Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan was cleared of charges in two cases related to vandalism on May 9.
Judicial Magistrate Sahib Bilal issued the acquittal order for the former prime minister.
Both cases against Khan were filed at the Khanna police station in Islamabad.
The Judicial Magistrate approved Khan’s acquittal plea due to insufficient evidence in the cases against him.
The cases were registered against the PTI founder in 2022 for long march and violation of Article 144.
An incident of a group of women allegedly violating the law and misbehaving with the motorway police near Kallar Kahar has come to light.
A video capturing the confrontation where both sides were accusing each other of wrongdoing has gone viral on social media.
The incident occurred when the motorway police stopped women drivers for overspeeding and dangerous driving. This was recorded by the police officer as evidence.
The woman complained of being robbed of her mobile phone and getting bruises on her hand.
As per The Express Tribune, the disagreement began when the officer started filming the woman without her consent after stopping her for speeding. This action provoked the woman, prompting her to film the officer in return, escalating tensions between the two parties.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Motorway police has initiated legal proceedings against the women involved. Reportedly, they not only disregarded signals to stop but also resorted to verbal abuse and threats against the policeman. The motorway police said that they are pursuing legal action as per established procedures.
A few days ago, a woman tried to run over a patrol officer on the highway. A video of that altercation also went viral.
Chief Minister (CM) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur has threatened to take over the capital city of the country if the KP government does not get its rights.
While addressing a ceremony on PTI’s foundation day on Thursday, he also declared Imran Khan innocent and said that the PTI founder has not done any illegal acts during his government.
“People who are in power should be in jail,” he thundered, adding that “they stole mandates in the February 8 elections.”
He said in a threating tone that “No one in this country can keep PTI founder Imran Khan in jail anymore.”
He stated that PTI is not issuing a call for protests across the country because “we care about the people of Pakistan.”
Islamabad, Pakistan – Before it was forced to close over its “intolerable” treatment of animals, the Islamabad Zoo was home to neglected elephants and underfed lions pacing back and forth behind the bars of their enclosures.
Now, four years later, it is a rehabilitation centre for Pakistani wildlife, providing a refuge for motherless leopard cubs, tigers seized from owners who kept them as status symbols, and bears forced to dance — or fight — for the amusement of crowds.
“The whole energy of the place has changed ever since the zoo was emptied… The care shows, look around,” Rina Saeed, the head of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), told AFP.
The zoo found international notoriety in 2016, when the singer Cher launched a campaign to remove its shackled Asian elephant Kaavan, the last in the country and dubbed the world’s loneliest elephant.
But Kaavan’s treatment wasn’t an isolated incident — two lions died at the facility when zookeepers attempted to force them from their pen by setting fire to piles of hay. And over the years, hundreds of animals listed on the zoo’s inventory simply vanished.
Pakistan’s climate change ministry said it was “seriously concerned” about the “intolerable and inhumane” treatment of animals at the zoo in 2020 — the same year the courts ordered it shut and Kaavan was moved to Cambodia.
Within months of its closure, a small rescue centre began to take root at the facility, and now evidence of its past as a tourist attraction is fading — silence hangs over the empty, overgrown parking lot and the shabby ticket stand sits idle next to a swing set.
“Now it is a proper rehabilitation centre with over 50 animals,” Saeed said, adding that the team had rescued more than 380 animals.
The IWMB team rescues animals from across the country, recently taking in two indigenous leopard cubs poached from their mother, bears once forced to fight dogs in underground competitions and monkeys made to dance for tips.
Amir Khalil, a veterinarian who directs the global animal welfare organisation Four Paws, which oversaw Kaavan’s relocation, recently made an emotional return to the zoo, saying it “now holds hope”.
Vets from the Austria-based NGO had come to the centre to see after three black bears whose claws had been removed by their previous owners, treating them in the shadow of an abandoned Ferris wheel in the zoo’s former cafe — now a makeshift clinic.
“This place is unrecognisable,” Khalil told AFP while inspecting one of the animals, an overweight former dancing bear called Anila.
Anila was also suffering from a nose infection from a ring pierced through her snout to help keep her under control.
“We hope this place turns out to be a place for animals with a better future,” Khalil said.
Last year the IWMB seized a tiger cub with broken bones from a vet clinic in an upscale neighbourhood in the capital, later relocating the animal to South Africa.
Owning a wild cat is a symbol of wealth in Pakistan even though it is illegal in some parts of the country.
“We think animals are toys,” said Ali Sakhawat, deputy director of research and planning at the IWMB.
The animals brought to the centre are not only physically injured but also mentally traumatised.
“We keep them occupied to help them erase the memories of the trauma inflicted by poachers,” Aneis Hussan, a wildlife ranger, told AFP as he played with Daboo, one of the rescued black bears.
“The bears you’ve observed here exhibit signs of joy — roaming freely, climbing trees — a stark contrast to the captivity that deprived them of happiness,” Hussan added.
Wildlife authorities are pushing for new laws targeting poachers and bear baiters who regularly trap and traffic wild animals.
A new Islamabad Nature and Wildlife Management Act would strengthen animal protections, but Saeed says it still “needs the president’s signature”.
The last presidential order on animal welfare — restricting bear baiting — was passed over 20 years ago by President Pervez Musharraf.
“No one in the government listens, I have gotten old trying to make them understand how important this is,” Safwan Ahmad, vice chairman of the non-profit Pakistan Wildlife Foundation, told AFP.
IWMB wants to establish a permanent sanctuary at the site of the rehabilitation centre, but the local authority that owns the land intends to reopen the facility as a public zoo.
“There is one (zoo) in almost every city worldwide,” said Irfan Khan Niazi of the environmental department of the Capital Development Authority, which oversees planning and development in Islamabad.
“Just because rules were not followed once does not mean it would happen again”, he added.
“No matter how many zoos we make for kids, this won’t teach them that animals are to be taken care of,” said IWMB’s Sakhawat.
“Wild animals are to be kept in the wild, not cages”, he added.
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© Agence France-Presse
Arshad Khan, a tea-stall owner who rose to fame for his exceptionally good looks is in news again as the famous Chaiwala has run into serious financial troubles. He launched his Chaiwala London café a year ago in London, England with the help of two franchise owners, who also happen to be cousins.
Arshad Khan has not been paid royalty as promised by UK franchise owners, according to an insider. He has been requesting the London café owners who have refused to pay him because of business losses. Additionally, they also refused to pay rent to the landlord.
Background
Arshad Khan’s brand was brought to the UK last year by two cousins: Nadir Khan Durrani and Yaver Akbar Durrani. UK Companies House record shows that Yaver Akbar Durrani registered Cafe Chaiwala Ltd under company number 13205566.
Nadir is a UK national and Yaver Akbar Durrani is a Canadian national who lives in the United States. They registered the company in early 2021 and are currently running the business actively.
Café Chaiwala Arshad Khan is located in East London on 229 Ilford Lane. The situation is bad to the extent that the café never opened its ground floor section to the public because of poor quality of service. It was a big hit when it opened last year but the poor quality, mismanagement and lack of hygiene at the café deterred the customers, according to reports.
When opening the café last year in London Yaver Akbar Durrani and Nadir Durrani announced that they would open several franchises of “Café Chaiwala Arshad Khan” in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
Now the two cousins have run into a legal dispute with the owner of the building after failing to pay rent of over six months, citing business losses and complaining that that the rent is too much and should be reduced. Yaver Durrani met Arshad Khan in Islamabad and made promises to clear the pending monthly royalty but later on told him he cannot pay him until the business goes into profit. He told Arshad Khan that too many Chai cafes have opened nearby on the same street and that has damaged the business. Arshad Khan has been trying to keep the issue private to protect his brand, he says. Durrani is also accusing Arshad Khan of not delivering the full recipes to the London café as promised originally.
Failed Promises
A source at Arshad Khan Chaiwala told Pakistan Today that Arshad sold the international franchise to the Durrani brothers but they have broken the contract and agreement by not paying royalties to Arshad Khan and continuing to use his name. Therefore, Arshad Khan will not allow them to use the brand and franchise anymore. “Both sides have threatened legal action against each other,” said the source from Islamabad.
During the London launch, the Master Franchisees-UK promised that Arshad Khan will visit London soon to meet his fans and to brew ‘karak’ chai for them. Later, they didn’t make arrangements for his travel to the UK as the non-payments estranged the two parties.
Taliban authorities urged Pakistan on Thursday not to make a unilateral decision on repatriating Afghan migrants, saying they shouldn’t be “harassed,” after reports Islamabad would renew an eviction campaign.
More than half a million Afghans fled Pakistan last year after the former government ordered undocumented migrants to leave or face arrest as Islamabad-Kabul relations soured over security.
Islamabad initially set a November 2023 deadline but official sources, who asked not to be identified, told AFP in March that Pakistan is gathering data on Afghan migrants – including those residing legally in the country – ahead of a renewed push slated to start after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
A final decision has not been made on a repatriation push, according to Pakistan officials, but the Afghan deputy minister for refugees urged restraint in a meeting with a top Pakistani diplomat in Kabul.
“The issue of refugees is bilateral and decisions regarding them should be made through an understanding between both countries,” said Abdul Rahman Rashed, according to a ministry statement on social media platform X on Thursday.
“They shouldn’t be harassed until a joint mechanism is reached.”
Taliban authorities have urged Afghans to return home since taking power in 2021 but they also have condemned Pakistan’s actions, saying nationals are being punished for tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, and have called for people to be given more time to leave.
Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the decades, fleeing successive conflicts and political upheaval.
In an explosive letter written to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, six judges of the IHC — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz — called on the SJC to summon a judicial convention over what they called the alleged interference of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies.
“We are writing to seek guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with regards to the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation,” read the letter.
The Supreme Court had recently declared the removal of former IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui illegal after he had been removed from service when he alleged interference of intelligence agencies in judicial matters.
It was also stated that in May 2023, “the brother-in-law of an IHC judge was abducted by armed men.” In another incident during the summer of 2023, surveillance equipment was discovered in the residence of another IHC judge and it had private recordings of their family members.
In their letter, the IHC judges pointed out the lack of guidelines in the code of conduct for judges when they perceive a threat to the judiciary’s independence.
After Karachi’s long, dark phase, people have reportedly started receiving extortion calls and threats in the federal capital Islamabad as well.
A case has been registered after a woman in Islamabad allegedly received extortion calls and threats.
According to the FIR, the banned TTP demanded a ransom of Rs 1 billion, using one number from Afghanistan and another from Iran.
The accused sent pictures of the woman and her daughter’s house to scare them, after which an investigation into the incident has been initiated.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced to stage a protest against the alleged rigging in the 2024 general elections. The incarcerated founder of the party Imran Khan believes that the mandate was stolen from people and post-poll rigging was rampant.
According to them, election results were changed in the Form 47s compared to Form 45s to benefit the current ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
PTI member and the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) also said “The incumbent government at the Centre has been formed after stealing PTI’s 180 seats.”
Previously, the party had sought permission from the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad to lawfully stage a protest in the capital city but received no reply. After this, they reached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to be allowed to hold a rally. It is believed that they wanted to stage the protest on Pakistan Day but later decided against it and set the date to March 30.
Imran Khan’s party is also set to hold a press briefing on the impacts of upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) package on the general public on March 25.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has expressed willingness to let former federal minister Faisal Vawda join the party before the Senate elections take place on April 2.
“We had invited Vawda to join [MQM-P] in the past […] I pray that he joins the party’s ranks,” MQM-P leader Rauf Siddiqui said while speaking with journalists in Karachi.
MQM-P head Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, who is also a candidate for senate polls, said that the party has fielded a total of eight candidates for the upper house.
However, Faisal Vawda has confirmed that he is still an “independent” political leader.
“I’m still independent,” Vawda said during a press conference in Karachi, adding that he would consider joining a political party when it’s in “season,” as independent candidates are currently trending.
Vawda expressed doubt about the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) securing power in Islamabad.