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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Rumor: arrest of Imran Khan is now imminent

2023-03-09

[Twitter]

Informed and reliable sources say that the arrest of Imran Khan is now imminent and only a few days away.
— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) March 8, 2023

FIR against Imran, Shibli for harassing Islamabad police

[Dawn] The thriving provincial capital police have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against PTI Chairman Imran Khan

...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
, party leader Shibli Faraz and 150 workers for harassing and hurling life threats at an Islamabad police team when it visited Zaman Park to arrest the former prime minister.

The FIR was registered by the Race Course police on the complaint of Islamabad Secretariat police SHO Nadeem Tahir.

The SHO said he was part of the team of the federal capital police constituted for the arrest of PTI chairman Imran Khan to comply with the orders of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ), Islamabad.

He said as they reached the Zaman Park residence of the PTI leader along with his non-bailable arrest warrants issued by ADSJ Zafar Iqbal, a charged group of 100-150 PTI workers carrying clubs surrounded them.

The SHO stated in the FIR that the attackers hurled serious life threats at the Islamabad police officials, saying they would kill them if they dared to enter their leader’s house.

Teams formed to conduct raids, arrest suspects nominated in the case; PTI chief also booked in Quetta

Following the seriousness of the matter, he said, the police told them that they had arrived from Islamabad to comply with the court orders. "However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
the attackers rejected the repeated requests of the Islamabad police," the SHO said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!...
he said, PTI big shot Shibli Faraz appeared from the charged crowd and the police apprised him of the court orders about arrest of Irman Khan. The SHO said Mr Faraz too barred the police from entering the residence and used delaying tactics.

While receiving the court notice, he put up a note on it saying "Imran Khan is not available at his residence", read the FIR. The SHO alleged that Mr Faraz deliberately distorted the facts about the presence of Imran Khan at his residence as moments later the PTI chairman addressed party workers from his Zaman Khan residence.

The live telecast of his speech showed Imran Khan was present at his residence when police reached there, the SHO said. He alleged that Imran Khan, with the connivance of Shibli Faraz and 150 charged party workers, committed a crime by dodging and barring the Islamabad police from discharging their duty.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!...
Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Siddique Kamyana told Dawn that the police would arrest all those involved in harassing and threatening the ICT police. "It is a legal obligation of the police to arrest the violators/attackers booked by the police," he said, adding that the police teams have been formed to conduct raids and arrest the suspects nominated in the FIR.

Separately, an FIR was registered at a cop shoppe in Quetta against Imran Khan on Monday over his alleged remarks against state institutions and their offices and spreading hatred against them.

Sections 153A, 124A and 505 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 have been added to the FIR lodged by citizen Abdul Khalil Kakar, who said the PTI chief’s statement is tantamount to destroying public peace and order.

Khaama Press adds (succinctly despite the shared culture):

Violence broke out between police and former Prime Minister Supporters in Lahore, Pakistan, injuring several on both sides on Wednesday, the official said.

The government in Lahore suspended public gatherings in the provincial capital hours before the opposition party was scheduled to hold a planned election rally.

Pakistan police dispersed Imran Khan’s support using water cannons and tear gas. Despite police threats to make additional arrests, hundreds of anti-government demonstrators gathered near former Prime minister Imran Khan’s Residence.

Former Premier Khan, the current leader of the opposition, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April last year. He has argued that his expulsion was unlawful and has advocated for early parliamentary elections.

Khan’s requests have been rejected by his successor’s administration, Shahbaz Sharif, who claims the nationwide vote will occur as planned later this year.

In a video message, Khan later urged his supporters to return to their homes. Before the elections, he said he requested that his supporters disperse to avoid clashes with the police.

Link

India-Pakistan

Gunman opens fire inside courtroom killing top lawyer in northwest Pakistan

2023-01-17

"The father of the attacker had represented Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped the CIA find al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden"
[FoxNews] A gunman dressed as a lawyer shot and killed a prominent attorney inside a courtroom in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, police said.

The attacker, who was arrested at the scene, had opened fire at Abdul Latif Afridi, a former president of Pakistan’s lawyers union and a prominent figure in the community, fatally wounding him. The attack took place at the High Court in Peshawar.

The attacker, Adnan Khan, had previously accused Afridi of orchestrating the 2015 killing of his father, Samiullah Khan, who was also a lawyer, said Naeem Khan, a police officer.

It was unclear how the attacker managed to sneak into the court building with a handgun. The killing was condemned by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, government officials, politicians and lawyers.

In a statement, Sharif expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is the capital. His chief rival, the party of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan is in power in the provincial assembly.

Before his killing, Samiullah Khan, the father of the attacker, had represented Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped the CIA find al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was killed in 2011 by Navy SEALs in a raid on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The physician ran a fake vaccination campaign that helped locate and identify bin Laden. The doctor and the lawyer killed on Monday are not related.

In 2012, Pakistan sentenced Shakil Afridi to 33 years in prison on charges of allegedly providing money and medical treatment to Islamic militants in a former tribal region. Afridi and his family have denied those charges.

Pakistan was outraged over being kept in the dark ahead of the SEALs operation. Washington has demanded Afridi’s release but Islamabad has resisted the demand, saying he violated Pakistani law. The doctor was never formally charged in bin Laden’s case.

Khaama Press adds:

The police arrested the perpetrator and identified him as Adnan Afridi. The attacker was related to the Afridi tribe, and the incident happened due to personal enmity, according to the findings of the police.

The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar

...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
high court bar association described the terror incident as security lapse and criticized how a gunman managed to reach the bar room, and shoot Afridi.

Following the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and many high-ranking Pak politicians and public figures condemned the brutal attack on the senior lawyer and expressed their deep condolences to the family and relatives of the victim.

More from Dawn:

Afridi, 80, was sitting in the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar High Court bar room with other lawyers when the attacker shot up him, according to the police. He was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital but could not survive.

The police claimed that the attacker, identified as Adnan Samiullah Afridi, was arrested from the scene of the crime and moved to East Cantonment Police Station where a case was registered.

An officer at the cop shoppe told Dawn that the suspect had confessed to the crime and that he had killed the victim over a family feud.

‘A PROGRESSIVE VOICE NO MORE’
Afridi’s killing marks the end of an era and has left the legal fraternity and his admirers shaken.

Latif Afridi, commonly known as Latif Lala, has left behind a legacy of a decades-long struggle for civil liberties, democracy, rule of law, and the rights of people, especially those belonging to the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Born in 1943, he had done his LLB from the University of Peshawar in 1968 and his career as a lawyer spanned over five decades. His election as the president of the Supreme Court

...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
Bar Association in 2020 and multiple tenures as the president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association is a testimony to his popularity among the lawyer community.

He had also remained the vice chairman and a member of the Pakistain Bar Council.

He was also a blunt critic of militancy in the region and often called for a clear state policy on terrorism. He was also vocal against the military’s interference in politics and termed the practice usurpation of the fundamental rights of people.

During his lifetime, Latif Lala was known for his progressive politics. During his political career, he largely remained associated with the Awami National Party
founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986. Part of the PPP-led cabinet 2008-13. The ANP is considered left wing, advocating for secularism, democratic socialism, public sector government, and economic egalitarianism....
, with which he stayed until a few years ago. Before his death, he was a part of the National Democratic Party — a recently-formed party led by North Wazoo politician Mohsin Dawar.

Link

India-Pakistan

Usman Buzdar becomes Punjab chief minister

2018-08-20

[ARABNEWS] Ending the decade-long dominance of the Sharif family, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
’s (PTI) nominee, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has been elected chief minister of Punjab, the biggest province in the country.

In the election on Sunday in 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, Usman Buzdar secured 186 votes ‐ the minimum required number to become the leader of the House consisting of 371 members.

His rival, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif

...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
, son of former three-time Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, could bag only 159 votes.

The seven members of the Pakistain People’s Party (PPP) abstained from the process.

The PML-Q politicians and Rah-e-Haq party members also voted for the PTI candidate.

The win of the PTI nominee, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has ended the 30-year supremacy of the Pakistain Moslem League - Nawaz (PML-N) in the political realm of the province.

The PML-N ruled the province from 1988 to 1990 when the elder Sharif, Mian Nawaz Sharif

... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...
, served as the chief minister and gave a tough time to his political rival, the late Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
, who was then prime minister.

The PML-N then formed the government in the province in 1993 and Ghulam Hyder Wyne was the party nominee for the slot of chief minister.

The PML-N again gained power in 1997 and the younger Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, became chief minister of the province.

The ruled continued until the bloodless coup of Gen.

Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
.

During Gen. Musharraf’s regime, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi served as the chief minister from 2002 to 2007.

PML-N regained its glory in the 2008 elections and Mian Shahbaz Sharif became the chief minister. The rule continued for two consecutive terms (2008-20013 and 2013-18) ‐ 10 years.

In the 2018 election, though, the PML-N emerged as the single largest party in the province by securing 129 seats but the number was not enough to form the government and on Sunday PTI candidate Buzdar ended their supremacy in Punjab politics.

Link

India-Pakistan

Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif sentenced to 10 years in jail

2018-07-07

[The Guardian] Corruption charges related to purchase of London flats, with verdict likely to affect election.

The former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption in a verdict likely to influence the general election on 25 July.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anti-graft court, ruled that Sharif and his family laundered money in the 1990s to pay for four luxury apartments in Park Lane, central London, drawing on allegations that resurfaced in the Panama Papers leak, published by the Guardian and others in 2016.

The court also sentenced Sharif’s daughter and presumed political heir, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, to seven years’ imprisonment, fined the family £10m and ordered the seizure of the Avenfield properties.

“The Pakistani nation and the PML-N [Pakistani Muslim League (Nawaz), Sharif’s party] reject this decision,” Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif, told reporters. “This is a dark chapter in the history of this country. There was no solid legal evidence in the entire case.”

Sharif, who has been at the sickbed of his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, in London, did not attend the hearing. The court earlier denied his request for a week-long delay to the verdict while she is on a respirator after treatment for throat cancer.

In July last year, the supreme court removed Sharif from office and ordered the NAB trial, before barring him from politics for life. The 68-year-old claims his legal troubles are the result of a military-backed conspiracy; allegedly in revenge for attempts to assert civilian control of foreign policy and put the former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason. It is expected that Sharif will launch an appeal.

The punishment of Maryam, who received an additional one-year sentence for presenting forged documents in court, may see control of the party shift to Shahbaz Sharif, who has pursued a more conciliatory approach with the army.

Imran Khan, the former cricketer and leader of the main opposition party the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has accused Sharif of maligning Pakistan’s institutions to save himself. “Adiala jail is ready for you,” he said before the verdict, also claiming that Sharif was using his wife’s illness to “emotionally blackmail” voters.

The verdict’s electoral impact will depend on Sharif’s response, according to the columnist Mosharraf Zaidi. If he returns to Pakistan and goes to jail, the “visuals” would likely add to sympathy for the PML-N, providing a “cherry on top” of the party’s argument that its leader has been unfairly victimised, he said. Should Sharif stay in London, the party may suffer; with Sharif absent from the campaign trail, the pollsters Gallup revealed on Wednesday that the PTI had closed the gap to a single point, with support for the PML-N dropping to 26% nationwide.

Sharif has long struggled to explain how the Avenfield flats came into his family’s possession. Family members initially told different stories. During the NAB trial, his defence claimed that a Qatari investment fund gave the expensive properties to the family to repay a debt owed to Sharif’s father. Commentators last year mocked a letter from a Qatari prince apparently testifying to that deal as a rabbit pulled out of a hat.

Still, analysts point to a variety of events that suggest a campaign by Pakistan’s deep state to hurt the PML-N ahead of the vote. The process has left “little doubt that the system is geared to get Mr Sharif”, said Zaidi. The NAB has arrested several PML-N members in recent weeks and in May its chairman was ridiculed for ordering an investigation into Sharif over spurious claims in a newspaper article that he laundered almost $5bn to India.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Tashfeen Malik linked to Red Mosque in Pak-land

2015-12-05

The woman who took part in the ISIS-inspired San Bernardino massacre is linked to her native country's most notorious radical mosque, American officials believe.

Sources have told Daily Mail Online that US officials handed over information to their Pakistani counterparts about links between Tashfeen Malik and the Red Mosque in Islamabad.

The Red Mosque. Of course she was. Why on earth would she be linked to a "moderate" mosque...

The mosque is infamous for its links to violence and authorities in Pakistan are now considering taking action against its preacher, Maulana Abdul Aziz, after the disclosures by US officials.

It is unclear currently how law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the US have connected Malik to the mosque.

Perhaps because they did the leg-work they should have done in the beginning?

Radical preacher Maulana (a title given to Islamic scholars) Abdul Aziz runs the Red Mosque in Islamabad, which US officials say is linked to Tashfeen Malik, wife of Syed Farook.

The Red Mosque - Lal Masjid - is at the center of Islamabad has become known for its close association with Islamic fundamentalism. A year ago its chief cleric openly spoke of his support for ISIS.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Wednesday, a US intelligence official told Daily Mail Online that his agency was investigating Sayeed Farook's ties to known terror groups abroad, saying: 'The United States will leave no stone unturned.

'This is what we do. If he has ever communicated with ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, or any other known Islamic threat group, we'll find out.'

After the fact...

American officials have now held crisis talks with one of Pakistan's most senior figures Shahbaz Sharif, brother of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, at the country's High Commission in London, sources revealed. Sources with knowledge of the meeting told Daily Mail Online that the US had handed over 'some proofs' of links to the Red Mosque.

Pakistani authorities were described as 'seriously thinking' of how to take action against Aziz, the chief cleric of the mosque.

Malik was born in Pakistan and lived there until the age of two then raised in Saudi Arabia, where she lived in Riyadh where her father, Gulzar Ahmed Malik is thought still to live. Saudi sources told ABC News that she had traveled back and forward between the two countries.

She returned to Pakistan in 2010 to study pharmacy at the Bahauddin Zakariyah University in Multan. The city, in the south of the Punjab, is believed to be where her family originally came from. Public records show that she was a high-achieving student. There are conflicting accounts of her educational achievements. She completed a three-year master's degree in pharmacy.

She was also listed as being in the fourth year of a D Pharm degree in 2014, although she may not have completed it.

Some serious basic chemistry coursework required for a Pharm D. In case you're wondering if she would be comfortable mixing up pipe bombs in the Cali love shack...

Intelligence agencies will be examining her time in the Punjab, the country's most populous province, where there has been a growing Pakistani Taliban threat. But the link to the Red Mosque may prompt the most rapid action by Pakistani authorities.

Don't count on it. When 9/11 hit and we went after Afghanistan, George Bush and Colin Powell had the stones to tell Pervez Musharraf that either he'd cooperate or they'd deal with the immediate next president of Pakistan. I sure don't see Champ and Jahwn Kerry doing that to Nawaz...

Aziz shares an ethnic background with Malik, coming from the Pakistani Punjab. He was born in Rojhan, around 200 miles from where she studied. It is so far unclear if she and the notorious cleric share a tribal background too.

What are the odds...

Malik came to the US last year on a K-1 - fiance's - visa and received a green card after marrying Farook. The two are believed to have met online and married abroad, possibly in Saudi Arabia. Farook's lawyer has denied that he had traveled to Pakistan.

All that may be a cover story: the "match" was arranged by ISIS to get her into the country and work with Farook on the terrorist raid.

Link

India-Pakistan

Court gets Chiniot SHO arrested

2015-01-29

[DAWN] Hearing a petition against illegal detention of Ramzan Sugar Mill employee’s wife and his four children, the Lahore High Court on Wednesday came down on Punjab police and placed the Chiniot Saddar station house officer under court arrest.

Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu also summoned the DPO and other police officials.

A bailiff had recovered Amina Ali and her four children from Sadar police station of Chiniot. Woman’s maternal uncle Prof Mustajab Qureshi had filed the petition for the recovery of the mother and her children.

Advocate Aftab Ahmad Bajwa, petitioner’s counsel, told the court Salman Shahbaz, son of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, got Muhammad Ali, husband of Amina, abducted through police and shifted to unknown place. Ali was assistant cane manager at the sugar mill belonged to Sharif family, he said.

The counsel said a police team raided the house of Ali and also picked up his wife along with the minors.

Amina, a position holder in her master’s degree from Punjab University, told the court she was a teacher in a government school. She said the police also abducted her mother from their Model Town (Lahore) house and later threw her outside the house. Requesting the court to get her husband recovered, she burst into tears.

Sadar SHO Muhammad Younas denied the charges and told the court he never saw the woman before.

Justice Sidhu lamented that the falsity of police department had become a universal truth. He observed the affairs of Punjab police were more depressing than other provinces rather it had become an unbridled horse.

The judge got the SHO arrested by the court’s security and summoned the Chiniot DPO along with other police officials on the next hearing. He also directed the petitioner’s counsel to bring the mother of Amina and her children in the court on Thursday (today).

Link

India-Pakistan

Model Town violence: LHC upholds decision to file FIR against PM, 20 others

2014-08-27

[DAWN] LAHORE: Upholding a sessions court's ruling, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday ordered police to register an FIR against the PML-N's top leadership -- including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif -- over violence that took place in Lahore's Model Town in June.

At least 11 workers of Tahirul Qadri's Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were killed and over 100 people injured in clashes with police on June 17 in the Model Town locality.

PAT workers had submitted an application with police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against a total of 21 people, which included the prime minister, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, and others.

An additional district and sessions judge had ordered police to register the FIR on the request of the PAT, although the order was challenged in the LHC by four PML-N federal ministers -- Khawaja Asif, Pervaiz Rasheed, Saad Rafique and Abid Sher Ali.

The case was heard by Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa of the LHC, who also directed the joint investigation team (JIT) to submit its report in court before the verdict was released.

Reading out a short order, the high court upheld the lower court's ruling and dismissed the federal ministers' request not to file the FIR.

Earlier today, the court dismissed a request by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to become a party in the appeal challenging the sessions court ruling.

The request was filed by Zubair Khan Niazi on behalf of his party. However, the court dismissed it saying the PTI was not an aggrieved group and hence had no cause to become party in the case.

Link

India-Pakistan

Clashes erupt during anti-govt long march in Pakistan

2014-08-16

Clashes broke out on Friday as protesters led in convoys by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and a Canada-based cleric advanced on the Pakistani capital to try to topple the government they say was elected by fraud.

Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri say the May 2013 general election that brought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to power in a landslide was rigged, and are demanding he resign and hold new polls. They plan to rally in Islamabad to press their claims, at the end of a "long march" — in reality a motorised cavalcade — which set off on Thursday from the eastern city of Lahore, around 300km away.

The clashes raised tensions ahead of the protesters' arrival in Islamabad, which has been on a virtual lockdown in recent days. Police and witnesses said activists from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party clashed with supporters of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) in Gujranwala, some 200km southeast of Islamabad.

Khan said shots were fired on his march, telling ARY television news: "They threw stones at us while standing at police vans. They fired bullets at us."

However, police said there were no shots and an AFP photographer at the scene also heard no gunfire.

"Workers of PTI and PML-N clashed in Gujranwala and threw stones at each other," a police spokeswoman said. "There was no firing incident."

The AFP photographer said a group of up to 40 youths who were following the convoy and shouting slogans clashed with workers from Khan's party before being dispersed by police.

Marvi Memon, a PML (N) member of parliament and spokeswoman, said the events in Gujranwala were "regrettable" but said there was no shooting and her party's workers had been provoked by what she called Khan and Qadri's "violent speeches".

They cursed her mustache...

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the premier's brother, ordered an investigation into the clashes and appealed for calm.

Supporters of PTI, which came third in last year's election, lined up to welcome the convoy in towns along the Grand Trunk Road which links Lahore and Islamabad. Exact numbers on the march were difficult to judge, and more people are likely to join it as it passes through towns along the route, but Khan already hailed it a success.

"I can only see that the monarchy is nearing its end," Khan said, referring to Sharif. "The people have decided as I had said that one million people will come to Islamabad, and they have come out."

A spokesman for Qadri, the head of his own Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) movement, said that their convoy was further along the road to Islamabad than PTI's, in the town of Jhelum, some 120km south of the capital.

"Security in Islamabad has been ramped up in recent days, with more than 20,000 police and security forces on the streets.

After days of speculation that the authorities would seek to stop marchers entering the city, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Thursday that both parties would be allowed to hold rallies.

Almost all roads into the city had been blocked with barbed wire and shipping containers, but many barriers were removed on Friday. Government officials have accused the march organisers of trying to derail democracy and Sharif said the marches were a distraction from more pressing issues.

PML-N spokeswoman Memon said Khan had ignored constitutional routes to address his grievances, including an offer by Sharif to set up a judicial commission to investigate rigging allegations. "All his efforts are undemocratic and unconstitutional and an effort to derail democracy," she said, adding that the march was a distraction from more pressing issues.

Link

India-Pakistan

A children's hospital that is just a signboard

2014-07-16

[DAWN] In the last nine years, the government installed only a signboard inscribed with a slogan "Thank you Uncle Shahbaz! Someone thought of a hospital for us" at a piece of land earmarked for 600-bed Children's Hospital.
That'd be Shahbaz Sharif, natch.
The hospital for Faisalabad was announced in 2005, however, nothing except the barren land can be seen there. On the other hand, ratio of child mortality is increasing in the district with every passing day.

Link

India-Pakistan

Waziristan operation defining battle in nation's history: PM

2014-06-20

SLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that Pakistan is fighting a defining battle of the nation's history and terrorists will be defeated.

The prime minister made these remarks while chairing a meeting on national security, which agreed that the operational success in North Waziristan is linked to national unity, peace and stability. It said there is a need to extend full support to the troops in the combat area. The meeting resolved that all possible resources would be allocated to look after the IDPs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Prime Minister Nawaz said that the operation "Zarb-e-Azb" requires countrywide harmony, and added that a peaceful environment in the country would benefit the soldiers fighting in the North Waziristan Agency.

He expressed confidence that militants would be defeated in this war and the internally displaced persons from North Waziristan would be provided with every possible facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Information Minister Parvaiz Rashid, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq and SAFRON Minister Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch. During the meeting the Punjab chief minister briefed the prime minister about the Lahore incident. The chief minister said that "severe action" was being taken against those people who were involved, and no compromise would be made on justice.

The prime minister is said to have showed his displeasure over the role of his close associates in the entire saga. According to informed insiders of the PM Secretariat, Prime Minister Nawaz kept asking Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Hamza Shahbaz who ordered opening of fire on the unarmed civilians. "I will not let it go," the PM reportedly said. Nawaz Sharif, according to sources, was angry over the fact that he was kept in the dark while the protest was developing into a tragic incident.

Link

India-Pakistan

Cops booked under ATA in rape case

2014-03-18

[DAWN] MUZAFFARGARH: On the orders of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Bet Mir Hazar police on Sunday started the paperwork but haven't done much else against coppers accused of negligence in girl rape case.

The case was registered against DSP Jatoi Sadar circle Chaudhry Asghar, Bet Mir Hazar SHO Shahid Husain, ex-SHO Mohammad Idrees and investigation officer Zulfiqar Ali under section 7-ATA, Police Order 155c, 201, section 322 of PPC. Police incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
only SI Zulfiqar Ali while Inspector Idrees, DSP Asghar and SHO Shahid managed to move away from the scene.

On Sunday, police produced alleged rapist Nadir before the local magistrate who granted his three-day physical remand.

On Saturday night, Dera Ghazi Khan District Police Officer Dr Abid Husain took charge of Muzaffargarh DPO, claiming that the case had been registered against officials for negligence in duty and corruption. Dr Abid said a team had been formed to make arrests.

Link

India-Pakistan

The mystery of Raiwind palace ownership

2014-01-04

[DAWN] The ownership of the Raiwind palace spread over thousands of acres is a mystery because it has never been mentioned in the statements of assets and liabilities of Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
and other members of his family in politics.

Even latest declarations submitted by Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif, son-in-law Captain Mohammad Safdar and nephew Hamza Shahbaz to the Election Commission of Pakistain are silent on the ownership title of the huge property.

But Information Minister Pervez Rasheed told Dawn that the property was in the name of Shamim Sharif, mother of the Sharif brothers.

The statements of assets show that the Sharif brothers have much in common. Both live in houses not owned by them. Nawaz Sharif lives in a house owned by his mother while Shahbaz Sharif resides in a house owned by his spouse Nusrat.

Both use Land Cruisers gifted to them by unspecified persons. Both have multiple foreign and local currency accounts, own huge agricultural land and have investments in industrial units like sugar, textile and paper mills.

The most visible dissimilarity is the rapid growth in the value of assets owned by the elder brother and continuous decline in the value of assets possessed by the younger brother. Another dissimilarity is that Shahbaz Sharif has two properties in the United Kingdom, but Nawaz Sharif has no assets abroad.

Till the time of elections in May last year, Shahbaz was richer than Nawaz -- though none of them a billionaire -- but things are different now. According to the recent declaration, the value of Nawaz Sharif's wealth has registered a six-fold increase in just 12 months to make him a billionaire for the first time.

According to statements of assets and liabilities, the net worth of Nawaz Sharif's assets was Rs261.6 million in 2012 and of Shahbaz Sharif Rs336.9m.

In 2011, the assets of the two brothers were worth Rs166m and Rs393m, indicating an increase of Rs95.6m and decrease of Rs56.5m, respectively.

In 2013, the value of assets of Nawaz Sharif ballooned to Rs1.82bn while that of Shahbaz Sharif slipped further to Rs142m.

Incidentally, Shahbaz Sharif has more stakes abroad than in the country. He owns properties and bank account worth Rs138.28m in the UK. He has three loans worth 117.10m in Pak rupees in British banks.

The younger brother has not disclosed the value of five properties with net area of around 676 kanal in Lahore -- all gifted by his mother.

He has Rs51.96m cash in hand and Rs7.27m in his sole bank account in the country.

Mrs Nusrat, the first wife of Mr Shahbaz, had assets worth Rs273.46m on June 30 last year. It was Rs224.56m a year earlier. She has Rs14.34m cash in hand and Rs1.95m in her five bank accounts.

The assets of Mrs Tehmina, the second wife of Shahbaz Sharif, are worth Rs9.83m. They were Rs7.64m last year.

She has five bank accounts -- two in Pound Sterling, one in dollar and two in Pak rupees, but the money in these accounts is only Rs23,770. She has cash in hand and prize bonds worth Rs750,000 and two cars.

Kalsoom Nawaz, the wife of Nawaz Sharif, has net wealth of Rs235.85m, which is much less than that of Mrs Nusrat Shahbaz.

Mrs Kalsoom has land and a house in Changa Gali, Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, worth Rs63.75m, a bungalow on Mall Road in Murree worth Rs100m, 88 kanal of land in Sheikhupura worth Rs70m, jewellery of Rs1.5m and shares in family businesses.

She has Rs67,555 cash in hand and Rs55,765 in banks.

Hamza Shahbaz is wealthier than his father with net assets of Rs250.46m. He has two wives. The wealth of his first wife is Rs2.45m and that of the second is Rs9.88m.

Capt Safdar's wealth is worth Rs14.23m. He owns a car which his wife Marium received as a gift from the UAE.

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