ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered an immediate meeting between an accused in military custody — whose five-year-old son died during his incarceration — and his family. The directions were issued on Thursday by a seven-judge Supreme Court bench, which was hearing a number of Intra Court Appeals (ICA) against the Oct 23 order of nullifying military trials of civilians allegedly involved in violence on May 9. During the hearing, senior counsel Sardar Latif Khosa pointed out that the minor son of the accused died while he was in custody, and yet he was not allowed to meet his family. The bench asked…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: The decision of the federal government to allow the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to intercept citizens’ calls and messages, was challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday by members of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), who asked the court to declare the notification null and void. The six PBC members who moved the court included Shafqat Mehmood Chauhan, Abid Shahid Zuberi, Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan, Munir Ahmed Kakar, Tahir Fraz Abbasi, and Abid Saqi. These lawyers are not office-bearers of the apex council, but belong to the opposition faction. The petition challenged the SRO 1005(I)/2024 that empowered BS-18…
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued bailable arrest warrants against former information minister Fawad Chaudhry in a contempt of the ECP case. A four-member bench of the Election Commission, headed by the member from Sindh, Nisar Ahmad Durrani, issued the warrants for Mr Chaudhry due to his constant failure to turn up in the court. As the bench resumed hearing in the contempt cases against Mr Chaudhry and PTI founder chairman Imran Khan for allegedly using intemperate language and contemptuous remarks against the ECP and the chief election commissioner, a junior lawyer informed the bench that Mr Khan’s…
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi on Thursday admitted that the release of jailed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants back in 2021 was a mistake. During a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior held here with Senator Faisal Rehman in the chair, Mr Naqvi said the release of the banned outfit’s prisoners had been made with hopes for an improvement, but this did not happen. He noted that the surge in terrorism cases in the country being witnessed today was because of the release of those TTP prisoners. The government had in November 2021 released over 100 TTP prisoners…
QUETTA: Over a dozen people, including six policemen, were injured and 27 people, including five women, were arrested on Thursday in clashes between supporters of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and police during a rally organised for the recovery of missing students. Over a dozen police vehicles were damaged as police lobbed tear gas and batton-charged BYC supporters. Firing was also reported during the clashes. The clashes began when police tried to push BYC supporters from the Red Zone area where the protesters wanted to stage a sit-in. Supporters of BYC had been protesting by staging a sit-in camp for…
TANK: The police recovered the bodies of two security personnel in the fields of Kirri Haider village under the jurisdiction of Shaheed Mureed Akbar police station on Thursday. SDPO Rural said the bodies, identified as those of Constable Habib Khan and Frontier Corps Sepoy Inamullah from Kirri Maruti, Tank, were found around 8am. Both officials had been reported missing a day ago. The remains were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Tank for postmortem before being handed over to their families. Militant killed A militant wanted for his involvement in an attack on the Daraban police station has been…
ISLAMABAD: Moving at a record speed, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday rubber-stamped all the government demands for an increase of up to 51 per cent in the national electricity base rates and up to 184pc in fixed capacity charges, with changes effective retrospectively from July 1, 2024. The authority “has no objection in approving the motion along with the subsequent addendum of the federal government”, the power regulator said in the final order issued less than 24 hours after a public hearing on the issue. The new rates will be applicable across the country, including Karachi. Similarly, the…
LAHORE: Urban consumers are bracing for a potential shortage of flour as the All-Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) went on a nationwide strike on Thursday in protest against the newly imposed withholding tax. Owners of atta chakkis (small wheat grinding units) and flour dealers in various towns have also joined the strike, leading to significant disruptions in flour supply across many urban centres. PFMA Chairman Asim Raza has vowed to continue the strike until the association’s demands are met. Mr Raza expressed his association’s strong reservations on the withholding tax, explaining that the measure has made flour mills withholding agents for tax…
KARACHI: The proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is now the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan, enjoying operational and logistical support from both the Afghan Taliban and factions of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, according to a United Nations monitoring report. “The Taliban do not conceive of TTP as a terrorist group: the bonds are close, and the debt owed to TTP significant,” states the 15th report of the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaeda/Taliban Monitoring Team, submitted to the UN Security Council. Estimating its strength at around 6,000-6,500 fighters, the report notes that TTP is now the largest among the two dozen or…
Scarlett Johansson has recently opened up about husband Colin Jost’s crude joke he made about her body on his SNL show. During an appearance on the latest episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show on July 11, the Black Widow actress said, “I blacked out for that period of the night. I don’t — I actually don’t remember it.” On SNL, Colin revealed he never watched Her for one very lewd reason, “Without that body, what’s the point of listening?” It is pertinent to mention that Scarlett lent her voice to a virtual assistant. The Lucy actress told the host how “brutal” it was when she watched her husband…
