While disposing of the application, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif directed the federal and Punjab governments to ensure that foolproof security is provided to Lakhvi and his counsel Khwaja Sultan.
In his application filed last week, Lakhvi had claimed that there was a purported threat to his life as a number of agents of the Indian spy agency Research and Analyses Wing were present in Rawalpindi. He asked for his trial to be transferred from an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi to Lahore.
A Pakistani court on Monday directed the government not to deport five American Muslim youths, arrested on suspicion of terror links, to the United States or any other country. Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif of the Lahore high court issued the order in response to a petition filed by former Inter Services Intelligence agency official Khalid Khwaja. In his petition, Khwaja said the five youths should be tried under Pakistani laws.
Sources also told PTI that Judge Awan was likely to go on leave for three weeks in the near future and this could further delay proceedings in the trial.
A Pakistani court gave three weeks to the federal government to submit a detailed reply on the status of 10 high-profile Afghan Taliban leaders who are in the custody of authorities.
A Pakistani court on Tuesday issued notices to the Sports Ministry and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), asking them to file responses on the spot-fixing scandal by September 7.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has struck down President Asif Ali Zardari's order appointing two top judges, stoking fears of a fresh showdown between the government and judiciary with the ruling Pakistan People's Party blaming the fiercely independent Chief Justice for the crisis. Going against the recommendations of the country's top judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, the President on Saturday appointed Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif as a judge of the apex court.
A Pakistani court on Monday served notices to the federal government and the national association of film producers seeking their response to a petition seeking a ban on the exhibition of Indian films to protest the exclusion of Pakistani cricketers from the IPL.
Pakistan on Thursday said it was "disturbed" by reports that India could be preparing for additional nuclear tests and hoped a unilateral moratorium on testing would remain in place in the region.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday praised the powerful Army and its chief Gen Raheel Sharif and stressed on the need to work together for a strong economy, democracy and containment of terrorism.
Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan of anti-terrorism court replaced Rana on the orders of Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Khwaja Mohammad Sharif. Rana was conducting in-camera the trial of the seven suspects, who included senior Lashker-e-Taiba operatives Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
These are obviously not 'organic' desertions but brought about under intense military pressure, post the 9/5 arrests. It seemed as if the party was being dismantled the same way it was brought into power!, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
If General Asim Munir, Pakistan's new army chief, wants to help defuse the current polarised atmosphere and shepherd civilian politicians towards negotiations on an acceptable date for elections, he may need to distance himself from any perception of needless hostility to Imran Khan, explains Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
The perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack, who shot dead 166 people, had confessed to details that should have been enough to hang him, but Pakistan enjoyed his anti-India rhetoric and let him spread his tentacles. A revealing excerpt from Khaled Ahmed's Pakistan's Terror Conundrum.
