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Monday, 18 September, 2023 I 1 Rabi ul Awwal, 1445
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Rs 15.00 | Vol XIV No 79 I 8 Pages I Islamabad Edition
NEW CJP SETS UP FULL COURT TO HEAR CHALLENGES g APPOINTS FIRST-EVER WOMAN g PRESIDENT ADMINISTERS OATH TO TO SC (PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE) ACT 2023 REGISTRAR AT APEX COURT JUSTICE ISA AT PRESIDENT’S HOUSE
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ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
USTICE Qazi Faez Isa on Sunday constituted a full court to hear challenges to the law clipping the Chief Justice’s soon after he was sworn in as the 29th Chief Justice of Pakistan by President Arif Alvi during a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir were also in attendance, along with all judges of the apex court and former CJPs – Iftikhar Chaudhry and Tassaduq Jillani. The ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran, following which the notification for Justice Isa’s appointment was read out. The president then administered the oath to Justice Isa, whose wife Sarina Isa stood by his side. FULL COURT TO TAKE UP CHALLENGES TO LAW CURTAILING CJP’S POWERS: In his first act after becoming the 29th Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Isa formed a full court to hear a set of challenges to the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, a bill that requires the formation of benches on constitutional matters of public importance by a committee of three senior judges of the court.
Hearing on the pleas will begin at 9am n Monday (today). Notices for the proceeding have already been issued to Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan. The enforcement of the SC (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023 had been suspended on the April 13 order of an eight-judge apex court bench, headed by outgoing CJP Umar Ata Bandial. 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 SC (Practice and Procedure) Bill, 2023. The petitioners had pleaded before the apex court that the concept, preparation, endorsement and passing of the SC (Practice and Procedure) Bill 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. Moreover, they said the federal government cannot frame any law that seeks to interfere or regulate with the functioning of the apex court or the powers exercised by it or its judges including CJP, under the Constitution. FIRST WOMAN APPOINTED AS REGISTRAR SC: Soon after taking oath of the office, CJP Isa appointed Okara Addi-
tional District and Sessions Judge Jazeela Aslam as the first female Registrar of the Supreme Court. According to notification of the appointment: “Pursuant to Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad […] dated September 17, 2023, the Honourable Chief Justice and Judges are pleased to place the services of Ms Jazeela Aslam, District and Sessions Judge, Okara, in the public interest, with immediate effect at the disposal of that court, for her posting as Registrar, Supreme Court of Pakistan on deputation basis for a period of three years.” It added that ADSJ Jazeela would remain repatriated to the SC for the aforementioned time unless directed otherwise. According to a press release issued by the SC, ADSJ Jazeela, mother of three, got a first division in her Bachelor’s degree from Kinnaird College, completed her LLB from the Punjab University and secured second position in the judicial competitive exam of Punjab. She joined the Punjab Judicial Service as civil judge/judicial magistrate in May 1994 and has also worked as a deputy solicitor. ADSJ Jazeela is also the senior most lady district and sessions judge in Punjab. The press release added that Professor Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad and Abdul Sadiq were appointed as the chief justice’s secretary and staff officer, respectively. JUSTICE ISA’S PROFILE: Born in Quetta on October 26, 1959, Justice Qazi Faez Isa is the son of the late Qazi Mohammad Isa of Pishin, who was in the forefront of the Pakistan Movement and a close associate of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Justice Isa’s father was the first person from the province to acquire the Bar-at-Law degree and helped establish the All India Muslim League in Balochistan after his return from London. His father had served as the only member on the Central Working Committee of the All India Muslim League from Balochistan. Begum Saida Isa, Justice Isa’s mother, was a social worker and worked in an honorary capacity on the boards of hospitals and other charitable organisations which focused on ed-
Pervaiz Elahi rearrested after court discharges him in Lahore Master Plan case LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
PTI President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was re-arrested on Sunday in a terrorism case soon after a Lahore AntiCorruption Court discharged him from a graft case pertaining to the Lahore Master Plan 2050, his lawyer Rana Intezar Hussain confirmed. “As soon as Ch Pervaiz Elahi was discharge from the graft case, some officials said he has been arrested in a terrorism case and is being taken to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi,” Hussain elaborated. The former two time Punjab chief minister is among several PTI leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership following the violent riots after Imran Khan’s first arrest on May 9. On Sunday, the PTI president was produced in the court following his arrest by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in Rawalpindi yesterday, which according to another one of his lawyers Sardar Abdul Razzaq was the 12th time the PTI leader was detained since June 1 following the May 9 episode. During the hearing, the anti-corruption officials sought physical remand of the former CM but the defence lawyers opposed the request, asking the court to release the veteran politician from the case based on mala fide intentions. The court earlier reserved its decision on the ACE’s request and later discharged Pervaiz Elahi from the case. In its written order issued in the evening, the court said: “Discharge never amounts to acquittal because acquittal is sweet will of learned trial court which is fully competent to summon the accused to face trial even if he was discharged.” It further ruled that “no incriminating material” was available against the accused which could connect him with the commission of the alleged offence. “Hence, the accused person namely Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is hereby discharged in this case.” The court also instructed authorities to immediately release the PTI president if he was not required in any other case. Elahi was charged under Sections 109 (punishment of abetment
if the Act abetted committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code as well as Section 5 (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 in the case. The FIR had details of the time of reporting and sections invoked filled in with pen. It was registered on July 19 at the Lahore ACE police station on the complaint of Lahore ACE officer Tariq Mehmood. According to the FIR, in March 2021, then-CM Elahi misused his au-
thority and colluded with Lahore Development Authority Director Amir Ahmed Khan to illegally alter the draft of the Lahore Master Plan 2050 and include Kotli Rai Abu Bakar — an area in Kasur district — in it. As a result, the value of the land owned by Elahi’s sons, Moonis Elahi and Rasikh Elahi, in Kotli Rai Abu Bakar increased manifold, the FIR alleged. The provincial anti-corruption authorities had taken him into custody in the case from Adiala Jail in the garrison city, where he was detained in a riots case. After his arrest, Elahi was presented in an Islamabad court, which granted the ACE one-day transit remand of PTI president for him to be produced in the relevant anti-corruption court in Lahore today.
Capital Police, ‘men in civvies’ arrest Sh Rashid from his residence: Lawyer RAWALPINDI
STAFF REPORT
Awami Muslim League (AML) leader and PTI ally Sheikh Rashid was arrested from his residence in Rawalpindi on Sunday evening, his lawyer Sardar Abdul Razzak Khan confirmed to the media. He stated that men in civvies took the veteran politician Sheikh Rashid into custody from his residence, claiming that the former interior minister had been taken to some “undisclosed location”. The lawyer also claimed Sh Rashid’s nephew Sheikh Shakir and houseworker Sheikh Imran had also been arrested. Sh Rashid’s arrest coincided with the rearrest of PTI President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday for the thirteenth time immediately after a Lahore Anti-Corruption Court discharged him from a graft case pertaining to the Lahore Master Plan 2050, his lawyer Rana Intezar Hussain said. He said “They (officials) said he has been arrested in a terrorism case and was being taken to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.” Pervaiz Elahi is among sev-
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eral PTI leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership following the violent riots in the country after Imran’s first arrest on May 9. He was presented in the court today following his arrest by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment’s (ACE) in Rawalpindi yesterday, which according to another one of his lawyers Sardar Abdul Razzaq was the 12th time the PTI leader was detained since June 1 following the May 9 episode. Separately, in a video message, the AML leader’s nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq said his uncle was arrested by the Punjab police from Bahria Town Phase III in Rawalpindi and his current whereabouts were unknown. “Both the Islamabad and Punjab police have told the high courts in writing that Sheikh Rashid is not proclaimed in any case,” he said. Shafiq also requested the higher courts to take notice of the arrest and find out where his uncle was taken. “We will fight the legal battle and have always indulged in politics of principles,” he added.
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ucation, children and women’s health issues. After completing his primary and secondary education in Quetta, Isa moved to Karachi to finish his ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from the Karachi Grammar School (KGS). He then went on to study law from London, where he completed his Bar Professional Examination from the Inns of Court School Law, London. Justice Isa enrolled as an Advocate of the Balochistan High Court on January 30, 1985, and as an Advocate Supreme Court in March 1998. He has practised law
for over 27 years before the High Courts of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He became a member of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Sindh High Court Bar Association and Life Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. From time to time, he was called upon by the High Courts and the Supreme Court as amicus curiae and rendered assistance in certain complicated cases.
Maryam Nawaz hopes ‘scale of justice’ to be equal now LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
Welcoming the oath-taking of Justice Qazi Faiz Isa as 29th Chief Justice of the country on Sunday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Organizer Maryam Nawaz expressed the hope that rule of law and justice would prevail in judiciary once again. Addressing the meetings of various wings of the party, the chief organiser of the PML-N also hoped that from today the scales of justice would be equal and dispensation of justice would be served in accordance with the law. She once again reiterated that the people of Pakistan were punished out of hatred for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. “Almighty Allah has made Nawaz triumphant, and now Pakistan has to be made successful. Almighty Allah has ‘plus’ Nawaz Sharif every time, after every attempt to minus him,” she said. PML-N’s senior vice president also hoped that her senior party members who had been facing trials in various courts of law would get rid of “injustices by the project operatives”. By this, she was taking a dig at former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, led by Imran Khan, who was labelled as “selected” in the context of al-
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leged political engineering. Maryam said that conspiring against Nawaz was actually conspiring against Pakistan, which she termed as “anti-Pakistan and people approach”. “Pakistan now needs a new beginning, the country has to be freed from the politics of revenge, conflict and chaos,” she held, adding that her party’s fight was against high inflation, economic distress and bad governance. “We will take the journey of development to every corner of Pakistan, including Sindh province,” said Maryam, dispelling the perception that PML-N was just a Punjab-centric party. The PML-N leader further claimed that her party had ended load shedding and terrorism, also vowing to reduce rampant inflation once they get back into power. “Nawaz Sharif had made Pakistan’s defence invincible by carrying out nuclear explosions, now he will make Pakistan economically invincible,” she added. “We want to see gratification and economic comfort on the faces of the people, The people should strengthen Nawaz Sharif with their vote, we will reduce inflation, “ said Maryam, requesting the people of Pakistan to strengthen Nawaz Sharif so that Pakistan could be made strong.