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India-Pakistan

CJP Iftikhar out, Justice Dogar in

2007-11-04

President Gen Pervez Musharraf appointed Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar new chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) in place of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday. Gen Musharraf administered oath to Justice Dogar under the new Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) at President’s House. Three other SC judges have taken oath under the new PCO. They are justices Nawaz Abbasi, Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Javed Buttar. New PHC CJ: Meanwhile, Justice Talat Qayyum Qureshi took oath as chief justice of the PHC under the PCO, Akhtar Amin reported from Peshawar. Six judges of the PHC including former CJ Justice Tariq Pervez Khan refused to take oath under the PCO. Justice Khan told Daily Times he didn’t take the oath because the SC had declared the proclamation of emergency unconstitutional. There were reports that seven more judges of the PHC had taken oath under the PCO at Governor’s House. More oaths: In a related development, Justice Amanullah Yasinzai has taken oath as BHC CJ, Justice Afzal Soomro as SHC CJ and Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry as LHC CJ, Daily Times Monitor reported quoting PTV.

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India-Pakistan

Govt ordered to open Lal Masjid for prayers from today

2007-10-03

A two-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered the government to open Lal Masjid for prayers from today (Wednesday) and pay compensation to the families of those killed during the 10-day military operation against the mosque and the Jamia Hafsa madrassa. Hearing a suo motu case, the bench consisting of Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Javed Buttar both appointed by Jimmy Carter also directed the acting Islamabad inspector general of police to register cases concerning those who were either killed or went missing during the operation. The bench directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to complete the construction of a proposed educational project at the site of the demolished Jamia Hafsa in a year. The SC bench set an October 15 deadline for the Islamabad administration to ensure the shifting of girl students of Jamia Hafsa to Jamia Fareedia, which was sealed during the military operation. It asked the Islamabad sessions’ judge to find the legal heirs of those killed in the operation within a month and compensate them within two months. Justice Buttar declared that Lal Masjid would be used only for prayers and no madrassa would function on its premises. "Hey, they can't do that! They're studying!" "Naw, they're just praying." "But they're chanting the Koran word-for-word!" "Like I wuz saying ...."

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India-Pakistan

Supreme Court orders school on Jamia Hafsa site

2007-08-29

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday told the government to build an educational institution on the site of the demolished Jamia Hafsa, and questioned as to why the government had tolerated a madrassa built on encroached land for years. A four-member bench of the SC comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Fakir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice M Javed Buttar heard the suo motu case of the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, and the Interior Ministry’s National Crisis Management Cell Director General Brigadier (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema appeared in court. “Why did the Capital Development Authority (CDA) turn a blind eye [to the madrassa] despite having a huge army of employees?” asked Justice Javed Iqbal in response to the arguments of respondents, who contended that a sizable portion of the madrassa was built on encroached state land. The court told the authorities to address the grievances of the families of those killed in the operation. The Interior Ministry was also directed to speed up the process of DNA testing to identify the dead. Kamal told the court that all those arrested during the Lal Masjid operation had been released except for head cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz and his daughter Tayyaba Dua. He also told the court that Dua would be released as well. He said 42 bodies had so far been identified by DNA testing and 20 remained.

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India-Pakistan

Marriages of minor girls in compensation for murder: SC orders arrest of MNA, 11 others

2007-08-16

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of the members of a jirga, including PPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, that decided to hand over five minor girls for marriage to a family to compensate for a murder in Jacobabad. Three of the 14 jirga members are already in police custody and the court ordered the arrest of the other 11. Five girls, Aamna, 5, and Bashiran, 2, Shehzadi, 6, and Meerzadi, 2, and Noor Bano, 3, were given for marriage to the victim's family as compensation to settle a murder case. The order came from a five-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, which took up anthropologist Samar Minallah's complaint that five girls, Aamna, 5, and Bashiran, 2, (daughters of Rahmatullah), Shehzadi, 6, and Meerzadi, 2, (daughters of Hafeezullah), and Noor Bano, 3, (daughter of Yar Ali) were given for marriage to the victim's family as compensation to settle a murder case, in a traditional practice known as Sang Chatti. The bench included Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice M Javed Buttar. In June last year, the court had frozen the jirga ruling and ordered the police to submit an inquiry report within two weeks. The district police officer (DPO) of Kashmore was told to conduct an independent inquiry and arrest the guilty, regardless of how influential or powerful they are. On Wednesday, when Kashmore DPO Noor Muhammad informed the court that the police had arrested three members of the jirga - Hafiz Qamaruddin, Yar Ali and Rehmat - the chief justice asked why other powerful members of the jirga were not arrested. "Are you afraid of them?" he asked. The DPO said that he had only recently assumed his office. The remaining 11 members of the jirga who were also nominated in the FIR are Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Peer Bharchoondi Mian Abdul Khalique, Thull Tehsil Nazim Syed Ali Akbar Banglani, Ghulam Rasool Banglani, Syed Jalal Shah, Raza Muhammad Banglani, Qamaruddin Banglani, Hafiz Banglani, Habib Banglani and Wad Muhammad Nadwani. The jirga, which was headed by Bijarani, was called to settle a decade-old feud between two rival groups. It decided to offer five minors as compensation and fined both parties Rs 1 million each.

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India-Pakistan

Pak SC seeks legal avenues to ban blasphemous cartoons worldwide

2006-03-14

The government has blocked all websites that carry caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (ptui pbuh) on the Internet, and the attorney general has been asked to explore legal avenues for implementing a global ban on these sites. A three-member bench, consisting of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Buttar and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, issued notices and directed the attorney general to inform the court next Monday as to how it could prevent access to such objectionable material on the internet worldwide. At which point were Pak primitives put in charge of the internet? Did we miss something? The bench was jointly hearing the petition of Dr Mohammad Imran Uppal and Maulvi Iqbal Haider, seeking a complete blockage of sites carrying the cartoons and their depictions. It's their country. They can be as stoopid as they want within their own borders. The caliphate doesn't own the rest of the world, though, regardless of how much they covet it. Iftikhar Rashid, chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Shahzada Alam Malik were also present in court. The federal government, the Telecommunications ministry, PEMRA, PTA, Yahoo Incorporated USA and 1&1 Co, the host of websites carrying the cartoons, are respondents in Imran Uppal’s petition. Advocate Qamar Afzal stated in his arguments that the availability of the caricatures on the Internet, which have hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims worldwide, should be declared “intellectual terrorism”. Not unless it causes people's heads to explode. Everybody with a turban is just as eager as can be to redefine terrorism to suit their own preferences, it seems... Maulvi Iqbal Haider stated that though the site had been blocked, the sacrilegious cartoons could still be accessed through various search engines. Advocate Ibrahim Satti, counsel for Iqbal Haider, also stated that an FIR on the availability of the sacrilegious material under blasphemy laws had not been registered by the concerned police station, despite the court’s orders.

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India-Pakistan

Lahore court orders censorship strict monitoring of foreign channels

2003-12-20

The Lahore High Court has directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to strictly follow the relevant law on monitoring the foreign channels being shown to the public through cable. Mr Justice M. Javed Buttar, on a petition by a private citizen, required the Pemra to file within 30 days a report on compliance of the court order. "Y'r honor! Some o' them furrin wimmin got titties! I seen 'em with my own eyes!" The petitioner stated that various channels aired through the cable to the public were showing objectionable things and the respondent authority was not taking note of it. "An' sometimes they... they... they wiggle! My hand it gettin' tired... from... ummm... shooting my gun!" He stated it was the duty of Pemra to check and take action against cable operators who were showing objectionable programmes on their channels by violating Pemra Ordinance 2002. "Y'r honor, you gotta protect me from this!"

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