Interpretation of law exclusive domain of the judiciary, says SC

Supreme Court of Pakistan. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued the detailed verdict in the contempt of court case against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, DawnNews reported. 

The verdict, comprising 77 pages, was authored by Justice Nasirul Mulk. The text of the verdict is available here.

Regarding the argument that the letter to Swiss authorities could not be written as President Asif Ali Zardari enjoyed immunity, the order said:

“The Respondent’s stand amounts to saying that the order of this Court is non-implementable, as he believes that the same is not in accord with the Constitution of Pakistan and the International law. This argument, if accepted, would set a dangerous precedent and anyone would then successfully flout the orders of the Courts by pleading that according to his interpretation they are not in accord with the law.”

Lyari operation enters day eight

Police officers take positions during a crackdown operation against criminals in Karachi’s Lyari area, April 30, 2012. — Photo by AP

KARACHI: Karachi’s neighbourhood of Lyari remained tense on Friday as the operation against criminal elements in the area entered its eighth day, DawnNews reported.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the area as authorities reportedly finalised plans to use helicopters for the operation and deploy Rangers in the area.

Earlier, the police claimed to have taken two alleged gangsters’ bodies into custody after killing them in an exchange of fire in the area’s Afshani Gali on Thursday morning.

Bajaur bomb attack kills 16

A man consoles a boy at the site of a suicide bomb blast in a Pakistani tribal region. — Photo by Reuters/File

KHAR: A suicide attack targeting police killed at least 16 people, including five policemen, in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of Bajaur on Friday, officials said.

The target of the attack was tribal police in Khar, the main town of Bajaur, officials told AFP.

“The death toll has risen to 16. Five of them were tribal policemen,” Abdul Haseeb, an administration official in Khar, told AFP.

Tariq Khan, a senior government official in Khar, said the bomber was on foot and detonated his explosive vest when he reached a police checkpost.

Obama was Bin Laden’s top target, letters from Abbottabad reveal

US President Barack Obama boards Air Force One on his trip to the Middle East, June 2009. Until the end, bin Laden remained focused on attacking Americans and coming up with plots, however improbable, to kill US leaders.

WASHINGTON: In letters from his last hideout, Osama bin Laden fretted about dysfunction in his terrorist network and crumbling trust from Muslims he wished to incite against their government and the West.

A selection of documents seized in last year’s raid on bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout was posted online Thursday by the US Army’s Combating Terrorism Center.

One year after his death, OBL lives on

When Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEAL team 6, on 2nd May, 2012, it was considered a “drama” by 66 per cent of Pakistanis.

Pakistanis in general are not willing to believe in facts and are more prone to trusting conspiracy theories because they provide a feasible explanation of events in a narrow frame of reference. It has been a whole year since the Abbottabad Operation that killed Osama bin Laden, and a majority of Pakistanis still do not believe it even happened, despite public announcements by al Qaeda themselves.