ISLAMABAD - Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday submitted an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court over a contempt notice issued by the apex court in the Rental power projects (RPP) case.
According to details, Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for the former premier, submitted an unconditional apology letter in the Supreme Court and also requested the bench hearing the case to allow the withdrawal of Raja’s letter submitted to the chief justice of Pakistan.
Earlier in March, the Supreme Court had issued a contempt of court notice to former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in the RPP case for trying to influence it by writing a letter to the chief justice asking him to constitute a commission to investigate the RPP case.
The chief justice remarked while giving his ruling that Raja Pervez Ashraf had attempted to approach the court for a separate commission which was tantamount to seeking “favours from the court without the completion of the due process.”
The court also observed that the writing a letter in his official capacity also amounted to influencing the court.
The police have not yet found a clue to the assassination of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s senior vice president of Sindh chapter Zahra Shahid Hussain who was gunned down in Karachi late on Saturday.
Imran Khan has blamed the killing of Zahra Shahid on MQM chief Altaf Hussain who denied responsibility, condemned the killing and demanded a retraction from Khan.
MQM has sued Imran Khan for Rs50 billion for defaming Altaf Hussain.
Zahra was gunned down on Saturday night in Karachi, drawing strong reaction from the PTI whose candidates have secured majority of votes in Sunday’s reelection in 43 polling stations of NA-250 constituency of Karachi.
According to the postmortem report, she was shot in head from close range and died owing to excessive bleeding.
The case of his murder has not so far been registered by the authorities.
KARACHI - Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, on Monday said that her brother held the British government responsible for the attack on slain Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zahra Shahid Hussain.
Zahra Hussain was shot dead at her Defense residence in Karachi on Saturday night.
Interacting with reporters at Jinnah airport, Aleema Khan said that Imran Khan held the British government responsible for the threats issued to PTI workers in Karachi.
To a question, she said that many people tried to stop her from coming to Karachi over security reasons.
Responding to another question, she said that Imran Khan did not receive any defamation notice from Muttahia Qaumi Movement (MQM). She complained that PTI workers were getting threats over their sit-ins and protests.
“It is difficult to stop people once they decide not to get deterred by threats,” she said.
She stated that the British government also contacted Imran Khan. -
The Supreme Court of Pakistan adjourned the hearing over the treason case against Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf until May 22, whereas an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi reserved its decision over a bail petition filed by the counsel of former president in the Benazir murder case on Monday, local media reported.
Supreme Court’s Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja remarked during the Musharraf treason case hearing that the viewpoint of the parliament was crucial to the case adding that the parliament had already legislated the punishment for treason and the Federal Interior Secretary must be the complainant in treason cases.
Moreover a special ATC in Rawalpindi reserved its judgement over a bail petition filed by the counsel of former military ruler Musharraf in the Benazir murder case .
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) prosecutor objected to the petition over the grounds that Musharraf might flee the country in case he was granted bail.
The bench reserved its judgement over bail petition. -
An eyewitness describes how the building exploded as he was walking past with his family
Rescuers searching the remains of a house in Nottinghamshire that was destroyed in an explosion have found the body of man.
Four other people - a man, a woman and two children - were taken to hospital after the blast had reduced the house in Wright Street, Newark, to rubble.
The search for a missing sixth person who may still be inside will resume when the property is made safe.
Gas has been blamed for Sunday's blast, which happened at about 17:10 BST.
The dead man and the injured have not yet been named, while around 100 people living nearby were forced to leave their homes in the aftermath of the explosion.
Some of them are spending the night at the nearby Grove Leisure Centre.
Newborn baby
Police said the woman and two children were treated for the effects of breathing in smoke and subsequently discharged from Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre.
The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries and smoke inhalation and is still being treated.
Cormac Fleming, from Newark, witnessed the blast and helped with the rescue effort, plucking a newborn baby from the neighbour's damaged house.
"I live just a couple of streets away and was first on the scene, with my wife and two kids. We were walking our dog and got within 8ft of the house, when it exploded right in front of us," he said.
"The sheer force of the blast knocked my son off his bike. I rang 999 straight away.
"One house was completely destroyed and the house next to it was half-blown up.
"I then noticed a curtain moving in the house next door. I, and another man, smashed the window and next thing I was being handed a newborn baby."
He said a five-year-old and his mother, who was cut and in shock, followed the baby out.
Neighbours helped rescue a man from the rubble after the explosionThe blast destroyed one house and damaged the neighbouring propertyWitnesses said the explosion sounded like a bombNeighbours in Newark have been told to stay in doors and keep windows closed
They were led away from the rubble before Mr Fleming and the man returned to the house to try and help.
"We tried to see if anyone was in it from the back but it soon caught fire, so we pulled back and waited for the fire service to arrive."
'Like a bomb'
Isla McDonald, who lives opposite the damaged house, said: "We saw this smoke. A man was crawling through the debris and he was bleeding. The whole house had come down.
"We got him out and carried him up the path away from the smoke. The whole of the house was on fire this side. It was so frightening.
"We put something on his head, he said 'My wife's upstairs and my granddad is in the cellar'," she added.
Eduart Pergjejji also helped pull the man out of the rubble.
"The whole house was all down. It was insane," he said. "I've never seen anything like it. It's all down, the bricks have fallen on the street.
Police officers wearing face masks were helping the fire service crews
"It was really like a huge bomb exploding."
A visibly shaking Jane Henson said the house had been completely destroyed. She was the first to call 999 and provided the operator with a running commentary.
She said: "I felt the house shake. I looked out of the window and there was thick, black smoke.
"There were just people running everywhere shouting 'There's a bomb gone off' and just panic. It's awful, terrible."
Pirita Suomela, who lives nearby and was on the scene within minutes, said: "From where I was standing it looked like complete destruction."
She said she heard a loud bang and went outside to see "huge clouds of smoke coming up behind the trees".
A man was lying disorientated in the street with blood on his face.
"Within a minute of this I saw what can only be described as a tornado of smoke rising up with violent flames blasting a long way over the footpath, immediately in front of the house," she added.
Police advised residents to stay indoors and keep windows closed in the aftermath of the explosion to reduce the effects of dust and any gas fumes.
Zahra Shahid Hussain's body was rushed away from hospital in Karachi by officials
A senior female Pakistani politician has been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi.
Zahra Shahid Hussain was the senior vice-president of Pakistan's Movement for Justice party (PTI), led by former international cricketer Imran Khan.
She was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in the city's upmarket Defence neighbourhood.
Her murder comes on the eve of a highly-contested partial re-run of last Saturday's general election.
The reason for the shooting is unclear.
The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Karachi says Imran Khan has blamed the city's dominant MQM party for her murder, a claim the party has denied.
Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, citing police, said the shooting happened during an attempted robbery.
Our correspondent says that reports of Ms Hussain being shot twice in the head raise suspicions that it was a targeted killing made to look like a robbery.
Local PTI leader Firdous Shamim told AFP news agency that Ms Hussain "was leaving her home for work when three gunmen attacked her. She thought they wanted to snatch her purse and handed it over to them but they killed her".
Ms Hussain was reportedly rushed to hospital but succumbed to her injuries on the way.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the murder, describing it as a "tragic incident".
Sunday's partial re-run of the vote in Karachi was ordered after Mr Khan's party accused the MQM of widespread vote-rigging and intimidation.
The MQM - which took most of the seats in Karachi - denies any irregularities.
Karachi is torn by regular violence - much of it politically motivated.
Some Conservative activists are unhappy with the party's direction under David Cameron
Conservative Party co-chairman Lord Feldman has denied calling grassroots activists "mad, swivel-eyed loons".
He is taking legal advice over internet rumours that he was responsible for remarks reported in the press, he said.
Members have reacted angrily to claims a figure close to the PM used the term in blaming the grassroots for pressing MPs to amend the Queen's Speech.
More than 100 voted to express "regret" at the lack of an EU referendum bill. Downing Street has refused to comment.
The comments were allegedly made at a private dinner by someone with "strong social connections" to the prime minister,The Times, Mirror and Daily Telegraphnewspapers reported.
"There's really no problem," the unnamed person is reported to have said, referring to the Conservatives who voted to amend the Queen's Speech over Europe.
"The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad swivel-eyed loons."
Conservative associations are the constituency campaign groups made up of local party members.
In a statement, Lord Feldman, a friend of David Cameron's from Oxford University, said: "There is speculation on the internet and on Twitter that the senior Conservative Party figure claimed to have made derogatory comments by the Times and the Telegraph is me.
"This is completely untrue. I would like to make it quite clear that I did not, nor have ever described our associations in this way or in any similar manner. I am taking legal advice."
Bob Woollard, chair of umbrella group Conservative Grassroots, told the BBC it was "absolute madness to criticise your own troops".
"These comments are so arrogant and pompous as to be unbelievable," he said, adding that Mr Cameron should publicly distance himself from them.
Mr Woollard, the former chair of Wycombe Conservative Association, said he had "a lot of sympathy with what Nigel Farage said when UKIP were criticised similarly".
In 2006, Mr Cameron described the UK Independence Party as "sort of a bunch of... fruit cakes and loonies and closet racists mostly".
Reacting to the latest reports, Mr Faragetweeted: "If you are a Conservative supporter who believes in UKIP ideas then your party hates you. Come and join us."
Mr Cameron has said he wants the UK to stay in the EU but wants to change Britain's relationship with it, taking back some powers from Brussels.
However, 116 Conservative backbenchers supported this week's amendment to the Queen's Speech expressing regret over the lack of firm plans for a referendum. Although the motion was defeated, opponents called it a blow to the prime minister's authority.
'Self-indulgence'
In the wake of the vote, Mr Cameron then said his party would give full support to a private member's bill from Eurosceptic backbencher James Wharton outlining the terms of a referendum to be held by 2017.
The bill is likely to be opposed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who have accused their Tory coalition partners of "self-indulgence" and say the row could deter businesses from investing in the UK.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live on Saturday morning, Mr Wharton described the comments as the result of a "lapse of judgement", saying they were "offensive and foolish".
"It's such a shallow and inaccurate assessment of what's going on," he said, adding that it did not reflect the reasons behind MPs' decisions to back the amendment.
Several Conservative MPs have spoken out in praise of constituency activists. Among them was Neil Carmichael, who told 5 live the reported comments "may well have been taken completely out of context".
Another Tory MP Tracey Crouch tweeted: "I wonder if this 'aide' has ever been a member of an association, delivered a single leaflet, packed an envelope or knocked on a door?"
