What happens now after Pakistan’s PM has been disqualified?

Pakistani lawyers celebrate the Supreme Court decision against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in Lahore. AFP
Updated 28 July 2017
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What happens now after Pakistan’s PM has been disqualified?

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been ousted from power by the Supreme Court, an unceremonious end to his third term in power ahead of general elections next year.
No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term.
Most have seen their tenures cut short by the powerful military or by the Supreme Court. Others have been ousted by their own party, forced to resign — or been assassinated.
Although Sharif has been disqualified as prime minister, he remains the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest party in the National Assembly.
As such, Sharif will oversee the nomination of his successor who will then be rubber stamped in a parliamentary vote, where his party and coalition partners command a 209-seat majority in the 342-seat house.
The opposition is also expected to field a candidate for the premiership, though the nominee has almost no chance of getting sufficient votes.
The vote will likely happen in a matter of days — if not hours — of Sharif’s disqualification.
Yes, in 2012 then-prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was disqualified over contempt of court charges for refusing to reopen a corruption case against the sitting president Asif Ali Zardari.
After Gilani was ousted by the Supreme Court, President Zardari, the then-head of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, led the negotiations to find a consensus candidate for the premiership.
Following three days of intense horse-trading within the fractious coalition government, PPP-loyalist Raja Pervaiz Ashraf — a controversial choice also marred by corruption allegations — was eventually elected prime minister by the National Assembly.
In theory, yes — but it is highly unlikely.
Sharif’s legal team could file a review petition but only on very limited grounds, such as a mistake in the judgment.
“The Supreme Court is the interpreter and final arbiter of what the constitution means, so if the Supreme Court says that’s how it’s supposed to be done then for all practical purposes that is what it is,” said constitutional lawyer Yasser Latif Hamdani.
An early election is unlikely because according to the constitution it can only be called by the president on the advice of the prime minister, meaning a successor to Sharif would have to be chosen first.
Elections are currently due in 2018.
The military has been in charge of Pakistan for half of its 70-year history, but few expect the army to make an explicit bid for power again.
The military already exerts control over foreign policy and defense, leading to accusations from some that it is carrying out a “creeping coup”.
“The military doesn’t need to take over because it already enjoys so many trappings of power from behind the scenes,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington, DC-based Wilson Center.
In addition, Kugelman points out, public opinion in Pakistan does not favor a return to martial law.
“There is also simply not as much of an appetite in Pakistan for military rule as there was in previous years. That’s important for the military because the military is very concerned about its image and public opinion toward the army,” Kugelman said.


Iran says nuclear talks will fail if US pushes for zero enrichment

Updated 6 min 22 sec ago
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Iran says nuclear talks will fail if US pushes for zero enrichment

  • Iran says nuclear talks “will lead nowhere” if US pushes for zero enrichment - Nournews

DUBAI: Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States “will lead nowhere” if Washington insists that Tehran drop its uranium enrichment activity to zero, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takhtravanchi was quoted by state media on Monday as saying.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterated Washington’s stance on Sunday that any new deal between the US and Iran must include an agreement not to enrich uranium, a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear energy program has entirely peaceful purposes.
“Our position on enrichment is clear and we have repeatedly stated that it is a national achievement from which we will not back down,” Takhtravanchi said.
During his visit to the Gulf region last week, US President Donald Trump said a deal was very close but that Iran needed to move quickly.
During his first, 2017-21 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s enrichment activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Trump, who branded the 2015 accord one-sided in Iran’s favor, also reimposed sweeping US sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic responded by escalating enrichment.


Trump calls to probe Kamala Harris celebrity endorsements

Updated 16 min 9 sec ago
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Trump calls to probe Kamala Harris celebrity endorsements

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Monday he would launch a “major investigation” into his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris over celebrities who backed her failed run for the White House.
“Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
“I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter.”
Harris sought to harness star power from celebrities such as Beyonce and Oprah Winfrey in the election race.
Winfrey defended a $1 million payment to her production company from the Harris campaign to covers costs associated with the talk show legend hosting the presidential candidate.
Harris’s team, meanwhile, denied rumors that she paid pop megastar Beyonce $10 million to appear at a rally.
The Harris campaign listed one endorsement-related expenditure for $75 in its financial reports to an environmental advocacy group.
Trump, who won the election comfortably, received scant support from the entertainment industry at large but tapped into a targeted subset of well-known, hypermasculine influencers including podcast host Joe Rogan.
The president on Monday took aim at Beyonce, Winfrey and Bruce Springsteen, accusing Harris of paying the legendary rock star to perform at a rally in Georgia weeks before the election.
“How much did Kamala Harris pay Bruce Springsteen for his poor performance during her campaign for president?” he wrote.
“Why did he accept that money if he is such a fan of hers?“
Trump last week took to Truth Social to feud with Springsteen after the star told a British concert audience that his homeland is now ruled by a “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
In return, the 78-year-old Republican said the star, nicknamed “the Boss,” is “Highly Overrated.”
Springsteen is an outspoken liberal critic of Trump and turned out for Harris after she replaced Democratic president Joe Biden in his abandoned reelection bid.


Iran summons British envoy after arrest of nationals

Updated 19 May 2025
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Iran summons British envoy after arrest of nationals

TEHRAN: Iran has summoned a British envoy in Tehran to protest the arrest of several of its nationals on charges of spying, state media reported Monday.
“Following the unjustified arrest of a number of Iranian nationals in the UK... the British charge d’affaires in Tehran was summoned on Sunday,” the IRNA news agency said, describing the arrests as “politically motivated.”
Three Iranian men appeared in a London court on Saturday charged with spying for the Islamic republic.
They were arrested on May 3 and identified as Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all living in London.
The British Home Office said they were irregular migrants who arrived by small boat or other means, such as hidden in a vehicle, between 2016 and 2022.
The alleged spying took place from August 2024 to February 2025, according to UK police.
A fourth man was arrested on May 9 as part of the investigation, but has now been released without charge, the police said in a statement.
Five Iranians were also arrested on May 3 in a separate investigation.
Four of the men — who had been held on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act — had been released, although the investigation “remains active and is ongoing,” police said.
The fifth was earlier bailed to an unspecified date in May.


Indonesia searches for 19 people after landslide at gold mine in Papua

Updated 19 May 2025
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Indonesia searches for 19 people after landslide at gold mine in Papua

JAKARTA: Indonesian rescue teams were searching for 19 people missing after heavy rain caused a landslide at a gold mine in its easternmost region of Papua, officials said on Monday.
Torrential rain triggered a landslide late on Friday in a small-scale mine run by local residents in the Arfak mountains in West Papua province, said Abdul Muhari, the spokesperson of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency.
The landslide hit temporary shelters used by the miners and killed at least one person and injured four with 19 others still missing, he added.
At least 40 rescuers with police and military personnel had been deployed to search for the missing, officials said.
Small-scale and illegal mining has often led to accidents in Indonesia, where mineral resources are located in remote areas in conditions difficult for authorities to regulate.
The rescuers started the search operation only on Sunday because it took at least 12 hours for teams to travel to the site, Yefri Sabaruddin, the head of the local rescue team, told Reuters on Monday.
"The damaged roads and mountainous tracks as well as bad weather hampered the rescue efforts," Yefri said.
The number of casualties could rise, he added.
At least 15 people died in the collapse of an illegal gold mine in West Sumatra province September last year after a landslide caused by heavy rains.
Another landslide in a gold mine on Sulawesi island killed at least 23 people in July last year. 


Trump to hold call with Putin in push for Ukraine ceasefire

Updated 19 May 2025
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Trump to hold call with Putin in push for Ukraine ceasefire

  • Says he would also speak to Ukraine's President Zelensky and NATO officials
  • Trump has repeatedly stressed that he wants to see an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will hold a phone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday as part of his long-running effort to end the war set off by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Trump had vowed during the US election campaign to halt the conflict within a day of taking office, but his diplomatic efforts have so far yielded little progress.
Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held direct negotiations in Istanbul last week for the first time in almost three years, but the talks ended without a commitment to a ceasefire.
Both sides traded insults, with Ukraine accusing Moscow of sending a “dummy” delegation of low-ranking officials.
After the negotiations, Trump announced that he would speak by phone with the Russian president in a bid to end the “bloodbath” in Ukraine, which has destroyed large swathes of the country and displaced millions of people.
Trump also said he would speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO officials, expressing hope that a “ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war... will end.”
Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly stressed that he wants to see an end to the conflict, and has recently backed calls for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
So far, he has mainly focused on upping the pressure on Ukraine and abstained from criticizing Putin.
Both Moscow and Washington have previously stressed the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and Trump.
The US president has also argued that “nothing’s going to happen” on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.

At the talks in Istanbul, which were also attended by US officials, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each and trade ideas on a possible truce, but with no concrete commitment.
Ukraine’s top negotiator, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said that the “next step” would be a meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
Russia said it had taken note of the request.
“We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work and upon achieving certain results in the form of an agreement between the two sides,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s western allies have since accused Putin of deliberately ignoring calls for a ceasefire and pushed for fresh sanctions against Russia.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy held a phone call with Trump on Sunday.
“Looking ahead to President Trump’s call with President Putin tomorrow, the leaders discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire and for President Putin to take peace talks seriously,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“They also discussed the use of sanctions if Russia failed to engage seriously in a ceasefire and peace talks,” the spokesman said.
Zelensky also discussed possible sanctions with US Vice President JD Vance when they met after Pope Leo’s inaugural mass at the Vatican on Sunday.
“We discussed the talks in Istanbul, where the Russians sent a low-level delegation with no decision-making powers,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram following the meeting.
“We also touched on the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, the situation on the battlefield and the future exchange of prisoners.”
A senior Ukrainian official from the president’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that they had also discussed preparations for Monday’s telephone conversation between Trump and Putin.

It was the first meeting between Zelensky and Vance since their heated White House exchange in February.
In the Oval Office, Vance publicly accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” toward Trump, who told the Ukrainian leader he should be more grateful and that he had no “cards” to play in negotiations with Russia.
Ukraine on Sunday said that Russia had launched a record number of drones at the country overnight, targeting various regions, including the capital Kyiv, where a woman was killed.
Another man was killed in the southeastern Kherson region, where a railway station and private houses and cars were hit.
In an interview with Russian state TV published on Sunday, Putin said that Moscow’s aim was to “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis, create the conditions for a lasting peace and guarantee Russia’s security,” without elaborating further.
Russia’s references to the “root causes” of the conflict typically refer to grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for launching the invasion in February 2022.
They include pledges to “de-Nazify” and demilitarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country’s east, push back against NATO expansion and stop Ukraine’s westward geopolitical drift.
However, Kyiv and the West say that Russia’s invasion is an imperial-style land grab.