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India-Pakistan
Pak Purge:ECP moved to remove Imran's name as PTI chairman, declare party ineligible for electoral symbol
2023-10-04
[GEO.TV] The Election Commission of Pakistain (ECP) has been moved to remove former prime minister Imran Khan
...aka The Great Khan, who anti-establishment Pak premier, who was hounded out of office, arrested, jailed, and will likely be hung by his political opponents...
's name as 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....
 (PTI) chairman and declare the party ineligible for obtaining electoral symbol.

According to details available with Geo News, the electoral body will hear three separate petitions filed against the former ruling party on October 10 by Khalid Mehmood Khan and Mohammad Awn Saqlain.

Besides seeking the removal of Imran's name as party chairman in the ECP's record, Khan— in one of his petitions — has also sought the electoral body's action against PTI, alleging that the party is still receiving "prohibited funds from foreign entities".

Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, Agent 49 felt gingerly for his head. It was still there. He had been hoping differently...
 another application filed by Mohammad Awn Saqlain seeks PTI to be declared ineligible for electoral symbols under Section 215(4) of the Election Rules 2017.

The ECP will also hear a case against PTI's former leader Fawad Chaudhry for making "contemptuous" remarks and "intemperate" language against the electoral body and its officials.

It is pertinent to know that at present, PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan is imprisoned in Adiala jail in cipher case after the Federal Investigation Agency — in August — booked the PTI chief under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly misplacing and misusing the classified document for their vested political interests.

Separately, the electoral body has also fixed a preliminary hearing on October 10 in response to the application filed by Syed Aziz Ud Din Kaka Khel seeking the removal of biased cabinet members of the caretaker government to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections.

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India-Pakistan
Terrorist arrested in Battagram
2022-05-21
[Dawn] Police claimed to have arrested a terrorist carrying Rs1 million head money here the other day.

According to district police officer Tariq Mehmood Khan, the police launched an intelligence-based operation and arrested wanted terrorist Mujeebur Rehman, a resident of Mirani area of Battagram district.
That’s in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province
He said that the alleged terrorist was wanted to the law enforcement agencies for last 13 years in different cases. He said that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had fixed head money of Rs1 million for his arrest alive or dead.
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India-Pakistan
Saudis to execute Rs2bn Mansehra water scheme
2018-11-28
[DAWN] 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....
 MPA Babar Saleem Swati on Monday said the Saudi government would execute the Rs2 billion Mansehra
...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
 water supply scheme abandoned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency earlier this year.

"The PTI government is committed to addressing the chronic water issue in Mansehra city and its suburbs and will soon launch the mega water supply scheme with the financial assistance of the Saudi government," Mr Swati told a news conference here. The politician said the provincial government’s talks with the Saudi government on the project were almost finished and that Chief Minister Mehmood Khan would inaugurate work on it soon.
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India-Pakistan
Administrative control of Swat handed over to civil govt after 11 years
2018-10-23
[DAWN] Pakistain Army on Monday formally handed over administrative control of Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
to the civil government after restoring peace and the government’s writ in the militancy-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region.

In 2007, after the Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
 Pakistain had taken over Swat, armed forced were called in to prise the valley out of their possession ‐ a process that more than a decade later is now officially deemed complete.

"After almost eleven years we have made history with the handing-over of administrative powers to the civil administration," KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan said at a gathering also attended by 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 Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
 Corps Commander Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed Butt, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malakand, ministers, MPs and other army officers.

The chief minister regretted that turbans had destroyed the beautiful district by bombing schools, educational institutions, imposing various bans on women and killing innocent people.

He further said that the army, with the support of police, local administration and the people, has succeeded in uprooting militancy from Swat and restored peace.

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India-Pakistan
Abbasi, Sattar among former MNAs evicted from Parliament Lodges
2018-08-12
[DAWN] Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad police on Saturday launched an operation to free Parliament Lodges from former members of the parliament who were illegally dwelling in the government-owned facility, DawnNewsTV reported.

According to the authorities' list, 119 ex-politicians were illegally occupying the lodges, of which 30 have been evicted.

CDA today managed to free up the lodges allotted to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former MQM-P convener Farooq Sattar, former federal minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, Qaumi Watan Party Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao as well as Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai.

Malik Asad Sikandar, Bilal Virk, Raza Hayat Hiraj and Syed Ali Hasan Gilani's governmental residences have also been evicted.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
 Tallal Chaudhry and Abid Sher Ali ‐ both PML-N politicians who lost their seats in last month's polls ‐ have not yet vacated the lodges that were allotted to them when they were still members of the parliament.

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India-Pakistan
Five police officials found allegedly involved in running extortion racket in Karachi
2018-05-27
[DAWN] Five police officials have reportedly been found involved in extorting money from businessmen in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, West Zone Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Amir Farooqi said on Friday.

Of these, three coppers namely Liaquatabad SHO Rao Shabbir, Pak Colony's Constable Rana Saleem and Surjani's Constable Farzand Ali have been suspended pending an inquiry into their conduct.

Sharing details of the case, DIG West said that Super Market police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti Terrorism Act on the complaint of Syed Tabish Ejaz, an owner of a rent-a-car business.

Recently, four suspects repeatedly visited his shop, blackmailing him and threatening to destroy his business if he did not pay Rs25,000 to them on a monthly basis as bhatta (extortion).

In this regard, the accused persons received bhatta twice from him.

On May 21, one accused Rana Saleem sent a Whatsapp message to him and demanded extortion. When the complainant was paying him the extortion money near APWA Girls School at Dak Khana Liaquatabad, a police party reached there and enjugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
 the suspect red-handed.

During interrogation, the arrested accused, Rana Saleem reportedly disclosed that "DSP Mehmood Khan is supporting such illegal activities."

DIG Amir Farooqi said that the role of DSP Mehmood Khan in supporting criminals in illegal activities was "gross misconduct." Therefore, he has recommended to Additional Inspector General (AIG) Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar to remove him from the position.

Moreover, DIG Farooqi revealed that one inspector posted at Kharadar in South Zone was also allegedly involved in the extortion racket.

The senior officer said that during the initial probe, the held suspect Rana Saleem told the Sherlocks that his relative, also named Rana Saleem, and constable Farzand were taking bhatta from businessmen and others by threatening them.

Rana Saleem revealed that SHO Kharadar Rana Khushi is also a relative of his and has been running his ’special party’ there. Moreover, Inspector Rana Naveed and Liaquatabad SHO Rao Shabbir, also his relatives, were supporting Khushi, the interrogation report states.

The police investigation report also revealed that absconder policeman, Rana Saleem was also allegedly running a drug business in the SITE area.

The DIG West said that the arrested accused was running a gang in which girls were also being used for criminal activities.

"The held accused is running a network of criminals in which five coppers were also involved," said the DIG, adding that a "special party of police" was being used for criminal activities.

Link


India-Pakistan
Islamabad High Court overturns acquittal of Axact CEO in fake degrees case
2018-04-26
Good lord, is this case still going on?
[DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday overturned the acquittal of Axact chief executive officer Shoaib Sheikh and other officials of the company in the fake degrees case by a sessions court.

A two-member bench of the court comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict on an appeal of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against the acquittal.

Ordering a retrial of the case, the IHC ordered the sessions judge Islamabad (West) to decide the matter after hearing all the arguments afresh.

See: The spectacular crash of Shoaib Sheikh's digital empire

However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
 the court extended some relief to the accused by leaving open the option for them to submit new surety bonds to secure bail and avoid arrest.

During a hearing of the appeal last month, a law officer of the federal government had requested the IHC to order retrial of the Axact CEO and other officials of his IT company because they had been acquitted by a district and sessions judge after receiving a bribe.

Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan had said that despite admission of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Pervaizul Qadir Memon that he had taken a bribe for issuing a favourable verdict, the judgement was still intact.

Besides Axact, Sheikh also owns Bol TV network.

ADSJ Memon had acquitted Sheikh and others in the fake degrees case on October 31, 2016. Later the judge was sacked on February 15, 2018 due to his admission of receiving Rs5 million bribe for acquitting the accused.

Axact first came into the limelight in 2015 when a New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
 report titled "Fake Diplomas, Real Cash: Pak Company Axact Reaps Millions" outlined how the "secretive Pak software company" had allegedly earned millions of dollars from scams involving fake degrees, non-existent online universities and manipulation of customers.

Link


India-Pakistan
Govt wants de novo trial of Axact chief in fake degree case
2018-02-15
[DAWN] The federal government wanted a de novo trial of Axact
...the secretive Pakistani software company accused of taking hundreds of millions of dollars from scams involving fake degrees, non-existent online universities and manipulation of customers across 197 countries...
chief executive officer Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh and other members of the company in the fake degree case.

This was stated by Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan during the hearing of the appeal filed by Federal Inv­es­tigation Agency (FIA) against the acquittal of Mr Sheikh before a division bench of the Islam­abad High Court (IHC) headed by Justice Athar Minallah.

When the bench resumed the hearing of the FIA’s appeal on Tuesday, the DAG requested the court to remand this case back for a re-trial.
Link


India-Pakistan
Couple claims maid torture case a conspiracy by neighbours
2017-01-17
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: Though police are still investigating the child maid abuse case, initial statements of the judge and his wife recorded after the compromise with her parents claimed that they had paid Rs42,000 in advance for keeping her at their home.

Additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife in their statements recorded on January 3, the day when ADSJ Raja Asif Mehmood Khan and another ADSJ Atta Rabbani confirmed her pre-arrest bail and handed over the custody of Taiba to her parents, also claimed that they had been the girl’s guardians since she was seven-and-a-half years old.

The judge’s wife in her statement also said the girl was living in the servant quarter of the house.

However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
 before the Supreme Court, Mohammad Azam, the father of Taiba, 10, testified that he had received Rs18,000 from a woman who provided his minor daughter as a maid to the ADSJ on August 14, 2014, against Rs3,000 per month.

Denying all the charges of torture, the judge and his wife in their statements said a few neighbours allegedly hatched a conspiracy against them. The couple said they had kept the girl on a humanitarian basis due to poverty of her parents.

In initial statements, judge and his wife said they had been Taiba’s guardians since she was seven
The judge and his spouse were booked after the minor girl accused them of keeping her in a wrongful confinement, burning her hand over a missing broom, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in storeroom and threatening her of even worse.

Link


India-Pakistan
Terror and confusion
2016-08-11
[DAWN] ONE of the most insidious effects of terror attacks is the confusion that they sow, and the way in which they magnify the divisions within society. In part, this is the strategy of the terrorist, especially when the target is civilians.

But what happened in Quetta was calculated. Somebody hatched a plan to first assassinate the president of the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
 Bar Association, then have a jacket wallah wait at the hospital where the body would inevitably be taken, anticipating thon the lam numbers of lawyers would congregate there.

So the first question naturally arises: why target lawyers? Was it just to produce a large body count, or was there a specific reason why lawyers were selected for this gruesome deed?

Even before the bodies had been fully counted up and identified, an official narrative of sorts reared its head. This is a conspiracy against CPEC, hatched by RAW
... India's Research and Analysis Wing, Pakistain's equivalent of the Boogie Man...
. Following this claim, a tale follows: the idea is to destabilise the country and derail the budding partnership with China that Pakistain is so carefully nurturing.

But the official narrative, stated thus, makes little sense. First of all, how do they know that this act was perpetrated by RAW with the intention to derail CPEC? Considering the narrative emerged faster than the dust settled, was it driven by any empirical findings in the aftermath or was it simple surmising?

Second, how does targeting lawyers destabilise the country and contribute to the derailment of CPEC? Given how calculated the strike was, whoever carried it out would naturally also have calculated the impact it was going to have. And it’s hard to see how the impact could in any way contribute to the derailment of CPEC.

Another narrative emerged in parliament, and was echoed in a gathering of the legal fraternity held in Quetta on Wednesday. How could this happen given how saturated Quetta is with military presence, with intelligence operatives on every street, as parliamentarian Mehmood Khan Achakzai pointed out? The attack, regardless of who the perpetrators were, represented a failure of security and intelligence, which is largely in the hands of the military in Quetta.

Link


India-Pakistan
Senators tell army to stay within its constitutional limits
2015-11-13
Fat chance...
ISLAMABAD: Days after a corps commanders conference led by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif expressed worries over government’s ‘inaction’ to match initiatives taken by the armed forces to secure long-term gains of the operations against terrorists, legislators in the Upper House of parliament on Thursday called upon all the institutions to work within their constitutional limits.

Speaking on points of order in Senate, the lawmakers recognised the sacrifices rendered by the security forces in the war on terror but maintained it was the responsibility of every citizen and institution of the country to protect the constitution.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar pointed out that government had backtracked on commitments regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC); abolished Ministry of Human Rights and was still unable to appoint Foreign and Defence ministers which spoke volumes about poor governance on part of the government. However, he questioned the aptness of the ISPR statement on the issue as well. “Whether the announcement of government’s poor performance should come after corps commanders meeting? Isn’t it itself an example of poor governance?” he asked.

Babar said that the military leadership should have conveyed their concerns in private. He said that poor governance was there in civil departments, judiciary and armed forces as well. He said that the way adopted by army commanders to raise the issue was wrong.

He said that the army was fighting terrorism but there were questions which we never asked by anyone. “We never asked even about the names of foreign militants which the army every other day says it has killed in operations,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan said he was the biggest critic of the government’s performance but would, along with other opposition parties, always stand by the government. He endorsed the allegation of poor performance by the government but said the ISPR did not have any right to criticise the prime minister in public.

The opposition leader noted that members from the ruling party were perhaps afraid as no one came from PML-N to raise voice in the National Assembly when Mehmood Khan Achakzai took up the issue.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani reiterated that all the institutions should work within their ambit. He once again advised the government to call an in-camera session of parliament to discuss the issues relating to foreign policy and the national action plan (NAP). And in case government does not want to hold a joint session of parliament, Rabbani suggested, a special session of the Upper House be called behind the closed doors.

Rabbani said that the institutions should work within their limits and adhere to rules of business in their ‘modes of communication’.

Nauman Wazir from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) said that government’s poor performance was evident and it had done nothing in FATA.

Professor Sajid Mir said that the army had always tried to rule from behind the scene and made efforts to control affairs of the government. Army should remain within its limits and try not to become ‘supervisor’ of the civilian government, he said.

Usman Kakar from the PkMAP said that the intelligence agencies were interfering in internal and external affairs of the country and the government should not compromise on supremacy of parliament.

Senator Mohsin Laghari said be it earthquakes or floods, army is called because civil institutions are not capable of fully shouldering their responsibilities. However, he said, army should not have talked about governance in the public.

The House also held discussion on the first biannual report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) award. Members emphasised the finalisation of new NFC award at the earliest. They said the new NFC award should transfer resources to the provinces not only on the basis of population and backwardness but also keep in view the sustainable development goals.

Senator Sherry Rehman said that it was unfortunate that one of the provinces had not nominated members for the NFC award so far.
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India-Pakistan
Four policemen shot dead in Quetta
2015-06-13
[DAWN] Four coppers were killed in an attack on their van in Pashtoonabad area here on Thursday.

It was the second attack on police force in a week in the area. Four coppers were killed there five days ago. And five people belonging to the Shia Hazara community were bumped off on Sunday in an attack on a shop near Bacha Khan Chowk not far from here.

According to official sources, a police party was chasing a suspect when four gunnies shot up their van near Mannan Chowk. A policeman left the van and tried to engage the assailants. But he was hit by several bullets and died.

The police personnel who was struck down in his prime were identified as Assistant Sub Inspector Mohammad Wazir, constables Zahir Khan and Mehmood Khan and driver Kalimullah.

"The killing of eight coppers in a week is part of a plan hatched by enemies against the China-Pakistain Economic Corridor," IG Amlish Khan said. But such attacks, he added, could not detract the police force from the fight against terrorism.

Quetta police chief Abdul Razzak Cheema said that 33 suspects enjugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
 after the June 6 killing of four coppers had divulged some information which would help police to lay hands on the terrorist group behind the two attacks.

He said that there would be some changes in the security plan, including the use of cycle of violences by patrol teams.
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