Pak high court bars PM Imran's close aide from working as PTV chairman
Islamabad: In an embarrassment to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the high court here on Thursday restrained one of his close associates from working as the chairman of state-run Pakistan Television (PTV).
Supreme Court lawyer, politician, and former TV host Naeem Bukhari was appointed as chief of the state broadcaster in November last year, inviting criticism for getting benefit from his closeness to Khan.
Arsalan Farrukh had challenged the appointment in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), arguing that the appointment was done in violation of various verdicts of the superior courts.
A single bench led by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, after hearing arguments, said in his decision that the appointment was in violation of a 2018 Supreme Court order in a similar case.
Justice Minallah remarked that the cabinet did not make a clear decision on relaxing the age limit for 65-year-old Bukhari.
"By omitting it, you are embarrassing the federal cabinet as well," the judge told a government representative.
He directed the ministry to place a revised summary before the federal cabinet for review of the previous decision and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
The Supreme Court in Ataul Haq Qasmi's appointment case had ordered the federal government to appoint a full-time managing director of PTV after fulfilling all legal, procedural, and codal formalities strictly in accordance with the law.
The petitioner while challenging Bukhari's appointment pointed out that contrary to the direction of the apex court, the vacancy had not been advertised in the press and the appointment was made without inviting applications for the vacant position.
He said the federal cabinet had relaxed the upper age limit for Bukhari, without mentioning plausible reasons in the minutes of the federal cabinet meeting.
Bukhari successfully defended Khan in 2017 in a famous case seeking his disqualification from public office for failing to show the source of income for buying an estate in the suburbs of Islamabad.
Bukhari, who led the legal team of Khan in the Panama Papers leak case, was appointed the PTV chairman in November last year.
Interestingly, the appointment was made in apparent haste as the federal cabinet had in its meeting considered a summary for his appointment but did not endorse his induction as PTV chairman.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
