Tag: Karachi

  • Karachi University Teachers’ Society boycott classes

    Karachi University Teachers’ Society boycott classes

    Karachi University Teachers’ Society (KUTS) held a meeting on Thursday, announcing a boycott of teaching classes from Friday (today), demanding the Chief Minister of Sindh to take immediate notice of the administrative crisis at the University of Karachi.

    Express Tribune spoke with KUTS secretary, Faizan Naqvi, who explained that regular and visiting faculty members have not received their evening program salaries for over a year and a half, and the total amount owed exceeds Rs70 million.

    This means that the evening program is operating at a loss.

    Naqvi highlighted that all university employees are being paid their salaries except for the teachers. Currently, there are around 250 permanent teachers for the part-time evening program.

    Demands

    Karachi University Teachers Association has announced a complete boycott of the teaching process from Friday. The decision to boycott was taken in a general body meeting organised by the teachers association.

    The teachers’ association has also demanded an investigation by the commission for the non-approval of the university budget for six years.

    The participants of the meeting expressed their anger over the appointment of part-time teachers at six hundred rupees per lecture and non-payment of salaries to them for more than six months and a year.

    They demanded that the dues evening classes should be paid in full and on an immediate basis.

    Moreover, they pressed upon the restoration of exemption in MPhil and PhD fees should be restored immediately.

    They highlighted that handling of administrative matters is the responsibility of the Sheikh-ul-Jamia and the management team, not the teachers. That being said, ad hoc Assistant Professor appointment of Ph.D. teachers approved by the syndicate should also be restored.

    The meeting demanded for immediate release of funds for the revival of research in the university; that the budget of the university, which has not been approved for the last six years, is financial corruption and must be investigated by a commission. The hike announced in Budget 2023 should be included in salaries without delay.

  • EXCLUSIVE: pictures of Shahid Afridi at Shaheen Afridi’s Valima that will shock you

    EXCLUSIVE: pictures of Shahid Afridi at Shaheen Afridi’s Valima that will shock you

    Bowling sensation Shaheen Afridi’s valima reception with former captain Shahid Afridi’s daughter Ansha is being held tonight in Islamabad, and from the pictures, it looks nothing less than a star-studded gala. The Current is bringing you exclusive pictures from the event. The groom is looking incredibly dapper posing next to his father-in-law, and all of the A-list celebrities who were in attendance. Scroll for the pictures.

    We can’t tell who is the groom and who the father-in-law is from these pictures!

    Former DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asim Bajwa can also be seen celebrating the joyous occasion and congratulating the proud father-in-law.

    Television presenters and anchorpersons Waseem Badami, Adil Abbasi and Iqrar Ul Hassan spotted along with Shahid Afridi and the groom.

    Journalist Asma Shirazi was among the attendees as she poses for a pic with Boom Boom.

    Geo anchorperson Shahzad Iqbal can be seen posing next to Shahid Afridi and the groom Shaheen.

    Shaheen and Ansha’s nikkah was held on February 3 this year in Karachi. The event was a day time ceremony attended by Shaheen’s team mates including captain Babar Azam. Ansha’s rukhsati was held on September 19 in Karachi.

  • Fungus found: UAE bans fresh meat imports from Pakistan

    Fungus found: UAE bans fresh meat imports from Pakistan

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has imposed a ban on the importation of fresh meat from Pakistan.

    This decision stems from the discovery of fungal contamination in frozen meat shipments from Pakistan via the sea route.

    As reported by ARY News, the presence of fungus on meat imported by a Karachi-based company prompted the UAE to enact this ban, which will be in effect until October 10.

    It’s worth noting that Pakistan typically exports fresh meat valued at $12 million monthly to the UAE through maritime channels.

    Pakistan primarily directs a significant portion of its meat exports towards the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

  • Karachi wholesale grocers announce market shutdown in protest against alleged illegal raids, fines

    Karachi wholesale grocers announce market shutdown in protest against alleged illegal raids, fines

    Wholesalers in Karachi are set to stage a market shutdown on Monday in protest of what they consider unlawful raids and penalties imposed by the district administration in an effort to combat hoarding.

    According to ARY News, Rauf Ibrahim, the Chairman of the Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association (KWGA), held a press conference today, expressing concern that the district administration’s actions have created fear among traders due to shop and go-down closures. 

    He cautioned that they would cease operations at wholesale markets on Monday unless the district administration unseals these establishments. He said if these unjust raids and fines persist, we will suspend commodity markets on Monday.

    Ibrahim alleged that the district administration is sealing shops and go-downs under the pretext of cracking down on hoarding. He cited an instance where a shop owner in Joria Bazar was fined Rs30,000 for storing just two sacks of sugar.

    He criticised the categorisation of wholesalers with 100 to 500 sacks of sugar as hoarders and stressed that traders are willing to cooperate with authorities during hoarding crackdowns.

    Ibrahim urged the administration to take decisive action against genuine hoarders.

    To combat hoarding, federal and provincial governments have initiated operations in various cities, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta, and Dera Ismail Khan, resulting in the confiscation of illegally stockpiled sugar.

    Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) assured that there is an ample supply of sugar available at controlled prices nationwide.

  • Child dies in crossfire in Karachi

    Child dies in crossfire in Karachi

    Maryam, a seven-year-old girl, got shot on Friday while she was on her way to school near Nagan Chowrangi.

    The girl was seated in a car being driven by her father when a security guard and robbers exchanged fire.

    Dawn spoke with Taimuria police officer Ghulam Murtaza who said that the father recalled that the two were near a shopping centre around 7:12am when the car slowed down at a speed breaker. At that point he heard Maryam cry out “Baba”. She was bleeding so he rushed her to a hospital nearby and then to Ziauddin Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

    According to Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed, the family took Maryam’s body home without a post-mortem examination but then the police brought it back to conduct a post-mortem which concluded that she was shot in the head.

    The police reported that the shootout was between a security guard and robbers.

    Maryam’s father did not lodge an FIR, however, police have registered a case against the detained guard on behalf of the state under Section 319 (manslaughter) of the Pakistan Penal Code and initiated an investigation.

    Security guard Ali Raza was then taken into custody.

    Initially, two spent bullet casings fired from separate pistols had been recovered from the spot, and later, as per a police spokesperson, a forensic report confirmed that the bullet that killed Maryam was fired by the security guard.

    The guard, employed at a restaurant, opened fire on two robbers as they escaped the scene, when one of the bullets hit Maryam on the opposite side of the road near Haroon Shopping Centre within the jurisdiction of the Taimuria police station.

    A four-member committee has been formed which will be led by Gulberg SP to probe into the case.

    Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori has also taken notice of the incident and sought a detailed report from the Additional IGP of Karachi.

  • Child missing since 15 hours found stuck in sewer

    Child missing since 15 hours found stuck in sewer

    A two-year-old missing child from Karachi’s Shah Latif Town was discovered in a sewer 15 hours later on Wednesday.

    The boy, Zohan, was found in a semi-conscious state, exposed to severe mosquito bites while he was stuck in the sewer.

    According to Zohan’s father, Sadaqat Khan, the boy went missing on Saturday.

    He had been searching for Zohan with the help of his relatives, neighbors and local residents around the premises including Zafar Town and Gaddafi Town.

    They even made announcements in mosques but Zohan was nowhere to be found.

    They went through the CCTV footage from the location where Zohan disappeared which revealed that Zohan was with a nine-year-old child named Abdullah at the time of his disappearance.

    According to the father, Abdullah was visiting someone in the neighbourhood as a guest from Gulshan-e-Maymar.

    Abdullah’s maternal uncle interrogated him till he revealed that Abdullah had pushed Zohan into a sewer.

    Everyone hurried to the sewer where Zohan was found in a semi-conscious state.

    Khan described that the sewer had no water but a lot of filth was present inside.

  • Two women record statements against Gulshan-e-Hadeed School Principal

    Two women record statements against Gulshan-e-Hadeed School Principal

    Two women have recorded statements against the school principal accused of rape and blackmail in Gulshan-e-Hadeed area of Karachi.

    The case of alleged rape and blackmail of women by Gulshan-e-Hadeed School principal was heard in the court of the Judicial Magistrate of Malir. After physical remand was completed, police produced the school principal in the court.

    The two women also appeared in court, with the investigating officer requesting the court to record their statements.

    The investigating officer produced the Universal Serial Bus (USB) containing the videos in the court.

    The statements of both the women were recorded. One of them said that Irfan gave her a job and blackmailed her by making a video.

    The court extended the physical remand of the school principal for four days.

    Previously, the principal was taken into custody after allegations of raping and blackmailing women after videos of the rapes appeared on social media.

    The principal has reportedly admitted to raping women after promising them job opportunities, then recording their videos to blackmail them.

    Additionally, it was made known that the school was not registered with the relevant authority, functioning without any legal status. Consequently, it has been sealed.

  • Sindh’s caretaker Interior Minister clarifies statement on mobile snatching

    Sindh’s caretaker Interior Minister clarifies statement on mobile snatching

    Earlier this month, while talking to the media, Sindh’s caretaker Interior Minister Brigadier (R) Haris Nawaz said that people should keep their mobile phone in a place where it cannot be stolen, or keep the mobile phone in an inner pocket.

    His comment led to trolling across social media as people deemed his statement absurd.

    The interior minister has now clarified his statement in a short video comment published by Times of Karachi.

    He stated that he meant a mobile phone can easily be snatched if it is in one’s hand instead of the pocket.

    Nonetheless, he added that no one should resist when someone tries to snatch the phone at gunpoint, and ensure the safety of one’s own family.

  • Drugs recovered from principal’s house charged with raping, blackmailing women

    Drugs recovered from principal’s house charged with raping, blackmailing women

    Drugs recovered from principal’s house charged with raping, blackmailing women

    A case has been filed against the principal at the Steeltown police station on the complaint of the sub-inspector.

    Previously, the principal was taken into custody after allegations of raping and blackmailing women after videos of the rapes appeared on social media.

    The principal has reportedly admitted to raping women after promising them job opportunities, then recording their videos to blackmail them.

    Additionally, it was made known that the school was not registered with the relevant authority, functioning without any legal status. Consequently, it has been sealed.

  • 12 women raped daily on average: report

    12 women raped daily on average: report

    According to The News, War Against Rape (WAR), an advocacy organisation, published a report based on data taken from Punjab Home Department and Ministry of Human Rights which reveals that 21,900 women were raped in the province between 2017 and 2021. This indicates that an average of 12 women were raped daily or one woman assaulted every two hours.

    However, as per the organisation, this number is only representative of a small portion as many cases are not reported due to stigma, fear, victim-blaming, and systemic biases in the justice system.

    18 per cent of women are subjected to early and forced marriages. There are about 19 million child brides at the moment. Sindh has legalised marriage for boys and girls at 18 while other provinces have set the age for girls at 16.

    Karachi
    As per the police surgeon’s office in Karachi, there were 3,649 cases of domestic violence reported in 2022.

    WAR team investigated 66 cases of different forms of sexual violence from July 2022 to June 2023.

    The News highlighted statistics from the report: 44 survivors were children under 18 years with the most vulnerable age group being 4-11 years; the average age of survivors was only 13 years, with the youngest survivor being mere four years old; and of these cases, 85 per cent involved women and female children.
    A total of 35 of the 66 cases were of rape, 11 were gang rape cases, another 11 were attempted rapes, and nine involved incest.

    Additionally, in 10 cases, boys were also victims while 12 children were murdered after being subjected to sexual violence, including nine girls and three boys.

    Korangi has been deemed a red alert zone as it has the highest sexual violence cases with 31 per cent, followed closely by Surjani Town with 30 per cent of reported cases.

    The Saeedabad area reported 11 per cent of the cases, Iqbal Market nine per cent, Orangi Town seven per cent, Mehmoodabad six per cent and Gulshan-e-Iqbal reported five per cent of the cases of sexual violence.

    Cases underreported
    The official data from three major public hospitals of Karachi revealed the conduction of 1,256 medico-legal examinations (MLEs) in sexual assault cases from January 2021 to December 2022 whereas only 499 first information reports (FIRs) were filed in this same duration.

    WAR report stated: “This underscores the urgent need for improved mechanisms to encourage survivors to report incidents. In the first six months of 2023, Pakistan witnessed a harrowing increase in child sexual abuse cases, with an average of 12 children sexually abused daily, totalling 2,227 cases. The comparison with 2021-22 data shows a disturbing upward trend in child sexual abuse cases.”

    Workplace harassment
    The News highlights that the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) reveals that more than 2,000 complaints were filed between 2018 and 2022 in the government sector and around 1,400 cases in the private sector, involving both men and women.

    “Due to harassment, a large number of complainants end up leaving their jobs or normalising the harassment and hostile work environment. This discourages women from entering the workforce and restricts them from reaching financial independence”