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Rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 237 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

EU institutions ban TikTok on work devices

Rs6b blended virtual education project hits a snag

Ghandhara sees quarterly gains but half yearly profits shell of former self

Imran calls on judiciary to resist pressure from ‘Sharif-Zardari mafia’

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SUO MOTU HEARING OF PUNJAB-KP POLLS

SC SayS not to tolerate violation of ConStitution g

issues notiCes to maJor PolitiCal Parties, eCP

SBP reserves rise by $66m to $3.258b

CJP says to determine who has resPonsibility, authority to announCe Polls date ISLAMABAD

staff RepoRt

he chief justice of Pakistan thursday made it clear the supreme Court will not tolerate violation of the Constitution and issued notices to all major political parties in suo moto hearing to determine who has the responsibility and authority to announce the date for elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. a nine-member larger bench of apex judicial forum led by Justice umar ata bandial commenced a suo motu hearing. the bench presided over the case consists of justices – ijazul ahsan, syed mansoor ali shah, munib akhtar, yahya afridi, mazahar ali akbar naqvi, Jamal Khan mandokhail, muhammad ali mazhar, and athar minallah. the court issued notice to all major political parties, seeking their points of view in the case and put off the suo motu hearing for elections to Punjab and KP assemblies till 11am on friday (today). the court also served notices to the election Commission of Pakistan and the attorney general. the hearing ensued President dr

arif alvi’s announcement of april 9 as the election date in both provinces, which he made unilaterally after the election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) rejected his request for consultations on the matter. Justice bandial opened the hearing with a statement his court must examine three things and emphasized that time was running out for provincial elections. barrister ali Zafar took the stand and sought to bring “things related to the president on record,” to which the judge responded that President alvi had announced the election date under section 57 of the elections act, 2017. Zafar pleaded to hear their request, but the chief justice reiterated that the court had three issues to consider. he referred to the lahore high Court’s (lhC) order of february 10, which directed the eCP to hold polls immediately, and said the court had several factors to consider. at one point, attorney general for Pakistan shehzad elahi requested time from the court. he said that issuing notices to so many people would make it difficult to prepare for the next day’s hearing. the judge responded the court would restrict itself to essen-

total liquid foreign reserves stand at $8.726b KARACHI

tial issues and hold a detailed hearing on monday. the chief justice stated that a suo motu notice was taken due to several factors, and that prolonged proceedings were underway in the high court while time was passing by. “the President has announced election under section 57,” Chief Justice bandial said. “we have three issues before us,” CJP said. “it has to be seen, who has been authorized to announce the election date after dissolution of assemblies,” he further said. “we had feb 10 order of the high court and several other factors before us,” the top judge added. “we want compliance of the constitution and could not tolerate its violation at any cost,” Justice bandial further said. Justice Jamal mandokhel and Justice athar minallah objected over constitution of the bench. “i have reservations over the suo moto no-

tice,” Justice mandokhel said. “Justice mazahir ali naqvi was the member of the bench in which the Chief election Commissioner was summoned,” he further said. “suo moto notice was taken on the note of Justice ijazul ahsan and Justice mazahir naqvi,” Justice Jamal said. “the CeC was summoned in the case, while he was not a party,” Justice mandokhel added. then the CJP said that the suo moto notice was taken later, earlier speakers’ petitions were filed. “the constitution gives fixed time for elections, which is coming to an end,” Justice bandial observed. “the high court’s forum can be bypassed in case of emergency,” he said. “it was easy for the supreme court to fix two filed petitions for hearing. section 57 related to the date of elections. several new points have come before us, which required interpretation,” he further said.

ReuteRs

the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose by $66 million to $3.258 billion in the week ending feb 17, the state bank of Pakistan (sbP) said on thursday, while its total liquid foreign reserves stood at $8.726 billion. Pakistan, which is a $350 billion economy, is facing economic turmoil, with a balance of payment crisis and only enough foreign exchange reserves to cover three weeks of imports. islamabad is expecting external financing inflows after a deal with the international monetary fund (imf) is finalised, something that is likely this month. if the imf deal is done and approved by its board that will issue a $1.2 billion funding, that will also unlock other bilateral and multilateral inflows. China approved the refinancing of $700 million on wednesday, the finance ministry said. the money had been expected to be credited to the central bank’s reserves this week.

PM for making Pakistan-US partnership diverse, multidimensional ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Prime minister shehbaz sharif on thursday highlighting the significance of long-standing cooperation between Pakistan and the united states underscored the need to make this partnership diverse and multidimensional. he underlined that parliamentary exchanges between the two countries, as vibrant democracies, were vital to promoting understanding of each others’ perspectives at the political level. the prime minister expressed these views while welcoming a six-member us senate delegation from the democratic Party, which led by senate majority leader senator Chuck schumer called on him here. other members of the delegation included senators maria Cantwell, amy Klobuchar, gary Peters, Catherine Cortez masto, and Peter welch. the prime minister highlighted that Pakistan and us celebrated 75 years of diplomatic relations last year, and that this diplomatic milestone presented an ideal opportunity to chart future course

for Pak-us bilateral ties. Pointing to the unrealized potential in the trade, investment and technology realms, he emphasized the importance of forging a more robust and mutually beneficial bilateral economic partnership. the prime minister recognized the important role that the vibrant Pakistani community played in serving as an important bridge between the two countries. he thanked the us for its support and solidarity with the people of Pakistan during the 2022 floods and its participation in the international Conference on Climate resilient Pakistan. a number of issues of mutual interest and importance including the situation in afghanistan, and deteriorating human rights situation and growing repression in the indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (iioJK) were also discussed during the meeting. the prime minister urged the us Congress to play its due role in raising its voice for the rights of the Kashmiri people and against the rising wave of antimuslim extremism in india. senator schumer, thanking the Prime minister on behalf of the delegation, af-

firmed the desire to further strengthen Pakistan-us bilateral ties in various dimensions through continued engagement and wider co-operation. ‘austerity policy to be enforced strictly’ meanwhile, Prime minister shehbaz sharif said that the austerity policy he had announced a day earlier would be enforced strictly and no laxity in this regard would be tolerated. Chairing a meeting to review the implementation of the policy, the prime minister said the ‘historic decisions’ made to promote austerity and simplicity would have a far-reaching impact that also got applause from the public. he directed the formation of a monitoring committee to oversee the implementation of the decisions. to be chaired by a cabinet member from a coalition party, the monitoring committee would comprise representation from all the allied parties. other committee members would include special assistant to Pm Jahanzeb Khan, Principal secretary to Pm and federal finance secretary. the prime minister said the austerity

measures would help save national resources; however, effective outcomes depended on the full enforcement of the policy. federal ministers rana tanveer hussain and tariq bashir Cheema, advisor qamar Zaman Kaira, state minister hashim notezai, saPm Jahanzeb Khan

and relevant senior officers attended the meeting. it is pertinent to mention here that Pm shehbaz sharif announced a number of austerity measures, as Pakistan was eyeing a staff-level agreement with the international monetary fund (imf) this week.