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Category: National

  • Bajwa, Imran concerned as Sadpara, team remain missing

    More than 45 hours have elapsed since Pakistan’s Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s JP Mohr went missing, the Alpine Club of Pakistan and the manager of the expedition, Chhang Dawa Sherpa have confirmed. A rescue operation initiated on Saturday was also unsuccessful with Pakistan Army helicopters returning to Skardu without any information of the three mountaineers who were attempting to summit K2 in the winters.

    According to reports, Sadpara, Snorri and Prieto have been missing since Friday, though news of their summit of K2 had flooded social and mainstream media Friday night. It has not yet been confirmed whether the mountaineers have summited K2.

    A rescue operation was started approximately 24 hours after the climbers lost communication with Army helicopters trying to locate them. The helicopters managed to reach 7000 metres but had to return due to the winds and worsening weather conditions.

    Meanwhile, Sajid Sadpara, the fourth mountaineer on the expedition and Ali’s son, who had begun an earlier descent due to the malfunctioning of his oxygen regulator was escorted to base from Camp 3 by a team of Nepali Sherpas led by Dawa Sherpa.

    “The search for the remaining team members continues. Appeal for prayers,” tweeted Sajid, requesting for prayers.

    https://twitter.com/SajidAliSadpara/status/1357987764088827905?s=19

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

    “High altitude porters and Lama helicopter will restart search at the crack of dawn. Prayers needed from everyone for their safe return,” added the SAPM.

    President Arif Alvi also expressed his concern, saying that “we pray for their safety”.

    Meanwhile Sadpara’s colleagues, celebrities and other noted personalities are also praying for the safe return of Sadpara and his colleagues.

    https://twitter.com/Hina_RKhar/status/1358081738124234757?s=20
    https://twitter.com/BabarAzamLove/status/1358136893884534793?s=19

    Sadpara is a Pakistani mountaineer and has hoisted the country’s flag on eight peaks. He was also part of the team that successfully achieved the first-ever winter summit on Nanga Parbat in 2016.

    Earlier on Friday, a 43-year-old Bulgarian mountaineer fell to his death while trying to summit K2, the world’s second tallest peak.

  • UK court says Daily Mail allegations against Shehbaz ‘highest level of defamation’

    UK court says Daily Mail allegations against Shehbaz ‘highest level of defamation’

    A London court judge, Justice Sir Matthew Nicklin, has ruled that the words used in an article of Daily Mail for Shehbaz Sharif and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf are “slanderous, and constitute the highest level of defamation under United Kingdom (UK) law”.

    The judge declared that the article against Sharif and Yousaf, written by David Rose, constitutes Chase Level 1 defamation, which is considered the highest form of defamation law in the UK.

    On July 14, 2019, David Rose alleged that Shehbaz and his son-in-law were involved in money-laundering and embezzlement of British money meant for Pakistani citizens.

    Justice Nicklin remarked at the hearing that he analysed the material put before him by Daily Mail and Shehbaz Sharif’s lawyers. He was also aware of the proceeding happening in Pakistan, as per the judge. He said that “it is not for me to know. I would rather not know what is happening in Pakistan.”

    The publication’s lawyer quoted Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan advisor Shahzad Akbar’s statement that the money-laundering investigation started in Pakistan and it has led to multiple cases of corruption.

    In response, Shehbaz’s lawyer said that “the state has just proceeded with the investigation and now they are trying to tap the sources of these funds. It means that the investigation is far from complete, and Daily Mail had limited information at the time of the publication of the article”.

    The lawyer took the court through the entire article and said that the article is defamatory from the start till the end. It is also lacking evidence and making baseless allegations of fraud and money-laundering.

    Barrister Victoria Simon-Shore appeared for Shehbaz Sharif’s son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf. She told the court that her client rejected all allegations of corruption, misuse of funds, and money-laundering.

    She said, “The allegations in the article that Mr Yousaf mysteriously accumulated money because his in-laws were in power was far from the truth. The presumption of innocent till proven guilty applies.”

    After the recent developments, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) demanded the release of Shehbaz Sharif. Marriyum Aurangzeb said, “The decision of the London court is a testimony of the innocence of Shehbaz Sharif and PM Imran Khan being a proven liar.”

    She demanded an apology from PM Imran and his spokesperson because the president of the PML-N has been severely defamed, under British Law.

    “Those who have no self-respect, their only job is to malign the honourable people,” she added.

    In response, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar claimed that the PML-N is declaring a premature victory by giving the perception that Shehbaz Sharif has won the case.

    He further said, “It was just a meaning hearing, which means it was held to decide the meaning of the words complained of in the claim brought by Shehbaz.”

    Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Akbar accused Marriyum Aurangzeb of spreading misinformation. He challenged Shehbaz to file a defamation suit against him in London and he will present all the evidence.

    Akbar said that “misreporting was done by PML-N and some sections of the media to give the perception that Shehbaz had won something.”

    He also referred to David Rose’s tweets in which the journalist said that the hearing was “not a victory for anyone and was strictly preliminary.”

  • 12-year-old maid ‘starved, tortured to death’ by employer in Lahore: police

    12-year-old maid ‘starved, tortured to death’ by employer in Lahore: police

    A 12-year-old maid, who was found dead last week, was starved for days and tortured to death by her employers, said police on Thursday.

    According to Samaa, the child employed by a family in Iqbal Town, Lahore, was assaulted multiple times over a period of two months. She was starved for long hours, revealed her post-mortem report.

    “The report disclosed that she was not raped,” the investigation officer was quoted as saying. The police have arrested the employer, Saira Bano who confessed to the crime during questioning, it added.

    “Bano said that her sister-in-law Nasreen was also involved,” the officer was quoted by the media outlet. The police are conducting raids to arrest her as soon as possible, it added.

    On Jan 30, the father of the deceased minor approached the police with a complaint that her daughter was “killed and raped” by the employers who had hired her services as a maid.

    The media report said that her father, a resident of Sheikhupura, said that on January 27 they received a call from her employer Bano.

    Bano told them that their daughter wasn’t feeling well. “When we reached there, my daughter was unconscious,” he said, adding that the child was immediately moved to a hospital where the doctor pronounced her dead.

    A case has been registered under sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 302 (murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

  • First two years of PTI: Lowest development spending in decade, 46% increase in per capita debt

    First two years of PTI: Lowest development spending in decade, 46% increase in per capita debt

    The per capita debt of Pakistan has jumped to Rs175,000 at the end of last fiscal year — a 46 per cent increase within two years, the Ministry of Finance told the National Assembly.

    In the Fiscal Policy Statement of 2020-21, the finance ministry admitted that the government violated the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act of 2005 by failing to reduce the federal fiscal deficit to 4% of the size of national economy, reported Express Tribune.

    The federal deficit stood at 8.6% of GDP, the report said.

    According to the fiscal statement, the current expenditures were at 28-year high level in FY19-20, whereas the development spending was the lowest in a decade in terms of total size of the economy. “Total expenditures in terms of the size of economy were at the highest level in 21 years — at 23.1% of GDP,” it reported.

    The report mentioned that the public debt was recorded at Rs36.4 trillion at the end of June 2020 which means per person debt increased by Rs21,311 or 14% in the last one year. The debt ratio was formulated on the assumption of the total population of 208 million.

    In June 2018, the total public debt was Rs24.9 trillion and the finance ministry at that time worked out the per capita debt at Rs120,099. In the first year of the PTI government, there was a 28 per cent increase in the per capita debt, while in the second the debt rose by 14 per cent.

  • ‘Govt unable to retrieve Quaide Azam’s 29-kanal property from land grabbers in Lahore’s Gulberg’

    ‘Govt unable to retrieve Quaide Azam’s 29-kanal property from land grabbers in Lahore’s Gulberg’

    Despite efforts made over the span of more than a year, Punjab’s anti-corruption department has failed to retrieve Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s property from land grabbers in Lahore, it has been claimed.

    According to Lahore-based journalist Rehan Tariq, the 29-kanal land owned by the founder of Pakistan in the provincial capital’s Gulberg area has been occupied while shopping malls and plazas have been constructed on lands linked to his sister and “Mother of the Nation”, Fatima Jinnah, as well as the country’s first prime minister (PM) Liaquat Ali Khan.

    The journalist went on to claim that the anti-corruption department launched a probe into the matter in December 2019 and it also sought record from the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) besides other public offices.

    “Officials also acquired Jinnah’s will regarding the land and prepared a source report,” Tariq said, adding that Jinnah’s property consisted of Arazi Khasra No 2181, 2129, 2200, 2180, 21825, 2184.

    Now shopping malls and plazas have been built on the land dedicated to a trust, he claimed.

  • PDM to march on Islamabad on March 26, yet to decide on mass resignations

    Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has decided to march on Islamabad on March 26 after a six-hour-long meeting in Islamabad.

    The anti-government alliance announced this decision while talking to the media after the PDM huddle. PDM chief and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) head Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the opposition parties will contest the upcoming Senate elections on a joint platform.

    He also said that the parties have decided to contest the Senate elections together and will not go against each other’s candidates. “Our candidates will be jointly decided,” he said.

    He further said that the movement opposes the open ballot method of Senate polls and nomination of former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, retired Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed as head of Broadsheet committee.

    There were reports that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was reluctant to resign from the assemblies. And it seems the PDM has yet to take a decision on that.

    Earlier this month, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that the opposition should bring a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan to send his government home. His remarks had prompted a strong response from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with its leader Ahsan Iqbal asking the PPP chairman to show the numbers.

    Subsequently, Asif Ali Zardari had to step in and assured that all options were on the table. The PPP will send the “failed and incompetent” government home by all means, said the PPP co-chairman. Zardari said the government will have to go home as its “inexperience and ineptness might plunge the country into a bigger crisis”.

  • VIDEO: Shireen Mazari accused of ‘making obscene gestures at opposition MNA’

    Former prime minister (PM) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf among other opposition members have accused Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari of “making obscene gestures at an opposition MNA” in a claim that has been rubbished by the latter.

    “I could not even dare to explain the kind of gestures made by the minister,” media quoted the former premier as saying after yet another session of the National Assembly was marred by ruckus by both government and opposition members during each other’s turn to speak on the floor.

    According to the details of Wednesday’s episode in the lower house of the parliament, the government tabled the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill that seeks open balloting in upcoming Senate polls. Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem presented the bill amid loud slogans and protest by the opposition against the said amendment.

    As the session continued, a heated exchange of words took place between three members of the parliament when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Agha Rafiullah tore his copy of the bill and tossed it in the air in front of Speaker Asad Qaiser.

    After the incident, the speaker’s desk was surrounded, books were banged on the desks to disrupt proceedings, whistles were blown and Rafiullah claimed that Mazari allegedly hand-signalled the number five at him; taking it as Moutza.

    Moutza is the most traditional gesture of insult among Greeks. It consists of extending and spreading all fingers of the hand and presenting the palm towards the face of the person to be insulted with a forward motion. It is often coupled with swear words.

    Rafiullah was furious; he refused to tolerate it; brought the matter to everyone’s attention and the commotion almost turned into a quarrel when a couple of ruling party MNAs, including Malik Anwar Taj, accused him of throwing papers on Speaker Asad Qaiser, The Express Tribune reported.

    Rafiullah, however, denied the allegation and once again drew the house’s attention to Moutza.

    Ex-PM Ashraf expressed annoyance over the alleged insulting gesture, regretted treasury benches’ behaviour and reminded them that they don’t have the numbers needed for making a constitutional amendment.

    When given the floor, Mazari, on the other hand, alleged that Rafiullah swore at a woman MNA from the treasury benches and threw papers on Qaiser’s face.

    “I was only seeking your attention,” she told the speaker when asked to explain her gestures.

    WATCH VIDEO:

  • Justice Isa holds referendum on country’s press freedom situation in court; no hands raised

    Justice Isa holds referendum on country’s press freedom situation in court; no hands raised

    Supreme Court’s (SC) Justice Qazi Faez Isa has expressed serious concerns over the press freedom situation in Pakistan, holding a referendum on freedom of press in his court.

    “Tell me… is media free in Pakistan?” Justice Isa asked the attorney general while hearing the case regarding local government elections with Justice Maqbool Baqir.

    The top court judge asked the reporters present in the courtroom to raise their hands if media was free in the country. Even though a number of media persons were present, nobody raised their hands.

    At this, Justice Isa said, “The people who are behind curbs on media must go to jails.”

    “The country is systematically being damaged. The poor are crying,” he added.

    Justice Baqir, on the other hand, remarked that a judge should avoid discussing such things but for how long could one remain silent on a situation such as the prevailing one. “It is not an ideal situation.”

    Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) submitted schedule of local bodies elections to the court.

    The election watchdog, in its reply to the apex court, stated that local government polls will be held in Punjab on July 20 while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Cantonment Boards will hold the election on April 8.

    The commission further said that decision regarding date of the elections in Sindh and Balochistan will be taken on February 11.

    Last Thursday, the top court had asked the ECP to furnish a comprehensive reply within a week on holding the polls.

  • Govt to file reference against Kashmala Tariq over deadly Islamabad accident

    Govt to file reference against Kashmala Tariq over deadly Islamabad accident

    Punjab Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has claimed that a reference will be filed against federal ombudsperson Kashmala Tariq after her protocol vehicles crushed four men to death and injured two in a road mishap earlier this week.

    The CM’s aide said Kashmala will be removed through a reference filed by the president and the cabinet has asked the Law Ministry to move forward with the process.

    “Unfortunately, four people lost their lives due to the protocol of Kashmala Tariq,” Firdous said, calling her the “legacy” of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-) government. Tariq was appointed as the ombudsperson to adjudicate cases pertaining to women’s workplace harassment in Feb 2018 for a period of four years.

    Meanwhile, Islamabad Police has summoned Tariq and her husband Waqas Khan to record their statement in the case. The decision to summon the couple was taken after their son Azlaan failed to appear before the police to record his statement in the case. The police have also made the statement of the sole survivor of the crash as a part of the record, who alleged Azlaan was behind the wheel when the accident took place.

    FOUR DEAD IN ACCIDENT:

    Four people were killed while two were injured after a vehicle reportedly driven by the son of Federal Ombudsperson Kashmala Tariq jumped a red light and rammed into a Mehran car on Kashmir Highway.

    It was reported that five speeding vehicles, part of Kashmala’s protocol, broke a traffic signal in G-11 and crashed into two vehicles. It also claimed that one of the vehicles had a government number plate. The ombudsperson’s son and husband were travelling with their protocol when the incident happened.

    The first information report said that five men, who came from Mansehra to Islamabad to take an exam for the Anti-Narcotics Force, were travelling in a Mehran which was hit by a Lexus at the G-11 traffic signal. The FIR alleged that the vehicle was driven by the son of the ombudsperson. A bike was also hit and the rider was taken to the hospital by the people who gathered at the site of the accident.

    The complainant, who was the only one to survive the crash, said when he was rescued, people who had gathered at the site were naming Tariq’s son as the driver of the car that hit them.

  • Man sues tailor for not delivering sister’s bridal dress on time

    Man sues tailor for not delivering sister’s bridal dress on time

    A man in Lahore sued a local dress designer for not delivering his sister’s bridal dress on time. He demanded Rs1 million in damages from the tailor, claiming that the family had to buy another dress for the ceremony at the last minute and suffered mental trauma because of it.

    As per reports, the court has set the case for hearing and has summoned the defendant on March 6 to submit his version on the matter.

    In his complaint, the man accused the tailor of not delivering his sister’s bridal dress on time due to which the family’s stress doubled with awaiting wedding and then they had to buy a ready-made bridal dress following severe mental stress.

    Earlier in a similar incident in Karachi, a man approached a consumer court seeking action against a shop owner who allegedly sold his wife a pair of poor quality shoes.

    The claimant stated that his wife bought a pair of shoes from a shop at Tariq Road worth Rs1,600. One piece of the pair broke into two pieces in a few days. The man also added that the shoes were his wife’s favourite ones.