KOZHIKODE l friday l november 25, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Imran-baiter Asim Munir appointed Pak army chief Lt Gen Munir is a former top spy, having served as chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence as well as the Military Intelligence Lt. Gen. Syed Asim Munir Will take charge by the end of this month Unlikely to breach ceasefire with India However, his stint as the spy chief at the ISI was the shortest ever as he was replaced by Lt Gen Faiz Hamid within eight months on the insistence of then-prime minister Imran Khan in 2019. Munir will take up the most powerful position in the coup-prone country following Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s retirement on November 29 after two consecutive three-year terms ■ ■ Pakistan President Arif Alvi, who was earlier associated with Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, flew to Lahore to meet the former cricketer to hold consultation on the appointment According to experts, Munir is unlikely to breach the ceasefire pact with India as his focus will be sorting out domestic issues Pulwama Munir was the i.s.i. chief when the 2019 terror attack took place CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Families meet ex-Navy officers in Qatar custody high five Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo became the first man to score in five World Cups when he converted a penalty against Ghana on Thursday. Portugal won 3-2 | AP | P11 Embassy seeking further consular access lar issues or grievances of Indian nationals living in Qatar. Families of eight former naIt has been close to three val officers detained in Qatar months since the eight former since August-end, on Thursday naval officers were taken into got to interact with Indian en- custody by the State Security voy Deepak Mittal at a ‘Meet Bureau (Ministry of Interior, the Ambassador Open House’ Qatar). session organised by the Indian There is hope but no clarity Embassy in Doha. on when these officers While some of them will be repatriated to Appeal by met him in person, India. family others got to speak to While families memEx-commander him online. bers of some of the de“Only family mem- Punendu Tiwari tained officers have is among the bers were permitted to been learnt to have eight officers ask questions and on a been given access to held captive in one-on-one basis. The meet them, there are details of course have Qatar. His sister reports suggesting Dr Meetu been ke pt under that members of other Bhargava has wraps. Indian Ambasfamilies have been alsador to Qatar Dr appealed to the lowed to go to Doha Deepak Mittal spoke PM to bring back from India to do so. her brother with them. Queries by Vice President Jagthose other than the deep Dhankar’s visit family members were not ad- to Doha on the invitation of the dressed,’’ sources said. Qatar government to attend the The Indian Embassy had is- i n a u g u r a l c e r e m o n y o f sued a circular earlier saying FIFA 2022 had raised hopes of that they would be ready to lis- the release of these eight exten/redress any urgent consu- officers. TODAY'S MATCHES Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Wales vs Iran 3.30pm Qatar vs Senegal 6.30pm Netherlands vs Ecuador 9.30pm England vs USA 12.30am on Saturday Samastha call against ‘football intoxication’ M P P r a s h a n t h @ Kozhikode At a time when the FIFA World Cup has caught the imagination of football fans across the state with minnows Saudi Arabia and Japan registering upset wins against giants Argentina and Germany, a Muslim organisation has asked believers to maintain restraint and not get swayed by the popular mood. Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Qutba committee, the body of the khateebs who deliver Friday sermons in mosques, has directed the preachers to ask believers not to indulge in extravaganza and unbridled celebrations in the name of ‘football fever’. In a message to khateebs on Thursday, the committee said though football is not a prohibited game for Muslims, there are some limits prescribed by the religion. “Football should not be an intoxicant. Certain games and players exert influence on us, but we should be careful to avoid these influences becoming a kind of intoxication. Anything that forces us to forget our responsibilities is an intoxicant,” it said. It also reminded the Muslims not to miss congregational prayers because of the game.● More on P4 What was the tearing hurry in EC appointment, asks SC S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi A day after calling for the file related to the appointment of former IAS officer Arun Goel as election commissioner, the Supreme Court on Thursday fired a volley of questions at the Centre over the “lightning speed” with which the whole procedure was completed. While perusing the document submitted by the Centre, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph remarked that usually, such sensitive appointments are made after careful scrutiny and contemplation but in Goel’s case, the file has been cleared in one day showing ‘tearing , hurry’. Noting that the post of EC was lying vacant from May 15, Justice Rastogi asked Attorney General R Venkataramani what prevailed on the government to appoint Goel within a “shortest possible time” and “in a super-fast mechanism”. “What is the evaluation here?” he asked, adding that the bench is not at all questioning Goel’s credentials but only the appointment process. Strongly urging the bench not to conduct a “mini trial”, Venkataramani said he can show a number of appointments made after 2015, where the entire process was completed in a matter of a day or two. The bench said it wants to know how exactly the law ministry prepared the short list of four names, from which Goel was picked up. Parties to file written submissions in 5 days After the arguments, the top court reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking a collegiumlike system for the appointment of ECs and the CEC and asked the parties to file written submission in five days E X P RESS READ Thalassery twin murder: Seven persons arrested Kannur: Four members of a gang who hacked two persons to death at the Thalassery Cooperative Hospital were arrested at Iritty around 1.30pm on Thursday. The police had on Wednesday arrested three persons in connection with the murder of Khalid, 52, of Nettur near Thalasserry, and his brother-in-law P Shameer, 40. With this, the total number of arrests has increased to seven. P5