Category: Uncategorized

  • ‘Last chance’ given by Lahore High Court to recover Sheikh Rasheed

    ‘Last chance’ given by Lahore High Court to recover Sheikh Rasheed

    Awami Muslim League leader and former federal interior minister, Sheikh Rasheed, was arrested from his house in Rawalpindi last month. On Thursday, the Lahore High Court gave the police one more week to find him.

    At today’s hearing, RPO Rawalpindi Syed Khurram Ali and CPO Rawalpindi Khalid Hamdani appeared before the court, seeking more time for recovering Sheikh Rasheed.

    “How much more time do you need for recovery, what have you done so far,” the court asked the cops. The RPO Rawalpindi said the officers responsible for the arrest were not present in the area on that day.

    “We need a bit more time for recovery,’ the RPO informed the court.

    “We are giving you a week’s time as the last chance to recover Sheikh Rasheed else the court will pass an order with a warning,” was the reply.

    The hearing was then adjourned until October 27.

  • PTI ko chahiye sirf ‘ballay’ ka nishan

    PTI ko chahiye sirf ‘ballay’ ka nishan

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to promptly release a detailed written order regarding the issuance of the party’s election symbol.

    Highlighting the importance of justice and fairness, Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, the party’s counsel, submitted an application on Wednesday to the Commission, emphasizing the necessity of a comprehensive decision in the interest of transparency.

    Senator Zafar underscored that the Election Commission’s earlier notice to the PTI, rejecting the allocation of the cricket bat symbol due to purported intra-party election discrepancies, was a misstep. He contended that the PTI had indeed conducted intra-party elections on June 9, 2022, in accordance with its constitution.

    According to Senator Zafar, the Election Commission’s subsequent decision on August 30, 2023, had validated the PTI’s stance on the legitimacy of the intra-party elections and had signaled the allocation of the bat symbol.

    However, despite the Commission’s initial commitment to issue a detailed decision following the verbal announcement, the order had not been provided even after 41 days.

    “PTI is the largest political party in the country, which is contesting the upcoming elections. Not issuing a detailed decision even after 41 days is a clear violation of fundamental rights, including articles 4, 9, 10A, 15, 16, 17 and 26 of the Constitution,” he said.

    Ali Zafar insisted that according to the Constitution, ECP was bound to hold free, fair, impartial, and transparent elections, while avoiding detailed decisions was a deviation from this constitutional mandate.

    He further added that under the Constitution of Pakistan, the ECP was bound to organize and conduct the election in a manner that was honest, just, fair, and in accordance with the law, but the non-issuance of the detailed written order was contrary to this.

    “The entire world is watching the proceedings of the ECP and the delay in the decision is unnecessarily creating contrary false rumors as if the decision orally announced on Aug 30, 2023, is going to be varied,” he said.

  • Women’s police station in Rawalpindi rocked with allegations of theft

    Women’s police station in Rawalpindi rocked with allegations of theft

    A female constable working at a women’s police station has reportedly accused the station house officer (SHO) of theft and blackmailing staff.

    The spokesperson for the police, on the other hand, has deemed the complaint baseless allegations to dodge accountability.

    The complaint lodged by Lady Constable Anita Naseem states that a woman named Arisha Khalid met SHO Irum Khanam to submit an application. At the time of her visit, she lost her purse.

    CCTV footage shows SHO Irum Khanam taking money from the purse and putting it away under a blue chair.

    According to the report, since SHO Irum Khanam was mindful of the camera, she pressured Anita Naseem to keep hush about the incident and threatened her. It is also, allegedly, not the first time for SHO Khanam to take money from others.

    Apart from violating departmental rules, the complainant said that she has been subjected to psychological suffering.

    An inquiry into the matter is under way with the Headquarters SP leading the investigation. The initial findings of the inquiry did not support the accusations against the SHO.

  • Shifting tides: More prominent Hollywood celebrities are condemning the violence in Palestine

    Shifting tides: More prominent Hollywood celebrities are condemning the violence in Palestine

    After the horrific Al-Ahli Baptist hospital bombardment in Gaza, prominent celebrities as well as Jewish activists in the US have taken to social media and the streets to condemn the ongoing genocide of Palestinians, calling for a ceasefire. On Wednesday, 500 Jewish activists were arrested after they stormed the Congressional building, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    READ MORE: 500 Jewish protesters arrested after demanding ceasefire inside Capitol Hill

    Hollywood celebrities are joining in on the voices to condemn the bombing of Gaza. Yara Shahidi released a statement on her Instagram account, demanding an end to the atrocities and a ceasefire.

    ‘We must also have the capacity to hold on to the urgent need for support and allyship for the Palestinian peoples who have been pushed into yet-another forced relocation, killed in designated places of refuge, and denied access to humanitarian aid- no access to water, electricity or food- violating explicit international humanitarian laws.”

    ‘Sex And The City’ actor and politician Cynthia Nixon condemned the violence in Palestine, urging her colleagues to join Cori Bush’s call for a ceasefire.

    Celebrity couple Chrissy Teigen and John Legend shared a joint statement on their Instagram account, revealing that they were working with organisations like World Central Kitchen and Doctor’s Without Borders to ensure children and families in both Palestine and Israel have access to humanitarian relief.

    In the last paragraph, the couple called upon world leaders to “do everything in their power to protect the human rights of children impacted by the ongoing conflict.”

    Doctors Without Borders has explicitly shown footage on their Instagram account of the massacre at Al-Ahli hospital after the Israeli attack, writing that, “Nothing justifies a shocking attack on a hospital and its many patients and health workers, as well as the people who sought shelter there.”

    World Central Kitchen has shared videos of food donations they have provided to struggling families affected by the war in Gaza and in Israel.

  • 500 Jewish protesters arrested after demanding ceasefire inside Capitol Hill

    Protesters in the US entered the Cannon House office building on Wednesday, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    The demonstrations, however, were intervened by the police who made several arrests.

    “Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings,” Capitol Police posted on X.

    “We warned the protesters to stop demonstrating and when they did not comply we began arresting them.”

    The protest was organised by the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow. The protesters demanded Congress to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    The Biden administration is openly siding with Israel in its increased attacks on Palestinians following the October 7 attacks by Hamas. It has, so far, resulted in the killings of more than 3,300 Palestinians and injury of more than 10,000.

    “The root of violence is oppression, and we’re here to say no in our names,” Jewish Voice for Peace posted on X. “We have the power to stop the ongoing atrocities against Palestinians. We refuse to standby as the Israeli government commits genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

    JVP has reported that around 10,000 protesters gathered outside the Capitol building and 500 more went inside “to demand an end to the Israeli and U.S. government’s genocide in Gaza.”

    “I wish all the Palestinian people would see this. I wish they could see that not all of America want them to die. That they are not disposable, that they have a right to live,” said Rashida Tlaib, the only current Palestinian-American member of Congress.

    On the other hand, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene asked the U.S. Capitol Police to maintain surveillance footage and photos, police reports and arrest records from the protest.

    In a series of posts on X, Greene disapproved of the demonstrations.

  • Nawaz Sharif gets green signals from courts; three bails granted

    Nawaz Sharif gets green signals from courts; three bails granted

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) approved the request of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif on Thursday, providing him with bail in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases until October 24.

    In July 2018, Nawaz Sharif, who had been removed from office, received a 10-year prison sentence in the Avenfield properties corruption case, for assets that exceeded his known income, and an additional one-year sentence for failing to cooperate with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    In the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case, he was handed a seven-year prison term and subsequently taken to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

    On the other hand, an accountability court has deferred the arrest warrant of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in the Toshakhana case, as the NAB raised no objections.

    The court announced the decision after reserving a verdict on Nawaz’s petition seeking postponement.

    A day earlier, the former prime minister filed a petition in an accountability court to restrict authorities from arresting him on his return to the country on October 21.

    During today’s hearing, Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer, Qazi Misbah, requested the court to suspend the arrest warrant as he is coming back to Pakistan and wants to appear before the court himself.

    The legal team of PML-N supremo has also filed a bail petition in Islamabad High Court (IHC) to prevent officials from arresting him on October 21.
    During the hearing, Qazi Misbah argued that Nawaz Sharif wanted to appear before the court on October 24, telling the judge that his client was not well, which is why he didn’t appear before the court.

  • 16-year-old househelp raped and poisoned to death in Karachi

    16-year-old househelp raped and poisoned to death in Karachi

    Sonia, a 16-year-old working as a housemaid in a bungalow located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal 13-C in Karachi, was allegedly raped and poisoned to death by her employer’s sons.

    Sonia’s mother has said in a statement given to the police that the teenager had gone to work on Sunday as usual. On her return she was in a critical condition, therefore taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College for an examination. However the girl died during treatment.

    Police has started its investigation but the mother of the victim has accused the sons of the employer-who was not at home at the time Sonia went there-of rape and poisoning.

  • US government official resigns over ‘provision of lethal arms to Israel’

    US government official resigns over ‘provision of lethal arms to Israel’

    A senior US State Department official has resigned from his position on Wednesday in the light of the Biden administration’s role in the Israel-Palestine escalation.

    Josh Paul, director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, posted a letter on his LinkedIn account announcing his resignation and the reasoning behind it.

    While he clarified his stance on October 7 and deemed the Hamas attack on Israel as “a monstrosity of monstrosities,” he also stated that “I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people – and is not in the long term American interest.”

    “I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse”, he added

    In the latest developments following October 7, Israel has been more aggressive in its attacks in Gaza which has resulted in the killings of more than 3,300 Palestinians whereas Biden pledged to support Israel in its so-called right to defend through and through.

    “When I came to this bureau … I knew it was not without its moral complexity and moral compromises, and I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt … the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do,” Paul acknowledged in his letter.

    “In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall, each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact. I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued – indeed, expanded and expedited – provision of lethal arms to Israel – I have reached the end of that bargain.”

    He also pointed out that “I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it any longer.”

    HuffPost spoke to Paul following his resignation.

    “I’ve been surprised by how many have said, ‘We absolutely understand where you’re coming from, we feel similarly and understand’”, he said.

  • Surgeries conducted on floor, without anaesthesia: What do we know about day 12

    Tuesday night, an Israeli air raid on al-Ahli Arab Hospital killed more than 500 Palestinians.

    Biden meets Netanyahu

    President Biden landed in Tel Aviv, Israel, today, to meet PM Benjamin Netanyahu, less than a day after more than 500 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike at a hospital.

    Without any proof to back up his claim, Biden said that the al-Ahli Arab Hospital bombing seems to be carried out by the “other team, not you”, indirectly putting the blame on Palestinians.

    Read more: ‘Civilised world must unite to defeat Hamas’: Netanyahu meets Biden

    Read more on false information from day 12:
    Israel tries deflecting blame for hospital attack; evidence proves otherwise

    “Time is OVER!”

    Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has called for unity across the world to stand up to Israel after the hospital bombing, calling it a “massacre of … innocent women and children”.

    “After the terrible crime of the Zionist regime in the bombing and massacre of more than a thousand innocent women and children in the…hospital the time has come for the global unity of humanity against this fake regime more hated than ISIS and its killing machine,” he wrote on social media.’

    Protests across the world

    The hospital bombing led to spontaneous protests across the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond but many ended with confrontations with security forces.

    Palestinians got together in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, the Lebanese gathered in capital Beirut outside the US Embassy, hundreds gathered outside the French embassy in Tunis, all of which were interrupted and dispersed by the police.

    Other major protests were recorded in Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq.

    EU and Russia want facts

    The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is “saddened” by the recent hospital attack in Gaza.

    She posted on X saying, “There is no excuse for hitting a hospital full of medical staff and civilians,

    “All the facts have to be established and those responsible must be held accountable.”

    Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has asserted that Israel must provide satellite images to prove their claims that they were not involved in the Gaza hospital attack.

    RIA news agency quoted her as saying that “Russia classifies the attack as a crime and an act of dehumanisation”.

    UN calls for ceasefire

    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has now called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Israel-Gaza war.

    The UN Security Council is also said to vote on a Brazilian-drafted resolution on Wednesday to halt the escalation between Israel and Hamas and to continue humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip.

    The head of World Health Organization (WHO) post on X saying, “We need violence on all sides to stop,” and the situation in Gaza is “spiralling out of control”.

    “Every second we wait to get medical aid in, we lose lives. For four days, WHO supplies have been stuck at the border. We need immediate access to start delivering life-saving supplies.”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said

    Surgeries without anaesthesia

    Gaza already lacks enough healthcare facilities due to the Israeli blockade and after the attack on al-Ahli Arab Hospital, 350 people were rushed to al-Shifa Hospital which was already assisting a large number of wounded patients from other Israeli air strikes.

    According to reports by the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra, some of the victims were decapitated, disembowelled or were missing limbs.

    And because the number of patients is now beyond capacity, doctors are forced to perform surgeries on floors and in the halls, mostly without anaesthesia.

    “We need equipment, we need medicine, we need beds, we need anaesthesia, we need everything,” Abu Selmia told The Associated Press.

    “Viable” solution is needed, says El-Sisi

    In a news conference in Cairo while visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President el-Sisi asked Israel to shift the affected Palestinians to Negev desert instead of expecting Egypt to host them.

    “There is the Negev desert in Israel. The Palestinians can be moved to Negev desert until they [Israel] do what they wish to do with the military operatives in the Gaza Strip before returning [the Palestinians] back,” he said.

    “If the Palestinians are transferred to Egypt, the military operation initiated by Israel may last for years and years to come. In this case, Egypt will continue to bear the consequences and Sinai will be a base for operations against Israel and in this case, Egypt will be labelled as a base for terrorists,” he said.

    “The acts by Israel, cutting power, water, electricity is a means to forcibly transfer Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula, which we totally reject.”

    Casualties, arrests

    Israeli forces have detained 65 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and since October 7, the number has now reached 750 excluding the detained workers from Gaza which are yet to be confirmed.

    Additionally, 61 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,250 injured.

    As for Palestinians in Gaza, more than 3,300 have been killed while 13,000 injured, according to Palestinian health minister.

    On the contrary, the death toll in Israel remains at 1,400, with another 3,500 injured.

    Jordan cancels US summit

    Biden was due to visit Jordan but after the hospital attack, the meeting was cancelled.

    White House spokesperson John Kirby, however, said that the decision was “mutual” and that the reason was the declaration of a three-day mourning after the hospital attack.

    Credit: Al Jazeera

  • ‘Civilised world must unite to defeat Hamas’: Netanyahu meets Biden

    ‘Civilised world must unite to defeat Hamas’: Netanyahu meets Biden

    President Biden landed in Tel Aviv, Israel, today, to meet PM Benjamin Netanyahu, less than a day after more than 500 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike at a hospital.

    Without any proof to back up his claim, Biden said that the al-Ahli Arab Hospital bombing seems to be carried out by the “other team, not you”, indirectly putting the blame on Palestinians.

    Last night, following the attack, Biden took to X to say that he had directed his “national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened”.

    However, his claims are already inclined in support of Israel. Al- Jazeera reports that he also drew comparisons of Hamas to ISIL (ISIS), saying that atrocities committed by Hamas militants made ISIS look “somewhat rational”.

    Biden also posted on X saying “I’m proud to be in Israel to honor the courage, commitment, and bravery of the Israeli people.

    Americans are grieving with you following last week’s terror attacks.”

    On the other hand, Netanyahu asserted that Israel will do everything to ensure the protection of civilians. Contrary to his words, more than 3,000 Palestinians have been killed.

    And while both the leaders were in a meeting, it was reported by Al Jazeera that a residential building in Khan Younis was targeted which resulted in the death of seven people and left forty seriously injured.