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Pakistan has a supreme court. Then it built a supremacist one.

Earlier this month, Justice Yahya Afridi, the last person who will hold the title of Chief Justice of Pakistan, handed down a judgment declaring that the Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) are coordinate apex courts, neither subordinate to the other. The judgment did not arrive in a vacuum. It answers a sequence of recent rulings from the new Federal Constitutional Court asserting, with mounting confidence, that it now sits at the top of the judicial pyramid. To follow the dispute, one must begin with what the 27th Constitutional Amendment changed late last year. Until then, Pakistan had one apex court. Whether the case concerned a presidential reference or a dispute over water among the provinces and the Federation, a missing person or a tenant who would not vacate, the final adjudicating authority before God was the Supreme Court. The Constitution and the structure of the judiciary together pointed every road upward to one place. The 27th Amendment created a...
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Naqvi says land-grabbing mafia, illegal constructions to be completely eradicated from Islamabad

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday vowed that illegal constructions would be “completely eradicated” from Islamabad. He made the remarks during a special meeting he and Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry were chairing, the interior ministry said on the social media platform X. “Land-grabbing mafia and illegal constructions will be completely eradicated from Islamabad,” the ministry quoted Naqvi as saying. He vowed, “Operation Clean-up would continue without any pressure until it achieves its final result.” For the past two months , the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been conducting  anti-encroachment operations  in Islamabad, with a special focus on katchi abadis (informal settlements), whose residents have strongly protested the actions. According to CDA’s rules, 34 societies/schemes were supposed to transfer amenity land in the name of the civic agency for further utilisation. However, despite the pa...
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President Zaradari approves Sitara-i-Shujaat for citizen who sacrified his life while averting suicide attack

President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday approved awarding the Sitara-i-Shujaat to a citizen who sacrificed his life while foiling a suicide attack in Attock’s Jand tehsil. The approval was granted by the president on the recommendation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, state-run PTV reported. According to reports, the incident occurred on Monday near a key security post on the Punjab–Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border, located in Jand, some 70km from Attock. A local shepherd, identified as Liaqat, noticed a suspicious individual in the area while grazing his goats nearby. Witnesses said Liaqat confronted the suspect after sensing something unusual about the man’s behaviour. As he approached, the suspect detonated himself, claiming Liaqat’s life in the process. A day earlier, the president and the prime minister had lauded Liaqat’s sacrifice in separate statements. PM Shehbaz said that as a responsible citizen, Liaqat stopped the terrorist a...
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Iran war creates new must-have for summer holidays — the plan B

Greg Abbott was planning his summer holiday with half an eye on the Iran war. He intended to stay closer to home in Europe and was lining up a plan B, wary of rising air fares and cancellations. The 54-year-old Britain-based Australian was planning a cycling trip with friends in Austria, a festival in Barcelona and possibly a yoga retreat in France. But he did not want to go too far and was keeping travel options open. “We’ll almost certainly be doing short-haul Europe, and almost certainly be doing trains, because they run on electricity,” said Abbott, head of operations for a broadcasting company, adding cost was a key factor against longer trips. “The prices are just crazy at the moment.” Across Europe and beyond, tourists are reshaping plans in a world of $100 oil, tight jet fuel supply, higher costs and Middle East conflict disrupting popular routes. Many are booking later and building in flexibility. “We observe travellers becoming more cautious and deliberate,” said Susanne...
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