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SC undeterred by martial law threat
Trafficking Row
Sri Lankan media in shackles
Manhandling of Pak CJ |
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Suicide bomber kills 8 Pak Air Force officials
No link with American’s murder: Sobhraj
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SC undeterred by martial law threat
The Supreme Court on Thursday warned that it would not be intimidated by threat of imposition of martial law or emergency while ruling over petitions challenging the eligibility of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to contest election as army chief.
“We will not be influenced by statements being given by federal ministers and others nor any group can hold this court hostage to any the doctrine of necessity or other expediency,” Justice Javed Iqbal, presiding judge of the 11-bench Supreme Court bench hearing the case, said adding: “We give our ruling in accordance with the constitution and the law.” Justice Iqbal responded to a remark by chief counsel of the petitioner, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, who drew attention of the court that the government, including federal ministers, were trying to pressurise the court by hurling threats of martial law emergency. He said the government wanted the court to give its ruling on the basis of doctrine of necessity which has been used in the past to endorse military take-over and deviation from the constitution. The court adjourned the hearing till Friday and indicated it would have a break of one week and resume hearing on November 12 in view of statements by government lawyers that they would take time in concluding their counter arguments. Earlier, Justice Iqbal had declared that the court wanted to give its ruling by November 2. The adjournment of hearing till November 12 means the court ruling might come close to November 15 cut off date when the term of the President and the assemblies expires. The case may go beyond that date, legal experts said. “I am afraid the government wants to bring the court under pressure and extract a judgment to maintain status quo on the basis of the infamous doctrine of necessity used in the past to legitimise military coups and extra-constitutional actions of the military dictators,” he said and pointed out to statements by ministers threatening imposition of martial law and emergency in case the court ruled against General Musharraf. Justice Iqbal said such threats would not make the court give a decision against the letter and spirit of the constitution. Attorney general Qayyum Malik continued his arguments for the third day and asserted that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case. He said the presidential election cannot be challenged in a court of law. Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Ramday said the court has jurisdiction over any action, including the presidential election if an illegality is committed.
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Trafficking Row
Dubai, November 1 ‘Dubai Cares’ is proposing to fund an effort to “trace the children’s families, reunite them with their families and get them back to school,” an official involved in the charity said, requesting anonymity. Nine French nationals are being accused of child trafficking over the French charity’s plan to airlift the 103 children it called war orphans. The charity says it hoped to save children from Sudan’s troubled Darfur region but French officials and UN aid workers say they believe many were from Chad and were not orphans. ‘Dubai Cares’ is a fund raising campaign launched in September by Dubai’s ruler Sheik Mohammad bin Rahed al-Maktoum who is also the Prime Minister and the Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, to help educate one million children in poor countries. It has so far raised more than $367 million. The official aid contacts had started through UAE embassies to communicate the offer to assist the African children to the parties concerned. “We are approaching the government of Chad and later on I believe we will contact France and Sudan,” he said. “We believe the children must go back to school because this is their protective environment.”
— AFP
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Sri Lankan media in shackles
Journalism is fast becoming a risky profession in Sri Lanka and journalists themselves are more in the news than they prefer to be.
Reports of threats, intimidation and in extreme cases even killings of mediapersons is becoming regular feature as journalists are being made the scapegoats to cover up the blunders made by a government which is saddled with a war against Tamil rebels on one hand while on the other it is under mounting pressure from political opponents for its handling of the war as well as the escalating cost of living in the country and allegations of growing corruption. In the past two weeks, the licence of five radio stations (all of one group) have been suspended after they misreported a story on an alleged LTTE attack which caused panic in several villages in the south of the country. Many media groups agree that the radio stations need to be reprimanded for not getting their facts correct but suspending their licence for such a error is too harsh a step, they say. The case is now sub judice Print media journalists too have been at the receiving end of the state-backed actions with several being questioned by the police over stories they have written and some being coerced to reveal their sources. Reporters operating in the north and east of the country are under even more pressure as they are being looked upon suspiciously by both the armed forces as well as the LTTE and other para military groups that operate in these areas. RSF has said in the case of Sri Lanka and Somalia (159), war is largely responsible for the low position assigned to them and that the increase in fighting in the two nations has made it very hard for journalists to work. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has taken a tough stance against the LTTE and has used military gains against the rebels in the recent months to put pressure on private media institutions to report in a manner that is favourable to the military and blackout their shortcomings. However, with the setback suffered after the recent LTTE attacks the government has resorted to the extreme steps of imposing censorship on all military related news. This censorship though was short lived because on Wednesday night, the government announced that it was withdrawing the gazette.
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Manhandling of Pak CJ
The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced three police officials to one month in jail and three top officials of the Islamabad city administration till the rising of the court for manhandling and maltreating chief justice of Pakistan Ifitikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on March 13.
Justice Rana Bhagwandas who presided over a three-member Bench announced the judgement which had earlier been reserved.Senior Superintendent Police Zafar Iqbal, Deputy Superintendent of Police Jameel Hashmi and Assistant Sub-Inspector Siraj Khan were found guilty and sentenced to one-month jail term each.Chief commissioner Khaled Pervez, Inspector-General of Police Iftikhar Chaudhry and Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali were sentenced till the rising of the court. Justice Iftikhar was roughed up, pushed and maltreated on March 13 after he refused to sit in a police vehicle and started proceeding to the Supreme Court building on foot to appear before the Supreme Judicial Council for hearing of the presidential reference against him. Four days earlier on March 9, the Chief Justice was called to Army House by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and asked to resign or face charges of misconduct and abuse of office.He was suspended and a reference was sent against him to the hurriedly- convened council under Justice Javed Iqbal in the absence of the second seniormost judge Rana Bhagwandas.A full court Bench of the Supreme Court later quashed the reference and reinstated the Chief Justice in a historic judgement on July 20.
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Suicide bomber kills 8 Pak Air Force officials
Islamabad, November 1 The military spokesman said the bus was carrying trainee flying officers to their camp at Sargodha air base. Sargodha Air Force base is the largest in
Pakistan. Interior ministry spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema while confirming the suicide attack feared more deaths saying several wounded trainees were in critical condition. Cheema acknowledged a surprising increase in incidents of attacks on security forces and attributed it to the situation in Waziristan and Swat. “The audacity and resourcefulness of the militants in striking at will various security targets across the country with impunity is stunning,” a federal minister said requesting anonymity. The security situation has deteriorated in the country while President Musharraf and the regime is deeply embroiled in domestic political and judicial crises in the wake of controversial presidential election on October 6. On Tuesday, eight policemen and passersby were killed in country's most guarded and sensitive part of the garrison town of Rawalpindi when a suicide bomber was intercepted at a police picket while forcing his way into a settlement housing President Gen Musharraf's residence, the Army House, his Camp Office and the residence of chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
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No link with American’s murder: Sobhraj
Kathmandu, November 1 In a 17-page written argument submitted to the two judges who will deliver the decisive verdict on Sunday, Sobhraj says he had no connection with the murder of Connie Jo Bronzich, whose body was found near Kathmandu's airport in 1975. Sobhraj wants to be "acquitted and released and permitted to go back to my own country". However, the 63-year-old says that the Nepal police filed a string of cases against him "mainly on the basis of newspaper reports" and that "a section of the Nepali media was mobilised with fake information to create a climate of prejudice and discrimination ... which amounts more to persecution than prosecution".
— IANS
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Just 7 copies of Rowling’s new book
London, November 1 Out of the seven copies, six have gone to people who are ''most closely connected to the Harry Potter books''. The seventh will be auctioned in Sotheby’s in December and the proceeds would go to the Children’s Voice Foundation, a charity to help institutionalised children in eastern Europe. ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ was given to Harry’s close friend Hermione Granger by the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, and provided clues to help Harry and his friends defeat the evil Lord Voldemort in the final novel of the series.
— UNI
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