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Category: National

  • New documents reveal PTI employees were authorised to receive donations

    New documents reveal PTI employees were authorised to receive donations

    In a watershed development in the foreign funding case, a documented list has revealed that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) employees were authorised to receive donations from within and outside Pakistan.

    The document, available with Dawn, revealed the names of employees that included PTI’s telephone operator Tahir Iqbal, computer operator Muhammad Nauman Afzal, accountant Mohammad Arshad and office helper Mohammad Rafiq.

    The decision to allow the PTI employees to collect the funds was taken at a meeting held on July 1, 2011. It was attended by Saifullah Niazi, the incumbent chief organiser and an aspirant of a PTI Senate ticket; Aamer Mahmud Kiani, present secretary-general and former health minister who was removed from the federal cabinet; Dr Humayun Mohmand, who was recently appointed chairman of the board of directors of PIMS; Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, the party’s former finance secretary and now Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Colonel Yunus Ali Raza among others.

    The foreign funding case pertains to Akbar S Babar’s allegations that foreign donations were illegally received in the front accounts of PTI employees through Hundi, particularly from the Middle East, and siphoned off by the senior party leadership through cheques with no trace or record.

    Babar was a founding member of PTI. He has repeatedly asked the scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to investigate the private bank accounts of PTI employees which were illegally used as a front to collect donations.

    The committee continues to keep the PTI records and bank statements secret despite ECP orders. The records include 23 PTI bank accounts provided to the ECP by scheduled banks on the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan. The scrutiny committee is due to meet today (on Tuesday) to decide whether to keep the PTI documents secret or not.

    The election watchdog has passed more than one order against the secrecy of the PTI record.

  • Militants arrested by CTD ‘planned to bomb Sindh Assembly, kill lawmakers’

    Militants arrested by CTD ‘planned to bomb Sindh Assembly, kill lawmakers’

    The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has foiled a potential suicide attack on Sindh Assembly by arresting five militants who were allegedly planning to bomb the building and target the provincial lawmakers.

    On Sunday, the CTD had arrested five militants and shot dead another after an alleged encounter that lasted for more than an hour in Shah Latif Town, Karachi.

    According to Geo, the militants were planning to launch a major terror attack in the port city, as rickshaw parked in front of the gate of the building had explosives in its hidden compartments.

    The news report quoting anonymous officials said that the authorities obtained data from the mobile phone of one of the militants who was arrested by the CTD. It alleged that one of the militants was in touch with “handlers from Afghanistan”. It further claimed that three militants belonged to Kandahar while one was from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

    The CTD officials also found a video clip of the Sindh Assembly in one of the mobile phones and assumed that the clip must have been shot as a part of their plan to target the building, it claimed. The recce was conducted recently, the report said, adding that militant failed to target the building the same day because the assembly wasn’t in session.

    The report further said that one of the militants was a ‘would-be suicide bomber’ as he had planned to blow himself up at the gate of the Sindh Assembly. After the bombing, the other militants would have entered the building with automatic weapons to do the maximum damage.

  • Azad Kashmir elections: PPP leaders oppose alliance with ‘rival’ PML-N

    Azad Kashmir elections: PPP leaders oppose alliance with ‘rival’ PML-N

    Even though the opposition parties have decided to contest Senate election on a joint platform, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Azad Kashmir chapter, has refused to enter an alliance with its “main rival” — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — ahead of the elections in Kashmir.

    According to reports, the local PPP leadership has said that the PML-N is its main opponent in the region and it was not possible to field candidates under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — a 10-party anti-government alliance — due to the very same reason.

    Geo News reported that the PPP leaders gave this answer after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari sought recommendations from PPP Azad Kashmir on the upcoming elections. 

    “PPP Azad Kashmir’s stance is that how can the party contest the elections jointly with the PML-N when it is its main rival there?” the media outlet reported.

    The PPP, however, said there was a possibility of entering an alliance with the PML-N on 12 out of 33 total seats. 

    The central leadership of the party will make a final decision in this regard.

    Last week, after a six-hour-long meeting, PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman had announced that the opposition parties will contest the upcoming Senate elections on a joint platform.

    He had said that the parties decided to contest the Senate elections together and would not go against each other’s candidates. “Our candidates will be jointly decided,” he had told reporters after the meeting.

    The elections in Azad Kashmir will be held later this year, with the current assembly completing its term in July.

  • 1,000 bricks in 27 minutes: KP’s Neelofar Shirazi aims to set new record

    1,000 bricks in 27 minutes: KP’s Neelofar Shirazi aims to set new record

    In a bid to set a new brick smashing record in the Guinness Book of Records, Neelofar Shirazi smashed 1,000 bricks in 27 minutes at Islamabad’s multi-purpose sports stadium on Sunday. Shirazi had smashed 150 bricks last year so she decided to go for 1,000 now.

    As per details, it took Shirazi only 27 minutes to smash 1,000 bricks. The 32-year girl from Battagram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won a cash prize of PKR 50,000 for her attempt.

    The organiser of the event, Imtiaz Ahmed said it was an honour to showcase Neelofar’s talent as she has made Pakistan proud.

    No one in the world has broken 1,000 bricks in a row.

    “We shall send the complete video recording of the event to the Guinness Book team so that they could include her name as the world record holder in the brick-breaking category,” he said.

    Later, while speaking to Gulf News Neelofar said: “My mother and members of the family, my coach Master Chen, friends and sponsors of the event are all here to support me and their presence is quite reassuring.”

    “In my childhood, I used to be a shy girl and always cried when someone bullied me,” she shared. “Whenever in class or playground someone intimidated me, I became so upset that I spent hours crying and rubbing my eyes and I did this so often that it affected my eyesight.”

    Also Watch: Sunday Superstar ft. Kulsoom Hazara

    Shirazi added that she wants to set a world record of breaking eight blocks with a single strike. At present, she is practicing five.

    Commenting on Pakistani women, Neelofar said that women of our country have great potential to make their mark in the world, we only need to support and acknowledge their talent.

  • Porsche Pakistan CEO ‘runs off’ with Rs80 crores in booked orders

    Porsche Pakistan CEO ‘runs off’ with Rs80 crores in booked orders

    The chief executive officer (CEO) of Porsche Pakistan in Lahore has been accused of running off with nearly a billion rupees after conning people in the name of advance booking for high-end cars, whereas the company has termed these claims “false”.

    According to the police, while victims of the scam have registered complaints against Abuzar Bokhari in different police stations across the city, the department has informed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), seeking their help in informing Interpol.

    Help from the international criminal police organisation is being sought for Bokhari’s extradition from England where he allegedly flew off to a few days ago.

    Police further say that Bokhari collected Rs800 million (Rs 80 crores) from people in the name of car registrations and fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after which he went to England and has not returned since.

    While Bokhari is the founder and CEO of Lahore-based, and Pakistan’s only, Porsche dealership based in Lahore, media reports say he started off with two partners but continued alone with the venture when Porsche formally entered the Pakistani market.

    Porsche’s presence in Pakistan was provisionally launched in 2006 and then formally launched in 2008. Since then, it has been running its operations rather successfully and has grown significantly.

    However, the luxury carmaker has now reportedly removed its official website page on Pakistan.

    “Porsche official website removes page on Pakistan which has details of its Pakistan representative Abuzar Bokhari — accused of leaving the country with Rs800 million in booked orders — here is a screenshot of the cached version of the page,” journalist Omar Quraishi tweeted.

    ‘ALLEGATIONS ARE FALSE’:

    In a statement, Porsche Pakistan said the said claims are false. It said that its CEO doesn’t owe car booking money to anyone and all the registration money was received in the account of Performance Automotive Pvt Ltd (Porsche Pakistan) on behalf of Porsche AG as their appointed representative.

    It said Porsche AG was refusing delivery of the vehicles to Pakistani customers for two years.

    A lull in supply is due to attempts to discredit Porche Pakistan by a ‘controversia;’ business group.

    The statement said Porsche Pakistan was in a legal battle with Porsche AG for this “illegal” refusal on all legal forums.

    The statement alleged that the delay was due to Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE’s alleged understanding with a rival local party it called “an influential and controversial business group” that seeks to get hold of Porsche distribution rights in Pakistan.

    The company concluded, “Porsche Pakistan and its legal team are fully available for any concerned parties or investigative authorities for any information or clarification they may require.

  • PM Imran shares unseen 1984 picture

    PM Imran shares unseen 1984 picture

    People are swooning over a 37-year-old picture shared by Prime Minister Imran Khan on his Instagram account.

    The photo, which was taken in Imran’s cricketing days, shows him sitting at a press briefing. PM Imran has at least 4million followers on Instagram.

    The caption of the picture read: “October 22, 1984.”

    This is not the first time that the PM has shared his photos on the social media site. A few months ago, he took to Instagram to share a picture taken with his parents and sisters when he was only three years old.

    Recently, Imran shared a picture that was taken in 1989 while he was travelling the country for research on his book, Indus Journey.

    For this, Imran revisited “those places that meant most to him along the great Indus river, from its delta on the Arabian Sea to its headwaters in the Himalayas, by way of the mysterious ruins at Mohenjodaro, the plains of Sindh and Punjab, the Khyber Pass, and his home town of Lahore.

  • Sindh health official suspended after out-of-turn vaccination of PML-N leader’s daughter

    The Sindh government has suspended a senior health official over out-of-turn vaccination of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair’s daughter and son-in-law against COVID-19.

    As per the details, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho took notice of the incident after the couple posted on social media pictures of them receiving the vaccination shots.

    Reports quoted provincial government sources as saying that Karachi East Deputy District Health Officer Dr Anila was suspended as coronavirus vaccines were administered to acquaintances at other centres as well.

    A three-member committee has been formed to report its findings to the Sindh health minister within 72 hours.

    “If Mohammad Zubair had his family administered the vaccines privately then there is nothing wrong in it,” Information Minister Shibli Faraz told SAMAA TV.

    “But if it were the government-procured vaccines, then this was not the right thing to do,” he added.

    Earlier, a team of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) led by Dr Faisal Sultan also met Sindh health officials and Planning Minister Asad Umar on Sunday.

    It directed the Sindh government to only vaccinate frontline health workers for now.

    The Sindh government on Friday had announced launching COVID-19 vaccination programme in 10 districts of the province and unveiled a detailed phase-wise plan to inoculate people, beginning with 170,000 frontline health workers.

    According to Dawn, In addition to the 82,359 doses to be received from the Centre, the provincial government also shared its plan for the procurement of the vaccine on its own though federal authorities are yet to respond to its request for permission for the procurement.

    “We are starting the vaccination from Wednesday [next],” Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah at a press conference. He was accompanied by a member of the Sindh vaccination taskforce and provincial lawmaker Qasim Soomro.

    Shah said 10 districts had been identified in Sindh where COVID-19 jabs would be provided. “This programme will be initiated in all the seven districts of Karachi along with Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Shaheed Benazirabad.

  • Islamabad lawyers storm high court building after CDA demolition drive

    In a protest against the demolition of their chambers by the Capital Development Authority in F-8 sector of Islamabad, a number of lawyers stormed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) building on Monday.

    The lawyers chanted slogans against IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah as they barged into the chief justice block, trapping the Justice Minallah into his chamber. They also broke the windows and doors of the building.

    The special security police were also absent from the scene when the building was stormed by the lawyer as they arrived much later. Female employees were evacuated from the Chief Justice block and other IHC judges also arrived at the scene.

    Due to the violence, the proceedings at both the high court and district courts remained suspended, with roads outside the court blocked for traffic.

    The lawyers also misbehaved with journalists who were present on the scene and were recording videos.

    According to Dawn, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani and IHC Bar Association President Haseeb Chaudhry urged the lawyers to opt for talks. “Until you people put your stance before us, we will not be able to solve the problem,” said Justice Kiyani as per the report.

    The deputy commissioner, Hamza Shafqaat, also arrived on the scene to placate the angry lawyers. He said that the administration was trying to resolve the situation within half an hour.

    NO TALKS TILL RESTORATION OF CHAMBERS:

    The protesters, however, refused to back down. They said they “will not talk until our chambers are restored”. They also claimed that some of their colleagues were arrested.

    Justice Kiyani said the detained lawyers will be released, adding that lawyers shot themselves in the foot by attacking tyhe chambers of the IHC CJ.

    “Lawyers have crossed the head of their house, now I will have to placate him as well,” he was quoted by Dawn as saying.

    Meanwhile, a notice was issued by IHC Bar Association Secretary Suhail Akbar Chaudhry, announced a strike and saying that not only will the body protest against the “injustice”, it will also take “strict action if needed”.

  • Video of Ali Sadpara singing ‘Tum Chalay Ao’ goes viral as rescue operation enters third day

    Video of Ali Sadpara singing ‘Tum Chalay Ao’ goes viral as rescue operation enters third day

    An old video of Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara singing Tum Chalay Ao has gone viral on social media. In the video, the brave mountaineer can be seen singing, clapping and dancing to the song with his friends in a camp.

    Sadpara, who had embarked on a mission to summit K2 in the winters with Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s JP Mohr went missing on Friday.

    Sadpara’s son Sajid Ali Sadpara on Sunday told the media that the chances of the mountaineers’ survival are very low. Efforts to locate the missing climbers are ongoing since Saturday but have been unsuccessful due to poor weather conditions.

    Talking to the reporters in Skardu, Sajid had said: “Rescue operations now only make sense if they are carried out to bring back the bodies. Otherwise, the chances for anyone to survive after being missing for two to three days at 8,000 meters are very bleak.”

    https://twitter.com/SajidAliSadpara/status/1358421202977497088?s=20

    However, Sajid is convinced that his father summited the peak.

    “My father has the experience of summiting all the mountains,” wrote Sajid on Twitter. “I saw him near the K2 mountain last time. I am sure he has summited K2.”

    “On the way back, there were gusty winds that might have caused a problem,” he added.

    https://twitter.com/SajidAliSadpara/status/1358667085585539072?s=20

    Later, Sajid also shared a picture of himself before leaving for a rescue mission on the third day.

    https://twitter.com/SajidAliSadpara/status/1358643110004355078?s=20

    Gilgit Baltistan’s Home Secretary Muhammad Ali Randhawa also shared pictures taken of the K2 on the Pakistan Army Aviation Helicopters during the search operation.

    Meanwhile, Alpine Club of Pakistan secretary Karrar Haider told AFP that “a second helicopters’ search found no sign of missing climbers”.

    He added that the helicopters’ crew traced the route up to a height of 7,000 metres (23,000 feet).

    Chhang Dawa Sherpa, their expedition manager, said he was part of one search team trying to trace the mountaineers.

    “The search team went through the Abruzzi and other routes, we had less weather visibility above C 4 (camp 4), unfortunately, no trace at all,” Sherpa said in a statement.

    Bad weather today (Monday) forced Pakistan Army helicopters to temporarily halt their search for three mountaineers. The officials are uncertain about when weather conditions would improve enough for it to resume again.

    Conditions on K2 are harsh: winds can blow at more than 200 kilometres per hour (125 miles per hour) and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit). Unlike Mount Everest, which has been scaled by thousands of climbers young and old, K2 is much less travelled due to its tough conditions.

    Earlier on Saturday Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis, Zulfi Bukhari had said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa have expressed their concern over the missing climbers and are personally monitoring all developments.

  • Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan responsible for over 100 cross-border attacks: UN

    Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan responsible for over 100 cross-border attacks: UN

    The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is responsible for over 100 cross-border attacks within Pakistan in July-Oct 2020, said United Nations’ 27th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team on Sunday.

    The UN report submitted to the UN Security Council also lauded Pakistan’s steps against terrorism.

    It said: “Pakistan took action against individuals engaging in terrorism financing and the freezing of the assets of designated individuals and entities.” 

    According to the report, the TTP saw the “reunification of splinter groups that took place in Afghanistan”. It added that “five entities pledged alliance to TTP in July and August (2020), including the Shahryar Mehsud group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Hizb-ul-Ahrar, the Amjad Farooqi group and the Usman Saifullah group (formerly known as Lashkar-e- Jhangvi).”

    The merger of these groups has enhanced the terrorism threat in Pakistan and the region, it said, adding that the group was responsible for numerous attacks in the country. “The TTP was responsible for more than 100 cross-border attacks between July and October 2020,” the report said, adding that based on estimates, the TTP’s fighting strength ranges between 2,500 and 6,000.

    Last year, Pakistan had handed over a dossier to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the Indian sponsorship of TTP and JuA.