Two brothers were killed in a firing incident during a dispute over underage motorcycle drivers driving fast in Karachi’s Baldia Etihad Town area, reports Geo.
The victims have been identified as Hussain Amin and Farooq Amin, both of whom were shot dead near Khan Muhammad Chowk. The victims were the owners of a Papar factory.
The police found out in the initial investigation that the shooting happened as a result of a clash between two groups. The dispute took place over banning children from driving fast on their motorcycles.
According to an eyewitness account, the children who were stopped by the two brothers were called the adults of their families. After some time, gunfire broke out.
Farooq was the father of five children while Hussain had two daughters.
The police further said that the suspects involved in the incident have been identified and raids are being conducted to arrest them.
A man killed two of his brothers-in-law in Hanjarwal, Lahore over a ‘personal dispute’, ARY News reported on Wednesday, citing police sources.
As per reports, a man named Fahad married a sister of the deceased brothers, out of their own free will, but the brothers took their sister back to her home.
Enraged, Fahad along with his accomplices, allegedly shot and killed his two brothers-in-law Muzammil and Mudassir when they were at work, at a milk shop.
Father of the slain brothers said that he had only two sons and five daughters and both sons were killed. The police has shifted the bodies of the victims to a hospital for their post-mortem after collecting evidence from the crime scene.
The police said that teams have been formed to arrest the accused after registration of the case.
An 18-year-old girl has allegedly shot dead her younger sister, 14, after an argument over a TikTok video at village Kariala in the Sara-i-Alamgir Saddar police area, reports Dawn.
Reports said Maria Afzal opened fire at her younger sister Saba Afzal after both quarreled while making a TikTok video at home.
Police reached the scene and shifted the body to the Civil Hospital where doctors conducted the autopsy before handing back the body to the family. The deceased was laid to rest in the local graveyard.
Police said they have collected the evidence from the scene and launched an investigation.
A murder case has been registered against Maria on the report of Nabeel Afzal, the brother of both the sisters. The suspect has not been arrested yet.
A Pakistani couple was sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court on Tuesday for the 2021 murder of their daughter after she refused an arranged marriage.
Saman Abbas, 18, was living in Novellara near Bologna when she disappeared in May 2021, having rejected the previous year her family’s demand that she marry a cousin in Pakistan.
A tribunal in Reggio Emilia in central Italy ruled that the parents ordered the murder and that an uncle had strangled his niece.
The uncle was sentenced to 14 years after accepting a plea bargain, while two cousins were acquitted in an affair that shocked the country.
Abbas had denounced her parents to the police and social workers placed her in a shelter in November 2020.
But she visited her family in April 2021, planning to pick up her passport and start a new life with her boyfriend, whom her family disapproved of.
She disappeared soon after, and police, alerted by the boyfriend, raided the family home in May but the parents had already left for Pakistan.
The young woman was probably killed the night of April 30 to May 1, according to surveillance camera footage showing five people leaving the family home with shovels, crowbars and buckets, before returning two and a half hours later.
A year later Abbas’s body was found in an abandoned farmhouse with a broken neck.
Her brother told police that he had overheard his father talking about the murder and that it was the uncle who had killed his sister.
The father, Shabbar Abbas, was arrested in Pakistan and extradited to Italy in August 2023.
The uncle, Danish Hasnain, was turned over by French authorities while the cousins were arrested in Spain.
The four men were present at the trial, but the mother, Nazia Shaheen, is still a fugitive.
A man in Baghbanpura, Lahore, gunned down his ex-wife and in-laws including her father, brother, and sister as they were returning from a wedding ceremony on Saturday night.
As per police reports, Kiran got divorced two years ago and was residing with her parents in Faisalabad. She had come to Lahore for a family wedding. She had divorced her husband for his involvement in criminal activities, reported Dunya News.
Witnesses have reported about him dragging one of the women out and kicking her repeatedly.
Two other ladies and the accused daughter have been injured in the firing.
IG Punjab Usman Anwar has ordered an immediate investigation into the matter.
The suspect, however, has not been arrested till now.
The Balochistan government has put together a four-member committee to investigate the alleged extrajudicial killing of Balaach Mola Bakhsh in a clash with the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Turbat.
Baloch protested in Turbat against killing of Baloch. The Pakistan media and politicians both are silent on the killing of Baloch. pic.twitter.com/cl2KilrqLL
The committee, formed under Section 3(1) of the Balochistan Tribunal of Inquiry Ordinance 1969, will be led by Fisheries Secretary Imran Gichki and includes the Deputy Inspector General of Quetta police, Deputy Commissioner of Kech, and Gwadar SSP.
The committee is mandated to complete its inquiry, determine the incident’s motives, and submit its report within 15 days.
Balaach Mola Bakhsh’s funeral took place on Wednesday, and a subsequent sit-in at Fida Shaheed Chowk saw the family and organizers expressing their commitment to continuing protests until justice is served.
An other Day , Protest is continued in Turbat Balochistan, they are demanding arrest of CTD officials who are involved in the killing of 4 young Balochs pic.twitter.com/zWNFGy0pmz
On November 24, four men were killed in an alleged encounter by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). Among them, Mr Bakhsh, Shakoor Baloch, Saif Baloch were identified, while the identity of one person remains unknown.
However, conflicting accounts emerged as the family refuted the CTD’s claims, asserting that Balaach was not involved in any unlawful activities and was picked up on October 29, leading to his alleged killing in a “fake encounter.”
The ongoing protest, now in its eitht day, has garnered attention and renewed discussions on extrajudicial detentions and deaths, shedding light on concerns of police impunity in Balochistan province.
In solidarity with the protestors in Turbat mourning the loss of Balach Molabakhsh. The fact that this is a funeral march should be a strong enough message for the #Miltablishment! @ImAsgharBaloch 1/2 pic.twitter.com/QnAY5fntSv
Baloch’s killing has triggered outrage in cities across the Makran division, with a complete shutter-down strike observed in Turbat and other towns on Wednesday while roads leading from the area to Pakistan’s main business hub, Karachi, were blocked by protesters.
Following a demand by Baloch’s family, a local court in Turbat had ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR), or police complaint, against the CTD team involved in the operation in which the 24-year-old was allegedly killed.
“Now we are protesting because despite court orders, why are the authorities not registering an FIR against the people who killed my brother,” Balach’s elder sister Najma Baloch told Arab News.
Thousands participated in the funeral prayer of Turbat Balach Molabakhsh. Last night, a fatwa was issued, prohibiting the public from attending the funeral. In the fatwa, it was said that Balach belongs to the non-Muslim Zikri sect & it is forbidden to hold a funeral for Zikris. pic.twitter.com/vw9olv7v9d
On the government’s inquiry tribunal, she said: “Neither do I know anything about the inquiry committee nor has anyone from the committee contacted us.”
“Now hundreds of people have joined the protest and are demanding registration of FIR against the CTD team,” she added, saying her family’s “clear demand” was that Baloch’s murderers be punished.
Update: The father of the girl who was killed at the hands of brothers and father on the order of Jirga is arrested by the police. However, the picture came out to be edited in the initial report released by the police. Pictures of two girls went viral through the Facebook ID of Aman Deedar where the girls were photoshopped with Aman Deedar and Rehmat Shah, the two boys who are now hiding.
Moreover, the other girl was allowed to go back with her parents on a guarantee of 30 lac rupees by the local Palas court.
A girl from Kolai Palas, Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got killed on orders of a local Jirga after her pictures with boys went viral. The pictures of two girls posing with boys went viral on social media after which family members in the jirga decided to kill her, says the police.
The other girl was brought to the court to ensure her safety where she stated before the judge that she does not have any threat from her family. Therefore, she was allowed to go back. Meanwhile, the boys seen in the photos are still in hiding, fearing possible outrage. Local police told Dawn that as per tradition, the jirga declared that those who appeared in the images circulating on social media ‘chor’ (thieves) and issued a decree for their killing.
Deputy Superintendant Police (DSP) Masood Khan said the victim’s body had been moved from the crime scene to a nearby health facility for autopsy. He added that videos and photos, which were apparently edited, went viral on social media three to four days ago. An FIR has been registered on the complaint of local SHO as the victim’s family did not approach the police. The culprits who issued the assassination decree and those who executed it will be brought to justice, the police official said.
Sections 109 (abetment in crime), 302 (punishment of qatl-i-amd or premeditated murder) and 311 (punishment after the waiver of qisas) of the Pakistan Penal Code have been added in the FIR.
A similar incident had been reported a decade ago where five women cheering for a dancing boy in the video were allegedly killed, along with the boy’s four brothers, on the orders of a local jirga. The alleged killings captured international attention, and then-Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the incident.
Karachi’s Sahil police has arrested a man on charges of killing his wife on Monday at an upscale apartment complex in DHA.
Quratulain, also known as Ainee, 22, was reportedly killed in a mysterious shooting incident on Sunday night at Emaar Tower in DHA Phase 8. The case was registered by Quratulain’s father Zubairuddin Khan who nominated her husband Abrar Bugti as the murderer, on which police formally arrested the already locked-up culprit.
Ainee’s father stated in the FIR that Abrar asked for Ainee’s hand in marriage but he kept declining because of the latter’s bad reputation. On October 12, Abrar came to their house with police, producing a fake Nikahnama and a court order to hand over Ainee to him as he is her lawful husband, says a report by Express Tribune.
Khan asserted that her daughter called him multiple times from their house-help’s phone and narrated incidents of torture and abuse. The security staff of Emaar Tower called him on Sunday and informed him that Ainee has been shot. “I along with my son and brother-in-law rushed to the Jinnah Hospital and found that my daughter had died,” related the woman’s father.
The physical examination of the girl’s body revealed that there were two bullet wounds to the head and three on the body. A murder case has been registered under section 302 against Abrar Bugti.
Peshawar High Court has granted bail in two separate cases involving honor killings.
The first case involved Swat resident, Akhtar Ali, suspected of being involved in the killing of his wife and another man over three months ago.
The bail was granted by Justice Shahid Khan of a single-member bench, who directed the submission of two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each for Ali’s release.
The incident, which took place on July 22, 2023, was initially reported at the Shaheedan Wenai police station in Swat under sections 302 and 311 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 15 of the Arms Act.
The complainant in the FIR, station house officer of the police station, Mohammad Zaib Khan, claimed that he along with a police team went to the crime site after learning about the murder of a man and a woman and found out that the deceased were killed by the petitioner, who suspected that the two had an extramarital affair
During the hearing, the bench noted that the case lacked substantial evidence against Ali.
It added that the complainant in the case had neither disclosed the name of the person who informed him about the involvement of the petitioner nor did he produce any other “cogent and reliable information, which could prima facie spoke about the guilt or otherwise of the petitioner.”
Lawyers Saeed Khan, Askar Khan, and Dunya Zeb, representing the petitioner, emphasized the absence of witnesses and evidence connecting Ali to the crime.
They added that the murders took place at nighttime and that there was no evidence to connect the petitioner with the commission of the offense.
Similarly, the court also granted bail to Habib Khan and his three sons – Talim Khan, Owais Khan, and Zarif Khan – from Lower Dir district.
It accepted the joint bail petition of suspects on the condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.
They were arrested on suspicion of the honor killing of Habib’s daughter-in-law, Nish Bibi, whose body was found at their residence on Sept 23, 2023.
An FIR was lodged by the mother of the girl, who alleged mistreatment and torture by her husband and in-laws.
The complainant claimed that her daughter was married to Dawood six years ago but she didn’t have kids and she often asked her husband for medical treatment.
She claimed that for the same reason, relations between the couple were strained and that she was mistreated by her husband and in-laws and was also tortured by them.
Legal counsel Shabbir Khan Daulatkhel defended the petitioners, maintaining that the prosecution’s case was founded on rumors, lacking any concrete evidence against the accused.
The initial bail application of the petitioners was rejected on Oct 12, 2023, by an additional sessions judge in the Chakdara area of Lower Dir district.
As the world marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, Pakistan’s journalistic community continues to grapple with an alarming surge in violence and impunity.
Several reports have highlighted the deteriorating situation, shedding light on the challenges faced by media professionals in the South Asian nation.
According to the recently released annual report by the Islamabad-based independent media watchdog, Freedom Network, Pakistan has failed to combat the rising impunity of crimes against journalists, painting a grim picture of the state of press freedom in the country.
The report titled ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back,’ outlines the harrowing experiences faced by journalists, including incidents of kidnapping, physical assaults, and unjust legal cases.
Pakistan made history in 2021 by passing two special laws to protect journalists.
The Sindh Assembly passed the “Sindh Protection of Journalists and other Media Practitioners Act-2021” while the National Assembly passed “Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act-2021” in space of few months.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab have not passed a similar law for their jurisdictions.
According to the Freedom Network’s report at least 37.5 percent of the violations in Pakistan – 93 out of the total 248 cases in the period between August 2021- August 2023 – were recorded in Islamabad alone.
The report further states that during this period there were 11 cases of murders of journalists, plus another 20 unsuccessful assassination attempts.
25 instances of legal cases registered against journalists.
11 cases of abductions, plus another case of an unsuccessful kidnapping attempt.
25 cases of arrests, detentions, or illegal confinements of journalists by the State.
59 cases of physical assaults, 26 of which caused bodily injuries.
05 cases of attacks on the homes of journalists.
30 cases of specific threats of murder or other dire consequences issued to journalists.
59 cases of harassment of journalists.
At least 37.5% of the violations (93 out of a total 248 cases) were recorded in the federal capital Islamabad alone.
Sindh was the second worst with 22.5% of the violations (56 cases) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was a close third at 18.5% (46 cases).
These were followed by Punjab with 17.3% (43 cases), Balochistan with about 2.5% (6 cases), Azad Kashmir (AJK) with 1.2% (3 cases) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) with 0.5% (1 case).
The report also cited specific incidents, such as the tragic death of Channel 5 reporter Sadaf Naeem during the coverage of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s rally in Punjab in October 2022.
The report notes that another Pakistani journalist Ashad Sharif was killed in Kenya on October 23, 2022, and there is still no clarity on his murder.
Pakistan Press Foundation has also documented at least 157 media-related attacks, including 16 instances of arrests, five instances of detention, and 44 cases of assault this year.
Between January and September 2023, PPF has documented at least 157 attacks on the media in connection with their work, including 16 instances of arrests and five instances of detention, 44 cases of assault, two cases of damage to property, four instances of raids, 18 instances of registration of cases against media professionals and two instances of legal action, 26 instances of censorship, 20 instances of harassment of journalists or media practitioners, 13 cases of threats, seven confirmed cases of kidnappings and three unconfirmed cases.
While the country witnessed an improvement in its ranking in the World Press Freedom Index, climbing from 157 in 2021 to 150 in 2023, this progress is overshadowed by the failure to effectively implement the laws designed to protect journalists.
