Category: Uncategorized

  • Govt to challenge the acquittal of Qandeel’s murderer in Supreme Court: Fawad Chaudhry

    Govt to challenge the acquittal of Qandeel’s murderer in Supreme Court: Fawad Chaudhry

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the government will challenge the Lahore High Court’s verdict of acquitting Waseem Azeem. Waseem Azeem was convicted of Qadeel’s murder in 2016.

    Chaudhry, while talking in a Geo News programme, said the government has told the judiciary to consider it [Qandeel’s acqutiall] as a ‘wake-up call’. He further said that the government will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

    He also requested the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to take action against the judge who took the decision of the acquittal.

    The Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) acquitted Waseem Azeem on Feburary 14. Waseem is also Qandeel’s brother. The verdict was announced on the basis of an agreement between the parties and on retraction of statements recorded by the witnesses.

    Qandeel’s lawyer Safdar Abbas Shah, while talking to BBC Urdu, said that he had submitted a letter of consent from Qandeel’s parents that they have no objection if the court acquits Waseem. He further said that Waseem has now said that he did not murder Qandeel and police took the confessional statement by threatening him.

    Qandeel Baloch, a social media star, was strangled to death in Multan in July 2016 and her brothers Waseem Azeem and Aslam Shaheen were accused of murdering her. A model court in Multan sentenced her brother Waseem Azeem to life in prison for murdering his sister. Life imprisonment means 25 years in jail.

  • Court reserves decision on PTI’s Faisal Vawda’s appeal against lifetime disqualification

    Court reserves decision on PTI’s Faisal Vawda’s appeal against lifetime disqualification

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its decision on the maintainability of an application filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Faisal Vawda against his lifetime disqualification from parliament, reports Dawn.

    Last week, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Vawda as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) and ordered him to withdraw the notification appointing him as senator for concealing his dual nationality.

    Later, the PTI leader approached the IHC. In his appeal, he stated that Section 8C of the Elections Act, 2017 allowed the ECP to conduct an election but did not empower it to disqualify a candidate. According to him, the commission was directed by the court to “probe the issue of falsity or otherwise of the affidavit expeditiously as per a judgment of the Supreme Court (SC)”.

    The commission said Vawda had submitted a “false affidavit” when submitting nomination papers. However, Vawda’s lawyer, Wasim Sajjad argued in the court that his client [Vawda] did not submit a false affidavit.

    Sajjad maintained that Vawda cancelled his United States (US) passport and acquired a certificate from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and said that he [Vawda] is only a Pakistani citizen.

    Vawda secured the National Assembly seat (NA-249) in July 2018 and got elected as a Senator last year.

    As per the commission, Vawda can approach the Supreme Court (SC) against its verdict.

  • PPP announces party’s long march schedule towards the capital

    PPP announces party’s long march schedule towards the capital

    Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) on Tuesday announced the schedule of the party’s long march, which is set to take place on February 27.

    PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will start the long march from Karachi and will reach the capital in 10 days.

    According to the schedule, the long march will start from Karachi’s Mazar-e-Quaid on February 27.

    The marchers’ will reach Multan on March 3, where they will be hosted by former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

    The march will reach Lahore on March 6 . The last stop of the march will be Islamabad on March 8.

    The PPP, however, has not disclosed the final venue where the participants will stay after reaching the capital from all over the country.

    PPP office-bearer, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn that the leadership would decide the duration of the stay in Islamabad after seeing the response of the masses and assessing the situation. However, he said, many party leaders believed that the past history showed that indefinite sit-ins staged by political parties had never remained successful.

  • Is Hamza Shehbaz going to be JKT’s new best friend? PML-N claims contact with Jahangir Tareen group

    Is Hamza Shehbaz going to be JKT’s new best friend? PML-N claims contact with Jahangir Tareen group

    Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz said: “We are in contact with everyone (including the Jahangir Khan Tareen group) as our sole target is removing Imran Khan.”

    When asked about Minis­ter for Water Resources Moonis Elahi’s statement that his party (Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid) stood with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Hamza said: “The Opposition is working on its plan to send the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government home and it will succeed.”

    The Jahangir Tareen group held a meeting at the residence of the chief minister’s former adviser, Awn Chaudry.

    In a conversation with the media after the meeting, disgruntled PTI leader Jahangir Tareen said that the political meeting was important in light of the current political situation in the country.

    Shedding light on the meeting, Tareen said that the current political situation and inflation came under discussion.

    “Politicians keep contact with each other, and these contacts will continue to exist,” he added. He also said that the politicians would consult each other on the country’s situation.

    Talking about the no-confidence motion, Tareen said: “No discussions regarding the no-trust motion took place as it’s too early to talk about it.”

  • Osman Khalid Butt, Meesha Shafi shocked and disappointed over acquittal of Qandeel Baloch’s brother

    Osman Khalid Butt, Meesha Shafi shocked and disappointed over acquittal of Qandeel Baloch’s brother

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday acquitted the prime suspect and brother of model Qandeel Baloch, Waseem Azeem, in her murder case, abolishing the life imprisonment awarded to him by a sessions court.

    The LHC’s Multan bench cancelled life imprisonment of the accused after witnesses deviated from their statements in the trial court and Qandeel’s mother submitted a reconciliation agreement stipulating parental pardon.

    In 2016, Muhammad Waseem was arrested after he confessed to killing Qandeel Baloch, 26, for posting what he called ‘scandalous’ pictures on social media. The case became Pakistan’s most high profile “honour killing” of recent years.

    Actor Osman Khalid Butt tweeted, “Qandeel Baloch’s murderer walks free today after serving less than six years of his life sentence. He is on record admitting to drugging and murdering his sister. Someone please make this make sense to me.”

    He went on to comment, “We are in the concluding stages of a high-profile and incredibly brutal murder case even now – how does this ruling inspire any confidence (except to the guilty) in our judicial system? Six years – and an anti-honour killing Bill – later, we’re back to square one.”

    Osman concluded with, “This is not the first time sentences for heinous crimes have been reduced or overturned. Why do these loopholes still exist in our judicial system whereby murderers can eventually walk free?”

    Singer Meesha Shafi also spoke about Waseem’s acquittal. “So Qandeel Baloch killed in cold blood,” the popular singer tweeted, adding, “Her father, who tried to pursue justice above and beyond his means.. passed away. Her murderer, her brother, alive and roaming free once again. We’re living in the opposite world.”

    During the hearing on Monday, defending lawyer Sardar Mehboob argued before LHC Justice Sohail Nasir that the father of the model and complainant had passed away, adding that the witnesses had also deviated from their statements in the trial court.

    He said the sessions court had ignored the settlement reached between the parties. After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted Waseem by cancelling his life imprisonment. “He has been fully acquitted”, his lawyer Mehboob told AFP, without giving further details. The court order has yet to be made public.

  • TV host Iqrar-ul-Hassan accuses Intelligence Bureau of torturing him

    TV host Iqrar-ul-Hassan accuses Intelligence Bureau of torturing him

    Television host and journalist Syed Iqrar-ul-Hassan on Tuesday accused officials of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of detaining him, members of his team, and subjecting them to extreme torture.

    Pictures of Hassan in bloodied, torn-up clothes, receiving medical treatment on a hospital bed were shared on Twitter. Later, journalist Waseem Badami shared pictures and videos of him visiting Hassan at the hospital.

    Talking about the incident, Iqrar said that he and his team members were “stripped naked, blindfolded and tortured for exposing the corruption of an IB inspector”. He alleged that IB officials also shot videos of him after stripping him and his team members naked.

    Speaking with ARY News, a channel where he works and hosts his show TV programme  ‘Sar-e-Aam’, Iqrar said that an officer of IB was taking bribe at the gate of the agency’s office and “we tried to report him to the high-ups, but senior IB officer Rizwan Shah manhandled the ‘Sar-e-Aam’ team and kept beating us”.

    “We were treated as a mole working for a foreign country,” he added.

    Hassan claimed he and his team were held hostage for more than three hours. “I got almost 8-10 stitches on my head due to the torture”.

    He said a few members of his team were even given electric shocks to “sensitive” body parts. “I want to bring [to light] the video we shot at the IB office, but I learned that it has been discarded by the agency officials.”

    Following the incident, Deputy Director General IB Iftikhar Nabi Tunio issued a notification suspending five officials “for mistreatment of ARY News team and mishandling the situation”, reports Dawn.

    The suspended officers were Syed Mohiuddin Rizwan (Director, BPS-19), Mehmoob Ali (stenotypist), Inam Ali (stenotypist), Rajab Ali (sub-inspector) and Khawar.

    Hassan responded to the development, saying: “I am thankful to the federal government for taking prompt action and suspending five officers involved in the incident.”

  • Rare meeting: Army Chief meets both President Alvi and PM Khan on same day

    Rare meeting: Army Chief meets both President Alvi and PM Khan on same day

     Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Bajwa on Monday met President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    It is rare for an army chief to meet both heads of the state and the government on the same day. The Prime Minister Office (PMO) in a statement said, “Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan today. Professional matters pertaining to Pakistan Army were discussed during the meeting”.

    The presidency, speaking about the meeting between COAS and the president, said, “During the meeting, the president was briefed about the professional preparedness and measure being taken by the security forces against the terrorist elements.”

  • Rawalpindi Qari allegedly stabs 12-year-old girl student to death

    Rawalpindi Qari allegedly stabs 12-year-old girl student to death

    A Qari allegedly stabbed a 12-year-old girl to death in Rawalpindi, as reported by Geo News. The perpetrator fled after committing the crime, but authorities apprehended him later that day with the murder weapon. The accused has been arrested along with the murder weapon.

    As per the police, the 21-year-old Qari named Adil from Abbottabad used to visit the victim’s house to teach her the Holy Quran. The victim’s parents had barred the Qari from coming to their home after the girl complained about him, saying that he was trying to do immoral acts with her.

    Adil followed the girl to her tuition centre and stabbed her in the neck with a sharp weapon.

    The police reached the scene as soon as they received information about the incident, gathered evidence and sent the girl’s body to the hospital for a postmortem.

    As per SP Rawal Babar Javed Joya, the accused confessed to the murder, saying that he killed her because the victim’s family was suspicious of him.

  • Hundreds of PTM workers stage sit-in for release of Ali Wazir

    Hundreds of PTM workers stage sit-in for release of Ali Wazir

    Hundreds of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) workers staged a sit-in outside of Sindh Assembly to demand the release of their leader and Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir, reports Dawn News.

    Initially, Deputy Commissioner (DC)-South Irshad Ali Sodhar and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)-South Rai Ijaz Ahmed tried to prevent the group from marching but eventually allowed the rally to proceed towards the assembly building where it was turned into a sit-in.

    PTM founder and head Manzoor Pashteen said, “The government calls itself a democratic one but we are not being allowed to exercise our democratic rights.”

    Pashteen said that the protest and sit-in would continue till the release of Wazir.

    PTM leader Hidayatullah criticised the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for arresting PTM leaders in false cases. He argued when Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders and workers have been released, why are PTM leaders including MNA Wazir are not being released.

    MNA Wazir and MNA Mohsin Dawar, as well as Pashteen, have been booked for committing sedition by inciting the people to wage a war against the state by delivering provocative speeches against security forces at a rally held in Sohrab Goth on December 6, 2020.

  • Moonis Elahi tells PTI not to worry, ‘nothing substantial’ in meetings with Opposition leaders

    Moonis Elahi tells PTI not to worry, ‘nothing substantial’ in meetings with Opposition leaders

    Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi said on Monday that the government alliance is not facing any trouble. Elahi said that the political environment was a “bit strange these days” but there is nothing substantial in it. Moonis Elahi was referring to the recent meetings of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leadership with Opposition leaders, which include Shehbaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Asif Ali Zardari.

    Moonis Elahi, while addressing the International Symposium on Hydropower Development, said, “A spectacle is going on, whatever talks are being held, we are political people, we meet people and welcome someone who comes to our home. The important thing to understand is that political people form relationships and then see them through.”

    “Just like we have made a relation with Janab [Prime Minister Imran Khan], and we will carry on with this relation,” adding, “I would like to request you [PM Khan] to say it rather firmly to all Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers/supporters that ghabrana nahi hai [no need to worry].”

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, without taking names, criticised Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif and said that in a panic, some people have gone to ask about the health of PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

    PM Khan, responding to the words to Moonis Elahi said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has full confidence in the Chaudhry brothers.

    PM said that hardly anyone has the political skills that Chaudhry Sahib [Shujaat Hussain] possesses.

    PM Khan’s comments come after Shehbaz Sharif met PML-Q’s Chaudhry brothers at their residence after 14 years as the Opposition seeks to mount pressure on the government.

    It is being reported that the Chaudhries of Gujrat will be holding party meetings to discuss the overall political situation and go into further discussions to come up with a consensus plan to move ahead in the current political turmoil.

    It is pertinent to mention here that PML-Q is a key ally of the PTI in the Centre and Punjab.