Current Final

Category: National

  • In-camera briefing for lawmakers on Afghanistan, national security

    In-camera briefing for lawmakers on Afghanistan, national security

    Speaker National Assembly (NA) Asad Qaiser has summoned a session of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on July 1 at 3pm for a briefing on the latest regional situation in light of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    Speaker Asad Qaiser will chair the in-camera meeting. The meeting will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Pakistan. Leader of the Opposition in NA Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other lawmakers will attend the meeting. Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak will also be part of the in-camera meeting from the government’s side. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani will also attend the meeting as well as other parliamentarians.

    Bilawal Bhutto tweeted that he had demanded on the floor of the house that the parliament be briefed on the Afghanistan situation by the relevant departments and institutions. “We welcome Speakers decision and will participate in NSC committee meeting on the topic.”

  • Hostile intelligence agency involved in Lahore blast: CM Buzdar

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar in a press conference has said that the blast in Johar Town, Lahore, was carried out by a “hostile intelligence agency”. CM Punjab said that terrorists involved in the attack have been arrested.

    “It was found that a hostile intelligence agency was involved, which provided financial help to this network,” said CM Buzdar.

    “The Punjab government established an investigation team. I am satisfied to tell you that the investigation was started by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the suspects were identified within 16 hours. In four days, the terrorists were arrested in raids in the country.”

    CM Punjab also thanked all law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) for their efforts and termed the arrests of the suspects in the blast as a “big success”.

    “I want to inform you that the Punjab government has traced all high-profile cases in the province and arrested their suspects,” added Buzdar.

    A powerful blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.

  • Online retailer store refuses to deliver products to Ahmadi area

    An online retailer store refused to deliver its products to Chenab Nagar, stating that it is a ‘blasphemous area’, online digital media outlet Propergaanda has reported.

    The screenshot shared by the publication shows the message sent by the online retailer store to the customer says: “Hi, We had received your order. We regret to inform you that we had cancelled your order and we are not delivering the Chenab Nagar as it’s blasphemous Area for us. We can’t deliver to Qadians Areas.”

    People on social media are calling out the store for this act:

    Earlier, this month an Ahmadi graveyard in Sheikhupura was attacked by extremists who attempted to stop the burial of an Ahmadi woman.

  • ‘Stop harassing him’: Murad Ali Shah helps visually impaired street vendor

    ‘Stop harassing him’: Murad Ali Shah helps visually impaired street vendor

    Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah recently stopped at a roadside stall set up by a visually impaired old man in Karachi to address his complaints.

    As per reports, the old man requested different Karachi authorities, including the chief minister, by writing a note on a board behind his refrigerator that stated: “Please don’t harass me and have mercy on this old man.”

    Murad Ali Shah was reportedly on a visit to a location nearby when he spotted the board and stopped to have a cold drink. CM Shah, along with other ministers, asked the man who was troubling him. The man replied that the police and the administration were creating some problems for him.

    CM Shah instantly called Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) East, SSP East and the Administrator KMC and asked them not to bother the elderly man.

    CM also told them that they should buy soft drinks from the man whenever they visit the area.

    Murad said that the man is working hard to earn an honest livelihood to fulfil the needs of his children. “This old man is the best example of hard work and self-sacrifice and we need to encourage him,” he further said.

  • ‘DID NOT go to Israel’: Zulfi Bukhari denies reports of secret visit to Israel, again

    ‘DID NOT go to Israel’: Zulfi Bukhari denies reports of secret visit to Israel, again

    Former Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari has denied going to Israel again, after Israel Hayom — an Israeli national Hebrew-language daily newspaper and news website — claimed on Monday that Zulfi Bukhari paid a brief visit to Israel in the last week of November 2020. The reported cited an unnamed source in Islamabad. Zulfi Bukhari tweeted that he did not go to Israel.


    This is Bukhari’s second denial regarding an alleged visit to Israel, months after Middle East Monitor claimed in a report that an adviser of PM Imran Khan visited Tel Aviv in November on his British passport. Middle East Monitor later apologised to Zulfi Bukhari for misreporting. “We accept Mr Bukhari’s refutation of the claims made in the report and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused,” concluded the letter dated December 23.


    Today, Zulfi Bukhari tweeted: “DIDNOT go to Israel. Funny bit is Pakistani paper says I went to Israel based on ‘Israeli news source’ & Israeli paper says I went to Israel based on a ‘Pakistani source’-wonder who this imaginative Pakistani source is.” He further added,” Apparently, I’m the only one who was kept out of the loop.”

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan asked for a clarification from the government despite Zulfi’s denial.

    In November 2020, PM Imran Khan had said that the United States and some Muslim states, which he cannot name because of good ties with them, have been pressuring Pakistan to recognise Israel. However, PM Khan reiterated that Pakistan will never establish relations with the “Zionist” state until a just settlement of the decades-long Palestinian issue.

  • Pregnant woman arrested for kidnapping newborn from Karachi hospital

    Pregnant woman arrested for kidnapping newborn from Karachi hospital

    Police arrested a pregnant woman for kidnapping a newborn boy from a charity hospital in Karachi’s Baldia Town on Thursday. The baby was recovered during a police raid at her house.

    According to the police, the accused Sabiha told during the initial inquiry that a nurse had sold the baby to her for Rs 30,000.

    As per reports, the woman, who was 37 weeks pregnant and a mother of two daughters, confessed that she committed the crime under pressure from her in-laws to bear a boy. After the medical report, the woman found out that she was expecting a girl after which she decided to kidnap a baby boy around her delivery date to “avert social pressure”.

     Read More: Culprit in viral video of purse snatching arrested in Rawalpindi

    Police said that they did not find the husband of the accused involved in the crime.  The woman has been handed over to the Anti-Violence Cell and an investigation is underway.

    Atallah, the uncle of the abducted child, said that the rescue of the child was carried out with the help of a lady doctor and her brother.

    The cloth wrapped around the newborn was shown on social media and TV channels with the news that a woman had kidnapped the child and escaped from the municipal hospital.

     The lady doctor’s brother chased the suspect and visited the house. He informed the police after which the child was recovered.

     

  • Man in Muzaffargarh punished for evicting, beating parents

    A man has been punished under Parents Protection Ordinance, 2021, Geo News has reported. The man was sentenced to one month in jail with a fine of Rs50,000 for maltreating his parents.

    He is the first person to be punished under the new law. According to details, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muzaffargarh Amjad Shoaib Khan took action after a complaint was filed by the parents of the accused for beating and evicting them from their home last year.

    “A year ago, Mukhtar forced us to leave home and since then we have been managing by doing domestic work at people’s homes,” said Ghulam Fatima in the complaint.

    DC summoned both the parties at his office to resolve the matter but the parents refused to forgive the son after which the DC took action against him under the law.

    “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has provided a credible protection shield to elderly parents by virtue of this law,” said PTI MPA Sardar Abdul Hayee Khan Dasti.

  • Culprit in viral video of purse snatching arrested in Rawalpindi

    Culprit in viral video of purse snatching arrested in Rawalpindi

    Police arrested the culprit who snatched the purse of a schoolteacher early Friday morning in Rawalpindi.

    As per reports, the victim’s brother, Mohammad Junaid Ahmed, a citizen of Dhoke Chaudhrian, told Race Course police that his sister, a schoolteacher, was going to her school when a motorcycle rider snatched her purse.

    CCTV footage shows the suspect snatching the purse from the victim who then fell on the ground. She started collecting some of the valuables that fell from her purse. Two motorcycle riders helped her in picking up her stuff.

    The Rawalpindi police took to Twitter to announce the arrest of the culprit.

     “CPO Mohammad Ahsan Younus had taken notice of the incident and ordered the immediate arrest of the suspect. During the arrest, the suspect tried to open fire on the police due to which he got injured by his own pistol,” the tweet read.

    Read More: Prankster arrested for harassing women for not wearing dupatta

    According to a  press release, the suspect was arrested from Race Course area and had been involved in other thefts.

    Mobile phone and purse snatching cases are on a rise in the garrison city. Five snatching incidents were reported on Thursday in Rawalpindi.

  • Three dead, 23 injured in blast at Lahore’s Johar Town

    Three dead, 23 injured in blast at Lahore’s Johar Town

    At least three people were killed, while around 23 others sustained injuries in a blast in Johar Town, Lahore. The explosion took place in a residential area near Allah Hu Boulevard, police said.

    https://twitter.com/GeopolUpdates/status/1407616749927747587

    Lahore Deputy Commissioner Mudassir Riaz Malik said while it was not immediately clear what had caused the blast, it had left behind a crater. “We will only be able to determine the cause after carrying out an investigation,” he said, adding that the area was being cordoned off.

    Inspector General (IG) Punjab Police has said that the Johar Town blast was a terrorist attack and as per the initial investigation the enforcement/police agencies may have been the target.

    https://twitter.com/GeopolUpdates/status/1407615496355082243

    According to reports, rescue, police, and bomb disposal teams have reached the site of the incident, while witnesses said that the glass windows of nearby houses and buildings have been shattered. One of the buildings has been severely damaged and some vehicles parked at the site of the blast have also been affected.

    An emergency has been declared in Jinnah Hospital to treat the injured, while Rescue 1122 and other relief organisations have been asked to expedite rescue activities.

    Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has taken notice of the blast, and directed the IG to investigate the incident and submit a report.

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid also took notice and directed the Punjab chief secretary and IG to submit a report. He prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

  • Jemima schools PM Khan on rape, again

    Prime Minister Imran Khan’s former wife, Jemima Goldsmith has schooled him on the topic of rape again by re-sharing an old tweet.

    In an interview with “Axios on HBO” with Jonathan Swan, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that “if a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots”.

    Jemima quoted her old tweet with the caption, “And again. Sigh.”

    The tweet she quoted read, “I remember years ago being in Saudi Arabia and an elderly woman in an abaya and niqab was lamenting the fact that when she went out she was followed and harassed by young men,” said Jemima.

    “The only way to get rid of them was to take her face covering OFF,” said Jemima further, asserting: “The problem is not how women dress.”

    Earlier, this year in April Prime Minister Imran Khan’s comments on rape and violence against women sparked a debate upon the reasons behind such actions and how society can tackle crime against women and children, including rape.