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Bilawal turns down govt's offer of PAC chairmanship: Kundi

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PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has resisted the government's alleged effort to "divide the opposition" by turning down its offer to become the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, according to his fellow PPP politician Faisal Karim Kundi.

The chairmanship of the all-powerful committee has historically been held by the opposition. The PML-N, which is the largest opposition party in the National Assembly, had nominated its president Shahbaz Sharif for the role.

However, the government had been considering breaking the tradition by keeping the position for itself, claiming that the committee under a PML-N leader's chairmanship may not carry out an audit of the revenue and expenditures of the previous government.

In protest against being denied the PAC chair's role, the PML-N had reportedly even considered withdrawing from all parliamentary committees.

However, DawnNewsTV reported today that senior PTI leadership offered the coveted role to the PPP, only for Kundi to reveal that the offer has been rejected.

Kundi, the former deputy speaker of the NA, took to Twitter, saying: "Once again chairman PPP [Bilawal Bhutto Zardari] has shown political maturity and refused to accept the chairmanship of PAC in the Parliament."

Furthermore, he deemed the "selected" government's decision to offer the PAC chairmanship to PPP an attempt to "divide the opposition".


Supreme Court to resume hearing Faizabad sit-in case on November 16

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The Supreme Court will resume hearing the suo motu case on Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan's (TLP) Faizabad sit-in from last year on November 16.

In November 2017, TLP workers demanding the resignation of then law minister Zahid Hamid, had staged a weeks-long sit-in at the Faizabad interchange that had virtually paralysed the federal capital and led to several people losing their lives.

On November 21 of the same month, the apex court had taken notice of the sit-in and directed the defence and interior secretaries to submit a detailed report on the matter.

Days later, the then PML-N government had launched against the protesters an operation which, when failed, had forced the authorities to cave and Hamid to resign.

The SC today fixed the case's next hearing for Friday [Nov 16]. A two-member bench comprising Justice Musheer Alam and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, under the former's stewardship, will hear the case.

The attorney general, interior and defence secretaries, Inspector General of Islamabad police and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) were also issued notices.

In the case's last hearing, the Supreme Court bench had wondered whether a party whose head propagates views against the Constitution can be registered as a party under the Political Parties Act by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Referring to TLP Chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Justice Isa had asked whether someone could be allowed to violate the Constitution even if he had a just cause.

At this, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor had explained that the ECP registers the parties but conceded that although protesting lawfully is everyone’s right, holding a protest so as to paralyse routine life is indeed unconstitutional. He added the ECP had the authority to revoke the registration of any political party.

The court had then issued a notice to the ECP to furnish the application under which the TLP had been registered and asked the attorney general to assist the court in determining whether the commission or the federal government was empowered under the Elections Act 2017 to take measures for regulating the parties.

Earlier this month, the TLP held countrywide protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi — a Christian woman acquitted after eight years on death row for blasphemy — condemning the judges on the bench hearing Aasia' case, the prime minister and the army chief.

Farooq Sattar expelled from MQM-P for violating 'party discipline'

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Disgruntled Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Dr Farooq Sattar has been stripped of his basic membership of the party, it was announced on Friday.

The decision to expel Sattar from the party was taken at a meeting of the MQM-P coordination committee, chaired by convener and federal minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, in Karachi.

The committee during the meeting was briefed about the show-cause notice that was issued to Sattar for "frequent violation of party discipline" and the reminder that was sent to him after the senior leader failed to respond to the show-cause.

"Considering all details, the coordination committee has unanimously decided to strip Dr Farooq Sattar of the party's basic membership for his serious violations of party discipline and constitution, grouping within the organisation and other serious party violations," said a statement issued by the committee.

"The coordination committee has directed all workers not to maintain any sort of contact with Dr Farooq Sattar from today onwards. Strict action will be taken against those who violate [this directive]."

Following the announcement, a meeting has been called at the PIB Colony residence of Sattar.

According to Kashif Khan, a member of the ‘organisation restoration committee’ (ORC) formed by Dr Sattar last month, workers have been instructed to gather at Sattar's residence, where the former convener will announce his strategy for the future.

The decision to expel Dr Sattar comes over a week after he was formally removed from the party’s top decision-making forum by his rivals as they accepted the resignation he had tendered as a member of the coordination committee in September.

Dr Sattar was removed from the committee a day after he formed a parallel body — the organisation restoration committee — against the coordination committee and announced launching a struggle to reorganise the MQM-P on ideological grounds.

Rifts in the party

Differences in the party had emerged on February 5 over the distribution of tickets to party candidates for the March 11 Senate elections. Dr Sattar, then convener of the party, insisted on giving a ticket to Kamran Tessori despite strong opposition.

Eventually, the differences caused the party to split into Bahadurabad and PIB factions. Dr Sattar was removed from the post of convener and Dr Siddiqui took his place. Four months later, both the factions reunited to contest the July 25 elections.

On September 13, Dr Sattar — who lost the general elections on two National Assembly seats — resigned from the membership of the coordination committee and on October 12 he held a press conference and demanded intra-party elections and warned that he would work for an MQM-Nazriati [ideological] if his demands were not met.

After his October 12 presser, the MQM-P contested and lost all three by-elections on NA-243, NA-247 and PS-111.

Shafqat Mehmood to head panel tasked with drafting ToRs for parliamentary body on 2018 polls

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Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood will head a sub-committee tasked with framing the terms of reference (ToR) for a special parliamentary committee constituted by the National Assembly speaker to probe allegations of rigging in the 2018 general elections.

The decision was taken during the second meeting of the “Parliamentary Committee on the General Elections 2018”, presided over by its chairman, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak.

Khattak recommended the name of Mehmood as the convener of the sub-committee, which was agreed to by the members of the panel.

The committee also decided upon the names of other members of the sub-committee. Besides Mehmood, the other lawmakers who will represent the ruling coalition in the sub-committee include Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif of MQM-P and Sarfaraz Bugti of BAP. The opposition members in the panel will be PML-N's Rana Sanaullah, PPP's Naveed Qamar, Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party and Maulana Wasay of MMA.

The eight-member sub-committee will submit its recommendations to the main committee within two weeks.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Khattak said the sub-committee will frame the ToRs within 14 days and that this deadline could be extended if needed.

He said the committee will summon representatives of whichever institution it considers necessary and decide the matter as per its authority.

PML-N's Rana Sanaullah said it was not difficult to prove rigging in the 2018 elections and that his party will present all proofs in this regard before the committee.

Rehman Malik, of the PPP, questioned whether the parliamentary committee has the powers of merely a standing committee, which can only issue recommendations and not order implementation of decisions.

He also suggested that the committee's report should be presented in a joint session of the parliament as the probe body is of a bicameral nature.

NA Spea­ker Asad Qaiser had on October 16 constituted the 30-member bipartisan and bicameral parliamentary com­mittee to probe charges of rigging in the July 25 general elections.

The Parliamentary Committee on the General Elections 2018, which had been formed on the demand of the opposition parties, comprises 10 members from the Senate and 20 from the National Assembly.

As per an agreement between the government and the opposition parties, the committee comprises equal number of members from the treasury and opposition benches.

Today's session of the committee was attended by 16 out of its total 30 members, including 8 members from the treasury and as many from the opposition.

Law enforcers entered Karachi Press Club due to 'misunderstanding', clarifies Sindh govt

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Adviser to Sindh chief minister on information Murtaza Wahab on Friday clarified that the intrusion of law enforcers in plainclothes into Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Thursday night was due to some "misunderstanding".

In a statement, the adviser said that initial inquiry into the incident revealed that the law enforcers went there due to “some problem in their GSM locator".

Additional IG Karachi Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh told Dawn that he has ordered an inquiry into the incident and directed South SSP Pir Muhammed Shah to this effect. The South SSP visited the KPC and met with its office-bearers.

The city police chief said the senior officer informed the office-bearers of the KPC about the “actual situation” and ostensibly the journalists were “satisfied” with the version given to them by the police.

Meanwhile, Dawn has learnt that the police personnel belonging to the Counter-Terrorism Department tried to trace and arrest a ‘high-value target’ with the help of GSM locator as the suspect’s mobile phone was hooked with it. Later, the law enforcers detained the suspect from another home near the KPC.

Earlier in the day, Senate Chairman Mohammad Sadiq Sanjrani had instructed Sindh government to submit a report on the intrusion by gunmen in plainclothes, who purportedly also harassed journalists.

The armed men came in at least six double-cabin vehicles, land cruisers, Prado and other vehicles, besides a police mobile.

The incident had caused concern among journalists and when some of the KPC members inquired about them, but did not get any satisfactory reply.

Islamabad administration withdraws orders for arrest of local TLP leaders

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The Islamabad district administration has withdrawn orders for the arrest of 19 Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders who were allegedly involved in violence during the three-day protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi last week, it emerged on Friday.

According to an earlier Facebook post by the office of the Islamabad deputy commissioner, the district administration had issued warrants for 19 persons, "who were involved in violence and incitement", under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960.

According to DawnNewsTV, the orders for the arrests of the 19 local TLP leaders were issued on November 2.

However, Islamabad district magistrate Hamza Shafqaat issued a notification on November 7 stating that all 19 orders issued on November 2 have been withdrawn with immediate effect, "in [the] public interest". A copy of the notification is available with Dawn.com.

The official has informed the interior secretary, the Islamabad chief commissioner, inspector general of police and the Adiala jail administration about the withdrawal of the arrest orders.

Attempts to seek a comment on why specifically the arrest warrants have been withdrawn were unsuccessful, as the deputy commissioner did not answer his phone.

The TLP and other religio-political parties had launched countrywide protests on October 31 after the Supreme Court acquitted Bibi, who had been on death row for the past eight years on blasphemy charges.

Three days later, the government and the TLP had signed a deal to conclude the latter's nationwide protest. One of the major concessions the government agreed to was to "initiate the legal process" to place Bibi's name on the exit control list (ECL).

The government had also assured the party that it would not oppose a review petition filed against the Supreme Court's judgement in the Aasia Bibi blasphemy case. The state further promised to take appropriate legal action to redress any deaths that may have occurred during the protests against the Aasia Bibi verdict and to release all people picked up in connection with the protests starting October 30.

A day after reaching the agreement with the religiopolitical party, the federal government had ordered a “crackdown” against “miscreants” involved in damaging public and private properties and vehicles during the protests.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had later warned that the government would not turn a blind eye to, nor forget, the inciteful speeches made by the protest leaders during demonstrations against Bibi's acquittal.

"No one should have the impression that the government will forgive this behaviour," he had said. "The impression that this government is weak will be removed as we take further action."

It is unclear if the decision to withdraw the arrest orders was taken under the terms of the agreement or due to other considerations.

Supreme Court to hear case regarding DG NAB Lahore's 'fake degree' on November 12

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The Supreme Court will hear on November 12 a case regarding an alleged 'fake degree' held by Saleem Shahzad the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) director general for Lahore.

The matter of Shahzad's degree was brought up in the apex court last year during the hearing of a suo motu case on alleged illegal appointments within NAB.

The petitioner, journalist Asad Kharal, had claimed that Shahzad's master's degree transcript from 2002 is in the Calibri font, which was not commercially available until five years later.

Following an internal probe, the corruption watchdog had deemed Shahzad's degree genuine and cleared him of any wrongdoing.

The case, however, is still in the apex court, which announced today that a three-member bench under Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar will hear the case on Monday (Nov 12).

The court also issued a notice to petitioner Asad Kharal.

The authenticity of DG NAB Lahore's degree was also brought up during Geo News' late-night show 'Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada Key Saath' on Thursday.

The NAB official, whose recent spree of appearances on talks shows has infuriated former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and also caught the NAB chairman's notice, told Khanzada that the reporter who broke the story regarding his degree had already apologised to him upon being proven wrong.

Minutes later on the same show, the reporter rejected Shahzad's claim and clarified that he stands by his story and has not apologised to the NAB official.

PTI govt will ensure provision of due share to Fata in NFC award, says PM Khan

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Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said the PTI government will play its role for ensuring the provision of due share to erstwhile Fata in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, Radio Pakistan reported.

PM Khan was chairing a meeting in the federal capital to monitor the progress on administrative and other matters subsequent to the merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Following the merger of Fata, the administrative and other matters should also be resolved in such a manner that people should not face any difficulties, the premier said.

The meeting was briefed that a number of departments of Fata Secretariat have been transferred to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

These departments include education, Zakat, Ushar, social welfare and population welfare; whereas, the process of shifting other departments is underway.

Moreover, a special committee has been formed under the supervision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to prepare a ten-year plan for the development of the areas which have been recently merged with KP.


PPP asks govt to explain terms accepted for foreign loans

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ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) on Friday called for transparency on the terms of loans being obtained from international lenders, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The government is refusing to explain the terms of loans it is seeking from several international lenders and is providing no plan for shielding the poor and the vulnerable from the aftershocks of their policies that is hitting them now,” PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman said while speaking in the house.

In a hard-hitting speech she also criticised the government for increasing the prices of gas, electricity, petroleum products, fertilizers and other commodities and asked if the rise was a result of an understanding already reached with the IMF.

Senator Sherry criticises govt over increase in prices of gas, electricity, petroleum products

She observed that the most pressing issue at the moment was the economic deficit the country was facing.

“There are many people whose stoves are not burning due to the alarming inflation in the country which is nearing double digits. The working class continues to suffer as they try to make ends meet. There appears to be no subsidy or relief package for them,” she remarked.

Blasting the government for what she called its failure to deliver, she said, “This government came in on the back of big promises, but it is clear they have no intention of doing anything but talking about media optics of austerity like leaving big government houses while quietly living in them”.

“They continue to make appearances on television shows but do not want to be answerable to the Parliament. They need to shake off this nonchalant approach to governance. Why has no relevant minister ever bothered with parliamentary answers but has so much time for television shows?” Ms Rehman asked.

She alleged that the government had done nothing apart from its continued witch-hunt.

“All the tall claims of security savings and breaking begging bowls are not manifested in the decisions made by this government since it came into power,” she noted.

Speaking on a matter of public importance, Senator Rehman A. Malik expressed concern over an unannounced hike in the prices of utilities and sought reply from the government as to how the prices are being controlled. “Is there any mechanism in place for the devaluation of the rupee and increase in petroleum prices,” he asked.

He said the country needed a proper mechanism and a specific system to control prices. He said unfortunately manufacturers, vendors and distributers fixed prices according to their own will after every hike in prices of petroleum product and the fall of the Pakistani rupee.

He said there were no checks and balances on the increase of prices and this failure on the part of the provincial and federal governments needed to be rectified. He asked the government to bring an enactment to make a national price regulator act as law by Price Regulatory Commission (PRC) to ensure price control.

Senator Malik strongly condemned the unprovoked firing by Indian forces from across the Line of Control (LoC). He asked the government to approach the United Nations against Indian brutalities against poor Kashmiris and the unprovoked firing from across the LoC.

He demanded discussion in the house on a letter Prime Minister Imran Khan had written to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo of the National Party raised the issue of a raid carried out at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday by around two dozen unidentified persons, who misbehaved with media personnel there. He said journalists of Karachi were protesting and sought to know who those persons were.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani summoned an incident report from the Sindh government.

Senator Attaur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl asked the government to explain if Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman who has been acquitted by the Supreme Court in a blasphemy case, had flown out of the country and if not as to why her name had not been placed on the Exit Control List.

Leader of the House in the Senate Syed Shibli Faraz said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already clarified the matter. “She has neither been shifted, nor some arrangement to shift her abroad has been made,” he said.

The House will meet again on Monday at 2.30pm.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

In a first, evening court begins hearing family cases

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LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq on Friday inaugurated the country’s first evening court in Lahore to deal with family and minors’ custody cases with a view to keeping children of separated parents away from traditional environment of courts.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony held at the Lahore Judicial Complex, Chief Justice Haq said that the purpose of establishing the evening court was to facilitate litigants within the available resources. If creation of new courts was difficult, the existing courts could be utilised to meet the growing litigation by making them function in double shifts, he added.

The CJ said performance of other entities such as hospitals and schools could also be increased by utilising them in double shifts. The functioning of the evening court would benefit schoolchildren and working parents, he added.

Cases will be referred to the facility with the consent of both litigant parties

He pointed out that Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had hailed the setting up of the evening court in a letter he wrote to the high court. He said many other projects of public welfare were under way and would be implemented soon.

Earlier, the senior puisne judge of the LHC, Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmad, and District and Sessions Judge (D&SJ) Abid Qureshi spoke. Justice Ahmad congratulated the chief justice on the achievement and said evening courts should also be established in other districts of the province to ensure dispensation of swift justice.

D&SJ Qureshi pointed out that cases would be referred to the evening court with the consent of both litigant parties.

The evening court is hearing cases under the West Pakistan Family Courts Act 1964 and Guardians & Wards Act 1890 from 2pm to 7pm.

It’s a pilot project and will be extended to 36 other districts if required for expeditious decision of family cases.

The LHC chief justice recalled that besides the evening court, another remarkable step had been taken a week ago to reduce the suffering of litigants. Now all orders of the Punjab judiciary were available on the official website and anyone could get their copy or read them, he pointed out.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Accountability court agrees to share 50 questions with Nawaz

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ISLAMABAD: The accountability court of Islamabad on Friday ‘partially’ agreed to share 50 questions with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif before recording his statement in two references — Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment — filed against him.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opposed handing over the questionnaire to Mr Sharif prior to the recording of his testimony under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) under which the judge can put a question to an accused person at any stage of the trial.

As per this section, “for the purpose of enabling the accused to explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him, the Court may at any stage of any inquiry or trial without previously warning the accused, put such questions to him as the Court considers necessary, and shall, for the purpose aforesaid, question him generally on the case after the witness for the prosecution have been examined and before he is called on for his defence.”

NAB prosecutor in Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references says handing over questionnaire to ex-PM is tantamount to giving him concession

The head of the prosecution, Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, argued before the court that handing over the questionnaire to the accused was tantamount to giving a concession to the accused person since every question should be surprising and unexpected for him during the course of trial proceedings.

Lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed on the other hand said that the accused was seeking the questionnaire not as a concession but it was to assist the court in order to conclude the reference within the stipulated timeframe as set by the Supreme Court.

He explained that during the cross-examination, when the defence counsel put a question to Wajid Zia, star prosecution witness, he consulted several documents and took 30 to 40 minutes to respond to almost every question.

“Don’t you think that the accused has any right to consult the relevant record before every question that may be posed to him by the court during recording of his statement under Section 342 of the CrPC,” the counsel asked.

Mr Haris drew the attention of the court to media reports which claimed that the questionnaire meant for Mr Sharif had been handed over to the special prosecutor of NAB for vetting.

Wasiq Malik, a special prosecutor in this case, told the court that NAB was not vetting any questionnaire since this was a matter between the accused person and the court.

Meanwhile, the accountability judge, Mohammad Arshad Malik, also allowed the application filed by the prosecution to place on record the response to the requests seeking Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) from the British Virgin Island (BVI).

Judge Malik asked the prosecution whether these were the direct evidence, the prosecutor replied that these were not the direct evidence but were circumstantial record.

The court recorded the statement of the last prosecution witness, Mohammad Kamran, in the last reference against the former premier.

The counsel for Mr Sharif will start cross-examination of the witness who is the investigation officer of NAB in the Flagship investment reference.

The judge exempted Mr Sharif from personal appearance on Friday due to security issues and put off further proceeding till Monday (Nov 12).

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Sub-committee formed to finalise ToR for probe into poll rigging

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ISLAMABAD: The special parliamentary committee, constituted by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to probe allegations of rigging in the July 25 general elections, on Friday formed a sub-committee headed by Education Min­ister Shaf­qat Mahmood to finalise terms of reference (ToR) for it.

The decision to form the sub-committee was taken at the second meeting of the special committee held here with its chairman, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, in the chair.

Out of 30 members of the special committee, 16 from the government and the opposition attended the meeting. During the course of discussion, the committee chairman proposed the name of Mr Mahmood as head of the sub-committee and the members agreed to it.

The meeting also finalised the names of the sub-committee’s members with consensus. The government and its coalition partners will be represented in the sub-committee by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Barrister Moh­ammad Ali Saif of the Mut­tahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Sarfraz Bugti of the Balochistan Awami Party.

From opposition parties, the names of Rana Sanaullah of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Nav­eed Qamar of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party and Maulana Abdul Wasay of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal have been finalised.

After the meeting, Mr Khattak told reporters that the sub-committee was supposed to complete its task of finalising the ToR in 14 days.

He said the committee could summon representatives of whichever departments it considers necessary and the special committee would decide the matter as per its mandate.

Mr Sanaullah said that investigation into the allegations of rigging in the July elections would not be a difficult task for the special committee.

Senator Rehman Malik of the PPP told reporters that the sub-committee would soon start its work.

He said this committee had representation of members from both the Senate and National Assembly and, therefore, findings of the main committee should be presented before a joint session of parliament.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

War on terror left half a million dead in 17 years, says report

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WASHINGTON: War-related violence has killed 65,000 people in Pakistan in the last 17 years, including 23,000 civilians, 9,000 security personnel and 90 American contractors, says a report released on Thursday. The rest of the casualties were anti-government fighters.

The report by the Brown University’s Costs of War Project notes that since 2001, when the United States launched its war on terror, about 507,000 people have been killed in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. The report also warns that there has been a 22 per cent increase in war deaths in the past two years.

As many as 370,000 of these people have died due to direct war violence, including armed forces on all sides of the conflicts, contractors, civilians, journalists, and humanitarian workers.

Fatalities in Afghanistan, as of October 2018, stood at about 147,000 people, including Afghan security forces, civilians and opposition fighters. A total of 6,334 American soldiers and contractors, as well as more than 1,100 allied troops, have also been killed in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2018.

Between 268,000 and 295,000 deaths have occurred in Iraq, where the US-led military intervention began in 2003.

The Ivy League US University, based in Rhode Island, notes that “compelling alternatives to war” were always available but “were scarcely considered in the aftermath of 9/11 or in the discussion about war against Iraq.” And “some of those alternatives are still available to the United States,” adds that report while underlining the costs of ignoring those options: “It is likely that many times more than 370,000 people have died indirectly in these wars, due to malnutrition, damaged infrastructure, and environmental degradation”.

The report notes that 200,000 civilians have been killed in direct violence by all parties to these conflicts, including more than 6,800 US soldiers.

The report mentions that the US government never revealed how many US service members returning from these wars became injured or ill while deployed.

Similarly, many deaths and injuries among US contractors have not been reported as required by law, but it is likely that at least 6,900 have been killed. A contractor is a citizen engaged by a private firm to fight for the US government.

The report shows that the war also caused widespread displacements.

Consequently, 10.1 million Afghan, Iraqi, and Pakistani people are living as war refugees and internally displaced persons, “in grossly inadequate conditions”.

The report warns that the US military is conducting counter-terror activities in 76 countries, vastly expanding the counter-terror war across the globe. The wars have been accompanied by erosions in civil liberties and human rights in the US and abroad.

The study argues that the human and economic costs of these wars will continue for decades with some costs, such as the financial costs of US veterans’ care, not peaking until mid-century.

US government funding of reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan has totalled over $170 billion. Most of those funds have gone towards arming security forces in both countries. Much of the money allocated to humanitarian relief and rebuilding civil society has been lost to fraud, waste, and abuse.

The cost of the Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria wars totals about $5.6 trillion. This does not include future interest costs on borrowing for the wars, which will add an estimated $8 trillion through 2054.

The ripple effects on the US economy have also been significant, including job loss and interest rate increases.

Both Iraq and Afghanistan continue to rank extremely low in global studies of political freedom. Women in Iraq and Afghanistan are excluded from political power and experience high rates of unemployment and war widowhood.

In the US, an average taxpayer owes $23,386 for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s equivalent to a year at a public university, a new Honda Accord car and the average down payment on a house.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Balochistan-Wapda rift delays Nualang project

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ISLAMABAD: The Balo­chistan government and Wapda are at odds over the cost of constructing the Nualang dam and the project is being delayed because of this rift.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources was informed on Friday that the cost of the dam as per Wapda’s feasibility study was around Rs27.3 billion and it was estimated to irrigate 47,000 acres of land. The dam will have the gross storage capacity of 242,163 acres feet and it will generate 4.4MW of electricity.

The committee was told that the project was delayed because of fund constraints. It was informed that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was willing to finance the project, but the funding process could not move forward beca­use of non-concurrence of the government of Balochistan.

Wapda officials said the project had been designed on an international competitive bidding (ICB) basis and the ADB had placed funding in its 2020-21 plan.

On the other hand, officials of the Balochistan government told the committee that their government had finalised its PC-I with an estimated cost of Rs23bn with additional land and it wanted to build the dam on its own as Wapda had already delayed the project.

Senior Water Chief of Planning Commission Syed Naseer Gillani informed the committee that after the 18th Amendment it had been decided that all projects benefitting only one province would be built by the province concerned while projects benefiting more than one province would be constructed by the federal government.

The committee stressed the need for reviewing both PC-1s and decided to form a sub-committee to look into the matter.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Govt determined to bring back Aafia: Fawad

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ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broad­casting Fawad Chau­dhry has said that the government is determined to bring Aafia Siddiqui back from the United States as she is a citizen of Pakistan.

Talking to a private TV channel on Friday, the minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had issued directives to the Foreign Office to talk to American authorities for Aafia’s release from the US prison.

Dr Aafia was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 on charges related to terrorism and links with Al Qaeda.

Meanwhile, a senior interior ministry official told Dawn that the government could be looking for a swap between Dr Aafia and Dr Shakeel Afridi as his release had been requested by the US government several times. Dr Shakeel Afridi was recently shifted from Adiala jail in Rawalpindi to Sahiwal jail. He was accused of helping the CIA track down Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad. He was tried and convicted in a treason case in May 2012 under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and sentenced to 33 years in prison, which was later reduced to 10 years by the FCR commissioner.

However, senior analyst Zahid Hussain disputed the swap claim.

“Such claims can be made easily but there has to be legal considerations too,” Mr Hussain said, adding that there could not be any swap as there was no such agreement between Pakistan and the US. “Besides, legally speaking, she is a US national and was tried there, whereas Dr Afridi is a Pakistani national and tried here,” he said.

“There is no law in the US to release a convicted prisoner except that the US president pardons her — but this would be a very remote possibility,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018


Two Karachi prisons most overcrowded among 25 jails in Sindh, PA told

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KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was on Friday told that the two jails in Karachi were the most overcrowded among the 25 prisons in the province.

“Yes, it is [a] fact that the two jails in Karachi are overcrowded,” Nasir Shah, Minister for Prisons, said in reply to a question of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman during the Sindh Assembly’s Question Hour.

He said the existing capacity of the Karachi central prison was 2,400 while its total population was 4,846 — more than double the existing capacity. “Thus, [this] prison is overpopulated by 2,446 inmates.”

Similarly, the minister said in his written reply that the capacity of the Malir district prison was 1,800, but its present population was 5,249 — almost triple to its designated capacity.

“This prison is overpopulated by 3,449 inmates,” he added.

Rising crime rate cited as reason for overcrowding

He said that the main reason behind the overcrowding was an increase in the crime rate in society.

“Another more important reason is non-availability or construction of district-wise prisons,” he said, adding that there was a need to have a prison in each of Karachi’s six districts.

Against the collective capacity of 4,200, two prisons in the metropolis house 10,095 inmates

Mr Shah informed the house that it was imperative to construct at least one prison in every district on a priority basis to reduce the overcrowding of inmates and ensure that they could live in a better manner behind bars.

Minister Shah disagreed with another question by the same lawmaker that whether the Sindh government’s Rs1.5 billion high-security prison project had not gone beyond paperwork in two years as the land acquired for it had not been transferred to the prisons department.

He said it was not a fact that the project had not gone beyond paperwork in two years because of the issues pertaining to the transfer of the land.

He added that the schemes for construction of the high-security prison in Sindh for 1,000 inmates had been approved at the cost of Rs4.8bn in a meeting of the departmental development working party (DDWP) held on March 14 this year.

He added a 300-acre piece of government land for the project had been identified, or selected, in Deh Kohistan 7/2 Tapo, Jhimpir taluka of Thatta district and the provincial home department had requested the member (land utilisation) of the Board of Revenue for transfer of the said land to the prisons department.

Nine male underage prisoners in Sindh

To a question asked by Grand Democratic Alliance’s Arif Jatoi, the minister said a total of nine male prisoners aged less than 16 years were incarcerated in the province.

He said six of those boys were imprisoned in the Youthful Offenders Industrial School (YOIS) Hyderabad, another two in YOIS Sukkur and one boy is in YOIS Larkana as of Sept 30.

Mr Shah said those children were getting legal aid provided by the government and other channels. He added they were jailed for various offences.

Mr Shah confronted GDA’s Hasnain Mirza’s claim that there was no school there to develop skills of those boys in different trades.

He said various skills were being offered to the young inmates so that they could become useful individuals when they returned to society.

He told the house that there were some babies as well in jails along with their inmate mothers who were duly being taken care of.

Special prison force on the cards

He said the PPP government had brought about a number of reforms and formulated laws to improve the culture in prisons.

The minister was also asked to confirm whether the prisons department had demanded for at least 2,900 guarding staff and formation of a separate special prison security force to effectively safeguard the 25 detention facilities across the province.

Mr Shah said worldwide the staff managing inmates inside prisons was separate from the security staff performing duties outside.

“It is felt that while the managing staff of the Sindh prisons department is quite short as compared to the existing prisons population, therefore 3,289 posts of guarding staff including 1,000 posts for the formation of a separate Special Prison Security Force (SPSF) were demanded through SNE 2017-18 out of which 921 posts of the guarding staff including 624 posts of SPSF have been sanctioned,” he stated.

He gave details of the sanctioned posts of SPSF which included 13 sub-inspectors, 26 assistant sub-inspectors, 70 prison head constables and 515 constables.

Other posts sanctioned include 31 SIs, seven ASIs, 21 HCs, one lady HC, 227 prison constables and 10 lady prison constables.

To another question, the prisons minister said a total of 18,325 prisoners were in the jails of Sindh out of which 87 were foreign nationals, predominantly Africans.

Sharjeel shares personal experience

PPP’s Sharjeel Memon — who is at present in prison along with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s MPA Jawed Hanif — said the overall conditions in jails were better, yet, much still remained to be done.

He said earlier a meagre amount of Rs30 daily was allocated for a single prisoner for food, but now it had increased to Rs155 per day per prisoner.

The former minister, who is facing references filed by the National Accountability Bureau, said perks for the jail staff should increase.

So far, he said, 50 of the prisoners in the Karachi central prison were found positive for HIV/AIDS, but a wider screening of all inmates could identify many more across the province.

Sharing his personal interactions with prisoners, he said: “There is an artist who is a good painter and sculptor. He is languishing in prison for around 16 years as he was sentenced to 211-years imprisonment. His appeal is pending with the Sindh High Court for the last 12 years.”

Similarly, he said, there were individuals who passed their prime years in cages and eventually got freed after being found innocent.

He said he would be writing a letter to the SHC chief justice, the Sindh chief minister and other authorities to spend at least a single day in a month and witness the state of affairs in the jails of Sindh.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Report underlines flaws in LHC’s new case management system

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LAHORE: A report, prepared by the urgent cell of the Lahore High Court (LHC), has termed the computerised Case Flow Management System (CFMS) introduced in the court in April 2017 not user-friendly, saying it consumes more time in fixation of cases and requires more manpower than the previous computer system.

The report, available with Dawn, states that since the inception of the CFMS, a lot of problems ‘created by default’ with this system are still pending. It says the new system shows incorrect pendency data of the cases and contempt petitions are not being auto-fixed with reference to criminal or civil cases before the benches concerned. Another problem is that intra-court appeals (ICAs) are sometime auto-fixed before the single bench instead of division bench and often before that single/division bench against whom that ICA can’t be filed as per law.

The report also points out a chronic problem being faced from the first day is that during the filing of a contempt petition, if the bench concerned is not available at principal seat, the petition, during fixation, goes to ‘schedule error’ in the CFMS, which means that the fixation of that case faces a prolonged undue delay. Similarly, whenever two or more civil miscellaneous applications are filed in an ICA, the computerised system auto-fixes the applications before single benches instead of division benches if the bench concerned is not available at the principal seat. Sometimes, whenever, at the time of publication of urgent cause list, the list of a court has to be cancelled to be fixed before other courts, the computer system does not auto-fix the whole list in one command.

The report notes another mind-boggling problem of the new system. When a case has to be transferred from one bench to another, the system fixes the same before a strange bench instead of the targeted bench.

“Last but not least, when the urgent cell completes fixation and puts the lists for publication, a lot of time is consumed for sequencing the same list by the CFMS which results in undue delay in sending of urgent peshi to courts,” the report concludes.

LHC former chief justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had launched the CFMS, developed by the Punjab Information Technology Board.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Arrest warrants issued for two oil firms’ bosses in graft case

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KARACHI: An accountability court on Friday issued arrest warrants for three absconding suspects, including a former managing director of the state-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and a chief executive officer of a private petroleum firm, in a Rs23 billion corruption case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has booked eight officials of the PSO and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd in alleged corruption in the sale and purchase of petroleum products.

On Friday, the matter was taken up by the accountability court-IV judge.

The investigating officer informed the court that efforts were under way to arrest three absconders — former PSO MD Naeem Yahya Mir, former director general (Oil) Sabir Hussain and chief executive officer of Byco Pakistan Petroleum Ltd Amir Abbassciy — but so far they could not be tracked down.

He requested the court for more time to arrest and produce absconders in court.

The judge issued arrest warrants for the three absconders and directed the investigating officer to arrest and produce them before the court on Nov 17.

The anti-graft watchdog nominated Naeem Yahya Mir, former PSO general manager (supply) Akhtar Zameer, former GM (retail and consumer business) Syed Zulfiqar Ali Jaffri, director general (oils) Sabir Hussain, a former director of the ministry of petroleum and natural resources and others in the reference.

According to the prosecution, the former PSO officers and the former director of the ministry of petroleum and natural resources had misused their official authority while serving on their official posts and got involved in corruption and malpractices with the connivance of the officers of Byco.

It claimed that the suspects had caused losses worth Rs23bn to the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

PPP to support PML-N nominees for Senate seats

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LAHORE: The PPP has decided to vote for the PML-N candidates in the by-polls for two Senate seats in Punjab.

Syed Hassan Murtaza, who is PPP Punjab chapter’s information secretary as well as parliamentary party leader in the Punjab Assembly, said on Friday that after internal consultations party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had decided that the PPP MPAs would vote for the N League candidates in the Senate by-polls.

The Upper House seats went vacant when the apex court disqualified PML-N senators Haroon Akhtar Khan (elected against a general seat) and Saadia Abbasi (elected against a seat reserved for women). They had been elected for a six-year term in March this year.

Polling for the two seats will be held in the Punjab Assembly, the electorate for Senate seats from Punjab quota, on Nov 15. The PPP has seven legislators in the provincial house.

The PML-N has awarded tickets to ex-senator Saud Majeed and ex-federal minister Saira Afzal Tarar and the ruling PTI has fielded Waleed Iqbal and Seemi Ezdi.

In an earlier contest for a Senate seat last month, PTI (180 votes) nominee Dr Shahzad Waseem had won by securing 181 out of 351 votes. He enjoyed support of the PML-Q (10 votes), Rah-e-Haq Party (one vote) and independents (four votes).

PML-N’s Khwaja Ahmed Hassaan bagged 169 votes with the help of the PPP.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

Sindh cabinet to meet today

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KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet will be meeting here on Saturday (today) to discuss various issues, including a ban on the use of polythene bags across the province.

The agenda for the meeting, to be chaired by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, includes consideration of the change of the name of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and determination of the support price of wheat.

Other items also in­clu­ded in the agenda are policy for allotment of the use of government-owned luxury vehicles as per the order of the court; implementation of the law against beggary; and consideration of the report regarding protection of the rights of prisoners and condition of prisons.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018

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