The Evening Wrap: Pakistan Supreme Court reinstates National Assembly

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that blocking of the no-trust vote against the Imran Khan, and the dissolution of the National Assembly illegal. The Court ordered that the National Assembly be reconvened on April 9. Also, the the no-trust vote to oust Mr. Khan will go ahead. The Court said all advise given by Mr. Khan to the President including the dissolution of the National Assembly are reversed. During the hearing on the fourth day, Chief Justice Bandial noted National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s move to dismiss a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan through a controversial ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95 of the Constitution. “The real question at hand is what happens next,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper “We have to look at national interest,” he said, adding that the court would issue a verdict later in the day. Government evading inflation debate by adjourning Parliament early: Opposition Opposition parties accused the government of adjourning the Budget session of Parliament ahead of schedule to duck the debate on escalating prices of fuel and other essential commodities. Countering the charge, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) had requested the session’s adjournment a day early in view of Ram Navami. Not in a mood to spare the government, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said that each day the country woke up to a fuel price hike and despite repeated demands from the Opposition, the government fled from a discussion by adjourning the House early. “They were worried that they could get exposed if such a debate happened,” he said. He added that two working days had been lost in the process. The party also criticised the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, for his “rare appearances” in the Upper House. “We have seen Arun Jaitley and his successor Thawar Chand Gehlot work as the Leader of House. They used to sit for extended period of times. It is extraordinary that the current leader of the House, Piyush Goyal, is rarely present,“ Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, also pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last eight years, had attended the House only a handful of times. Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor in a tweet said that the government should have had the courage to listen to a serious debate on the fuel price rise and consumer inflation. He tweeted: “Though LS [Lok Sabha] passed a Bill on Weapons of Mass Destruction, GOI’s real strength is its weapons of Mass distraction. Aided and abetted by a complicit media pointless controversy over halal, hijab and azaan have driven away the focus from price rise.” Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien accused the government of arrogance for skipping the vital discussion. “PM Modi kissed the steps of this great institution on his first day. Now he and his goverment are blatantly committing daylight murder of democracy,” he said. Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Binoy Viswam lamented that the Parliament was no longer the place to discuss people-centric issues. Joshi, however, maintained, “The Opposition requested in the BAC and I am using the word request carefully. I asked them in the Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office if they were firm on adjourning the House on April 7 and they replied in the affirmative. They said they have to go on Asthami and that’s why, if we can, we should adjourn by April 7. It was in the BAC and not informally.” The Minister said he had called senior leaders, including Ramesh, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Tiruchi Siva for a meeting to reconfirm the request, and they had agreed with the proposal of adjourning a day early. France summons Russian envoy over ‘indecent’ Bucha tweet; U.S. announces more sanctions Russia’s ambassador to France was summoned on April 7 to the Foreign Ministry in Paris after his embassy tweeted a picture claiming to be a film-set in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where the killing of civilians has triggered a global outcry. The tweet, which has since been deleted, appeared to show people preparing to shoot a film, with the words “Film set, Bucha town” written above the image. The embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is the third time in as many weeks that Paris has called in the envoy. The embassy previously posted a picture depicting a body lying on a table called “Europe” with characters representing the United States and European Union jabbing needles into it. “In the face of the indecency and provocation of the communication of the Russian embassy in France on the acts perpetrated in Bucha, I have decided to summon.... the ambassador of Russia,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement. President Emmanuel Macron has sought to keep dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He speaks regularly with Putin as part of efforts to get a ceasefire and begin a credible negotiation between Kyiv and Moscow. Macron has faced criticism for maintaining that channel. The French Presidency says the contact is at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Bucha, 37 km northwest of Kyiv, was occupied by Russian troops for more than a month following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Local officials say more than 300 people were killed by Russian forces in Bucha, and around 50 of them were executed. The Kremlin says Western allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in Bucha were a “monstrous forgery”, aimed at justifying more financial sanctions against Russia. Speaking on Wednesday, Macron defended his continued dialogue with Putin after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki berated him for talking to the Russian leader, saying nobody negotiated with Hitler. “I think it is my duty. It’s neither complicity or naivety,” Macron said on broadcaster TF1, accusing Morawiecki of backing far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s Presidential election. Meanwhile, days after gruesome images of murdered civilians in the Bucha suburb of Kyiv surfaced, the White House announced that it would impose further sanctions on Russian entities and individuals, including a ban on American investments in Russia and sanctions on the families of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The latest round of punitive measures would be applied in concert with the EU and Group of Seven (G7) countries, the Biden administration announced. The measures against Russia would include “full blocking sanctions” on Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, and its largest private sector bank, Alfa Bank. No ‘U.S. Person’ (i.e., a resident entity or citizen) is permitted to transact with these banks and all their U.S. assets will be frozen. President Joe Biden will also sign an executive order banning new investments in Russia by U.S. persons, and the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to announce a ban on transactions by U.S. persons with a list of major Russian state-owned enterprises on Thursday. There will be a carve-out for energy sector enterprises. Europe is still heavily dependent on Russian energy imports. Also announced on Wednesday were full blocking sanctions on the adult children of Putin and Lavrov’s wife and daughters as well as Russian Security Council members — former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and former Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The White House also announced that carve-outs and exemptions would apply for humanitarian activities. India is not directly impacted by this new set of sanctions as they are specific to the U.S., the EU and G7. A senior U.S. administration official said that while India is not part of the G7 — and is a guest country this year — the U.S. remained “hopeful” to have as much alignment with India as possible. Delhi court directs CBI to withdraw look out circular against former Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel A Delhi court on Thursday directed the CBI to withdraw a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against the chair of Amnesty International India Board Aakar Patel in a case of an alleged violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, PTI reported.Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar passed the order and directed the probe agency to file a compliance report. Earlier during the arguments, the CBI opposed the application of Patel saying there was a likelihood of him fleeing from justice if he was allowed to leave the country. The CBI said that Patel was highly influential. “We are not demanding for arrest. We are saying he should not cross the country,” the agency said. The court noted the CBI submission that the investigation was continuing since 2021, and said if Patel was a flight risk, he would have been arrested. The court said he could have run away during the investigation then also. Patel’s counsel had opposed the CBI’s contention, claiming that citizens’ rights are being railroaded by the agency. “It is time that we send a suitable reply to law enforcement agencies and society,” he told the court. Patel’s application has further sought the court’s permission to visit the US to take up his foreign assignment and lecture series organised by various universities till May 30. It submitted that Patel was stopped by immigration authorities at the Bangalore International Airport on Wednesday while he was boarding a flight to the US. The application claimed that the action was taken despite an order by a Gujarat court granting him permission to travel abroad. In brief The Supreme Court Thursday agreed to list for hearing a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and others to detect, detain and deport illegal immigrants including the Rohingya and Bangladesh nationals while expressing dismay as to why it should hear matters related to the functioning of the political executive. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana told lawyer petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay that it would hear his PIL on the issue if the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, has filed the reply. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 07 APRIL 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Pakistan Supreme Court reinstates National Assembly; no-trust vote against Imran Khan government to go ahead  [Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled]( that blocking of the no-trust vote against the Imran Khan, and the dissolution of the National Assembly illegal. The Court ordered that the National Assembly be reconvened on April 9. Also, the the no-trust vote to oust Mr. Khan will go ahead. The Court said all advise given by Mr. Khan to the President including the dissolution of the National Assembly are reversed. [A general view of the Supreme Court in Islamabad on April 7, 2022. ] During the hearing on the fourth day, Chief Justice Bandial noted National Assembly [Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s move to dismiss a no-confidence motion]( against embattled [Prime Minister Imran Khan]( through a controversial ruling is, prima facie, a violation of Article 95 of the Constitution. “The real question at hand is what happens next,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper “We have to look at national interest,” he said, adding that the court would issue a verdict later in the day. Government evading inflation debate by adjourning Parliament early: Opposition   Opposition parties [accused the government]( of adjourning the Budget session of Parliament ahead of schedule to duck the debate on escalating prices of fuel and other essential commodities. Countering the charge, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) had requested the session’s adjournment a day early in view of Ram Navami. Not in a mood to spare the government, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said that each day the country woke up to a fuel price hike and despite repeated demands from the Opposition, the government fled from a discussion by adjourning the House early. “They were worried that they could get exposed if such a debate happened,” he said. He added that two working days had been lost in the process. The party also criticised the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, for his “rare appearances” in the Upper House. “We have seen Arun Jaitley and his successor Thawar Chand Gehlot work as the Leader of House. They used to sit for extended period of times. It is extraordinary that the current leader of the House, Piyush Goyal, is rarely present,“ Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, also pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last eight years, had attended the House only a handful of times. Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor in a tweet said that the government should have had the courage to listen to a serious debate on the fuel price rise and consumer inflation. He tweeted: “Though LS [Lok Sabha] passed a Bill on Weapons of Mass Destruction, GOI’s real strength is its weapons of Mass distraction. Aided and abetted by a complicit media pointless controversy over halal, hijab and azaan have driven away the focus from price rise.” Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien accused the government of arrogance for skipping the vital discussion. “PM Modi kissed the steps of this great institution on his first day. Now he and his goverment are blatantly committing daylight murder of democracy,” he said. Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Binoy Viswam lamented that the Parliament was no longer the place to discuss people-centric issues. Joshi, however, maintained, “The Opposition requested in the BAC and I am using the word request carefully. I asked them in the Rajya Sabha Chairman’s office if they were firm on adjourning the House on April 7 and they replied in the affirmative. They said they have to go on Asthami and that’s why, if we can, we should adjourn by April 7. It was in the BAC and not informally.” The Minister said he had called senior leaders, including Ramesh, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Tiruchi Siva for a meeting to reconfirm the request, and they had agreed with the proposal of adjourning a day early. France summons Russian envoy over ‘indecent’ Bucha tweet; U.S. announces more sanctions [Russia’s ambassador to France was summoned]( on April 7 to the Foreign Ministry in Paris after his embassy tweeted a picture claiming to be a film-set in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where the killing of civilians has triggered a global outcry. The tweet, which has since been deleted, appeared to show people preparing to shoot a film, with the words “Film set, Bucha town” written above the image. The embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It is the third time in as many weeks that Paris has called in the envoy. The embassy previously posted a picture depicting a body lying on a table called “Europe” with characters representing the United States and European Union jabbing needles into it. “In the face of the indecency and provocation of the communication of the Russian embassy in France on the acts perpetrated in Bucha, I have decided to summon .... the ambassador of Russia,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement. President Emmanuel Macron has sought to keep dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He speaks regularly with Putin as part of efforts to get a ceasefire and begin a credible negotiation between Kyiv and Moscow. Macron has faced criticism for maintaining that channel. The French Presidency says the contact is at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. [Policemen work on the identification process following the killing of civilians in Bucha, before sending the bodies to the morgue, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on April 6, 2022. ] Bucha, 37 km northwest of Kyiv, was occupied by Russian troops for more than a month following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Local officials say more than 300 people were killed by Russian forces in Bucha, and around 50 of them were executed. The Kremlin says Western allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in Bucha were a “monstrous forgery”, aimed at justifying more financial sanctions against Russia. Speaking on Wednesday, Macron defended his continued dialogue with Putin after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki berated him for talking to the Russian leader, saying nobody negotiated with Hitler. “I think it is my duty. It’s neither complicity or naivety,” Macron said on broadcaster TF1, accusing Morawiecki of backing far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s Presidential election. Meanwhile, days after gruesome images of murdered civilians in the Bucha suburb of Kyiv surfaced, the White House announced that it would impose further sanctions on Russian entities and individuals, including a ban on American investments in Russia and sanctions on the families of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The latest round of punitive measures would be applied in concert with the EU and Group of Seven (G7) countries, the Biden administration announced. The measures against Russia would include “full blocking sanctions” on Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, and its largest private sector bank, Alfa Bank. No ‘U.S. Person’ (i.e., a resident entity or citizen) is permitted to transact with these banks and all their U.S. assets will be frozen. President Joe Biden will also sign an executive order banning new investments in Russia by U.S. persons, and the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to announce a ban on transactions by U.S. persons with a list of major Russian state-owned enterprises on Thursday. There will be a carve-out for energy sector enterprises. Europe is still heavily dependent on Russian energy imports. Also announced on Wednesday were full blocking sanctions on the adult children of Putin and Lavrov’s wife and daughters as well as Russian Security Council members — former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and former Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The White House also announced that carve-outs and exemptions would apply for humanitarian activities. India is not directly impacted by this new set of sanctions as they are specific to the U.S., the EU and G7. A senior U.S. administration official said that while India is not part of the G7 — and is a guest country this year — the U.S. remained “hopeful” to have as much alignment with India as possible. Delhi court directs CBI to withdraw look out circular against former Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel A Delhi court on Thursday directed the CBI to withdraw a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against the chair of Amnesty International India Board Aakar Patel in a case of an alleged violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, PTI reported .Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar passed the order and directed the probe agency to file a compliance report. Earlier during the arguments, the CBI opposed the application of Patel saying there was a likelihood of him fleeing from justice if he was allowed to leave the country. The CBI said that Patel was highly influential. “We are not demanding for arrest. We are saying he should not cross the country,” the agency said. The court noted the CBI submission that the investigation was continuing since 2021, and said if Patel was a flight risk, he would have been arrested. The court said he could have run away during the investigation then also. Patel’s counsel had opposed the CBI’s contention, claiming that citizens’ rights are being railroaded by the agency. “It is time that we send a suitable reply to law enforcement agencies and society,” he told the court. Patel’s application has further sought the court’s permission to visit the US to take up his foreign assignment and lecture series organised by various universities till May 30. It submitted that Patel was stopped by immigration authorities at the Bangalore International Airport on Wednesday while he was boarding a flight to the US. The application claimed that the action was taken despite an order by a Gujarat court granting him permission to travel abroad. In brief The [Supreme Court Thursday agreed to list for hearing]( a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and others to detect, detain and deport illegal immigrants including the Rohingya and Bangladesh nationals while expressing dismay as to why it should hear matters related to the functioning of the political executive. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana told lawyer petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay that it would hear his PIL on the issue if the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, has filed the reply. 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