Arrest warrants issued for EX-PM Nawaz Sharif’s children
Minutes after former Pakistan prime minister appeared before the National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday, bailable arrest warrants were issued for his children Hassan, Hussain, and Maryam, and son-in-law Captain Safdar, with the court ordering them to submit surety bonds worth Rs 1 million each to secure bail. TV channels reported that Sharif was scheduled to be formally charged on Oct. 2, about two months after his disqualification by the Supreme Court for not declaring a small source of income that he denied receiving.
Nawaz Sharif arrives in Pakistan, lashes out at judiciary in press conference
Returning to Pakistan following a month abroad, former PM Nawaz Sharif said he did not believe in “fleeing the courts” as he lashed out against the judiciary in a press conference after briefly appearing before a National Accountability Bureau court in Islamabad. “Fleeing from the courts is not our way. We respect the Constitution and the courts. I have [in the past] worn handcuffs and been arrested. I have experienced the implementation of law and justice during a military regime,” he told reporters.
A young girl’s heart surgery made I ndia and Pakistan rise above their enmity
Noor Fatima, a 2-year-old girl from Lahore, had several holes in her heart. The surgery was prohibitively expensive in Pakistan. Nadeem Sajjad, her father, a marketing executive, traveled with his ailing child and wife across several thousand miles, a difficult history, and a toxic politics, to Narayana Hrudayalaya, a hospital in Bangalore, in southern India. The girl’s visit to Bangalore became a major media event. Ordinary Indians offered financial support; celebrations followed her successful surgery. Here is her story, by Gauri Lankesh, the Indian editor who was assassinated this month
Court tells Imran failure to declare London assets could have consequences
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar reminded Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan during a hearing of the disqualification case on Tuesday that a failure to declare his London flat as an asset before the Election Commission could have legal consequences and asked him to present detailed accounts of an offshore company and a paper trail of money borrowed from ex-wife Jemima Khan at the next hearing on September 28, 2017.
Posters demanding freedom for “Jammu and Kashmir” appear in Geneva
Posters demanding freedom for Jammu and Kashmir and Indian states Tripura, Nagaland, and Manipur have appeared on metro buses and trams in Geneva while the 36th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is underway. Earlier this month, “Free Baluchistan” signs also appeared in the city, leading to diplomatic tensions between Switzerland and Pakistan.
Asian Development Bank approves $800m investment for Pakistan
The Asian Development Bank has approved $800 million investment plan that seeks to enhance regional trade and connectivity in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) corridors of Pakistan, a press release issued by ADB said. The investment program will expand Pakistan’s regional connectivity links while helping to improve road traffic efficiency. Road networks in Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be rehabilitated and upgraded with the first tranche of the investment plan, worth $180 million, to be received in 2017. The second and third tranches, worth $260 million and $360 million, respectively, are expected to be approved in 2019 and 2021
Cabinet criticizes “false reports” of Nawaz Sharif using IB against parlimentarians
Ministers at a cabinet session this Tuesday criticized a “fabricated” report aired by ARY News in their programme ‘Power Play’, which claimed that Sharif ordered the Intelligence Bureau to inquire into 37 lawmakers for alleged links with banned sectarian and terrorist outfits. Ministers present at the babinet session, who were also included in the list, said that IB had denied such orders and the news had only sought to damage their reputation. Presiding over the cabinet session, Prime Minister Khaqan Abbasi ordered Law Minister Zahid Hamid to probe the issue and ensure action against the channel through the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).
Saudi Arabia agrees to allow women to drive
Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.
The change, which will take effect in June 2018, was announced in a royal decree read live on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington. The decision highlights the damage that the ban on women driving has done to the kingdom’s international reputation and its hopes for a public relations benefit from the reform.
Saudi leaders also hope the new policy will help the economy by increasing women’s participation in the workplace. Many working Saudi women spend much of their salaries on drivers or must be driven to work by male relatives.