Category: National

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  • Guard sentenced to death for killing bank manager on blasphemy allegations

    Guard sentenced to death for killing bank manager on blasphemy allegations

    An anti-terrorism court in Sargodha has sentenced a security guard involved in the murder of bank manager Imran Hanif to death on blasphemy allegations.

    The court also sentenced the convict to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs1.15 million.

    Last year in November, security guards killed a bank manager on charges of alleged blasphemy.

    A seven-member ulema committee was formed in connection with the incident in Quaidabad area of Khushab district of Punjab. They declared that the bank manager had not committed blasphemy and this was a false accusation against him. The ulema committee declared the dead bank manager innocent.

  • DG ISI to brief lawmakers on Kashmir, Afghanistan, and security challenges

    DG ISI to brief lawmakers on Kashmir, Afghanistan, and security challenges

    “A meeting of the National Security Committee will be held today (Thursday). Army chief and heads of security institutions will participate in the meeting. A briefing on Kashmir, Afghanistan and internal security challenges will be discussed,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry tweeted on Thursday.

    Speaker National Assembly (NA) Asad Qaiser had summoned a session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on July 1 for an in-camera briefing on the latest regional situation in light of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed will brief the lawmakers.

    Leader of the Opposition in NA Shehbaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani, Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and other lawmakers will attend the meeting. According to reports, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak will also be part of the in-camera meeting from the government’s side. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani will also attend the meeting as well as other parliamentarians.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan will not attend the briefing.

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that Pakistan’s politics will change after today’s in-camera briefing on the situation in Afghanistan and other security issues. He said it will now centre on national security.

  • We accept the Chinese version on Uyghurs in Xinjiang: PM Khan

    We accept the Chinese version on Uyghurs in Xinjiang: PM Khan

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Thursday said that the relationship between Pakistan and China is very deep. “It’s not just the governments, but it’s a people-to-people relationship.”

    “Whatever will happen…[the] relationship between our two countries, no matter what pressure is put on us, is not going to change,” PM Khan said in response to a question.

    Speaking to Chinese journalists as Beijing marked the centenary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the premier said the Chinese version about the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang was completely different from what was being reported in the western media.

    “Because of our extreme proximity and relationship with China, we actually accept the Chinese version,” added PM Khan.

    He said that it was hypocritical that while the Uyghur situation and Hong Kong were being highlighted, attention was not being given to the human rights violations in Indian-Occupied Kashmir.

    “It is hypocritical. There are much worse human rights violations taking place in other parts of the world such as in occupied Kashmir. But western media hardly comments on this,” he said.

    PM Khan praised the Communist Party. He said that until now, it was believed that electoral democracy is the best way to bring leaders on merit and hold them accountable.

    “But China’s process to hunt talent and then polish it is better than any electoral democracy.”

    PM Khan also praised President Xi for his success in the fight against poverty and corruption in China.

    “China has lifted 700 million people out of poverty in a few years, which is a great achievement. We want to further develop political, economic and trade relations between the two countries.”

    PM Khan said that Pakistanis are impressed by the Chinese president’s fight against corruption and consider him “a great politician of modern times”.

    “President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign is effective and successful.”

    PM Khan said that it is unfair of the US and western powers to expect countries like Pakistan to take sides. “Pakistan will not downgrade its relations with China.“

    “The United States expects Pakistan to choose a side. This is not appropriate,” he added.

  • Sharmeen Obaid made film after three reported cases of acid attacks, says DG Rangers Sindh

    Director-General (DG) Sindh Rangers Major-General Iftikhar Hassan Chaudhary has said that Pakistan is not as bad it is portrayed in the international media, Geo News has reported. He was speaking at Dow University in an event to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse day on Monday.

    He said that Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s Oscar-winning film Saving Face was made after three incidents of acid attacks were reported in Pakistan. He went on to add that more than 800 incidents of acid attacks were reported in London but no film was made and neither did the media report on it.

    DG Rangers further said, “There have been 10,000 knife attacks in the UK, but no one knows. Do you think London is safe? We are not as bad as we are portrayed, and we have also started to think negatively about ourselves due to the constant negative portrayal.”

    Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s production house SOC Films has been nominated in two Emmy Award categories.

    Sharmeen is a two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker who took home Oscars for 2015’s A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, which explored the aftermath of an attempted honour killing, and 2012’s Saving Face, which highlighted acid attacks on women in Pakistan.

  • Registration of pet dogs starts in Karachi

    Registration of pet dogs starts in Karachi

    The Cantonment Board on Monday made registration of pet dogs compulsory, days after two dogs attacked a lawyer in the Karachi’s Defence area.

    The CBC, in a notification, said under section 119 and the Cantonment Act 1924, it is now mandatory for all dog owners to get their pets registered. The rate of the form has been fixed at Rs250 while the registration fee will be Rs2,000 per dog.

    The form requires the name of the dog owner, ID card number, address of the place where the dog is kept, mobile number, email ID, the colour of the dog, breed, sex, and why the owner is keeping it.

    As per details, the date of vaccination of the dog will also be written in the form.

    A vaccination card, with the signature of the dog owner, a photograph of the dog, a copy of the owner’s ID card, the vaccination report given by the doctors and a copy of the fee payment challan will be attached with the form.

    Once the form is submitted, it will be the choice of the CBC whether it will allow the citizens to keep the dog or not.

    The CBC said the non-registration of a dog will make it impossible for the board to determine whether the dog has been muzzled and is disease-free or not.

    Thus, keeping an unregistered dog will be illegal and it will lead to the detention or culling of the dog, imposition of fines, or legal actions.

    The dog registration form will be available at the cantonment board’s office.

    Last week, a video went viral that showed two dogs attacking a resident in DHA.

    On Saturday, a Karachi court had ordered the police to arrest the owner of two pet dogs who attacked a lawyer five days ago.

    The Additional District and Sessions Judge South issued the orders after rejecting the appeal for pre-arrest bail of the owner, Humayun Khan, whose two dogs had attacked the lawyer Mirza Ali Akhtar leaving him severely injured.

    The court said that “it was due to the negligence of the owner that the dogs attacked the lawyer, whose life is now in danger”.

  • Culprit in viral video of purse snatching arrested in Rawalpindi

    Culprit in viral video of purse snatching arrested in Rawalpindi

    Police arrested the culprit who snatched the purse of a schoolteacher early Friday morning in Rawalpindi.

    As per reports, the victim’s brother, Mohammad Junaid Ahmed, a citizen of Dhoke Chaudhrian, told Race Course police that his sister, a schoolteacher, was going to her school when a motorcycle rider snatched her purse.

    CCTV footage shows the suspect snatching the purse from the victim who then fell on the ground. She started collecting some of the valuables that fell from her purse. Two motorcycle riders helped her in picking up her stuff.

    The Rawalpindi police took to Twitter to announce the arrest of the culprit.

     “CPO Mohammad Ahsan Younus had taken notice of the incident and ordered the immediate arrest of the suspect. During the arrest, the suspect tried to open fire on the police due to which he got injured by his own pistol,” the tweet read.

    Read More: Prankster arrested for harassing women for not wearing dupatta

    According to a  press release, the suspect was arrested from Race Course area and had been involved in other thefts.

    Mobile phone and purse snatching cases are on a rise in the garrison city. Five snatching incidents were reported on Thursday in Rawalpindi.

  • Video: Pet dogs attack Karachi resident

    Video: Pet dogs attack Karachi resident

    Two pet dogs attacked and injured a resident of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Karachi on Monday. 

    The video circulating on social media shows the two dogs rushed towards the resident when he was walking in the street. The pet sitter at first tried to pull off the dogs from the man but upon seeing the dogs out of control , he ran away from the scene leaving the victim to defend for himself.

    Another man, who appears to be the caretaker of the dogs tried hard to separate the animals from Ali but was unsuccessful. 

    As per reports, the victim, Mirza Akhtar Ali is a lawyer by profession later registered a complaint with Darakshan police station.

    The two caretakers of the dogs, identified as Fahad and Ali, left the advocate injured on the road. The victim said a passer-by took him to a hospital.

    Read More: Study shows Thai sniffer dogs 95% accurate in detecting COVID-19 from human sweat

    Police registered a case against the dogs’ owner, Humayun Khan and nominated the two caretakers in the case as well. 

    Police claimed that Fahad and Ali were arrested and presented in court. The owner of the dogs was granted bail in the case. 

  • Karachiites ignore Covid-19 protocols, as people head to beaches to beat the heat

    Karachiites ignore Covid-19 protocols, as people head to beaches to beat the heat

    Pakistan has shown great progress in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

    However, Karachiites seemed to have completely ignored the government’s call for maintaining precautions during the third wave. Videos on social media show how crowded the beaches were on the weekend.

    People gathered at the beach to beat the heat. Temperatures regularly hover around 40 degrees and the humidity only makes it worse.

    Pakistan has only fully vaccinated 3.4 million people. The government has asked citizens to avoid crowds and maintain social distancing.

    The total number of Covid-19 cases in the country are 949,175 with positivity rate of 2.6 per cent.

  • Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman admits he raped student, claim police

    According to Geo News, Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman has confessed that he raped his student. He was arrested by Lahore Police on Sunday from Mianwali after a video went viral on social media in which Mufti Aziz could be seen sexually assaulting one of his madrassa (seminary) students.

    According to details shared by police sources, Mufti Aziz confessed that the video was not fake and said that he was secretly filmed by his student. Mufti Aziz said after the video went viral, he panicked. He also admitted that his sons then threatened the victim. He said that he did not want to leave the madrassa, which is why he made a video denying that he raped his student after the management asked him to go.

    Read more- When a Mufti rapes, why do we silence the victim?

    Mufti Aziz hid in Township, Sheikhupura and Faisalabad with the help of some of his students but was found in Mianwali as his phone was being traced along with his sons.

  • Lahore police arrest Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman

    Lahore police has arrested Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman from Mianwali on charges of molesting  one of his students.

    An FIR was registered against him on the victim’s complaint on June 16. The victim in his statement said that Mufi Aziz-ur-Rehman accused him of cheating on his exams after which he was banned from giving exams at the Wafaqul Madaris for three years. Mufti then asked the student to “make him happy” in order to get the ban lifted.

    “We have been able to arrest this criminal. We will take it as a test case, interrogate him, conduct scientific professional investigation, prosecute and get him convicted by the court. We want our kids protected from these child molesters and keep our society safe for our future,” Inspector General of Police (IG) Punjab Inam Ghani said in a tweet.