Tag: arrest

  • Manzoor Pashteen arrested from Peshawar

    Manzoor Pashteen arrested from Peshawar

    Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen has been arrested from Shaheen Town of Peshawar during the wee hours of Monday, Dawn reported.

    According to reports, the Pashtun rights activist was arrested in a case registered against him at the City Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan on January 18 under sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 124 (sedition), and 123-A (condemning the creation of the country and advocating the abolishment of its sovereignty) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

    Confirming the arrest, officials at the Tahkal Police Station said that Pashteen was currently in the custody of Peshawar police, but will be shifted to Dera Ismail Khan.

    “Police will present Pashteen before a judicial magistrate for his transitory remand,” the official was quoted as saying.

    Meanwhile, senior PTM leader and lawmaker Mohsin Dawar has condemned the arrest. “This is our punishment for demanding our rights in a peaceful and democratic manner. Manzoor’s arrest will only strengthen our resolve. We demand the immediate release of Manzoor Pashteen,” he tweeted.

    PTM is a rights-based alliance that, besides calling for the de-mining of the former tribal areas and greater freedom of movement in the latter, has insisted on an end to the practices of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and unlawful detentions, and for their practitioners to be held to account within a truth and reconciliation framework.

    The party has been critical of the army’s policies in the country’s tribal belt, where a massive operation against terrorists was conducted in recent times leading to large-scale displacement and enforced disappearances.

    Internet is divided over the arrest, as it is on the policy and aims of the social movement.

  • Police arrest four ATM hackers, including a couple

    Police arrest four ATM hackers, including a couple

    The Punjab police arrested four people, including a couple, for hacking into an ATM in Jhelum’s Dina.

    According to reports, the police were able to arrest the suspects with the help of CCTV camera footage. A case has also been filed.

    The hackers would use a skimming device to hack into the machine and record the data of people who came and used the ATM. Jhelum DPO Hamid Abid said the group put the device in the morning and took it out at night. He said “The Dina SHO searched for the group for several hours and then finally caught them red-handed when they came to remove the device at night.”

    The suspects are reportedly from Lahore.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Shehryar Afridi reveals how he felt when Rana Sanaullah was arrested

    Minister of State for Safron & Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi in an exclusive interview with The Current in August shared how he felt when PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah was arrested for possessing drugs.

    “The most important for me are families who suffer because of this [drugs] menace,” said Afridi. “Positions and stature do not count. No one is above the law.”

    “No matter what position one is on, if found involved in such activities, they’ll be made an example [out of],” he asserted.

    When asked the one thing he liked about Rana Sanaullah, the minister responded, “I think his commitement to his party, which one should have.”

    Watch the complete interview and the place where Rana Sanaullah was first kept when arrested in this video:

    On July 1, Rana Sanaullah was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) after the discovery of a large stash of drugs in his vehicle from near the Sukheke area in Punjab. The former law minister was arrested while travelling with his guards to a meeting from Faisalabad to Lahore.

    The case against him was filed in accordance with the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997.

    He was granted bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday due to lack of evidence. The LHC directed Sanaullah to submit two surety bonds worth Rs1 million each to secure his bail.

  • Pakistan: Qatari royals among seven arrested for hunting without license

    Pakistan: Qatari royals among seven arrested for hunting without license

    Seven Qatari nationals, including four royals, have been arrested for attempting to hunt the houbara bustard in Nushki district of Balochistan without permission of the Foreign Office, a private media outlet reported.

    According to reports, the Qatari nationals were en route Nushki when they were intercepted and taken into custody on the Quetta-Nushki highway. Deputy Commissioner Abdul Razzaq Sasoli confirmed the arrest and stated that they were aiming to hunt without proper license.

    He added that the Qataris had been handed over to the wildlife department.

    The four royals have been identified as Sheikh Mohammad bin Mansoor Jasim, Sheikh Khalid bin Ali, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jasim and Sheikh Ahmed bin Ali Khalid.

    A case has been registered against the foreigners who were in the country on a three-month visa. They had been informed before that they would not be allowed to hunt if they did not possess a proper hunting license.

    According to the Wildlife Department, 100 houbara bustards can be hunted for a fee of $100,000.

  • Police arrest a man for blackmailing women with private photos

    Police arrest a man for blackmailing women with private photos

    Police have arrested a man accused of blackmailing women with private photos and videos in Dera Ghazi Khan.

    As per reports, the suspect, Syed Shehzad Shah, used to befriend women on social media and take their private pictures and record their private videos. He then used fake social media accounts to demand money in exchange for not leaking their private pictures.

    The police have been searching for Shehzad for almost two years. They managed to locate him through call records.

  • ‘Drugs likely planted in Rana Sanaullah’s car’

    ‘Drugs likely planted in Rana Sanaullah’s car’

    Members of Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control have doubted the government’s version that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Rana Sanaullah had 15 kilograms of drugs worth Rs220 million in his car, Dawn reported.

    Sanaullah was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) earlier this month after the stash was discovered in his vehicle while travelling via the Faisalabad-Lahore Motorway.

    Protesting against the apprehension, members of opposition parties condemned the episode as they argued that the MNA was arrested without any allegation and case against him. They termed it the “worst example of lawlessness and political revenge”.

    “There is a general scare that anyone can plant drugs in anyone’s car. The matter has been hushed up. We want to know exact details of the case of Rana Sanaullah’s arrest,” said PML-N Senator Saleem Zia, who raised the issue during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Friday.

    “Why would a politician and a former law minister be carrying drugs with him and that too in such huge quantities?” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Anwar Lal Dean asked senior officials from the Narcotics Ministry and the ANF.

    While the senators implied that the drugs were planted in Sanaullah’s car, ANF Director General (DG) Major General Mohammad Arif Malik urged them to not make assumptions.

    “The minister for narcotics has already given a briefing on the matter. It would be unreasonable to assume that drugs were planted on him [Sanaullah]. Members should either come forward with proof that he was framed or believe the version of the ANF that drugs were recovered from him,” he was quoted as saying.

  • Of ‘not-so-untimely’ ailments

    Of ‘not-so-untimely’ ailments

    Pakistani politicians are rather infamous for falling sick right
    after they are sentenced to imprisonment, taken into custody for investigation or
    even if summoned by a court.

    While some think of the sudden ailment as “nothing but an
    easy way out of the ordeal that could follow”, several others believe otherwise.

    Here are five politicians who fell prey to an untimely, or
    perhaps timely, sickness.

    1. Pervez Musharraf

    Soon after All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chief and former
    military ruler Pervez Musharraf was charged with treason, he underwent chest
    and back pain. He was shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where he
    spent months and failed to appear before the court.

    Even though Musharraf’s name was put on the Exit Control List
    (ECL), the Interior Ministry allowed him to leave the country for treatment
    back in 2016 and he hasn’t returned since.

    2. Nawaz Sharif

    Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was advised to undergo a
    heart surgery soon after the emergence of Panama Papers in April 2016 amid
    calls for a probe into his offshore assets by the opposition.

    Since the case started and his subsequent imprisonment last year, the ex-PM has time and again sought bail on medical grounds, even the permission to travel abroad for treatment, and has taken multiple trips to the hospital from jail.

    3. Ishaq Dar

    The former PML-N lawmaker tendered his resignation as the country’s finance minister after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated an inquiry into his assets back in 2017.

    Dar fell ill, with his counsel requesting an exemption from the court. He later traveled to the United Kingdom (UK) and hasn’t returned since. The politician’s medical reports say he is severely ill; however, he has been spotted walking upright on London streets time and again.

    4. Asif Ali Zardari

    The former president’s little visit to the hospital after he
    was taken into NAB custody last week, wasn’t the first of its kind. Earlier, he
    had used his medical reports to fight a corruption case filed against him in a
    British court.

    Zardari had pleaded that he was diagnosed with a range of
    psychiatric illnesses during his detention in jail. He, however, went on to
    become the president of Pakistan in 2008.

    The list doesn’t end here as several other political figures, including ex-petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain and ex-information minister Sharjeel Memon, have also sought medical attention in times of trouble.

    The Current asked people about what they think of all these untimely ailments and here is what they had to say:

  • Asif Ali Zardari to be arrested today: sources

    Asif Ali Zardari to be arrested today: sources

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairperson and former president Asif Ali Zardari will be arrested by the National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) in the fake bank accounts case today, The Current has learnt.

    As per the details, Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur will be taken into custody after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected their pre-arrest bail pleas earlier in the day.

    Issuing its orders, the bench also permitted NAB authorities to carry out the arrests.

    “A team of NAB officials has already informed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in this regard,” sources said, adding that an elected representative cannot be detained unless the speaker of the respective house has been informed.

    NAB’s letter to NA Speaker Asad Qaiser

    “Another NAB team has reached Zardari’s residence, however, PPP leaders are seeking a certified copy of the judgment ahead of the arrest,” they said further.

    The judgement is being sought so that the Supreme Court (SC) can be petitioned against the high court’s order. “That is the only option left for the two PPP leaders.”

    Meanwhile, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s spokesperson Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar has requested party workers to stay calm and not resort to violence.

    The fake accounts case relates to transactions of hundreds of millions of rupees to Zardari and Talpur’s private companies allegedly through fake bank accounts.