A video of a girl with a CCTV camera set on her head has gone viral on social media. She explains that her father did this to keep her safe.
The video shows a girl being interviewed with a large CCTV camera mounted on her head.
She explains that her father had installed a camera to monitor her activities and track her movements to ensure her safety.
When an interviewer asked if she had any objections to this, she replied that she did not because she believes it is for her security.
The girl told the interviewer that her father is her security guard, who monitors her everywhere through this camera.
She added that her father took this step in light of the Karsaz accident in Karachi, where a woman driving her luxury car fatally ran over a father and daughter. She asserted that no one is safe and that the incident could repeat with her.
Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to an underage driver involved in the fatal car accident in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase Seven that resulted in the death of six members of a family last year.
Proceedings of the case
Suspect Afnan Shafqat’s lawyer stated that three co-suspects have been found innocent in police investigation. Additonally, the geofencing of the incident also showed that witnesses were not present at the scene.
The court also inquired whether the suspect, who was 17 and a half years old at the time of the accident, was declared a juvenile. To this the lawyer confirmed that the police declared the suspect a juvenile in the charge sheet.
He said as per law, if the trial does not start within six months, bail should be granted.
Victim’s lawyer opposed the bail and argued that the discrepancies in the versions of his client were due to state of shock when he gave the initial statement and provided a supplementary statement once he regained his composure.
He stated in front of the court that the statements of the witnesses are not relevant to the bail petition.
The bench observed that the decision on bail would be based on the available evidence.
The victims’ lawyer told court that the suspect did not merely hit the vehicle accidentally, but he forcefully hit it with intent.
Forensic report
The court was told a forensic report of the vehicles was still pending and a medical board had been formed to assess the juvenile status of the suspect.The lawyer argued that a decision on the bail should be made in light of the medical board’s report.
Bail granted
Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi, the head of the judicial bench allowed the bail petition of the suspect after furnishing surety bonds.
Case so far
The Punjab police is yet to receive the test reports of Afnan Shafqat, the primary accused in the death of six members of a family while driving a car without a license in DHA Phase 7, Lahore.
According to sources, the Polygraph and Photogrammetric test of Afnan was conducted by the Punjab Forensic Science Agency. The polygraph test is conducted to detect lies while the photogrammetric test is a part of forensic analysis where an accurate 3D reconstruction of an accident or crime scene is done especially in cases where position, distance, and perspective are important to determine.
However, police has not received the Ossification test conducted to determine the age of Afnan. Police will further proceed with the case after receiving the results of reports, reports The News.
On November 23, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore handed over the underage driver Afnan Shafqat to the police for five days on physical remand. During the hearing, the investigation officer (IO) of the case told the court that the age of suspect was over 17 and a medical test was required to determine his actual age.
Meanwhile, Judge Abher Gul Khan extended the pre-arrest bail of the suspect’s father Shafqat Ali till Dec 4, reports Dawn.
Previously, another suspect named Ibrahim, a friend of the teenage boy Afnan, also sitting in the car with him when the car got into an accident in Defence Phase 7 has been arrested by the police.
According to a report by the Dawn News, four of the friends were there in the car when the tragic accident took place. They were Saad, Ali and Ibrahim along the prime accused Afnan.
The police has started the process of Ossification to determine the age of the suspect. Lahore Investigation DIG Imran Kishwar said the decision was made following the conflicting reports/claims either he was underage or a teen. Initially, the police were told that the prime suspect was 17 years old, he said.
The Ossification is a test that determines age based on the degree of fusion of bone by taking the x-ray of a few bones. This process of the bone formation is based on the fusion of joints between birth and the age of 25 years in an individual.
The police added terrorism and murder charges to the already registered case against a teenage boy who killed six of a family in DHA Phase 7, Lahore. On the other hand, head of the family who was in the other car expressed his disappointment over this new development. Rafaqat Ali claims that the boy killed his family members over a grudge.
He alleges that the boy was not alone at the time when he ‘deliberately’ hit the car of his family while driving his four-wheeler at high speed (over 100 km/h) at Phase VII. He also mentioned that the two other accomplices were also accompanying him in the car at the time of the incident, reports Dawn.
The prime suspect had a prior brawl with his family members when they chased his car on the road, to which he demanded the addition of more sections to the FIR to punish all the suspects.
The Police has stated that the boy was chasing the family in the car and on interruption at a point he had threatened the family that he would not let them drive in DHA’s jurisdiction, another act that reflected his ‘mindset’.
The police had sent notices to the accomplices as mentioned in Rafaqat’s statement.
New revelations are coming up as the investigation continues in the case of a teenage boy who killed six people of a family in a road accident in DHA Lahore.
Crackdown on Young drivers
In light of the accident, the Lahore chief traffic officer (CTO) said the police lodged 998 cases against underage drivers during the last three days and sent many of them behind bars, besides seizing their vehicles, including motorbikes.
Caretaker CM Naqvi also issued a directive to be strict against underage drivers.
The proceedings of the case up till now
Previously, In a geo.tv report, Azam Malik reported that the teenage boy, Afnan, was stalking the car of the deceased victims after he had a brawl with them. The driver of the car Hasnain, reprimanded Afnan for harassing the women travelling with him, raising the speed to dodge Afnan but the boy kept following him.
A third car that was following them was being driven by Hasnain’s father. At some point, near Y Block’s Nala, the two of them stopped the car to scold Afnan but the boy remained adamant and cursed at the two in response.
The stance of the Punjab government
The Punjab government has stated that Afnan hit Hasnain’s vehicle near McDonald Chowk in Phase 7 at a speed of 160 km/hr. As a result, Hasnain’s car overturned and fell some 70 feet away. Four people came to rescue Afnan but left him after seeing the rage of the crowd. Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has told IG Punjab to add sections of terrorism against the accused.
The proceedings of the Court
The family of the victims have alleged that the police is not cooperating with them. Previously, the judicial magistrate at Cantonment Courts on Tuesday sent the boy to jail on judicial remand whereas the police asked for a physical remand. The counsel for the suspect denied the charges, leading to the magistrate turning down the police’s request.
The catch in the case
The case lodged by the police is in line with the statements of the witnesses that the boy was driving the car alone which led to the accident, claiming the lives of six people including two children but a video statement released by the Lahore Traffic Police on Twitter showed the boy himself claiming that he and his friends were going to the McDonalds in Phase Seven in a high speed when they hit the victim’s car.
The federal government has asked the Supreme Court to transfer the dam fund to the public account.
A case related to advertisement published by UBL and HBL for raising of funds for Diamar Bhasha and Mohmand Dam was heard by a four-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa. The bench included Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Irfan Saadat and Justice Shahid Bilal.
During the hearing, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman said, “We have filed a miscellaneous application seeking the release of the money of dams funds from the account that was opened by the State Bank under the supervision of the Supreme Court.” He argued that under law, money received by or deposited with the Supreme Court or any other court established under the authority of the federation shall be credited to the Public Account of the federation. Thus, this amount should be transferred to the federal government and WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority).
Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa inquired how much money is in dams funds, to which lawyer WAPDA Saad Rasool said that total money collected are Rs18.64 billion, out of that Rs9.56 billion were generated locally, while overseas Pakistanis contributed Rs1.9 billion, and profit earned on it is Rs7.1 billion.
Chief Justice also inquired about how the case was initiated.
The lawyer replied that the fund was initiated in 2018 following a suo motu notice taken by the then Chief Justice Saqib Nisar for the dams’ construction.
The lawyer also said that Supreme Court’s implementation bench had held 17 hearings on the matter, and the progress reports on dams’ construction had been submitted in all of them.
The Chief Justice asked as to why was this done because the main authorities responsible for the construction of dams are either Parliament or federal government.
He told the court that this was done as per the order of the Supreme Court and the undertaking of WAPDA chairman.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan asked WAPDA’s lawyer that there will be many other projects of WAPDA, does the Supreme Court supervise every project of WAPDA?
The counsel then told the court that there were disputes between the private parties on the issue of dam construction. Thus the top court assigned the case to itself to hear the disputes of the private parties instead of the relevant courts.
However, WAPDA’s lawyer requested that the disputes of all the private parties be referred to the relevant courts.
Chief Justice wrote in the court order that in this case they will decide that the amount of dams funds should be kept in the account of the Supreme Court or not? Where is the power of the execution bench written in the constitution to decide the case?
The Supreme Court has no power to enforce its order.
The case was adjourned for three weeks. Additionally, the court remarked that it is appropriate to call former Attorney General Khalid Javed and Anwar Mansoor for Supreme Court’s assistance.
Farkhunda Farooq, daughter of a labourer from Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, topped the intermediate exams for the Bahawalpur Board.
Farkhunda Farooq, the genius daughter of a labourer from Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, stood first in the intermediate exams of Bahawalpur Board.
Farkhunda, a resident of Toba 123, a town on the outskirts of Rahim Yar Khan, surpassed all the other students by securing 1084 marks in the Bahawalpur Intermediate Board’s Arts Group examination. She used to travel 25 km from Rawazana village to the city to seek education.
In an interview with Geo News, Farkhunda said that she wants to become a police officer by taking the CSS exam in future.
DPO Rahim Yar Khan invited Farkhanda and her family and entertained her with official protocol.
Severe earthquake shocks have been felt on Wednesday afternoon in various districts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and around the federal territory of Islamabad.
The tremors were felt in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Kamalia, Khanewal, Bhalwal, Chiniot, Hafizabad, Toba Tek Singh, Gujarat, Sargodha and Jhang. Slight tremors were also felt in Sahiwal, Chichawatani, Borewala, Phulnagar, Hujra Shah Moqim, Shahkot, Sangla Hill, Talagang and Chakwal.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, tremors were felt in Peshawar, North Waziristan, DI Khan, Lakki Marwat, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Lower Dir, Malakand, Tank and Chitral.
Seismological Centre informed Geo that the tremors of the earthquake were felt at 12:28 PM with a magnitude of 5.7 and a depth of 10 km. The epicentre was near DG Khan.
Pakistan will join a wave of protests across Asia on September 13, calling for an end to fossil fuels and a rapid transition to renewable energy. These demonstrations will urge world leaders to take immediate action on climate change ahead of the United Nations Summit of the Future and COP29.
Pakistan Maholiati Tahaffuz Movement, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum will organize a protest at the Karachi Press Club, highlighting the impact of fossil fuels on coastal communities and the environment.
The Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED) and partners, including Indus Consortium, Alliance for Climate Justice and Clean Energy, and Alternative Law Collective (ALC), will protest at an ADB-funded coal site in Jamshoro, Sindh, demanding an end to coal expansion and a shift to sustainable energy sources.
In Faisalabad, the Pakistan Labour Qaumi Movement, the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, and the Labour Education Foundation will organize a protest at Aman Ghar, a labour training centre.
These actions will show how important it is for Pakistan to stop coal expansion and rapidly phase out existing coal. They will also highlight the Global North’s continued support of coal projects in Asia despite its promise to move away from fossil fuels.
The Senate’s Standing Committee on Science and Technology has given a nod of approval to the country’s first-ever Cannabis Authority Bill.
The bill will regulate the cultivation and manufacturing of cannabis to protect public health and explore the economic potential of the cannabis industry.
Notably, cannabis can be used for industrial and medicinal purposes, with an economic potential of four to six billion dollars.
The Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority will be under administrative control of the cabinet division. Defence secretary will chair the 13-member board overlooking the authority. The board will have representatives from various government departments, private sector, and intelligence agencies.
The board will be responsible for making policy decisions and advising the federal government on all matters related to cannabis licensing.
Disagreement of the members
The approval has come after a delay of over four years due to disagreements between different ministries over its jurisdiction.
The dispute over the bill was even witnessed during the meeting of the committee as Chairman Senator Kamil Ali Agha stressed the need for a thorough examination of each clause before proceeding, while Senators Dr Afnan Ullah Khan, Musadik Masood Malik, and Nasir Mehmood demanded it to be passed without further review.
However, PTI Senator Shibli Faraz commented he would submit a dissenting note if the bill was passed without due consideration because he is aware of the initial documentation and knows all the intricacies.
Later, the committee agreed to revisit each clause, and identified and removed several shortcomings in the draft.
Senator Afnan Ullah informed the chairman that following party’s directives, PML-N senators would vote in favour of the bill.
Both Shibli Faraz and the committee chairman questioned why the Ministry of Defence was supervising the Cannabis Development Authority.
However, the committee was informed that cannabis is grown in FATA, so the involvement of the defence ministry and other agencies was necessary to be involved as this measure is in accordance with the UN protocols as well.
The Senate committee later unanimously passed “The Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority Bill 2024” with amendments that seek inclusion of two senators — one of whom must be a woman — in the board, along with other revisions to the bill’s clauses.
More than 26.2 million children are out of school in the country, says a report submitted in the National Assembly by the Education department.
The Ministry of Education report stated that two crore, sixty-two lac, six thousand and five hundred and twenty children are out of schools across the country.
Details of the report state that one crore, seven lac, seventy-four thousand, eight hundred and ninety boys and girls from five to nine years are out of school, including forty nine lac, seventy-two thousand, nine hundred and forty-nine boys and fifty-eight lac, one thousand, nine hundred and forty-one girls.
The report also delineates that forty-nine lac, thirty-five thousand, four hundred and eighty-four boys and girls between the age of 10 to 12 years are deprived of middle education, in which twenty-one lac, six thousand, six hundred and seventy-two boys and twenty-eight lac, twenty-eight thousand eight hundred and twelve girls are deprived of middle education.
Additionally, Pak Alliance for Maths and Science (PAMS) has also published a research based report on the huge number of out-of-school children in Pakistan. The report is titled The Missing Third of Pakistan.
Pakistan is home to 71 million children aged five to 16. The report’s analysis, based on data from the 2023 population and housing census, estimates that an estimated 36 per cent, or 25.3 million, of these children are out of school.
Among the out-of-school children, 53 per cent are girls, and 47pc are boys, it stresses.
The report highlights a breakdown of out-of-school children in different districts of the country, out of which 45 tehsils contribute to 26pc of Pakistan’s out-of-school children crisis: 30 are in Punjab, 12 in Sindh, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one in Balochistan.
Punjab’s Information Minister Azma Bukhari has denied rumours suggesting that Mufti Qavi has been appointed ambassador of the vanity number plate scheme, which was initially reported by different media outlets.
In her post on the social media website, X Azma Bukhari denied the news of the appointment.
“No such appointment has taken place,” Azma stated. “If any person in the department has done such an act without permission, action will be taken against him,” she added while further announcing that Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz has taken notice, implying that strict action will be taken against the concerned person.
Notably, Geo News reported that the Punjab Excise Department had announced to start a vanity number plates scheme from the next week.
Director Excise Muhammad Asif had asserted that citizens will be able to make their number plates with the name of their own choice. Three categories were introduced of which Mufti Qavi was appointed as the ambassador of the vanity number plates scheme.
This was a part of coordinated strategy that was formulated to catch fake number plates owners.The data of those having vanity number plates will be made available with the department.
More than 3,500 schools in Balochistan have been shut down due to a shortage of teachers, the provincial education department has revealed in a written reply to a question posed by a Balochistan Assembly member.
Balochistan education department also said that 542 schools have been closed since the new government led by Sarfraz Bugti in February came to power.
Since then, the total number of non-functional schools for both boys and girls have jumped to 3,694 in all 35 district of the province.
Currently, there are 15,096 government schools in the province, with a total of 48,841 teachers.
The top seven districts with the highest number of non-functional schools are as follows:
Pishin (254)
Khuzdar (251)
Kalat (179)
Qila Saifullah (179)
Barkhan (174)
Awaran (161)
Quetta (152)
The document also sheds light on the closure of 13 schools in Dera Bugti, the hometown of Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, due to a shortage of academic staff.
A shortage of 16,000 teachers is affecting the educational structure of the province.
The government has made efforts to fill the vacant posts and started the recruitment of 9,496 teachers but the gap is still intact.
Notably, the reply by the education departement could not be presented in the house as the questioner was absent from the session, and the query was deferred till the next meeting.
Balochistan Student Organization laments the deteriorating education system
Dawn reports that the Central Committe of Balochistan Students Organisation in its meeting also expressed serious concerns over the deteriorating education system in the province.
Organisation Chairman Balaach Qadir Baloch blames business and administrative corruption, poor planning and a culture of favouritism as the reasons behind the current state of the education system.
