Tag: Law

LAHORE - Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Monday sought a reply from the federal government on a petition challenging appointment of Pir Masood Chishti as federal law secretary. Deputy Attorney General Naveed Inayat Malik had presented a reply on behalf of the Federal Law Ministry that appointment of Chishti has been purely made on merit and keeping in view all requirements of the office. The petitioner said that the reply was vague and did not address

LAHORE - Those instigating people to murder by issuing fatwas against Blasphemy law accused must not become protectors of the respect of the Prophet (PBUH) as the right to punish the violators of the law lies with the state, Federal Information Minister Qamar uz Zaman Kaira said to a select group of columnists at a local hotel on Monday..
Kaira clarified that the government has no intent to amend the blasphemy laws. The minister said that there are laws present to deal with

Lahore - A seminar on "Why a capital punishment for the blasphemy of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)?" was arranged by Tanzeem-e-Islami on Sunday at Quran Auditorium Lahore.
Justice (r) Nazir Ahmad Ghazi, Ameer Hamza, Abdur Rauf Raufi, Yaqoob Sheikh, Qari Muhammad Hanif and Hafiz Akif Saeed addressed around 1000 people who showed up at the seminar.
Ghazi said that there was already a mechanism to stop the law's misuse; if the claimant was caught with false accusation then there was

PESHAWAR - Interior Minister Rehman Malik has denied any plans to amend the blasphemy law and has requested religious circles to remain peaceful.
"The government will not amend the blasphemy law," Rehman Malik remarked while talking to reporters at Pirpayee Nowshehra on Thursday. Rehman Malik arrived in Nowshehra for expressing condolence over the death of late Provincial Governor and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Major General (Retd) Naseer Ullah Khan Babar.
Malik offered

KARACHI - A six-hour-long operation in Pehlwan Goth on Thursday ended a three-day-long siege-like situation, as law enforcement agencies stepped in to break up skirmishes among warring groups and arrested four suspects.
Pehlwan Goth had been witnessing a siege-like situation for the past three days due to clashes between two groups. A contingent of the police had tried to enter the area early Thursday morning, but armed men perched atop a muti-storeyed building, Soneri Heights,

KARACHI - The Ministry of Law has pointed certain objections in the Margin Trading System's (MTS) draft and has sent it back to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), thus putting fate of the long-awaited leverage product in abeyance.
Unconfirmed reports, however, reveal that the law ministry has approved and referred the MTS draft to the apex regulator, which is to be launched in the first week of next month. Market sources told Pakistan Today that the

LAHORE - The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) staged a protest on Tuesday at the Multan Road against Pope Benedict XVI's demands to repeal the blasphemy laws and the Holy Prophet's (PBUH) finality law. JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch, who led the rally, termed the pontiff's demand as insane and a plot to threaten the Christian minority's security in the country and to plunge Pakistan into chaos and disorder. Baloch noted that the Pope's bias attitude did not allow him to see Zionists'

ISLAMABAD - The judicial commission for the recovery of missing persons has suggested legislation to bring the functioning of spy agencies within the ambit of law.
The commission, led by Justice (r) Kamal Mansoor Alam and consisting of Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal and Justice (r) Fazlur Rehman, said this in its report submitted to the Supreme Court and the Interior Ministry on Monday, before a bench of Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Raja

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Monday called on Pakistan to scrap the blasphemy law in a strongly-worded defence of the rights of Christians living in majority Muslim countries.
"I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law," the leader of the world's one billion Catholics said in a traditional New Year's address to ambassadors to the Vatican.
He said the law served as a pretext for violence against religious

ISLAMABAD - PPP leader and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) former president Aitzaz Ahsan on Monday said the blasphemy law should remain intact, adding if the late Salmaan Taseer had committed blasphemy, he should have been punished under the law.
Talking to reporters at the Supreme Court, he said no amendment of any kind should be made in the blasphemy law and it should remain intact at any cost. He said Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had ensured implementation on

KARACHI - Various religious groups organised a massive rally on Sunday to protest against any attempt by the government to amend the blasphemy law. The leaders of these parties demanded the prime minister announce in the National Assembly that the government will not make any changes in the controversial law.
They also announced that a public meeting would be held in Lahore on January 30. Thousands of activists of religious organisations gathered at Purani Numaish Chowrangi and

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, in a setback to hopes for the quick closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison, reluctantly signed a bill on Friday barring suspects held there from being brought to the United States for trial.
Making plain he would fight to repeal language in the law obstructing civilian US trials for Guantanamo terrorism suspects, Obama said he was left with no choice but to sign the defense authorization act for fiscal 2011.
"Despite my strong objection

PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Assembly on Friday, through a unanimous resolution, urged the federal government not to introduce any amendments to the blasphemy law. The resolution was moved in the House by Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-F MPA Mufti Kifayat Ullah when Deputy Speaker Khushdil Khan was in the chair. The resolution, carrying signatures of parliamentary leaders of other political forces also, was adopted without any debate.
They included Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour

LAHORE - Former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer's assassination remained the topic of discussion during the Punjab Assembly (PA) session on Friday, as statements of both Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers and members of the provincial assembly (MPA) reflected a difference of opinion between both the parties.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah rejected the PPP's allegations that the PML-N has influenced investigations of Taseer's

LAHORE - A meeting of representatives of trade unions organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has deplored the lack of regard for labour rights and international conventions while adopting new labour laws, following the transfer of the subject to the provinces under the 18th Amendment.
The labour representatives took exception to the provision of the 18th Amendment that abolished the system of labour legislation at the national level, a provision they have

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Muslim League-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday demanded the government introduce new legislation to stop the abuse of blasphemy laws. Condemning the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, Shujaat said the government should draft new laws by taking all political and religious parties on board to stop the abuse of the existing blasphemy law.
Addressing the PML-Q Central Working Committee meeting, Shujaat said, "The government should not touch or

ISLAMABAD - Salmaan Taseer, the assassinated governor of Punjab, has sacrificed his life for interfaith harmony, religious freedom and equality for all human beings and a mindset which misused blasphemy laws, was behind his assassination, said Shahbaz Bhatti, federal minister for Minorities Affairs.
In a press statement on Wednesday, he said that the assassination of Salmaan Taseer was a barbaric act of religious violence as he took a principled stand against misuse of the law.