Passage 1
Defending the recent appointment of two new election commissioners (ECs) by a panel that excluded the Chief Justice of India, the Centre on Wednesday said that the independence of the poll body does not arise from the presence of a member of the judiciary in the selection committee.
The remark came in an affidavit filed by the Union Law Ministry in the Supreme Court against a batch of pleas, one of which claimed that the two election commissioners were hastily appointed on March 14 to “pre-empt” the orders of the top court the next day, when the matters challenging the 2023 law were listed for hearing on interim relief.
“It is submitted that the case of the petitioners is premised on one fundamental fallacy that the independence can only be maintained in any authority when the selection committee is of a particular formulation. It must be noted that the independence of the Election commission, or any other organisation or authority, does not arise from and is not attributable to the presence of a judicial member in the selection committee,” the affidavit said.
Source – EC’s independence doesn’t stem from judicial member’s presence
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Passage 2
Baloch insurgents armed with automatic assault weapons stormed the Gwadar Port Authority complex in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on March 20, but security forces foiled the attack and claimed killing at least seven militants.
Gwadar Senior Superintendent of Police Zohaib Mohsin told the media that “seven attackers have been killed and the firing has stopped”.
Commissioner Makran Division Saeed Ahmed Umrani confirmed the attack and said the attackers entered the Gwadar Port Authority building and the clearing operation was going on. Earlier, local media reported that eight terrorists were killed in clashes. So far there was no word on killing any security person or civilian.
Source- Baloch militants attack Pakistan’s Gwadar Port; 7
