Journalist murder

Hearing the murder case of journalist Zeeshan Butt in Sambrial, the Supreme Court gave six weeks to the police authorities to arrest the main accused.

Sialkot DPO told the bench that efforts were under way to take the main accused into custody. He said the accused had fled to the UAE and pleaded for six weeks time for his arrest. The court accepted his plea and adjourned the hearing for six weeks.

Zeeshan Butt was working as correspondent with a Lahore-based Urdu-language daily in Sambrial. Stranded in China

The Supreme Court on Monday declined a plea of a private airline for granting three months time to pay compensation to passengers, stranded in China recently, and directed it to resolve the issue within a week.

A three-member bench, led by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, passed the order on the matter of payment of compensation to the passengers at the Supreme Court Lahore registry.

The counsel for Shaheen Airline appeared before the bench and said that a committee had been constituted for payment of Rs100,000 compensation to passengers stranded at Chinese airport. He pleaded with the court for three weeks time for the purpose. The bench denied the plea and observed that the compensation amount should not be limited to just Rs100,000.

“Whatever a passenger gets, should be done soon,” the CJ observed, adding that “People suffered there due to the airline.”

The bench also directed the airline to deposit Rs20 million in the court as fine. The bench observed that the court itself would decide the matter.