ISLAMABAD: The chief of a leading Pakistani religio-political party said on Friday he had suggested that the government undertake judicial reforms instead of passing an elaborate constitutional amendments package, posing a new challenge to the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which is pushing for the changes.
The government last week sought to get a package of 52 constitutional amendments passed in parliament but postponed the move after it was unable to gather the two-thirds majority parliamentary votes required, most importantly as it did not get support from Fazl-ur-Rehman, the president of the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam (JUI-F) party.
The amendments propose increasing the retirement age of superior judges by three years, revisiting the seniority principle in the appointment of the country’s top judge and establishing a federal constitutional court, among other changes.
Opposition parties, mainly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former premier Imran Khan, have criticized the package, calling it an “attack” on the independence of the judiciary. The PTI says the amendments are being done solely to grant an extension to incumbent Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, widely believed to be aligned with the ruling coalition and in opposition to its chief rival, the PTI.
The government has repeatedly said the amendments are not “individual specific.”
“We [Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam] adopted a stance that instead of amending the constitution with individuals in mind, why not head toward judicial reforms?” Rehman said at a televised news conference in Multan.
He said that his party had sought a draft of the constitutional amendment package from the government, saying the government was initially not willing to share it but when it managed to get hold of a copy, it reflected a lack of preparation.
“When we received the copy [of the proposed constitutional amendments] and our lawyers reviewed it, we were deeply saddened by the fact that the constitution, which protects the fundamental rights of every citizen, but over here, human and fundamental rights had been restricted, and the role of [Pakistan’s] military had been significantly expanded.
“Additionally, matters relating to the appointment and transfer of judges, even in the high courts, were alarming. If a judge is not trusted or cannot deliver a favorable decision, they could be immediately transferred, or the case could be reassigned to another judge.”
He said he had met with a key coalition partner, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, about the amendments package.
“We agreed that we could also make a draft [of amendments] and he could also create a draft before sharing them with each other,” Rehman said.
“We want consensus. The job of parliament is to legislate, bring constitutional legislation, make amendments, and pass laws. This is our job. And we are not ready to accept any restriction on this.”
The issue of the constitutional amendments has raised widespread concerns among opposition parties and independent experts who say the moves are aimed at increasing the government’s power in making key judicial appointments and dealing with the defection of lawmakers during house votes.
Constitutional Amendments: In new challenge to government, key Pakistani politician urges judicial reforms
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Constitutional Amendments: In new challenge to government, key Pakistani politician urges judicial reforms
- Government reached out to Maulana Fazlur Rehman to push the constitutional amendment package in parliament
- Rehman says the package limited the scope of human rights, expanded the role of Pakistan’s powerful military
Heatwave forces early school closures in Pakistan’s largest province
- Class times have also been changed, with all educational institutes instructed to close two hours early at 11:30am
- Pakistan, one of the most vulnerable countries to global warming, has been experiencing unusually high temperatures
LAHORE: Rising temperatures in Pakistan’s most populous province have forced the provincial government to close all private and public schools for summer vacations early, officials said on Tuesday.
Punjab province’s education minister Rana Sikander Hayat said summer vacations will now start from May 28 instead of June 1.
Class times have also been changed, with all educational institutes instructed to close two hours early at 11:30am “due to a constant heatwave,” a notification issued by the education department said.
Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming, has been experiencing unusually high temperatures after a particularly dry winter.
Temperatures soared to near-record highs for the month of April, reaching as high as 46.5 degrees Celsius (115.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Punjab.
An alert issued on Monday by the national meteorological agency forecast that northern parts of the province, currently in the grip of a heatwave, will see daytime temperatures rise “5 to 7C above normal.”
An Education Department representative told AFP the early closures were announced because of the weather.
“We had to move up the summer vacation schedule because of these heatwaves,” the representative said.
Schools in the province that serve tens of millions of children also closed for a week in May last year because of excessive heat, and for several weeks in November because of high levels of toxic smog that blanketed several cities.
Pakistan to send dossier to world powers urging action against Indian ‘aggression’
- India struck what it said were ‘terrorist camps’ in multiple Pakistani cities this month, leading to a four-day military conflict between the arch-foes
- The dossier will be presented to foreign capitals by a high-level delegation tasked with effectively presenting Pakistan’s case before the world
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will be sending a dossier, which outlines the chain of events in its military standoff with India this month, to world powers to urge them to hold New Delhi accountable for its “aggression and attacks on civilian population” in Pakistan.
The dossier will be presented to foreign capitals by a high-level delegation formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week. The delegation, led by former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, is tasked with effectively presenting Pakistan’s case before the world.
The document, seen by Arab News, contains details of an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, India’s subsequent strikes against Pakistan and Islamabad’s response to them, the ensuing four-day military standoff, international media coverage, images of the attacked sites, and specifics of Pakistan’s countermeasures.
“Pakistan reaffirms its commitment to regional peace and stability and international community must hold India accountable for its aggression and attack on innocent women and children,” the dossier reads.
India blamed the April 22 attack that killed 26 people on Pakistan and on May 7, New Delhi attacked what it called “terrorist camps” in multiple Pakistani cities. Islamabad has denied complicity and called for an international probe into the assault.
The four-day military conflict came to a halt after United States (US) President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on May 10, offering to help settle longstanding dispute between the two nations.
The Pakistani dossier says that India had repeatedly used “false-flag operations” and its immediate blaming of Pakistan for the attack raised “serious concerns about the integrity of its claims” as standard investigative procedures required time and forensic examination.
“The Pahalgam incident followed the same pattern of manipulation and manufactured provocation,” the dossier says, noting that Pakistan sought evidence from India and proposed a joint investigation.
“However, these proposals were not only rejected by India but India also continued to attack civilians inside Pakistan.”
Members of Pakistan’s high-level delegation, tasked with visiting London, Washington, Paris and Brussels, described this outreach to the international community as “absolutely imperative.”
“The region stands at a key inflection point in the wake of India’s unprovoked aggression and its egregious reshaping and deliberate distortion of facts as active state-sponsored disinformation,” Senator Sherry Rehman, a member of the Pakistani delegation, told Arab News.
“We have obviously prepared a detailed dossier that documents not just recent violations but also India’s longstanding record of state-sponsored terrorism inside Pakistan,” she said, adding that Pakistan has chosen diplomacy over escalation.
“This dossier is not a political tool, it is a factual record of aggression and hybrid warfare, including India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, which constitutes a grave violation of international law and a weaponization of water against civilian populations.”
Rehman said the aim of the delegation will be to reinforce Pakistan’s position as a responsible state, seeking peaceful resolution “through diplomacy and facts, not aggression or media manipulation.”
“It is also to seek global support for de-escalation frameworks, including calls for renewed dialogue on Kashmir as a flashpoint, and to safeguard regional water security through multilateral oversight,” she added.
India suspended on April 23 the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”
Separatist groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing the militants, Islamabad denies it and says it only supports Kashmiris diplomatically and politically.
Jalil Abbas Jillani, another Pakistani delegate and a former foreign secretary, said it is extremely important for Pakistan to share its concerns over the aggressive Indian behavior, genesis of the Kashmir dispute, and violations of the Indus Waters Treaty and its implications on peace and stability in the region.
“The delegation will also apprise the international community of the support being extended by India to terrorist outfits like BLA [Baloch Liberation Army] and TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan], etc,” he told Arab News.
New Delhi denies supporting the BLA, TTP or any such groups in Pakistan. India has also sent multiple all-party delegations abroad to extend its diplomatic outreach over the recent conflict.
Former Pakistani diplomats and experts called the submission of the dossier a “right approach” by Pakistan to brief the world about Indian actions.
“Pakistan’s recent step of submitting yet another dossier is again a step in the right direction as India has been selling its narrative on false grounds,” former Pakistani ambassador to the United Kingdom Nafees Zakaria told Arab News.
He said there was no reason for the international community not to pay due attention to Pakistan’s “evidence-based dossier” against India.
“Western world led by the US, which sees India as its lynchpin in the region as a counterweight to the rising powers China and Russia, has been looking the other way, which allowed India to indulge in criminal activities and subversion with impunity,” he said, adding that Pakistan must present its narrative and rigorously pursue it to ensure that India is “called to account and pays for its crimes.”
Former foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary said Pakistan needed to convey its perspective as India had hardly presented any evidence to the world to support its accusations, which resulted in the military standoff.
“It should be a proactive agenda on our part, meaning we should compile dossiers on India’s involvement in terrorism in Pakistan, evidence for which is now plentiful,” he told Arab News.
He said India had better accepted the offer made by President Donald Trump to sit and talk with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
“The sooner India does that the better it would be for it and for the peace in the region,” he added.
Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part.
Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir promoted to field marshal
- Munir is only the second military officer in Pakistani history to be promoted as field marshal, country’s highest military rank
- Analysts say it is likely he will also retain army chief’s chair, influence in government affairs will ‘significantly increase’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has elevated Army Chief General Asim Munir to the rank of field marshal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Tuesday, making him only the second general in the country’s history to rise to that rank.
The development comes a little over a week after Pakistan declared victory in a four-day standoff with India that saw the arch-rivals trade fighter jet, missile, drone and artillery strikes, with dozens killed on both sides before a ceasefire was reached on May 10.
“The Government of Pakistan approved the promotion of General Syed Asim Munir (Nishan-e-Imtiaz Military) to the rank of Field Marshal for ensuring the security of the country and defeating the enemy on the basis of the superior strategy and courageous leadership in Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos on behalf of Pakistan,” PM Sharif’s office said in a statement released after a meeting of the federal cabinet.
In a statement issued by the military, Munir said he was dedicating his promotion to the people and armed forces of Pakistan.
“This honor is the trust of the nation, for which millions of Asims can be sacrificed,” he was quoted as saying.
Munir’s promotion to field marshal’s rank is the first since Pakistani dictator General Ayub Khan made himself a field marshal in 1965.
Field marshal is a ceremonial five-star rank that usually signifies extraordinary leadership and wartime achievement. Security sources said it was likely Munir would also remain the army chief.
Munir started his job as army chief in November 2022. A parliamentary legal amendment extended his term to five years in November 2023, from the usual three years for the role of army chief.
The office of the army chief is arguably the most powerful position in Pakistan, where the military has ruled directly for nearly half of the country’s history. Even when not in power, the military and the army chief play an outsized role in political and foreign affairs and national security decision making. In recent years, the army chief’s public role in economic decision making and in seeking foreign investments has also grown considerably.
“Definitely, his [Gen. Munir’s] stature will be now higher in all forces and his influence in civil matters like government affairs will also significantly increase,” Lt. Gen. (retired) Naeem Lodhi, a former defense secretary, told Arab News.
Pakistan, China to continue ‘cooperation for regional peace’ after India conflict
- The statement comes after Pakistan declared its victory in a military standoff with India that saw Islamabad use China’s J-10Cs
- India and China, two South Asian giants and nuclear powers, are widely seen as competitors and long-term strategic rivals
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have resolved to continue “bilateral cooperation for regional peace, development and stability,” the Pakistani foreign office said on Tuesday, following a four-day military conflict between Pakistan and India.
The statement came during Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s three-day visit to Beijing after Pakistan and India exchanged missiles, drones and artillery fire until the United States brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
Pakistan declared a victory in the standoff, saying its air force used Chinese J-10C aircraft to shoot down six Indian fighter jets, including three French Rafales, and the army targeted several Indian military installations during the recent flare-up.
Dar on Tuesday held in-depth consultations with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the evolving situation in South Asia and the future trajectory of Pakistan-China partnership, according to the Pakistani foreign office.
“Both leaders expressed satisfaction at the commonality of views on all issues of mutual interest and expressed their firm resolve to continue bilateral cooperation for regional peace, development and stability,” it said in a statement.
For China, Pakistan is a strategic and economic ally. Beijing is investing over $60 billion to build infrastructure, energy and other projects in Pakistan as part of its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
India and China, on the other hand, are competing regional giants and nuclear powers and widely seen as long-term strategic rivals, sharing a 3,800 Himalayan border that has been disputed since the 1950s and sparked a brief war in 1962.
The most recent standoff — that started in 2020 — thawed in October as the two sides struck a patrolling agreement.
Dar, who is also the foreign minister of Pakistan, earlier began his day with a meeting with Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), who reiterated that “China will continue to prioritize its relations with Pakistan as an All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partner and ironclad friend.”
Pakistan’s foreign office said in an earlier statement that Dar would discuss with Chinese leaders “the evolving regional situation in South Asia and its implications for peace and stability.”
“The two sides will also review the entire spectrum of Pakistan-China bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” the statement added.
The conflict between India and Pakistan has offered the world a first real glimpse into how advanced Chinese military technology performs against proven Western hardware and Chinese defense stocks have already been surging as a result.
A rising military superpower, China hasn’t fought a major war in more than four decades but has raced under President Xi Jinping to modernize its armed forces, pouring resources into developing sophisticated weaponry and cutting-edge technologies.
It has also extended that modernization drive to Pakistan, long hailed by Beijing as its “ironclad brother.”
Over the past five years, China has supplied 81 percent of Pakistan’s imported weapons, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Those exports include advanced fighter jets, missiles, radars and air-defense systems. Some Pakistan-made weapons have also been co-developed with Chinese firms or built with Chinese technology and expertise.
Islamabad slams Israeli plan to control whole of Gaza, warns of ‘grave threat’ to peace
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed around 53,000 Palestinians and displaced two million
- Islamabad urges world to call for an immediate end to Israeli hostilities against Gazans
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned Israel’s deliberate targeting of hospitals in Gaza and described its announcement of taking control of the entire territory as a “grave threat” to regional peace, the Pakistani Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
Israeli airstrikes last week hit Gaza’s European and Nasser hospitals, causing casualties and crippling medical services. Days later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would take full control of the Gaza Strip.
Israel began pounding Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 200 others as hostages. In response, Israel’s military campaign has so far killed around 53,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly all of Gaza’s two million residents.
“The expansion of Israeli ground operations in Gaza as well as its announcement to ‘take control of all’ of Gaza poses a grave threat to efforts aimed toward achieving peace and stability in the region,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said.
“Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the continued Israeli aggression in Gaza as well as deliberate targeting of hospitals and other critical infrastructure along with mass evacuation orders.”
The statement said Israel continued to obstruct humanitarian aid from reaching millions, amounting to an “imposition of collective punishment” on the Palestinian people.
It highlighted UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ statement in which he voiced alarm over the situation in Gaza, where one in every five people faces starvation and the rest of the population is at risk of famine.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office urged the world to call for an immediate end to Israeli atrocities and take steps for the provision of humanitarian supplies to Palestinians.
“Furthermore, Pakistan reiterates its unequivocal opposition to any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their ancestral lands, expand illegal Israeli settlements or to annex any part of the territory,” it said.
