Category: National

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  • PM meets Ertuğrul founding team while Mach victim families still wait for him

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has come under criticism for meeting the founding team of hit Turkish drama series ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’ days after the Mach massacre, victim families of which await him even after the passage of five days.

    Earlier, thousands of protesters blocked Quetta’s key western bypass on Sunday after 11 coalminers belonging to the Hazara community were brutally executed. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack by terrorists at a residential compound near a mine site in Mach area of Bolan, some 100km away from the provincial capital.

    While the protesters have been seeking the government’s support and assurance for an end to sectarian killings that have once again shot up in the area, they have been demanding that the premier personally meets them.

    Amid delays in PM Imran’s travel to Balochistan, and subsequent criticism by opposition members as well as the general public, it has emerged that he on Thursday met the founding team of the hit Turkish series that has broken viewership records in Pakistan.

    The meeting in Islamabad was also attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Kashmir Committee Chairperson Shehryar Afridi and personalities from Turkish and Pakistani film industries.

    The meeting discussed in detail the proposed television series being created in collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey on the Khilafat Movement among other future projects and the lost glory of Pakistani entertainment industry.

    The premier, however, did tweet on the Mach massacre once again on Wednesday.

    He had also condemned the incident and assured the grieving community of the government’s support earlier, on Sunday.

  • Bilawal, Maryam urge PM to visit Hazara families, put ‘ego’ aside

    Bilawal, Maryam urge PM to visit Hazara families, put ‘ego’ aside

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz have urged the prime minister to accept the demands of the protesting Hazara community.

    The victim families have been protesting in the freezing cold of Quetta against the killings. The protesters have demanded a meeting with PM Imran Khan and the dismissal of the Balochistan government over the security failure.

    Speaking to reporters during his visit to the protest camp, Bilawal said that the PPP had dismissed its government in Jan 2013 after similar protests were arranged by the minority community over the killings of its members.

    “Then too, you had put forward your demands to us. We had even dismissed the [provincial] government,” he was quoted by Dawn as saying.

    Bilawal said he has no words to describe the pain of the Hazara families, adding that he would always raise his voice for the persecuted community. “Unfortunately, we live in a country where even the dead have to be dragged into politics,” he said, adding that “we live in a country where blood is cheaper than food.

    According to the PPP chief, at least 2,200 Hazara Shias have been killed in the past 22 years, but their killers have remained free.

    In a reference to the remarks by the PM that a foreign country was involved, Bilawal said that it is still a failure of the state if it has failed to stop a foreign conspiracy on its land.

    ‘EGO BIGGER THAN COFFINS’

    Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz also spoke to the protesters. She chided the PM for having such a “big ego” that he cannot even feel the pain of these people. “All they are asking is that you come here and condole. Is your ego bigger than those whose coffins are laying here,” she remarked.

    She called the PM “shameless” for ignoring the plea of the Hazara Shias, saying she was not in Quetta to play politics on the issue. “It is your job to visit these people,” said Maryam, asking Imran to empathise with the protesters. “You are a parent yourself, trying to understand their pain,” she urged the PM.

  • Hotel owner, manager fined over violating SOPs in ‘vulgar’ student party

    Hotel owner, manager fined over violating SOPs in ‘vulgar’ student party

    A video of tourists celebrating and partying at tourist destination at Malam Jabba recently went viral on social media, prompting authorities to register an FIR against the participants and hotel management for violating SOPs.

    According to reports, the FIR also states that “obscene acts” were carried out at the party. The FIR was lodged under Section 294 and 33 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The FIR also says that 30 to 40 participants are unidentified and missing.

    The FIR was registered on the complaint of SHO Javed Iqbal.

    Later, hotel owner Fazal Khan and manger Hasnain Ahsan were presented before a divisional magistrate. Both were fined Rs40,000 and released.

    Reacting to the incident, Ahmed Ali Butt hit out at authorities for allowing jalsas and rallies but registering FIRs against dance parties.

    Meanwhile, despite a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, tourists are thronging to Pakistan’s scenic northern areas to witness snowfall and experience the winter wonderland.

    As per the latest reports, tourists flocked to Kalam valley to witness the Snow Kabaddi Championship, organised by the local youth in collaboration with the hotel association and youth affairs department.

    Six local teams took part in the championship with the Matiltan Tiger emerging as the winner.

  • Delivery boy robs people by hiding gun in food delivery bag

    The police arrested a delivery boy for robbing people using a weapon hidden inside his delivery bag.

    As per details, the suspect from Karachi’s Ferozabad area bore the uniform and a box of online food delivery service in which he put his weapon.

    The delivery boy, Abdul Rauf told the police he had only recently joined the online food delivery service and admitted he was tempted to rob people as he had no money.

    “I bought this gun back in 2011”, Rauf admitted to police.

    Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) East Sajid Sadozai told media the suspect knocked at house doors pretending to be a food delivery person and then robbed them with his partners.

    The police are still searching for his alleged aides involved in criminal activities.

    Rauf has confessed to at least 21 robberies, SSP Sadozai said.

  • Govt to name artificial forest after Guru Nanak

    Govt to name artificial forest after Guru Nanak

    Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has announced that an artificial forest near Head Baloki will be named after Baba Guru Nanak.

    Talking to the media on Baba Guru Gobind Singh’s birth anniversary, Governor Sarwar said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is involved in the killing of minorities and Kashmiris living in India. The governor asserted that the UN should declare India and Modi terrorists.

    He said minorities in Pakistan have full religious freedom.

    Minority MNA Shaneela Ruth and MPA Mahindra Pal Singh, who were also present on the occasion said: “We are proud that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is ensuring the provision of all basic facilities to the minorities and standing by the deserving families during the corona crisis.”

    Sharing his thoughts on the ongoing PDM rallies, the governor said that PM Imran Khan will complete his constitutional term, commenting that are as many narratives in PDM as there are parties.

    “I am sure that the general elections in Pakistan will be held on time. Since the formation of the opposition alliance PDM, none of its promise or claim has been fulfilled, so there is no doubt that the PDM is clueless about its strategy,” said Sarwar.

    Meanwhile, Governor Sarwar also announced mass marriages of 15 deserving Sikh couples and promised 2% quota for employment of minorities in the Higher Education Department.

  • Rape cases: LHC declares ‘two finger test’ illegal, discriminatory

    Rape cases: LHC declares ‘two finger test’ illegal, discriminatory

    The Lahore High Court has declared “two finger test and hymen test carried out for the purposes of ascertaining the virginity of a female victim of rape or sexual abuse” discriminatory and against the constitution of Pakistan.

    In a ruling issued in response to a plea filed by women activists seeking a ban on the discriminatory practice, the court said: “It is declared that two finger test and the hymen test carried out for the purposes of ascertaining the virginity of a female victim of rape or sexual abuse is unscientific having no medical basis, therefore it has no forensic value in cases of sexual violence.”

    The plea had argued that the virginity tests are “neither necessary nor reliable or relevant for the purpose of investigation into the incident of rape or sexual abuse”.

    The court said the test “offends the personal dignity of the female victim and therefore is against the right to life and right to dignity enshrined in Article 9 and 14 of the constitution”. It further said the hymen test also discriminates against women as it is carried out on the basis of gender.

    The judgement written by Justice Ayesha Malik noted that the hymen test can be carried if it is “warranted medically or for treatment purposes” and the medical officer must “stipulate the reasons” for carrying out this test.

    In a reference to a recent anti-rape ordinance by the federal government, the court said: “Notwithstanding the promulgation of 2020 Ordinance
    which specifically prohibits the two finger test by way of Section 13, the federal government has taken no steps to enforce the requirements of the 2020 Ordinance or any steps to create awareness and training in order to change the habits of the medico-legal officers in carrying out the virginity test.”

    It said the practice is ingrained in the processes of the medico-legal examination which cannot be ended without proper training and awareness. According to the LHC, the federation and provincial government should take necessary steps to ensure that virginity tests are not carried out in medicolegal examination of the victims of rape and sexual abuse.

  • Pakistan’s Emma Alam wins global memory competition

    Pakistan’s Emma Alam wins global memory competition

    Emma Alam from Pakistan has won the 29th World Memory Championship which saw 300 contestants participate from across the globe.

    The three-day competition included competitors from China, Canada, UK, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Algeria, the United States, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Libya, Qatar, and Iraq.

    Alam and Syeda Kisa Zehra from the Pakistani team  also broke multiple World Records in this year’s championship.

    World Memory Championships was founded in 1991 by an English author Tony Buzan and English journalist and author Raymond Keene to shine a global spotlight on the power of human memory.

    The late Tony Buzan was among world’s top five speakers, as per Forbes Magazine. He was the one who promoted the idea of mental literacy. Raymond Keene is Grandmaster of Chess and an appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by her majesty Queen Elizabeth.

    The participants with the best, fastest and sharpest memory skills competed to show their intellectual power and set new heights of the potential of human memory.

    Global President of The World Memory Sports Council Raymond Keene, in an official statement, said: “The field consisted of an impressive 300 competitors from 16 countries and from this extensive field the winner, the world champion from the 29th World Memory Championship, emerged from the Pakistan team, so excellently and expertly trained by Sania Alam.”

    He congratulated the winner and said that “one of the great sporting achievers for Pakistan, a unique heroine in the pandemic-stricken 2020 and supreme grand world memory champion for 2020.’’

    Meanwhile, Alam said that she was excited to have won.

    “I had aimed to give my best in WMC 2020, backed by a lot of daily practice for the past two years with my coach and the institute,” said the winner. “I plan on competing again next year with even better performance. I congratulate all those amazing competitors who competed from across the globe.”

    Alam has also competed in many memory championships before including the 3rd Asia Pacific Memory Championship in Malaysia and the 28th World Memory Championship in China and has won several medals and trophies. She is currently completing her studies through homeschooling.

    Another member of Team Pakistan, Abeerah Ather,  achieved 7th position in the 2020 global rankings.

    Emma Alam and Team Pakistan were skilled under the Institute of Human Memory Development International (IHMD).

  • Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh removed

    Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh removed

    Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has removed Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh from his post.

    Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, who was serving as DIG, Technical Procurement, CPO, Punjab, will be the new Capital City Police Officer (CCPO).

    Whereas, the notification issued by the government said that Umar Sheikh will be “posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police/Deputy Commandant of Punjab Constabulary, Farooqabad, against a vacant post”.

    Sheikh was posted as the Lahore police chief in September. Since then he has been involved in a number of controversies.

    Soon after his posting, he allegedly told his subordinates that on any sensitive issue, the Lahore police must seek his permission even if they receive directions from the Central Police Office (CPO).

    This had irked IGP Shoaib Dastgir, who refused to work as the IG till the removal of Sheikh. However, the government removed the IG following a standoff between the two.

    Sheikh had also blamed the rape survivor in the motorway rape case. The CCPO had said rape survivor should have been more careful and taken a safer route to avoid the rapists.

    “I am shocked… you are a mother of three and the only driver late at night… [she] should have taken the GT [Grand Trunk] Road instead, which is densely populated,” he had said while speaking to Dunya News.

    Sheikh went had further said that the woman should “at least have checked her fuel before taking the motorway”.

    Recently, CCPO Sheikh was in the crosshairs of the Lahore High Court that had sought record of the CCPO’s interviews after he criticised the courts for freeing criminals.

    Reacting to the statement of the CCPO Shaikh in which he said the criminals detained by the police were given bail by the courts, the chief justice had said the suspects are granted bail in line with the constitution.

    He had said such statements by CCPO Shaikh were akin to committing contempt of court and asked the Punjab advocate general to give details of his interviews in 15 days.

  • VIDEO: Police allegedly make siblings do sit-ups in front of a police vehicle

    The Lahore police on Thursday allegedly made a young boy and his sister do sit-ups in front of a police vehicle after they failed to provide their national identity cards to the police.

    Speaking to ARY News, the girl said that she was coming back with her brother on a motorcycle from a factory where they both work when police officials stopped them at a check post near Ghalib Market police station and asked them to show their CNICs.

    “The police officials forced us to perform sit-ups as we did not have the CNICs,”  she said, adding that the policemen were recording a video while they were doing sit-ups.

    Her brother said, “After inflicting corporal punishment to us in public, the police officials took us to the Ghalib Market police station where they subjected us to torture.”

    The boy alleged that his sister was physically searched by the male police officer at the police station.

    Meanwhile police officials have denied all allegations saying that the video shared on social media is fake and is aimed to “malign” the police.

    Further reports reveal that the Ghalib Market police station house officer (SHO) has said that “someone conspired to defame the police [in response to] an operation against the hotel mafia”.

    “No official from Ghalib Market police station was involved” in the incident, the SHO said, claiming that the “footage of the boy and girl was made on purpose near the police van”.

    The cop added that an investigation is underway and authorities would soon “reveal the facts”.

  • Here’s why KP Police arrested this guy for wearing ‘wolf mask’

    Here’s why KP Police arrested this guy for wearing ‘wolf mask’

    A man, who was wearing a ‘wolf mask’ in Peshawar on New Year’s Eve, was arrested by the Peshawar police for “trying to scare off people” in the provincial capital.

    After the arrest, the police officials posed alongside the man, still wearing a mask and in handcuffs, for a picture. The photo went viral on social media, prompting people to say that if the intent of the costume was to scare off people off then why were police taking pictures of the accused in the same costume.

    But the detainee says that he was wearing the mask in line with the government’s coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

    Twitterati, however, didn’t let this opportunity to bash policemen go.

    A user wrote that the government should have been specific about the types of the face mask.

    Another said that the policeman who wasn’t wearing a mask in the photo was scarier than ‘wolf-man’.

    https://twitter.com/ObnoxiousBrat/status/1344917710866624512

    The photos also attracted comments from across the border.

    https://twitter.com/melika_sa/status/1344904147863220224