The PanamaGate fallout appears to have affected almost everyone even remotely attached to it. Ever since the International Union of Investigative Journalists llCIJ) leaked the unprecedented 11.5m files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca, showing the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes,…
The Supreme Court’s (SC) seriousness of purpose in the PanamaGate case was evident from the brusque manner it dismissed Hussain Nawaz’s apprehensions of “personal bias” regarding two members of the JIT. The SC’s inference was clear, the PM and his family should come clean about the money trail or face the consequences. The Sharif’s responded…
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) mandated by a 3-member Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) has commenced its investigations about the “Panama Papers”. History’s biggest leak ever included 215000 confidential documents revealing financial and attorney-client information about scores of outright criminals, drug smugglers, etc current and former world leaders alongwith their close relatives and/or friends…
Facing the storm unleashed by the leaking of the Cyril Almeida story, “Act Against Militants or Face International Isolation, Civilians Tell Military,” the Nawaz Sharif govt labelled it as being ‘fabricated and planted.” The PM Office’s initial statement about DawnLeaks that “evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of the Information Minister,…
Lyari mobster, crime boss and political worker Uzair Jan Baloch, the former chief of the militant group formed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Peoples Aman Committee (PAC), was acquitted for attempted murder and robbery by a Sessions Court on April 8. Not surprisingly, the prosecution remained “unable to prove the charges” against him…
Governor Amir Muhammad Khan Kalabagh’s logic behind not closing down the red light area “Hiramandi” is very revealing, “If you ban them they will be all over the place.” This in fact eventually did happen! When Bhutto nationalized their assets in 1972, many financiers and industrialists invested their liquidity in real estate domestically and and/or…
Serving Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) for running a clandestine terror network aimed at destabilizing the country, Jadhav’s arrest was a major counterintelligence victory against Indian subversion. According to Jadhav, he was tasked by India’s spy agency, the…
Dear Reader, It is an irony that even after almost 7 decades since its birth Pakistan is still in the quest for a stable democratic system. While the process of democratization has been very slow, its nature has remained fragile and vulnerable to nondemocratic interventions, this despite our founding fathers ardently supporting and emphasizing upon…
Among the decisions by the Supreme Court (SC) in the NAB case last Friday was the verdict de-notifying three NAB Regional Heads. Strictly according to the rules of law they had reason to give their draconian decision but the Honourable Judges could have equated the grey areas in the circumstances of their appointments by taking…
Twenty four years of shared history between the eastern and western wings of Pakistan preceded the violent emergence of Bangladesh on a groundswell of hate and bitterness on 16 Dec 1971. Yet a little more than 2 years later when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto visited Dhaka in 1974 at the invitation of Shaikh Mujib-ur Rahman, he…
