Contempt of court law: SC resumes hearing
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed the hearing of petitions against the recently passed contempt of court law, DawnNews reported.A five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing 27 identical petitions challenging the Contempt of Court Act,2012..
Petitioner Ahsanuddin Sheikh who is also president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) of Rawalpindi was presenting his arguments before the bench.
Sheikh said the parliament had passed the new contempt of court law in a rush and that it did not have the authority to curtail the judiciary’s freedom.
The law
The contempt of court law had been hurriedly passed by the ruling government in a bid to protect the incumbent prime minister from facing the same fate as his predecessor.
The law exempts “holders of public office” from the mischief of contempt in “exercise of powers and performance of functions” and allows for suspension of a sentence during the pendency of an appeal.
The main opposition party in the National Assembly, the PML-N, had objected to the passage of the law saying it was not sent to relevant standing committees for deliberation.
The petitions
In all there are 27 petitions against the act and one of the petitioners, Baz Muhammad Kakar, contends that Section 3(i) of the new act curtailed the power and jurisdiction of the court under Article 204(2) of the Constitution to punish ‘any person’ who abused, interfered with or obstructed the process of the court in any way or disobeyed any order of the court.
It also violated Article 25 which guaranteed equal protection of the laws, he said.
A petition filed on behalf of the Save Judiciary Movement by Advocate Hashmat Habib pleads that the law should be struck down because it goes against the Quran and Sunnah and the Contempt of Court Ordinance of 2003 be restored.
Working with Pakistan, Afghanistan on curbing border violence: US
WASHINGTON: Observing that the United States’ relations with Pakistan are settling back into normal phase of cooperation, Washington on Wednesday said that it is working with both Islamabad and Kabul to contain violence along their porous border.“Well, we’re working closely with both countries, obviously, to try to limit violence along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” a Pentagon spokesman said, amid weeks of complaining from both sides about cross-border attacks along the restive Durrand Line.
Pakistan has asked Kabul to act against safe havens of Pakistani militants in its eastern Kunar and Nooristan provinces, in the backdrop of more than a dozen cross-border assaults that have killed over 100 people, including civilians and security forces. Reports say Mullah Fazlullah and other militants, who fled the Pakistani counterterrorism operations in Swat and Bajuar, have found refuge across the border in Afghanistan.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said “We are settling back into a normal phase of cooperation with our Pakistani partners. And border coordination, we believe, is improving.”
In answering a question, Little saw no change in the US-led allies’ Afghan mission.
“In our estimation, I’m not sure there’s any particular change to the mission in Afghanistan. We’re carrying out the mission as we’ve designed it,” said Little.
“We’re moving quickly and prudently toward implementation of the improvement of Afghan national security force capabilities. And, of course, we’re following the Lisbon timeline toward the end of 2014,” he added, referring to the deadline set by Nato on transfer of full security responsibility to Afghans and end to combat mission in the conflict-ridden country.
28 suspects arrested in Karachi
KARACHI: Rangers and police, in a joint search operation against
criminals, apprehended 28 suspects in Karachi on Wednesday night, Geo News
reported.On a tip-off, Rangers and police conducted a targeted operation in Pehlwan Goth and Pak Colony and arrested 28 suspects.
Around 20 outlaws were apprehended from Pak Colony alone. LEAs also recovered arms and drugs from their possession.
LATEST/BRIEF NEWS:
· Contempt law:Parliamentary record sought
· SC to resume hearing petitions against new
contempt law
· 28 suspects arrested in Karachi
· 28 suspects arrested in Karachi
· Bin Laden presence in Pakistan sheer negligence:
Musharraf
· President summons Senate session tomorrow
· No immunity for personal acts, says CJ
· MQM, ANP for indiscriminate action in Karachi
· The
federal cabinet has decided to take legal action against British newspaper 'the
sun' for publishing a fake news item about visa scandal in Pakistan
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