ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday appointed Justice Aminuddin Khan as the first chief justice of Pakistan’s newly created Federal Constitutional Court, moving swiftly to implement a sweeping constitutional overhaul that has already prompted the resignation of two senior Supreme Court judges in protest.
Politics
Pakistan deploys troops to guard Sri Lanka cricketers after capital bombing
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has ringed the Sri Lankan cricket team with army and paramilitary troops and moved an entire Twenty20 tri-nation tournament to Rawalpindi after a suicide bombing in the capital on Tuesday killed 12 people and rattled a sport still haunted by the 2009 attack on the same visiting side.
Chief Justice summons emergency full-court meeting as constitutional crisis deepens
ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Thursday summoned an emergency full-court meeting of all Supreme Court judges for Friday morning, bowing to a third judicial plea in as many days for the court to confront the far-reaching 27th Constitutional Amendment that President Asif Ali Zardari formally enacted into law only hours earlier.
Pakistan says suicide bomber in Islamabad attack came from Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD The interior minister told the Senate on Thursday that the suicide bomber who killed 12 people and wounded 35 in an attack on the capital’s judicial complex on Tuesday was “related to Afghanistan,” the clearest official accusation yet that the assault originated across the border.
Two top Supreme Court justices quit as new law strips court of constitutional powers
ISLAMABAD: Two of Pakistan’s most respected Supreme Court justices, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah, resigned on Thursday only hours after President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law the 27th Constitutional Amendment, a sweeping overhaul that shifts the power to interpret the Constitution from the Supreme Court to a new Federal Constitutional Court whose judges will be appointed through a process dominated by the government.
In nine minutes, parliament redefines military command and court structure
ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday pushed through a rapid cascade of legislative changes that reshape the country’s military command structure and further alter its judicial architecture, less than 24 hours after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the controversial 27th Constitutional Amendment into law.
Pakistan hails arbitration court ruling clarifying Indus treaty provisions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday welcomed clarifications issued by an international arbitration court on key aspects of the Indus Waters Treaty, a longstanding agreement governing the sharing of river resources with India, amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Afghanistan orders businesses to stop using Pakistan transit routes in three months
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs asked traders to ditch Pakistan as a transit route for imports and exports within three months, signaling a deepening rift between the neighbours amid escalating security tensions.
Chaotic National Assembly session sees approval of 27th Constitutional Amendment
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday approved the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill in a chaotic session marked by opposition protests, walkouts and heated exchanges, paving the way for the creation of a federal constitutional court and other reforms long envisioned under the country’s Charter of Democracy.
National Assembly set to pass 27th constitutional overhaul reshaping judiciary, military
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly appeared poised on Wednesday to approve a sweeping constitutional overhaul that would reshape the country’s judiciary and military institutions, after the lower house took up the measure amid fierce opposition protests and a boycott by critics who decried it as an assault on democratic principles.