ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s constitutional bench on Monday rejected the federal government’s plea to allow military courts to announce verdicts in cases of civilians allegedly involved in May 9, 2023 riots.
The case pertains to the trial of more than 100 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the violent protests that followed former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest in a graft case on May 9, 2023.
On October 23 last year, a five-member SC bench had unanimously declared that trying the accused civilians in military courts violated the constitution, but on Dec. 13, 2023, another top court bench suspended the Oct. 23 ruling as it heard a set of 37 intra-court appeals against it.
In March this year, the top court conditionally allowed military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts in the May 9 cases, modifying its Dec. 13 injunction and ordering military courts to commence trials but barring them from convicting or acquitting any accused until a decision on intra-court appeals.
On Monday, a seven-member constitutional bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, resumed hearing the appeals and rejected the government plea allowing the military courts to verdicts of trials of civilians, observing that giving permission to announce verdicts would mean recognizing the authority of military courts.
“We want to hear the case on a daily basis and announce a decision on it,” Justice Aminuddin remarked during the hearing.
In his remarks, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail urged lawyers of all petitioners to cooperate with the bench for an early verdict in the case.
The bench resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday, during which Additional Attorney-General (AAG) for Pakistan Amir Rehman requested the court for an adjournment, citing the unavailability of Ministry of Defense Khawaja Haris due to health issues. The court granted the request.
Several cases against Khan and his party related to the May 9, 2023 violence were registered by the government, which also cracked down on his supporters allegedly involved in the riots. Khan’s party has distanced itself from the protests and accused the country’s intelligence agencies of framing his party for the violence. The military denies the accusations.
The attacks took place a little over a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for colluding with his rivals to oust him from office in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, a charge denied by the military.
Khan, who remains a popular figure in Pakistan despite several court cases against him, has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military. He has also accused the military of rigging the February 8 election in collusion with the election commission and his political rivals to keep him from returning to power. The military, election commission and Khan’s rivals deny the allegation.
Pakistan top court rejects government’s plea allowing military court verdicts in May 2023 riot cases
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Pakistan top court rejects government’s plea allowing military court verdicts in May 2023 riot cases
- The case pertains to the trial of over 100 civilians for allegedly attacking army installations in protests over ex-PM Khan’s arrest
- The attacks occurred a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for his ouster from office
Pakistan begins registration of intending pilgrims for next year’s Hajj
- The registration process will continue till July 9 without any fee through 15 approved banks across the nation
- Registration will be mandatory for pilgrims left out of private scheme this year as well as overseas Pakistanis
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has begun registration of intending pilgrims for next year’s Hajj pilgrimage for both the government and private schemes, its religious affairs ministry said on Friday.
Intending pilgrims can register themselves through 15 approved banks and only registered candidates will be considered eligible for Hajj 2026, according to the ministry.
After the registration, which will continue till July 9, pilgrims will be able to opt for government or private Hajj scheme. No fee will have to be paid for Hajj registration.
“Hajj registration is being carried out on the instructions of the Saudi Arabian government,” the religious affairs ministry said in a statement.
“The Saudi Arabian government will set the Hajj quota based on the registration.”
The expenses and other terms and conditions of Hajj 2026 will be issued separately as per the Hajj policy, according to the statement. Registration will be mandatory for pilgrims who were left out of the private scheme this year as well as Pakistanis residing abroad.
Pakistan received a quota of 179,210 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia for Hajj 2025, which was evenly divided between the government and private Hajj operators.
While the government filled its full allocation of over 88,000 pilgrims, a major portion of the private quota remained unutilized due to delays by companies in meeting payment and registration deadlines.
Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the religious affairs ministry to begin preparations for the 2026 Hajj immediately, calling for urgent reforms to the country’s private Hajj scheme.
“The operational plan should be developed in accordance with the Hajj policy issued by Saudi Arabia,” he said. “No negligence in serving pilgrims next year will be tolerated.”
Previously, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, had confirmed that over 67,000 private-sector slots went unused, despite a last-minute effort to reclaim some of the allocation.
The shortfall prompted criticism and concerns over regulation and the capacity of private Hajj companies.
US urges Pakistan to promote ‘durable peace between Israel and Iran’
- The 12-day war between Iran and Israel raised alarms in a region that was already on edge since Israel’s war on Gaza
- Pakistan has remained engaged in talks with Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Qatar to de-escalate tensions in the region
ISLAMABAD: United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday spoke with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over phone and discussed with him promoting “a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” the US State Department said, with the Pakistan premier saying that Islamabad would continue to play a “constructive role” for peace in the Middle East.
The 12-day war between Iran and Israel, which began on June 13 Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership, raised alarms in a region that was already on edge since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
The Israeli strikes came at a time when Iranian officials were engaged in nuclear negotiations with the US and the conflict worsened after the US struck three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. President Donald Trump claimed the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by years.
Pakistan has remained engaged in talks with regional partners like Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Qatar to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after Iran conducted retaliatory strikes on a US base in Qatar, raising fears the conflict could draw in other regional states.
“Secretary Rubio emphasized Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement after Rubio-Sharif call. “The two leaders acknowledged the importance of working together to promote a durable peace between Israel and Iran and maintaining regional stability.”
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while Israel is not.
Pakistan condemned Israeli and US strikes on Iran, and expressed concern over Iranian strikes on the US base in Qatar, calling for all parties to adhere to international law and the United Nations (UN) charter principles.
“While exchanging views on the current situation in the Middle East, the prime minister stated that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role for bringing peace to the Middle East,” Sharif’s office said in a statement after his telephonic talk with Rubio.
In recent weeks, Pakistan has also repeatedly thanked Trump for his mediation during Islamabad’s four-day military standoff with India last month. Both countries had pounded each other with missiles, fighter jets, artillery fire and drone strikes that killed over 70 on both sides before the US announced a ceasefire on May 10.
While the May 10 ceasefire continues to hold, New Delhi has refused to budge from its earlier stance of suspending a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. Islamabad has previously said any attempts to stop or divert its water will be regarded as an “act of war” and is also exploring a challenge to the Indian move.
During their conversation, Sharif appreciated the “key role” Washington played in the Pakistan-India ceasefire, according to his office.
“The Prime Minister and Secretary Rubio agreed to continue working closely to strengthen Pakistan-US relations, particularly through enhanced trade,” it said.
Pakistani industrialists eye Gulf nations for business as tax laws toughen at home
- The development comes amid protests by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the nation’s biggest trade body, over policing powers to tax collectors
- KCCI President Jawed Bilwani says over 24,000 Pakistani businesses have already registered with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce in the last two and half years
KARACHI: More and more Pakistanis are planning to shift their businesses to the Gulf countries as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government seeks to give policing powers to tax collectors, a traders’ representative said on Thursday, describing the move as being “worse than law of the jungle.”
The government this month introduced a new legal provision in the form of Section 37AA of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 that allows officers of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to make arrests in case of a “tax fraud or any other offense warranting prosecution.”
The move has sparked protests by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the country’s largest body of traders and industrialists, in Karachi which the KCCI members say could be expanded to the whole country, if the government did not withdraw the provision decision.
In an interview with Arab News, KCCI President Muhammad Jawed Bilwani said investors were already deserting Pakistan for Gulf countries, Vietnam, South Korea, US, African and Central Asian regions and even Afghanistan, and more people plan on joining them after the latest move.
“Most of the people have shifted to the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Gulf countries where they say the tax rate and electric tariffs have been fixed for 10 years,” the KCCI president said.
“In those countries the tax rate applied is fixed for a decade, unlike Pakistan where we see a change every year. The utility rates are fixed, the departments are fixed, there is one-window operation. Everything is made available for you within 24 hours. The government’s response is very good.”
Arab News reached out to Pakistan’s finance adviser Khurram Schehzad and FBR spokesperson Najeeb Ahmad Memon, who did not respond to requests for comment on the subject.
In his budget speech on June 10, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said granting policing powers to the FBR was part of the government’s efforts to reform Pakistan’s weak revenue system that has created an estimated tax gap of Rs5.5 trillion ($19.4 billion).
“This situation was unacceptable,” the minister said at the time.
Pakistan has the region’s lowest tax-to-GDP ratio that the government seeks to increase to 14 percent in the next three years in line with the International Monetary Fund’s loan program that supports the new budget.
The IMF’s tough conditions have made the government to take steps like the withdrawal of energy subsidies and toughening laws to meet Rs14 trillion ($50 billion) tax target for the next fiscal year starting July 1. Giving policing powers to FBR officers was another such measure.
“That day [June 10] some members asked us what help the [Karachi] chamber could extend if we wanted to make a committee to shift our businesses abroad,” Bilwani told Arab News, warning of going on a strike if the government did not address their concerns.
The agitation may jeopardize the macroeconomic stability Pakistan has achieved in the last one year. Sharif’s government is already coping with the persisting political instability that is keeping foreign investors away from Pakistan and the country has not attracted more than $3 billion foreign direct investment in about last two decades, according to official data.
“[We] will pay taxes with honor,” reads one of the KCCI banners the traders have placed throughout Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi.
Bilwani said the government was granting “very dangerous powers” to the FBR that would then be able to seize bank accounts of traders, withdraw money from them and arrest them.
According to the KCCI data, more than 24,000 Pakistani businesses have registered with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce in the last two and a half years. As many as 8,036 Pakistani firms registered in 2023, 8,179 in 2024 and over 8,100 by the initial months of 2025.
“Thanks to Dubai Chamber membership data, we can see a clear trend of Pakistani businesses establishing themselves in the UAE,” said KCCI spokesman Aamir Hasan.
Presently, he said, more than 47,000 Pakistani-owned firms are operating in the UAE, including 8,000 having established there within last one year.
“The kind of direction this budget has taken it can neither help the exports industry nor the import substitute industry to run,” said Bilwani, who was unsure if the government had made any changes in the new budget which the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament passed on Thursday.
“The exports of this country have been continuously falling for the last two months.”
Pakistan’s exports declined by 6 percent in May to $2.67 billion and by 17.66 percent to $2.17 billion in April, according to official figures. The exports rose by 3 percent to $2.65 billion in March.
“Who will survive in this environment? Those who have money can go anywhere and do business,” Bilwani said, adding that mill owners would soon start agitating in Pakistan’s textiles and sports goods hubs like Faisalabad, Sialkot and Lahore.
This departure by industries will significantly increase unemployment and poverty as well as deteriorate the law-and-order situation in the country, according to the traders’ representative.
In a separate KCCI statement, Bilwani said “the protest will escalate. If our demands are ignored, we may be left with no option, but to call for citywide or even nationwide strikes.”
“We don’t see things are in order,” Bilwani told Arab News. “The government should correct its decisions and set them in the right direction so the industry could run.”
Pakistan, China discuss regional security, agree to strengthen multilateral institutions
- Fifth round of Pakistan-China Consultations on Multilateral Issues held in Beijing, says Pakistan’s foreign office
- Discussions take place amid regional tensions following recent India-Pakistan and Iran-Israel military conflicts
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Chinese delegations on Thursday discussed regional and international security, reiterating their commitment to strengthen multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the Pakistani foreign office said.
These discussions took place during the fifth round of the Pakistan-China Consultations on Multilateral Issues in Beijing on Thursday. The Pakistani delegation was led by Special Secretary (UN) Ambassador Nabeel Munir while the Chinese side was headed by Shen Bo, director general of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Chinese foreign ministry.
The discussions took place amid regional tensions in South Asia and Middle East following India’s conflict with Pakistan in May, and Iran’s recent military confrontation with Israel. Though both conflicts resulted in a ceasefire, they triggered fears of a wider war breaking out in the region.
“During the consultations, the two sides exchanged views on a broad spectrum of issues pertaining to the United Nations, in particular matters related to regional and international peace and security on the agenda of the UN Security Council,” Pakistan’s foreign office said.
“The two sides expressed satisfaction at the strong convergence of views on all issues of mutual concern, and reiterated their commitment to continue working together for strengthening multilateral institutions, especially the United Nations.”
The foreign ministry said Munir separately met China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Miao Deyu on the sidelines of the consultations. The two sides expressed their desire to continue working together to take the “historic relations” between Pakistan and China to new heights, the statement said.
China enjoys cordial relations with Pakistan and is also a major ally and investor of Islamabad. Bejing has invested in a multi-billion-dollar project that connects China and Pakistan through a network of highways, railways and pipelines.
Since its initiation in 2013, CPEC has seen tens of billions of dollars funneled into massive transport, energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan. But the undertaking has been hit by Islamabad struggling to keep up its financial obligations as well as attacks on Chinese targets by militants.
While Pakistan has a historic rivalry with nuclear-armed India, Beijing’s border disputes with New Delhi also means that its ties with India are frosty. Pakistan and China enjoy military, defense and economic ties as Beijing remains wary of India’s influence in the region.
Pakistan will continue to play ‘constructive role’ for Middle East peace, PM Sharif tells US
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks to United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, says Sharif’s office
- Both agreed to continue working closely to strengthen Pakistan-US ties, particularly through enhanced trade, says PMO
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke to United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, telling him Islamabad will continue to play a “constructive role” to bring peace in the Middle East, the Pakistani premier’s office said amid regional tensions following the Iran-Israel military conflict.
The 12-day war between Iran and Israel began on June 13 after Israel carried out airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, killing several senior military commanders and scientists, while officials in Tehran were engaged in nuclear negotiations with the US. The conflict worsened when before the ceasefire announced by Trump, US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites last week. The American president claimed the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by years.
Pakistan had remained engaged in talks with regional partners Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Qatar and other states to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East. Sharif said on Thursday Tehran had thanked Pakistan’s political and military leadership for playing a constructive role during the war.
“While exchanging views on the current situation in the Middle East, the Prime Minister stated that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role for bringing peace to the Middle East,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
“While appreciating these efforts, Secretary Rubio said the US would like to work with Pakistan for promoting peace and stability to the region.”
Pakistan and India also engaged in a days-long conflict last month before US President Donald Trump announced on May 10 that both countries had agreed to a ceasefire. India and Pakistan had pounded each other with missiles, fighter jets, artillery fire and drone strikes during the four days of conflict that killed over 70 on both sides.
Pakistan has repeatedly thanked Trump for his mediation during the crisis and decided to formally nominate him for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. The American president has claimed he convinced both sides to back down by threatening not to do a trade deal with them.
During their conversation, Sharif thanked Rubio for the “key role” Washington played in the Pakistan-India ceasefire, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“The Prime Minister and Secretary Rubio agreed to continue working closely to strengthen Pakistan-US relations particularly through enhanced trade,” the statement said.
While the May 10 ceasefire continues to persist between the nuclear-armed nations, tensions simmer as New Delhi refuses to budge from its earlier stance of suspending a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.
Pakistan has said any attempts to stop or divert its flow of water by India will be regarded as an “act of war” and will be responded to with full force.
