Pakistan avoids India's questions in response to Imran Khan's speech

Agencies

September 30, 2019

United Nations, Sept 30: Pakistan has accused India of "denuding" secularism as it exercised its right to reply to India's reaction to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's use of hate speech and war threat, avoiding questions about Islamabad's terror links.

Muhammad Zulqarnain, a Second Secretary in Pakistan's UN Mission, failed to respond directly on Saturday to questions India had asked of Islamabad in the right of reply to Khan's incendiary speech on Friday in the UN General Assembly.

Zulqarnain questioned India's secular credentials and invoked Mahatma Gandhi who was rejected by the founders of the Islamic nation.

He said that India's "singular achievement has been to denude India of any pretense to its so-called secular credentials".

Zulqarnain focused his attacks on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to divert attentionfrom the substantial points made by India in its right of reply to Khan's speech that threatened war.

Vidisha Maitra, a First Secretary in India's UN Mission, had pointed out that "Khan's threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinkmanship, not statesmanship".

While he talked of "cow vigilantism" and the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zulqarnain did not respond to the challenges from Maitra asking Pakistan to reply to Khan's open defence of Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda chief found in a Pakistan garrison town, the 130 UN-designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities in that country, closure of its Habib Bank in New York after being financed millions for terrorism funding and Islamabad being put on notice by the international anti-terrorism financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force.

Zulkqarnain quoted what the Non-Aligned Movement had said in the context of Palestine equating state repression with terrorism in Pakistan's attempts to draw a parallel between that and Kashmir.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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