Pakistan

President Asif Ali Zardari, on early Friday morning, approved the de-notification of Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri as a judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the advice of the prime minister. “The president has approved the de-notification of Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri as judge, Islamabad High Court, on the advice of the prime minister, in compliance with the IHC verdict and in accordance with the Constitution and law,” a statement from the President’s Secretariat said. IHC judgement The IHC ruling on Thursday said Justice Jahangiri’s elevation to the superior court “without lawful authority” and that he “ceased to hold” the office of the IHC judge forthwith. A division bench led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan issued the judgement, which was earlier reserved, on a plea that challenged the legitimacy of Justice Jahangiri’s law degree and appointment as a judge. A short written order of the court, available with Dawn, said at the time of Justice Jahangi...

As the Foreign Office sought clarification from India via a letter over a sudden variation in the Chenab River’s flow, the situation is badly affecting wheat and other crops being fed through the Marala-Ravi link and other canals in various parts of Punjab. “The situation is really disturbing as the Chenab River’s control from upstream (India) is being handled by the Indian authorities through various run-of-the-river hydropower projects,” a senior official of the Punjab Irrigation Department said while speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity. “When India releases the water from dams towards downstream (Pakistan) without informing us, the flow suddenly increases. Sometimes, they hold water for days, reducing flow massively,” he said. He continued, “Once the river inflows recorded at Marala reduced to 1,500 cusecs, leaving us with no option but to stop outflows.” “The situation is very serious and strange for us, as the growers, in several villages, couldn’t water wheat crops due to the lack of water flow t...

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A domestic worker was allegedly beaten by a man in Karachi earlier this week, it emerged on Thursday. According to a first information report filed at Gabol Town police station — dated December 13 and available with Dawn — the complainant stated that she was working as a cleaner at a private residence when she got into an argument with the suspect on December 10. “On December 11, when I finished working at a house, the suspect came and started beating me as I was descending some stairs,” she alleged. “He pushed me down the stairs while verbally abusing me.” The complainant further alleged that bystanders also beat her, leaving her with facial and internal injuries. According to the FIR, the suspect who initially assaulted the complainant was booked under Sections 337A (punishment for assault), 354 (assault or criminal force to [a] woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace). After a video of the incident went viral, Sindh Minister for Women...

Sultan Aziz Azzam, a spokesperson for Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), was arrested by Pakistani authorities this year, a recent report submitted to the UN Security Council has revealed. IS-K is a branch of the Islamic State terrorist organisation active in Central and South Asia, according to the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank. The United Nations’ 16th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team noted that IS-K’s ability to operate in the region had been degraded as a result of high-profile arrests by Pakistan, such as that of Azzam from the border region this May. The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said that Azzam was arrested by intelligence agencies during an operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The APP report claimed that following his arrest, IS-K propaganda arms, such as the Al-Azaim Foundation, had suffered a major blow. “Overall, the capability of [IS-K] has been degraded as a result of counter-terrorism operations,” the UN repor...

A new study has revealed that labour rights abuses remained rampant in major textile factories in major production hubs — Karachi and Faisalabad — manufacturing healthcare exports to Europe. The report was titled “Public money, private harm: The role of EU procurement in perpetuating labour violations: lessons from Pakistan and Sweden”. The 52-page study was conducted collaboratively by Swedwatch and local organisations, including AwazCDS-Pakistan and NowCommunities, building on testimonies of textile factory workers from Karachi and Faisalabad, where it revealed rampant labour rights violations, enabled by weak enforcement of EU procurement rules and labour laws. It revealed that using social audits and certifications as a way of ensuring compliance “repeatedly fail to capture or remedy these violations, raising serious concerns about their efficacy.” At the outset of the report launch in Karachi today, Executive Director NowCommunities, Farhat Parveen, outlined the issues faced by workers in both informal a...

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