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Category: National

  • After hundreds of train accidents, casualties in two years, PM says ‘role of railways crucial for Naya Pakistan’

    After nearly 200 major and minor train accidents that have caused hundreds of casualties since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took reins of the country in 2018, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said that the role of Pakistan Railways is “crucial” in the journey to Naya Pakistan.

    Speaking at the inauguration of the Hassan Abdal Railway Station in Attock, the premier underlined that across the world, trains were a cheap and comfortable way to travel.

    “Railways are important because it’s a commute for the poor and common people of Pakistan,” he said.

    “Unfortunately, we did not develop the railway system provided by the British,” PM Imran said, adding that for the first time, the largest investment to Pakistan Railways was coming through the ML-1.

    ML-1 or Main Line 1 is one of the four main railway lines in Pakistan. The Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line begins from Karachi City station or Kiamari Station and ends at Peshawar Cantonment Station. The total length of this line is 1,687 kilometers with 184 railway stations.

    The line serves as the main passenger and freight line of the country as it is used by 75% of both sorts of rail traffic. It is currently undergoing a six-year Rs886.68 billion upgrade and renovation as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with average rail speeds expected to be doubled to 160 kilometers per hour upon completion.

    The premier said the journey from Karachi to Lahore through ML-1 would come down to seven hours, and the project “will be an important step towards self-reliance”.

    Railways would play an important role in Pakistan’s economic development, he remarked.

    RAILWAYS SINCE 2018:

    While the premier has highlighted the significance of railways for the materialisation of his dream of a new Pakistan, it merits a mention that a significant spike in train accidents over the past two years has further marred the department’s safety record.

    According to Dawn, over 100 train-related incidents, including some fatal accidents took place in 2019 besides 111 incidents of engine failure within the first five months of the year alone.

    These come on top of minor derailment incidents at least one of which is reported every week with the last reported three weeks ago near Ghotki in Sindh.

    Here’s a list of major untoward incidents involving trains since 2018…

    September 16, 2018:

    Nine bogies of the Peshawar-bound Khushal Khan Khattak Express from Karachi derailed near Attock. 20 passengers were injured.

    September 27, 2018:

    Another Peshawar-bound train derailed in which 11 bogies overturned in Sehwan, Sindh.

    December 18, 2018:

    At least 12 children were injured as a passenger train crashed into a school van near Narowal in Punjab. Local witnesses said the accident happened due to dense fog and because the gate at the crossing was left open.

    June 9, 2019:

    As many as 23 bogies of a Karachi-bound freight train derailed in Sukkur.

    June 20, 2019:

    Three people were killed when a passenger train collided with a stationary cargo train in Makli Shah near Hyderabad.

    July 11, 2019:

    A Quetta-bound train collided with a cargo train near Sadiqabad in Punjab, killing 24 people and injuring over 100 others. The accident was later found to be caused by a delay in switching the train tracks.

    October 31, 2019:

    Fire engulfed a train near Rahim Yar Khan in Punjab, killing 65 people. The cause of the incident was discovered to be a gas explosion. A canister had been carried by passengers to cook on the train amid the authorities’ failure to keep a check on the travellers’ luggage.

    February 28, 2020:

    At least 19 people were killed when a train collided with a passenger bus near Sindh’s Rohri.

    July 3, 2020:

    At least 20 people died and ten others were injured when Shah Hussain Express collided with a bus near Sachcha Sauda Railway Station in Sheikhupura. Most victims were members of the Pakistani Sikh community.

  • PM accused of seeking Justice Isa’s removal, action against Geo’s Mir Shakil

    PM accused of seeking Justice Isa’s removal, action against Geo’s Mir Shakil

    A day after two Supreme Court judges criticised the federal government over a “mala fide” reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been accused of seeking lawyers’ help for the removal of Supreme Court judge Qazi Faez Isa.

    The claim was made by former Supreme Court Bar Association chairman Yasin Azad in a comment to Voicepk.net.

    Azad said the prime minister had met a delegation of the lawyers last month, wherein he allegedly asked them to help him get rid of Justice Isa. He alleged that Justice Isa’s free-spirited attitude “upsets” the government.

    During the meeting, the PM also vowed to teach Mir Shakilur Rehman, the owner of Geo, a lesson. Shakilur Rahman is behind bars in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for over six months now in a case pertaining to allotment of plots 34 years ago.

    The media mogul was called to the NAB office in Lahore in March for submitting his answers to the questionnaire attached with a call-up notice and was subsequently arrested. A reference has also been filed against him and other accused by the NAB chief earlier this year.

    NAB has come under increasing criticism for acting against the critics of the Imran Khan-led government during the past couple of years.  

    On July 20, 2020, Pakistan’s Supreme Court, in an 87-page decision, ruled that NAB had violated the rights to a fair trial and due process in the arrest of two opposition politicians, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique, whom the NAB detained for 15 months without reasonable grounds.

    NAB, however, says it is independent in its decision-making process.

  • Over 14,000 unlicensed drivers penalised in Islamabad

    As many as 14,489 motorists driving cars or riding bikes without a license have so far been fined by the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) in 2020.

    According to an ITP spokesperson, the department is currently on a mission to ensure vehicular discipline and take strict action against motorists who neglect traffic rules. He added that the fine tickets are issued not as a punitive measure, but to enable citizens to respect traffic laws and contribute to road safety.

    The reports suggest that the police department has also started an awareness campaign to sensitise motorists to the importance of traffic laws. The authorities are aiming to control illegal activities like driving without a licence, one-wheeling, careless driving, risky stunts, and ensuring lane discipline.

    ASSP (Traffic) Farrukh Rasheed said that the ITP personnel will continue their efforts to ensure road safety in the capital. In his statement, he urged people to cooperate with the ITP to make Islamabad accident-free.

    In a bid to curb vehicular tragedies, the Road Safety Council of Pakistan (RSCP) has been established to ensure the prevention of road accidents, through the dissemination of information and coordination with various relevant departments to lessen the risks associated with on-road commutes.

    RSCP Chairman Irfan Baloch has said that the main objective of the council is to reduce traffic crashes and injuries by generating awareness about road safety and build a sense of responsibility in people.

    “We want to save precious lives through the prevention of road traffic accidents, and we strongly believe that all road crashes are preventable.”

  • Pakistan reacts to Indian claims of taking Kartarpur Gurdwara’s management away from Sikh body

    Pakistan reacts to Indian claims of taking Kartarpur Gurdwara’s management away from Sikh body

    Pakistan has firmly rejected the “baseless and fallacious” claims made by the Indian government against the Kartarpur Corridor, and the same have also been rejected by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC).

    In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri has said that the malicious propaganda by the Indian government is simply an attempt to malign the peace corridor initiative.

    “The malicious propaganda by the Indian government is simply an attempt to malign the peace corridor initiative by casting mischievous aspersions against the interests of the Sikh community and to detract attention from the reprehensible violation of human rights of minorities in India,” he said.

    The FO said that it was no more than an Indian attempt to cast damaging accusations against the interests of the Sikh community and to detract attention from India’s own reprehensible human rights violations of minorities in India.

    Chaudri added that the PSGPC is responsible for carrying out rituals in Gurdwara Sahiban, including Kartarpur, as per Sikh Rehat Maryada.

    “Any insinuations regarding ‘transferring’ the affairs of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from the PSGPC to the Project Management Unit (PMU) are not only contrary to the facts but are also aimed at creating religious disharmony by the Hindutva-driven government in India,” the FO spokesperson said.

    “The PMU, under the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), has simply been created to facilitate the committee in this regard,” he added.

    Chaudhri said that the Sikh community from all over the world remains greatly appreciative of the efforts made by Pakistan to complete the Kartarpur Corridor project in record time and for the excellent arrangements made to facilitate the pilgrims.

    “India would be well advised to take steps to protect its minorities and their places of worship, rather than feigning misleading and sham concerns for the rights of minorities elsewhere,” he said.

    INDIAN CLAIMS:

    India had on Thursday “highly condemned” Pakistan’s then alleged decision to transfer the management of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara from PSGPC to a separate trust, saying the move ran against the religious sentiments of the Sikh community.

    The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said India received representations from the Sikh community expressing grave concern over the decision to transfer the management and maintenance of the gurudwara from the PSGPC to the administrative control of the ETPB.

    KARTARPUR SAHIB:

    Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.

    In November last year, the two countries threw open a corridor linking Dera Baba Sahib in Gurdaspur in India with Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, in a historic people-to-people initiative.

    The move was lauded by members of the Sikh community from all across the globe.

  • Karachi man requests court to legalise hashish in public interest

    Karachi man requests court to legalise hashish in public interest

    A man has approached the Sindh High Court, asking it to decriminalise carrying and smoking small quantities of hashish in the public interest.

    The petitioner had requested the court that people be allowed to carry 10 grammes of hashish (chars) on their person. “What kind of a petition have you brought? Do you want everyone to start smoking chars?” responded Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, visibly perturbed by the plea.

    At this, petitioner Ghulam Asghar Saeein informed the bench that several countries in the world have decriminalised hash.

    “If you want to smoke hash then go to those countries, it is not allowed here,” responded Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, as he dismissed the petition.

    “It will increase the country’s income and revenue,” said the petitioner at the judge’s questioning. “We do not want such money, as there are legitimate ways to increase income,” responded the judge.

    Many Pakistanis are surprisingly open to using cannabis, with the spongy, black hash made from marijuana grown in the country’s tribal belt and neighbouring Afghanistan the preferred variant of the drug, said AFP news agency in a feature on the use of hashish in Pakistan in 2017.

    Whereas alcohol is explicitly forbidden in Islamic scripture, hash seemingly straddles a theological gray zone, which could explain its popularity in the country.

    Even if most observant Muslims in Pakistan scoff at the idea of drinking, a prod into their feelings on marijuana often triggers a wry smile followed by a trite maxim about how good it makes food taste or how restful sleep can be after a toke.

    People have been smoking hash on the subcontinent for centuries.
    It predates the arrival of Islam in the region, with reference to cannabis appearing in the sacred Hindu Atharva Veda text describing its medicinal and ritual uses.

    According to a 2013 UN survey, cannabis was the most widely consumed drug in Pakistan with around four million users, representing 3.6 per cent of the population – a figure that has drawn scepticism in a country where reliable data can be hard to come by.

  • Troubled Tareen returns to Pakistan ‘after assurance on ongoing issues’

    Estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Jahangir Khan Tareen, whose sugar mills were allegedly involved in corrupt practices, has returned to Pakistan after spending five months in London.

    Tareen, once a close confidant of PM Imran Khan, had a falling out with the prime minister and party leaders after he was named in an inquiry ordered by the PM over hike in sugar prices. The report made public by the government had named other politicians as well.

    A news report claimed that Tareen took this decision to end his self-imposed exile after Imran assured him a free trial about the ongoing issues among other things.

    Speaking about his return at the airport, the PTI leader said that he was staying in London for medical reasons. He also rejected the inquiry report that named him for manipulating sugar industry to make profits, saying that he was ready to face all these accusations.

    Earlier this year, following the shortage of wheat flour in the country and the subsequent price hike, sugar had also gone missing from the market. Taking notice of the situation, the premier had formed a committee to find out those responsible for the crises.

    The inquiry report subsequently had named PTI bigwig Tareen, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Moonis Elahi and a relative of then minister for national food security Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar as the beneficiaries of the price hike.

  • ‘Taliban poster’ outside women college tells them to quit education or get killed

    ‘Taliban poster’ outside women college tells them to quit education or get killed

    A poster allegedly by proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outside a women degree college in Samarbagh area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Lower Dir district has warned the students to abandon education or face dire consequences.

    According to the principal of Government Ghazi Umara Khan Degree College, the poster was pasted outside the institution’s main entrance on Friday night.

    The principal has also sent a letter to the KP Higher Education Department director, asking for security measures for safeguarding the lives of the female students.

    The poster threatened the students with death if they did not stop coming to the college.

    The college management has also informed the Lower Dir administration and the police about the development.

    While the poster has left worried the parents who demand of the district administration to probe the matter and take appropriate preventive measures, the TTP, in a statement, has reportedly distanced itself from the same.

    It is pertinent to note that one of Pakistan’s only two Nobel laureates, Malala Yousafzai, was also shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for raising her voice for girl education.

    The attempt on Malala’s life was made while she was on a school bus in the Swat district that was back then under Taliban occupation.

  • Man fined Rs 100,000 for demanding gifted property from wife after 16 years

    Man fined Rs 100,000 for demanding gifted property from wife after 16 years

    Lahore High Court (LHC) imposed a fine of Rs 100,000 on a man for demanding the land he had gifted to his second wife after 16 years.

    According to the details, LHC judge Shahid Waheed dismissed Muhammad Riaz’s petition, remarking that it was disgraceful to call the mother of his children and the sick wife in the court without any reason.

    While further condemning the bid to drag an ailing woman and a mother to the court, the LHC imposed Rs 100,000 as a fine on the complainant.

    A resident of Mandi Bahauddin, Riaz had married Fatima, a divorcee and mother of two daughters, after the death of his first wife. He had gifted 56-kanal land to her but approached the courts 16 years later to get the property back.

    After civil court dismissed his petition, he moved the LHC for civil revision against the trial court’s ruling and accused his wife of getting the property through fraud. He told the court that even if the gift proved to be valid in favour of his wife, he had withdrew it.

    Justice Waheed ruled that the complainant failed to prove the claims of fraud and conspiracy against the woman in the case, stating that the petitioner had voluntarily and consciously gifted the land to his wife.

  • National Bank manager killed by guard ‘for blasphemy’

    National Bank manager killed by guard ‘for blasphemy’

    A National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) manager has been shot by a security guard in Punjab’s Khushab district over blasphemy allegations, police reported.

    According to reports, the incident took place in in Quaidabad. The victim, Malik Imran Hanif, was first taken to a local hospital, however, the nature of his gunshot wounds was so severe, he was shifted to Services Hospital in Lahore, where he succumbed to his injuries.

    The guard who killed Hanif claims to have done so over blasphemy, but Khushab District Police Officer (r) Capt Tariq Wilayat said that it was too early to confirm this.

    According to initial reports, the two had been arguing for some time before the firing took place. Reportedly, the guard had been fired a few months back but had recently been rehired.

    The DPO felt sceptical of the guard’s blasphemy claims and said that it was likely the incident was due to personal grievances. However, a video of the incident emerged on social media, where the guard could be heard saying that the deceased manager had “insulted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)”.

    Multiple videos of the occurrence emerged, in which the guard was seen being met with by a group of supporters, shouting slogans as they walked on the street, and then meeting the leaders of a religious group, all of whom raised slogans and addressed supporters from the rooftop of the Quaidabad Police Station.

    Another video showed the uncle of the deceased denying the guard’s claims, saying that they were Muslims, and had not insulted the Prophet (PBUH). The uncle asserted the killing was due to personal reasons.

    Human rights groups say blasphemy laws are often misused to persecute minorities or even against Muslims to settle personal rivalries. Such accusations can end up in lynchings or street vigilantism.

  • ‘Relax, it happens,’ former senator of ‘grape’ fame tells Donald Trump

    ‘Relax, it happens,’ former senator of ‘grape’ fame tells Donald Trump

    Former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Sehar Kamran of “grape” meme videos fame has made headlines for telling United States (US) President Donald Trump to relax as the latter raises concerns over his looming loss in the race to White House.

    By the time this report was filed, Democratic challenger Joe Biden, according to Associated Press’ (AP) data, had secured 264 electoral votes against Trump’s 214. For a majority, 270 electoral votes are needed.

    With Trump taking to Twitter to launch a tirade against his opponent and cast doubts over the electoral process while adding to his laid groundwork for refusing to concede a loss now expected, the former parliamentarian from Pakistan has told him to relax.

    “Relax, it happens,” she wrote in response to a tweet by the incumbent American president.

    The former senator from Pakistan had earlier also tweeted to wish Trump’s rival Biden good luck.

    ‘GRAPE’:

    In September, Sehar responded to the viral clips doing the rounds on social media where some schoolchildren were seen telling what they would do for their country at an Independence Day event.

    The clips had gone viral on TikTok and not just in Pakistan. Sehar was seen encouraging the children in the clips and adding clarity to their statements — all in the spirit of patriotism.

    Speaking to NayaDaur, Sehar had said that the clips are from Pakistan International School in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia of which she was the principal ten years ago.

    “Everyone has the right to express their affection for the country and this is what my students at Pakistan International School Jeddah and I were doing in the video clip,” she said.

    One particular clip in which a child says that he would get into the army and “destroy India” had turned into memes and Sehar’s reaction to the student’s comment, “strong army, wow!”, had also taken the internet by storm.

    While a lot of people had also criticised her for “teaching the kids to promote hate”, another reaction of hers, “great”, had broken the internet as “grape”.