23-10-2025

Month: February 2023

SC judge questions under what authority president set date of elections

Supreme Court’s (SC) Justice Mansoor Ali Shah on Tuesday questioned under what powers President Arif Alvi had set the date of the elections.

The judge passed the remark when the apex court resumed the hearing on the suo motu notice related to the elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Shah and Justice Mandokhail is hearing the case.

At the outset of the hearing, attorney general for Pakistan informed the court that he was ready to give arguments.

He also raised an objection on the Supreme Court Bar Association President Abid Zuberi, saying that his name had been removed from the judicial order.

At this, CJP Bandial said that the court sees the SCBA as an institution.

“What is written in the court is not part of a judicial order. It becomes an order when the judges sign it,” he remarked.

After this, Zuberi started his arguments.

“Supreme Court has declared it in the past that the elections should be held in 90 days,” Zuberi stated.

At this, Justice Mandokhail remarked that the presidents and governors were bound to follow the Cabinet’s advice as per the Constitution.

“Can the president or governors give the election date on their own,” he inquired.

Meanwhile, CJP Bandial remarked that the governor wasn’t constitutionally bound to follow anyone’s advice regarding the appointment of a caretaker government or deciding the election date.

While, Justice Mazhar added that “no one’s advice is needed where there is discretion.”

Moving on, the CJP asked that who would issue the notification for the assembly dissolution.

Responding to the question, Zuberi said that the notification for the dissolution of Punjab Assembly had been issued by the law secretary.

At this point, Justice Akhtar remarked that the 90-day period starts right after the assembly has been dissolved.

Meanwhile, Justice Shah inquired if the caretaker chief minister could advise the governor on the election date.

To this, Zuberi said that the caretaker setup and the election date is announced simultaneously.

Justice Shah asked whether the governor could reject the caretaker government’s advice?

At this, Zuberi replied that the caretaker setup’s job was to look after government affairs instead of giving a date for the polls, which is the governor’s prerogative.

While referring to the Saifullah case, Zuberi said that the 12-member bench in that case had declared the election process a must.

At this, Justice Mandokhail remarked that Article 48 of the Constitution states that every act and step taken by the president would be on the government’s advice.

CJP Bandial seconded Justice Mandokhail’s remark, saying that the deciding a date for the polls would be based on the advice under Article 48.

While, Justice Akhtar remarked that the caretaker setup is appointed after seven days of the assembly’s dissolution.

“Harmony among different clauses of the Constitution is necessary,” he added.

Meanwhile, Justice Mazhar remarked that in Punjab’s case, the ministry of law had issued the notification, not the governor.

Justice Mandokhail said that the government can still tell the governor to conduct elections, as per the Constitution.

Justice Shah wondered how could the governor refuse to conduct elections if he receives the government’s advice regarding the poll date.

Moving on, Zuberi stated that the caretaker setup was established in Punjab on January 22.

“A basic question is that the governor is saying that he didn’t dissolve the assembly,” Justice Mazhar remarked.

Zuberi shared that as per Article 105(3) mentions the process of giving an election date.

Justice Mandokhail said that the government is not bound to give a date for polls.

Zuberi then complained that the date for the polls was not been announced even after so many days.

To this, CJP Bandial asked Zuberi if he was arguing that the government wasn’t fulfilling its constitutional duty.

“Holding elections within 90 days is the spirit of Constitution,” he observed, adding that the court would ask the AGP to assist it on the legal points.

Meanwhile, Zuberi contended that the president would announce a date for the polls if the duration of the assembly ends.

“I contend that fixing the date of polls is the prerogative of the president,” he added.

At this, Justice Mazhar remarked that a 52-day margin would be kept whenever the governor gives the date.

Meanwhile, Justice Mandokhail remarked: “President’s powers have not been stated directly by the Constitution.”

“The action will be taken as per the law if the Constitution doesn’t have the powers,” he said, adding that the laws are based on the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Justice Shah inquired under which law the president was “writing the letters”.

At this, Zuberi said that the president had written the letters for consultations.

To this, the judge replied that the Constitution does not state anywhere about holding consultations.

” If we assume that the law allows the president, even then he is bound to [follow] the advice,” Justice Mandokhail remarked.

Meanwhile, Justice Shah said that the caretaker government can also ask for deciding a date.

At this, CJP Bandial remarked that the court would decide if the president needed consultation or not, after hearing the other parties in the case.

Zuberi argued that the governor wasn’t bound to follow the advice for announcing the date of election. The same authority as the governor has been given to the president, he added.

“The president either is not bound to [follow] the advice,” Zuberi said while wrapping up his arguments.

Justice Shah remarked that the governor was bound to follow if he was advised to decide an election date.

After this, the AGP Shehzad Ata Elahi started his arguments.

“The president can give a date for the election only in case of the dissolution of National Assembly,” he said. He added that the other scenario on which the president can give date for elections is when polls are being conducted countrywide.

At this, CJP Bandial remarked that the president’s powers to make a decision at discretion and on advice had a difference.

AGP Elahi then argued that that the ECP wouldn’t follow the orders if the governor tells it to hold the election a day after the assembly’s dissolution.

At this, Justice Akhtar remarked that the governor had to keep the Election Act in view as well.

The AGP remarked that the elections should be held in 90 days and the duration shouldn’t be prolonged.

At this point, the court adjourned the hearing for half an hour.

The suo motu notice

The SC had taken the suo motu notice of an apparent delay in the elections of the two assemblies, on February 23, following President Arif Alvi’s announcement of date of polls, a move that drew strong criticism from the government

As per the CJP, the suo motu notice had been taken to assess who was eligible to issue the date for polls and who had the constitutional responsibility of conducting elections and when.

A nine-member bench was constituted to hear the case but the bench was reconstituted after four judges of the bench recused themselves.

The judges that recused themselves were Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Yahya Afridi.

A written order was also issued on the SC’s website in which dissenting notes of Justice Afridi, Justice Minallah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had been included.

In the previous hearing, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that the parliament has clearly written in the Elections Act, 2017, that the president can announce the date for polls.

CJP Bandial had said that the hearing will be wrapped up today.

Foreign visits of Imran, Shehbaz cabinets cost Rs65.21m to national exchequer in 2022

ISLAMABAD: Federal ministers and prime minister’s aides spent Rs65.21 million on their foreign trips from January 1, 2022, to December 2022, National Assembly (NA) was told on Monday.

As reported by The News on Tuesday, a list detailing the money spent on foreign visits was presented in NA, in a written reply to the question of the Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) parliamentary leader Ghaus Bakhsh Mehar. The lawmaker had sought the details of foreign trips conducted by the federal ministers, state ministers, and advisors between January 1, 2022, and December 2022.

The detailed list shared by the Cabinet Division showed that Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel tops the list with an expenditure of Rs10.42 million on his foreign visits.

Similarly, Rs3.78 million was spent on Minister for Board of Investment Chaudhry Salik Hussain’s visites, and Rs4.91 million on the foreign visits of Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman.

At least, Rs1.84 million were spent on visits by Minister for Communication Maulana Asad Mehmood and Rs5.89 million on the foreign visits of Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar.

Moreover, Rs0.935 million was also spent on the foreign visits of Zubaida Jalal, the minister for defence production in Imran Khan’s cabinet.

The list also shows that Rs2.5 million was borne by the national exchequer on the foreign visits of Minister for Defence Production Israr Tareen while Rs3.167 million on the foreign visits of Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

It also mentioned that Rs2.60 million was also spent on the foreign visits of Khurram Dastgir and Rs3.5 million on the foreign trips of the Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum Division) Dr Musadik Malik.

The list goes on to mention that, Rs1.5 million (Rs1,529,964) were also spent from the taxpayer’s money on the trips of former minister for economic affairs Omar Ayub Khan, Rs0.912 million on the former minister for federal education and professional training Shafqat Mehmood. While Mehmood’s successor, Rana Tanveer Hussain spent only Rs178,401 on his foreign visits.

The list also showed that former finance minister senator Shaukat Tarin spent Rs912,239 on his foreign visits and Rs4.59 million was spent by his successor Miftah Ismail.

The list mentioned that Rs2.45 million was borne by the national exchequer on the foreign trips of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Rs4.096 million was spent on the visits of the Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Rs1.54 million on the visits of Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari and Rs619,157 on visits of Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb.

Meanwhile, Rs1.8 million of the taxpayer’s money was also spent on the trips of Minister for Information Technology Syed Aminul Haq, Rs818,646 on Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, Rs805,954 on Minister for Maritimes Affairs Senator Faisal Sabzwari, Rs3.117 million on Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sajid Hussain Turi, Rs1.58 million on Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Justice Shazia Marri and Rs791,256 on Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Mufti Abdul Shakoor.

Similarly, Rs39,850 was also spent on the visits of a former national security advisor Moeed Yousaf to Kabul and Rs19,296 to China. Imran Khan’s advisor on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood spent Rs466,285 and Rs481,854 on visits to Dubai.

An amount of Rs328,332 was spent on the foreign trips of former special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on social protection and poverty alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar to Dubai, Rs195,309 on ex-SAPM on climate change Malik Amin Aslam to Saudi Arabia, Rs457,383 on ex-SAPM on tourism coordination Azam Jamil to Dubai and Rs1,437,139 on SAPM on poverty alleviation Faisal Karim Kundi’s visit  to Egypt and Rs1,333,960 on a visit to Istanbul.

The NA was also informed that Rs57.36 million was spent on the purchase of eight new vehicles for the protocol squad of foreign guests.

In a written reply to a question by Sikandar Ali Rahoupoto, the NA was informed that the vehicles include one 29-seater Toyota VIP Coaster (Model 2022) costing Rs17,154,000, 14 seaters Toyota high roof van (Model 2022) costing Rs10,772,000 and six 1800cc Toyota Corolla Cars (Model 2022) costing Rs29,400,000.

Delhi deputy CM’s arrest sparks protests

Several hundred party workers gathered amid a heavy police presence in Delhi around the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) headquarters, with more than a hundred protesters in Mumbai and Chandigarh. There were also demonstrations in Bhopal, Gandhinagar and other cities.

Manish Sisodia, the AAP’s second-in-command and Delhi’s deputy chief minister, will remain in custody of the state-run Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for five days for questioning, under orders from a Delhi court on Monday, his lawyer said.

The agency is investigating allegations that a liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government last year, which ended government control over sale of liquor in the capital, gave undue advantages to private retailers.

The policy was subsequently withdrawn.

 

“Manish is innocent. His arrest is dirty politics,” Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s chief minister and head of the Aam Aadmi Party, said in a tweet hours after Sisodia’s arrest.

Sisodia and his party have denied wrongdoing and see the case as an attempt to smear opponents of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of national elections next year, in which Modi is seeking a third term.

Sambit Patra, a spokesperson for BJP, denied allegations of political interference.

India’s financial crime-fighting agency, the Enforcement Directorate, is separately investigating French liquor major Pernod Ricard for allegedly violating the same liquor policy.

The AAP emerged out of an anti-corruption movement in 2011 and has become a staunch critic of Modi.

After coming to power in Delhi in 2013, the AAP swept state assembly elections in East Punjab and gained a few seats in Modi’s home state Gujarat last year.

29 buildings collapse as fresh quake jolts Turkiye

The epicentre of the tremor was the Yesilyurt district in the Malatya province, which was hit by the February 6 earthquake that killed around 50,000 people in Turkiye and thousands more in neighbouring Syria.

Yunus Sezer, head of Turkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) told a news conference that search and rescue teams had been deployed to five buildings.

There have been four fresh earthquakes in the region in the past three weeks, as well as 45 aftershocks with magnitudes between five and six, said AFAD’s general director of earthquake and risk reduction Orhan Tatar. “This is very extraordinary activity,” Tatar said.

Teachers across Scotland are beginning another two days of strike action as their pay dispute enters a fifth month.

Almost every state primary and secondary school in the country will be closed by the 48 hour strike.

By the end of this week, many pupils will have lost at least five days of schooling to the industrial action, which began in November.

Teachers’ unions want a 10% pay increase but the Scottish government says their demands are unaffordable.

Pupils in the constituencies of senior politicians have been worst affected. Targeted strike action by members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) last week closed schools for three additional days.

The same areas, which include those represented by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her deputy John Swinney, face another three days of strikes next week.

And a further 20 days of regional rolling strikes – affecting schools across the country – are planned from 13 March.

 

Andrea Bradley, the general secretary of the EIS, said members remained “absolutely resolute in their determination to secure a fair pay settlement” from the Scottish government and local authority employer Cosla.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the continued disruption was “completely unacceptable” and repeated her call for unions to “resume pay talks urgently” and suspend the action.

What were teachers offered?

Teachers were offered a pay deal worth 11.5% in total over two years.

This included a 6% rise for 2022-23, backdated to last April, and a 5.5% increase for 2023-24.

The offer also raised the cap on the maximum rise from £60,000 to £80,000 per year, which only affects a small number of the best paid in the profession, including some headteachers.

A majority of members of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) and Association of Head Teachers and Deputes Scotland (ADHS) unions were prepared to accept the offer.

But it was turned down by the EIS and the NASUWT union, whose members will also be on strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 11.5% offer across two years has now lapsed and unions are hoping to receive an improved deal.

But the Scottish government has repeatedly said demands for a 10% increase are “unaffordable”.

Other than a few small schools on islands, virtually every state school in Scotland will be closed.

When teachers staged their first national strike since the 1980s in late November, few expected they would still be striking now.

Teachers had hoped the mere threat of a strike would lead to a big improvement in the pay offer. But that hasn’t happened.

Today will be the fourth day off for most pupils but some have faced more disruption.

The dispute appears no closer to resolution.

SSTA members are not taking part in this strike – in a consultation, they voted by a narrow majority to accept the most recent pay offer. The AHDS is also not on strike.

But that 11.5% pay offer is no longer on the table. In teachers’ pay negotiations, the unions work jointly. The EIS – which is by far the biggest union – and the NASUWT rejected it.

Much depends now on when a new pay offer might be tabled and what it might be like. When one comes, will it be enough to get the EIS and the NASUWT to suspend action?

Otherwise all students face four days off school by the middle of April and some face seven.

Ms Bradley, of the EIS, said the latest two-day national strike was a “further clear signal that Scotland’s teachers are not prepared to accept the deep real-terms pay cut that is being offered to them”.

She said support for the ongoing action “remains very strong”, with more teachers out on picket lines and “a significant number” of new applications for union membership in the run-up to the latest action.

The dispute would only be settled by “appropriate negotiations”, Ms Bradley added.

‘Anger and frustration’

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said his members’ decision to reject the revised pay offer and continue industrial action reflected “the level of anger and frustration towards ministers and employers at their refusal to offer teachers a real-terms pay rise”.

“Teachers feel taken for granted by the Scottish government and [council body] Cosla who seem to expect them to be satisfied with yet another year of pay erosion as their workloads become steadily more demanding,” he added.

Strike action has targeted the constituency of Education Secertary Shirley-Anne Somerville

Those were in the constituencies of Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow Southside), John Swinney (Perthshire North), Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville (Dunfermline) and the East Dunbartonshire Council area of Scottish Greens education spokesperson Ross Greer.

The action will also target the ward of Dumfries and Galloway councillor Katie Hagmann, the resources spokesperson for council umbrella body Cosla.

Ms Somerville said pupils in some areas were being hit particularly badly by targeted action, “simply because of where they live”.

She said five pay offers had now been put to the unions and the latest would have seen a £5,000 increase for most teachers in April.

It was “really disappointing”, she added, that the EIS had rejected the offer “outright, without even giving their members a chance to consider it”.

The education secretary said she was offering the unions a meeting with Deputy First Minister John Swinney or herself “each and every day this week, if necessary”.

She added the Scottish government was “absolutely determined” to resolve the dispute and there was an opportunity this week to “intensify discussions and negotiations to reach a settlement”.

A further 20 days of regional rolling strikes across Scotland are scheduled between 13 March and 21 April, with each school being hit twice.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has hailed his deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland as a “decisive breakthrough”.

Many Conservative MPs, including those who supported Brexit, gave their backing to the agreement.

And the DUP, whose support will be key to restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland, said there had been “significant progress”.

But the party warned that “key issues of concern” remain.

On Tuesday, Mr Sunak was in Belfast as part of efforts to sell his Brexit deal, detailing to businesses and politicians how he believes it will ease the flow of trade between Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would now study the legal text, before reaching a decision on whether to support the deal.

The party has boycotted the devolved government until its concerns over the Northern Ireland Protocol are resolved and some Tory MPs have said they will only support an agreement if it has the backing of the DUP.

Sinn Féin, which is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, welcomed the deal, although it said it still needed to examine the details.

The party’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, repeated her call for the DUP to return to devolved government, adding: “We always said that with pragmatism, solutions could be found.”

 

After months of negotiation and speculation surrounding a possible deal, it was finally unveiled during a day of carefully choreographed events.

Word began to emerge from inside government at around 14:00 GMT that a deal on an issue which has vexed four prime ministers had finally been done.

The PM confirmed the breakthrough soon after during a joint press conference in Windsor with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

There was a notable warmth between the PM and Mrs von der Leyen as they outlined their agreement on Monday, with the EU chief referring to the prime minister as “dear Rishi” and hailing a “new chapter” of a “stronger EU-UK relationship”.

She went on to have tea with King Charles at Windsor Castle. The pair were pictured smiling and chatting, but there was concern from some MPs that the meeting would draw the monarch into a contentious political issue.

As Mr Sunak travelled back to London to address the Commons, the details of the long-awaited deal were landing well with some MPs who might have been expected to cause the PM political problems.

Northern Ireland Office Minister and arch-Brexiteer Steve Baker said Mr Sunak had “pulled a blinder”.

He had been considering resigning “as late as yesterday”, he revealed, but added that the agreement “should be good enough for any reasonable unionists”.

During a Commons debate, former Prime Minister Theresa May urged MPs to back the deal – but two other former leaders, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, did not attend.

Number 10 will be pleased by the response from the US, where outstanding issues over the arrangements in Northern Ireland have been seen as an obstacle in any potential trade talks between London and Washington.

US President Joe Biden said the deal was “an essential step to ensuring that the hard-earned peace and progress of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is preserved and strengthened”.

The agreement, named the Windsor Framework, changes the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was signed by Mr Johnson and came into force in 2021.

The protocol aimed to ensure free movement of goods across the Irish land border by conducting checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain instead.

But under the treaty, Northern Ireland had to keep following some EU rules.

Ursula von der Leyen met King Charles at Windsor Castle after the deal was announced

Mr Sunak said the new deal “delivers smooth-flowing trade within the whole United Kingdom, protects Northern Ireland’s place in our union and safeguards sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland”.

Under the agreement:

  • Goods from Britain destined for Northern Ireland will travel through a new “green lane”, with a separate “red lane” for goods at risk of moving on to the EU
  • Products coming into Northern Ireland through the green lane will see checks and paperwork significantly reduced, while red lane goods will still be subject to normal checks
  • A “Stormont brake” allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to raise an objection to “significantly different” EU rules which would apply in Northern Ireland
  • UK VAT and excise rules will apply to Northern Ireland for alcoholic drinks for immediate consumption and immovable goods such as heat pumps. Previously EU VAT rules could be applied in Northern Ireland

But there is no guarantee that it will result in the return of a power-sharing devolved government for Northern Ireland. In a statement, the DUP said “significant progress has been secured across a number of areas” but concerns remain.

“There can be no disguising the fact that in some sectors of our economy EU law remains applicable in Northern Ireland,” it said.

The party said it would now study the deal and seek “further clarification, reworking or change as required”.

The nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, and the Alliance Party, which is neither nationalist nor unionist, welcomed the deal, although both said they had concerns about the Stormont brake clause.

But the Traditional Unionist Voice Party said the agreement was “much spin, not a lot of substance” and meant the protocol “effectively stays”.

The Ulster Unionist Party said it would study the detail but would not give cover to other parties.

Several Brexit-supporting MPs have responded positively to the agreement.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis said the prime minister had “pulled off a formidable negotiating success” and “secured the best possible deal”.

Former Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said there had been “huge progress”, adding: “It all now depends on whether the communities in NI feel it’s the right solution.”

However, other Tory MPs were more cautious, with prominent Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash saying “the devil as ever lies in the detail”.

DUP MP Ian Paisley said the deal had “fallen short” in a number of key areas, including the continued role of the European Court of Justice as the final arbiter in disputes over EU rules.

“My gut instinct is it doesn’t cut the mustard,” he told BBC Newsnight.

Mr Sunak said Parliament would get a vote on the agreement at the “appropriate time” but that MPs needed a chance to consider the detail.

Labour has said it will support a deal but the government will be reluctant to rely on opposition votes.

Leader Sir Keir Starmer said the deal was not “perfect” but “now that it has been agreed we all have an obligation to make it work”.

Mr Sunak also confirmed the government was dropping the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which was introduced under Mr Johnson when he was prime minister and would have given the UK the power to unilaterally scrap parts of the old deal.

He said the bill was now no longer needed and the original legal justification for it had “fallen away”.

Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib arrested for ‘incitement against institutions’

ISLAMABAD: Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib was detained by the Islamabad police early Monday on charges of inciting the public against national institutions

Cops from the Ramna police station apprehended the former army officer from his residence in the federal capital.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against Lt Gen (retd) Shoaib on February 25 at Islamabad’s Ramna Police Station.

The FIR was registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the FIR, filed on the complaint of Islamabad Magistrate Owais Khan, the former army officer incited people to revolt against institutions and attempted to provoke disharmony, and anarchy and create a law and order situation in the country through his controversial statements made on a TV show.

“Through his remarks and analysis, Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib has provoked government employees against carrying out their official duties. The aim of his controversial advice to the people, government employees and an opposition party is to comments is to promote enmity among the people.”

The statement of the former military official, the FIR stated, is part of a “planned conspiracy” to weaken the country.

The former military officer will be presented in court today and the police is expected to seek his physical remand.

Lt Gen (retd) Shoaib was previously summoned by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to appear on September 7 after he made claims about a meeting between the Pakistani prime minister and an Israeli team. However, he failed to appear before the FIA’s Cybercrimes Wing.

PM Shehbaz directs FO to ‘ascertain facts’ about migrant Pakistanis drowned in Italy

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday took notice of the drowning of over two dozen Pakistanis in a boat tragedy in Italy and directed the Foreign Office to “ascertain facts” at the earliest.

“The reports of the drowning of over two dozen Pakistanis in a boat tragedy in Italy are deeply concerning and worrisome,” tweeted PM Shehbaz.

He added that he had asked the Foreign Office to ascertain facts at the earliest so the nation could be taken into confidence.

A day earlier, at least 59 migrants, including 28 Pakistanis, died after their overloaded boat sank early on Sunday in stormy seas off Italy’s southern Calabria region, officials said.

“As of a few minutes ago, the number of confirmed victims was 59,” Vincenzo Voce, mayor of the coastal city of Crotone, told TV channel Sky TG24 Sunday afternoon.

According to the Pakistani embassy in Rome — the capital of Italy — besides others, 40 Pakistan were on board the ill-fated boat.

The mission also said that the bodies of 28 Pakistanis have been fished out of the sea by the rescue officials, however, 12 more citizens are still missing.

The Pakistani officials further said that they are in contact with the Italian authorities, volunteers and maritime agencies in this regard.

The embassy added that it is also in touch with the Pakistani community in the Calabria region and providing them with the latest information about the sad incident.

Meanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, “We are closely following the reports about possible presence of Pakistanis in the vessel that has capsized off the coast of Italy.”

Taking to Twitter, she said that the Pakistani embassy in Rome is in the process of ascertaining facts from the Italian authorities.

Earlier, the coastguard service said, “43 bodies” had been found along the coast and “80 people recovered alive, including some who managed to reach the shore after the sinking”.

The vessel had set sail from Turkey several days ago with migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and several other countries, and crashed in stormy weather near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria.

One survivor was arrested on migrant trafficking charges, the Guardia di Finanza customs police said.

Cutro’s mayor, Antonio Ceraso, said women and children were among the dead. Exact numbers for how many children had died were not yet available.

His voice cracking up, Ceraso told the SkyTG24 news channel that he had seen “a spectacle that you would never want to see in your life … a gruesome sight … that stays with you for all your life”.

Wreckage from the wooden gulet, a Turkish sailing boat, was strewn across a large stretch of coast.

Curra said the vessel left Izmir in eastern Turkey three or four days ago, adding that survivors had said some 140 to 150 were on board.

“Many of these migrants came from Afghanistan and Iran, fleeing conditions of great hardship”, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said.

Israelis, Palestinians pledge to curb violence in Jordan meeting

In a joint statement at the end of a meeting in the city of Aqaba, Israel, and Palestinian officials said they would work closely to prevent “further violence” and “reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground”.

Host nation Jordan, along with Egypt and the United States, considered “these understandings as major progress towards re-establishing and deepening relations between the two sides”, the statement said.

The meeting was held as anxiety mounted of escalation in the run-up to the holy month of Ramazan that begins in late March.

Palestinian factions, including the Hamas group, which governs the Gaza Strip, condemned the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority for taking part in the meeting.

The meeting brought together top Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs for the first time in many years, officials said and aimed to restore calm in Israel, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority “confirmed their joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of three-six months”, the statement said.

“This includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for four months and to stop authorisation of any outposts for six months,” the statement said.

The participants also agreed to meet again in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt in March. “The participants stressed the importance of the Aqaba meeting, the first of its kind in years,” the statement said.

“They agreed to continue meeting under this formulae, maintain the positive momentum and expand this agreement towards wider political process leading to a just and lasting peace.”

US President Joe Biden’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk is attending, along with Jordanian and Egyptian officials.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power at the head of one of the most right-wing coalitions in Israeli history has added to Arab concerns about escalation.

Israel on Feb 12 granted retroactive authorisation to nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and announced mass construction of new homes within established settlements.

The UN Security Council issued a formal statement denouncing Israel’s plan to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, the first action the United States has allowed the body to take against its ally Israel in six years.

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