ARY, Ursus Tractors cases: Acquittal plea decision deferred till June 24

ISLAMABAD: The decision on the plea for Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal in ARY and Ursus Tractors references has been deferred until June 24, as the accountability court judge was on leave today (Wednesday), Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, Asif Ali Zardari has been summoned for indictment in Cotecna reference.

Sources said that the decision on Asif Ali Zardari’s petitions seeking acquittal in ARY and Ursus Tractors references could not be announced today and deferred until June 24 due to Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Basher being on leave.

The court has also summoned Asif Ali Zardari in Cotecna reference for indictment on June 24, while the Accountability Court has summoned the witnesses in SGS reference also on June 24.

It may be recalled that Asif Ali Zardari was acquitted in Polo Ground reference on previous hearing.

No decision yet on full-scale operation in NWA: Chaudhry Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Saturday said neither a decision has been made on undertaking a full-scale military operation in North Waziristan nor on abandoning the dialogue process with the Taliban militants.

Talking to media representatives, he said no suggestion came from any side to scrap the process of peace talks with the Taliban in the recent meeting focusing on the country’s security issues.

He said the aerial offensive and limited action carried out in North Waziristan agency along side the Afghan border were part of the decision made some time back.

The Interior Minister termed as ridiculous a report of a foreign news agency on the meeting of security matters chaired by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “This is not the first time a foreign news agency has released a flawed report on (Pakistan’s) civil-military relations,” he added.

Chaudhry Nisar clarified that the meeting presided over by the PM was held in a very cordial atmosphere.

He further said that no such decision has been taken to hand over the security of Islamabad or any other major city of the country to the army.

Pemra disowns three-member decision banning Geo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday witnessed a bizarre gathering of three of its members before its headquarters that announced the cancellation of three Geo licences, a move that was promptly disowned by the authority.
The three members — Israr Abbasi, Mian Shams and Fareeha Iftikhar — recommended the cancellation of the licences of Geo News, Geo Tez and Geo Entertainment for what they termed the violation of the authority’s rules.

“How can three private members of Pemra convene a meeting on their own? It is not a matter of likes and dislikes but of legality and hence such a meeting can’t hold any ground whatsoever, what to talk of any decision it took,” asserted one Pemra member while talking to The News here. He was present during the authority’s last meeting.

“Pemra disowns the decisions announced by its three members regarding the cancellation of Geo’s licenses. The majority authority members in the 95th meeting held on May 9, 2014, had decided to refer the case to the Ministry of Law for legal opinion. The decision of seeking opinion from the Law Division was taken in all fairness to avoid any future legal consequences on such a critical issue,” a Pemra spokesperson said late night in a statement.

A complaint against Geo Entertainment has already been referred to the Council of Complaints Sindh. The CoC in its Tuesday meeting has already made a recommendation about the status of Geo’s license.

“The minutes of the CoC are awaited and the authority will consider this matter in the next scheduled meeting,” the spokesman said.The statement also clarified that the three members called the meeting without following the laid-down procedure and thus it had no legal standing.

According to Rule 3(4) of the Pemra Rules 2009, the chairman, or as the case may be, more than half of the total members (at least seven out of 12 members) can call a meeting.This was an informal meeting attended by five members. The executive member was not even asked to officially convene the meeting and notify it through the secretary to the authority which is the set procedure.

“The meeting convened by these members is without any official intimation or invitation to other members in accordance with the procedure,” he said.The authority committee is functioning and is exercising the power of the chairman in day to day affairs and taking decisions with the requisite quorum.

Israr Abbasi, being a member of the authority committee, had distanced himself from Pemra’s previous meeting.Talking to media persons after the meeting, Mian Shams and Israr Abbasi said they had recommended the cancellation of the licenses of Geo News, Geo Tez and Geo Entertainment Channel for violating the authority’s rules. They said since legality was to be fulfilled, they referred their recommendations to the Council of Complaints and asked it to report back before May 28.

They said a final decision on the Geo issue would be made in the May 28 meeting. They said both the army and ISI had ‘shown restraint’ and a complaint was filed against Geo, following a legal course on the matter.

It is interesting to note that during the media talk Abbasi claimed to be a member of the PPP, a claim that was rejected by the PPP veteran Senator Mian Raza Rabbani during Geo’s show ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’.

PHC reserves decision on jurisdiction in Fata till April 7

PESHAWAR: A full-bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday reserved verdict on a point of its jurisdiction in Fata related to illegal detention and service matters till April 7.

A five-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain reserved judgment after hearing arguments from senior lawyers, additional attorney general of Pakistan and law officers on the point of its jurisdiction in Fata.

During the course of hearing, Additional Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Waqar Ahmad Khan submitted before the bench that the high court could send a reference to the Parliament for removal of difficulties related to jurisdiction of the superior courts in Fata.

He pointed out that there was discrepancy between Article 10-A of the Constitution related to fair trial and Sub-Article 7 of the Article 247, because residents of Fata had no chance of fair trial under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

However, Additional Attorney General Syed Muhammad Attique Shah submitted that the high court couldn’t ask the Parliament through a reference for amendment to Sub-Article 7 of Article 247 of the Constitution.

He submitted that if there were some missing points in the law, the court could point those out to the Parliament. To the court’s question, he promised to provide records of the Parliament’s debate on Article 247 of the 1973 Constitution to the court in a day or two.

To a court’s query, the additional attorney general said the high court had jurisdiction in service matters in Fata when the employees were serving in Fata on deputation from both the federal and provincial governments.

During the previous hearing, Tariq Afridi as amicus curiae submitted before the bench that the court had jurisdiction to take up petitions filed by tribal people against illegal detention and violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Gulaab Gang producers challenge court decision to stop film's release

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Gulaab Gang was slated to release on March 7.

The producers of actresses Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla's film Gulaab Gang have moved the Delhi High Court asking that the stay order on the movie be lifted. The court will hear the plea later today.

Yesterday, the Delhi High Court ruled that the movie not be released anywhere in India in its censored or uncensored form till May 8. Gulaab Gang was meant to release tomorrow.

Activist Sampat Pal, the leader of the real-life Gulabi Gang - a group of pink sari clad women vigilantes from Uttar Pradesh - on which the film is based, moved the Delhi High Court to block the release of the film.

Sampat Pal moved the high court seeking a restraining order on the release of Gulaab Gang, saying the filmmakers did not ask her permission before making the movie.

She also sought financial compensation, saying there are certain scenes in movie which will affect her reputation.

The court agreed that the film promos, shown in January 2014, depicted Ms Pal "in the negative light and gave her a fresh cause of action".

"Reputation once lost is lost forever and can not come back and even can't be compensated with monetary terms," the court said.

Gulaab Gang is directed by debutant Soumik Sen and produced by Anubhav Sinha.

With agency inputs