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Pakistan opposition vows protests to press PM to resign during investigation

Pakistani opposition party lawmakers tore up the agenda and shouted in a parliament session on Friday as they demanded that prime minister Nawaz Sharif step down during an investigation into his finances.

Opposition leader Imran Khan said he would lead protests demanding Sharif's resignation, saying the prime minister had lost the moral authority to stay in office while being investigated.The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday there was insufficient evidence to order Sharif's removal from office but called for further investigation into corruption allegations in connection with the so-called Panama Papers leaks.


A five-member bench was split three vote to two in favour of Sharif retaining his position.

On Friday, opposition lawmakers chanted slogans demanding Sharif's resignation and tore up the assembly's agenda for the day, before the speaker suspended the session, television footage showed.

"I was the petitioner in the case, the hearing continued for four months, at least I should have been allowed to speak in the parliament," Khan, a former cricket star, later told reporters outside the assembly.

The Supreme Court, in its 549-page judgment, ordered a joint investigation team be formed to look into allegations around three of Sharif's four children using offshore companies to buy properties in London.

The investigating team has two months to complete its inquiry, after which a special bench will decide what action to take, the court said. The prime minister and his children deny any wrongdoing.

The joint investigation team will comprise members from six different government bodies including intelligence agencies and financial regulatory authorities.

"At least three institutions are directly under the control of the prime minister and his ministers. I don't see how they would take a stand against the prime minister," legal expert Farogh Naseem told Reuters.

While the court's decision has been celebrated by Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League as a victory, legal experts and analysts say the extended investigation undermines his authority as he heads into an election due next year.

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Martin Parr

Martin Parr death at 73 marks end of Britain’s vivid chronicler of everyday life

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Martin Parr, who captured Britain’s class divides and British Asian life, dies at 73

Highlights:

  • Martin Parr, acclaimed British photographer, died at home in Bristol aged 73.
  • Known for vivid, often humorous images of everyday life across Britain and India.
  • His work is featured in over 100 books and major museums worldwide.
  • The National Portrait Gallery is currently showing his exhibition Only Human.
  • Parr’s legacy continues through the Martin Parr Foundation.

Martin Parr, the British photographer whose images of daily life shaped modern documentary work, has died at 73. Parr’s work, including his recent exhibition Only Human at the National Portrait Gallery, explored British identity, social rituals, and multicultural life in the years following the EU referendum.

For more than fifty years, Parr turned ordinary scenes into something memorable. He photographed beaches, village fairs, city markets, Cambridge May Balls, and private rituals of elite schools. His work balanced humour and sharp observation, often in bright, postcard-like colour.

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