Internet Freedom - Real Independence

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

Newspapers reported that the IT Minister, Ms. Anusha Rahman, is working with experts to create software to block all objectionable material which would then allow the YouTube ban to be lifted. After 11 months, this is where we are at and we still have it all wrong.

I am the petitioner’s counsel in Bytes for all v. Federation of Pakistan etc before the Lahore High Court where the petitioner argues for unfettered net freedom and an unqualified end to censorship, filtering and regulation on the internet. As petitioner’s counsel I would like to re-state for the people the case we have made before the Honourable High Court in simple English language. It has been necessitated by a malicious defamatory campaign that has been undertaken by certain quarters within the power pro-censorship lobby in our government.  

Banking Courts, Special Tribunals and High Court's Banking Jurisdiction

BANKING COMPANIES ACT 1997

(RECOVERY OF LOANS, ADVANCES, CREDITS AND FINANCES)

Section 2 Definition (b) Banking court: means-

(1)   In respect of a case in which outstanding amount of claim based on a loan or finance does not exceed thirty million rupees or trial of offences under this Act, the court under section 4: and

(2)   In respect of any other case, the High court;

Process of appointment of superior judiciary in Pakistan Part I

 By Zeeshaan Zafar Hashmi

The issue of appointment of the superior judiciary in Pakistan came into the limelight recently with the passage of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan. The aim of this article is to elucidate the mechanism for appointment of the superior judiciary in Pakistan before and after the passage of these amendments.

Before the Eighteenth Amendment

Prior to the promulgation of the 18^th Amendment, the appointment process for Supreme Court judges was pursuant to Article 177 of the Constitution and that of High Court judges to Article 193. The relevant portions of these articles are reproduced hereunder: