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Category: National

  • VIDEO: OLMT officials torture labourers for taking shelter in metro station

    VIDEO: OLMT officials torture labourers for taking shelter in metro station

    Police have arrested five alleged employees of the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) for torturing labourers who, after taking shelter, were trying to light a fire near the elevators of the Awan Town train station.

    The video of the assault that went viral on social media garnered criticism, as people demanded action against the suspects over violence against the homeless workers.

    The officials– wearing orange jackets, included a woman as well, arrived at the scene after the fire alarms went off. They beat up the labourers with sticks who were forced to remain in a squatting position as punishment, the video showed.

    The staff also abused the workers while beating them continuously despite their apologies. According to police, the labourers were trying to keep them warm by starting a fire in the Awan Town station when they were held by the OLMT security officials.

    https://twitter.com/SardarAbdulRe16/status/1350061815745679360

    After backlash on social media, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the incident and sought a report from the Lahore police chief.

  • Naeem Bukhari removed as PTV chairman

    Naeem Bukhari removed as PTV chairman

    The government has removed Pakistan Television Chairman Naeem Bukhari after an order of the Islamabad High Court that asked the cabinet to review the decision taken in violation of a court order.

    According to Geo News, Bukhari, who was also PM Imran Khan’s lawyer in the Panama Papers case, was removed through a circulation summary. The cabinet also restored Aamer Manzoor as the managing director of the state-run television who was removed by the corporation’s board of directors on January 1.

    Earlier this week, the IHC said the appointment was made in violation of the Supreme Court ruling in a similar case pertaining to Ataul Haq Qasmi.

    During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had said the government ignored the guidelines set by the SC in a decision pertaining to the posting in the said position. It had said there must be a clear reason for relaxing the upper age limit for 65-year-old Naeem.

    It had advised the counsel for the PTV chairman to peruse the decision of the top court that had set aside the appointment of Qasmi.

    It may be noted that the apex court had declared the appointment of Qasmi illegal in Nov 2018 over loopholes. It had said the government had failed to appoint a full-time managing director in accordance with the law.

    During today’s hearing, the IHC CJ said the cabinet did not take a clear decision to relax the age limit for the incumbent chairman. He said the matter will be referred to the federal cabinet so a decision could be taken in light of the SC decision.

    At this, the counsel said the cabinet had approved the summary for the appointment of Bukhari. “You should have informed the cabinet about the top court’s decision so that it could have avoided the embarrassment,” the IHC CJ said.

    The hearing was adjourned for two weeks.

    BUKHARI BECOMES PTV CHAIRMAN:

    In November, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had notified Bukhari, who has a vast experience of doing TV programmes, as chairman of PTV. The appointment was made after a court ruling in Sept 2020 declared the appointments of PTV chairman Arshad Khan and independent members of the board of directors illegal while directing the government to fill the vacant slots in accordance with the law. 

    Bukhari, who has worked as an anchorperson and commentators on PTV for decades, had joined PTI in June 2016. At the time, he called Imran Khan the “only political leader who had the courage to speak the truth”. Bukhari also represented Imran when he went to the Supreme Court against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif following the Panama Papers leak.

    The pleas that were later admitted by the apex court which disqualified Nawaz Sharif for being “dishonest” under Article 62 (1)(f).

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also hired the services of Bukhari as a special prosecutor to take up cases against close confidants of Sharif brothers — former Lahore Development Authority chief Ahad Cheema and former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad.

  • PIA plane confiscated by Malaysian authorities minutes before departure, with passengers on board

    PIA plane confiscated by Malaysian authorities minutes before departure, with passengers on board

    A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) jet was on Friday impounded by Malaysian authorities, minutes before it took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

    According to media reports, the Boeing-777 was confiscated over the national carrier of Pakistan’s failure to pay leasing dues to a Vietnamese company, and on the orders of a Malaysian court.

    PIA had leased two aircraft, including the Boeing-777,  from the company in 2015. 

    “Flight was ready for departure with passengers on board and when authorities came on board & informed the crew that they are not allowed to depart,” journalist Mubashir Zaidi claimed.

    The aircraft’s 18-member staff also become stranded in Kuala Lumpur due to the seizure, and will now quarantine for 14 days as per protocols, Geo reported.

    Meanwhile, PIA confirmed that the aircraft has been held back on the orders of a local court in Malaysia that “took a one-sided decision pertaining to a legal dispute between PIA and another party pending in a United Kingdom (UK) court”.

    “The passengers are being looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel have been finalised,” read a tweet by PIA.

    In a subsequent tweet, the national carrier termed the situation as “unacceptable” and said that the government of Pakistan had been approached to take up the matter using diplomatic channels.

  • VIDEO: Delivery boy robbed of burgers in Gujranwala

    Robbers on Thursday looted burgers from a delivery boy in Gujranwala.

    As per reports, a group of six men riding on two motorcycles robbed the delivery boy as he was on his way to deliver the burgers to customers. The unidentified but armed men stopped the boy and snatched six burgers and a mobile from him and escaped from the scene.

    The delivery boy has filed an FIR against the suspects. Police officials have assured that they will arrest the suspects soon.

    Earlier on December 25, a delivery boy had nabbed two young street criminals after they tried to rob him in Gulshan-e-Iqbal but later allowed them to go thinking that it could ruin their life.

  • Pakistan has yet to place final order for vaccine procurement: report

    Pakistan has yet to place final order for vaccine procurement: report

    Even though the government has promised Pakistanis a vaccine in the first quarter of this year, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has failed to place a final order to acquire the much-needed vaccine to inoculate at least 100 million people.

    According to a media outlet, the country was striving to get its first batch of the vaccine doses, as not a single pharma company has accepted Pakistan’s request to deliver the order.

    PM’s aide on health Dr Faisal Sultan was quoted by The News saying that Pakistan has yet to place a final order and strike a deal with a manufacturer.

    “Although, we are striving hard to get the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine at the earliest for our frontline workers and others the final order has not yet been placed and accepted (by any vaccine manufacturer),” he reportedly said.

    China’s Sinopharm, whose vaccine is apparently 50 per cent effective, has submitted its data with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the health authorities are still in the process of reaching an agreement with the company, it added.

    Pakistan is also interested in Russian vaccine Sputnik V, Dr Sultan said, adding that negotiations are underway with Astrazeneca’s manufacturer. “We are trying to get AstraZeneca vaccine both through the Covax facility and through direct procurement,” he added.

    Earlier this month, Russia approached Pakistan with a vaccine offer. It wrote a letter to Pakistan asking for details of the process of vaccine registration as well as the demand in the country for the batch of dozes.

    In the letter addressed to Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Faisal Sultan, the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) Head, Kirill Dmitriev has said that the Sputnik-V had an emergency use certificate and it was 91.4% effective.

    On Dec 31, it was reported that the government had decided to purchase 1.2million doses of a Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm, amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak across the world.

    Pakistan has planned to vaccinate its population in three phases: in the first phase, frontline health workers will be inoculated; the second phase will be focused on the elderly; the third phase will be for the general populace.

    According to DW, it can take several years to develop an effective and safe vaccine. On average, it takes between 10 and 12 years, but it can take longer. The search for a vaccine against HIV has been going since the early 1980s — so far without success.

    In the case of COVID-19, researchers are racing to shorten the time it usually takes because of the ongoing pandemic. Despite the pressure that that brings, vaccine developers, manufacturers and the World Health Organization (WHO) say there will be no compromises on safety.

  • No pension for new hirings at KP universities in ‘Naya Pakistan’: report

    In what appears to greatly contradict claims of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for ‘Naya Pakistan [new Pakistan]’, Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has issued a notification to the public sector universities directing it to implement “no pension liability” for all future initial recruitments in addition to other strict measures to overcome the rising deficit.

    According to a report by Express Tribune, the department has also directed delinking of the pay scales from the basic pay scale scheme and university pay scale, while further stating in a notification that government grant and other resources meant for higher education shall not be expended on meeting the shortfall of the schools run by the universities.

    “These schools should have separate Board of Governors (BoG),” it reportedly read.

    Furthermore, house subsidy and requisition should be paid to the employees on the provincial government rates.

    All medical allowances in their current form have been abolished and shall be paid at the provincial government rates, says the notification, adding that the maintenance cost including repair, security and other facilities’ costs should be fully recovered from the employees provided with accommodation by the universities.

    “The universities will be assisted in the process of exploring new avenues of financial resources, including renting out academic blocks to other institutions,” says the notification.

    The report also quoted a university official as saying that in the presence of the University Act 2012, amended in 2016, all the incentives provided to the employees by the universities had completely been protected and in the presence of an act, no notification could change it including abolishing of the pension, house rents and medical allowances.

  • Foreign couple ‘mysteriously’ living in a car in Lahore for 6 months

    Foreign couple ‘mysteriously’ living in a car in Lahore for 6 months

    A foreign couple, who is apparently from Australia or Germany, has been residing outside the Customs House in Lahore for the past six months without permission, Daily Pakistan has reported.

    According to locals, they had come to Lahore six months ago and had stayed for a few days at a hotel near Anarkali Bazaar.

    However, the couple started living in a car, parked on a road after they ran out of money. They have set up a tent on the car’s roof.

    They also have a pet puppy and a small cylinder to cook food.

    According to locals, the couple wanted to travel the world on their car and were supposed to cross the Wahga border to reach India, but got stranded in Lahore due to COVID-19.

    Since then, they have been living in a car where they also order food deliveries.

    Locals said they sometimes distribute soup and rice to the workers in the area.

  • Agent in US responsible for any illegal funding, PTI tells ECP

    Agent in US responsible for any illegal funding, PTI tells ECP

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has blamed its agents managing its two limited liability companies (LLCs), saying the responsibility lies with the agents in case of any illegal funding from the United States.

    The Election Commission of Pakistan had started fresh scrutiny of the PTI accounts — a process going on since March 2018. The foreign funding against the ruling party case was filed by its founding member Akbar S Babar in 2014.

    In a response to the petition in the foreign funding case, the PTI, that had denied any links to the foreign funding, said that if the two LLC registered after the written instructions of party chief Imran Khan were involved in the illegal act, it would be due to its agents who were managing them in the US.

    The PTI said in its reply submitted to the ECP said that “any contribution that has been collected by the agent which may be questionable would be beyond the scope of the work/responsibility/instructions given by the principal (respondent)”. Therefore, the “principal will not be liable under Section 228 and not admit/certify such content”.

    Dawn reported that the ECP committee also refused to hand over the PTI’s financial documents to the petitioner’s lawyer due to the concerns expressed by the PTI.

    “The documents include 23 PTI bank statements received on instructions from the State Bank that were mostly concealed from the ECP,” it reported. However, the counsel of Akbar S Babar will be allowed to inspect the documents during the next hearing.

    The petitioner’s counsel Ahmad Hassan Shah said the refusal to share the documents was in contrast to the ECP order of May 2018.

    In a decision, the ECP had killed the PTI’s request to keep these documents and the scrutiny process secret.

    The body’s chairman acknowledged that the PTI’s bank statements and other documents were not being shared with the petitioner on the concerns of PTI.

    At this, the petitioner questioned the transparency of the inquiry, saying how could there be an independent probe if the proceedings were steered by the accused party.

  • Babar Azam summoned by FIA over claims by ‘ex-girlfriend’

    Babar Azam summoned by FIA over claims by ‘ex-girlfriend’

    Cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has summoned Pakistan cricket team skipper Babar Azam over sexual and financial abuse accusations by the woman who claims to be his ex-girlfriend. 

    Babar, 26, was summoned on Thursday but excused from visiting the officials due to some engagements.

    The star batsman requested the FIA to reschedule the summons, after which he has been asked to appear before the agency next week.

    On Wednesday, he started net practice at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) after missing out all the matches of Pakistan against New Zealand owing to thumb injury. Babar’s thumb was injured during net practice in Queens Town on December 12.

    Despite missing out on all the matches, Babar remained with the team in New Zealand.

    The New Zealand series was Babar’s first as Test captain and now he has to lead Pakistan in the home series against South Africa starting from January 26 with the first Test scheduled to be played in Karachi. The second Test is scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi from February 4 following which the two teams will play three T20Is in Lahore from February 11 to 14.

    CASE AGAINST BABAR:

    In December 2020, police had given a clean chit to Babar in the harassment case against him.

    According to reports, Additional Sessions Judge Nauman Naeem had taken up the petition of a woman, namely Hameeza Mukhtar, against the Pakistani skipper.

    The hearing had come after Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director of Media and Communications Samiul Hassan said that the sexual violence allegations against skipper Babar were a personal matter and the board could not comment on it.

    According to Jang, the board’s spokesperson was responding to a question posed by the Urdu daily after a damning press conference by one Hamiza of Lahore, who claims to be Babar’s schoolfellow and neighbour.

    Addressing the presser, the woman had claimed that the young cricketer tricked her into love and marriage.

    “When I asked him to marry me, he tortured me,” she said.

    Hamiza said that she had financially supported Babar when he was struggling with his career, adding that she spent millions of rupees on him.

    “When I called the PCB to lodge a complaint, they said that it was a personal matter,” she continued.

    During the proceedings in the sessions court, the counsel of the petitioner sought time to submit documents in the court and said that the entire case was based on medical reports.

    Azam’s counsel, Barrister Harris Azmat, while requesting the court to reject the petitioner’s plea, said that Azam was a national cricketer and hero, adding that Hameeza had started blackmailing the national cricket team captain in 2016 whereas the police had cleared him in an investigation.

    Police also submitted an investigation report in the court, as per which the national cricketer was found innocent and the woman was leveling baseless allegations.

    “The court should reject the petitioner’s plea,” he had said.

    Barrister Azmat said that Azam’s case was being covered by Indian media and the woman may have targeted the national cricketer once again at the behest of someone.

  • ‘Violation of rules’: IHC stops Bukhari from working as PTV chairman

    ‘Violation of rules’: IHC stops Bukhari from working as PTV chairman

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has stopped Pakistan Television (PTV) Chairman Naeem Bukhari from working as the chairman of the national TV, saying the appointment was made in violation of the Supreme Court ruling in a similar case.

    During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said the government has ignored the guidelines set by the SC in a decision pertaining to the posting in the said position. It said there must be a clear reason for relaxing the upper age limit for 65-year-old Naeem.

    It had advised the counsel for the PTV chairman to peruse the decision of the top court that had set aside the appointment of Qasmi.

    It may be noted that the apex court had declared the appointment of Qasmi illegal in Nov 2018 over loopholes. It had said the government had failed to appoint a full-time managing director in accordance with the law.

    During today’s hearing, the IHC CJ said the cabinet did not take a clear decision to relax the age limit for the incumbent chairman. He said the matter will be referred to the federal cabinet so a decision could be taken in light of the SC decision.

    At this, the counsel said the cabinet had approved the summary for the appointment of Bukhari. “You should have informed the cabinet about the top court’s decision so that it could have avoided the embarrassment,” the IHC CJ said.

    The hearing was adjourned for two weeks.

    BUKHARI BECOMES PTV CHAIRMAN:

    In November, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had notified Bukhari, who has a vast experience of doing TV programmes, as chairman of PTV. The appointment was made after a court ruling in Sept 2020 declared the appointments of PTV chairman Arshad Khan and independent members of the board of directors illegal while directing the government to fill the vacant slots in accordance with the law. 

    Bukhari, who has worked as an anchorperson and commentators on PTV for decades, had joined PTI in June 2016. At the time, he called Imran Khan the “only political leader who had the courage to speak the truth”. Bukhari also represented Imran when he went to the Supreme Court against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif following the Panama Papers leak.

    The pleas that were later admitted by the apex court which disqualified Nawaz Sharif for being “dishonest” under Article 62 (1)(f).

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also hired the services of Bukhari as a special prosecutor to take up cases against close confidants of Sharif brothers — former Lahore Development Authority chief Ahad Cheema and former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad.