full and block that right of appeal and when it wants to constitute a smaller bench and allow that right of appeal?” she questioned.</p>n<h2><a id="law-limiting-cjps-powers" href="#law-limiting-cjps-powers" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Law limiting CJP’s powers</h2>n<p>The previous government of PDM had enacted the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aimed at limiting the powers of the top judge. The <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">legislation</a> deprives the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity.</p>n<p>The law states that a three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the apex court, will decide whether or not to take up a matter suo motu. Previously, this was solely the prerogative of the CJP. Additionally, it adds to the review jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, giving the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in suo motu cases.</p>n<p>On April 13, an eight-judge SC bench headed by former CJP Bandial had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432">suspended</a> the enforcement of the Supreme Court (Practice &amp; Procedure) Act, 2023.</p>n<p>When the law was suspended, Justice Bandial had observed that the court had great respect for the Parliament but it also had to examine if any constitutional deviation, violation or transgression had taken place while enacting the legislation.</p>n<p>The petitioners in the case had pleaded before the apex court that the concept, preparation, endorsement and passing of the law was an act tainted with mala fide. Therefore, the bill should be struck down after declaring it to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the petition contended.</p>n<p>Moreover, they said the federal government could not frame any law that seeks to interfere or regulate the functioning of the apex court or the powers exercised by it or its judges including CJP, under the Constitution.</p>n<h2><a id="justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" href="#justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Justice Isa refuses guard of honour</h2>n<p>Separately, Justice Isa refused to receive a guard of honour upon arriving at the SC for his first day as the new chief justice. He was given a warm welcome by the SC staff and was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the registrar.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right ‘>n <div class=’media__item ‘><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class=’media__caption ‘>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa was given a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at the Supreme Court. — DawnNewsTV</figcaption>n </figure></p>n<p>“Thank you all so much. We need a lot of cooperation from you all,” he told the staff, adding that he would hold detailed meetings with them later as he had meetings and the full court hearing scheduled for today.</p>n<p>CJP Isa observed that people did not approach the top court when they were “happy”, adding that the people wanted an end to the issues that plagued them.</p>n<p>He urged the court staff to treat visitors like “guests”, calling on them to keep the doors of the top court open and accessible for all.</p>n<p>“Help those coming [to the SC],” he said.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–instagram media__item–relative’><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CxUqHp5om7W/" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; 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Parvez Elahi&amp;rsquo;s arrest: LHC issues non-bailable arrest warrants for Islamabad IG over contempt

<p>The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Akbar Nisar Khan over a contempt case linked to PTI President Parvez Elahi’s arrest.</p>n<p>On September 1, the Islamabad police had re-arrested Elahi under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) from near his residence soon after the LHC had set him free and issued a restraining order against his possible arrest by any agency or preventive detention.</p>n<p>After the re-arrest, the PTI president’s wife, Qaisara Elahi, filed two pleas in the LHC, seeking directions for relevant authorities to present him in court and contempt proceedings against Punjab police officials on the grounds of “willful disobedience”.</p>n<p>On Sept 4, the LHC issued a show-cause notice for contempt of court to IG Khan while hearing the plea for Parvez’s production in court. A day later, the LHC further directed him to appear before the court in a personal capacity on Sept 6 along with Elahi.</p>n<p>But during the Sept 6 hearing, the Islamabad advocate general informed the court that the Islamabad IG could not comply with its directive as he had to appear before the Supreme Court.</p>n<p>In the last hearing on Sep 11, the court had issued bailable arrest warrants for the Islamabad police chief for his no-show. The court had directed him to appear before it on Sep 18, only for him to skip the hearing again.</p>n<p>Today, LHC Justice Mirza Waqas Rauf again asked about the absence of the inspector general and questioned whether “the court orders are being taken for granted”.</p>n<p>The government’s counsel informed the court that the Islamabad police chief was “busy”. The court then sought confirmation from the government’s counsel regarding the IG’s whereabouts.</p>n<p>Following a short break, the court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for IG Khan, noting that he had failed to appear before the court even when bailable arrest warrants were issued during the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775298">last hearing</a> of the case.</p>n<p>The court sought the government’s counsel’s reply on the matter, to which the counsel responded that he had been unable to establish contact with the IG.</p>n<p>Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned until October 2.</p>n<h2><a id="elahi-arrested-again" href="#elahi-arrested-again" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Elahi arrested again</h2>n<p>In a separate development, Elahi was re-arrested yet again — this time by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment in a case involving the appointment of Muhammad Khan Bhatti as his principal secretary during his tenure as the chief minister, his lawyer told <em>Dawn.com</em>.</p>n<p>According to the first information report filed by the ACE — a copy of which is available with <em>Dawn.com</em>, the ACE said the appointment of Bhatti was not in accordance with the law.</p>n<p>The former chief minister will be moved to Lahore tomorrow, his lawyer Intezar Hussain said.</p>n<h2><a id="timeline-of-arrests" href="#timeline-of-arrests" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Timeline of arrests</h2>n<p>Following May 9 riots, Elahi was first <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757308/pti-president-chaudhry-pervaiz-elahi-arrested-outside-lahore-residence">taken into custody</a> on June 1 from outside his Lahore residence by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Gujrat for allegedly taking kickbacks in development projects.</p>n<p>The next day, a Lahore court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757659">discharged</a> him in the case but only for the ACE to re-arrest him in a case registered in the Gujranwala region. In this case, Elahi was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757526">accused</a> of causing a Rs100 million loss to the national exchequer and receiving kickbacks during his time as the Punjab chief minister.</p>n<p>A day after his re-arrest, a Gujranwala court also <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757833/respite-for-yasmin-rashid-but-liberty-eludes-parvez-elahi">discharged</a> Elahi in two corruption cases, including the one in which he was detained on June 2. But freedom still eluded him as he was again <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1757833">re-arrested</a> by anti-graft officials in a case pertaining to “illegal recruitments” in the Punjab Assembly.</p>n<p>While Elahi remained in custody, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated another inquiry against him on June 9 over his alleged involvement in embezzlement in development projects in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin.</p>n<p>On June 12, a sessions court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1759436">set aside</a> a judicial magistrate’s decision of Elahi’s acquittal in the illegal appointments case. The Lahore High Court (LHC), however, suspended the lower court’s order a day later, and a judicial magistrate again <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1759645">sent him to judicial lockup</a>.</p>n<p>The PTI leader finally <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1760900/parvez-elahi-gets-bail-but-others-not-off-the-hook">secured relief</a> from an anti-corruption court in Lahore on June 20 but could not be released from jail as orders for his release were not delivered to the prison administration.</p>n<p>The same day, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) booked him, his son Moonis Elahi and three others on charges of money laundering. Subsequently, the next day, the FIA took him into custody from jail and he was sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in the money laundering case.</p>n<p>On June 25, a special court in Lahore <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761581">granted</a> Elahi bail in the case, but he was again <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761837">arrested</a> by the FIA outside Camp Jail in connection with another money laundering case the very next day. In this case, the FIA alleged that Elahi handed over Rs50m to a woman via a frontman for money laundering.</p>n<p>Come July, a Lahore anti-terrorism court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1763039">dismissed</a> Elahi’s post-arrest bail plea as not maintainable in a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1762879">case of attacking a police team</a> that raided his house to arrest him in an inquiry by the ACE.</p>n<p>On July 14, the LHC <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1764844">restrained</a> police and the ACE from arresting the former Punjab chief minister in any undisclosed case while hearing his plea seeking details of all cases registered against him.</p>n<p>And Lahore Banking Crimes Court issued Elahi’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1765004">release orders</a> in the money laundering case on July 15 — a week after it allowed his post-arrest bail. But he was not set free as police said he was booked in a terror case. The said case was registered at Lahore’s Ghalib Market police station under terrorism provisions.</p>n<p>A day later, the Lahore deputy commissioner <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1765237">issued a 30-day detention order</a> under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) for Elahi, resulting in his <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1765237">detention</a> at the city’s Camp Jail.</p>n<p>Upon the completion of the MPO detention on Aug 14, the Lahore NAB team took Elahi into <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770085/ptis-parvez-elahi-rearrested-by-nab-in-bribery-case-after-release-from-adiala-jail">custody</a> from the Adiala Jail — where he was taken on July 19, reportedly on administrative grounds — in yet another graft case. The NAB alleged Elahi received bribes/kickbacks in exchange for getting the “contracts of road schemes of Gujrat Highways Division awarded to favourite/hand-picked contractors”.</p>n<p>Fifteen days later, the LHC <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773448">directed</a> NAB to release him and barred authorities from arresting him in any case, but Islamabad police arrested him anyway. Police said he was held under 3-MPO on a magistrate’s orders. The order said Elahi should be detained for 15 days.</p>n<p>The detention order was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1774173">suspended</a> by the IHC on Sept 6 but Elahi was arrested yet again by the police the same day. The arrest was made in a case pertaining to clashes between Islamabad police and PTI workers outside the Judicial Complex on March 18.</p>n<p>On Sept 15, an Islamabad anti-terrorism court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773448">granted</a> him bail in the riots case, but he was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776336/parvez-elahi-shifted-to-lahore-after-12th-arrest">re-arrested</a> by the ACE a day later in connection with a case pertaining to the Lahore Master Plan 2050.</p>n<p>The surety bonds for the bail were not submitted yet; hence, his client had not been released from the Adiala jail and subsequently taken into custody by the ACE, Elahi’s lawyer said.</p>

Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s other crisis

<p>PAKISTAN’S macroeconomic crisis, the most serious in its history, continues to warrant urgent and sustained attention.</p>n<p>As is well known, the roots of this crisis lie in chronic fiscal deficits and external imbalances that are responsible for its perpetual balance-of-payments problems, high inflation and macroeconomic instability, necessitating repeated financial bailouts.</p>n<p>Today, this crisis has to be addressed in an adverse global environment where financial market conditions remain tight. All the economic trends for the country are negative and unlikely to be reversed any time soon.</p>n<p>Internal and external financial imbalances remain wide, foreign exchange reserves are fragile despite injections of funds from the IMF and friendly countries, inflation is at a historic high, domestic and foreign debt have reached unsustainable levels, the rupee has lost record value against the dollar, exports have fallen, overseas remittances have declined and foreign direct investment has plunged to a new low.</p>n<p>But there is another crisis that is worsening and is also consequential for Pakistan’s future. This is the crisis in human development — with most indicators of literacy, education, health and other aspects of social justice and human welfare deteriorating in recent years.</p>n<p>The World Bank calls it a “silent, deep human capital crisis”. Its recent report Pakistan Human Capital Review quantifies this crisisand urges increased investment in human capital, pointing out that lack of this will continue to limit the country’s growth and development prospects. Many national and international reports and documents paint a grim picture of the state of human development.</p>n<p>According to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf">UNDP’s Global Human Development Report of 2022</a>, Pakistan’s Human Development Index rank remains at 161 out of 192 countries with no progress recorded from 2019 to 2022. The WB report places Pakistan in the company of sub-Saharan African countries in the Human Capital Index, which at 0.41, is the lowest in South Asia.</p>n<p>The country’s education deficit should be treated as an emergency but barely figures in government priorities. No issue is more important for Pakistan’s future than the coverage and quality of education available to our children.</p>n<p>Yet the facts remain dismal. Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of children, over 20 million (aged five to 16) out of school. Twelve million are girls. It means 44 per cent of children in this age group do not go to school. This violates the constitutional obligation set out in Article 25A that enjoins the state to “provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years”.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>The country is sleepwalking into a human development disaster of serious consequences for its future.</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Of those who do go to school dropout rates are high. All this is the result of decades of neglect and chronic underspending on education. Just 2.4pc of GDP makes it among the lowest in South Asia. Only 14 of 195 countries spend less on education than Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s youthful demographic profile and education poverty, young people face a jobless and hopeless future unless the scale and quality of education is expanded.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1749885"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Literacy levels have shown little improvement in recent years. Latest available official sources put literacy at 59pc, which means over 40pc of the population are illiterate. The literacy level has been virtually stagnant for the past five years or more, with spending on education also declining. No country has predicated economic progress on an illiterate base. Yet these levels remain largely unchanged.</p>n<p>In youth literacy, which is around 75pc, Pakistan is second from the bottom in South Asia. The gender gap is telling. According to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR354/FR354.pdf">Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18</a>, almost half of women in the age group 15-25 are uneducated. 61pc of rural women are illiterate.</p>n<p>The poverty numbers are equally disturbing. With anaemic growth, soaring inflation (especially food inflation) and limited job creation, poverty has risen and become more severe. Of course, the Covid pandemic and megafloods of 2022 (reflecting the effects of climate change) contributed to this.</p>n<p>But the result is that more people have been driven below the poverty line. According to the WB, poverty is estimated to have risen by five percentage points to 39.4pc in FY23, with 12.5m more people pushed into poverty as compared to the previous year.</p>n<p>One of the most troubling phenomena is that of child stunting, which the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar/publication/pakistan-human-capital-review-building-capabilities-throughout-life">Human Capital Review</a> calls a “public health crisis”. The report finds around 40pc of Pakistani children under five are stunted — a shocking number.</p>n<p>This condemns these children to a life of physical disability, poverty and deprivation and also exposes them to premature mortality. This is mostly the result of malnutrition primarily associated with poverty. Malnourished mothers are more likely to have stunted children. It is also the result of high fertility.</p>n<p>Stunting is worse in Sindh where it is 50pc of under-five children and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it is 48pc. Again, this hardly attracts the attention of governments. The HCR report rightly calls for raising the national profile of stunting, which it describes as “a major human capital catastrophe” that merits national and local efforts to address it.</p>n<p>Progress in gender empowerment has been underwhelming despite some modest gains. Gender gaps in education, health, access to employment, financial services, information, political and other opportunities continue to be wide. In the Human Development Report’s (2022) Gender Inequality Index, Pakistan is ranked 161 out of 191 countries.</p>n<p>It does worse in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/">World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023</a>, where it is 142 out of 146 countries — among the bottom five countries. In educational attainment it is ranked 138 and at 132 for health and survival. Female labour force participation remains low — among the lowest in Muslim countries — 22pc compared to over 80pc for males. These statistics do not fully capture the multiple deprivations and injustices women face but they do underline how much needs to be done for half the country’s population.</p>n<p>The overall picture of various dimensions of human development is so bleak that it suggests Pakistan may be sleepwalking to a disaster that can only be ignored at great peril to the country’s stability, economic progress and prosperity.</p>n<p><em>The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.</em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

Inflation forces people into debt cycle, asset sale

<p>• From Karachi to small towns in Punjab, households struggle to make ends meet<br />n• Families skimp on food or enrol kids in seminaries instead of schools</p>n<p>KARACHI / TAXILA: Growing up in a Pakistani household, lessons in “saving something for a rainy day” are inculcated into children from a young age. These savings could be in the form of cash or assets, like gold. For every family, the definition of a “rainy day” varies, but in our parlance, they broadly refer to any event that throws the family’s finances off the rails — a wedding, sudden illness and business losses, etc.</p>n<p>Such savings were allocated for major expenses, not meeting day-to-day needs. However, in recent times, amidst a spiralling economic crisis and ballooning inflation, this distinction is fast eroding. More families are now compelled to cut into their financial safety nets to meet daily needs, like power bills, sch­ool fees for children, house rent and other expenses.</p>n<p>Zubaida Bibi is a widow who lives in a rented house in Taxila’s Bilal Colony.</p>n<p>When her electricity bill for August upended the household budget, she was left with no other option but to pawn her three-decade-old engagement ring with a neighbour and borrow money to pay the bill.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1773719"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>She hoped to get the ring back after receiving her pension funds, which were yet to be released.</p>n<p>Karachi resident Ahmed Zaman, 40, is the sole breadwinner for his family of six. His monthly salary of Rs150,000 was enough to manage household expenses up until last year, but not anymore.</p>n<p>“This month, I asked my wife for some help and she sold her gold earrings which she got at our marriage,” he told <em>Dawn</em> while giving a breakdown of his daily cost of living which has “gotten out of hand”.</p>n<p>“The house I live in has Rs35,000 rent, and my last electricity bill was over Rs40,000,” he said, explaining how half of his salary is consumed in only two expenses.</p>n<p><strong>Debt cycle</strong></p>n<p>It is also tough going for families with multiple Living in Pakistan’s largest city, three of the seven members of Hussain Shabbir’s family contribute to the household budget. Even then, it has become impossible for them to take care of their expenses, Mr Shabbir, 25, told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“My father, brother and I work. We have a combined income of around Rs130,000, but for the last couple of months, I had to borrow money from friends near the month’s end.”</p>n<p>For him, this is becoming a “debt cycle”.</p>n<p>“I return the money to one person and immediately find myself in need to borrow more from another for the next month,” he said, adding that his father and brother were also dealing with similar debt cycles.</p>n<p>For now, Mr Shabbir’s family has created some fiscal space for themselves by selling their car to pay off some debts. But with inflation not slowing down, they fear the respite would only last them a couple of months.</p>n<p><strong>Cutting expenses</strong></p>n<p>Those who are not in dire need to sell assets or borrow money are trying to squeeze their spending by cutting out expenses that are not the bare essentials needs.</p>n<p>31-year-old Sameer Rashid recently became a father. He thought a monthly income of Rs100,000 would be sufficient to sustain his nuclear family, but ground realities beg to differ.</p>n<p>Sharing his monthly budget, he said: “The expenses of my newborn alone are Rs12,000 to Rs13,000. Sometimes even more than that, but not less.”</p>n<p>This month, Mr Rashid paid Rs30,000 for electricity. He owns a motorcycle and spends Rs13,000 on fuel to get to work.</p>n<p>“Ration and other necessary items cost no less than Rs25,000 for two people [and] these are just the most basic expenses,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“I have stopped going to family functions and other ceremonies because I just don’t have the money to buy gifts to give on such occasions.”</p>n<p>While rationalising expenses seems to be a logical outcome of the crunch economic situation, it is inadvertently causing a spiral of distress for retailers and others in the services industry who rely on this spending.</p>n<p><strong>Skimping on food</strong></p>n<p>Ehsan Ali owns a poultry shop in the Lalarukh area of Taxila. In the recent past, he has seen his sales drop to almost 60 per cent of what they used to be.</p>n<p>With the number of his daily customers declining, he has been relying on hotels, restaurants and marriage halls to keep his shop running.</p>n<p>The prices of poultry have gone out of reach of the common man due to inflation, Mr Ali told <em>Dawn</em>, adding that customers now buy off cuts such as pota, kaleji and chicken legs instead of meat, as they cannot afford it anymore.</p>n<p>Aftab Hussain, who runs a hotel on Taxila Chowk, has also seen his income dip considerably. Of all things, he has registered a marked decline in the number of orders for tea at his establishment.</p>n<p>“Most of my customers are vendors, drivers and daily wagers. They now order the token (half-cup) tea instead of a full cup as it costs them half the price,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>Similarly, the meat dishes he cooks at his hotel, like qeema, qorma and beef, now attract 80 per cent fewer consumers, as they now prefer cheaper dishes such as vegetables and lentils.</p>n<p>The alterations to lifestyle have gone beyond cutting basic expenses. People have been forced to move a notch down and choose a cheaper alternative to almost everything — their food choices, their homes, cars and their children’s education.</p>n<p><strong>Alternatives to education costs</strong></p>n<p>Hamyuan Butt, an administrator of a seminary on Faisal Shaheed Road, claims the enrollment has doubled in the past two months as people take their children out of private schools and opt for religious seminaries, which cost far less in terms of fees and other expenses.</p>n<p>Even people from the middle class are enrolling their children in the seminary, which provides free-of-cost accommodation facilities to pupils.</p>n<p>In the past, he says, primarily orphans and children from lower-income or religious backgrounds used to enrol in the seminary.</p>n<p>“But the situation is changing with each passing day. Now people cannot afford to feed their children and are enrolling them in institutions where free food and lodging are provided for,” he added.</p>n<p><strong>Long-term effects</strong></p>n<p>So what happens if such economic adversity is sustained over a long period?</p>n<p>Noted economist Dr Kaiser Bengali recalls a study he worked on over a decade and a half ago, which followed the lives of 30 families of those with medical conditions for over a year. Half of the patients needed dialysis, while the other half had a person living with cancer in the household.</p>n<p>“We saw that families sold their cars, gold and even property to afford the medical expenses, and in many cases, the patient didn’t even survive as the disease was chronic.”</p>n<p>This has a crippling effect on the family, emotionally as well as financially.</p>n<p>Something similar, he says, is happening with middle-class families now, as they are forced to sell assets to pay for recurring expenses, such as electricity bills and fuel or commuting costs. Ultimately, he fears, it is not sustainable.</p>n<p>He noted that many people had already stopped using cars and shifted to motorbikes, while those who previously owned two-wheelers had resorted to public transport.</p>n<p>If something does not change, it may soon be a choice between sending your children to school or putting fuel in the tank to get to work every day.</p>n<p>Recalling another study by the Social Policy Development Centre from two decades ago, Mr Bengali shared that he and his team found that people had stopped socialising to avoid giving gifts.</p>n<p>Such choices are not normal, and take a toll on people’s health, both physically and psychologically.</p>n<p>“What will a man do when his family would ask him for something and he would not be able to provide it? How will he face his children and wife?”</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

The real test begins: Can CJP Qazi Faez Isa deliver justice without fear or favour?

<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em>“That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. And that, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”</em></p>n</blockquote>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em><strong>— Oath of the Chief Justice of Pakistan</strong></em></p>n</blockquote>n<p>As Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378">dons the robe of the country’s top judge,</a> <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761420">over a hundred civilians are in military custody,</a> draconian legislation that <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771203">never received the President’s assent</a> has been published in the gazette, elections on time seem impossible, and the pendency of cases in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">Supreme Court has soared to over 56,000.</a></p>n<p>In April, Justice Isa attended a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1746928">convention on the 50th Anniversary of the Constitution.</a> In his speech, he held up a copy of the Constitution and said: “This book is our identity, Pakistan’s identity. I want to say on behalf of my institution that we are also defenders of the Constitution. And if I do not do that, then you can criticise me.”</p>n<p>The real test begins now. And here are its toughest questions:</p>n<h2><a id="amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" href="#amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Amendments to the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act</h2>n<p>In 2015, through the 21st Amendment and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1420800454_327.pdf">corresponding amendments</a> to the Army Act, military courts were empowered to try civilians for certain terrorism related offences. Terrorists were at war with our nation — terrorists responsible for the savage and inhumane murder of children.</p>n<p>In the District Bar Case, the majority of the Supreme Court upheld the 21st Amendment. Per the majority, “we appear to be confronted with a warlike situation and consequently the Federation is duty bound by the constitution to defend Pakistan.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771206"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1198632">Justice Isa did not agree,</a> and instead held, “the constitution does not permit the trial of civilians by the military as it would contravene fundamental rights.” Per Justice Isa, “no normal person can sympathise with killers who must be prosecuted and punished, but in accordance with the law and the Constitution. If we rush to convict terrorists through unconstitutional means we stoop to their level.”</p>n<p>Even when it came to the trial of suspected terrorists, Justice Isa held that justice could not be handed over to the military. And so, he struck down a constitutional amendment.</p>n<p>Last month, the amendments to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64e204089f786_138.pdf">Pakistan Army Act</a> and the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://molaw.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Official%20Secrets%20(Amendment)%20Act,%202023.pdf">Official Secrets Act</a> were published in the gazette. The amendments to the Army Act entrench and give legal cover to the role of the military in national development. Neither of these amendments received the President’s assent, which the nation later discovered through his tweet.</p>n<p>Yet, members of the caretaker government rushed on national television, claiming that the President’s assent was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771326">deemed to be given.</a> The simple problem with this interpretation is that this is not what the Constitution says. The deeming provision of the Constitution under Article 75(3) only kicks in when a bill has been passed a second time by a joint sitting of Parliament. This never happened.</p>n<p>Regardless of the draconian nature of these amendments, members of an unelected setup were eager to deem assent. The amendments to the Pakistan Army Act extend the jurisdiction of military courts over a person who “is or has been” subject to the Army Act. This suggests that the amendment applies to serving and retired members of the military. Retired army officers can now be tried by military courts for defamation, electronic crimes, and unauthorised disclosure. Previously, the jurisdiction of a court martial over retired army officers was far more restricted.</p>n<p>Under the Official Secrets Act as it stood, the focus was on espionage which was prejudicial to the “safety or interests of the state”. The amendment, however, introduces an additional element of intentionally acting in a manner which is prejudicial to “public order”. Under the new law, it is a criminal offence to be “in the vicinity of” a military establishment for any purpose prejudicial to “public order”.</p>n<p>What does acting prejudicial to “public order” mean? How much vicinity is considered enough? The room for abuse is glaring.</p>n<p>Both these amendments have now been challenged in the apex court. The institution, now headed by Justice Isa, will hear this challenge and determine whether these laws will remain in the gazette.</p>n<h2><a id="delay-in-elections" href="#delay-in-elections" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Delay in elections</h2>n<p>The <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1549886415_632.pdf">preamble of the Constitution</a> provides that “the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people.” A core constitutional principle is the right to be governed by your elected representatives.</p>n<p>On dissolution of the national assembly or a provincial assembly, a general election shall be held within a period of ninety days after dissolution. Despite the efforts of some, there is no other interpretation possible. The constitutional command is unambiguous.</p>n<p>Yet, two provinces have been unrepresented for several months. A decision of the Supreme Court has been and continues to be violated. Even today, there is no definitive date for general elections at the provincial or national level.</p>n<p>Currently, the ECP is busy arguing over which authority has the duty to announce the date for elections, and using the census to justify the delay. Article 48(5) of the Constitution states that where the President dissolves the National Assembly, the President shall appoint a date for elections. The language is crystal clear.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1775467"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The ECP, however, insists that, in fact, they have the authority to announce the date. The clash over the announcement of the election date will inevitably lead to further unnecessary litigation.</p>n<p>As regards the census, it was approved by the Council of Common Interests including the caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Election Act, 2017, expressly prohibits a caretaker government from taking major policy decisions. The very edifice of the approval of the census is questionable. Even otherwise, the census and fresh delimitation cannot override the 90-day time limit.</p>n<p>“Democracy demands elections, the Constitution demands elections. Democracy is meaningless without such an exercise. To concede to the [Election] Commission the power, especially on the constitutional plane, to interfere with the electoral process in so fundamental a manner could be tantamount to derailing democracy itself,” per the decision authored by Justice Munib Akhtar ordering provincial polls.</p>n<p>Without elections, there is no democracy.</p>n<p>The court should not need to tell us what is clearly written in the Constitution. As the ECP and the caretaker governments shirk their responsibility (like the governors did earlier this year), the stage is set for the matter to end up in the courts.</p>n<h2><a id="administration-of-the-court" href="#administration-of-the-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Administration of the court</h2>n<p>Justice Isa inherits a court <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">with over 56,000 pending cases.</a> This cuts at the basic right to access justice. There can be no trust and confidence in the legal system when it takes several years for litigants to be heard. Unfortunately in Pakistan, the right to be heard has become a privilege, not a right.</p>n<p>Years are spent while families of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearances are granted a hearing. Citizens continue to be detained in internment centers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At times, persons wrongly convicted have already served the entirety of their sentence while awaiting an appeal. A dysfunctional legal system itself acts as a punishment for many. This cannot continue. Reducing the backlog must be a priority.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776501"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In March this year, Justice Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744932">called for the postponement of cases under Article 184(3)</a> until amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, were made. In a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1745162">“circular” issued through the registrar,</a> former CJP Umar Ata Bandial asserted that the observations made by Justice Isa were to be disregarded. In response, Justice Isa claimed, “history witnesses, that when in an individual power is concentrated, disastrous consequences follow.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Justice Isa has been vocal about the need to democratise the court. Currently, the power to form benches, the invoking of the court’s original (<em>suo motu</em>) jurisdiction, and the convening of a judicial commission meeting for the appointment of judges are all powers that lie with the chief justice. As the absolute power he spoke against now vests in his office, it is for Justice Isa to honour his word.</p>n<h2><a id="a-united-court" href="#a-united-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>A united court</h2>n<p>Justice Bandial was not able to unite his court. On provincial elections, not one judge in the court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1739739">disputed the need for provincial elections within 90 days.</a> The only dispute was regarding the manner in which the court’s <em>suo motu</em> jurisdiction was invoked.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776211"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Yet, weeks were spent needlessly arguing over whether the decision ordering provincial elections was accepted by a majority of 3:2 (or whether the petitions were rejected by 4:3). The majority was clearly 3:2. While the judges agreed on the principle of 90 days, they could not speak with one voice. The fact that the citizens of two provinces were unrepresented became secondary.</p>n<p>The divisions in the judiciary were exploited by the former coalition government in their brazen defiance of the court, and the moral authority of the highest court was diminished.</p>n<p>It now falls to Justice Isa to take his institution along with him. This is not to say that there should be no dissent. Ultimately, the judiciary does not need to be united in their decisions. It does, however, need to be united in its objective to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And to dispense justice without fear or favour.</p>n<p>This is their oath to the nation, and its people.</p>

Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s other crisis

<p>PAKISTAN’S macroeconomic crisis, the most serious in its history, continues to warrant urgent and sustained attention.</p>n<p>As is well known, the roots of this crisis lie in chronic fiscal deficits and external imbalances that are responsible for its perpetual balance-of-payments problems, high inflation and macroeconomic instability, necessitating repeated financial bailouts.</p>n<p>Today, this crisis has to be addressed in an adverse global environment where financial market conditions remain tight. All the economic trends for the country are negative and unlikely to be reversed any time soon.</p>n<p>Internal and external financial imbalances remain wide, foreign exchange reserves are fragile despite injections of funds from the IMF and friendly countries, inflation is at a historic high, domestic and foreign debt have reached unsustainable levels, the rupee has lost record value against the dollar, exports have fallen, overseas remittances have declined and foreign direct investment has plunged to a new low.</p>n<p>But there is another crisis that is worsening and is also consequential for Pakistan’s future. This is the crisis in human development — with most indicators of literacy, education, health and other aspects of social justice and human welfare deteriorating in recent years.</p>n<p>The World Bank calls it a “silent, deep human capital crisis”. Its recent report Pakistan Human Capital Review quantifies this crisisand urges increased investment in human capital, pointing out that lack of this will continue to limit the country’s growth and development prospects. Many national and international reports and documents paint a grim picture of the state of human development.</p>n<p>According to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf">UNDP’s Global Human Development Report of 2022</a>, Pakistan’s Human Development Index rank remains at 161 out of 192 countries with no progress recorded from 2019 to 2022. The WB report places Pakistan in the company of sub-Saharan African countries in the Human Capital Index, which at 0.41, is the lowest in South Asia.</p>n<p>The country’s education deficit should be treated as an emergency but barely figures in government priorities. No issue is more important for Pakistan’s future than the coverage and quality of education available to our children.</p>n<p>Yet the facts remain dismal. Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of children, over 20 million (aged five to 16) out of school. Twelve million are girls. It means 44 per cent of children in this age group do not go to school. This violates the constitutional obligation set out in Article 25A that enjoins the state to “provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years”.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>The country is sleepwalking into a human development disaster of serious consequences for its future.</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Of those who do go to school dropout rates are high. All this is the result of decades of neglect and chronic underspending on education. Just 2.4pc of GDP makes it among the lowest in South Asia. Only 14 of 195 countries spend less on education than Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s youthful demographic profile and education poverty, young people face a jobless and hopeless future unless the scale and quality of education is expanded.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1749885"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Literacy levels have shown little improvement in recent years. Latest available official sources put literacy at 59pc, which means over 40pc of the population are illiterate. The literacy level has been virtually stagnant for the past five years or more, with spending on education also declining. No country has predicated economic progress on an illiterate base. Yet these levels remain largely unchanged.</p>n<p>In youth literacy, which is around 75pc, Pakistan is second from the bottom in South Asia. The gender gap is telling. According to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR354/FR354.pdf">Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18</a>, almost half of women in the age group 15-25 are uneducated. 61pc of rural women are illiterate.</p>n<p>The poverty numbers are equally disturbing. With anaemic growth, soaring inflation (especially food inflation) and limited job creation, poverty has risen and become more severe. Of course, the Covid pandemic and megafloods of 2022 (reflecting the effects of climate change) contributed to this.</p>n<p>But the result is that more people have been driven below the poverty line. According to the WB, poverty is estimated to have risen by five percentage points to 39.4pc in FY23, with 12.5m more people pushed into poverty as compared to the previous year.</p>n<p>One of the most troubling phenomena is that of child stunting, which the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar/publication/pakistan-human-capital-review-building-capabilities-throughout-life">Human Capital Review</a> calls a “public health crisis”. The report finds around 40pc of Pakistani children under five are stunted — a shocking number.</p>n<p>This condemns these children to a life of physical disability, poverty and deprivation and also exposes them to premature mortality. This is mostly the result of malnutrition primarily associated with poverty. Malnourished mothers are more likely to have stunted children. It is also the result of high fertility.</p>n<p>Stunting is worse in Sindh where it is 50pc of under-five children and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it is 48pc. Again, this hardly attracts the attention of governments. The HCR report rightly calls for raising the national profile of stunting, which it describes as “a major human capital catastrophe” that merits national and local efforts to address it.</p>n<p>Progress in gender empowerment has been underwhelming despite some modest gains. Gender gaps in education, health, access to employment, financial services, information, political and other opportunities continue to be wide. In the Human Development Report’s (2022) Gender Inequality Index, Pakistan is ranked 161 out of 191 countries.</p>n<p>It does worse in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/">World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023</a>, where it is 142 out of 146 countries — among the bottom five countries. In educational attainment it is ranked 138 and at 132 for health and survival. Female labour force participation remains low — among the lowest in Muslim countries — 22pc compared to over 80pc for males. These statistics do not fully capture the multiple deprivations and injustices women face but they do underline how much needs to be done for half the country’s population.</p>n<p>The overall picture of various dimensions of human development is so bleak that it suggests Pakistan may be sleepwalking to a disaster that can only be ignored at great peril to the country’s stability, economic progress and prosperity.</p>n<p><em>The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.</em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

Inflation forces people into debt cycle, asset sale

<p>• From Karachi to small towns in Punjab, households struggle to make ends meet<br />n• Families skimp on food or enrol kids in seminaries instead of schools</p>n<p>KARACHI / TAXILA: Growing up in a Pakistani household, lessons in “saving something for a rainy day” are inculcated into children from a young age. These savings could be in the form of cash or assets, like gold. For every family, the definition of a “rainy day” varies, but in our parlance, they broadly refer to any event that throws the family’s finances off the rails — a wedding, sudden illness and business losses, etc.</p>n<p>Such savings were allocated for major expenses, not meeting day-to-day needs. However, in recent times, amidst a spiralling economic crisis and ballooning inflation, this distinction is fast eroding. More families are now compelled to cut into their financial safety nets to meet daily needs, like power bills, sch­ool fees for children, house rent and other expenses.</p>n<p>Zubaida Bibi is a widow who lives in a rented house in Taxila’s Bilal Colony.</p>n<p>When her electricity bill for August upended the household budget, she was left with no other option but to pawn her three-decade-old engagement ring with a neighbour and borrow money to pay the bill.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1773719"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>She hoped to get the ring back after receiving her pension funds, which were yet to be released.</p>n<p>Karachi resident Ahmed Zaman, 40, is the sole breadwinner for his family of six. His monthly salary of Rs150,000 was enough to manage household expenses up until last year, but not anymore.</p>n<p>“This month, I asked my wife for some help and she sold her gold earrings which she got at our marriage,” he told <em>Dawn</em> while giving a breakdown of his daily cost of living which has “gotten out of hand”.</p>n<p>“The house I live in has Rs35,000 rent, and my last electricity bill was over Rs40,000,” he said, explaining how half of his salary is consumed in only two expenses.</p>n<p><strong>Debt cycle</strong></p>n<p>It is also tough going for families with multiple Living in Pakistan’s largest city, three of the seven members of Hussain Shabbir’s family contribute to the household budget. Even then, it has become impossible for them to take care of their expenses, Mr Shabbir, 25, told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“My father, brother and I work. We have a combined income of around Rs130,000, but for the last couple of months, I had to borrow money from friends near the month’s end.”</p>n<p>For him, this is becoming a “debt cycle”.</p>n<p>“I return the money to one person and immediately find myself in need to borrow more from another for the next month,” he said, adding that his father and brother were also dealing with similar debt cycles.</p>n<p>For now, Mr Shabbir’s family has created some fiscal space for themselves by selling their car to pay off some debts. But with inflation not slowing down, they fear the respite would only last them a couple of months.</p>n<p><strong>Cutting expenses</strong></p>n<p>Those who are not in dire need to sell assets or borrow money are trying to squeeze their spending by cutting out expenses that are not the bare essentials needs.</p>n<p>31-year-old Sameer Rashid recently became a father. He thought a monthly income of Rs100,000 would be sufficient to sustain his nuclear family, but ground realities beg to differ.</p>n<p>Sharing his monthly budget, he said: “The expenses of my newborn alone are Rs12,000 to Rs13,000. Sometimes even more than that, but not less.”</p>n<p>This month, Mr Rashid paid Rs30,000 for electricity. He owns a motorcycle and spends Rs13,000 on fuel to get to work.</p>n<p>“Ration and other necessary items cost no less than Rs25,000 for two people [and] these are just the most basic expenses,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“I have stopped going to family functions and other ceremonies because I just don’t have the money to buy gifts to give on such occasions.”</p>n<p>While rationalising expenses seems to be a logical outcome of the crunch economic situation, it is inadvertently causing a spiral of distress for retailers and others in the services industry who rely on this spending.</p>n<p><strong>Skimping on food</strong></p>n<p>Ehsan Ali owns a poultry shop in the Lalarukh area of Taxila. In the recent past, he has seen his sales drop to almost 60 per cent of what they used to be.</p>n<p>With the number of his daily customers declining, he has been relying on hotels, restaurants and marriage halls to keep his shop running.</p>n<p>The prices of poultry have gone out of reach of the common man due to inflation, Mr Ali told <em>Dawn</em>, adding that customers now buy off cuts such as pota, kaleji and chicken legs instead of meat, as they cannot afford it anymore.</p>n<p>Aftab Hussain, who runs a hotel on Taxila Chowk, has also seen his income dip considerably. Of all things, he has registered a marked decline in the number of orders for tea at his establishment.</p>n<p>“Most of my customers are vendors, drivers and daily wagers. They now order the token (half-cup) tea instead of a full cup as it costs them half the price,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>Similarly, the meat dishes he cooks at his hotel, like qeema, qorma and beef, now attract 80 per cent fewer consumers, as they now prefer cheaper dishes such as vegetables and lentils.</p>n<p>The alterations to lifestyle have gone beyond cutting basic expenses. People have been forced to move a notch down and choose a cheaper alternative to almost everything — their food choices, their homes, cars and their children’s education.</p>n<p><strong>Alternatives to education costs</strong></p>n<p>Hamyuan Butt, an administrator of a seminary on Faisal Shaheed Road, claims the enrollment has doubled in the past two months as people take their children out of private schools and opt for religious seminaries, which cost far less in terms of fees and other expenses.</p>n<p>Even people from the middle class are enrolling their children in the seminary, which provides free-of-cost accommodation facilities to pupils.</p>n<p>In the past, he says, primarily orphans and children from lower-income or religious backgrounds used to enrol in the seminary.</p>n<p>“But the situation is changing with each passing day. Now people cannot afford to feed their children and are enrolling them in institutions where free food and lodging are provided for,” he added.</p>n<p><strong>Long-term effects</strong></p>n<p>So what happens if such economic adversity is sustained over a long period?</p>n<p>Noted economist Dr Kaiser Bengali recalls a study he worked on over a decade and a half ago, which followed the lives of 30 families of those with medical conditions for over a year. Half of the patients needed dialysis, while the other half had a person living with cancer in the household.</p>n<p>“We saw that families sold their cars, gold and even property to afford the medical expenses, and in many cases, the patient didn’t even survive as the disease was chronic.”</p>n<p>This has a crippling effect on the family, emotionally as well as financially.</p>n<p>Something similar, he says, is happening with middle-class families now, as they are forced to sell assets to pay for recurring expenses, such as electricity bills and fuel or commuting costs. Ultimately, he fears, it is not sustainable.</p>n<p>He noted that many people had already stopped using cars and shifted to motorbikes, while those who previously owned two-wheelers had resorted to public transport.</p>n<p>If something does not change, it may soon be a choice between sending your children to school or putting fuel in the tank to get to work every day.</p>n<p>Recalling another study by the Social Policy Development Centre from two decades ago, Mr Bengali shared that he and his team found that people had stopped socialising to avoid giving gifts.</p>n<p>Such choices are not normal, and take a toll on people’s health, both physically and psychologically.</p>n<p>“What will a man do when his family would ask him for something and he would not be able to provide it? How will he face his children and wife?”</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

The real test begins: Can CJP Qazi Faez Isa deliver justice without fear or favour?

<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em>“That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. And that, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”</em></p>n</blockquote>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em><strong>— Oath of the Chief Justice of Pakistan</strong></em></p>n</blockquote>n<p>As Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378">dons the robe of the country’s top judge,</a> <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761420">over a hundred civilians are in military custody,</a> draconian legislation that <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771203">never received the President’s assent</a> has been published in the gazette, elections on time seem impossible, and the pendency of cases in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">Supreme Court has soared to over 56,000.</a></p>n<p>In April, Justice Isa attended a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1746928">convention on the 50th Anniversary of the Constitution.</a> In his speech, he held up a copy of the Constitution and said: “This book is our identity, Pakistan’s identity. I want to say on behalf of my institution that we are also defenders of the Constitution. And if I do not do that, then you can criticise me.”</p>n<p>The real test begins now. And here are its toughest questions:</p>n<h2><a id="amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" href="#amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Amendments to the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act</h2>n<p>In 2015, through the 21st Amendment and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1420800454_327.pdf">corresponding amendments</a> to the Army Act, military courts were empowered to try civilians for certain terrorism related offences. Terrorists were at war with our nation — terrorists responsible for the savage and inhumane murder of children.</p>n<p>In the District Bar Case, the majority of the Supreme Court upheld the 21st Amendment. Per the majority, “we appear to be confronted with a warlike situation and consequently the Federation is duty bound by the constitution to defend Pakistan.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771206"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1198632">Justice Isa did not agree,</a> and instead held, “the constitution does not permit the trial of civilians by the military as it would contravene fundamental rights.” Per Justice Isa, “no normal person can sympathise with killers who must be prosecuted and punished, but in accordance with the law and the Constitution. If we rush to convict terrorists through unconstitutional means we stoop to their level.”</p>n<p>Even when it came to the trial of suspected terrorists, Justice Isa held that justice could not be handed over to the military. And so, he struck down a constitutional amendment.</p>n<p>Last month, the amendments to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64e204089f786_138.pdf">Pakistan Army Act</a> and the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://molaw.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Official%20Secrets%20(Amendment)%20Act,%202023.pdf">Official Secrets Act</a> were published in the gazette. The amendments to the Army Act entrench and give legal cover to the role of the military in national development. Neither of these amendments received the President’s assent, which the nation later discovered through his tweet.</p>n<p>Yet, members of the caretaker government rushed on national television, claiming that the President’s assent was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771326">deemed to be given.</a> The simple problem with this interpretation is that this is not what the Constitution says. The deeming provision of the Constitution under Article 75(3) only kicks in when a bill has been passed a second time by a joint sitting of Parliament. This never happened.</p>n<p>Regardless of the draconian nature of these amendments, members of an unelected setup were eager to deem assent. The amendments to the Pakistan Army Act extend the jurisdiction of military courts over a person who “is or has been” subject to the Army Act. This suggests that the amendment applies to serving and retired members of the military. Retired army officers can now be tried by military courts for defamation, electronic crimes, and unauthorised disclosure. Previously, the jurisdiction of a court martial over retired army officers was far more restricted.</p>n<p>Under the Official Secrets Act as it stood, the focus was on espionage which was prejudicial to the “safety or interests of the state”. The amendment, however, introduces an additional element of intentionally acting in a manner which is prejudicial to “public order”. Under the new law, it is a criminal offence to be “in the vicinity of” a military establishment for any purpose prejudicial to “public order”.</p>n<p>What does acting prejudicial to “public order” mean? How much vicinity is considered enough? The room for abuse is glaring.</p>n<p>Both these amendments have now been challenged in the apex court. The institution, now headed by Justice Isa, will hear this challenge and determine whether these laws will remain in the gazette.</p>n<h2><a id="delay-in-elections" href="#delay-in-elections" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Delay in elections</h2>n<p>The <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1549886415_632.pdf">preamble of the Constitution</a> provides that “the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people.” A core constitutional principle is the right to be governed by your elected representatives.</p>n<p>On dissolution of the national assembly or a provincial assembly, a general election shall be held within a period of ninety days after dissolution. Despite the efforts of some, there is no other interpretation possible. The constitutional command is unambiguous.</p>n<p>Yet, two provinces have been unrepresented for several months. A decision of the Supreme Court has been and continues to be violated. Even today, there is no definitive date for general elections at the provincial or national level.</p>n<p>Currently, the ECP is busy arguing over which authority has the duty to announce the date for elections, and using the census to justify the delay. Article 48(5) of the Constitution states that where the President dissolves the National Assembly, the President shall appoint a date for elections. The language is crystal clear.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1775467"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The ECP, however, insists that, in fact, they have the authority to announce the date. The clash over the announcement of the election date will inevitably lead to further unnecessary litigation.</p>n<p>As regards the census, it was approved by the Council of Common Interests including the caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Election Act, 2017, expressly prohibits a caretaker government from taking major policy decisions. The very edifice of the approval of the census is questionable. Even otherwise, the census and fresh delimitation cannot override the 90-day time limit.</p>n<p>“Democracy demands elections, the Constitution demands elections. Democracy is meaningless without such an exercise. To concede to the [Election] Commission the power, especially on the constitutional plane, to interfere with the electoral process in so fundamental a manner could be tantamount to derailing democracy itself,” per the decision authored by Justice Munib Akhtar ordering provincial polls.</p>n<p>Without elections, there is no democracy.</p>n<p>The court should not need to tell us what is clearly written in the Constitution. As the ECP and the caretaker governments shirk their responsibility (like the governors did earlier this year), the stage is set for the matter to end up in the courts.</p>n<h2><a id="administration-of-the-court" href="#administration-of-the-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Administration of the court</h2>n<p>Justice Isa inherits a court <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">with over 56,000 pending cases.</a> This cuts at the basic right to access justice. There can be no trust and confidence in the legal system when it takes several years for litigants to be heard. Unfortunately in Pakistan, the right to be heard has become a privilege, not a right.</p>n<p>Years are spent while families of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearances are granted a hearing. Citizens continue to be detained in internment centers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At times, persons wrongly convicted have already served the entirety of their sentence while awaiting an appeal. A dysfunctional legal system itself acts as a punishment for many. This cannot continue. Reducing the backlog must be a priority.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776501"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In March this year, Justice Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744932">called for the postponement of cases under Article 184(3)</a> until amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, were made. In a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1745162">“circular” issued through the registrar,</a> former CJP Umar Ata Bandial asserted that the observations made by Justice Isa were to be disregarded. In response, Justice Isa claimed, “history witnesses, that when in an individual power is concentrated, disastrous consequences follow.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Justice Isa has been vocal about the need to democratise the court. Currently, the power to form benches, the invoking of the court’s original (<em>suo motu</em>) jurisdiction, and the convening of a judicial commission meeting for the appointment of judges are all powers that lie with the chief justice. As the absolute power he spoke against now vests in his office, it is for Justice Isa to honour his word.</p>n<h2><a id="a-united-court" href="#a-united-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>A united court</h2>n<p>Justice Bandial was not able to unite his court. On provincial elections, not one judge in the court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1739739">disputed the need for provincial elections within 90 days.</a> The only dispute was regarding the manner in which the court’s <em>suo motu</em> jurisdiction was invoked.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776211"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Yet, weeks were spent needlessly arguing over whether the decision ordering provincial elections was accepted by a majority of 3:2 (or whether the petitions were rejected by 4:3). The majority was clearly 3:2. While the judges agreed on the principle of 90 days, they could not speak with one voice. The fact that the citizens of two provinces were unrepresented became secondary.</p>n<p>The divisions in the judiciary were exploited by the former coalition government in their brazen defiance of the court, and the moral authority of the highest court was diminished.</p>n<p>It now falls to Justice Isa to take his institution along with him. This is not to say that there should be no dissent. Ultimately, the judiciary does not need to be united in their decisions. It does, however, need to be united in its objective to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And to dispense justice without fear or favour.</p>n<p>This is their oath to the nation, and its people.</p>

SC law: 3-member panel comprising CJP and 2 senior most judges to constitute benches

<p>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa on Monday ruled that a three-member committee, including himself and the two most senior judges, will decide bench formations as the apex court began hearing a set of petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.</p>n<p>The Act requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior judges of the court. In a pre-emptive move, the Supreme Court — then led by former CJP Umar Ata Bandial — in April had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">barred the government</a> from implementing the bill seeking to curtail the chief justice of Pakistan’s powers once it became a law.</p>n<p>In a first, the hearing today was broadcast live on television with all 15 judges of the top court presiding over the case.</p>n<p>After hearing arguments from two lawyers and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, the court adjourned the hearing to October 3, with CJP Isa directing the parties’ lawyers to submit their written arguments by September 25.</p>n<p>Dictating his order, the chief justice said: “In view of the challenge thrown to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 and as the matter is pending adjudication. We will be consulting with two senior colleagues with regard to the constitution of benches,” adding that senior puisne judges Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsan agreed with him too.</p>n<p>Shortly thereafter, the court roster for this week was issued with five benches. The rosters were decided by CJP Isa in consultation with the two senior-most puisne judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEUNbDvOqJY?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Shortly after taking oath on Sunday, CJP Isa — whose 13-month tenure will end in Oct 2024 — had formed a full court to take up the set of pleas challenging the legislation.</p>n<p>Headed by CJP Isa, the bench consisted of Justice Masood, Justice Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Before the hearing began, the federal government urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the law.</p>n<p>In a detailed reply submitted by AGP Awan, the government contended that the petitions challenging an act of Parliament were inadmissible.</p>n<p>At the outset of the hearing, the lawyers arguing the set of the pleas came to the rostrum.</p>n<p>Addressing the lawyers, Justice Isa said, “Appreciate that some of us have heard this matter and some of us are going to hear it for the first time.”</p>n<p>He said that since one member of the bench had retired there was a matter of reconstituting the bench. “A question had also arisen whether I should be a part of the bench […] then the related question that all those who will become CJP should become part of the bench […] so I think the best way to resolve it was to constitute a full court if you agree […].”</p>n<p>Advocate Khawaja Tariq Rahim kicked off the arguments in the case, with Justice Ayesha asking what would happen to Section 5 in the event the law was upheld.</p>n<p>“There is a right of appeal that is provided under this law. How do you visualise that right being exercised,” she asked. Justice Isa then asked Rahim to read the law out loud. However, the lawyer kept getting sidetracked, with the judges repeatedly telling him to read the Act.</p>n<p>“The country expects 57,000 cases to be decided. We would love to hear you. But let’s focus on your petition […] proceed with your arguments,” CJP Isa remarked. Rahim then proceeded to read out the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64230b4c044c0_115.pdf">Act</a>.</p>n<p>However, he again stopped reading out the law and said, “Framing of these rules, under Article 191, is the prerogative of the SC. When they framed the 1980 rules, the entire court sat together and together they framed the rules.”</p>n<p>Article 191 reads: “Subject to the Constitution and law, the Supreme Court may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the Cou­rt”.</p>n<p>“This intrusion by the Parliament into the affairs of the SC prompted me to come forward and file this petition. Because I feel that every institution must remain in its domain,” Rahim said.</p>n<p>Justice Naqvi, however, wondered whether the lawyer was suggesting that he did not have any objection to the “unaccountable powers in one office”.</p>n<p>“Is that your question? Are you supporting what has happened in the past? What is your legal proposition?” he asked. CJP Isa again asked Rahim to read the Act out loud.</p>n<p>“You read the Act. Either you say this entire Act is ultra vires the Constitution, that’s one contention […] You don’t need to respond to every query immediately, it will make your life very difficult […] when you are done with your arguments, you can absorb the questions and respond,” Justice Isa said.</p>n<p>In the middle of reading out the Act, Rahim said that Parliament should not have a say in functions that lay with the top court. He said that tomorrow Parliament could order that a particular bench hear a case.</p>n<p>“Let’s not go into what they may or may not do […] what Parliament decides to do in the future, you can bring another petition and we can look at it then. restrict yourself to your case,” CJP Isa interjected.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then wondered if Parliament could whittle down judicial power under Article 184(3) by providing that a committee, comprising three senior judges, be formed to decide the constitution of benches.</p>n<p>Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens.</p>n<p>In this connection, Justice Minallah further pointed out that since this power earlier resided solely with the chief justice, an argument was raised that the outcomes of cases could be influenced by constituting benches and this eroded the independence of the judiciary.</p>n<p>“If this argument is accepted, then the earlier traditional model would be acceptable to you that one person can actually control the outcome of cases by the constitution of benches and this probably was the mischief that the Parliament wanted to address?” he asked.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Ahsan referred to a previous SC judgement, which he said that had given a verdict on the procedure to be followed by the chief justice to invoke the SC’s jurisdiction under Article 183.</p>n<p>“It says where a bench […] comes to a conclusion that there is a matter of public importance affecting fundamental rights, they may recommend to the honourable chief justice that a bench be constituted.</p>n<p>“And the chief justice, after perusing the reasons that the bench assigns for recommending may or may not [proceed with its suggestion]. But at least he would record why he thinks he disagrees with the recommendations,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then said, “It seems to me that the power to constitute the bench is the subject matter of Section 2. Constituting a bench does not block the exercise of judicial power. It simply determines which is the bench that is to exercise the judicial power.”</p>n<p>He then remarked that Section 3 of the Act seemed to go beyond this. “It actually confers on the three-member committee, exercising administrative powers, to actually block the exercise of judicial powers.</p>n<p>“It is not a question of constitution of benches […] The question here, it seems to me, is the very blocking of the judicial power itself and [can] Parliament do that,” Justice Akhtar said.</p>n<p>During the hearing, Justice Hilali wondered if the office of the CJP would become “redundant” after the passage of the Act. Justice Mandokhail also asked whether the powers of the SC had been curtailed or the powers of the CJP.</p>n<p>In his arguments, after much prompting from the CJP Isa, Rahim said that Sections 5, 6 and 7 were ultra vires the Constitution. At one point, the CJP again reminded the lawyer that he could note the questions put forth by the court and answer them once he was done reading out the Act.</p>n<p>He took exception to the lawyer’s argument thus far, saying that he had not referred to the Constitution at any point. “Stick only to constitutional arguments,” he said.</p>n<p>Advocate Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui then came to the rostrum and said that the fundamental question was whether Parliament had the power to promulgate this Act or not.</p>n<p>“No, that is not the fundamental question, with utmost respect. The primary question is whether Article 184(3) can be invoked. First, you overcome that hurdle and then you argue that,” he told the lawyer.</p>n<p>“You have filed a petition not in the normal jurisdiction, you have come in the original jurisdiction of the SC which is not a right. You have to comply with certain provisions of the Constitution,” CJP Isa said.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer began referring to a previous court judgement but was interjected by the CJP.</p>n<p>Justice Isa explained to him that the court sought his arguments on the invocation of Article 184(3), under which two primary points were to be established: that the case was a matter of public interest and it sought the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>He further said that had the high courts been moved on the matter prior to the SC and it had allowed the pleas, then “you would have come to us in the appellate jurisdiction”.</p>n<p>But the petitioners had opted to move the court under Article 184(3), which had a narrow scope, he added.</p>n<p>Despite this explanation, when the lawyer proceeded to refer to previous judgements, the CJP asserted that the judgements were secondary to the Constitution.</p>n<p>He then asked the lawyer to read out Article 189, which says: “Any decision of the Supreme Court shall to the extent that it decides the question of law or is based upon or enunciates a principle law be binding upon all other courts in Pakistan.”</p>n<p>The CJP pointed out that the phrase used in the provision was “all other courts”, not the SC. “So don’t cite our own precedents to us. You are being asked a constitutional question,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Minallah then said that Parliament had diluted the chief justice’s discretionary powers. “That is all Parliament has done. It picked three judges. No one has come from the outside. It’s still the chief justice and the two senior-most judges. No one’s fundamental rights are being affected, instead institutional independence is being strengthened,” he said.</p>n<p>He further said that a right of appeal was being provided under the new law. “So which fundamental rights of the petitioner have been violated under which you have [approached the court] under Article 184(3)?” he asked.</p>n<p>Siddiqui contended that the entire Act was ultra vires the Constitution as “this domain was not available to Parliament”.</p>n<p>However, Justice Minallah asked the lawyer to clarify whether he thought this was a much-needed law but thought that Parliament did not have the power to legislate on the matter.</p>n<p>When the lawyer answered in the affirmative, the judge asked him to explain whether the status of SC rules was higher or lower than Parliament.</p>n<p>However, in his later arguments, the lawyer said he did not accept that this was a good law. “I think the idea is good,” he said.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah asked whether the lawyer thought that the chief justice should have unbridled powers.</p>n<p>Siddiqui said that under the trichotomy of powers, Parliament, the executive and the top court were to make their own rules. “Those rules have a constitutional post and [on] a higher pedestal than ordinary law.”</p>n<p>When the judges again asked Siddiqui which fundamental rights were being violated, he specifically said those under Articles 9, 10 and 10-A.</p>n<p>“My proposition is that the legislature is bound by the scheme of the Constitution, and the Constitution requires that the legislature will make its own rules. There are three organs of the state and they will function independent of one another,” Siddiqui said.</p>n<p>“It is my fundamental right to ensure and protect that this constitutional encroachment is not made by Parliament. And these are judgements on the issue which say that these are issues of violation of fundamental rights […] and if it affects a large community of people then it is a question of public importance,” he said.</p>n<p>However, CJP Isa again pointed out that the counsel was not developing his arguments and was stating articles of the Constitution.</p>n<p>At one point, Siddiqui said that the question of fundamental rights being violated was raised when Parliament did not follow due process when legislating and if there was evidence of “constitutional deviation”.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then asked whether the independence of the judiciary was a fundamental right and whether the independence of the judiciary was not a salient feature of the Constitution.</p>n<p>He asked whether each time a full court was constituted, whether it was given a “blank slate” to disregard settled law and fundamental rights. “Is this even in the power of the full court? If we are to do that, disregarding previous precedents, then surely we have to have weighty reasons to declare, for example, that independence of the judiciary is not a salient feature of the Constitution,” he said.</p>n<p>He wondered if Parliament could pick and choose which judges were included in the committee. “Today, Parliament says no less than five judges to hear Section 4. Tomorrow it says that family matters are not to be heard by less than seven judges. Is that part of access to justice?” he asked.</p>n<p>“As the SC, the defenders of the Constitution, are we to allow any erosion of the independence of the judiciary? Will that not be the grossest violation of fundamental rights?” he wondered.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah stated that the independence of the judiciary was not just an external aspect. “Independence of the judiciary is not just the external aspect. The most important are internal independence and institutional independence. Now you have conceded that this law actually secures internal and institutional independence,” he said.</p>n<p>He said that if the CJP had the rights which could be used to achieve certain outcomes in cases, then that was a “complete erosion of the independence of the judiciary — an aspect which this court has never taken into consideration”.</p>n<p>Justice Shah said that countries like Nepal used a ballot to determine benches, noting that the chief justice did not have any say. “So this law is making these things clearer and improving independence [of the judiciary],” he said.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Minallah said Advocate Siddiqui was perhaps confused and there was a need to understand that the powers of the CJP were different from the jurisdictional power of the SC.</p>n<p>“This entire law has not touched the power of the Supreme Court. It’s only the chief justice, and the chief justice, not the Supreme Court.”</p>n<p>But the lawyer argued against it, saying the law had “obliterated” rule 9.</p>n<p>“The chief justice himself said in his judgement that benches cannot be constituted as per rule 9 when they have been constituted by the chief justice,” he said.</p>n<p>Asked whether the CJP could be separated from other judges in the SC, the lawyer said “no”.</p>n<p>“Then how was the power given to the CJP [alone]?” the court asked.</p>n<p>To that, the lawyer said: “Sir, you surrendered … you authorised the chief justice and agreed to oblige with his decision.”</p>n<p>At that, Justice Mandokhail pointed out to him that the judgements were passed on the basis of rules before the Act under discussion was made.</p>n<p>“Now there is an Act. Are the judgements superior to the act?” he asked.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer argued that the judges themselves said in their rulings that the rules were on a “higher pedestal”.</p>n<p>Justice Ahsan then observed: “If this court interprets the law in a certain way — the law, an ordinary law — and the parliament changes that law, nobody has stopped them from doing that [in retrospect] … The distinction here is that the rules which have been framed in 1980 in the exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution are not interpreting any ordinary law which can be changed by any ordinary legislation.</p>n<p>“This power has been exercised under the Constitution and it says so specifically ‘in exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan the Supreme Court makes the following rules’.”</p>n<p>So, he explained, if the SC interpreted a law that the parliament then decided to change, it may do so.</p>n<p>“Because they have made the law, they can change it,” he said, adding that likewise, the SC too could change the rules it made.</p>n<p>This aligned with the doctrine of separation of powers and trichotomy of powers, he added.</p>n<p>After Advocate Siddiqui’s arguments, the court took a short break and resumed the hearing with AGP Awan presenting arguments on the maintainability of the pleas.</p>n<h2><a id="agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" href="#agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>AGP argues maintainability of pleas</h2>n<p>The AGP said his arguments for the rejection of the petitions centred on their “failure to meet the test criteria under Article 184(3), which is that the matter must be of public importance and it must relate to the enforcement of fundamental rights”.</p>n<p>“In so far as public importance is concerned … this law, in fact, deals with the concentration of powers … in one office,” he said, adding that the Act endeavoured to “democratise this institution, bring more transparency and structure the discretion”.</p>n<p>He further said the law dealt with issues that were important for the public — which were the litigants.</p>n<p>As far as the independence of the judiciary was concerned, he said “no external element, which is to say that no other institution, [was] given any role whatsoever under this Act in so far as practice and procedure of this court is concerned. It is all confined within this court”.</p>n<p>That also sufficed to establish the lack of any basis to challenge the Act under the purview of the violation of fundamental rights, he contended.</p>n<p>He added that the Act addressed public concerns.</p>n<p>At that, Justice Ahsan said both parties agreed that there was a question of public importance.</p>n<p>“The only question now is whether a fundamental right has been violated, and if a fundamental right has been violated, which one,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Isa further noted that a law was “sustainable unless otherwise proven”, saying that the burden of proof was on the one who challenged the law in this case.</p>n<p>When Justice Afridi asked him to elaborate on the distinction between the enforcement of fundamental rights and the infringement of fundamental rights, he explained that the petitioner was required “to show is that this law does not in fact enforce this right of access to justice”.</p>n<p>Justice Yahya then asked him whether the petition in question talked about the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>To that, the AGP said the petitioners’ argument was that the CJP’s powers had been curtailed under this law which made it unconstitutional.</p>n<p>But it was not the case here, he said, adding that the Act did not, in any way, prevent the enforcement of any right.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Shah said it could be that enforcement and infringement were being used interchangeably.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Akhtar observed that since Pakistan had a federal structure, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies must remain within their constitutional limits.</p>n<p>“It seems to me that if the parliament or the provincial assembly makes a law that is ultra vires, it is in the public interest to challenge that law. Because if remaining within the constitutional limits is in the public interest then going beyond those limits and making an ultra vires law is surely a breach of public interest,” he reasoned.</p>n<p>On this, the CJP was of the view that the fundamental question here was not if the law was unconstitutional but whether it was within the parameters of Article 184(3).</p>n<p>For his part, the AGP contended that clause 3 of Article 184 required that a matter of public importance related to the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>Following that, Justice Malik raised the question of how could a party appeal the full court’s decision if it decided that a plea was not maintainable.</p>n<p>“Are they not entitled to their appeal in the event that the court decides that these petitions are not maintainable? They cannot challenge it? Does that not go the fact that once again you have put the burden on the court itself to decide when it wants to constitute a full and block that right of appeal and when it wants to constitute a smaller bench and allow that right of appeal?” she questioned.</p>n<h2><a id="law-limiting-cjps-powers" href="#law-limiting-cjps-powers" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Law limiting CJP’s powers</h2>n<p>The previous government of PDM had enacted the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aimed at limiting the powers of the top judge. The <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">legislation</a> deprives the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity.</p>n<p>The law states that a three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the apex court, will decide whether or not to take up a matter suo motu. Previously, this was solely the prerogative of the CJP. Additionally, it adds to the review jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, giving the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in suo motu cases.</p>n<p>On April 13, an eight-judge SC bench headed by former CJP Bandial had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432">suspended</a> the enforcement of the Supreme Court (Practice &amp; Procedure) Act, 2023.</p>n<p>When the law was suspended, Justice Bandial had observed that the court had great respect for the Parliament but it also had to examine if any constitutional deviation, violation or transgression had taken place while enacting the legislation.</p>n<p>The petitioners in the case had pleaded before the apex court that the concept, preparation, endorsement and passing of the law was an act tainted with mala fide. Therefore, the bill should be struck down after declaring it to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the petition contended.</p>n<p>Moreover, they said the federal government could not frame any law that seeks to interfere or regulate the functioning of the apex court or the powers exercised by it or its judges including CJP, under the Constitution.</p>n<h2><a id="justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" href="#justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Justice Isa refuses guard of honour</h2>n<p>Separately, Justice Isa refused to receive a guard of honour upon arriving at the SC for his first day as the new chief justice. He was given a warm welcome by the SC staff and was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the registrar.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right ‘>n <div class=’media__item ‘><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class=’media__caption ‘>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa was given a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at the Supreme Court. — DawnNewsTV</figcaption>n </figure></p>n<p>“Thank you all so much. We need a lot of cooperation from you all,” he told the staff, adding that he would hold detailed meetings with them later as he had meetings and the full court hearing scheduled for today.</p>n<p>CJP Isa observed that people did not approach the top court when they were “happy”, adding that the people wanted an end to the issues that plagued them.</p>n<p>He urged the court staff to treat visitors like “guests”, calling on them to keep the doors of the top court open and accessible for all.</p>n<p>“Help those coming [to the SC],” he said.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–instagram media__item–relative’><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CxUqHp5om7W/" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; 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Pakistan&amp;rsquo;s other crisis

<p>PAKISTAN’S macroeconomic crisis, the most serious in its history, continues to warrant urgent and sustained attention.</p>n<p>As is well known, the roots of this crisis lie in chronic fiscal deficits and external imbalances that are responsible for its perpetual balance-of-payments problems, high inflation and macroeconomic instability, necessitating repeated financial bailouts.</p>n<p>Today, this crisis has to be addressed in an adverse global environment where financial market conditions remain tight. All the economic trends for the country are negative and unlikely to be reversed any time soon.</p>n<p>Internal and external financial imbalances remain wide, foreign exchange reserves are fragile despite injections of funds from the IMF and friendly countries, inflation is at a historic high, domestic and foreign debt have reached unsustainable levels, the rupee has lost record value against the dollar, exports have fallen, overseas remittances have declined and foreign direct investment has plunged to a new low.</p>n<p>But there is another crisis that is worsening and is also consequential for Pakistan’s future. This is the crisis in human development — with most indicators of literacy, education, health and other aspects of social justice and human welfare deteriorating in recent years.</p>n<p>The World Bank calls it a “silent, deep human capital crisis”. Its recent report Pakistan Human Capital Review quantifies this crisisand urges increased investment in human capital, pointing out that lack of this will continue to limit the country’s growth and development prospects. Many national and international reports and documents paint a grim picture of the state of human development.</p>n<p>According to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf">UNDP’s Global Human Development Report of 2022</a>, Pakistan’s Human Development Index rank remains at 161 out of 192 countries with no progress recorded from 2019 to 2022. The WB report places Pakistan in the company of sub-Saharan African countries in the Human Capital Index, which at 0.41, is the lowest in South Asia.</p>n<p>The country’s education deficit should be treated as an emergency but barely figures in government priorities. No issue is more important for Pakistan’s future than the coverage and quality of education available to our children.</p>n<p>Yet the facts remain dismal. Pakistan has the world’s second-highest number of children, over 20 million (aged five to 16) out of school. Twelve million are girls. It means 44 per cent of children in this age group do not go to school. This violates the constitutional obligation set out in Article 25A that enjoins the state to “provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years”.</p>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p>The country is sleepwalking into a human development disaster of serious consequences for its future.</p>n</blockquote>n<p>Of those who do go to school dropout rates are high. All this is the result of decades of neglect and chronic underspending on education. Just 2.4pc of GDP makes it among the lowest in South Asia. Only 14 of 195 countries spend less on education than Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s youthful demographic profile and education poverty, young people face a jobless and hopeless future unless the scale and quality of education is expanded.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1749885"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Literacy levels have shown little improvement in recent years. Latest available official sources put literacy at 59pc, which means over 40pc of the population are illiterate. The literacy level has been virtually stagnant for the past five years or more, with spending on education also declining. No country has predicated economic progress on an illiterate base. Yet these levels remain largely unchanged.</p>n<p>In youth literacy, which is around 75pc, Pakistan is second from the bottom in South Asia. The gender gap is telling. According to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR354/FR354.pdf">Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18</a>, almost half of women in the age group 15-25 are uneducated. 61pc of rural women are illiterate.</p>n<p>The poverty numbers are equally disturbing. With anaemic growth, soaring inflation (especially food inflation) and limited job creation, poverty has risen and become more severe. Of course, the Covid pandemic and megafloods of 2022 (reflecting the effects of climate change) contributed to this.</p>n<p>But the result is that more people have been driven below the poverty line. According to the WB, poverty is estimated to have risen by five percentage points to 39.4pc in FY23, with 12.5m more people pushed into poverty as compared to the previous year.</p>n<p>One of the most troubling phenomena is that of child stunting, which the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar/publication/pakistan-human-capital-review-building-capabilities-throughout-life">Human Capital Review</a> calls a “public health crisis”. The report finds around 40pc of Pakistani children under five are stunted — a shocking number.</p>n<p>This condemns these children to a life of physical disability, poverty and deprivation and also exposes them to premature mortality. This is mostly the result of malnutrition primarily associated with poverty. Malnourished mothers are more likely to have stunted children. It is also the result of high fertility.</p>n<p>Stunting is worse in Sindh where it is 50pc of under-five children and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where it is 48pc. Again, this hardly attracts the attention of governments. The HCR report rightly calls for raising the national profile of stunting, which it describes as “a major human capital catastrophe” that merits national and local efforts to address it.</p>n<p>Progress in gender empowerment has been underwhelming despite some modest gains. Gender gaps in education, health, access to employment, financial services, information, political and other opportunities continue to be wide. In the Human Development Report’s (2022) Gender Inequality Index, Pakistan is ranked 161 out of 191 countries.</p>n<p>It does worse in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/">World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023</a>, where it is 142 out of 146 countries — among the bottom five countries. In educational attainment it is ranked 138 and at 132 for health and survival. Female labour force participation remains low — among the lowest in Muslim countries — 22pc compared to over 80pc for males. These statistics do not fully capture the multiple deprivations and injustices women face but they do underline how much needs to be done for half the country’s population.</p>n<p>The overall picture of various dimensions of human development is so bleak that it suggests Pakistan may be sleepwalking to a disaster that can only be ignored at great peril to the country’s stability, economic progress and prosperity.</p>n<p><em>The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.</em></p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

Inflation forces people into debt cycle, asset sale

<p>• From Karachi to small towns in Punjab, households struggle to make ends meet<br />n• Families skimp on food or enrol kids in seminaries instead of schools</p>n<p>KARACHI / TAXILA: Growing up in a Pakistani household, lessons in “saving something for a rainy day” are inculcated into children from a young age. These savings could be in the form of cash or assets, like gold. For every family, the definition of a “rainy day” varies, but in our parlance, they broadly refer to any event that throws the family’s finances off the rails — a wedding, sudden illness and business losses, etc.</p>n<p>Such savings were allocated for major expenses, not meeting day-to-day needs. However, in recent times, amidst a spiralling economic crisis and ballooning inflation, this distinction is fast eroding. More families are now compelled to cut into their financial safety nets to meet daily needs, like power bills, sch­ool fees for children, house rent and other expenses.</p>n<p>Zubaida Bibi is a widow who lives in a rented house in Taxila’s Bilal Colony.</p>n<p>When her electricity bill for August upended the household budget, she was left with no other option but to pawn her three-decade-old engagement ring with a neighbour and borrow money to pay the bill.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1773719"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>She hoped to get the ring back after receiving her pension funds, which were yet to be released.</p>n<p>Karachi resident Ahmed Zaman, 40, is the sole breadwinner for his family of six. His monthly salary of Rs150,000 was enough to manage household expenses up until last year, but not anymore.</p>n<p>“This month, I asked my wife for some help and she sold her gold earrings which she got at our marriage,” he told <em>Dawn</em> while giving a breakdown of his daily cost of living which has “gotten out of hand”.</p>n<p>“The house I live in has Rs35,000 rent, and my last electricity bill was over Rs40,000,” he said, explaining how half of his salary is consumed in only two expenses.</p>n<p><strong>Debt cycle</strong></p>n<p>It is also tough going for families with multiple Living in Pakistan’s largest city, three of the seven members of Hussain Shabbir’s family contribute to the household budget. Even then, it has become impossible for them to take care of their expenses, Mr Shabbir, 25, told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“My father, brother and I work. We have a combined income of around Rs130,000, but for the last couple of months, I had to borrow money from friends near the month’s end.”</p>n<p>For him, this is becoming a “debt cycle”.</p>n<p>“I return the money to one person and immediately find myself in need to borrow more from another for the next month,” he said, adding that his father and brother were also dealing with similar debt cycles.</p>n<p>For now, Mr Shabbir’s family has created some fiscal space for themselves by selling their car to pay off some debts. But with inflation not slowing down, they fear the respite would only last them a couple of months.</p>n<p><strong>Cutting expenses</strong></p>n<p>Those who are not in dire need to sell assets or borrow money are trying to squeeze their spending by cutting out expenses that are not the bare essentials needs.</p>n<p>31-year-old Sameer Rashid recently became a father. He thought a monthly income of Rs100,000 would be sufficient to sustain his nuclear family, but ground realities beg to differ.</p>n<p>Sharing his monthly budget, he said: “The expenses of my newborn alone are Rs12,000 to Rs13,000. Sometimes even more than that, but not less.”</p>n<p>This month, Mr Rashid paid Rs30,000 for electricity. He owns a motorcycle and spends Rs13,000 on fuel to get to work.</p>n<p>“Ration and other necessary items cost no less than Rs25,000 for two people [and] these are just the most basic expenses,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>“I have stopped going to family functions and other ceremonies because I just don’t have the money to buy gifts to give on such occasions.”</p>n<p>While rationalising expenses seems to be a logical outcome of the crunch economic situation, it is inadvertently causing a spiral of distress for retailers and others in the services industry who rely on this spending.</p>n<p><strong>Skimping on food</strong></p>n<p>Ehsan Ali owns a poultry shop in the Lalarukh area of Taxila. In the recent past, he has seen his sales drop to almost 60 per cent of what they used to be.</p>n<p>With the number of his daily customers declining, he has been relying on hotels, restaurants and marriage halls to keep his shop running.</p>n<p>The prices of poultry have gone out of reach of the common man due to inflation, Mr Ali told <em>Dawn</em>, adding that customers now buy off cuts such as pota, kaleji and chicken legs instead of meat, as they cannot afford it anymore.</p>n<p>Aftab Hussain, who runs a hotel on Taxila Chowk, has also seen his income dip considerably. Of all things, he has registered a marked decline in the number of orders for tea at his establishment.</p>n<p>“Most of my customers are vendors, drivers and daily wagers. They now order the token (half-cup) tea instead of a full cup as it costs them half the price,” he told <em>Dawn</em>.</p>n<p>Similarly, the meat dishes he cooks at his hotel, like qeema, qorma and beef, now attract 80 per cent fewer consumers, as they now prefer cheaper dishes such as vegetables and lentils.</p>n<p>The alterations to lifestyle have gone beyond cutting basic expenses. People have been forced to move a notch down and choose a cheaper alternative to almost everything — their food choices, their homes, cars and their children’s education.</p>n<p><strong>Alternatives to education costs</strong></p>n<p>Hamyuan Butt, an administrator of a seminary on Faisal Shaheed Road, claims the enrollment has doubled in the past two months as people take their children out of private schools and opt for religious seminaries, which cost far less in terms of fees and other expenses.</p>n<p>Even people from the middle class are enrolling their children in the seminary, which provides free-of-cost accommodation facilities to pupils.</p>n<p>In the past, he says, primarily orphans and children from lower-income or religious backgrounds used to enrol in the seminary.</p>n<p>“But the situation is changing with each passing day. Now people cannot afford to feed their children and are enrolling them in institutions where free food and lodging are provided for,” he added.</p>n<p><strong>Long-term effects</strong></p>n<p>So what happens if such economic adversity is sustained over a long period?</p>n<p>Noted economist Dr Kaiser Bengali recalls a study he worked on over a decade and a half ago, which followed the lives of 30 families of those with medical conditions for over a year. Half of the patients needed dialysis, while the other half had a person living with cancer in the household.</p>n<p>“We saw that families sold their cars, gold and even property to afford the medical expenses, and in many cases, the patient didn’t even survive as the disease was chronic.”</p>n<p>This has a crippling effect on the family, emotionally as well as financially.</p>n<p>Something similar, he says, is happening with middle-class families now, as they are forced to sell assets to pay for recurring expenses, such as electricity bills and fuel or commuting costs. Ultimately, he fears, it is not sustainable.</p>n<p>He noted that many people had already stopped using cars and shifted to motorbikes, while those who previously owned two-wheelers had resorted to public transport.</p>n<p>If something does not change, it may soon be a choice between sending your children to school or putting fuel in the tank to get to work every day.</p>n<p>Recalling another study by the Social Policy Development Centre from two decades ago, Mr Bengali shared that he and his team found that people had stopped socialising to avoid giving gifts.</p>n<p>Such choices are not normal, and take a toll on people’s health, both physically and psychologically.</p>n<p>“What will a man do when his family would ask him for something and he would not be able to provide it? How will he face his children and wife?”</p>n<p><em>Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023</em></p>

The real test begins: Can CJP Qazi Faez Isa deliver justice without fear or favour?

<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em>“That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. And that, in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”</em></p>n</blockquote>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">n<p><em><strong>— Oath of the Chief Justice of Pakistan</strong></em></p>n</blockquote>n<p>As Justice Qazi Faez Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1776378">dons the robe of the country’s top judge,</a> <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1761420">over a hundred civilians are in military custody,</a> draconian legislation that <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771203">never received the President’s assent</a> has been published in the gazette, elections on time seem impossible, and the pendency of cases in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">Supreme Court has soared to over 56,000.</a></p>n<p>In April, Justice Isa attended a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1746928">convention on the 50th Anniversary of the Constitution.</a> In his speech, he held up a copy of the Constitution and said: “This book is our identity, Pakistan’s identity. I want to say on behalf of my institution that we are also defenders of the Constitution. And if I do not do that, then you can criticise me.”</p>n<p>The real test begins now. And here are its toughest questions:</p>n<h2><a id="amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" href="#amendments-to-the-pakistan-army-act-and-official-secrets-act" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Amendments to the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act</h2>n<p>In 2015, through the 21st Amendment and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1420800454_327.pdf">corresponding amendments</a> to the Army Act, military courts were empowered to try civilians for certain terrorism related offences. Terrorists were at war with our nation — terrorists responsible for the savage and inhumane murder of children.</p>n<p>In the District Bar Case, the majority of the Supreme Court upheld the 21st Amendment. Per the majority, “we appear to be confronted with a warlike situation and consequently the Federation is duty bound by the constitution to defend Pakistan.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771206"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1198632">Justice Isa did not agree,</a> and instead held, “the constitution does not permit the trial of civilians by the military as it would contravene fundamental rights.” Per Justice Isa, “no normal person can sympathise with killers who must be prosecuted and punished, but in accordance with the law and the Constitution. If we rush to convict terrorists through unconstitutional means we stoop to their level.”</p>n<p>Even when it came to the trial of suspected terrorists, Justice Isa held that justice could not be handed over to the military. And so, he struck down a constitutional amendment.</p>n<p>Last month, the amendments to the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64e204089f786_138.pdf">Pakistan Army Act</a> and the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://molaw.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Official%20Secrets%20(Amendment)%20Act,%202023.pdf">Official Secrets Act</a> were published in the gazette. The amendments to the Army Act entrench and give legal cover to the role of the military in national development. Neither of these amendments received the President’s assent, which the nation later discovered through his tweet.</p>n<p>Yet, members of the caretaker government rushed on national television, claiming that the President’s assent was <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771326">deemed to be given.</a> The simple problem with this interpretation is that this is not what the Constitution says. The deeming provision of the Constitution under Article 75(3) only kicks in when a bill has been passed a second time by a joint sitting of Parliament. This never happened.</p>n<p>Regardless of the draconian nature of these amendments, members of an unelected setup were eager to deem assent. The amendments to the Pakistan Army Act extend the jurisdiction of military courts over a person who “is or has been” subject to the Army Act. This suggests that the amendment applies to serving and retired members of the military. Retired army officers can now be tried by military courts for defamation, electronic crimes, and unauthorised disclosure. Previously, the jurisdiction of a court martial over retired army officers was far more restricted.</p>n<p>Under the Official Secrets Act as it stood, the focus was on espionage which was prejudicial to the “safety or interests of the state”. The amendment, however, introduces an additional element of intentionally acting in a manner which is prejudicial to “public order”. Under the new law, it is a criminal offence to be “in the vicinity of” a military establishment for any purpose prejudicial to “public order”.</p>n<p>What does acting prejudicial to “public order” mean? How much vicinity is considered enough? The room for abuse is glaring.</p>n<p>Both these amendments have now been challenged in the apex court. The institution, now headed by Justice Isa, will hear this challenge and determine whether these laws will remain in the gazette.</p>n<h2><a id="delay-in-elections" href="#delay-in-elections" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Delay in elections</h2>n<p>The <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1549886415_632.pdf">preamble of the Constitution</a> provides that “the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people.” A core constitutional principle is the right to be governed by your elected representatives.</p>n<p>On dissolution of the national assembly or a provincial assembly, a general election shall be held within a period of ninety days after dissolution. Despite the efforts of some, there is no other interpretation possible. The constitutional command is unambiguous.</p>n<p>Yet, two provinces have been unrepresented for several months. A decision of the Supreme Court has been and continues to be violated. Even today, there is no definitive date for general elections at the provincial or national level.</p>n<p>Currently, the ECP is busy arguing over which authority has the duty to announce the date for elections, and using the census to justify the delay. Article 48(5) of the Constitution states that where the President dissolves the National Assembly, the President shall appoint a date for elections. The language is crystal clear.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1775467"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>The ECP, however, insists that, in fact, they have the authority to announce the date. The clash over the announcement of the election date will inevitably lead to further unnecessary litigation.</p>n<p>As regards the census, it was approved by the Council of Common Interests including the caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Election Act, 2017, expressly prohibits a caretaker government from taking major policy decisions. The very edifice of the approval of the census is questionable. Even otherwise, the census and fresh delimitation cannot override the 90-day time limit.</p>n<p>“Democracy demands elections, the Constitution demands elections. Democracy is meaningless without such an exercise. To concede to the [Election] Commission the power, especially on the constitutional plane, to interfere with the electoral process in so fundamental a manner could be tantamount to derailing democracy itself,” per the decision authored by Justice Munib Akhtar ordering provincial polls.</p>n<p>Without elections, there is no democracy.</p>n<p>The court should not need to tell us what is clearly written in the Constitution. As the ECP and the caretaker governments shirk their responsibility (like the governors did earlier this year), the stage is set for the matter to end up in the courts.</p>n<h2><a id="administration-of-the-court" href="#administration-of-the-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Administration of the court</h2>n<p>Justice Isa inherits a court <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2435199/sc-to-kick-off-new-judicial-year-today">with over 56,000 pending cases.</a> This cuts at the basic right to access justice. There can be no trust and confidence in the legal system when it takes several years for litigants to be heard. Unfortunately in Pakistan, the right to be heard has become a privilege, not a right.</p>n<p>Years are spent while families of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearances are granted a hearing. Citizens continue to be detained in internment centers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At times, persons wrongly convicted have already served the entirety of their sentence while awaiting an appeal. A dysfunctional legal system itself acts as a punishment for many. This cannot continue. Reducing the backlog must be a priority.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776501"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>In March this year, Justice Isa <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1744932">called for the postponement of cases under Article 184(3)</a> until amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, were made. In a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1745162">“circular” issued through the registrar,</a> former CJP Umar Ata Bandial asserted that the observations made by Justice Isa were to be disregarded. In response, Justice Isa claimed, “history witnesses, that when in an individual power is concentrated, disastrous consequences follow.”</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Justice Isa has been vocal about the need to democratise the court. Currently, the power to form benches, the invoking of the court’s original (<em>suo motu</em>) jurisdiction, and the convening of a judicial commission meeting for the appointment of judges are all powers that lie with the chief justice. As the absolute power he spoke against now vests in his office, it is for Justice Isa to honour his word.</p>n<h2><a id="a-united-court" href="#a-united-court" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>A united court</h2>n<p>Justice Bandial was not able to unite his court. On provincial elections, not one judge in the court <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1739739">disputed the need for provincial elections within 90 days.</a> The only dispute was regarding the manner in which the court’s <em>suo motu</em> jurisdiction was invoked.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1776211"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Yet, weeks were spent needlessly arguing over whether the decision ordering provincial elections was accepted by a majority of 3:2 (or whether the petitions were rejected by 4:3). The majority was clearly 3:2. While the judges agreed on the principle of 90 days, they could not speak with one voice. The fact that the citizens of two provinces were unrepresented became secondary.</p>n<p>The divisions in the judiciary were exploited by the former coalition government in their brazen defiance of the court, and the moral authority of the highest court was diminished.</p>n<p>It now falls to Justice Isa to take his institution along with him. This is not to say that there should be no dissent. Ultimately, the judiciary does not need to be united in their decisions. It does, however, need to be united in its objective to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And to dispense justice without fear or favour.</p>n<p>This is their oath to the nation, and its people.</p>

SC law: 3-member panel comprising CJP and 2 senior most judges to constitute benches

<p>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa on Monday ruled that a three-member committee, including himself and the two most senior judges, will decide bench formations as the apex court began hearing a set of petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.</p>n<p>The Act requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior judges of the court. In a pre-emptive move, the Supreme Court — then led by former CJP Umar Ata Bandial — in April had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432/in-pre-emptive-strike-sc-renders-bill-clipping-cjps-powers-ineffective-when-it-becomes-law">barred the government</a> from implementing the bill seeking to curtail the chief justice of Pakistan’s powers once it became a law.</p>n<p>In a first, the hearing today was broadcast live on television with all 15 judges of the top court presiding over the case.</p>n<p>After hearing arguments from two lawyers and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, the court adjourned the hearing to October 3, with CJP Isa directing the parties’ lawyers to submit their written arguments by September 25.</p>n<p>Dictating his order, the chief justice said: “In view of the challenge thrown to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023 and as the matter is pending adjudication. We will be consulting with two senior colleagues with regard to the constitution of benches,” adding that senior puisne judges Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Ijazul Ahsan agreed with him too.</p>n<p>Shortly thereafter, the court roster for this week was issued with five benches. The rosters were decided by CJP Isa in consultation with the two senior-most puisne judges.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed ‘>n <div class=’media__item media__item–youtube ‘><iframe src=’https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEUNbDvOqJY?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0′ allowfullscreen=” frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’no’ width=’100%’ height=’100%’></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Shortly after taking oath on Sunday, CJP Isa — whose 13-month tenure will end in Oct 2024 — had formed a full court to take up the set of pleas challenging the legislation.</p>n<p>Headed by CJP Isa, the bench consisted of Justice Masood, Justice Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1748007"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure></p>n<p>Before the hearing began, the federal government urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the law.</p>n<p>In a detailed reply submitted by AGP Awan, the government contended that the petitions challenging an act of Parliament were inadmissible.</p>n<p>At the outset of the hearing, the lawyers arguing the set of the pleas came to the rostrum.</p>n<p>Addressing the lawyers, Justice Isa said, “Appreciate that some of us have heard this matter and some of us are going to hear it for the first time.”</p>n<p>He said that since one member of the bench had retired there was a matter of reconstituting the bench. “A question had also arisen whether I should be a part of the bench […] then the related question that all those who will become CJP should become part of the bench […] so I think the best way to resolve it was to constitute a full court if you agree […].”</p>n<p>Advocate Khawaja Tariq Rahim kicked off the arguments in the case, with Justice Ayesha asking what would happen to Section 5 in the event the law was upheld.</p>n<p>“There is a right of appeal that is provided under this law. How do you visualise that right being exercised,” she asked. Justice Isa then asked Rahim to read the law out loud. However, the lawyer kept getting sidetracked, with the judges repeatedly telling him to read the Act.</p>n<p>“The country expects 57,000 cases to be decided. We would love to hear you. But let’s focus on your petition […] proceed with your arguments,” CJP Isa remarked. Rahim then proceeded to read out the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/64230b4c044c0_115.pdf">Act</a>.</p>n<p>However, he again stopped reading out the law and said, “Framing of these rules, under Article 191, is the prerogative of the SC. When they framed the 1980 rules, the entire court sat together and together they framed the rules.”</p>n<p>Article 191 reads: “Subject to the Constitution and law, the Supreme Court may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the Cou­rt”.</p>n<p>“This intrusion by the Parliament into the affairs of the SC prompted me to come forward and file this petition. Because I feel that every institution must remain in its domain,” Rahim said.</p>n<p>Justice Naqvi, however, wondered whether the lawyer was suggesting that he did not have any objection to the “unaccountable powers in one office”.</p>n<p>“Is that your question? Are you supporting what has happened in the past? What is your legal proposition?” he asked. CJP Isa again asked Rahim to read the Act out loud.</p>n<p>“You read the Act. Either you say this entire Act is ultra vires the Constitution, that’s one contention […] You don’t need to respond to every query immediately, it will make your life very difficult […] when you are done with your arguments, you can absorb the questions and respond,” Justice Isa said.</p>n<p>In the middle of reading out the Act, Rahim said that Parliament should not have a say in functions that lay with the top court. He said that tomorrow Parliament could order that a particular bench hear a case.</p>n<p>“Let’s not go into what they may or may not do […] what Parliament decides to do in the future, you can bring another petition and we can look at it then. restrict yourself to your case,” CJP Isa interjected.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then wondered if Parliament could whittle down judicial power under Article 184(3) by providing that a committee, comprising three senior judges, be formed to decide the constitution of benches.</p>n<p>Article 184(3) of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens.</p>n<p>In this connection, Justice Minallah further pointed out that since this power earlier resided solely with the chief justice, an argument was raised that the outcomes of cases could be influenced by constituting benches and this eroded the independence of the judiciary.</p>n<p>“If this argument is accepted, then the earlier traditional model would be acceptable to you that one person can actually control the outcome of cases by the constitution of benches and this probably was the mischief that the Parliament wanted to address?” he asked.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Ahsan referred to a previous SC judgement, which he said that had given a verdict on the procedure to be followed by the chief justice to invoke the SC’s jurisdiction under Article 183.</p>n<p>“It says where a bench […] comes to a conclusion that there is a matter of public importance affecting fundamental rights, they may recommend to the honourable chief justice that a bench be constituted.</p>n<p>“And the chief justice, after perusing the reasons that the bench assigns for recommending may or may not [proceed with its suggestion]. But at least he would record why he thinks he disagrees with the recommendations,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then said, “It seems to me that the power to constitute the bench is the subject matter of Section 2. Constituting a bench does not block the exercise of judicial power. It simply determines which is the bench that is to exercise the judicial power.”</p>n<p>He then remarked that Section 3 of the Act seemed to go beyond this. “It actually confers on the three-member committee, exercising administrative powers, to actually block the exercise of judicial powers.</p>n<p>“It is not a question of constitution of benches […] The question here, it seems to me, is the very blocking of the judicial power itself and [can] Parliament do that,” Justice Akhtar said.</p>n<p>During the hearing, Justice Hilali wondered if the office of the CJP would become “redundant” after the passage of the Act. Justice Mandokhail also asked whether the powers of the SC had been curtailed or the powers of the CJP.</p>n<p>In his arguments, after much prompting from the CJP Isa, Rahim said that Sections 5, 6 and 7 were ultra vires the Constitution. At one point, the CJP again reminded the lawyer that he could note the questions put forth by the court and answer them once he was done reading out the Act.</p>n<p>He took exception to the lawyer’s argument thus far, saying that he had not referred to the Constitution at any point. “Stick only to constitutional arguments,” he said.</p>n<p>Advocate Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui then came to the rostrum and said that the fundamental question was whether Parliament had the power to promulgate this Act or not.</p>n<p>“No, that is not the fundamental question, with utmost respect. The primary question is whether Article 184(3) can be invoked. First, you overcome that hurdle and then you argue that,” he told the lawyer.</p>n<p>“You have filed a petition not in the normal jurisdiction, you have come in the original jurisdiction of the SC which is not a right. You have to comply with certain provisions of the Constitution,” CJP Isa said.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer began referring to a previous court judgement but was interjected by the CJP.</p>n<p>Justice Isa explained to him that the court sought his arguments on the invocation of Article 184(3), under which two primary points were to be established: that the case was a matter of public interest and it sought the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>He further said that had the high courts been moved on the matter prior to the SC and it had allowed the pleas, then “you would have come to us in the appellate jurisdiction”.</p>n<p>But the petitioners had opted to move the court under Article 184(3), which had a narrow scope, he added.</p>n<p>Despite this explanation, when the lawyer proceeded to refer to previous judgements, the CJP asserted that the judgements were secondary to the Constitution.</p>n<p>He then asked the lawyer to read out Article 189, which says: “Any decision of the Supreme Court shall to the extent that it decides the question of law or is based upon or enunciates a principle law be binding upon all other courts in Pakistan.”</p>n<p>The CJP pointed out that the phrase used in the provision was “all other courts”, not the SC. “So don’t cite our own precedents to us. You are being asked a constitutional question,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Minallah then said that Parliament had diluted the chief justice’s discretionary powers. “That is all Parliament has done. It picked three judges. No one has come from the outside. It’s still the chief justice and the two senior-most judges. No one’s fundamental rights are being affected, instead institutional independence is being strengthened,” he said.</p>n<p>He further said that a right of appeal was being provided under the new law. “So which fundamental rights of the petitioner have been violated under which you have [approached the court] under Article 184(3)?” he asked.</p>n<p>Siddiqui contended that the entire Act was ultra vires the Constitution as “this domain was not available to Parliament”.</p>n<p>However, Justice Minallah asked the lawyer to clarify whether he thought this was a much-needed law but thought that Parliament did not have the power to legislate on the matter.</p>n<p>When the lawyer answered in the affirmative, the judge asked him to explain whether the status of SC rules was higher or lower than Parliament.</p>n<p>However, in his later arguments, the lawyer said he did not accept that this was a good law. “I think the idea is good,” he said.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah asked whether the lawyer thought that the chief justice should have unbridled powers.</p>n<p>Siddiqui said that under the trichotomy of powers, Parliament, the executive and the top court were to make their own rules. “Those rules have a constitutional post and [on] a higher pedestal than ordinary law.”</p>n<p>When the judges again asked Siddiqui which fundamental rights were being violated, he specifically said those under Articles 9, 10 and 10-A.</p>n<p>“My proposition is that the legislature is bound by the scheme of the Constitution, and the Constitution requires that the legislature will make its own rules. There are three organs of the state and they will function independent of one another,” Siddiqui said.</p>n<p>“It is my fundamental right to ensure and protect that this constitutional encroachment is not made by Parliament. And these are judgements on the issue which say that these are issues of violation of fundamental rights […] and if it affects a large community of people then it is a question of public importance,” he said.</p>n<p>However, CJP Isa again pointed out that the counsel was not developing his arguments and was stating articles of the Constitution.</p>n<p>At one point, Siddiqui said that the question of fundamental rights being violated was raised when Parliament did not follow due process when legislating and if there was evidence of “constitutional deviation”.</p>n<p>Justice Akhtar then asked whether the independence of the judiciary was a fundamental right and whether the independence of the judiciary was not a salient feature of the Constitution.</p>n<p>He asked whether each time a full court was constituted, whether it was given a “blank slate” to disregard settled law and fundamental rights. “Is this even in the power of the full court? If we are to do that, disregarding previous precedents, then surely we have to have weighty reasons to declare, for example, that independence of the judiciary is not a salient feature of the Constitution,” he said.</p>n<p>He wondered if Parliament could pick and choose which judges were included in the committee. “Today, Parliament says no less than five judges to hear Section 4. Tomorrow it says that family matters are not to be heard by less than seven judges. Is that part of access to justice?” he asked.</p>n<p>“As the SC, the defenders of the Constitution, are we to allow any erosion of the independence of the judiciary? Will that not be the grossest violation of fundamental rights?” he wondered.</p>n<p>At this, Justice Minallah stated that the independence of the judiciary was not just an external aspect. “Independence of the judiciary is not just the external aspect. The most important are internal independence and institutional independence. Now you have conceded that this law actually secures internal and institutional independence,” he said.</p>n<p>He said that if the CJP had the rights which could be used to achieve certain outcomes in cases, then that was a “complete erosion of the independence of the judiciary — an aspect which this court has never taken into consideration”.</p>n<p>Justice Shah said that countries like Nepal used a ballot to determine benches, noting that the chief justice did not have any say. “So this law is making these things clearer and improving independence [of the judiciary],” he said.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Minallah said Advocate Siddiqui was perhaps confused and there was a need to understand that the powers of the CJP were different from the jurisdictional power of the SC.</p>n<p>“This entire law has not touched the power of the Supreme Court. It’s only the chief justice, and the chief justice, not the Supreme Court.”</p>n<p>But the lawyer argued against it, saying the law had “obliterated” rule 9.</p>n<p>“The chief justice himself said in his judgement that benches cannot be constituted as per rule 9 when they have been constituted by the chief justice,” he said.</p>n<p>Asked whether the CJP could be separated from other judges in the SC, the lawyer said “no”.</p>n<p>“Then how was the power given to the CJP [alone]?” the court asked.</p>n<p>To that, the lawyer said: “Sir, you surrendered … you authorised the chief justice and agreed to oblige with his decision.”</p>n<p>At that, Justice Mandokhail pointed out to him that the judgements were passed on the basis of rules before the Act under discussion was made.</p>n<p>“Now there is an Act. Are the judgements superior to the act?” he asked.</p>n<p>At that, the lawyer argued that the judges themselves said in their rulings that the rules were on a “higher pedestal”.</p>n<p>Justice Ahsan then observed: “If this court interprets the law in a certain way — the law, an ordinary law — and the parliament changes that law, nobody has stopped them from doing that [in retrospect] … The distinction here is that the rules which have been framed in 1980 in the exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution are not interpreting any ordinary law which can be changed by any ordinary legislation.</p>n<p>“This power has been exercised under the Constitution and it says so specifically ‘in exercise of powers under Article 191 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan the Supreme Court makes the following rules’.”</p>n<p>So, he explained, if the SC interpreted a law that the parliament then decided to change, it may do so.</p>n<p>“Because they have made the law, they can change it,” he said, adding that likewise, the SC too could change the rules it made.</p>n<p>This aligned with the doctrine of separation of powers and trichotomy of powers, he added.</p>n<p>After Advocate Siddiqui’s arguments, the court took a short break and resumed the hearing with AGP Awan presenting arguments on the maintainability of the pleas.</p>n<h2><a id="agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" href="#agp-argues-maintainability-of-pleas" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>AGP argues maintainability of pleas</h2>n<p>The AGP said his arguments for the rejection of the petitions centred on their “failure to meet the test criteria under Article 184(3), which is that the matter must be of public importance and it must relate to the enforcement of fundamental rights”.</p>n<p>“In so far as public importance is concerned … this law, in fact, deals with the concentration of powers … in one office,” he said, adding that the Act endeavoured to “democratise this institution, bring more transparency and structure the discretion”.</p>n<p>He further said the law dealt with issues that were important for the public — which were the litigants.</p>n<p>As far as the independence of the judiciary was concerned, he said “no external element, which is to say that no other institution, [was] given any role whatsoever under this Act in so far as practice and procedure of this court is concerned. It is all confined within this court”.</p>n<p>That also sufficed to establish the lack of any basis to challenge the Act under the purview of the violation of fundamental rights, he contended.</p>n<p>He added that the Act addressed public concerns.</p>n<p>At that, Justice Ahsan said both parties agreed that there was a question of public importance.</p>n<p>“The only question now is whether a fundamental right has been violated, and if a fundamental right has been violated, which one,” he said.</p>n<p>Justice Isa further noted that a law was “sustainable unless otherwise proven”, saying that the burden of proof was on the one who challenged the law in this case.</p>n<p>When Justice Afridi asked him to elaborate on the distinction between the enforcement of fundamental rights and the infringement of fundamental rights, he explained that the petitioner was required “to show is that this law does not in fact enforce this right of access to justice”.</p>n<p>Justice Yahya then asked him whether the petition in question talked about the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>To that, the AGP said the petitioners’ argument was that the CJP’s powers had been curtailed under this law which made it unconstitutional.</p>n<p>But it was not the case here, he said, adding that the Act did not, in any way, prevent the enforcement of any right.</p>n<p>Here, Justice Shah said it could be that enforcement and infringement were being used interchangeably.</p>n<p>At one point, Justice Akhtar observed that since Pakistan had a federal structure, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies must remain within their constitutional limits.</p>n<p>“It seems to me that if the parliament or the provincial assembly makes a law that is ultra vires, it is in the public interest to challenge that law. Because if remaining within the constitutional limits is in the public interest then going beyond those limits and making an ultra vires law is surely a breach of public interest,” he reasoned.</p>n<p>On this, the CJP was of the view that the fundamental question here was not if the law was unconstitutional but whether it was within the parameters of Article 184(3).</p>n<p>For his part, the AGP contended that clause 3 of Article 184 required that a matter of public importance related to the enforcement of fundamental rights.</p>n<p>Following that, Justice Malik raised the question of how could a party appeal the full court’s decision if it decided that a plea was not maintainable.</p>n<p>“Are they not entitled to their appeal in the event that the court decides that these petitions are not maintainable? They cannot challenge it? Does that not go the fact that once again you have put the burden on the court itself to decide when it wants to constitute a full and block that right of appeal and when it wants to constitute a smaller bench and allow that right of appeal?” she questioned.</p>n<h2><a id="law-limiting-cjps-powers" href="#law-limiting-cjps-powers" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Law limiting CJP’s powers</h2>n<p>The previous government of PDM had enacted the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, aimed at limiting the powers of the top judge. The <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747063">legislation</a> deprives the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity.</p>n<p>The law states that a three-member bench, comprising the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the apex court, will decide whether or not to take up a matter suo motu. Previously, this was solely the prerogative of the CJP. Additionally, it adds to the review jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, giving the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in suo motu cases.</p>n<p>On April 13, an eight-judge SC bench headed by former CJP Bandial had <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1747432">suspended</a> the enforcement of the Supreme Court (Practice &amp; Procedure) Act, 2023.</p>n<p>When the law was suspended, Justice Bandial had observed that the court had great respect for the Parliament but it also had to examine if any constitutional deviation, violation or transgression had taken place while enacting the legislation.</p>n<p>The petitioners in the case had pleaded before the apex court that the concept, preparation, endorsement and passing of the law was an act tainted with mala fide. Therefore, the bill should be struck down after declaring it to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the petition contended.</p>n<p>Moreover, they said the federal government could not frame any law that seeks to interfere or regulate the functioning of the apex court or the powers exercised by it or its judges including CJP, under the Constitution.</p>n<h2><a id="justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" href="#justice-isa-refuses-guard-of-honour" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Justice Isa refuses guard of honour</h2>n<p>Separately, Justice Isa refused to receive a guard of honour upon arriving at the SC for his first day as the new chief justice. He was given a warm welcome by the SC staff and was presented with a bouquet of flowers from the registrar.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right ‘>n <div class=’media__item ‘><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class=’media__caption ‘>Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa was given a bouquet of flowers upon his arrival at the Supreme Court. — DawnNewsTV</figcaption>n </figure></p>n<p>“Thank you all so much. We need a lot of cooperation from you all,” he told the staff, adding that he would hold detailed meetings with them later as he had meetings and the full court hearing scheduled for today.</p>n<p>CJP Isa observed that people did not approach the top court when they were “happy”, adding that the people wanted an end to the issues that plagued them.</p>n<p>He urged the court staff to treat visitors like “guests”, calling on them to keep the doors of the top court open and accessible for all.</p>n<p>“Help those coming [to the SC],” he said.</p>n<p> <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–instagram media__item–relative’><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CxUqHp5om7W/" data-instgrm-version="13" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; 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