Wednesday, 19 January, 2022 I 15 Jamadi-al-Sani, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 202 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Fawad says govt ‘bound to implement court orders’ on navy golF course
ISLAMABAD
i
staff report
NfoRmAtioN and Broadcasting minister fawad Chaudhry stated on tuesday that the federal government is bound to follow the court’s directives regarding the sealing and demolition of the sprawling naval golf course located in islamabad’s margalla Hills National Park area unless the court suspended its orders. it is pertinent to note that Chaudhry’s statement comes a day after the islamabad High Court (iHC) directed the Additional Attorney General (AAG) to ensure that its directives for the demolition of the Navy Sailing Club and the initiation of criminal proceedings against former Naval Chief Admiral (retd) Zafar mahmood Abbasi are placed before the prime minister and the federal cabinet. A two-member division bench of the high court comprising Justice Amir farooq and Justice mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb directed the former naval chief
to appear before the cabinet secretary on January 19 if the cabinet does not take a decision until then. the directives were issued during the hearing on an inter-court appeal filed by Advocate Ashtar osaf, challenging the court’s order to demolish sailing club and the initiation of criminal proceedings against the ex-naval chief. the appeal stated that the former naval chief had been an officer in Pakistan Navy for 45 years, commanding it from 2017 to 2020. it added that the appeal on which the decision was announced was not admissible. it also noted that the original petition did not call for criminal proceedings, therefore the single-bench verdict of January 7 should be declared null and void. the appellant said the court wrote in its verdict that the former naval chief violated his oath by inaugurating an illegal building, while the executive, in a notification issued on August 23, 1991, appointed naval chief as the patron-in-chief of water sports throughout Pakistan. He added that the
Navy Sailing Club building was given to it in 1994 and the land for naval farms was also purchased. During today’s press briefing, the ministers also spoke about the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 — one of the two contentious legislations that are necessary to ensure that Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended fund facility gets cleared by the international monetary fund’s (imf) executive board. it was passed by the National Assembly during an hours-long session amid fierce objection from the opposition benches last week. Speaking on the matter, Energy minister Azhar said the opposition had made attempts to make the bill controversial. He said the legislation was aimed at granting autonomy to the SBP, as he drew parallels between Pakistan and developed countries. the minister said developed nations had taken measures to ensure the autonomy of their central banks because data proved that this led to a consistent decline in inflation and persistent economic growth. Discussing the clauses of the legislation, he assured that the federal government retained the authority to appoint the SBP’s governor, deputy governors and board of directors. And the bank’s board, he added, could remove the governor. He said the government retaining the authority to appoint the board was a “concession” that was gained after “hard negotiations” with the imf. turning his attention to the opposition’s criticism over the bill, the minister alleged that opposition parties played politics on the matter. He specifically spoke about the PmL-N, recalling that when it was in the government in 2015, it too had passed a bill regarding the SBP. He then read out an excerpt from the bill passed by the PmL-N.
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ECP turns down request to keep funding case report secret ISLAMABAD inp
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on tuesday rejected an appeal to keep the contents of a scrutiny committee’s report in the foreign funding case against the ruling Pakistan tehreek-i-insaf (Pti) secret. the report suggested the party received funding from foreign donors and companies, under-reported sums it received and concealed dozens of its bank accounts. Later, it emerged that the report did not include eight volumes of the documents and bank statements requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). the crucial pieces of evidence were kept confidential at the com-
mittee’s own request. “the committee is of the considered opinion that the portions of the report which have been prepared on the basis of [Pti] bank statements obtained through the SBP may be kept confidential and classified and may not be released in the public domain,” it said. But, during the proceedings, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja directed expressed shock over such a request and observed the report has already become a public document. He further ordered the scrutiny committee formed for investigating foreign funding cases of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan muslim League-Nawaz (PmL-N) to submit its findings in 10 days.
more inside
IMF Board to meet on 28th for Pakistan’s sixth review STORY ON PAGE 02
NEPRA set to raise power tariff by 95 paisas for household consumers STORY ON PAGE 03