From economy to cricket, it is all ‘depressing’ news says Pak CJI

Agencies
June 20, 2019

Islamabad, Jun 20: Pakistan’s chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa Wednesday lamented that Pakistanis were only hearing “depressing” news these days -- on the state of the economy, politics and even from the cricket field.

Addressing a ceremony to highlight the work of model courts in Pakistan, the Chief Justice of Pakistan said that the reports of the ‘national economy in ICU’ were not good news.

“We hear about the economy and we are told that either it is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or it has just come out of the ICU,” he said, referring to the serious balance of payments crisis that threatens to cripple Pakistan’s economy.

The cash-strapped government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for bailout packages worth billions of dollars.

“We see the noise coming out of Parliament and we see that leader of the house as well as the leader of the opposition, they are not even being allowed to speak. It depresses,” he said, pointing out to the confrontation between the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the National Assembly.

“We change the channel, we look at the Cricket World Cup, unfortunately again the news is depressing,” Khosa was quoted as saying by Dunya News. Apparently commenting about the recent ICC World Cup loss Pakistan suffered at the hands of arch-rival India, Khosa said: “We try and get away from all the negativity around us and turn on the TV, change the channel and we see our team losing the match.”

During such chaotic times, the only good news people are hearing comes from the courts of Pakistan, the chief justice said.

“Now in this depressing atmosphere, I am very happy to say that at least there is one sector in our society from where some good news is coming. “As the relevant organ of the state and in charge of dispensation of justice, it is our constitutional responsibility to provide inexpensive and expeditious justice. This is a gigantic task,” he said. Khosa has said 5,800 trials were decided through model courts in 48 working days.

The priority of the judiciary is to provide justice to public without delays, he said, adding that the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was being introduced in Pakistan’s judicial system which will factor in with the due process of inquiries.

“The AI system will help in taking us closer to the truth and would be able to help the judges know about the verdicts they have given in the past.

Khosa said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan is the first apex court in the entire world, which has started hearing cases online. He said a state of the art Research Centre has been established at the Supreme Court, where five to six search engines will be installed to facilitate the legal fraternity and researchers, Radio Pakistan reported.

“I am proud of the good news coming out from the judiciary and God willing they will continue to come,” he added.

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News Network
May 20,2020

Washington, May 20: The United States recorded another 1,536 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, the Johns Hopkins University tracker said.

That figure, tallied as of 8:30 pm (0030 GMT), raises to 91,845 the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the US.

The US tops the global rankings both for the highest death toll and the highest number of infections, with more than 1.5 million cases.

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News Network
July 4,2020

New Delhi, July 4: India on Friday reported its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with 22,771 cases reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With these new cases, India's coronavirus cases tally has gone up to 6,48,315, out of which there are 2,35,433 active cases in the country and 3,94,227 cases have been cured/discharged or migrated.

As many as 442 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours taking the number of patients succumbing to the deadly virus across the country to 18,655.

As per the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state due to COVID-19 -- has a total of 1,92,990 cases which is inclusive of 8,376 deaths. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu, the second worst-affected state, has a total of 1,02,721 cases and 1,385 fatalities. Delhi's tally of coronavirus cases stands at 94,695 which is inclusive of 2923 deaths due to the virus.

The Centre said that the recovery rate has further improved to 60.80 per cent. The recoveries/deaths ratio is 95.48 per cent : 4.52 per cent.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, earlier on Saturday, said that the total number of samples tested up to July 3 is 95,40,132, out of which 2,42,383 samples were tested yesterday.

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News Network
January 30,2020

New Delhi, Jan 30: Tension spiralled in Jamia Nagar on Thursday after a man fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters, injuring a Jamia Millia Islamia student before walking away while waving the firearm above his head and shouting "Yeh lo aazadi" amid heavy police presence in the area.

Massive protests erupted in the area after the incident with hundreds of agitated people gathering near the university, breaking barricades and clashing with police personnel.

The man, who identified himself as "Rambhakt Gopal", was subsequently overpowered by police and detained. He was taken into custody and was being interrogated, police said.

The entire drama, which triggered panic in the area, was captured by television cameras that showed the man in light coloured pants and a dark jacket, walking away on an empty road barricaded by police, turning around and shouting at the protesters in Hindi, "Here, take this freedom."

The gunman went live on Facebook before the brandishing the gun. Police said they were verifying whether it is his real name.

Before the attack, the man also put out messages on Facebook stating "Shaheen Bhag Khel Khatam" (Run Shaheen, the game is over). Another message stated, "Please wrap me in saffron in my last journey with slogans of Jai Shri Ram". His Facebook profile was deleted after screenshots of his posts were circulated widely on social media platforms.

Several students recapped how their peaceful march on Gandhi's death anniversary became violent.

"We were moving towards the Holy Family Hospital where the police had raised barricades. Suddenly, a gun-wielding man came out and opened fire. One bullet hit my friend's hand," Aamna Asif, a student of economics at the university, told PTI.

She said her friend, Shadab Farooq, a mass communication student, was trying to calm the attacker but he shot at him injuring his left hand.

Farooq, who belongs to Kashmir, was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Ragibh Naushad, an LLB student at the university, said, "The Jamia Coordination Committee organised a march to pay homage to Gandhi ji on his death anniversary. It started at 12 noon from Gate number 7, but police denied the permission and stopped the march near the Holy Family hospital.

"A man named Gopal, came there and started brandishing a weapon and later shot a round. He was also chanting pro-CAA slogans."

The incident led to panic in the area.

Khalid Hassan, a JMI alumnus, said initially many were not sure whether it was a gunshot or a tyre burst.

There was heavy police and media presence when the incident took place.

The students were heading from Jamia to Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat. The march was stopped at the Holy Family Hospital near the university.

Chinmoy Biswal, DCP (southeast), said the students wanted to take out a march from Jamia to Rajghat but were denied permission.

"They were being repeatedly told that the protest should be carried out peacefully. We had barricaded the road just before the Holy Family hospital. Meanwhile, a person was seen in the crowd who waved something which appeared to be a weapon."

"We have detained him and are interrogating him. One person has also been injured," Biswal said.

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