Khan has announced that he will be leading the PTI's much-awaited long march from Peshawar and will be reaching Islamabad on May 25. He has also demanded a date for the election as well as the dissolution of the assemblies.
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, the PDM chief said that no one could break the record of the long march set by his party, the JUI-F, during Khan’s tenure.
“They are coming to Islamabad for no reason. A long march does not even hold the importance of two paisas,” Fazl said, adding that people would be “mad” to respond to the PTI chairman's call for the long march.
Talking about the economic challenges the country was facing, the PDM chief claimed that Pakistan was not heading towards bankruptcy but was already bankrupt because of the policies of the previous, PTI-led government.
“Problems that mounted over the last four years are being asked to be fixed within four days,” said Fazl, adding that the “biggest challenge” before the new government was figuring out how to uplift the economy.
“We need to make such a situation that China gets on board,” Fazl opined, adding that Khan’s economic experts had themselves warned that the rupee-dollar difference would cross the 200 mark.
He also said that this was the impact of Khan’s policies. "In difficult times, institutes and politicians need to be on the same page to solve the issues."
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition filed against the arrest of Mazari and directed the federal government to conduct a judicial inquiry into the matter.
He also directed the IG Islamabad to drop her home and remarked that security personnel should be deployed at her residence as well.
The judge has also ordered the authorities concerned to return mobile phone and other belongings of the PTI leader.
Speaking to the media outside the IHC before hearing, Mazari said this was her first experience of disappearance. “I will tell everything they have done to me, my phone has not been returned yet. My case is a case of enforced disappearance.”
The IHC had ordered the authorities concerned to produce Mazari before the court at 11:30pm.
Earlier in the day, Mazari was allegedly beaten up and arrested from her home. The reports of her detention were confirmed by her daughter, lawyer Iman Mazari.
Mazari's daughter tweeted about her mother's arrest saying, "Male police officers have beaten and taken my mother away. All I have been told is that Anti-Corruption Wing Lahore has taken her.
Islamabad Police however refuted claims of mishandling during the arrest. “Dr Shireen Mazari was arrested by female police officers as per the law on the request of the anti-corruption department. News of any mishandling is baseless,” it said in a tweet.
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz hours after the arrest ordered ‘immediate release’ of Shireen Mazari.
CM Hamza in a statement said that Shireen Mazari as a woman is respect worthy and he has ordered for her release. “Arrest of any woman does not hold compatibility with our moral values,” he said, adding that the investigation should also be made against the anti-corruption staff for arresting Dr Mazari.
Hamza also underscored that if the arrest is inevitable as a result of investigation then the law will take its own course. The Punjab CM said that he does not agree with the way Dr Mazari was whisked away by police, adding that PML-N as a political party believes in giving respect to the women.
CM Hamza also condemned the indecent language being uttered about his party’s vice president Maryam Nawaz. “However, taking revenge is not our tradition and practice,” he added.
The first information report (FIR) registered against the former minister said during the scrutiny of record, it revealed that Shireen Mehrun Nisa Mazari in connivance with revenue officials fraudulently and through bogus mutation transferred 800 Kanal land in favour of bogus company namely M/s Progressive Farms Limited.
Furthermore, the FIR said the Federal Land Commission in its report declared this mutation bogus. “During the perusal of record, it revealed that land measuring 1,386 Acres of Mst. Shireen Mehr-un-Nisa Mazari was surrendered to Provincial Govt through Land Commission. In Mutation No. 39 dated 05.07.1973, there is cutting and tempering.”
France’s Stephanie Frappart, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda, and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita are among the 36 match referees.
Brazil’s Neuza Back, Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina and American Kathryn Nesbitt have been included in the 69 assistant referees.
“We are very happy that ... we have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup,” said FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina.
“This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men’s junior and senior tournaments.
“In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender. I would hope that in the future, the selection of elite women’s match officials for important men’s competitions will be perceived as something normal and no longer as sensational.”
All match officials for the finals will participate in early summer seminars in Asuncion, Madrid and Doha.
“We can’t eliminate all mistakes, but we will do everything we can to reduce them,” said Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Director of Refereeing.
The report further stated that eggs went up by Rs6.28 per dozen, mutton by Rs6.67 per kg and beef by Rs5.84 per kg adding that prices of curd, milk, sugar, ghee, tea and garlic also went up.
On the other hand, prices of only 4 items declined in a week while prices of 14 essential items remained stable.
Russia s flattening of Mariupol has drawn multiple accusations of war crimes, including over a deadly attack on a maternity ward, and Ukraine has begun a legal reckoning for captured Russian troops.
The first post-invasion trial of a Russian soldier for war crimes neared its climax in Kyiv, after 21-year-old sergeant Vadim Shishimarin admitted to killing an unarmed civilian early in the offensive. The verdict is due on Monday.
Shishimarin told the court on Friday that he was "truly sorry". But his lawyer said in closing arguments that the young soldier was "not guilty" of premeditated murder and war crimes.
While Ukrainian forces fended off the Russian offensive around Kyiv, helped by a steady infusion of Western arms, both eastern Ukraine and Mariupol in the south have borne the brunt of a remorseless ground and artillery attack.
"Russian occupation forces are conducting intense fire along the entire line of contact and trying to hit artillery deep into the defences of Ukrainian troops," Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters.
The fighting is fiercest in the eastern region of Donbas, a Russian-speaking area that has been partially controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.
"In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address late on Thursday. "There s hell -- and that s not an exaggeration."
In the eastern city of Severodonetsk, 12 people were also killed and another 40 wounded by Russian shelling, the regional governor said.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel has said that steps taken and resources are not enough to put out the fire and added that Chief Justice should take suo motu notice and direct the government to tackle the serious challenge posed by the fire.
Justice Jamal Khan made the request to the Chief Justice during the hearing of a case filed by the lawyers of Sheerani District regarding the fire in the Supreme Court Quetta Registry.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel s written request for suo motu notice has been sent to Chief Justice from Quetta to Islamabad.
According to sources, the police contingent comprising Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Bomb Disposal Squad and Special Branch personnel reached Bani Gala to disperse the PTI workers.
Police sources said that the search operation in Bani Gala is being launched due to security concerns. Police sources also said that the operation is not launched to arrest any PTI worker.
PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur reached Bani Gala after the incident. The PTI workers who are guarding the residence of their leader also came out of their tents and raised slogans against the government.
Meanwhile, police contingent left the scene without carrying out any seach operation.
