THE 174-page detailed judgement of the 10-member Supreme Court bench on the reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa lays bare some severe deficiencies in the government process. The court held that President Arif Alvi did not form a considered opinion under Article 209(5) of the Constitution, hence the reference against Justice Isa “suffered with multiple defects”. It also said that since there was no valid authorisation for the investigation, the tax records of Justice…
Posts published in “Pak Media comment”
It is not easy to fathom Prime Minister Imran Khan’s insistence on the need to bring ex-PM Mian Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan. Is he merely connecting with his base, which has insisted that Mr Sharif made fools of the government by persuading it to let him go abroad for medical treatment, and that he should be brought back? Or is he trying to distract public attention away from the failures of his government to…
The relationship between the state and the media in Pakistan has always been a tense one. Starting with newspapers in the Ayub Khan era to the birth of private news channels during the dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf, the media has a long tradition of proud independence. Such bravery comes with significant risks. The powerful in the country have never reacted well to scrutiny and things seem to have only become more intolerant. In the latest…
The abduction of broadcast journalist Ali Imran Syed and his release later on Saturday evening was not so much meant to punish as to scare. The detention was not really long enough to scare others, though it was probably more than enough to make him get the message. However, other journalists were supposed to take away the message that this could happen to them too, and for a longer period of time at that. Mr…
by Noman Awan in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2020.KARACHI: Many media professionals in the country are forced to bid farewell to the field because of self-censorship and a lack of fairness. One such example is of senior journalist Khairullah Aziz who not just quit his job but also said goodbye to the field of journalism for good. “I have said goodbye to the electronic media. We are not doing journalism but are being dishonest…
The developments that have come out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) three-day plenary session are a mixed bag. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Pakistan has worked tremendously to bring its laws in line with FATF’s demands, we remain on the grey-list, as FATF decided that four strategic areas need to be worked on by Pakistan before it will be reviewed again in February. The positive news is that despite the grey-list, Pakistan’s massive…
by Tariq Khosa in Dawn, October 25th, 2020The writer is a former IG Police.WHAT could have resulted in a very serious crisis was averted by the army chief’s timely intervention. The Sindh IG and a number of senior police officers applied for leave en masse after an incident of alleged strong-arming of the police command to register a case, followed by the shameful mode of arrest of an ex-soldier son-in-law of a former prime minister.…
by Rahimullah Yusufzai in TNS, October 25, 2020The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar.The recent burning of four NATO military vehicles loaded on two trailers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district by suspected militants came as a surprise as no such incident had happened in Pakistan for more than a year. Even in the last such attack in July 2019, no vehicle was burnt as the attackers managed only to cause injuries to…
IN a string of recent public addresses and interviews, Prime Minister Imran Khan has devoted much of his time to lambasting the opposition parties and vowing to accelerate the accountability process. During a conversation with ARY journalists on Friday, Mr Khan in a similar fashion during the near two-hour interview launched a blistering attack on his political opponents and pledged ‘not to forgive their loot till his last day’. That Mr Khan has taken the…
The writers are reporters with The NewsThe events leading to Capt Safdar’s arrest have strengthened the opposition’s anti-establishment narrative Political temperature is on the rise in the country following two major rallies staged by opposition parties under the umbrella of the Pakistan Democratic Movement. At the October 16 Gujranwala rally and the October 18 Karachi power-show, opposition leaders made headlines by levelling serious allegations against the establishment. Immediately after the Karachi rally, the Pakistan Peoples…
Bigots on both sides: op-ed by Yasser Latif Hamdani in Daily Times, Oct 27, 2020
The writer is an Advocate of the High Courts of PakistanMuch hullabaloo has been made about the arrest of Captain Safdar in Karachi. That it was politically motivated is true. After all there is absolutely nothing wrong with chanting “vote koizzat do” (Give respect due to the vote) next to sarcophagus of Jinnah who spent most of political career as an elected member of the Indian Legislative Assembly. In any event Jinnah’s actual grave is…