Pakistan top court bans transfers of investigating officers in ‘high-profile’ criminal cases

Rangers patrol along a street past Pakistan's Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 5, 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 19 May 2022
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Pakistan top court bans transfers of investigating officers in ‘high-profile’ criminal cases

  • The supreme court bars all investigating agencies from withdrawing high-profile cases pending before trial courts
  • The court expresses apprehension the country’s criminal justice system may be undermined by those in positions of authority

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court on Thursday stopped authorities from transferring officials involved in “high-profile” cases in different investigating agencies while seeking record of any new appointments and transfers made in the last six weeks.

The development took place only a day after the Supreme Court took suo motu notice on apprehensions that criminal justice system may be undermined by people in positions of authority.

According to news reports based on court documents, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said last week it did not want to pursue a Rs16 billion money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his two sons three days before a special court in Lahore was scheduled to frame charges against them.

The FIA denied, however, it was withdrawing the case against the prime minister in a statement subsequently released to the media.

“We want to ensure the sanctity and integrity of the criminal justice system and rule of law,” Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial remarked while chairing a five-member larger bench to hear the case.

The court barred the authorities from withdrawing any high-profile cases while seeking a response from the government on transfers and appointments recently made in the FIA.

Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf tried to defend the transfers and postings, saying there might be “genuine reasons” behind them.

The court also issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau, director general FIA, secretary interior and others to explain their respective positions over the issue.

It directed the attorney general to ensure all record and evidence in high-profile cases were preserved and protected from any tampering.

“We hope the federal government will help us by explaining all these matters,” the chief justice said.

“We have been seeing such news for the last one month,” he continued. “We want to know about these matters because they are impacting the rule of law.”

The chief justice pointed out that an investigation officer, Dr. Rizwan, who was probing cases against Prime Minister Sharif and his son Hamza, was transferred and later died of heart attack.

“Why were the officers investigating the case against Hamza Shehbaz removed,” the chief justice asked. “We have to ensure independent and transparent working of the prosecution branch.”

The chief justice clarified the court proceedings were not meant to embarrass or hold anyone responsible, but “to uphold the rule of law.”
The court adjourned the case until May 27.


Food lovers relish international flavors, global cuisines at Karachi Eat 2025

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Food lovers relish international flavors, global cuisines at Karachi Eat 2025

  • Three-day annual Karachi Eat festival features cuisines from Middle East, Turkiye and Italy
  • Food stall owners say festival helps them bring global cuisines to Pakistani audiences 

KARACHI: The air at Beach View Park in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi was filled with the enticing aroma of Sicilian slow-cooked beef, Arabic Paratha, beefy Chapli Kebabs from Peshawar and mouthwatering Chicken Tikka. 

Welcome to Karachi Eat 2025, Pakistan’s biggest annual food festival. The three-day festival has been taking place in the ‘City of Lights’ every year in January since 2014. This year’s festival, set to conclude today, Sunday, also features hundreds of eateries and offers a variety of cuisines to visitors.

According to Ticket Wala, a platform that sells tickets for entertainment events, chefs from Indonesia, Singapore, Turkiye, Romania, Malaysia, France and other countries visited Karachi for the festival. 

Sarah Aziz, a food stall owner passionately selling Sicilian cuisine, told Arab News she wanted to bring international cuisine to Pakistanis who could not travel to countries around the world. 

“We want to bring the flavors out there for everyone who can’t go to Sicily, Portugal, or Malta,” she said. “We want to bring the food here, so they can also cherish and enjoy it.”

Aziz said she wanted to “convert” her cuisine, which was for a niche market, so that many people in Pakistan can enjoy and develop a taste for it. 

“So, the menu is basically based on slow-cooked beef with lamb fat,” she said. “We are doing handmade pesto with garlic paste.”

For others like Muhammad Ismail, 28, the festival provided an opportunity for him to indulge in his love for Arabic cuisine. 

“I just had Arabic Paratha here,” Ismail, a banker by profession, told Arab News. “I have it there [Saudi Arabia] too but this one tastes exactly like the authentic one you get in Saudi Arabia, and it’s absolutely amazing,” he said. 

Visitors gather around "Arabi's" food stall at the Karachi Eat festival in Karachi, Pakistan, on January 11, 2025. (AN photo)

Shaikh Ameen, the owner of Arabi’s, a restaurant in Karachi that offers Arabic cuisine, said there was a growing appreciation for Middle Eastern cuisine in Pakistan. 

“We offer authentic shawarma, mutabbaq and kunafa, so we’re serving these authentic dishes here,” Ameen said. 

“There are quite a few people from the Middle East, especially families, who are familiar with this food, and they really enjoy it. Moreover, people’s tastes have evolved, and they really like these flavors now.”

Kashaf Noman, a textile designer in her 20s, expressed her enthusiasm for the festival. 

“I am loving it, it’s very really organized and I have many more options here than at other festivals, so it’s really nice, I’m having fun,” she said. 

Noman said she had relished fish gyozas, waffles and a Mexican drink.

CHAPLI KEBABS AND BOHRA CUISINES

While the festival featured a plethora of international flavors, it also celebrated local specialties like the Chapli Kebab, Bohra cuisines and dishes from Pakistan’s northern mountainous regions.

Bohra cuisine comprises of food items made famous by the Bohra community, a Shiite Muslim sect. 

Visitors gather around "Bohra Delights" food stall at the Karachi Eat festival in Karachi, Pakistan, on January 11, 2025. (AN photo)

The festival also provided a platform for lesser-known regional cuisines to showcase their items. Zaeem Ud Din, 25, a student and stall owner, introduced the traditional Chapshoro dish from the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. 

“Our Chapshoro is not spicy; people’s taste buds aren’t the same but we still wanted to bring a tradition with us,” he said. 

“We aimed to introduce something unique from Gilgit-Baltistan as not everyone can travel there.”

There were also some outlets from Pakistan’s second-largest city Lahore, which enjoys a food rivalry with Karachi. 

Despite the general perception that Lahore’s food is inferior to that of Karachi in terms of taste, Lahore-based food stalls attracted a significant crowd at the festival.

“If someone says you can’t find anything like Karachi in Lahore, they should definitely try Arif Chatkhara,” Mirza Zaidan Baig, owner of the popular Lahore eatery “Arif Chatkhara,” told Arab News. 

And for those who did not like Arif Chatkhara’s sumptuous items, Baig had a generous offer. 

“If they don’t like it, we will send them back with double the amount they paid,” he said. 


Pakistan rejects Afghanistan’s ‘concocted’ allegations of training Daesh militants

Updated 12 January 2025
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Pakistan rejects Afghanistan’s ‘concocted’ allegations of training Daesh militants

  • Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says accusations “attempt to shift the blame” of militancy on Pakistan 
  • Urges Afghanistan to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure,” prevent use of Afghan soil for militant attacks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif this week rejected “concocted” allegations by Afghanistan’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who accused Islamabad of arming and training Daesh militants. 

In a statement this week, Stanikzai claimed Daesh has centers in Pakistan where Pakistan Army soldiers arm and train militants, and then send them to Afghanistan for subversive activities. 

His allegations come amid tense relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with both countries trading blame over surging militant attacks in their countries. 

“Pakistan categorically rejects baseless, concocted, and contrived allegations by Acting Afghanistan DFM Stanikzai, which are an attempt to shift the blame,” Asif wrote on social media platform X on Saturday. 

The Pakistani defense minister said that as per the UN Monitoring Team’s report, over two dozen militant groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Al-Qaeda, Daesh, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are operating in Afghanistan.

“The interim Afghan authorities are well advised to fulfill the assurances given to the international community by dismantling terrorist infrastructure and taking visible and verifiable actions to prevent Afghan soil from being used against other countries,” Asif added. 

Ties between the two neighbors have been strained because of a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan since 2022, after the breakdown of a fragile truce between the Pakistani government and the outlawed TTP.

Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.

The two countries also conducted cross-border strikes in each other’s territory last month in the latest escalation of hostilities along the border.


Pakistan commends OIC for empowering females during ongoing summit on girls’ education

Updated 12 January 2025
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Pakistan commends OIC for empowering females during ongoing summit on girls’ education

  • Pakistan’s deputy PM meets OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha in Islamabad 
  • At least 150 dignitaries from 44 Muslim and other friendly states are attending summit

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar met the chief of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) this week to laud the inter-governmental organization’s efforts in empowering women, the foreign office said, as Islamabad hosts a two-day conference on girls’ education in Muslim communities. 

Dar met OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, who is in Islamabad to take part in the International Conference on “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities.”

The global summit, which aims to find ways to advance girls’ education across the Muslim world, is being attended by over 150 dignitaries from 44 Muslim and other friendly states, according to Pakistan’s foreign office.

“Welcoming the OIC delegation to Pakistan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister commended the OIC’s dedication and commitment to women empowerment and its unwavering focus on girls’ education in the Islamic countries,” the foreign office said on Saturday. 

During the meeting, the two sides discussed Israel’s war in Gaza and the situation in the Middle East, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Islamophobia, discrimination, violence against Muslims worldwide and the role of OIC in that regard. 

“The DPM/FM commended the appointment of OIC’s Special Envoy on Islamophobia to help coordinate the work of the Organization and its Member States for addressing discrimination against Muslims all over the world,” the statement added. 

The two-day conference resumes today, Sunday, and will see an “Islamabad Declaration” announced at the end of the conference that would outline decisive steps to transform girls’ education in Islamic countries.


Pakistan’s finmin departs for Asian Financial Forum to meet top Chinese officials, investors

Updated 12 January 2025
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Pakistan’s finmin departs for Asian Financial Forum to meet top Chinese officials, investors

  • AFF brings together influential leaders from government, finance and business in the region 
  • Muhammad Aurangzeb will also interact with foreign media publications during the tour 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has left for Hong Kong to take part in the Asian Financial Forum (AFF) 2025 where he is expected to meet top Chinese officials, financial experts and investors, state-run media reported on Sunday. 

The AFF is the region’s premier platform that brings together influential leaders from government, finance, and business communities globally for ground-breaking discussions and exchange of insights on the global economy from an Asian perspective. 

AFF 2024 brought together over 140 elite speakers from around the world and attracted over 3,600 visitors from more than 50 countries and regions, including over 70 overseas and mainland China delegations.

“Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has departed for Hong Kong to represent Pakistan in the eighteenth Asian Financial Forum,” Radio Pakistan reported. 

“During his visit, he will meet with heads and senior officials of major Asian financial institutions.”

The state media said Aurangzeb will meet Chinese and foreign officials, financial sector experts, professionals, investors and top businessmen during the summit. 

These include the heads of China International Capital Corporation Limited, China New Energy Sky Rail Limited and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, it added. 

The Pakistani finance minister will also hold interactions with foreign media, which include speaking to international publications such as Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia and other media representatives.

His visit to Hong Kong takes place as Pakistan attempts to ward off an economic crisis that has drained its resources and triggered a balance of payments headache for the country over the past two years. 

Pakistan has made some economic gains since 2023 by slashing inflation down to single-digit figures from a record high of 38 percent in May 2023 and registering gains in the stock market. 


Authorities in Pakistan’s southwest order case against coal mine owners after methane blast kills 12

Updated 12 January 2025
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Authorities in Pakistan’s southwest order case against coal mine owners after methane blast kills 12

  • The incident occurred on Thursday, with rescuers managing to retrieve four bodies from the mine filled with gasThe incident occurred on Thursday, with rescuers managing to retrieve four bodies from the mine filled with gas
  • Provincial mining department says 82 workers were killed in 46 coal mine accidents in Balochistan last year

QUETTA: The government of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province ordered the lodging of a case against the owners of a private mining company on Saturday after a deadly methane gas explosion on Thursday killed 12 workers inside their coal mine located about 40 kilometers from Quetta.

Rescue teams recovered four bodies of the miners on Friday, while the search for the remaining eight has continued over the past two days, with rescuers facing challenges retrieving the bodies from 4,000 feet inside the mine filled with hazardous gas.

In a notification issued on Friday, the provincial mining department directed the district administration to lodge a First Information Report (FIR), or police complaint, against the owners of United Mineral Company Sanjdi.

“An accident occurred on 09/01/2025, which killed twelve miners,” the notification said. “Therefore, it is requested to lodge an FIR against Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Hayat Khan, owners of the mine.”

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in terms of landmass, is one of the most impoverished regions in the country, yet it is among the richest in terms of mineral resources, with gold, copper and coal mines scattered across various districts.

Many coal mines in the province are operated by private companies, often under lease agreements with the government.

These mines are notorious for hazardous working conditions and poor safety standards, where deadly incidents are common, and miners work deep underground without adequate safety equipment.

According to the Mines and Mineral Department of Balochistan, 82 workers were killed in 46 coal mine accidents in 2024.

“Following the request of the mining department, we are lodging an FIR against the mine owners of the private mineral company located in Sanjdi,” Saadi Bin Asad, deputy commissioner of Quetta, told Arab News.