No doubt, truth will come to surface: Justice Khawaja

ISLAMABAD: Justice Jawwad S Khawaja on Friday said that there should not be an iota of doubt that the truth will come to the surface.
A full bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmad and Justice Musheer Alam, was hearing the petition filed by the Independent Media Group on the behalf of Geo Network against the negative propaganda by other TV channels and for resumption of its transmission on cable networks.

The court declared that the case would be decided on merit.The bench, while talking about the case, observed that one of the judges of the bench had to leave for Karachi and as he was getting late for his flight, the case was adjourned till Monday, May 26.

Akram Sheikh, the counsel for the petitioner, requested that as he will be out of the country for personal reasons, he may kindly be heard today (Friday) and submitted that in the Shahid Masood vs State, the court had held that cable operators cannot off-air any channel on their own while in the present situation, cable operators had off-aired the Geo transmission to its viewers.

Justice Jawwad replied that as a judge of this bench was getting late, so they will listen to him in detail on Monday.On the insistence of Akram Sheikh, Justice Khawaja replied that there were thousands of cases in the court for the past several years, so they will listen to them on Monday.

Akram Sheikh submitted that from Monday, Tofeeq Asif will replace him in the court and he will join the proceedings after arriving from abroad. Tofeeq Asif stood up and submitted that he was in agony as the entire federal capital was full of posters and banners against Justice Jawwad S Khawaja. He further stated that due to these posters and banners, the lawyers community was very much disturbed.

Justice Khawaja observed that no banner or poster could malign him as the Holy Quran says that respect and disrespect was directly in the hand of Allah Almighty. He further observed that his past was very clean and Inshallah he will give the right verdict in accordance with the laws.

Tofeeq Asif submitted that he was not talking about Jawwad S Khawaja as a person but was worried about Justice Jawwad S Khawaja as he was an honourable judge of this august court and his question was for the other members of this bench.

The bench observed that they were least bothered about such banners or posters and if any one had any objection in this regard, he should file an application. Justice Khawaja observed in a lighter tone that he will ask his staff to give the copies of that specific verse of Holy Quran to the people sitting in the court on the next date of hearing.

Online adds: Justice Jawwad S Khawaja refused to take any action against those involved in putting up banners against him.He remarked: “No one should have an iota of doubt that whatsoever may be the truth will come to open. If someone casts doubt after dispensation of justice, then he should go for his treatment. I will not tell about the treatment.”Mubashir Lucman, anchorperson of a private TV channel, was also present in the court along with his counsel.

Dar directs IPDF to come up with clear ideas on doable projects

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance, Mohammad Ishaq Dar here on Saturday directed the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) to come up with clear ideas on doable projects in both energy and infrastructure development sectors.

The minister chaired a meeting of IPDF to discuss professional functioning of the Facility and get a briefing on doable projects in energy and infrastructure development.

In the detailed presentation IPDF team explained that Public Private Partnership model can be put in place in energy and infrastructure development sectors of the country on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model.

They said that there is huge potential in these sectors and if properly employed it can not only save valuable foreign exchange for the country but would also generate economic activity in the country.

The IPDF Chief Executive Officer, Adil Anwar presented comparative study of Karachi-Lahore Motorway, Deep Sea Jetty and a number of energy related projects on PPP model.

The Finance Minister said that IPDF must come out with clear ideas on doable projects in both energy and infrastructure development sectors.

He said that IPDF should focus on stand alone energy projects in remote areas of the country with special focus on employing the potential in solar and wind energy generation.

Moreover, clear concepts on setting up of domestic solar panel industry should also be evaluated, he added.

The minister said that transparency and competitiveness should be the hallmark of the Public Private Partnership and instead of consuming PSDP local investors should be encouraged in infrastructure development.

Ishaq Dar emphasized that the professional work of IPDF should be directed at offering well prepared services to the public sector in designing of new projects and rehabilitation of the projects which are not delivering up to their maximum capacity.

He said that in line with the manifesto of the PML-N the projects should focus on domestic investment and local employment generation in both urban and rural areas.

"We will have to work hard to materialize the growth targets and economic development in the country", he added.