Author: Moez Pirzada

ISLAMABAD: Once again all eyes are on a Supreme Court bench—comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and two other like-minded judges—which on Monday reserved its ruling on petitions challenging the Supreme Court (Review of Judgements and Orders) Act, 2023. The piece of legislation that widens the scope of review jurisdiction in cases decided under Article 184(3) of the Constitution was introduced by the coalition government, which has remained critical to the bench—also comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar–since February. In February, CJP Bandial took suo motu cognizance of a delay in announcement of elections for two…

On May 18-19, a first-ever China-Central Asia summit was held in the city of Xian, the symbolic origin of the ancient Silk Road trading route. The agenda was focused on breathing new life into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing’s massive infrastructure investment program launched in Kazakhstan by President Xi Jinping in 2013. Following an economic slowdown during the Covid-19 restrictions, the past couple of years have seen a revitalization of Chinese trade with Central Asia. China’s Ministry of Commerce said trade with the five Central Asian nations rose to $70 billion in 2022, a 40 percent jump over 2021. China is the largest…

ISLAMABAD: A local court, on Monday, sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shehryar Afridi to jail on 14-day judicial remand in a case related to May 9 demonstrations. Police produced Afridi before judicial magistrate Naveed Khan after the expiry of his two-day physical remand. The court while hearing the case registered at the Industrial Area police station rejects the police request and sent Afridi to jail on judicial remand. At the start of the hearing, the investigation officer of the case requested the court to extend the physical remand of the accused in order to conduct further investigation of him. He…

Pakistan expressed gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for helping in the evacuation of its stranded citizens from Sudan after two Pakistanis evacuees reached Abu Dhabi. Pakistan’s Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi said the safe evacuation of all Pakistanis from Sudan is of paramount importance for the government. He expressed gratitude to the Gulf state for evacuating two citizens. The envoy also extends full support to the Pakistanis arriving at the Pakistani mission in UAE. The evacuees arrived in Abu Dhabi via a chartered flight from Port Sudan. Earlier this week, a batch of 97 Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan arrived at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport via…

Belgian golfer Thomas Pieters has labelled those who criticise the source of the money behind Greg Norman’s LIV Golf “hypocritical”. Pieters was only confirmed as a signing for the breakaway group in February, admitting that the “lonely” and “sad” existence on the PGA Tour was one of the reasons behind his move. The 31-year-old finished fourth at the 2017 Masters and has been ranked as high as No.23 in the world. In an interview with Barstool’s Fore Play podcast, Pieters didn’t hide the reason for his switch, conceding that “financially, it (LIV) is amazing”. The source of LIV Golf’s money has been one of the most controversial aspects…

A fundamental change in any order of life has an overarching impact on everything around it. Let’s take the example of human encroachment in animal habitats. Development in a forest, by cutting down trees and the construction of a building, affects animal behaviours and patterns. A permanent change like this forces the animals to adapt. Predators and prey get squeezed closer together, and encounters between them increase. Territorial animals fight for space. Animals lower in the food chain develop additional survival instincts. Some species go extinct, others grow in abundance. The change embeds itself in the fabric of society, causing…

In crisis-ridden Pakistan, there is often a premium on telling the truth. In some cases, speaking truth to power can have fatal consequences. Imagine the impact on journalists who play a vital role in preserving rule of law by holding the powerful to account and protecting the public’s right to know. The case of Wali Khan Babar is a prime example. A young journalist in Karachi, he was brazenly gunned down in 2011 after members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) determined that his reporting was detrimental to their party’s interests. Within the next year, at least five witnesses were…

The morning news updates on the television flickered before turning off. At the same time, confused motorists tried to navigate rush hour without the help of traffic lights, while hospitals scrambled to run emergency generators. Pakistan’s national grid had failed and plunged more than 230 million people into a darkness that would bring the country to a standstill for over 24 hours before the electricity returned. Frustrated netizens joked they wished they had a switch to turn the country back on and off, as Islamabad faces its greatest crisis of the modern era. Pakistan’s economy faces total collapse, with a…

Security forces have successfully cleared the Karachi Police office that was attacked on Friday, said officials, who added that all terrorists were killed in the operation. Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui, official of the Sindh government, said four people were also martyred, including two policemen, one Rangers personnel, and a civilian. Another 14 people were injured, added Siddiqui. Multiple explosions had been heard earlier after the police office at Shahrah-e-Faisal was attacked by five assailants in the provincial capital. The attack took place a little after 7pm. A counter-terrorism operation featuring personnel from Pakistan Army, Rangers and Sindh Police was launched in…

Late last year, I was honoured to join a group of researchers, teachers, administrators, and activists for education in something called the South-South Fellowship — with technical support from Brazil’s Leman Foundation and Oxford University. The South-South Fellowship connects the education communities from Kenya, Brazil and Pakistan to help generate collaborations and lesson-learning across contexts with greater similarity to each other than what we normally get when donor programmes invest directly in efforts to change the status quo in education. Almost exactly a decade ago, in February 2013, a few colleagues and I had begun working on one such effort…