PM's disqualification: SC admits petition for hearing

A bench headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk would hear the petition and the hearing has been fixed for September 29.
Khakwani, who is a central committee leader in the PTI, had filed the petition through his counsel Advocate Irfan Qadir requesting the court to order disqualification of the prime minister for falsely stating in the National Assembly that he had not asked Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif to act as a mediator and guarantor between the government on one side and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on the other for ending the political impasse.
The petition added that the prime minister later denied in the assembly that the army was dealing with such issues without the government desiring it to do so. By making two different statements, it alleged, Sharif had tried to malign and damage the fair image of the army in violation of Article 62 (g) of the Constitution.
Also read: Refusal to entertain plea against PM challenged
The petition said that an army spokesman had confirmed that it was the government which had asked the army chief to play a role in resolving the standoff.
This established that Nawaz Sharif had made a false statement concerning the army chief and, therefore, was liable to be proceeded against under Article 62 (f) of the Constitution, it argued.
The article deals with the qualification of a member from becoming a parliamentarian if he is not sagacious, righteous, honest and Ameen.
The admission of the petition comes in the backdrop of protests led by PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif with the parties calling for the resignation of the prime minister in what they — particularly Imran's party — regard as a government that came to power as the result of an allegedly rigged election.

FIR over Karachi airport attack registered against TTP

A First Information Report (FIR) of the attack on Karachi’s international airport was registered on Wednesday against the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The FIR was registered in Karachi’s airport police station under the Anti-Terrorism Act, nominating the top brass of the banned militant outfit including its spokesman Shahidullah Shahid.

After the atrocious attack on the metropolis’ airport on June 8, security was beefed up at the airports throughout the country.

Strict security measures have been taken to safeguard Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport and the international airport in Sialkot.

Joint meetings of the intelligence agencies and police are held on daily basis to review the security arrangements of the airports.

A five-hour attack by militants on the international airport in Karachi had left 28 people, including 10 attackers, dead. The attack was claimed by the TTP.

Before the dust had settled another attack took place yesterday on the Airport Security Force (ASF) camp number 2 in Karachi. There were no casualties in the attack, in which at least three to four terrorists opened fire near the camp and fled after heavy contingent of security forces reached the spot.

A search operation had been carried out by police and Rangers personnel in Pehlwan Goth and adjacent areas after the assault in which two suspected militants were arrested.

A relatively similar search operation was also conducted in the adjacent areas of the Islamabad airport.

The Lahore and Islamabad airports were earlier placed on ‘red alert’. Additional security and police personnel had been deployed around areas of the airports.