Apex court grants time for denotification of PCO judges

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Friday has directed Federal Secretary Law and Justice to issue the notification for the removal of six judges, who had taken oath under Provisional Constitutional Order, by August 9, 2011.

A five-member special bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and comprised Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Amir Hani Muslim heard the case regarding non-implementation of SC judgment on PCO judges.

The Chief Justice in his opening remarks said that the order of the apex court should have been implemented and why the government was delaying it.

He asked the Secretary Law and Justice Masood Chishti that why so far the order of the Court has not been complied with.

Babar Awan, representing the Law Secretary, said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was busy in other issues, especially Karachi violence.

Therefore, some time should be given as the summary has been sent to the competent authority, he said to which the Chief Justice replied that that was a court order and required no summary.

The Chief Justice said that the government should have respected the judgment passed by a special bench.

He observed that in the absence of Masood Chishti, the acting Secretary Law Sultan Ahmed Shah had misguided the competent authorities.

Nobody had read the summary and signed it, he added.

CJ stated: ‘The government was trying to undermine the authority of the court’.

Babar Awan said that in accordance of the Rules of Business the Acting Secretary had sent the summary to the competent authority.

The CJP remarked that rules are framed under the Constitution, adding, even a decree is passed by a civil court should be implemented.

He asked the Secretary you are bound by the Constitution and under the command of the SC judgment you should have issued the notification for PCO judges removal.

The CJP said that after the 18th and 19th Amendments the dysfunctional judges are no more judges of the superior courts.

Babar Awan requested that as the Prime Minister is not in town ,therefore, two days should be given to issue the notification.

He on behalf of the Secretary stated: ‘The government will issue the requisite notification in pursuance of the court judgment’.

The Supreme Court on May 18th had ruled that the dysfunctional judges had ceased to hold their offices after the passage of 18th and 19th Amendments.

It said the PCO 2007 read with Oath of (Judges) Order 2007 had already been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court through a July 31st, 2009, order on a Sindh High Court Bar Association’s petition.

‘Thus no immunity is available to them’, it said.

The court had also sent references back to the government forwarded to the Supreme Judicial Council under Article 209 of the Constitution, which provided the only legal way to send judges home.

The court observed that since these judges had been declared as not being judges, they could not be removed through the SJC and that they could be charged with committing contempt of the court - a defence the dysfunctional judges were banking on by pleading that a judge could not charge another judge with contempt.

The contempt proceedings against the judges are pending before the apex court

PML-Q resolution for new province lands in PA

LAHORE - As a first constitutional step required for making a new province, the PML-Q has submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding creation of a new province in Punjab.

PML-Q parliamentary leader Ch Zaheer-ud-Din submitted the resolution in the assembly secretariat on Friday, which is likely to be taken up in the Assembly session due on August 11. When contacted, Ch Zaheer confirmed the submission of resolution and expressed hope that it would get passed by two-third majority, as no political force could afford to lose its vote bank in 11 districts, which might fall under the jurisdiction of a new province of South Punjab.

When asked if the resolution was opposed, he said: “The chances of opposing the resolution are bleak, as the opposition in the Punjab Assembly will go for voting if the Treasury opposed it.” He added: “If the resolution is passed by two-third majority from the House, the same would be sent to the federal government with the recommendation of carving out a new province in South Punjab.”

Talking to TheNation, veteran politician from Bahawalpur and PML-Q’s federal minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada said the political forces which would oppose the idea of a new province would cause serious damage to their vote bank in next elections in southern parts of the province.

He questioned that what harm could come by creating new provinces on administrative basis.

Some political forces are vying for creation of a new province consisting Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Bahawalnagar, Vehari, Khanewal, Leyyah, Bhakkar, Jhang and Mianwali districts.

Ukraine’s ex-PM Tymoshenko arrested

A Ukrainian court has ordered the arrest of country’s former Prime Minister and high-profile opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko.

­Around 30 police officers surrounded Tymoshenko’s table and escorted the ex-PM out of the court room.

After the judge voiced his decision, Ukrainian parliamentary deputies who supported Tymoshenko began chanting “Shame on you!” and “Yulia! Yulia!”

They also organized a fight with the police as the law enforcement officers prevented the MPs from leaving the court room.

Tymoshenko’s supporters continued their actions outside the court with opposition MPs organizing a human shield to block the path of the police vehicle carrying their leader along Kiev’s main Khreshchatyk street.

An application to arrest Tymoshenko came from prosecutor Liliya Frolova, who claimed statements made by the politician as well as her behavior disrupted the functioning of the court.

Tymoshenko has criticized the trial, calling it an attempt by President Viktor Yanukovich to bar her from elections. She has also refused to stand up while addressing the judge, repeatedly insulted him and questioned his objectivity.

The hearings were also regularly disrupted by Tymoshenko’s supporters.

Policemen surround a van in which Ukraine′s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was placed to be driven to prison after her arrest.

­The arrival of Ukraine’s acting prime minister, Nikolay Azarov, on the witness stand became the tipping point which pushed the judge to agree to the arrest.

Azarov said he holds Tymoshenko and her cabinet responsible for the gas crisis of 2009, which saw Russia cutting gas supply to its Ukrainian and European customers.

“The government was, essentially, carrying out the line of breaking the existing gas contracts with Russia and this led to the gas crisis,” he explained.

Tymoshenko, for her part, accused Azarov of corruption during the period when he was in charge of the country’s tax administration. She then demanded a translator.

“I don’t speak Russian. Provide me with an interpreter so that I could understand the Ukrainian prime minister, who can’t speak Ukrainian,” she said.

Azarov replied by saying that Yulia Tymoshenko has never understood him, but that that had nothing to do with language.

Yulia Tymoshenko considered her arrest “reprisal against a political opponent.” In a letter she wrote prior to her arrest, Tymoshenko also stressed that she is not “inclined to commit suicide.”

“I want to make a statement in connection with the realization of the plan to arrest me. Clearly, this is a reprisal against a political opponent, but I’m not about this. I want to say that I have no inclination to commit suicide,” Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko’s defense lawyer, Yury Sukhov, is intending to appeal the court’s decision to arrest the former prime minister next Monday.

Despite Sukhov earlier saying that he had obtained permission to visit Tymoshenko to bring her personal belongings, the lawyer was not allowed to meet his client. He entered the Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention facility, but almost immediately left.

“I was not let in,” he said. He added that until the next court hearing Tymoshenko is being left without legal assistance.

“The next hearing is scheduled for Monday at 10 am,” Sukhov said.

Yulia Tymoshenko’s “Batkivschyna” (Fatherland) party has decided to organize an open-ended picketing of the Pechersk district court in Kiev where the ex-prime minister is being tried.

Parliament deputy and former Tymoshenko lawyer Sergey Vlasenko told the Unian news agency that the decision to start the rally was unanimous.

The Ukrainian president’s press secretary has already officially announced that the head of the state, Viktor Yanukovich, has nothing to do with Tymoshenko’s arrest.

“The president has repeatedly said that neither he nor his administration has been meddling in the Tymoshenko’s trial,” said Yanukovich’s press secretary. “The president cannot interfere with judicial affairs. This is stipulated by the constitution.”

­Tymoshenko’s arrest worries Europe

­The European Parliament’s president, Jerzy Buzek, expressed concern over the arrest of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in a statement which was forwarded to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

“The context and conditions raise concern regarding the political motivation of this decision and the application of the rule of law in Ukraine,” the statement reads.

“Recently, I expressed my concern to Ukraine’s political leadership about the apparent selectivity in the opening of criminal case against Tymoshenko and other former ministers of the previous government.”

Buzek called on Ukraine to “observe the principles and general values that define the relationship between Kiev and Brussels and that are the core of the Eastern Partnership.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement declaring that the 2009 gas deals between Moscow and Kiev were backed by all the necessary instructions from the presidents of Russia and Ukraine and signed in strict accordance with the laws of both countries as well as international law.

The statement added that the criminal proceedings against Tymoshenko “should be fair and impartial, meet all the requirements of Ukrainian legislation in providing opportunities for protection and respect for basic humanitarian rules and regulations.”

The 50-year-old politician has been in court since June over allegations that she exceeded her powers when she made gas deals with Russia in 2009, during her term as Ukraine’s prime minister.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Fokus.ua website claimed that the outcome of the “gas case” against Tymoshenko has already been decided.

Fokus.ua cites an unnamed source “close to the investigation in the High Council of Justice of Ukraine” as saying that the ex-PM will be sentenced to up to five years in prison before September 6.

Yulia Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution which started in November 2004 and later plunged Ukraine into political chaos when her alliance with Yushchenko broke down. (The EU Times)

SC cancels stay order against Ashiana

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC), while vacating its stay order regarding the construction of Ashiana Housing Scheme on the land of a shrine on Thursday, observed that the Punjab government could carry on the construction work on the land on its own responsibility.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard a petition, filed by the custodian of a shrine, Noor Shah, against the construction of Ashiana Housing Scheme on the land of a shrine
The petitioner pleaded to the court that the government of Punjab had occupied the shrine’s land for building houses and carrying out other construction related activities at the Ashiana Housing Scheme. Punjab Advocate General Khawaja Haris informed the court that Ashiana Housing Scheme was a project meant for people belonging to low-income groups, as the Punjab government had invested Rs 2 billion on the project. The chief justice remarked that grabbing others’ lands for building housing schemes was not justified. The petitioner submitted that the Punjab government had grabbed the shrine’s land for this project. “However, the government allotted the land 25 miles away from the shrine as compensation,” he added.
The CJ observed that according to the Punjab Land Ordinance, substitute lands could not be allotted against previously allocated land, adding that this scheme could be launched somewhere else. The CJ inquired from the Punjab Advocate General as to why the Punjab government had chosen this land for the project.
Khawaja Harris submitted that 500 hundred units would be constructed for low-income people under this scheme, whereas structures of 700 units had been completed for further construction.

Deployment of army in Karachi upto Sindh Govt: Gilani

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said situation in Karachi is different from Balochistan and stated that India was not involved in every trouble in Pakistan.

Talking to media persons here in Multan on Friday, the Prime Minister said the government was making all out efforts to restore peace in Karachi. He said it is for Sindh Government whether to call in the army or not. He said Pakistan's security issues had an inextricable link with the conflict in Afghanistan.

"Situation in Pakistan would not improve until there was normalcy in Afghanistan" the Prime Minister remarked.

Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said that the government would take on board all the stakeholders regarding the issue of new provinces. He said the Manifesto Committee of the PPP is also working on this issue and its recommendations would be implemented. He said the committee was also engaged in consultation with all stake holders.

Gilani also said his government has maintained working relationship with all political parties.

To a question, the Prime Minister said the country suffered massively due to floods in Pakistan last year. He said rehabilitation and reconstruction was carried out with the help of Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other countries.

About financial position, the Prime Minister said the foreign exchange reserves have crossed $ 18.30 mark, while exports have also peaked to $ 26

billion which is a good sign. The Prime Minister said eight major state institutions including Pakistan Railways were being restructured.

3 more killed, 8 injured in Karachi violence today

At least three more persons have been killed and eight injured in ongoing row of violence in Karachi today, report said on Friday. According to police, one tortured youth’s hands and legs tied dead body was recovered near KMC Worlshop on Lawrance Road in Eid Gah area. Some unknown culprits kidnapped and tortured him brutally before killing. Another 30-year-old person Ramzan was gunned down by unknown armed attackers near Muhammadi Market in Malir, Khokhrapar area. His dead body was move to Jinnah Hospital. The police have informed that deceased Ramazan was a resident of Khokhrapar No-1 and after his killing tension prevails in the area. In a separate incident of firing, six persons sustained bullet wounds near Tribal Mosque in Baldia Town’s area Nayabad Sector 4-C. All inured including Naeem Khan, Shaukat, Zahid Khan, Yar Muhammad, Razzaq and Fida were moved to Civil Hospital. Later on, one injured succumbed to injuries.

PML-N agrees in principle to form new provinces

LAHORE: The PML-N has approved in principle the formation of new provinces on administrative basis, however any division based on ethnic and racial basis would not be accepted.
PML-N sources told Geo News reporter Irfan Nazeer that the special committee formed by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif held three meetings in the last five days. The recommendations of the committee will be sent to Islamabad for Nawaz Sharif’s approval next week.
The committee has also advised that any formation based on ethnic and racial basis would cause trouble between the provinces and that is why a package should be presented for the formation of new provinces.
The opposition has called for a meeting in the National Assembly on 11th August to present the resolution of the division of Punjab, whereas the President and Prime Minister have also hinted to the formation of a Seraiki province by 14th August.