Differences within the Supreme Court have intensified as a second letter from Justice Munib Akhtar surfaced within 12 hours, questioning the legality of the four-judge bench's proceedings in the Article 63-A review case.
In his latest letter to the Supreme Court Registrar, Justice Akhtar raised concerns about the composition of the bench, stating that a five-member larger bench was required to hear the case. "A four-member bench cannot sit to review the Article 63-A case," Justice Akhtar wrote.
He further noted that although the order from today's hearing included his name, he had not signed it. "The four judges on the bench are honourable, but today's proceedings are not in accordance with the law or court rules," he said. "I want to register my protest against today's order, which is not a judicial one and has no legal standing."
On the other hand, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa has convened an important meeting of the Judges' Practice and Procedure Committee for tomorrow at 9am. Sources suggest that another judge may be inducted to replace Justice Akhtar in the Article 63-A review case.
Earlier, Justice Akhtar had objected to the formation of benches and the judges' committee. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah had also previously raised concerns about the amended ordinance under which the judges' committee was formed.
The meeting tomorrow is expected to address these internal disagreements.
After failing to pass the "judicial package" in the first attempt, the government unveiled it and expressed its intention of pushing through a Constitutional amendment to pass it into law.
Under the proposed amendment, the government aims to supersede the Supreme Court by establishing a Federal Constitution Court and also aims to curtail the powers of High courts where issues of national security are concerned.
The first Chief Justice of the FCC will be appointed by the President, in consultation with the Prine Minister, whereupon subsequent judges will be appointed by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Chief Justice.
The number of justices in the FCC will be determined by an Act of Parliament, and business will be normalized whereby subsequent Chief Justices of the FCC will be appointed by an eight-member committee of the parliament, appointed by the Speaker of the National Assembly.
To qualify as a judge of the FCC, a nominee would have to have 5 years of experience as a High Court judge or 15 years of practice as a lawyer, and, he must not have served or be a serving member of the Supreme Court.
The age of retirement of an FCC judge is also proposed at 68 years, in comparison to 65 years for the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Thus, the Supreme Court is to be made subordinate to the FCC; a Federal Judicial Commission is to be formed with the CJ of the FCC acting as its head, and comprising other hand-picked members, including the Federal law Minister, Attorney General, and two parliamentarians of the treasury benches, allowing the government to comfortably control the judiciary.
The stipulation allowing High Court judges to be appointed to the FCC also enables the government to effectively police them and to "monitor their performance against inefficiency".
Furthermore, the Supreme Court will not be the competent authority to hear cases of Constitutional importance, and the procedure of selecting judges and the CJ of the FCC also makes it subordinate to the executive.
With the PTI reportedly unhappy with the passage of this Constitutional amendment, all eyes will now be on the Election Commission of Pakistan and the judgment passed by the Supreme Court to allocate reserved seats to the party.
However, the said judgment did call upon several PTI-backed independents to re-submit their party loyalties- these MPs will now be the subject of the developing supermajority forming maneuvers in Parliament.
The tussle between the SC and the ECP is expected to heat up, leading to a new vote on the Constitutional Amendment in Parliament.
Police fired tear gas and protesters pelted stones in Karachi on Sunday evening during a rally that was part of nationwide protests condemning Israel’s killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and its ongoing bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Thousands of people protested across Pakistan after Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that its longtime chief had been killed by an Israeli air strike in Lebanon, according to AFP.
Tel Aviv said it conducted an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs a day earlier in what would be a devastating blow to the group as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks.
In Karachi, a large number of protesters, including women and children, attended the rally denouncing the Hezbollah chief’s killing, raising slogans against Israel and its long-time ally, the United States.
Karachi Police said in a statement that the religiopolitical party, Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM), organized the rally in the metropolis.
“[The rally] was going to start at PIDC intersection, before moving towards Mai Kolachi Road via the ICI Bridge before culminating at the US Consulate,” the statement said.
According to the police, several protesters began their rally from the Old Numaish roundabout and marched along the main MA Jinnah Road. When they descended from the Native Jetty Bridge and attempted to approach the consulate, police contingents stationed there prevented them from moving further.
The police had already set up containers and created temporary barriers on MT Khan Road and Mai Kolachi Road leading toward the consulate. However, protesters tried removing the obstacles which led to the clashes.
Footage on social media showed clouds of tear gas and protesters congregating near Bahria Complex on MT Khan Road, west of the consulate, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting slogans. Protesters were also seen throwing stones at police clad in riot gear.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Asad Raza told Dawn.com that several officers, including station house officer (SHO) Mouchko, were injured after protesters pelted stones at the police.
Meanwhile, a journalists’ organization, Crime Reporters’ Association, said in a statement that some reporters covering the incident were beaten and injured, allegedly by the protesters. It added that DSNG vans belonging to a few private news channels were also damaged.
“An understanding had been reached with the protestors to hold a peaceful demonstration, while the police had offered to facilitate a meeting between some rally leaders and a representative from the US Consulate,” said DIG Raza.
“However, the protestors violated this understanding and damaged the containers put near the US Consulate and tried to proceed further,” he said.
The DIG added that aside from pelting stones at the police, some protestors also allegedly resorted to aerial firing, which compelled the law enforcers to take action.
“The police resorted to tear gas shelling to disperse them,” said the DIG.
He admitted that “some arrests” were made but those detained were released after successful negotiations with the protest organizers as they ended their demonstrations.
Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar took notice of the incident and sought details from DIG South.
“Civilians, including journalists, should be rescued and more police should be deployed to stop the rioting and stone pelting,” the minister said in a statement on X.
“All possible steps should be taken to establish the rule of law and protect the life and property of citizens.”
Police response ‘shameful’
MWM Sindh’s information department released a statement outlining the purpose of the rally and condemning the police response, calling it “shameful”.
“On the martyrdom of Hezbollah chief … Nasrallah, religious parties organised a rally … to the American Embassy and also staged a sit-in,” the statement read.
It added that during the rally, MWM leader Syed Baqir Zaidi delivered a speech, stating, “Hassan Nasrallah played a crucial role in making Hezbollah the strongest Palestinian resistance group.
“The American embassies in different countries of the world are the bases of sedition and corruption,” the statement quoted Zaidi as saying.
He, per the statement, demanded that the embassy “should be abolished from Pakistan” and the “American ambassadors be deported.”
“Police shelling of the rally held in mourning for his [Nasrallah’s] martyrdom is shameful. The Sindh government has made it clear that it stands with America and Israel instead of the victims of Gaza.”
JI Senator arrested during Islamabad protest
Protests also took place in Islamabad, and according to AFP, around 4,000 people gathered in the capital to protest Nasrallah’s killing.
During one of the protests, former senator Mushtaq Ahmed of the Jamaat-i-Islami, his wife, and 10 protesters were arrested while demonstrating outside the Islamabad Press Club.
Sitting in the back of a police vehicle, the ex-Senator claimed that authorities had attacked the demonstrators.
“They attacked us, including women and children,” he said in a video posted on X.
“Now they are arresting us,” he added, accusing the government of being an “arm of Israel”.
Protests in the capital continued despite the Punjab government imposing Section 144 in the province from September 28-29.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to prohibit an assembly of four or more people in an area for a limited period.
Israel’s ‘reckless act’
Pakistan on Sunday condemned Israeli “adventurism” in the Middle East region, terming the killing of Nasrallah in Lebanon a “reckless act”, constituting a major escalation.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the growing Israeli adventurism in the Middle East. Its unbridled attacks on civilian populations and disregard of international law have reached alarming levels,” a statement released by the Foreign Office read.
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has lambasted the ruling coalition for trying to surreptitiously amend the Constitution, contending that all legislations and constitutional amendments should be debated in parliament.
“The Constitution should not be amended in the darkness of the night,” Abbasi said on Sunday while talking to journalists at the Peshawar Press Club concerning a proposed constitutional amendment package the government is desperate to implement.
The proposed package seeks to introduce some major changes in the country’s justice system including the formation of the Federal Constitutional Court and an increase in the tenure of chief justices.
“There should be a debate on the amendment in parliament. In the current situation, all political parties should unite for a national dialogue. The country cannot afford another debacle,” he added.
Abbasi who was on a visit to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) provincial capital, said if incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan has committed a crime under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 then he should be put on trial.
He noted that more than a year had elapsed since the May 9, 2023 rioting incidents, and yet the trial of Imran, whose PTI is blamed for the incidents, has not started. “No clear evidence has been presented against him [Imran] so far,” he added.
Violent protests erupted across the country on May 9, 2023, after the paramilitary rangers arrested Imran Khan from the premises of the capital’s high court in connection with a corruption case.
During these protests, rioters vandalized and set fire to military installations and memorials. The rioting was followed by a heavy-handed crackdown against the former ruling party.
Talking concerning the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with the K-P province in 2018, he said the merger was completed, but the promises made to the tribal people have not been fulfilled in any way.
“The situation in the tribal areas has significantly worsened compared to before,” he said. Interestingly Abbasi was serving as the PM when the merger took place.
In response to a question, he said PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur is now the chief minister of the K-P, and he should think and act as the province’s chief executive. He said roads were blocked due to a PTI protest in Rawalpindi on Saturday.
“The government should have allowed the party to hold rallies and protests. Protests and rallies are the fundamental right of any political party,” he said.
An estimated 8 million people in Pakistan have succumbed to the spiral of drug addiction, where drugs like heroin and cannabis are easily sourced, widely available, and quite cheap.
Drugs make their way into Pakistan through neighboring Afghanistan, with one estimate suggesting a drugs market of over USD 2 billion annually, where 44 tons of processed heroin is consumed by people varying in age between 15 and 64 years.
An additional USD 30 billion of drugs flow through Pakistan to international markets, primarily in the US and Europe.
The drug epidemic is acute in Pakistan, and more people die of overdose and drug-related complications every year than they do from terrorism.
In a country where almost a fourth of all drug users are female, the rate of increase of drug users is 40,000 per year. Also, with 2 million addicts, Pakistan is among the most drug-affected countries in the world.
The use of injection drugs, alongside cocaine and amphetamine, is also sharply on the uptick, increasing from an estimated 90,000 in 2007 to 500,000 in 2014.
This segment of drug users is exposed to the dangers of HIV contamination, with fears of an HIV epidemic looming large.
It is estimated that 11% of all drug users in Pakistan are HIV positive.
The problem is now spreading to educational institutions, with even high schools gripped by rising incidence of drug abuse.
Medical treatment and specialist interventions remain in short supply, whereas the rising prevalence of drug abuse suggests that authorities have been unable to curb its smuggling into, and through Pakistan.
Afghanistan remains the top producer of heroin in the world, supplying 75% of its heroin.
Endless wars and lawlessness, combined with remote terrain provide a fertile breeding ground for opium cultivation.
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