India-Pakistan |
Srinagar acid attack case: Court frames charges against two accused |
2022-03-22 |
[GREATERKASHMIR] Srinagar, Mar 20: A court here has framed charges against two persons who were arrested for throwing acid on a woman in February in downtown city and the trial will begin from the end of this month. The two accused were presented before Principal Sessions judge Jawad Ahmad, who framed charges under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 326-A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), officials said. The trial will start at the end of this month, they said. Expressing satisfaction over the development, Senior Superintendent of Police (Srinagar) Rakesh Balwal said the police will fight this case till the end and ensure that the victim gets justice. "Our aim is that this case becomes a milestone in history for a speedy trial and punishment to the accused so that it acts as a deterrent for those harbouring such thoughts or having such tendencies," Balwal said. Advocate Mir Naveed Gul, who represents the victim, said the charges were framed against the accused persons involved in the acid attack on the 24-year-old woman. "The principal sessions judge, Srinagar, without any delay, listed the matter on an urgent basis. I appreciate the expeditious hearing of the case and the framing of charges," he said. The charge sheet was prepared in a record time of three weeks by the Jammu and Kashmir ![]() Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... Police. Balwal was personally monitoring the case and had also constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by Superintendent of Police (North) Raja Zuhaib Tanveer. SDPO Mohammed Yasir Parray, SHOs Tasir Hamid, Owais Geelani and Sub-Inspector Shahista Mughal were its members. The charge sheet has been filed against three people -- Sajjad Altaf Rather, Mohammed Saleem Kumar and a juvenile, against whom the police want to press charges as an adult because of his involvement in the crime. According to the charge sheet, the juvenile helped the police recover the black glass bottle that was used to throw acid on the victim's face. Police had also noticed injury marks on the upper side of the juvenile's right hand. He was taken to a hospital for examination and doctors opined that the injury was caused by some chemical substance. "During the course of investigation, it also came to light that the victim had rejected the marriage proposal of the accused". This angered the accused and he decided to "teach her a lesson" and "conspired to take Dire Revenge from the victim". The SIT also recorded separate statements of Rather and the juvenile about the route taken by them. Their statements were corroborated by obtaining CCTV footage. Mobile phone records as well as locations of the accused have also been annexed with the charge sheet to corroborate the conspiracy angle in the case. Rather, who is the main accused in the case, had returned to the medical store, where he was working as a salesman, after committing the crime. The victim is undergoing treatment at a Chennai hospital and a businessman-turned-politician is bearing all the expenses. |
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India-Pakistan |
Protesters demand end to forced conversions |
2019-04-01 |
[DAWN] A protest camp against forced conversions was held at Charing Cross outside the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard 2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers 3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Assembly on Saturday that was attended by representatives of minority communities. The participants belonging to various faiths and religions gathered at the camp and shouted slogans against extremism. Jawad Ahmad, chairman of the Barabri Party Pakistain, condemned the rise in kidnappings of minor girls, especially in Sindh. "We should be completely against the concept of minority and majority in any case," he said, specifying that all citizens were equal and must be given basic rights. "We have always spoken out against forced conversion," he said. "Laws are already there, but they are not being implemented. Barabri party feels that perpetrators of such crimes must be dealt with aggressively and immediately. The state must take note of these issues because this is an incorrect use of religion as a tool." Chaman Lal, who has been working on the issue of forced conversions, said an Anti-Forced Conversion Bill ought to be passed immediately. He said that when girls were kidnapped their original school certificates and official age was concealed by kidnapers and they were presented as 18 years old and ’legal’ for marriage and conversion. But this was all a lie, he added. "Main perpetrators are Mian Mithu, the pir of Barchundi Sharif in Ghotki district; and Pir Ayub Jab Sarhandi of Sarhandi shrine in Umerkot district. The Hindu community wants their immediate arrest." Joseph Francis from the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement said that forced conversions were not just limited to the Hindu community in Sindh, but six cases had surfaced in Punjab during 2019 ‐ in Lahore, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal. "They kidnap minor girls and take them away just to be raped, but even boys are sometimes kidnapped and brainwashed and sent to Kashmire to fight," he claimed. "If this is what happens, sometime down the line minority communities will also tend to get radicalised to protect their religions." He demanded that the girls that have been recovered be instantly returned to their parents and not shifted to Darul Amans, and that every nikah of a Hindu girl and a Moslem man, must be conducted in front of the media, social activists and a magistrate to ensure transparency. |
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India-Pakistan |
IS cell busted in Sialkot, claim officials |
2015-12-29 |
LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Monday that it had busted a cell of the militant Islamic State group operating in Sialkot, arrested eight suspects and seized weapons, explosives and laptops, as well as a large number of compact discs containing publicity material. Investigators claimed that the suspects had taken an oath to “overthrow democracy and introduce Khilafat in Pakistan through armed struggle”. The suspects arrested by CTD belong to different districts of Punjab, but Sialkot served as the base of their operations. They had already established infrastructure in the district to carry out operations across the country. It was, however, not clear when did the CTD bust the cell. The FIR was lodged on Monday. Three of the suspects have received “militant training”, according to documents detailing their interrogation. The operation, the first of its kind in the country, enabled the CTD to break the network and infrastructure of the group anywhere in Pakistan. The CTD has already shifted the suspects to an unspecified “highly secure place”. Suspects got militant training and vowed to overthrow democracy Interrogations show that the suspects were trying to extend their network to other parts of Punjab through recruitment. They have been identified as Jawad Ahmad aka Abu Hafs, Amir Sohail, Ijaz Ahmad, Adnan Babar aka Danu Kabarria, Saeed Ahmad aka Abuzar, Yasir Ali, Hamza Imtiaz, and Waqas Ahmad. Originally the suspects belonged to Jamaatud Dawa, but later joined the IS. The arrested members of the IS had been communicating with one another through social media and Skype to avoid arrests. DISLIKE FOR DEMOCRACY: Initial investigations into the case reveal that the suspects were also involved in recruitment and collection of funds for the group. “The suspects dislike democracy in Pakistan while they hate police and Pakistan Army,” official documents said. “In order to persuade other people to join their organisation, they would show them some video clips in which the Rangers were seen shooting a young man in Karachi. The prime objective of the IS men was to fan hatred against the country’s law enforcement agencies (LEAs).” Interrogations have revealed that IS chief Abu-Bakr Baghdadi had appointed Hafiz Saeed Khan as the group’s Emir in ‘Khorasan’ (areas comprising Iran and some parts of Afghanistan) and proposed him as Emir for Pakistan too. The investigators believe that the suspects also planned to launch attacks against LEAs. According to CTD investigations, the suspects were indoctrinated and recruited by two brothers — Babar Butt aka Abu Akasha and Nadeem Butt. “They had sworn allegiance to Khalifa al Baghdadi and joined IS in Daska tehsil of Sialkot district in June this year,” the documents revealed. The documents say Abu Akasha had facilitated contacts between the suspects and a Pakistan national, Abu Muavia Salfi, who was in charge of Pakistani militants in Syria. The interrogations show that Waqas aka Rizwan, also member of the IS from Sialkot, had been killed in clashes with the Syrian forces. Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2015 |
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India-Pakistan |
Sarabjit's kidnapped lawyer found |
2013-05-17 |
[BETA.DAWN] Sarabjit Singh's lawyer Awais Sheikh and his son, who were kidnapped Thursday morning in Lahore's Burki road, were found after their abductors left them in Punjab's Sheikhupura area, DawnNews reported. Earlier, Sheikh and his 29-year old son were intercepted by unknown gunmen soon after they left their residence. They were whisked away in a red double cabin pick-up truck, according to family sources. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Lahore Jawad Ahmad Dogar had also confirmed their kidnapping, adding that an investigative team had been constituted for their recovery. A convicted Indian spy on death row, Sarabjit Singh was attacked on April 26 by two inmates Amir Tanba and Mudasir, in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail when he left his barracks for a stroll. He suffered severe injuries in the head when the prisoners assaulted him with bricks and other blunt weapons whereby he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital. Singh succumbed to his injuries on May 1. |
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Afghanistan |
Suicide bomber targets Spin Boldak bus station |
2009-06-06 |
A SUICIDE bomb rocked an Afghan town bordering Pakistan, killing four people, as insurgency-linked unrest claimed the lives of another 13, including a foreign soldier. The suicide blast, detonated by a man on a bomb-filled motorbike, tore through a busy bus station in the southern town of Spin Boldak, police said. "Including the suspect, five were killed and eight were wounded," said the Kandahar province border police chief, Jawad Ahmad. However, the interior ministry said three people - a man, a woman and a child - were killed in the suicide attack, without explaining the discrepancy. Eleven were wounded, including five children, the ministry said, adding that the device had exploded before the bomber reached his target. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but militants allied to the extremist Taliban militia, which has carried out scores of suicide attacks, are active in southern Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan. Meanwhile, a soldier in a NATO-led force operating against Taliban insurgents was killed in a "hostile incident", the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that gave no further details. It did not give the nationality of the dead soldier or details of the incident. Most of the troops in the south are Americans, British or Canadians. Elsewhere, Taliban militants ambushed a private security company in the southwestern province of Nimroz, killing three armed guards and wounding one, provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad said. "The Afghan army and US-led coalition forces went to the area for their support and killed three Taliban and wounded five," he said. There has been a spate of deadly insurgent attacks recently on convoys that ferry goods across the country, including to bases of the nearly 70,000 foreign troops deployed to help the Afghan Government. Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed two "opposition commanders" in the southern province of Kandahar on Friday, the interior ministry said in a statement that did not give details of the men. Another four militants were killed in incidents in Farah province in the south and Paktika in the east, officials said. Attacks and battles have surged in recent weeks as troops try to clamp down on insurgents ahead of August 20 elections and after the extremists vowed to step up their campaign. There are fears the violence will disrupt the elections, an important test for international efforts to bring democracy to Afghanistan. The Taliban were in government for five years until 2001, when they were toppled in a US-led invasion weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States, blamed on the al-Qaeda network, which had bases in Afghanistan. |
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Afghanistan |
US military holding Afghan journalist for 'Taliban contacts' |
2008-02-20 |
The US military has been holding an Afghan journalist working with Canadian Television (CTV) for three months because of his professional contacts with Taliban militants, media watchdogs alleged Tuesday. A US military officer at the largest military base at Bagram, north of Kabul, confirmed that the reporter, identified as Jawad Ahmad, was in detention. However, "He is not being detained because he is a journalist," Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta told AFP, refusing to give details of charges. Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders said Ahmad, 22, had been held at Bagram since November 2007. "The US soldiers accused him of having the numbers of Taliban leaders in his mobile phone and of interviewing them," it said in a statement that called on US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to intervene. "The lack of legal procedures and material evidence confirms that his detention is unjustified," it said. The US military was also holding at least two other journalists -- Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj at its Guantanamo Bay facility and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein in Iraq, the watchdog said. The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, said separately it was "deeply troubled" by the Ahmad case. His brother, Siddique Ahmad, had said the reporter was arrested apparently because "the US military believed he had contacts with local Taliban leaders and was in possession of a video of Taliban materials," the CPJ said in a statement. "The United States military must explain the reason for his detention and accord him due process. If he is not charged with any crime then he must be released immediately," |
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Home Front: WoT | |
Six Pakistanis indicted in US for financial scam | |
2007-06-29 | |
![]() Abdul Hameed, 45, of Houston, Texas, Bilal Saleem, 26, of Woodbridge, Virginia, Naim Aslam Mann, 32, of Baltimore, Maryland, Basir Chand, 43, of Springfield, Virginia, Arshad Hussain, 47, of Dumfries, Virginia, and Jawad Ahmad were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to organise a continuing financial crimes enterprise, and with related substantive counts. The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to devise a scheme in which they used various fraudulent identities that they controlled to obtain numerous credit card accounts, personal and business bank accounts, and mortgage loan accounts.
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India-Pakistan | ||||||||
15 arrested in Musharraf assassination probe | ||||||||
2004-01-12 | ||||||||
The law-enforcement agencies personnel carried out a massive search operation at two seminaries here and rounded up at least 10 people, including three teachers and a Pride of Performance winning calligrapher for questioning. The late Saturday raids at a mosque and a shrine were made by the agencies investigating into assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf. The agencies personnel picked up calligrapher Syed Anwar Hussain Nafees Raqam from his Kareem Park residence and nine others from Baqiautush Shuhada (for boys) and Darul Uloom Madnia-Lil-Muslimat (for females), adjacent to Khanqah Syed Ahmad Shaheed. The arrested people are being questioned at the Sabzazar Police Station. Anwar was released after a couple of hours of questioning. He told The News that police cordoned off his house after Maghrib prayers. "First they showed me a photo of somebody, calling him Ihsan and asked for his whereabouts. I informed them that I didnât know the man," he said. JUI-F office-bearer Maulana Mohibun Nabi said that the police searched the entire premises. "They broke open the drawers and cabinets in search of something but did not take away anything. They remained there for a couple of hours and picked up nine men," Mohib said, identifying five of them as Maulana Habeeb Ahmad, Maulana Muhammad Yaqoob, Maulana Muhammad Ismail, Zubair and Ejaz.
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