A girl in Gujranwala, who had approached the police for the registration of a case against at least two men who assaulted her, was allegedly raped by the assistant sub-inspector (ASI) responsible to serve justice.
According to media reports, the incident took place when the girl, along with her father, approached Aroop police in Gujranwala to lodge a complaint against two men who had torn her clothes while assaulting her on September 9.
ASI Mubashar was appointed as the inquiry officer to look into the matter. The cop, however, instead of initiating legal action against the accused, sexually assaulted the woman.
“He kept calling me ‘sister’ and raped me,” the survivor said in a statement, adding that it was followed by the force pressurising her family and her to not pursue the matter.
Having lost faith in the local police, the survivor’s family has now approached Gujranwala city police officer (CPO), who has reportedly ordered a probe.
While the victim and her family continue to allege that senior police officials are also trying to save the ASI, The Current has learnt that Cantonment Superintendent of Police (SP) Hafeezur Rehman has vowed prompt justice.
“The case will be investigated on merit and departmental action will be initiated against the policeman if he is found guilty of rape,” he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani has also reportedly taken notice of the incident and directed the officials concerned to submit to him a detailed report.
Medical reports of the girl were awaited by the time this report was filed.
A conference of the mainstream opposition parties, dubbed as the All Parties Conference (APC), was held Islamabad on Sunday to devise a unanimous strategy to oust the government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Addressing the conference through video-link, former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, who stayed in the background for more than a year, thanked Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for “love with which he spoke to him a day earlier”, saying he would not forget it.
“I am thankful to the organisers of the conference for giving me the opportunity to talk. Even though I am away from my country, I know very well what condition the country and the people are in. I believe this is a decisive turn; it is necessary to protect democracy […] and take fearless decisions,” he said.
In an all-encompassing address, which centred on criticising the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Nawaz spoke on the “poor state” of Pakistan’s economy, “deteriorating” international relations, “muzzling” of media and “corruption within the PTI”. Similarly, Zardari criticised the government in his welcome note for not “allowing” Nawaz’s speech to be broadcast, he said they showed former president Pervez Musharraf’s interview.
“The country’s leader keeps harping on about accountability but he himself is involved in raising sugar prices. Will no reference be filed against him?” the former PM asked.
WATCH VIDEO:
He also repeated the opposition’s allegation that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), with the connivance of PTI, was carrying out only “selective accountability”.
Sharif has been residing in London since November last year on the pretext of medical treatment and has since maintained a distance from political activities. His party insists that despite being summoned by the courts, who declared him a proclaimed offender in a corruption probe, the former premier will only return after the completion of his medical treatment.
“If we do not do it [take a step] today, when will we?” asked Nawaz. “I agree with Maulana [Fazlur Rehman, chief of JUI-F] that we need to make this conference purposeful or people will be disappointed.”
“Pakistan has been constantly deprived of a democratic system […] When the vote is dishonoured, the entire democratic system becomes meaningless. When it is decided before the election process as to who will win and who will lose, then it can be guessed how the public is betrayed and how the public’s mandate is stolen,” he added.
Nawaz also hinted at the presence of a parallel justice system. “When a dictator was first brought into the courtroom for violating the Constitution, you saw what happened,” he said.
“Court gave dictators the right to play with the Constitution and acquitted someone who broke the Constitution twice […] Whereas the ones who follow the Constitution are still in jail,” he added.
The PML-N supremo said that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani once pointed to “a state within a state” in Pakistan. “It is saddening that the situation has escalated to a state above the state. This parallel government illness is the root cause of our problems,” he said.
Speaking about the 2018 general elections, Nawaz said that the primary reason for the current problems were those people who “hijacked the people’s mandate by putting inexperienced people in power”. “This is a violation of the Constitution. Has anyone given a thought to what a grave crime it is to steal the people’s mandate?” he asked.
“Can I ask why the Results Transmission System (RTS) was closed for hours during the election, why polling agents were thrown out during counting? Why was rigging done, on whose saying and why? The secretary of election commission should answer and all those responsible will have to answer,” he remarked.
Nawaz alleged the government has enforced a “martial law”. “Criminals are allowed to make amendments to the Constitution […] the people’s premier is expelled and his family is insulted. This conference should bring forth a concrete plan of action for saving democracy, a concrete policy should be made for solving the problem of ‘a parallel state’,” he said.
“Our foremost priority should be removing this selected government and this system. Our struggle is not against Imran Khan. Today, our struggle is against those who installed Imran Khan and who manipulated elections to bring an inefficient man like him into power and thus destroyed the country,” Nawaz said. “If change is not brought, it will bring irreversible loss to this country. It is very important that our armed forces stay away from our governmental system according to our Constitution and the Quaid’s speech, and not interfere with the people’s choice. We have made this country a joke in our own eyes and internationally as well.”
“I again urge this all-party conference to go beyond its traditional ways and form a plan of action,” he added.
Concluding his speech, the former PM once again thanked the PPP and reminded the leaders that now was the time to unite.
“We have to decide that we are one and if the APC is succeeded in doing so, then this conference is successful,” he added.
Cracks have yet again emerged among opposition leaders before they could execute their plans of giving a hard time to the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
According to reports, this time it wasn’t the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), differences among which have led to the opposition’s failure to take on the ruling party ever since the formation of the current government.
But this time, Sunday’s all parties conference (APC) witnessed an unpleasant situation when Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who had earlier played a pivotal role in bringing both the PML-N and PPP to talks table, registered a protest for not airing his speech.
“The government used to censor my speech but now in the APC my speech was also censored and this is highly unreasonable,” he complained.
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari clarified it was on the request of a JUI-F lawmaker as they kept it an in-camera session and would hold a press conference later on; however, Maulana was not convinced.
Senator Sherry Rehman of the PPP said the party was told to arrange for an in-camera address by the JUI-F leader, to which Maulana said, “We did not make such a request.”
Later on during the presser, PPP senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said that Maulana’s address was streamed on social media and electronic media may air it by extracting it from the internet.
In an unexpected development, former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, who has been residing in London ever since he was allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment despite conviction in corruption cases, on Saturday joined microblogging website Twitter.
PML-N vice president and daughter of the 70-year-old thrice-PM took to Twitter to announce the development that pundits believe could mean a comeback for Nawaz who has been out of the political landscape of the country ever since he was disqualified by the Supreme Court (SC) in the Panama Papers case.
Happy & privileged to announce that in order to stay connected to the people of Pakistan, MNS has decided to join Twitter. His Twitter handle is @NawazSharifMNS#TwitterWelcomesNawazSharif
“Happy and privileged to announce that in order to stay connected to the people of Pakistan, MNS [Mian Nawaz Sharif] has decided to join Twitter. His Twitter handle is @NawazSharifMNS,” Maryam Nawaz tweeted.
The development comes a day after it was announced that Nawaz will attend the upcoming all parties conference (APC) via video link.
Earlier, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had disclosed on his social media handle that he had called the PML-N founder to invite him to virtually attend the upcoming opposition parties’ confab.
Just spoke to Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif. Enquired about his health. Also invited him to virtually attend opposition APC, hosted by PPP, on 20th September.
A viral video has shown a minor kid blasting the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led Sindh government after his rooster died allegedly due to now-contaminated rainwater flooding Tando Bago town of Badin district.
Over 20,000 families have badly been affected in Badin where recent heavy rains have wreaked havoc. While 269 millimetres rainfall has badly affected all five administrative divisions of the district, Taluka Tando Bago is the worst affected.
According to the provincial government, around 4,000 houses have been damaged in all divisions while entire crops of tomatoes, onion, cotton and others have either been completely or partially destroyed.
“My rooster has died! We will too!” the kid was heard as saying in Sindhi in the viral video, standing in rainwater flooding a field, holding his dead rooster in his hand.
“When will Bilawal come to help us? When we are already dead?” he said, adding that their houses had washed away and their animals had died due to contaminated water.
The video is drawing strong reactions from social media users, who are expressing concern over the provincial government’s inability to save the people from monsoon rains.
Earlier, protests against authorities were reported in Karachi as urban flooding spelled misery for the people of the country’s largest city owing to the lack of monsoon infrastructure.
Dozens of deaths were also reported in rain-related incidents such as roof-collapse and electrocution in Pakistan’s business hub.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued a scathing verdict on increasing crime, abductions and land-grabbing activities in the federal capital, saying that government ministries and state institutions are involved in “illegal real estate business”.
IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah issued the remarks in a five-page order pertaining to the rise in said cases in Islamabad.
It also noted that the involvement of state institutions and ministries in real estate business raised “questions of conflict of interest”.
“Land-grabbing crimes are on the rise in Islamabad,” said the IHC top judge in the verdict, adding that reports were indicating how much corruption had made its way into the system.
He warned that the system was on the “verge of collapse”.
“Islamabad’s powerful elite is directly responsible for flouting laws,” said Justice Minallah. He added that there was no harm in saying that the “state has failed” to protect the common citizens.
The verdict also said that an alarming law and order situation in Islamabad was “unacceptable”.
“Institutions set up to protect fundamental rights of citizens are directly or indirectly involved in breaking the law,” noted the court.
The wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa has been stated to have a tax liability of Rs35 million on account of her foreign assets and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has slapped a penalty on her against the same amount.
According to reports, this was revealed in 164-page order issued by Inland Revenue and International Taxes Zone Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmed on September 14.
While the decision may have bearing on Justice Isa’s future as a Supreme Court (SC) judge in line to become the chief justice of Pakistan, his wife Sarina Isa has accused the FBR as well as the federal government of mala fide abuse and announced she will challenge the decision at a higher forum.
In June this year, a 10-judge SC bench had suppressed a presidential reference that had accused Justice Isa of misconduct based on non-disclosure of his family’s offshore properties in his wealth statement.
However, the bench had also directed the FBR to investigate Isa’s familial assets abroad and submit a report to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), which is the constitutional forum with the authority to hold a superior court judge accountable.
Sarina, in a written statement, has cast doubt on the order and went on to accuse FBR official Zulfiqar Ahmed of creating “artificial tax liability of over Rs35 million” against her.
“I don’t even know if he wrote the order himself,” she added.
Under the apex court’s June 19 split order, Sarina may use all legal options against the FBR order.
Sarina went on to reject the FBR official’s referring to her alleged refusal to deliver the FBR notice, citing that her father had passed away on that day.
In the statement, she claimed that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was leading a team aiming to victimise her husband and his family in a bid to remove Justice Isa from his position.
Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh, who recently made headlines for his controversial statements regarding survivor of the Lahore-Sialkot motorway gang-rape victim, can be arrested if he continues to ignore the summons from the upper house of the parliament.
As per the details, Senate Committee on Human Rights has dismayed over the absence of Lahore top cop who had been directed by the body to appear in person during its Wednesday meeting. Other than not appearing before the human rights body of the upper house, Sheikh did not notify any reason either.
CCPO Lahore has been issued summons to appear on the 28th under powers of a civil court vested in the committees to enforce attendance and production of documents. His non-appearance and stark failure of police to provide public reps with basic info has resulted in this. pic.twitter.com/DIrW03U4hO
Irked over the cop’s absence, the committee chairperson, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, has said that it is unacceptable.
While the committee has reportedly decided to submit a privilege motion against the CCPO and issued summons to ensure the officer’s presence at its next hearing, Khokhar has also hinted at the possibility of arresting the cop in case of continued absence.
Speaking to senior journalist and analyst Hamid Mir, Khokhar said that the committee “will issue CCPO’s arrest warrants” if needs be.
Standing Committee of Senate on Human Rights summoned CCPO Lahore today in its meeting he never appeared in meeting Chairman of the committee @Mustafa_PPP said “we will issue his arrest warrants” Govt member Ali Nawaz Awan said we will support arrest warrants #RemoveCCPOLahorepic.twitter.com/8vRvzVXMZ0
“Despite public outrage, the CCPO hasn’t had the courtesy to appear before public representatives. If he doesn’t appear, we will have no other option than to issue his warrants,” he said, adding that all committees of the parliament can do so owing to the powers vested in them under the constitution.
Opposition absentees outnumbered their counterparts on the treasury benches during the joint sitting of parliament on Wednesday, which passed three bills related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), official records revealed Thursday.
According to The Express Tribune, the attendance record released by the National Assembly Secretariat showed that more than two dozen opposition lawmakers did not turn up for the joint sitting, including 13 from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and 11 from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
From the treasury side, those conspicuous for their absence were Asim Nazir, Amir Liaquat Hussain, Ahmed Hussain Dehar and Abdul Majeed Khan of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Chaudhry Moonis Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League.
In the parliamentary session, 317 members of National Assembly, out of the Lower House’s current strength of 340, were present. From the Upper House of parliament, which currently has 103 members, around 14 opposition senators were absent.
The prominent absentees included former president Asif Zardari, who did not attend because of illness and Syed Khurshid Shah, who is in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau. Besides these two top PPP lawmakers, Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), was also absent.
The list also includes Amir Haider Hoti of the Awami National Party (ANP), Ali Wazir, a lawmaker from the former tribal areas, Afrin Khan of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), PML-N’s Afzal Khokhar, Ahmad Raza Maneka, Ehsanul Haq Bajwa and Riaz Pirzada and the PPP’s Makhdoom Jamiluz Zaman, Amir Magsi, Khalid Loond, Roshan Junejo and Ghulam Ali Talpur.
According to the attendance record, the senators who skipped Wednesday’s joint sitting were PML-N senators Kulsoom Parveen, Chaudhry Tanveer, Shamim Afridi, Raheela Magsi, Saleem Zia, Dilawar Khan, Yaqub Nasir and Najma Hameed.
Other absentee senators were Talha Mahmood and Ataur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Rubina Khalid of the PPP, Sitara Ayaz of the ANP, Ashok Kumar of the National Party (NP) and Tahir Bizenjo and Shafiq Tareen of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).
PASSAGE OF FATF BILLS:
Earlier, the government on Wednesday managed to pass three crucial FATF-related laws in a joint session of the parliament that was marred by the opposition’s protests.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan also attended the joint session which was chaired by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others, including senators Sirajul Haq, Mushtaq Ghani and Raza Rabbani among others were also in attendance.
After walking out in protest, opposition leaders held a joint press conference and criticised the government over the passage of FATF-related bills.
Opposition leader Shehbaz termed today as a “black day in the history of democracy”. He said that the government “crossed red lines” today and added that “until now, the opposition cooperated with the government for the sake of Pakistan”.
The PML-N president also said that the NA speaker had “disappointed everyone”.
PPP chief Bilawal also lashed out at the government, saying that the vote count could have been conducted again but the treasury members were “scared of being exposed”.
“The opposition only has one option remaining and that is [to move] a no-confidence [motion],” said Bilawal.
Both Shehbaz and Bilawal told reporters that the opposition will come up with a strategy in the multi-party conference.
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar, at a recent gathering, was served food with expired masala, leading to action against the caterer, local media reported Friday.
According to reports, the incident took place in Tibba Sultanpur town of Vehari where Buzdar, as well as several others, had arrived for the inauguration of a building of Danish School.
Besides the provincial chief executive, among others served food with expired ground spices were Punjab parliamentarians, including Education Minister Murad Raas and Transport Minister Jahanzeb Khan Khichi; Multan Commissioner Javed Akhtar Mehmood, Vehari Deputy Commissioner Capt (r) Waqas Rasheed and journalists.
While the incident has raised a question mark on the efficiency of the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), action is reportedly being taken against the caterer and his restaurant without any names being revealed.
Earlier, speaking to the media, CM Buzdar had said that Danish School is a state of the art institution which has been built at a huge cost.
“With the establishment of the school, the children of Vehari and nearby districts will be able to seek quality education,” he had said, announcing the construction of new Danish Schools in Bhakkar and Taunsa as well.
He announced Honihaar Punjab Programme to encourage good performing students and said students will be encouraged to excel in academic, sports, fine arts, science and technology fields.
