PESHAWAR: The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court against the detention of its 133 workers in the province and sought orders for the provincial government to release them and not to make more arrests.

In the petition, TLP provincial chief Falak Niaz requested the court to order the recovery of its 133 workers from the ‘illegal and unlawful’ custody of the government by declaring their detention illegal and unconstitutional.

The petitioner claimed that the party hadn’t been informed about under what law its workers had been detained.

He requested the court to declare null and void the government notification of the detentions in question if any.

As interim relief, the petitioner prayed the court to stop the government from arresting more TLP workers until the final disposal of the petition and issue directions for the right of visitation to the detainees.

The petition filed through lawyers Yousaf Ali and Syed Saud Shah said the 133 TLP workers were taken away from their houses or other places on Nov 23, 24 and 30, before being kept at the Haripur Central Prison.

The respondents in the petition are the interior ministry through its secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa home department through its secretary, KP inspector general of police, KP chief secretary, KP inspector general of prisons, and superintendents of Haripur, Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan and Peshawar jails.

The petitioner said the police had made forced entry to the TLP workers’ houses to arrest them.

He said the detainees’ repeated requests to the government and relevant officials to explain the reason for their detention had fallen on deaf ears.

The petitioner said the detained TLP workers had lived a peaceful life and there was no FIR registered against them anywhere in the province.

He added that his party workers were arrested without the issuance of any notification and without giving any opportunity of hearing to them at the time of their ‘illegal’ arrest.

The petitioner said Article 10-A of the Constitution gave the fundamental right of fair trial to everyone accused of committing any illegal activity but no such opportunity was provided to the TLP workers.

He alleges that they strongly apprehended that the detainees were tortured during illegal custody and that they would be kept in illegal detention for an indefinite period.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday — on behalf of the station house officer (SHO) of Darakhshan police station, Arshad Janjua — filed a first information report (FIR) regarding an explosion that occurred in a 'stolen' car in Karachi's Khadda Market a day earlier.

The FIR, that has been registered under Article 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, says that "unknown terrorists" had planned to launch "a huge terrorist attack" in Karachi.

Yesterday, a car that was reportedly stolen from Karachi's Jamshed Quarters on Sunday night, was traced to the Khadda Market area in DHA, where it had exploded overnight in an empty plot.

Deputy Inspector General South Javed Alam Odho said that the blast was caused by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) that had been planted in the car, along with multiple gas cylinders. However, the cylinders were found intact, the DIG said. The car's CNG cylinder was also found in one piece.

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Monday met Prime Minister Imran Khan along with other members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and discussed the issue of formation of house committees and a strategy to break the deadlock with the opposition over the chairmanship of the all-powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament.

The meeting took place hours after the prime minister recorded an interview with TV anchors in which he had once again declared in categorical terms that Leader of the Opposition and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif would not be offered the PAC chairmanship.

Those who accompanied the speaker in the meeting included Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan and Leader of the House in the Senate Shibli Faraz.

And before going to see the prime minister, the speaker held a consultative meeting with the ruling party members and informed them about the “number of meetings” he had with the opposition on the issue of formation of standing committees. The consultative meeting was also attended by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri and PTI chief whip in the National Assembly Malik Aamir Dogar.

PM Imran declares in categorical terms Shahbaz Sharif will not be offered chairmanship of all-powerful committee

A handout issued by the NA Secretariat quoted the speaker as having told the meeting that he was hopeful that the committees would be constituted during the upcoming session of the assembly scheduled for Dec 10.

In his interview which was aired on almost all TV channels in the evening, Prime Minister Khan said Pakistan would become a laughing stock in the world community if they allowed a detained person facing corruption cases to preside over the PAC meetings.

The government would not be “blackmailed” by the opposition on the issue, he said, adding that they would constitute the committees on their own without the opposition members. “We are making a decision. We are forming committees. If they (opposition) are not coming, then we will form the committees,” the prime minister said.

Well-placed sources in the PTI told Dawn that the government had decided to make another attempt to engage the opposition parties on the issue, adding that the PTI would ask the opposition parties to nominate a “clean person” other than Mr Sharif for the PAC chairmanship.

“We are making efforts to break the persisting deadlock,” said a senior PTI leader who was present in the two meetings. The PTI leader, while requesting anonymity, said the government was not interested in keeping the PAC chairmanship with it.

“We will suggest very reasonable options to the opposition and I hope it will respond positively,” he said, adding that they believed that there were some capable people in the opposition ranks. He, however, said that if the opposition did not accept their offer, they would have no option but to go ahead with the formation of the committees without them.

The opposition parties claimed that the speaker had during a meeting with them previously agreed to their demand of nominating Mr Sharif as PAC chairman, but he later backtracked due to resistance by PTI members.

When contacted, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said the government had not formally contacted them on the issue for the past almost two months. She said they were determined to stay away from all the committees if the speaker did not fulfil his commitment to appointing Mr Sharif as PAC chairman which he had made with them.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former chairman of the PAC Khursheed Ahmed Shah recently disclosed that Pervez Khattak had asked him to help resolve the matter, but he had advised the minister not to put a “reverse gear” and let the democratic traditions flourish in the country.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The prosecution concluded final arguments in the Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment (HME) reference on Monday and the counsel for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will start his arguments on Tuesday (today).

The defence counsel submitted Mr Sharif’s written statement as the court exempted him from personal appearance on Monday.

Concluding his arguments, National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) special prosecutor Wasiq Malik said Mr Sharif had received millions of rupees from the accounts of his son and the HME and this fact was “admitted and un-rebutted”.

He told the court that Mr Sharif claimed that he had received 88 per cent profit of the HME in the form of gifts, but he never produced any evidence to support this stance.

NAB prosecution concludes final arguments in Al-Azizia reference; defence to start arguments today

Another special prosecutor, Imran Shafique, argued before the court that whenever companies gifted anything to anyone it was documented in their record. But in this case no record showed that the transactions were gifts, he added.

He said that the defence took the plea that Mr Sharif’s sons, Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, were dependent upon their grandfather, but it never produced any evidence to substantiate the claim.

Moreover, Mr Shafiq said, it was unusual that all transactions for setting up a business in Saudi Arabia were made through verbal agreements and not via formal banking channel. It was an unusual practice, he added.

He said that Hussain and Hassan Nawaz admitted ownership of companies in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia and, therefore, they were supposed to produce details of shareholders and directors of these companies before the court.

Responding to a question of the accountability judge about the worth of the letter of Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani since he did not appear before the investigation team, Mr Shafiq said the UAE government had responded to the request for recording the Qatari prince’s testimony and sought the mutual legal assistance regarding the sale proceed of Gulf Steel Mills. The investigation team, therefore, dropped recording of the Qatari prince’s testimony since his letter had become irrelevant, he added.

Mr Shafiq said the Qatari prince did not appear before the Supreme Court, the joint investigation team or the NAB’s investigation team, adding that since he was a defence witness, the defence counsel should produce him before the accountability court. “He may be testified through video link or the court may constitute a commission to record his testimony,” he added.

The judge remarked that it had become a tradition in the country that all people involved in a case — the complainant, the lawyer and the accused — lied before the court and they expected the judge to announce an honest and fair judgement.

When the prosecutor was informing the court about the transactions of the HME to other companies, the judge asked him to focus only on Al-Azizia and HME.

The prosecutor then said that the accused had concealed the facts from investigators and not shared crucial details about the HME with the investigation team.

Judge Arshad Malik remarked that the evidence was enormous and asked the prosecutor to identify documents which were not produced before investigators.

The prosecutor said that the accused could have produced incorporation certificates of the companies, bank records and memorandum of article to the investigation team which would enable the investigators to ascertain the real owners.

The prosecutor told the court that Hussain and Hassan Nawaz did not join NAB’s investigation and both had been declared absconders.

According to the prosecutor, Mr Sharif had said he did not know about the business details of his sons. He said that following his exile, Mr Sharif was a royal guest in Saudi Arabia and within four months he had established Al-Azizia Steel Mills.

The court asked the defence counsel to start arguments on Tuesday (today) and adjourned the proceedings.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Terming the latest interview of Prime Minister Imran Khan “a total disappointment”, leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday expressed their surprise over Mr Khan’s remarks about the possibility of fresh elections in the country.

In a statement, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said the opposition didn’t need to do anything to topple the government because its “disastrous performance in the first 100 days and the incompetence of Imran Khan and his associates are already doing the job”.

“A prime minister who has given a vote of no confidence in his own government with this statement of early elections does not deserve the top office of the country for even one day, and should resign with immediate effect,” she said.

Ms Aurangzeb, who served as information minister in the previous PML-N government, ridiculed the prime minister’s statement that he had learnt from television that his “pathetic government” had caused another landslide devaluation of the rupee. The PML-N leader referred to the prime minister’s observation that the PML-N government’s finance minster Ishaq Dar had artificially controlled the exchange rate for dollar.

“Either that stance was a lie or his current position is a farce,” she added.

Ms Aurangzeb said that Mr Khan had once again used the “same lame NRO rhetoric” to distract the attention of the nation away from “the massive failures” of his government.

In a separate statement, PPP’s Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said it was very “irresponsible” of the prime minister to talk about early elections.

Senator Khokhar, who is also a spokesman for PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said it was disappointing that the PTI government wasn’t even trying to solve problems.

“The nation has already paid the price of unpredictability and instability,” he said, recalling that the stock exchange recently suffered a drop of 1,300 points in a day “while Imran Khan is busy making immature, irresponsible and condemnable statements”.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018

Six more infants died in drought-hit Thar on Tuesday, bringing the death toll during the last 72 hours to 13, officials told Dawn.

According to doctors at the Mithi Civil Hospital, outbreak of water-borne diseases, malnutrition and other health complications were behind the recent wave of mortalities.

Some of the grieving parents, while talking to local journalists, held malnutrition and contaminated water responsible for the deaths in the desert region.

The deaths reported in the past three days, health officials said, have led the death toll for the current year to cross the 600-mark — a four-year high.

According to the provincial health secretary, 450 children had lost their lives in 2017, while 479 had passed away in 2016 and 398 in 2015.

Health and nutrition experts have urged concerned functionaries of the Sindh government to devise long-term plans and policies so the fatalities of infants and expecting mothers could be avoided in the future.

Six more infants died in drought-hit Thar on Tuesday, bringing the death toll during the last 72 hours to 13, officials told Dawn.

According to doctors at the Mithi Civil Hospital, outbreak of water-borne diseases, malnutrition and other health complications were behind the recent wave of mortalities.

Some of the grieving parents, while talking to local journalists, held malnutrition and contaminated water responsible for the deaths in the desert region.

The deaths reported in the past three days, health officials said, have led the death toll for the current year to cross the 600-mark — a four-year high.

According to the provincial health secretary, 450 children had lost their lives in 2017, while 479 had passed away in 2016 and 398 in 2015.

Health and nutrition experts have urged concerned functionaries of the Sindh government to devise long-term plans and policies so the fatalities of infants and expecting mothers could be avoided in the future.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld its order for the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) to hold a fresh presidential election after Faisal Saleh Hayat, the body's chief, urged the court to delay the polls.

A three-judge bench headed by the chief justice had, in November, ordered fresh elections of the PFF in a month’s time under the supervision of Pakistan Bar Council member Shoaib Shaheen. The order was passed in order to pull PFF out of a conflict that had split the body into two factions. One is led by Hayat, who is backed by FIFA and the other by Arshad Khan Lodhi.

Hayat, who had filed an application against the order, argued today that the elections would not be recognised by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

"Why wouldn't the International Football Federation accept the election? The country's highest court is supervising the polls," Chief Justice Saqib Nisar contended. He added that the elections would take place in December and rejected the PFF chief's appeal.

The Supreme Court had ordered an election to be held in April as well, barely a month after FIFA lifted a six-month ban on the PFF for "third-party interference". At the time, elections for the disputed Punjab Football Association (PFA) were held under the orders of the apex court in May but the presidential election was not held.

In October, FIFA gave Hayat — Pakistan’s football chief since 2003 — a mandate till March 2020 to ratify the PFF Statutes and hold fresh elections.

Following the Supreme Court's order last month, the world's football governing body had insisted that the PFF holds elections within the timeline FIFA had set.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on special assistant to the prime minister on oversees Pakistanis, Zulfi Bukhari's petition seeking removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had taken up a petition filed by Bukhari seeking removal of his name from the ECL.

On Monday, the National Accounta­bility Bureau (NAB) had stated before the IHC that Bukhari can go abroad since he faced no travel restriction for the time being.

The bench had directed NAB to submit a list of documents required from Syed Zulfikar Ali Bukhari, aka Zulfi Bukhari, to complete the probe into his alleged illegal assets case.

Details to follow

Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved a package of Rs70 million for the grieving family of Superintendent of Police (SP) Tahir Khan Dawar.

SP Dawar, head of Peshawar police’s rural circle, was kidnapped in Islamabad on October 26 and his body was recovered in Afghan­istan’s Nangarhar province the next month.

"SP Tahir Dawar was a brave son of Pakistan," Afridi said at a press conference in Islamabad alongside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Salahuddin Khan Mehsud. He recalled that the deceased police officer had previously survived two attacks and was a bread earner for three families.

Editorial: Family of SP Dawar and the police force he represented deserve a full explanation on his murder

Giving a breakdown of the aid package, the minister said Rs50m would be given to SP Dawar's wife and children, Rs10m would be given to two of the police officer's widowed sisters and their children, and another Rs10m would be handed to the family of Dawar's deceased brother.

In addition to the financial assistance package, SP Dawar's son will also be offered a job as an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police, Afridi announced.

He said a joint investigation team (JIT) had been formed to probe his abduction and murder after Prime Minister Khan took notice of the case. The probe team was continuing its work in the investigation, he said.

The minister announced that a five-member parliamentary committee would be formed over the issue and the body will coordinate with the JIT.

SP Dawar had gone missing under unexplained circumstances in Islamabad on Oct 26. A kidnapping case was registered with the Ramna police on Oct 28.

On Nov 15, the missing police officer was found murdered in Afghanistan and a few days later his body was handed over to Pakistani authorities. Following the recovery of the body, section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) were added to the FIR.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday accused the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government of planning to "abrogate" the 1973 Constitution "over its reservations on a few clauses of the 18th Amendment" and attempting to restore the One Unit policy of Gen Ayub Khan's regime.

The former president was speaking to journalists in Darya Khan Mari village in Tando Allahyar.

"PPP will resist any such move," he said, adding that his father and politicians from the Ayub era had similarly resisted the dictator in the '60s.

Talking to media at the residence of close aide Ghulam Qadir Mari, Zardari said that the PPP government had restored the 1973 Constitution to its original form when it formed the federal government. He added that his party would resist all moves to scrap the 18th Amendment.

Zardari also dismissed President Dr Arif Alvi’s statement on the 18th Amendment, saying that since he didn’t understand the meaning of defence, he has no right to talk about the amendment.

On December 2, responding to a question while addressing a press conference at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor House, the president had dispelled the impression that the ruling party was in favour of rolling back the 18th Amendment.

One component of the 18th Amendment was to build capacity of the provinces after devolving subjects to them, he had said.

'Puppets' brought to power in general elections

Zardari said that prior to the July 25 general elections, he had made it clear that the way the elections were being held showed that "puppets were being brought to power". He added that these "puppets" could not run the system or take care of Pakistan.

He expressed concern over the present state of affairs in the country, adding that Pakistan needed proper leadership which was aware of the ground realities and had acceptability among the masses.

The PPP leader maintained that his party had accepted the results of elections on the grounds that the "worst democracy is better than the best dictator".

"PPP doesn’t want to give [the] opportunity to some forces to say that democratic forces lack [the] capacity to run government, therefore it should be sent packing," he said, adding that his party would not let that happen.

Zardari believed that the present government wanted the democratic system to be wrapped up because they were politically immature and did not have "political thinking".

The PPP leader also said that he would keep facing charges of money laundering, terming it an ongoing "war".

He said that he was being targeted and that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had faced the same, adding that the current government also had the same intentions.

"Let them test our patience and we will bear their tyranny," he said.

Responding to a question, he said that the current government lacked the capacity to run a government.

"I can’t predict if there will be a national government or early polls, but one thing is for sure that they [PTI] can’t run it,” he said.

'Those who brought PTI to power will support it in face of threats'

Responding to a question about whether PPP would support the government if they faced any threats, Zardari said that those who had brought the PTI to power would support it, "why should the PPP lend any support?"

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has declared that he would put the entire opposition into prison. "Everyone knows that Asif Zardari has faced trials and tribulations but [the] question is whether Imran Khan can bear them," he said.

He added that Nawaz Sharif had introduced accountability laws and accountability courts to use them against him [Zardari], but Sharif was himself trapped by them.

"Imran Khan may put the opposition in jail," Zardari said, "but Khan’s turn would also come. As the saying goes, ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’."

Zardari said that the farming community had benefited when the PPP was in the federal government.

He noted that a joint investigative team (JIT) was probing and seizing sugar mills’ accounts, but claimed that those were "sick factories which were revitalised so that employment opportunities could be created".

Anti-encroachment drive

Zardari was critical of the demolition of 50,000 shops in Karachi, which he said had left families without jobs.

Read more:Over 1,000 shops in Karachi's Saddar demolished as anti-encroachment drive intensifies

He said that alternate arrangements should have been made before the shops were demolished.

In a sarcastic comment, he said that he doesn't see any foreign policy but the PTI government certainly has a policy of demolishing a 300-year-old wall of the Governor House in Lahore.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside Bahria Town's review petition against the court's May 4 verdict, in which it had declared that the total area of land acquired by the real estate company in Takht Pari, Rawalpindi was 2,210 acres and not 1,741 acres as claimed.

After Bahria Town's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan presented his arguments, the court dismissed the petition, noting that the matter of action against those responsible for encroachments will be dealt with by an implementation bench of the court.

Earlier, Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi asked the Supreme Court for more time to submit his reply and prepare his defence in the case. However, the court declared that the implementation bench will be hearing the case against Elahi.

The apex court had summoned Elahi, a former Punjab chief minister, to explain under which authority he had ordered demarcation of forest land in Takht Pari that eventually benefited his family.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, while heading a five-member bench today, told Elahi: "Malik Riaz says he has received 1,741 acres of property. [It seems that] you have allotted more property and showed less, [whereas] Malik Riaz exchanged some property with your family members.

"The property was allotted to the wife of Chaudhry Shujaat, Chaudhry Salik and a servant, Chaudhry Munir. You will have to give an explanation over the demarcation."

The provincial assembly speaker claimed that he came to know about the case "yesterday evening" and that he has no record of the "13-years-old allotment".

"I must respond but I don't have facts," Elahi said.

At this point, the chief justice observed that the court has the option to investigate the matter either through the National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Investigation Authority or a joint investigation team.

"You had no right of demarcation," the chief justice reminded Elahi. "The Punjab government has also said that powers were abused."

Elahi told the court that he had been the chief minister for five years, after which his political opponents had enjoyed the same powers for 10 years. "They have scanned each and every of my files but could not find a case against me," he said.

"Then, we will get the matter investigated as it would be better for you," said Justice Nisar. "A court order has already been issued against you and it must be implemented."

In one of the previous hearings, the chief justice had remarked: "Entire nomenclature of land was changed only to grab it. The SC bench had also ordered the Punjab revenue department to provide records regarding the actual area and demarcation of certain lands with a caution that the evidence should not be tampered with.

The Supreme Court in its May 4 judgement had held that the exchange of land purportedly encroached upon by Messrs Bahria Town (Pvt) Ltd and the Punjab forest department as well as the attestation of mutations were based on erroneous assumption about the area.

The counsel for Bahria Town had argued that the demarcation exercise was done in accordance with the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act of 1956. He added that measurement of the River Korang was also being done by the authorities under the same law.

Authored by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, the May 4 judgement had ordered the forest department, revenue department and the Survey of Pakistan to conduct a fresh demarcation after giving notices to the forest department and Bahria Town.

The director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, told a group of foreign journalists on Tuesday that Pakistan wishes to see peace beyond its borders, especially in Afghanistan, after having largely succeeded in bringing stability at home.

The ISPR chief briefed the correspondents about the security situation and ongoing stability operations in the country, a press release issued by the military's media wing about Maj Gen Ghafoor's interaction with some Pakistan-based foreign journalists said.

"Matters related to Pak-Afghan border and situation along Line of Control (LoC) were also discussed," said the statement.

The DG ISPR said Pakistan's security situation had largely improved due to "successful clearance operations", adding that the country was now heading towards stability.

"Having restored peace [at home,] Pakistan wishes to see peace beyond borders especially [in] Afghanistan," the statement quoted Ghafoor as saying.

BBC correspondent Secunder Kermani, who was among the journalists present at the meeting, shared other details from the interaction on Twitter.

According to Kermani, when asked whether the Pakistan Army was in direct touch with the Afghan Taliban regarding the peace process in the war-torn country, the military's spokesperson responded that it was the “intelligence services” of any country that maintained such contacts.

However, Maj Gen Ghafoor added that Pakistan's influence [on the Afghan Taliban] was no longer “as effective as it was [in] 1979”, according to the BBC correspondent.

Kermani said the ISPR chief had stated that he [Ghafoor] was not aware if a delegation from the Taliban's political office in Qatar had arrived in Pakistan, as was reported by some foreign news outlets.

**The Associated Press *adds:*** Maj Gen Ghafoor told the foreign journalists that Pakistan's influence over the Afghan Taliban is overstated, yet he said Pakistan has repeatedly told the insurgent group to join the peace process.

He said the release of senior Taliban officials from Pakistani prisons, including a co-founder of the movement, Mullah Ghani Baradar, was part of the peace process. Prisoner releases were also long-standing demands of the Taliban.

Ghafoor also cautioned against a hurried US retreat from Afghanistan that leaves behind a vacuum, warning it would result in chaos. He said a peaceful Afghanistan was in the interest of Pakistan, saying Afghanistan is one of the few countries with which Pakistan has a trade surplus.

On foreign media's role

According to the ISPR press release, Maj Gen Ghafoor during the meeting said that the international community "sees Pakistan through their reporters based in Pakistan" and that he expected the foreign journalists to "highlight improving peace & stability in Pakistan, which offers economic opportunities for foreign investors".

"Media has a very important role to project the true positivity of Pakistan," he was quoted as saying during the interaction.

Kermani said DG ISPR was asked about the notices reportedly sent to a number of critics of the military by Twitter, saying the microblogging site had received “official correspondence” that the critics' accounts violate Pakistan's laws.

In his response, Ghafoor said the military had made “no complaint to Twitter” regarding such accounts, according to Kermani.

However, "He [Ghafoor] did say that other agencies like the FIA, for example, may have made the complaints but he had no knowledge of that," the BBC journalist wrote.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday ordered a crackdown against the use of vehicles by second or progressive owners on transfer letters.

The chief minister passed the orders after Additional IG Special Branch Dr Waliullah Dal told the chief minister, during a meeting held to review law and order in the province, that the terrorists who had attacked Chinese consulate in Karachi used a car whose owner had sold his vehicle six years ago and have died some five years ago.

"The vehicle was being used on a transfer letter," the chief minister was informed. At this, the chief minister directed the excise department to launch a crackdown against such vehicles.

Chief Minister Murad mentioned that the use of vehicles by second or progressive owners on transfer letters was illegal.

Moreover, IG Sindh Dr Kaleem Imam briefed the chief minister on crime statistics. He said that 61 terrorism-related cases were reported in 2013 which reduced to only two [incidents] in 2018. Similarly, he said, 575 extortion cases had been recorded in 2013 and now the figure has dropped down to 131 in 2018.

The chief minister claimed the credit for the reduced crime rate, saying he had provided maximum facilities to the police and have equipped them with latest weapon and training, therefore crime rate has come down.

“Now I want to change the Thana culture for which I have to take necessary measures to make the police public-friendly,” he added.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rai Ijaz, who was arrested last week on corruption charges, was on Tuesday remanded into the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for 10 days.

NAB's Karachi branch had arrested the senior police officer on November 30 after the bureau's Lahore office issued an arrest warrant against him. He has been accused of causing losses of Rs700 million to the national exchequer.

Ijaz was presented before an accountability court in Lahore for a hearing today. NAB requested the court for approving the physical remand of the suspect for 15 days.

The prosecution alleged that the SSP had embezzled funds between 2014 and 2016 whilst serving as the district police officer in Gujrat. It said that this was done through misappropriating funds allotted for uniforms and fuel.

In his defence, SSP Ijaz said that the anti-corruption department had completed its investigation into the NAB case and submitted its findings, which show no evidence of corruption on his part.

"No corruption has been proven in the anti-corruption [department's] report," he asserted, insisting that "my record is clean".

"Now a media trial is being conducted with false accusations of Rs700 million corruption," he claimed.

The SSP maintained that his arrest was in contravention to the law.

The court, after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defence, granted NAB the physical remand of the suspect for 10 days.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside Bahria Town's review petition against the court's May 4 verdict, in which it had declared that the total area of land acquired by the real estate company in Takht Pari, Rawalpindi was 2,210 acres and not 1,741 acres as claimed.

After Bahria Town's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan presented his arguments, the court dismissed the petition, noting that the matter of action against those responsible for encroachments will be dealt with by an implementation bench of the court.

Earlier, Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi asked the Supreme Court for more time to submit his reply and prepare his defence in the case. However, the court declared that the implementation bench will be hearing the case against Elahi.

The apex court had summoned Elahi, the former Punjab chief minister, to explain under which authority he had ordered demarcation of forest land in Takht Pari that eventually benefited his family.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, while heading a five-member bench, told Elahi: "Malik Riaz says he has received 1,741 acres of property. [It seems that] you have allotted more property and showed less, [whereas] Malik Riaz exchanged some property with your family members.

"The property was allotted to the wife of Chaudhry Shujaat, Chaudhry Salik and a servant, Chaudhry Munir. You will have to give an explanation over the demarcation."

The provincial assembly speaker claimed that he came to know about the case "yesterday evening" and that he has no record of the "13-years-old allotment".

"I must respond but I don't have facts," Elahi said.

At this point, the chief justice observed that the court has the option to investigate the matter either through the National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Investigation Authority or a joint investigation team.

"You had no right of demarcation," the chief justice reminded Elahi. "The Punjab government has also said that powers were abused."

Elahi told the court that he had been the chief minister for five years, after which his political opponents had enjoyed the same powers for 10 years. "They have scanned each and every one of my files but could not find a case against me," he said.

"Then, we will get the matter investigated as it would be better for you," said Justice Nisar. "A court order has already been issued against you and it must be implemented."

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked that the then chief minister had approved the demarcation, following which his family members were benefited. “We are not levelling allegations here, as the court has already passed its verdict which was not challenged,” Justice Khosa said.

"Present some documents stating the area was 1,741 acres and not 2,210," the chief justice said. The counsel for Bahria Town, Aitzaz Ahsan, told the court that there is a report of a deputy commissioner to this effect.

Justice Khosa rectified Ahsan that the report was prepared by an urban inspector. "He might have been bribed with a plot," he added.

The judge said that satellite images show how houses were built on the land of forests. He added that Bahria Town has confessed to cutting 10,000 trees.

In one of the previous hearings, the chief justice had remarked: "Entire nomenclature of land was changed only to grab it. The SC bench had also ordered the Punjab revenue department to provide records regarding the actual area and demarcation of certain lands with a caution that the evidence should not be tampered with.

The Supreme Court in its May 4 judgement had held that the exchange of land purportedly encroached upon by Messrs Bahria Town (Pvt) Ltd and the Punjab forest department as well as the attestation of mutations were based on an erroneous assumption about the area.

The counsel for Bahria Town had argued that the demarcation exercise was done in accordance with the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act of 1956. He added that measurement of the River Korang was also being done by the authorities under the same law.

Authored by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, the May 4 judgement had ordered the forest department, revenue department and the Survey of Pakistan to conduct a fresh demarcation after giving notices to the forest department and Bahria Town.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday formed a five-member larger bench to decide on a legal point of whether a new joint investigation team (JIT) could be formed at the present stage of trial pending adjudication in the Model Town case.

The five-member bench comprises Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel.

Notices have been issued to 146 individuals including — former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Hamza Shahbaz, PML-N's Rana Sanaullah, Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar, former foreign minister Khawaja Asif — on behalf of the apex court.

The larger bench will begin hearing the case from Wednesday.

Justice Nisar on November 19 announced constituting a larger bench of the SC.

Bisma Amjad, a woman affected by the incident, had filed a petition requesting to constitute a new JIT to probe the killings of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers in the incident.

Model Town incident

On June 17, 2014, 14 people were killed and 100 others injured after police launched an assault on PAT supporters gathered outside the residence of Tahirul Qadri in Model Town, Lahore.

A subsequent judicial inquiry report on the incident pointed fingers at then Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah and the Punjab police for what had transpired that day.

From a reading of the conclusions of Justice Baqar Najafi's report, it is understandable why the provincial government fought tooth and nail to prevent its release.

It is also understandable why its publication was preceded by a lengthy press conference by Rana Sanaullah in which he sought to highlight the report's flaws, including what he called its reliance on "secondary evidence" and it, therefore, having no legal status whatsoever.

He kept referring to it as "defective", and the Punjab government made sure the Justice Najafi report was accompanied online by a one-man committee's report on a review of its flaws.

Delineating the chronology of events, Justice Najafi reported that then Punjab minister for parliamentary affairs Rana Sanaullah seemed to have already decided on June 16, 2014, that the PAT Chairman Qadri would not be allowed any opportunity to hold a long march from Rawalpindi to Lahore, as the latter had planned to do on June 23, 2014.

This single-minded determination of the minister to thwart Qadri's political objectives ended up influencing the police's heavy-handed strategy in dealing with the situation, which resulted in the needless loss of lives the very next day, Justice Najafi argued in the report.

Though Justice Najafi himself did not affix responsibility for the tragedy, he invited readers to review the facts and circumstances and "easily fix the responsibility of the unfortunate Minhajul Quran incident" themselves.

GWADAR: Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal said on Tuesday that the federal government would provide 20,000 jobs in different sectors to youths of Balochistan.

Speaking at a gartering in Turbat town, the district headquarters of Kech district, she said the federal government had finalised a comprehensive plan of private-public partnership for removing unemployment from the province.

She said mega development projects, including Gwadar Shipyard, would be launched soon in Ormara that would create a number of job opportunities for the people of Makran.

The minister said that a sub-campus of the Institute of Space Technology would also be established in Makran to impart high-tech education.

She said the land ownership of Gwadar Shipyard had been given to the Balochistan government that would stabilise the economic growth of the province.

“Technical centres in Gwadar, Kech and Turbat would be made functional to yield manpower for Gwadar Shipyard, while women polytechnic and the Gwadar Institute of Technology would be established.”

Ms Jalal said the federal and provincial governments had addressed water issues in Gwadar, Pasni and adjacent areas on a priority basis. More initiatives were being taken to end the water crisis in the entire Makran division, she added.

The minister said the leadership of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) had been utilising all available resources to provide relief to people, while in a short period of time development of infrastructure was palpable in Balochistan as many highways were being constructed.

She said the people of Kech must come out on Dec 6 to vote for the BAP candidate because the province could not afford further hate and divisions on ethnic grounds.

Speaking on the occasion, provincial Minister Zahoor Buledi said the BAP had taken charge of the government with a colossal vision of provincial development.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018

KARACHI: The provincial education department on Tuesday informed the Sindh High Court that there would be 11,850 primary schools out of 38,132 schools in Sindh to be declared “not viable” after the proposed viability assessment of low or no enrolment schools.

Secretary of school education and literacy Qazi Shahid Parvaiz submitted a compliance report before a two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar on a set of petitions regarding lack of basic amenities in government schools as well as seeking implementation of the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013.

The report said that the viability assessment of low/no enrolment schools was to be carried out with the objective to rightsize the total number of schools and ensure that financial resources were invested at the right place. The schools which would not be viable would be closed.

The indicators for closing schools included its viability, enrolment, population, availability of teachers and infrastructure and as per analysis, 11,850 schools are to be declared not viable as a result of this exercise.

Therefore no shelter-less school will remain in the system while optimum utilisation of resources, statistics of basic facilities and other indicators will be improved and the gap between primary and post-primary schools will also be reduced, it added.

The report further said that it was estimated that over six million children in the province were out of school, thus it was imperative to incentivise school-age children occupied in different trades and there was a serious need to expand learning programme to give fast-track to the out-of-school children and additionally provide them with technical training.

“This objective can be achieved with strengthening of non-formal education,” it said and added that there was also a need to conduct training of teachers, revise curriculum and textbooks, improve recruitment rules for teaching staff and school management officers, transparency and accountability.

The matter was adjourned till Dec 18 after the lawyer for petitioners sought time to place on record a list of schools which were facing security hazard for want of boundary walls. The secretary of education will file a progress report at the next hearing.

Human rights in curriculum

Meanwhile, the same bench on Tuesday directed the secretary of education to inform it about the outcome of a meeting of the Sindh Curriculum Council being convened to discuss the issue of making fundamental rights/human rights a compulsory subject.

The SHC had passed the order in November 2013 directing the provincial authorities to introduce fundamental rights/human rights as a compulsory subject in higher secondary education from academic year 2015 and onwards. However, the order was not complied with and a contempt of court application was filed against the provincial authorities.

On Tuesday, the secretary of education informed the bench that by the end of this month the Sindh Curriculum Council would convene a meeting to discuss the issue in question.

He said that a separate chapter of fundamental rights/human rights was likely to be incorporated in Pakistan Studies.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018

LAHORE: Deputy Inspector General of police’s operations wing Muhammad Waqas Nazir has linked the transfers and postings of the city station house officers (SHOs) with crime prevention, setting ‘new parameters’ to judge their performance.

The decision was taken in an important meeting which was convened here on Tuesday in the Model Town Division to discuss the recent surge in crime in the provincial capital Lahore.

Lahore Operations SSP Mustansar Feroze, Model Town Division SP Ali Waseem, sub divisional police officers (SDPOs), and all the SHOs of the division were present, says a handout.

The DIG has recently started holding crime control meetings at the divisional level under a new strategy of having close interaction with the SHOs.

During the meeting, the DIG reviewed the crime rate reported in the jurisdictions of the SHOs present there and also apprised them of the new initiatives being taken to judge their work.

He said the SHOs showing poor performance would be replaced with competent and professional police officials.

During the meeting, the DIG gave last chance to the SHOs of Shadman, Garden Town, Naseerabad and Kot Lakhpat to improve their performance under the new parameters.

Similarly, the Kahna SHO was given last warning for his failure to curtail dacoities and robberies in his area.

The DIG also issued instructions to the SHOs of Faisal Town, Ichhra and Ghalib Market for action against criminals in their respective areas.

Mr Nazir also directed the SHOs to arrest the proclaimed offenders of category A & B, adding that those not helping the citizens responding to the calls made on 15 emergency would not be tolerated.

He also asked them to maintain the record of the police stations and the pay special attention to cleanliness.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018