National
April 18, 2021
SLAMABAD: The Supreme Court and not the federal government is the final authority that will decide the fate of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after a reference is submitted to the court by the government.
When contacted, prominent lawyer Kashif Malik told The News that empowering the Supreme Court to conclusively decide a reference under Article 17(2) of the Constitution gives protection to the political parties so that they would not stand dissolved on a mere executive order but only after the judgment of the highest judicial forum.
The judgments of the apex court on previous such references have been varied. In 1964, the Supreme Court had set aside [PLD 1964 SC 673] the ban imposed on the Jamaat-e-Islami by President Ayub Khan. Twelve years later in 1976, the apex court had upheld [PLD 1976 SC 57] the ban on the National Awami Party (NAP) of Khan Abdul Wali Khan ordered by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
National
April 18, 2021
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court and not the federal government is the final authority that will decide the fate of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after a reference is submitted to the court by the government.
When contacted, prominent lawyer Kashif Malik told The News that empowering the Supreme Court to conclusively decide a reference under Article 17(2) of the Constitution gives protection to the political parties so that they would not stand dissolved on a mere executive order but only after the judgment of the highest judicial forum.
The judgments of the apex court on previous such references have been varied. In 1964, the Supreme Court had set aside [PLD 1964 SC 673] the ban imposed on the Jamaat-e-Islami by President Ayub Khan. Twelve years later in 1976, the apex court had upheld [PLD 1976 SC 57] the ban on the National Awami Party (NAP) of Khan Abdul Wali Khan ordered by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Daily Times
April 5, 2021
The 4th of April brings back the painful memories of the farce trial and judicial murder of an iconic son of Pakistan – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto after his exit from the Ayub Cabinet had emerged the most popular leader after Quaid e Azam and, notwithstanding his unfulfilled promises with the masses, had genuinely earned the title of the Quaid e Awam. We were in the Civil Service Academy when the former President and Prime Minister; the savior of the so called new Pakistan; the architect of the 1973 Constitution and the Parliamentary democracy, was sent to the gallows after a mock and dubious judicial trial.
Kahaan chalay Mehar!
Itna dukh de jaoge kya
[In this sad night of darkness
For where did you put on your harness
Will you now stand by no longer
Will you leave us with so much distress]
Fahmida Riaz,
Nauha Major Ishaq ke Intiqal Par [Dirge On the Death of Major Ishaq]
Major Ishaq Muhammad was born on April 4, 1921, a hundred years ago today, in a village, Akhara, located 16-17 miles from Jalandhar. As I write this piece remembering the revolutionary founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Party, the ongoing farmers’ protests in neighbouring India have entered their seventh month. And various peasant organisations in Pakistan are planning a ‘tractor march’ to the federal and Punjab capitals if their demands for the support price of wheat, reduced power tariffs for tube-wells and fertiliser rates are not accepted. Later this month, April 17 will also mark the International Day of Peasant Struggle.