Riaz Sheikh among 736 released under special remission order

As many as 736 prisoners undergoing jail terms in various prisons have been freed while over 3,200 convicts benefited

Supreme Court seeks complete record on $25 Billion LNG scam

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has directed the Ministry of petroleum to file a complete record by April 14 regarding a 25 billion dollar Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) scam. A three- member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ch. Ijaz Ahmed, and Justice Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani gave the directives while hearing [...]

$25 Billion LNG scam: Naveed denies ministry’s involvement

ISLAMABAD: The government did not bear a loss of $1.33 billion in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal, but the country would get profit of the same amount after finalising this project by the mid of April. While talking to media Federal Minster for Petroleum and Natural Resources denied the high heated 3.5 million tonnes [...]

President Zardari has immunity: Swiss Attorney General

LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari’s Swiss cases cannot be reopened even if Islamabad makes an official request, as the president enjoys immunity under international law, a private TV channel quoted Geneva’s Attorney General Daniel Zappelli as saying on Saturday. Zappelli said even if they received a proper request by Pakistan with all the required stances [...]

Another top law official resigns in row with Babar Awan

ISLAMABAD: The federal ministry for law and justice once again was in the limelight on Saturday for wrong reasons as one of its top officers resigned reportedly because of an alleged row with Law Minister Babar Awan, a source told our correspondent. Senior Joint Secretary Akbar Khan Achakzai has resigned from his post because he [...]

MQM rape victims & so-called Pak legislations for women

KARACHI: A case of rape, attempted murder, corruption and impunity that took place in 2008 and 2009 continues to haunt two girls in

PM’s wife, Fauzia Gilani gets another Rs 38m loan written off

ISLAMABAD: The wife of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is one of the main beneficiaries of the recent loan write-off policy of the National Bank of Pakistan. The bank waived a loan of over Rs 38 million loan taken by Pak Green Fertiliser Limited (PGFL) which she owned as one of its main partners, a [...]

NATO is getting 42.38 Rps per litter Petrol from Pakistani Govt, why Pakistani public is paying 73Rps per litter?

Plea in Supreme Court against reopening of the Swiss cases

LAHORE: A petition has been filed in Lahore Registry of Supreme Court on Saturday for withdrawal of the court orders about reopening of the Swiss cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Petitioner Barrister Zafarullah in his plea argued that under Article 248 of the constitution the President of Pakistan enjoys immunity in criminal cases requesting [...]

Thousands of Pakistanis seeking UK visa, lose their passports

ISLAMABAD: While the British High Commission hogs on to its claim of having lost just 150 Pakistani passports, additional evidence has come to light suggesting that the scam involves thousands of lost travel documents. A Pakistani investigating agency is in possession of a list of 3,362 passports, which are believed to have gone missing at [...]

AG Anwar Mansoor resigns over Law Minister’s non-cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan on Friday tendered his resignation citing Law Minister Dr Babar Awan as well

Attorney General points finger at minister for Swiss cases holdup

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan stunned the Supreme Court on Thursday when he blamed Law Minister Babar Awan for the snag behind attempts in completing legal procedures for sending letters to his counterpart in Switzerland for reopening of money laundering cases involving President Asif Ali Zardari. Sources have revealed that all documents about Swiss [...]

Law Ministry not interested to implement NRO verdict: CJ

ISLAMABAD: Law Ministry functionaries are not interested in implementing the Supreme Court’s historic verdict on NRO

Swiss authorities approached to reopen Zardari’s cases: NAB

ISLAMABAD: A letter has been sent to Switzerland’s Attorney-General to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) lawyer Abid Zuberi told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The move came after the Supreme Court ordered the NAB to revive all corruption cases after it threw out a controversial amnesty for Zardari, [...]

Asif Zardari enjoys immunity from prosecution: Switzerland

GENEVA: Pakistan has not asked Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, Geneva’s public prosecutor said on Wednesday. In any case, Zardari enjoys immunity from prosecution as a head of state, Prosecutor-General Daniel Zappelli told Reuters. “I have not received any request,” Zappelli said, commenting on news from Islamabad that [...]

Reference against Rehman Malik in Senate for his disqualification

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Interior Minister Senator A Rehman Malik, already loaded with litigation, gets another one to field as a Pakistani citizen residing in the United Kingdom has challenged his eligibility before the chairman Senate arguing that Malik stood dismissed from service at the time of filing his nomination papers as senator from Sindh. Malik [...]

Pakistan needs an alternative vision and leadership to move forward

That Pakistan needs an alternative vision and leadership is beyond doubt. Any forward movement will depend on our national ability to recreate ourselves in our own eyes before we can have an impact on how people think about us or what they are willing to offer. Such were my thoughts as I stood in the [...]

Supreme Court returns govt’s review appeal on NRO verdict

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s registrar office Saturday returned government’s plea for NRO review on technical grounds. The federal government submitted in the Supreme Court on Monday that reopening Swiss cases would be like putting the late Benazir Bhutto on trial and it was against all norms of justice, decency, morality and law. Barrister [...]

Guns vs Votes: De facto versus de jure rulers in Pakistani power structure

The other day I had a conversation with a man less than half my age, a well-educated democratic Pakistani, and on-the-ball as far as happenings are concerned in what is not Jinnah’s Pakistan but rather a mishmash of Ziaul Haq’s theocracy and a corrupt, dysfunctional, governance-free autocracy. A question I posed: who now is the [...]

PPP Govt’s fresh move to stop reopening of Swiss cases

ISLAMABAD: The federal government submitted in the Supreme Court on Monday that reopening Swiss cases would be like putting the late Benazir Bhutto on trial and it was against all norms of justice, decency, morality and law. The submission was made in the form of additional grounds for the government’s pending petition seeking review of [...]