In partnership with
Profit
Friday, 31 May, 2024 I |22 Zil-Qadah, 1445
Rs 20.00 | Vol XIV No 331 I 8 Pages I Islamabad Edition
IMRAN COMPLAINS TO CJP ABOUT TROUBLE SEEKING LEGAL ADVICE ‘NAB LAW AMEND CASE’
g
IN FIRST COURTROOM INTERACTION, PTI FOUNDER LAMENTS JAIL AUTHORITIES DON’T ALLOW HIM TO MEET LEGAL TEAM, PREPARE FOR CASE
I
ISLAMABAD
g
JUSTICE ISA ASSURES KHAN WOULD BE PROVIDED WITH REQUIRED MATERIAL, ALSO ALLOWED TO MEET LAWYERS
STAFF REPORT
NCARCERATED former premier Imran Khan on Thursday complained about the difficulties he has been facing in seeking legal assistance for the NAB Law amend case during in his first courtroom interaction with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa. “The jail authorities don’t allow me to meet my legal team. I am being kept in solitary confinement without access to any materials or a library to prepare for the case,” PTI founder Imran Khan told the CJP while attending the hearing of NAB Law amendments case via video link. The development came as a five-member bench resumed hearing intra-court appeals (ICAs) moved by the federal government against the SC’s Sept 15 majority judgment, which struck down amendments to the anti-graft laws. Imran's remarks came as a fivejudge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) led by CJP Isa, and including Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, resumed hearing the accountability laws amendment case. At the outset of the hearing, the apex court rejected the Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa government's petition seeking the hearing to be broadcast live after the CJP-led bench decided in a 4:1 ruling not to stream the proceedings live. The last hearing had turned out anticlimactic as ex-premier Imran Khan had appeared via video link but did not get a chance to speak as a petitioner in the matter. Earlier this month, the SC had ordered the federal and Punjab governments to facilitate Imran’s appearance before the court via video link from Adiala jail, where he is currently incarcerated. While the May 14 hearing had been broadcast live, the last one was not, with the reason remaining unclear. As per the court orders at the last hearing, Imran again appeared via video link today.
The bench took a short break to mull whether to live-stream the hearing and in a majority 4:1 decision, chose not to, with Justice Minallah dissenting from it. If live-streamed, this would have been Imran’s first public appearance since his arrest from Zaman Park in August last year in the Toshakhana case despite reservations expressed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar about the SC’s directives. The apex court is seized with a number of intra-court appeals (ICAs) moved by the federal government as well as by a private citizen Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui, who was an accused in a corruption case but not a party to the challenges to the NAB amendments case. During the previous hearing, Justice Isa had expressed his dis-
izens of Pakistan. To the extent that any employee of the government or investigation or intelligence agency is undertaking surveillance and/or telecom companies and service providers are affording their facilities to facilitate surveillance, all such individuals are liable for offences under provisions of the Telegraph Act, the Telecommunication Act, the Fair Trial Act and Peca. “Any such unauthorised surveillance would also be in breach of fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed by Articles 9, 10A, 14 and 19 of the Constitution read with Article 4 and would cause irreparable harm to the liberty, dignity and privacy of the citizens being surveilled. The IHC judge had earlier dismissed multiple petitions from different authorities requesting
that he recuse himself from the case. The detailed court verdict of the April 29 hearing had said there was a “growing abhorrent practice” of using recusal requests accompanied by efforts to “scandalise the court and intimidate the judge into disqualifying himself/herself from hearing a matter, in which a party to the proceedings suspects that the outcome might not be to its liking”. In a later hearing, he had issued contempt notices to the director generals (DGs) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as well as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman and members for filing “collusive applications” seeking his recusal.
Individuals involved in, aiding citizens’ surveillance ‘liable for offences’: IHC ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has said that prima facie no state official was authorised to surveil citizens and anyone doing so or aiding such an endeavour would be “liable for offences”. Justice Babar Sattar made the observation in a written order issued on Thursday for yesterday’s hearing of petitions filed by ex-premier Imran Khan’s spouse Bushra Bibi and Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, against alleged audio leaks last year. The order reads: “It appears prima facie that no official of the executive/federal government, intelligence agency or police is authorised to undertake surveillance of the cit-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
May 9 planners, perpetrators to be punished for 'collective good of country': ISPR 83RD FORMATION COMMANDERS CONFERENCE
RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT
The military's top brass on Thursday observed that the planners, perpetrators, abettors, and facilitators of the May 9 riots "need to be brought to justice for the collective good of the country" and without swift and transparent dispensation of justice to the culprits, the stability of the country will "remain hostage" to such elements. A statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the 83rd Formation Commanders Conference (FCC) was presided over by Chief of the Army Staff General Asim Munir and the forum noted that "politically
motivated and vested digital terrorism" against state institutions, especially the armed forces, is meant to sow discord and "induce despondency" in the Pakistani nation. The participants also noted that "conspirators duly abetted by their foreign cohorts" are peddling blatant lies fake news and propaganda. "However, the nation is fully cognisant of their ugly and ulterior motives and surely the designs of these nefarious forces will be comprehensively defeated," added the military's media wing. The conference was also briefed on the current dynamics of the geostrategic environment and emerging challenges to national security. The
commanders expressed serious concern over continued cross-border violations from Afghanistan and terrorist attacks being orchestrated using Afghan soil, noting that the enemies of the country were using the neighbouring nation to target the security forces of the country and its civilian population. "The forum acknowledged the priceless sacrifices of the people of newly merged districts (NMDs) in the war against terrorism and underscored the importance of uplifting the NMDs to decisively defeat terrorism," said ISPR. The military's top brass also underlined the need for "socio-economic development in Balochistan to counter externally propagated narratives of exclusion, exploited by foreign-sponsored proxies to lead Balochistan's youth away from peace and progress". Reviewing the situation on the border with India, the forum expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people in their just struggle for the inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in UNSC resolutions.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
may over the main case against the amendments being prolonged to 53 hearings. He also questioned the suspension of the now-in-effect Practice and Procedures Act, which clipped the CJP’s powers. Today, Makhdoom Ali Khan appeared on behalf of the federal government while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel was also present. Makhdoom concluded his arguments in the case. The court ordered that Imran be allowed to meet senior counsel Khawaja Haris, who earlier represented him in the first round of litigation, for legal assistance. It further ordered that the former premier be provided with the complete record of the case. The hearing was then adjourned till the next week, with a date yet to be specified. The hearing Soon after the hearing began, the bench introduced a short break in the proceedings, retiring to mull whether to live-stream the hearing or not. “We will let you know in a bit about live-streaming the case,” the court said. Justice Minallah — who had earlier stated that the top court could not deny an audience to the ex-premier if he wished to appear before it for the case — expressed his support for the live stream.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 03
PM announces industry status for warehouse, logistics g
Directs concerned authorities to fulfil all necessary legal requirements PROFIT APP
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday announced to giving of industry status to warehouse and logistics, directing the concerned authorities to fulfil all necessary legal requirements in that regard. The announcement was made during a meeting of the representatives of chambers of commerce and associations of various industries and businesses from across the country with the prime minister. The business community expressed its gratitude to the prime minister for fulfilling their longstanding demand, which was pending at various forums. The prime minister said that the economy was on the recovery track and the government was working for more economic stability. He said the economy was being fully digitized and work to digitize the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had already been started. The foreign investment would increase only with the increase of local investment in Pakistan, he added. The prime minister said, “During my upcoming visit to China, I will invite the Chinese industry to set up industries in Pakistan.”
The government, he said was taking steps to provide a businessfriendly environment in the country. “The inflation has reduced due to the prudent government policies,” he added. The prime minister also expressed the government’s commitment to encourage new projects in alternative energy, especially solar energy, to bring down electricity prices in the country. He informed that work on outsourcing of three major airports had started. The prime minister said except few strategic state-owned enterprises (SOEs), all the enterprises were being privatized to save losses of billions of rupees. He also expressed satisfaction with the better growth rate of the IT industry. Third-party validation was being conducted to check the performance of trade and investment officers posted abroad, he added. Assuring the delegation to resolve all their legitimate demands and issues, the prime minister asked the federal ministers to hold detailed discussions with all the industrial sectors. The business community assured the prime minister of their full support to the government in terms of improving the economy and expanding the tax net.