The News international, Karachi, Thursdry, June 11, 2008

NATIONAL 9


_ Nov26protest:
Special Court adjourns
hearing till 16th

Aleema Khanum, 9 other accused receive Sec 342 questionnaires:
18 witnesses cross questioned; defence requests presenting witnesses,
May 9 riots case adjourned .

7] Kaaiid taba           : Khanum, her lawyer Faisal  questionnaire, and the court

: Malik and other accused granted the petitioners an

RAWALPINDE The Speciat  appeared in the court, Spe- extension til] June 16, The

Court of Anti-Terrorism, cial Prosecutor Zaheer Shah defence counsel requested

Rawalpindi, adjourned the was also present. Aleema permission to present defence

hearing of the November 26 Khanum's lawyer completed witnesses, upon which the

protest til June 163s the case the cross-examination of court directed them to submit

appears heading for its final two prosecution witnesses, a formal request along with a
Stages,                             including Investigation Offi- Ist of witnesses,

‘The case is being heard cer Raja [tikhar and Deputy, ~ In another case, the Spe-
against 10 accused, Including Director PEMRA Nader Khan.’ cial Antl-Terrorism Court,
Aleema Khanum, sister of for- In total, statements of 18 wit- Rawalpindi, adjoummed the
mer Pakistan Tehreekelnsaf nesses were recorded and hearing of 1! cases related to
(PTI) chairman. The prosecu- cross-examined, while nine the May 9, 2024 rots til July2
tion also dosed its case with accused were issued a ques- without further proceedings,
regard to testimony and evi- Gonnaire under Sectlon 312. Several suspaets were present

Aleema Khanum also  in court before the matter was
ai Wednesday, Aleema

PIC declares Islamabad Club a,
‘public body, orders disclosure of
Jand, audit and membership records

continued ram page 12 was neither a member of after. The applicant further
scrutiny owing to its oceu- the club nor an aggrieved ayserted that an additional
pation of hundreds of acres person and therefore 108 acres had subsequently
of state land on highly con: lacked the legal standing been acquired, bringing the


cessional terms and its stat-
utory links with the federal
government,

In a detailed order
issued by the Chief Infor
mation Commissioner
Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui and
Information Commissioner
Ijaz Hassan Awan directed
the Islamabad Club to pro-
vide a wide range of infor-
mation sought by citizen
Saddia Mazhar, including
details relating to the club's
membership, land holdings,
audit reports, coramercial
activities, lease agree.
ments and any! public funds
received, ©

-The- commission
directed the secretary of
the Islamabad Club to fur-
nish the information within
10 days to both the appli-
cant and the commission,
ruling that the information
constituted public record
and did not fall within any
exemption provided under
the transparency law.

The appeal arose after
Ms Mazhar filed an informa-
tion request seeking details
of the club's total member-
ship, membership crite-
ria, leased properties and
commercial outlets, names
of tenants, rental income,
details of coaches and
trainers along with their
remuneration, information

to seck such information,
It also argued that access
to information under Arti-
cle 19-A of the Constitution
‘was restricted to matters
of public importance and
maintained that the infor-
mation sought did not fall
within that category. © *
The club further claimed
that it was not 2 public
body within the meaning of
the Right of Access to Infor.
mation Act, asserting that it
neither received govern-
ment funding nor enjoyed
budgetary allocations from
the federal government,
It also contended that the
club itself lacked an inde-
pendent juristic personality
and therefore could neither
sue nor be sued fn its own
name.
In its reply, the club
pointed to several writ
petitions pending before
the Islamabad High Court
conceming previous orders

/ of the commission and

requested that proceedings
be deforred until those mat-
ters were decided, ... ......

ston rejected all objections
and proceeded ex parte
after the club failed to
appear at the final hearing
despite prior notice and did
not file a response to the
applicant's rejoinder.

total area under the club’s
control to around 352 acres,

The . commission
observed that these factual
assertions had not been
rebutted by the club.

“in the present case,
undisputedly, state land

“measuring 352 acres Is

retained by the Islamabad
Club under a lease agree-
ment at a nominal rate of|
Rs per acre,” the commis-
sion observed, concluding
that the club squarely fell
within the statutory defini-
tion of a public body.

It's for
Centre, not:
provinces, to
meet defence
requirements

.          Continued from page 12
to the NFC, you cannot do
through any other means,”
he cont

With reference to the
securily situation, he also
emphasised that “our
defence against any enemy
should be invincible, it ts the
Tesponsibility of the federal
government to fulfill the
defence budget requirements
anditshoulddoso.”,

Pakistan seeks
bids for two
more spot LNG
cargoes

Continued from page 12
inthe range of over $19.50-20
per MMBeu.

According to a tender

issued  by the PLL, cach
cargo will carry 140,000 cubic
Meters of LNG, The first cargo
Is sought for delivery during
the June 13-1, 2026 window,
while the second is sched-
uted for arrival on June 20-21,
2026, Both shipments are to
be berthed at the Pakistan
GasPort Consortium Termi-
nal (PGPL) terminal at Port
Qasim, Karachi.
-+ Under amended public
procurement rules, PLL has
Structured the tender process:
to allow a rapki decision on
bids, Interested suppliers
must submit offers by 2:00
pm on June 11, 2026, while
bid opening Is scheduled
for 2:30 pm the same day.
The compary will be able to
Inform bidders whether their
offers have been accepted or


The commission also] rejected by 10:00 pm on the
took exception to what It  cay of ‘bid opening, ~

described as the manage-
ment's failure to present
the true legal status of the
institution,       .

The order points out
that a notification issued
by the Cabinet Division on
April 14, 2020 categorises
the Islamabad Club as an
autonomous body working
under the Cabinet Division,
a fact which independently
attracts the provisions of

_ Section 2(ix)(a) of the Act.
However, the commis-.

The only exception
made by the Commission
concerned information
relating to private events
held at the Rawalpindi
Gymkhana Club and reve-
nue generated from such

“events. The commission

regarding the club's fast ‘Theordernotes thatthe ruled that Rawalpindi
audit anda certified copy of applicant had placed on Gymkhana constituted a
the audit report, total land record information suggest- separate legal entity and
acquired on lease, land con- ing that the Islamabad Club that records pertaining to
verted to commercial use, occupies approximately it could not be sought from
copies of lease agreements 352 acres of land, including the Islamabad Club. + ~

executed with the govern- land leased by the Capital . Consequently, the
ment and details of grants Development Authority in appeal was partially
or funds received from the 1967 at the nominal rate allowed and the Islamabad
state since January 2024. of Rel per acre for the Club was directed to pro-

The Islamabad Club first ten years, with lease vide all remaining informa-
opposed the request, con- terms reportedly remaining tion requested by the appli-
tending that the applicant highly concessional there- cant within 10 days. -


NA alarmed over KE
performance, countrywide:
power outages |

despi
“continued trem page 12 summers and highlighted”      Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry  he continued in the position, | imprisoned Imran Khan for

why Karachi continued to
face outages and lhadshed-
ding despite the company’s
claimed 2,400 MW genera-
tion capacity, Stressing that
privatisation should serve
the public interest, Rafiul-

the severe power outages in’
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She
said some areas of the prove
ince were facing between 20
and 22 hours of load-shed-
ding daily. The partiamen-
tary secrotary said the gov.

If Pakistan succeeds tn

Police arrest 8 linked to
banned JAAC.

Continued from page 12 called by the banned JAAC, Pakhtunkhwa Billi Awami

“Police are actively pursu-
Ing all clements involved
in unlawful activities, and
Investigations into the
arrested individuals are
under way,” SSP Iqbal
said. He added that special
police teams have been
formed and are conducting
Taids at various locations to
apprehend additiona! sus-

pects.
_ Reaffirming the depart-
ment’s commilment to

maintaining peace and sta. *

bility in the district, the SSP
said all available resources
were being utilised to
ensure public safety. He
also urged citizens to coop.
erate with law enforcement
agencies and promptly

Teport any suspicious activ.

ities
Police officials con-
firmed that cases are being
registered against the

causing widespread disrup-
tion to banking operations
and other online services
across the city.

The prolonged inter-
net outage has severely
affected the banking sector,
with most banks suspend.
ing their routine operations
because of connectivity
issues, All ATM machines in
the city have also remained
out of service, leaving res-
idents struggling to access

According to local
sources, many citizens
have been forced to travel
approximately 25 kilome-
ters to the neighboring dis-
tict of Jhelum to withdraw
Tnoncey and avail themselves
of banking facilities,

Meanwhile, the Tehreek
Tahaffuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan
(CTTAP) said that the demo-
cratic, political and human.
rights of the people of Azad

detained individuals under Jammu and Kashmir should

televant legat provisions,
while further investigations
continue. .

Sources indicated
that more arrests are
expected in the coming
days a3 search and intel.
Hgence-based operations
Temain ongoing across dif-_

be respected and thelr legit-
imate demands should be
supported,   .

* Referring to Pakistan's
long-standing and princl-
pled sta