KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday granted interim pre-arrest bail to former chief minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah in an investigation launched by the National Accountability Bureau regarding alleged illegal adjustment/exchange of state land in Malir for purpose of a private project being developed by Bahria Town.

The former chief minister through his lawyer moved the court for bail after receiving a call-up notice from NAB last month asking him to appear before a joint investigation team to record his statement.

After a preliminary hearing, a two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro observed that without touching the merits of the case, interim pre-arrest bail was granted to the petitioner subject to a solvent surety of Rs1 million till Dec 12.

The bench asked the petitioner to join the investigation and issued notices to the special prosecutor of NAB and additional attorney general for next hearing.

The petitioner’s lawyer barrister Zamir Ghumro contended that the notice was silent as to how the former chief minister misused his authority and NAB was trying to link him with an investigation being conducted against some officials of the revenue department, the Malir Development Authority and others for alleged illegal adjustment or exchange/consolidation of thousands of acres of state land in multiple Dehs in Malir district for the purpose of development of a private project of Bahria Town.

He argued that the former chief minister exercised his authority in the alleged matter strictly in accordance with law and he was not answerable to any court of law as provided under Article 248 of the Constitution.

The counsel maintained that NAB alleged in the notice that the petitioner with the connivance of the then minister for local government (Sharjeel Memon) misused his authority and extended illegal benefits to certain individuals. However, he argued that no specific allegation or details of alleged connivance had been given in the call-up notice.

He further contended that his client neither had any connection with the chief executive officer of Bahria Town, nor had he allotted any land to the firm.

The lawyer claimed that his client was framed in the matter and the call-up notice was not only issued with mala fide intentions, but also in violation of Article 248.

The petitioner contended that NAB served the notice in order to cause his arrest and pleaded for pre-arrest bail as well as quashment of the call-up notice.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

PESHAWAR: An accountability court has approved the Rs39.8 million plea bargain of a deceased accused in the Rs310 million Peshawar Ring Road land acquisition case.

Judge Hafeez Naseem Akbar approved the plea of the legal heirs on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau, which has been pursuing the case since its establishment in 1999.

Interestingly, several accused in the case, including former chief minister Aftab Sherpao, former senator Gulsher Khan and former provincial minister Habibullah Kundi, have already been acquitted in the case, which about around Rs310 million loss allegedly inflicted on the exchequer by the accused by purchasing the Peshawar Ring Road land at exorbitant rates.

NAB chief already okayed deal request made by family of deceased accused

Jamsher Khan, who was the brother of Gulsher Khan, remained an absconder in the case before he died in 2007.

He was also sentenced to three years imprisonment in absentia as absconding from the law in a corruption case was a crime under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

The NAB had attached some of his properties.

It insisted that Jamsher Khan and others in connivance with the relevant government officials and functionaries fraudulently and dishonestly caused a huge loss to the exchequer during the acquisition of land for the construction of Ring Road around Peshawar.

The bureau added that that the government of Pakhtunkhwa (the then NWFP) had planned to construct a ring road around Peshawar city passing through the Lala Ahmad and Mahal Saloo revenue circles and other villages.

It claimed that the land acquisition began in 1994, while the accused in connivance and collaboration with each other delayed it and possession of land and thus, helping landowners make sham mutations in the revenue records to increase land rate exorbitantly.

The NAB also said the legal heirs of late Jamsher had formally requested the NAB chairman for a plea bargain deal, which was accepted, and therefore, the matter was referred to the accountability court for necessary approval.

The accountability court had acquitted five accused, including Aftab Sherpao, Gul Sher, tehsildar Mosam Khan, and patwaris Nisar and Dilawar, on June 21, 2003. Their acquittal was also upheld by the high court.

On Oct 27, 2018, the court had acquitted Habibullah Kundi, who remained the housing and physical planning minister in Aftab Sherpao cabinet from 1994 to 1996.

Mr Kundi, a PTI leader, was earlier declared a proclaimed offender as he had absconded in the case in early 2000 when the trial was conducted against other accused.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

RAWALPINDI: Although an inquiry could not prove that edibles brought to Central Jail Adiala for prisoners were being stolen, it has established negligence on the part of the jail’s administration and junior staff and they may face disciplinary action.

A source said the Punjab prison authorities believe that the allegation levelled by Javaid Iqbal, a senior clerk at the prison, regarding the theft of grocery items from the jail to be sold in the open market were untrue and could not be proven by a high-level inquiry.

However, a case against the complainant has been sent to the disciplinary committee and he may face action, in addition to clerks and officers posted at the jail.

“The allegations levelled by the senior clerk could not be proven. However, the tussle between the clerical staff and officers was established during the inquiry,” he said.

Mr Iqbal had said in his complaint that he intercepted a van loaded with rice, ghee and pulses at gate five of the Adiala jail on Oct 22. He alleged that the grocery items were taken out of the jail’s storage room and moved to a private store opposite the gate.

He claimed that the transportation of these items could be seen on CCTV footage, and a video was aired on social media. He alleged that he had faced retaliation from the owner of the private store, who had filed a complaint with local police accusing him of stealing money.

He said that he was followed on his way home by two people in a white car and so he took refuge in the jail colony house. He claimed that two hours later the store owner and two others came to his home and attempted to abduct him.

Inspector General of Punjab Prisons Shahid Saleem Baig ordered an inquiry soon after the incident came to list and tasked Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Naveed Rauf to inquire into the allegations levelled by the clerk.

Sources said the inquiry and CCTV footage did not prove the allegation of theft of grocery items, but established negligence on the part of clerical and senior staff.

Both parties may face disciplinary action, as the inspector general of prisons has sent the case and his recommendations for disciplinary proceedings.

Mr Iqbal has been removed from his post and directed to report to headquarters. Sources said a case of ‘cheating’ will be initiated against him soon.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

KARACHI: As the provincial education minister warned the “elite” educational institutions to abide by rules, the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday demanded implementation of a law that bound private schools to provide free and compulsory education to “disadvantaged” children not less than 10 per cent of the total strength of a school.

A resolution to this effect was tabled by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Seema Zia on Tuesday, which is a private members’ day, and the house unanimously adopted it.

The resolution reads: “This house resolves that the government of Sindh to implement Section 10 of the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013, which says private schools to provide at least 10 per cent free education to the disadvantaged children.”

The govt will not render people living in illegally constructed houses homeless

It demanded that the government take action against those private schools which did not comply with Section 10 of the said law.

Dr Zia lamented that despite lapse of five years to the passage of the law, formulation of its rules of business was still awaited.

She said certain private schools provided such facility to the children of their staff instead of helping the meritorious children from class one to class 10.

Leader of the Opposition Firdous Shamim Naqvi suggested for establishment of a separate controlling authority to effectively regulate private schools.

Ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s Marui Rashdi and Heer Soho, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Rana Ansar and PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman also supported the resolution.

Karachi has 6,700 private schools

Education Minister Sardar Shah asked all the members of the house to join him to go to private schools, the “elitist” schools in particular, and force them to implement the law, which also bound them not to increase the fee by more than five per cent in a year.

“We should visit these schools, particularly the elitist schools, which I call as seven-star schools to force them to abide by the law or face de-registration then and there,” said the minister whose only child is enrolled with a government school.

He said at present a total of 12,670 private schools were registered across the province, of which 6,700 were in Karachi only. “We estimate some 5,000 to 7,000 schools in Sindh are not registered with us.”

Mr Shah said the Supreme Court had ordered the private schools to deposit the amount they charged over five per cent annual tuition fee to the registrar of the apex court. However, he added the schools had not yet complied with the court order.

He said there were 13 elite school chains operating in the province and “if we get two of them de-registered [for violating the law of the land] it would cause others to respect the law”.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani placed the resolution before the house, which carried it unanimously.

Opposition stages walkout

Earlier, the house rejected a resolution with majority vote tabled by Grand Democratic Alliance lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Abbasi calling for removal of two MNAs and three senators from a committee formed by the chief minister for the welfare of non-Muslims.

All major opposition parties in the house — PTI, MQM-P and GDA — staged a walkout in protest over the rejection of the resolution.

However, PTI’s Seema Zia chose to stay in the house, saying she would prefer to table her resolution, which was more important for the welfare of the people.

Lone Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal lawmaker Abdul Rasheed was the only opposition member who stayed in the house along with her.

The protesting opposition members, however, returned to the house in a few minutes.

MQM-P’s Mohammad Hussain tabled an adjournment motion regarding absence of public transport in Karachi.

Transport Minister Awais Shah said the mass transit system had got delayed because of continuous “U-turns” by the federal government.

The motion, however, was ruled out by Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari, who was then chairing the house, for being a general statement.

Govt won’t evict people living in illegal houses

MMA’s Rasheed tabled a resolution calling for a ban on construction of high-rise buildings in Lyari where, he said, people were already deprived of basic amenities

Responding to the resolution, Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said that the people living in illegal buildings could not be rendered homeless. However, action against such under-construction buildings was already under way, he added.

He said it would be hard for the low-income people to buy another house if they were forcibly removed from the illegally-constructed buildings.

However, thousands of buildings got constructed in the presence of relevant authorities, he said referring to the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) as well as those involved in offering bribes.

Mr Naqvi termed such bribes as “speed money” to cut through the official red tape.

Mr Ghani said the LG department was working on a mechanism to offer one-window operation for the approval of building plans.

Mr Rasheed said in his resolution that Lyari was deprived of basic facilities where the law permitted for the construction of ground-plus-one-storey buildings; yet around 200 buildings were being built in violation of that provision.

He said Lyari had 80 sanitary workers in the 1980s and now the populous area had just 20.

Call to ban high-rise construction

MQM-P’s Mohammad Hussain said a ban on illegal construction be imposed across Karachi. He said residential districts were being turned into commercial ones unlawfully.

PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman supported the resolution while Opposition Leader Naqvi claimed the SBCA had turned into a “centre of corruption”. He said development should not be stopped but better infrastructure be ensured first.

MQM-P’s parliamentary party leader Kanwar Naveed Jameel said a limited ban be imposed on high-rises in the city until existing infrastructure was replaced with an improved one.

Mr Rasheed withdrew the resolution on assurance of the LG minister that the issue would be looked into.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet has imposed a ban on child beggary and directed the social welfare department to pick up children begging at traffic intersections and in streets and rehabilitate them at welfare centres.

A meeting of the cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, was held at the New Sindh Secretariat on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by all the provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants to the chief minister. Sindh chief secretary Mumtaz Shah conducted the meeting.

The items on the agenda included a progress report on fixing price of wheat crop, discussion on a report about the existing legal provision on beggary, tariff differential subsidy to new captive power plants, constitution of a governing body of the Sehwan Development Authority, amendment to the Sindh Zakat & Ushr Act, and power of the provincial cabinet in financial matters. A presentation on the water position was given to the cabinet as an additional item.

CM wants helpline 1121 projected in the media to protect children’s rights

At the start of the meeting, the chief minister and the cabinet members expressed profound grief over the death of two small children who reportedly died from consumption of “poisonous food”. The chief minister directed the chief secretary to strengthen the food authority and start inspection of all food outlets.

CM’s Adviser on Law and Information Murtaza Wahab presented the findings of his committee on the beggary issue. The other members of the committee were Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Minister for Social Welfare Hari Ram.

The report said that there were enough laws available to deal with the issue. Section 7 of the West Pakistan Vagrancy Ordi­nance 158, for instance, prohibited beggary.

The report also pointed out that in 2011 the assembly had passed the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act 2011, which called for ensuring the rights of children in need of special measures.

Chief Minister Shah in consultation with the cabinet decided to ban beggary all over Sindh. He directed the social welfare department to launch a special campaign against child beggary.

Mr Shah directed the district administration and the police to help the social welfare department in the drive to be launched against child beggary and round up child beggars and send them to Sweet Home and Street Children Centre, Korangi, where they would be rehabilitated. “I want to provide them shelter, food, sports and education so that they could be made useful citizens of the country,” he said.

He also directed the social welfare department to make the Child Protection Authority an effective organisation. “Helpline 1121 must be projected in the media so that the common man could complain wherever the rights of a child are seen to be compromised,” he said, adding that in the next phase, another drive would be launched against beggary. “I don’t want to see any child stretching his hand for alms at the signals and in the streets,” he said.

It was pointed out that the Street Children Centre, Korangi, was nearing completion. The chief minister directed minister for works and services Nasir Shah to get it completed on war footings.

Disposal of wheat stocks

The cabinet also decided to dispose of Sindh’s wheat stocks of 1,745,815 tonnes at a release price of Rs3,315 per 100kg jute bag and Rs3,250 PP bag and it would put a Rs6.7 billion financial burden of subsidy on the provincial exchequer.

The chief minister had constituted a committee under Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah and the secretaries for finance and food as its members to recommend an issue price.

The committee presented its report on the stock position.

The cabinet discussed the tariff differential subsidy to the Sindh New Captive Power Plants (SNCPPs). It was told that the government had received claims of six SNCPPs amounting to Rs2.3bn.

The chief minister said that those six SNCPPs were located in rural areas such as Dadu, Shikarpur and Thatta and generating 103.7MW power and feeding it into the local grid.

When asked how much impact it had made on the loadshedding in small districts, Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh said that there was no such apparatus to assess their impact. The power they were generating was being fed into the national grid, therefore the assessment of its impact was quite difficult.

The CM directed the minister to make arrangements to assess the impact on local loadshedding and report it to him.

Mr Shah also said that the claimant NCPPs would furnish a chartered accountant certificate that all the subsidy claims were made in accordance with the act, rules, policy tariff, Nepra tariff and other related regulations. The cabinet approved a subsidy of Rs2.3bn for disbursement as per law.

Water shortage

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Water Ashfaq Memon told the cabinet that 38 per cent shortage of irrigation water for the current Rabi crop had been declared by the Indus River System Authority. There were apprehensions of an increase in the shortage.

The cabinet decided for comparatively higher supplies for sowing wheat crop during November and December. The supplies would be kept at the minimum during the last 10 days of December and to the end of January, taking advantage of the closures to save water for crops in February onwards. The supply of water in the canals, branches and distributaries would be made as per the rotation plans prepared by the regions concerned. Provision of water for drinking would be ensured regularly.

The cabinet also approved an amendment to the Zakat & Ushr law under which Karachi had been declared as the city of six districts so that distribution could be made accordingly.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to respond to a questionnaire prepared by the United Kingdom's Home Office regarding the return of former minister Ishaq Dar to the country.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a case related to Dar's non-appearance before the apex court in a corruption case pertaining to owning assets approximately valued at Rs831.7 million, disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Dar was declared an absconder by the court last year when he failed to appear since he was in London, allegedly undergoing medical treatment. His absence was first attributed to ill health on Oct 30, 2017.

The additional attorney general told the bench today that the UK Home Office had sent some questions regarding Dar's return to the country, and these questions had been forwarded to NAB.

"They will submit their response to the UK Home Office," the additional attorney general added.

The CJP observed that Dar "can no longer use his illness as an excuse [to stay abroad]".

"He would say that when justice will prevail, only then will he return to the country," the top judge added.

The court ordered NAB to respond to the Home Office's questionnaire and to submit a report on the matter within a month.

The case was subsequently adjourned for a month.

'Assets beyond known income'

The noose began to tighten around the former finance minister after NAB decided to reopen the Rs1.2 billion Hudaibiya Paper Mills reference against him last year.

The Hudaibya reference will be the second ‘mega-corruption’ case against Dar being investigated by NAB, after the reference filed against him in the wake of the Panamagate judgement.

The reopening of the case was recommended by the joint investigation team formed by the apex court to probe the Panama Papers allegations against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

On July 28, a five-member Supreme Court bench had ordered NAB to file three references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and one against Dar, on petitions filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Imran Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Sirajul Haq and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

In its reference against the finance minister, NAB has alleged that “the accused has acquired assets and pecuniary interests/resources in his own name and/or in the name of his dependents of an approximate amount of Rs831.678 million (approx)”.

The reference alleged that the assets were “disproportionate to his known sources of income for which he could not reasonably account for”.

ISLAMABAD: An independent commission will be formed to propose revisions to the capital’s master plan for the first time in Islamabad’s 58-year history, following orders from the prime minister during a meeting on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered the first ever revision of the capital’s master plan while chairing a meeting on the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Addressing a press conference later the same day, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi said an independent commission headed by professionals of high calibre will be formed to revise the master plan within the next three to six months.

First-ever revision will consider requirements of Islamabad’s more than 2m population

Special assistant to the prime minister on CDA affairs, Ali Nawaz Awan, was also present.

The requirements of the city’s population have multiplied over the years, Mr Afridi said, specifically with regard to education, health, the environment, infrastructure and water. He added that the city’s master plan was supposed to be revised every 20 years, but successive governments chose not to do so.

A document will be prepared that will consider the requirements of Islamabad’s population of more than 2 million, and will resolve the problems facing the city, he claimed.

Mr Awan said at the press conference that the commission will not be chaired by a civil servant.

Calling Islamabad the face of Pakistan, he said the unplanned proliferation of structures had gone unchecked while successive governments sold the capital out to land grabbers.

In response to a question on land retrieved by the government during its ongoing operation, Mr Afridi said Rs300 billion worth of property have been recovered from land grabbers; 35,000 kanals of land have been retrieved, including 1,200 kanals in Bahria Enclave.

He said there was no room for land grabbers, their collaborators and their facilitators in ‘Naya Pakistan’. All such cases will be taken to a certain level through legal proceedings, and it would then be for the court to adjudicate.

When asked about Banigala, Mr Afridi said this was the first government in which a sitting prime minister has been sent a notice by the CDA.

The master plan of the city was prepared by the Greek firm Doxiadis in 1960, which also suggested revising the plan every 20 years.

Successive governments, however, did not make any serious attempt to revise the plan, resulting in a lack of civic planning and haphazard construction.

The CDA has also failed to implement its by-laws beyond the capital’s urban areas, leaving Islamabad’s 32 rural union councils unattended.

These rural areas are now dotted with unauthorised commercial and residential buildings – particularly Zone III, where the existing master plan does not allow construction.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s private residence in Banigala is also unauthorised. Under orders from the Supreme Court, the CDA is now moving ahead with fining such construction, including Mr Khan’s home, and then regularising them following the proper procedure.

Sources in the CDA said that instead of comprehensive revisions envisioned by the firm, the focus has been on selective, intermittent changes.

The last was made in May this year, by the federal cabinet led by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, which allowed private housing schemes in Zone IV sub-zone C, apparently to give legal cover to the already developed housing schemes in the area, including Bahria Enclave.

CDA officials said that work on the mast plan was started twice but was not approved by the federal government. The authority made serious efforts in 1986 and 2005, they said, but did not receive a response from the governments at the time.

Zoning regulations promulgated by the federal government in 1992 divided the capital into five zones, allowing housing societies in Zone IV to – CDA officials claim – benefit landlords who owned land in that area.

When changes were made to the master plan, the government did not propose alternates. For example, if an industrial sector was converted to a residential one, a new industrial sector was not proposed elsewhere.

Sources in the CDA said that the entire I-8 sector was reserved for a transportation centre and bus terminals under the original plan. In 1990, when the federal government changed it to a residential sector, the need for a transportation centre was not kept in mind, resulting in illegal bus stands being set up across the city. Even today there is no intra-city bus terminal in the capital.

Other changes including replacing the F-9 residential sector with a park, and changing the I-12 and I-15 industrial sectors to residential sectors.

E-11, originally a residential sector, was given the status of a residential sector with housing schemes – more than 70 multi-storey commercial buildings have been built there since.

While hearing a case on encroachment in E-11 and Banigala, a larger bench of the Islamabad High Court a few months ago directed the government to constitute a commission of professionals in the fields of town planning, environmental management and finance, but the commission has not been notified yet.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

KHAR: The Bajaur Press Club was closed for an indefinite period on Tuesday following threats of terror attacks.

The press club president Hasbanullah Khan told Dawn here that though he did not know about the threats, but the club had been shut down on the directives of senior officials of the local administration.

Quoting the officials, Mr Khan said they had received information that some unknown miscreants planned to carry out terrorist attacks on the press club building, ‘hence you’re advised to keep the club shut for an indefinite period to thwart any unpleasant incident.’

Following the instructions, the press club president said an emergency meeting of the senior journalists was held to discuss the situation in which the participants unanimously decided to shut the club for indefinite period.

Before shutting the press club, scores of Levies personnel arrived on the spot and took position at various places.

The Levies personnel also evacuated vehicles from a nearby bus stand owing to security concerns.

People present at the bus stand told Dawn that dozens of Levies personnel suddenly entered there and ordered the transporters to evacuate.

According to witnesses, exchange of harsh wards was also reported between the Levies personnel and some transporters.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

WASHINGTON: Pakistan may escape a new designation — a serious violator of religious freedom — thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision to release Aasia Bibi, according to diplomatic sources.

In January, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that Pakistan be designated as a “country of concern” because of its alleged “serious violations of religious freedom”.

Although it’s a long-standing USCIRF demand, the US State Department has never so designated Pakistan, but it does highlight the commission’s findings in its annual reports on religious freedom.

Read more: Aasia enjoys constitutional rights, PM assures EU

In December last year, the State Department named Pakistan as the first, and only, country on its “Special Watch List”, a new category created in 2016.

The report for this year complained that religious minorities in Pakistan continued to face attacks from extremist groups and society at large. It also noted that “abusive enforcement of the country’s strict blasphemy laws result in the “suppression of rights for non-Muslims, Shia and Ahmedis”.

Tenzin Dorjee, the USCIRF chief, said: “The case of Asia Bibi illustrates the extent to which blasphemy laws can be exploited to target minority communities.”

But in its latest statement, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the death sentence against Aasia Bibi in 2010 on charges of insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

A woman and her minor daughter were found hanging from a tree within the vicinity of the former's parent's house in a remote area of Khanewal district on Wednesday.

According to police, the 30-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter were strangled to death before their bodies were hung from the tree.

Homicide Sub Inspector Falak Sheer told DawnNewsTV that marks of fingers around necks of both the victims indicate that it was a murder and that the killer or killers hanged their bodies from the tree to portray the crime as a murder-and-suicide case.

The bodies have been moved to the tehsil headquarter hospital for autopsy, he said, adding that a case will be filed after the post-mortem examination report is prepared.

Subsequently, police arrested the husband of the victim and said that he has confessed to killing both his wife and daughter.

According to police, the woman was in a dispute with her estranged husband and his family. She along with her daughter was living in her parents' house. The official said that a while back, parents of the woman had reported to police that she had committed suicide by jumping in a canal. However, police had recovered the woman from the house of her friend in Vehari with the help of her telephone data.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a case concerning allotment of Waqf property attached to the shrine of Hazrat Baba Farid-ud-Din Masud Ganj Shakar, Pakpattan Sharif.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar directed the former prime minister to appear before the court on Dec 4 to explain his position in the case.

Mr Sharif is facing a charge that being the chief minister of Punjab in 1986 he ordered withdrawal of a notification of Dec 17, 1969 and allegedly allotted huge lands of Auqaf around Pakpattan to Dewan Ghulam Qutab in violation of the high court order.

Ex-PM faces charge that as Punjab CM in 1986, he violated a high court order

At the last hearing the court had expressed its surprise under what authority a chief minister could change a high court verdict and allot the properties to an individual.

“You have put at stake the political career of a three-time prime minister,” the CJP observed while rejecting the reply furnished by Barrister Munawar Iqbal on behalf of Mr Sharif.

“I am sure that Mr Sharif does not even had the idea what the case is all about,” CJP Nisar observed and directed the former prime minister to appear before the court and explain why he withdrew the notification.

In his reply, Mr Sharif had requested the court to discharge the notice issued to him in the interest of justice, adding that the case at hand was a very old matter having taken place about 32 years ago and, therefore, he did not recall having ever passed any order of withdrawal purportedly attributed to him being the chief minister of Punjab at the time.

Consequently, from the record as collected from the paper books submitted by the Punjab government before the Supreme Court, it transpired that the Auqaf department of Punjab via its notification of Jan 17, 1961 took over the administration, control, management and maintenance of the shrine of Hazrat Baba Farid-ud-Din Masud Ganj Shakar Sahib, Pakpattan Sharif.

Subsequently, with the approval of the then governor of Punjab, Auqaf department, Lahore, issued another notification of Dec 17, 1969 for taking over additional land which later resulted into litigation between the parties.

The reply stated that Dewan Ghulam Qutabud Din, Sajada-Nashin of shrine of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar, moved the application in June 1986 to the then prime minister through the then governor stating therein that the disputed property taken over by Auqaf department, Lahore, was his personal and ancestral property, therefore, it should be returned to him.

This application of Dewan Ghulam Qutabud Din was ultimately set down in the office of the chief minister.

The reply stated that the record had established that the then chief minister did not order the withdrawal of the relevant notification of Dec 17, 1969.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

A sessions court in Lahore on Wednesday gave the station house officer (SHO) of Civil Lines police station until November 16 (Friday) to submit a report on his alleged failure to register a case against Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYRA) head Ashraf Jalali and others for threatening the top judiciary and inciting the armed forces to stage a mutiny, in the aftermath of Aasia Bibi's acquittal.

Last Thursday, the court had fixed for hearing a petition — filed by citizen Abdullah Malik — which claims that the Civil Lines SHO had failed to file a first information report (FIR) against the aforementioned leaders of religiopolitical parties.

The court had also directed the said SHO to submit his response on November 14 (today). However, the order was not complied with and no representative of the police appeared before the court for today's hearing.

Subsequently, the court ordered the SHO to submit a response by Friday, until when the hearing of the case was also adjourned.

The petition, filed last week, states that "the local police is reluctant to take action against the accused [due to] their presence in the ruling class and having direct contacts with the police and others."

A copy of the application to lodge an FIR, dated November 1 and addressed to the Civil Lines SHO, states that TLP leaders had threatened the judges of the Supreme Court, passed an edict to murder the country's Constitutional prime minister and incited their party workers to spark riots.

The petitioner had prayed to the court to pass orders to ensure legal action is taken against the TLP leaders as well as police officials, if the latter are reluctant to register a criminal case against the former.

In an unexpected development, PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz — who had been declared disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan after being found in contempt of court — on Wednesday withdrew his plea against the disqualification verdict.

The apex court had held the outspoken PML-N leader in contempt on June 28 and sentenced him till the rising of the court.

The sentence rendered him disqualified from contesting elections for a period of five years under Article 63(1)(g) of the Constitution, which states: "[...] a person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if­ he has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction...unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release".

Subsequently, on August 4, the PML-N leader had filed an appeal against his conviction and disqualification from contesting elections. In his appeal, Aziz had denied ever saying the words for which he was held in contempt.

"I never said the words that were written in the newspaper and for which I was held in contempt," he had claimed while talking to the media.

The PML-N leader had further claimed that the 'problematic' phrases on the basis of which he was held in contempt were also censored with a beep when they were aired in news bulletins, which, according to Aziz, was akin to him not having said them at all.

"I never violated the court's orders," he said. "In fact, me and my party — the PML-N — have always implemented the court's orders. To disagree is our right, we have always done that and will keep on doing it."

Case history

On February 7 this year, the apex court had issued a notice to Aziz for contempt of court for an 'anti-judiciary' speech made by him.

On March 13, the SC had indicted Aziz in the contempt case. The proceedings were held under the Contempt of the Court Ordinance 2003, read with Article 204 of the Constitution, against Aziz for making derogatory and contemptuous speeches and statements against the apex court which were also telecast by different television channels.

The SC bench had observed that Aziz was "committed to scandalising the court". Aziz had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The charges against him were that Aziz had accused Supreme Court Justice Ijazul Ahsan on Sep 8, 2017 of summoning NAB authorities to Lahore and directing them to prepare corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his family members and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

A woman and her two daughters were found dead in Chan Shah graveyard in the Shah Bagh area of Lahore on Wednesday while a third girl, found in an injured state, was shifted to a hospital, said the City Superintendent of Police (SP) Maaz Zafar.

SP Zafar said that the two girls killed were between the ages of 13 and 15 years.

A statement from the injured girl, also a teenager, will be recorded once she is stable, the SP said.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has taken notice of the incident and sought a report from the police.

According to SP Zafar, the station house officer (SHO) and the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) were at the site of the incident and an investigation was underway.

The police official told DawnNewsTV that the woman's husband — who had married six times — was killed 15 days ago in Sheikhupura. He added that two of his former wives had confessed to his murder.

Based on initial investigation, the police said that the mother and her daughters had been killed over a family dispute.

Unusual smog-like conditions prevailed in Karachi on Wednesday morning, causing poor visibility and difficulty for drivers in various parts of the city, along with exacerbating respiratory issues in people suffering from asthma.

Regional Meteorological Centre Karachi Director Shahid Abbas, while explaining the weather in the metropolis, said that fog or smog is formed "when minimum temperature falls rapidly".

"Right now, the land and sea temperature are almost the same, due to which the wind has stopped blowing," he said, adding that this was why "smog has formed in Karachi".

"It will remain for the next two or three days until winds from Quetta start blowing here. Then the smog will disperse and it will get two to three degrees colder," he said.

Take a look: Punjab authorities are responding to help manage the smog, but is it enough?

He ruled out the possibility of rain in Sindh over the next few days.

"There are rains in parts of Punjab ─ Sialkot, Gujranwala ─ but the [weather] system is passing overhead and there is no chance of rain in Sindh," he explained.

However, "the air temperature will lower and dry winds will begin blowing, which will clear the atmosphere."

Earlier, a Met official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn.com that the ratio of humidity in the air is around 32 per cent. He added that Nawabshah, Sukkur, Dadu, Hyderabad, Jackobabad, and Sakrund are also affected due to the situation.

Smog has become a common feature of the winter season in parts of the country, particularly Punjab. The condition has been attributed to the burning of crop stubble, and pollution from factories and traffic in the province. Burning of crop stubble across the border has also aggravated the situation locally.

A global list of the 50 worst air pollutant emission hotspots in the world by Greenpeace which analysed the satellite data generated by European Space Agency’s new satellite ranked Lahore and its surrounding area at 30th place.

A woman and her minor daughter were found hanging from a tree within the vicinity of the former's parent's house in a remote area of Khanewal district on Wednesday.

According to police, the 30-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter were strangled to death before their bodies were hung from the tree.

Homicide Sub Inspector Falak Sheer told DawnNewsTV that marks of fingers around necks of both the victims indicate that it was a murder and that the killer or killers hanged their bodies from the tree to portray the crime as a murder-and-suicide case.

The bodies have been moved to the tehsil headquarter hospital for autopsy, he said, adding that a case will be filed after the post-mortem examination report is prepared.

Subsequently, police arrested the husband of the victim and said that he has confessed to killing both his wife and daughter.

According to police, the woman was in a dispute with her estranged husband and his family. She along with her daughter was living in her parents' house. The official said that a while back, parents of the woman had reported to police that she had committed suicide by jumping in a canal. However, police had recovered the woman from the house of her friend in Vehari with the help of her telephone data.

Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday submitted his responses to 45 of 50 questions posed to him by the court in the Al-Azizia corruption reference.

When Nawaz approached the rostrum to verbally record his testimony, Accountability Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik asked him to return to his seat, and informed Nawaz that he himself would read the statement out in court for it to be recorded.

The PML-N supreme leader said that he would need time to consult his lawyer Khawaja Haris before he could provide responses to the five unanswered questions posed by the court.

"Some questions are complicated and records will need to be checked [before they can be answered]," Nawaz told the court.

"I will ask you [further] questions regarding the replies which are not satisfactory," Judge Malik said, asking Nawaz if he had examined all the evidence presented by the prosecution, to which the latter responded in the affirmative.

Nawaz told the court that he was "elected prime minister three times. Pervez Musharraf established martial law on October 12, 1999 and I did not hold any public office from that time to 2013. I remained exiled from 2001 to 2008."

"I cannot answer questions regarding the income tax returns and wealth statements of Hassan and Hussain Nawaz. It is not within my purview," he added.

The ousted prime minister further said: "I have shown all my income tax returns, my assets and my sources of income. It is true that the financial documents, including tax records, wealth statements and wealth tax returns, are all my own."

The court observed that since Nawaz held public office, he was "the most influential person in the Sharif family", to which the former PM replied that this was an opinion formed by the Investigation Officer.

"My father Mian Muhammad Sharif was the most influential person in the the family until his last breath," he explained.

Nawaz left the court while his statement was being read out in court. Once the reading of his statement concludes, he is expected to return to court and sign his testimony.

The body of Superintendent of Police (SP) Tahir Khan Dawar ─ who was abducted from Islamabad last month and found dead in Afghanistan ─ will be handed over to Pakistani authorities by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement on Wednesday, MNA Mohsin Dawar told DawnNewsTV.

SP Tahir, a police officer who had survived two suicide attacks in Bannu and had been serving as head of Peshawar police’s rural circle, was kidnapped from Islamabad's G-10/4 area on Oct 26. A body believed to be his was found in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province yesterday.

SP Tahir hailed from North Waziristan district and earlier this year was made acting SP and given charge of the rural circle. Prior to that he had served as DSP of University Town and Fakirabad and had also had a stint with the Federal Investigation Agency.

Photos of the SP's badly tortured body with a hand-written Pashto letter placed on his chest, purportedly written by a yet unidentified militant group, went viral on social media on Tuesday before police could officially confirm the happening, but a senior official said a "source" had informed them of the tragic news.

A senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) official said that the paper found on the body mentioned no militant outfit and would be investigated later. The note carries the name of Wilayat Khorasan, the nomenclature the militant Islamic State (IS) group uses to refer to the Pak-Afghan region.

It refers to SP Dawar with his first name and said that the "cop who had arrested and killed several militants has met his fate". The note also warns other people to take caution and threatens that otherwise they would also meet the same fate.

The KP official said that they would investigate where the officer was killed and what group was responsible for the murder.

MNA Mohsin Dawar said that SP Tahir's body would be handed over to the KP police at the Torkham border crossing, and that further details would be provided by Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) operations Peshawar Javed Iqbal.

Police and civil administration waited at the Torkham border on Tuesday night to receive the slain SP's body, but it did not reach the country yesterday.

Islamabad didn't contact Kabul about SP Tahir, says Afghan envoy

Outgoing Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal told journalists at a farewell ceremony that the Pakistani government had not reached out to Afghan authorities for any information about the missing police official.

"How did a police officer disappear from Islamabad and turn up dead in Afghanistan?" he asked.

He urged the leadership of both countries to "sit together" and talk about SP Tahir's suspected murder.

Zakhilwal also expressed grief over the police officer's death and said he did not have any information about the abduction.

In response to a question, he said that the Afghan government had been in touch with slain Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S) leader Maulana Samiul Haq and had urged him to play his role to solve the Afghan issue.

"Apart from reconciliation, Pakistan and Afghanistan have no other way [to achieve peace]," he added.

A woman and her minor daughter were found hanging from a tree within the vicinity of the former's parent's house in a remote area of Khanewal district on Wednesday.

According to police, the 30-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter were strangled to death before their bodies were hung from the tree.

Homicide Sub Inspector Falak Sheer told DawnNewsTV that marks of fingers around necks of both the victims indicate that it was a murder and that the killer or killers hanged their bodies from the tree to portray the crime as a murder-and-suicide case.

The bodies have been moved to the tehsil headquarter hospital for autopsy, he said, adding that a case will be filed after the post-mortem examination report is prepared.

Subsequently, police arrested the husband of the victim and said that he has confessed to killing both his wife and daughter.

According to police, the woman was in a dispute with her estranged husband and his family. She along with her daughter was living in her parents' house. The official said that a while back, parents of the woman had reported to police that she had committed suicide by jumping in a canal. However, police had recovered the woman from the house of her friend in Vehari with the help of her telephone data.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to Urdu newspaper Jang and English daily The News for allegedly misreporting a court story, in which the top judiciary had appeared to criticise the government.

The two publications, in their lead stories today, had reported that the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, while hearing a suo motu case of illegal construction in Banigala, had "remarked that the current government lacked capability and planning".

The top judge today distanced himself from those remarks, adding that "this news is untrue".

"Both the newspapers ran wrong stories," Justice Nisar said. "We had talked about the CDA (Capital Development Authority) in the Banigala case. There is recording available of the court's proceedings; we can play that."

"[TV] programmes were also done on the basis of this wrong news," Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan said, to which Additional Attorney General Nayyer Rizvi added: "Tickers were also run [on the same]."

Later on, in its official notification, the court said: "We are surprised as the court never made such observations about the federal government. [Those] observations were made against the Capital Development Authority. This is an instance of gross misreporting."

The court issued notices to the publications' printers, publishers and editors, with the directives to respond within a week.