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Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah on Saturday elaborated on the difficulties judges faced regarding cases of missing persons and enforced disappearances in the face of non-cooperation by the state and lawmakers. The judge was attending a documentary screening organised by rights group Defence for Human Rights Pakistan, where he delivered remarks to attendees and noted that cases regarding missing persons and disappearances were the most difficult he had come across. Addressing the gathering, Justice Minallah said that when he ordered that disappearances be investigated or missing people be found, “the authorities would come and they would all say that we don’t know where they are.” At this, the judge pointed out: “The judge and the court cannot do anything when you don’t have independent investigators.” Minallah added: “Every judge of the Supreme Court is responsible personally for every violation of fundamental rights that takes place in Pakistan.” The judge recounted an inst...

A new-look Manchester City showed familiar frailties as Tottenham strolled to a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, while Aston Villa slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Brentford. Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha struck for the Europa League winners just before half-time as Spurs went top of the table, making it a perfect start for Thomas Frank after two league games in charge. City’s run of four consecutive Premier League titles came to a spectacular end last season as they finished a distant third behind Liverpool and Arsenal. A 4-0 thrashing of Wolves on the opening weekend of the campaign showed glimpses of a revamped City back to their best. However, they were again easily exposed on the counter-attack, while manager Pep Guardiola must decide who will be his number one goalkeeper after a day to forget for James Trafford. Tottenham Hotspur’s Portuguese midfielder Joao Palhinha celebrates scoring the team’s second goal during the English Premier League football match agains...

OF late, there has been a rash of seminars, media discussions and loaded commentaries on the idea of increasing the number of provinces in Pakistan. Some entities have proposed converting the existing 32 administrative divisions into provinces while another recommendation is to go back to the original 12 administrative divisions that existed in erstwhile West Pakistan at the time of independence. The sweeping conclusion of these proposals is that practically all our governance problems will be resolved once we create more provinces. Although different political parties had been advocating for the creation of new provinces for various reasons in the past, the current proposals apparently seek a greater number of provinces to facilitate the devolution of authority and achieve administrative efficiency. If the idea of these proposals is to generate a fresh national debate to see if a consensus can be developed on the question, there should be no quarrel with the intention, but the ...

Senior journalist Suhail Warraich on Friday said that a column he wrote about a meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir, which ignited a controversy, had been “misunderstood”. In a column published on Aug 16, Warraich — a senior editor at the Jang newspaper — wrote that COAS Munir had spoken to him during a stopover in Brussels, on his way back from a recent trip to the US. “On a question about politics, he (the army chief) said that political reconciliation is possible only if there is a sincere apology,” the column read , without specifying who the army chief was referring to or who the question was about. However, that quote ended up stirring a controversy in the commentariat. Challenging the impression that the army chief had “sought an apology over the May 9 riots”, the military’s spokesperson had said on Thursday that Field Marshal Munir did not make any political statements during a recent trip to Brussels. He had also rebuked the senior journalist ...

Russia on Friday ruled out an immediate meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as diplomatic tension with him escalated and US mediation efforts appeared to stall. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “no meeting” between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky was planned, as Nato chief Mark Rutte visited Kyiv, largely to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. United States President Donald Trump had raised expectations for a swift summit between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents by saying earlier in the week they had agreed to meet, but on Friday compared the two men to “oil and vinegar”. “They don’t get along too well, for obvious reasons,” he told reporters in Washington. Lavrov also poured cold water on hopes for direct Putin-Zelensky talks to resolve the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president’s legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin’s maximalist claims. “There is no meeting planned,” Lavrov said in an interview with...

RAWALPINDI: Pakis­tan has extended the closure of its airspace to Indian aircr­aft for another month, until September 25, according to a NOTAM (notice to airmen) issued on Thursday. The restriction was initially imposed on April 24 this year amid ongoing tensions between the two countries. It was first extended on May 23, followed by further extensions up to July 23, and then until August 24. Sources confirmed that the Pakistan Airport Aut­h­ority had previously exte­nded the airspace closure for Indian aircraft from July 18 to August 24. Now, ac­cording to the latest NOTAM, the Pakistani airspace will remain closed to Indian aircraft from Aug 25 until Sept 25. The ban applies specifically to Indian-registered or leased aircraft, whether op­­erated, owned, or leased by Indian operators, including military fli­ghts, as per NOTAM A0472/25 issued by the authorities con­­cerned. However, Pak­is­tan’s airspace remains open to all other international flights, it said. Published in Dawn...

ISLAMABAD: A new assessment carried out by humanitarian aid organisation, Islamic Relief, reveals that 60 per cent of families in the badly affected areas of Buner and Swat have lost their livelihood by flash floods and there have also been massive destruction of homes and farms. The Islamic Relief’s emergency response team is on the ground distributing food and water, and the team’s assessment found that 73 per cent of houses are destroyed or partially damaged; sixty per cent of people in Buner and 53 per cent in Swat are now unable to support their families; eighty per cent of agricultural land in Buner has been damaged; nearly 50 per cent of livestock animals have died and been washed away. According to the assessment, 40 per cent of households are already reporting cases of diarrhea, with water-borne diseases spreading as the water supply is contaminated by bodies of victims and livestock and the destruction of sanitation facilities. Acting country director of Islamic Relief...