The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has temporarily suspended the arrest warrants for PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the contempt case and asked him to appear before the commission on August 2 to face indictment, it emerged on Saturday.
In a written order of its July 25 hearing, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the ECP said it was suspending the arrest warrants previously issued for the former premier. The decision was taken in light of his appearance before the electoral watchdog in relation to the case.
Imran had on July 25 appeared before the election watchdog for the first time since August last year when the case was initiated.
A day before his appearance, the ECP had ordered Islamabad police to arrest Imran and present him before the election watchdog.
The ECP had initiated contempt proceedings against the PTI chief, party leader Asad Umar and former information minister Chaudhry last year for allegedly using “intemperate” language against the chief election commissioner and the electoral watchdog.
However, instead of appearing before the ECP, the three had challenged the ECP notices and contempt proceedings in various high courts on the grounds that Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017, which is the statutory provision regarding the commission’s power to punish for contempt, was against the Constitution. The PTI leaders had also sought from the high courts a declaratory relief from the charges.
But in January, the Supreme Court had allowed the ECP to continue proceedings against Imran, Chaudhry and Umar, and on June 21, the ECP had decided to frame charges against the trio.
In the July 11 hearing, they did not appear before the commission despite being summoned, following which the ECP issued arrest warrants for Chaudhry and Imran. It had, however, accepted a plea by Umar’s lawyer to allow him an exemption from the hearing.
In a written order issued on Friday, the ECP granted Imran’s counsel’s request to obtain the case record from the relevant department. The order also stated that the respondent must now appear on the scheduled date.
It further said the matter had now been adjourned until Aug 2 for “framing of charges”.
At least eight people, including a child, were killed and nine others were injured on Friday when a pickup truck carrying tourists plunged into a ravine near Babusar Pass in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, officials said.
Diamer Rescue 1122 District Coordinator Shaukat Riaz confirmed the death toll to Dawn.com.
Meanwhile, Chilas Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Wazir Liaqat said the vehicle, carrying 16 tourists, was headed to Gilgit from Sahiwal.
“After the vehicle fell into the ravine, it caught fire,” he told Dawn.com, adding that the wounded persons were being moved to the Chilas Rural Health Centre.
DSP Liaqat said one body had been brought to the health facility in Chilas while the remaining were referred to Naran. The officer further stated that the deaths occurred due to severe injuries.
Earlier this month, people were killed and 17 others were injured when a bus carrying tourists plunged into a ravine on the Karakoram Highway near the Thalichi area in GB.
Previously, five tourists were killed and 13 were injured in two traffic accidents in GB’s Hunza — when a van fell into a ravine and another crashed into a mountain.
Ramshackle highways, lax safety measures and reckless driving contribute to Pakistan’s dire road safety record.
Passenger buses are frequently crammed to capacity and seatbelts are not commonly worn or simply non-existent, meaning high death tolls from single-vehicle accidents are common.
According to World Health Organisation estimates, more than 27,000 people were killed on Pakistan’s roads in 2018.
This is a developing story that is being updated as the situation evolves. Initial reports in the media can sometimes be inaccurate. We will strive to ensure timeliness and accuracy by relying on credible sources such as concerned, qualified authorities and our staff reporters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a one-day visit to offer condolences over the death of Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the brother of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
In a tweet, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the premier would meet the UAE president during his brief trip and extend condolences to the latter on behalf of the Pakistani nation.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and special assistant to the premier Tariq Fatemi are also accompanying the prime minister.
The UAE Presidential Court had announced Sheikh Saeed’s death in an obituary notice published by state news agency WAM on Thursday. It also said that a three-day mourning period would be observed, with flags flown at half-mast across the country, from July 27 to July 29.
According to Khaleej Times, Sheikh Saeed was laid to rest at Al Bateen Cemetery in Abu Dhabi on Thursday afternoon. The report said Sheikh Saeed was born in 1965 in Al Ain and was appointed the ruler’s representative in Abu Dhabi in June 2010.
A day earlier, PM Shehbaz said he was “deeply grieved” at the news and extended condolences to the royal family and the people of UAE.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also said that he was deeply saddened by the death of Sheikh Saeed.
Meta Platforms executives are heavily focused on boosting retention on their new Twitter rival Threads, after the app lost more than half of its users in the weeks following its buzzy launch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees on Thursday.
Retention of users on the text-based app was better than executives had expected, though it was “not perfect”, said Zuckerberg, speaking at an internal company town hall, the audio of which was heard by Reuters.
“Obviously, if you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around. We’re not there yet,” he said.
Zuckerberg said he considered the drop-off “normal” and expected retention to grow as the company adds more features to the app, including a desktop version and search functionality.
Meta is looking at adding more “retention-driving hooks” to entice users to return to the app, like “making sure people who are on the Instagram app can see important Threads,” said Chief Product Officer Chris Cox.
A company spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting.
The executives’ comments came a day after Meta wowed investors with a rosy revenue growth forecast, a sign of a comeback for a company that faced deep scepticism over its hefty spending on the metaverse last year as ad sales plummeted.
The disclosure sent Meta’s shares surging 8 per cent on Thursday.
Zuckerberg told employees on the call that he believed the company’s work on the augmented and virtual reality technology that would power the metaverse was “not massively ahead of schedule, but on track.”
Meta, he added, needed to get started investing in that work ahead of rivals such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, given their years of experience building operating systems for existing products.
“That way, we have all the tools ready for when this is ready for prime time,” he said, predicting that mass adoption of metaverse technologies would take place in the 2030s.
Zuckerberg and Cox also highlighted the company’s release of an artificial intelligence model called Llama 2 this month, which it made freely available for commercial use to any developer whose services had fewer than 700 million users.
The model has received more than 150,000 download requests in the week since its release, Cox said.
Responding to a question on the proposed “cage match” against Elon Musk, Zuckerberg said he was “not sure if it’s going to come together.”
Islamabad police said on Friday that the statement of a teenage maid, who was reportedly severely tortured by a civil judge’s wife, had been recorded.
A resident of Sargodha, the teenage girl was shifted to the Lahore General Hospital on Monday when her employers — a civil judge in Islamabad and his wife — were accused of torturing her.
According to the girl’s medico-legal certificate (MLC), she had “laceration on head from vertex, on forehead, right side above eyebrow, swollen upper lips, laceration under upper lip on right side, broken left incisor and left canine, laceration on check, nose bleed, laceration on left side of vertex, multiple bruises on lower leg, fracture on right forearm, swollen left and right eyelids, bruise on right skull, laceration on back, multiple bruises on back and attempt on strangulation.”
After initially showing reluctance, Islamabad police had registered a first information report in the case on July 26. Police booked the judge’s wife for criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement, without mentioning physical torture in the FIR.
On Thursday, the Lahore High Court granted protective bail to the judge’s wife till August 1.
In a tweet today, the Islamabad police said the statements of the victim and her father had been recorded but the medical report had not yet been received.
It stated that all those involved in the crime were being investigated and action was being taken according to the law.
“Child labour is a crime under the law. If anyone is aware of any such incident, report it to the police,” the capital police added.
Earlier, a police officer toldDawn that the capital police initiated the investigation over the case and sent a team to Lahore and other cities to arrest the accused.
The investigation is being conducted by the relevant police station instead of the investigation wing’s Special Sexual Offence Investigation Unit under the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021. The SSOIU has a mandate to investigate offences against juveniles under the act, he added.
The police team raided houses in Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Gujranwala to arrest the accused but it failed, the officer said, adding that the supervisory officers of the team were informed that the accused obtained a pre-arrest bail.
Following the information about the bail, the team was asked to move to Lahore and meet the victim and her family, the officer said, adding that in response the team met the girl and her family at a hospital, and their statements were recorded.
The case
The case was registered at the Humak police station in response to the complaint from the girl’s father, a labourer by profession. According to the FIR, he sent his daughter to the house of the judge at Zartaj Housing Society through an acquaint against Rs10,000 per month salary.
On July 23, he along with his wife and brother-in-law came to the judge’s house to meet his daughter and found her injured and weeping in a room, it added.
They found infected injuries on his head besides wounds all around the face, both arms and legs, the FIR said, adding her tooth was also found broken and swilling on both lips and eyes.
“Her ribs were also found broken, and injuries were found on her back. Marks of strangulation were also found around her neck.”
When asked, she told her family that the judge’s wife used to torture and beat her with batons and spoons daily and did not provide her with dinner.
The FIR said the girl was detained in a room since her arrival at the house. Later, the family took her to the Sargodha DHQ hospital where the girl’s condition deteriorated and was then referred to Lahore.
Flanked by visiting Russian and Chinese officials, Kim Jong Un oversaw a North Korean military parade featuring new drones and Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, state media reported on Friday.
At least four new North Korean military drones were towed on trailers through Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square at the parade late on Thursday, state media images showed, while another drone appeared to conduct a flyover overhead.
Standing between Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese politburo member Li Hongzhong in the VIP viewing stands, Kim smiled and saluted as thousands of soldiers marched past, trailed by the country’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which are banned under UN sanctions.
The event, featuring Kim’s first-known foreign guests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, was to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which ended open hostilities and is celebrated as Victory Day.
Kim “extended warm militant greetings” to the parade, the official Korean Central News Agency said, and North Korea’s defence minister Kang Sun Nam made a speech.
The United States has no chance “of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK”, Kang said, referring to the North by its official name.
He warned that any attempts by the United States to use armed force against the North would cause an “unimaginable and unforeseen crisis”.
The parade featured an array of new weaponry, including some first unveiled at a defence expo on Wednesday in Pyongyang, visited by Kim and Shoigu.
North Korea’s new underwater nuclear attack drone, called the “Haeil”, appeared at the parade for the first time, Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported.
“The strategic reconnaissance drone and the multi-purpose attack drone which was newly developed and produced… made circular flights in the sky above the Kim Il Sung Square,” KCNA said.
The “excitement and great joy of the spectators reached its height” when the nuclear-armed country’s newest ICBM — the solid-fuel Hwasong-18, tested in April and July this year — was paraded through the square, KCNA said.
The tests were roundly condemned by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, and violated UN sanctions banning the North from any tests using ballistic missile technology.
‘Send the US a signal’
The parade is a key part of “promoting Kim Jong Un’s ruling legitimacy and internal unity in this economically challenging time”, Yangmo Ku, a political science professor at Norwich University, told AFP.
But this year, with the inclusion of high-level guests from Moscow and Beijing, Pyongyang is also sending America “a signal that under strengthened ties with Russia and China, North Korea is militarily ready to cope with strategic threats from its enemies”, he said.
“All these acts mean the emergence of the new Cold War surrounding the Korean Peninsula,” Ku added.
Beijing is North Korea’s most important ally and economic benefactor, their relationship was forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War in the 1950s.
“China’s representation at North Korea’s parading of nuclear-capable missiles raises serious questions about Beijing enabling Pyongyang’s threats to global security,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
Russia, another historic ally, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations, and experts said it was noteworthy that Moscow had sent Shoigu to the anniversary celebrations — a rare visit by a Russian defence chief in the post-Soviet era.
Kim has been steadfast in his support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including, Washington says, supplying rockets and missiles — a charge Pyongyang has denied.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin sent a speech, read out by Shoigu at an anniversary event, according to KCNA, in which Moscow’s leader hailed North Korea for its “firm support for special military operations against Ukraine”.
Easley said that “given Russia’s need for ammunition for its illegal war in Ukraine and (Kim’s) willingness to personally give the Russian defence minister a tour of North Korea’s arms exhibition, UN member states should increase vigilance for observing and penalising sanctions violations”.
The inclusion of foreign guests at this year’s celebrations is a post-pandemic first and hints at new flexibility towards enforcing border controls.
North Korea has imposed a rigid Covid-19 blockade since early 2020, preventing even its own nationals from entering the country.
It only resumed some trade with China last year and allowed new Beijing envoy Wang Yajun to take up his position this year. He is the first known senior diplomat to cross into North Korea since the border closure in January 2020
KARACHI: Calling the conduct of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial questionable, PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir Khan has acknowledged the top judge is one of the impediments in the return of party supremo Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan.
In an interview with VOA Urdu, published on Thursday, Mr Dastgir was asked about the return of Mr Sharif as the country was moving towards general elections.
The minister replied that although there were no “political impediments” in his return, there are two hurdles that still stand in the way — his health and legal issues.
“Although he [Mr Sharif] has recently travelled and he was in the Middle East recently, if his physician gives him the certificate, which we expect [then he will return]. Second is his legal difficulties”.
When the anchor interjected if Mr Sharif was awaiting the retirement of CJP Bandial, the minister said this was indeed a big speculation.
Minister links power sector issues with weak writ of state in certain areas
“[W]e don’t have a concrete opinion on this issue. The conduct of Justice Bandial has remained questionable,” he said, adding the bias of CJP Bandial was not tacit anymore but “there is a clear pattern in front of us.”
“As long as he is there, it is improbable that cases against Mr Sharif would end. But it is not a huge hurdle.”
Mr Dastgir, who is also the federal power minister, is not the first PML-N leader to link Mr Sharif’s return with the retirement of CJP Bandial.
Earlier this month, another PML-N leader, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, also hinted at the possibility of the PML-N supremo’s return after the chief justice’s retirement.
Mr Asif said he had “severe concerns” over the apex court’s behaviour during the past few months and Mr Sharif shouldn’t return in this situation.
Governance, transmission system
When asked about the performance of his ministry, Mr Dastgir acknowledged that the power sector has been plagued with several issues.
He added that at least three years and strong political will was needed to fix these issues.
“The biggest flaws in the power transmission system exist in areas where the writ of the state was weak,” he said while citing the districts bordering Afghanistan and rural areas of Sindh as examples.
“There are massive line losses and [electricity] theft in these areas.”
There was a double challenge of governance and power structure in these areas and both needed to be solved simultaneously, he added.
On the legislation to empower the interim government, he said changes in the law have been made to ensure that any potential foreign investment doesn’t hit a snag for the sole reason that an elected government was not present in the country.
He said the Constitution gives a timeline of 60 to 90 days to hold elections and he believed polls will be held “within 90 days at max” — in the first 10 days of November.
