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3 drown in sea; 2 commit suicide; 46 vehicles taken away in 48 hours
14 parties have their leaders thrust upon them: report
TOBA TEK SINGH: Seven girls of a family 'raped'Punjab police smash terrorist gang
Terrorists trained in Afghanistan, says IG: Attack on Christians
Christians mourn attack victims
Independence Day amid baseball match in New York
3 drown in sea; 2 commit suicide; 46 vehicles taken away in 48 hours
KARACHI: Fifteen people were killed in different
incidents in the city during the last 48 hours; three, including a
minor, were killed in accidents, a woman and a man committed suicide,
two burn victims succumbed to their wounds, three drowned in the sea,
two boys were electrocuted and three died in other incidents.
A water tanker (LSB-5549) knocked down to death
Sultan Akbar (26) and his pillion Muhammad Shahid (24) in Cattle
Colony near Babar Kanta in the limits of Shah Latif Town police while
they were on their home on motorcycle (KCA-1196). The tanker hit their
bike and ran over them. They were seriously injured and were rushed to
the JPMC where they died. Police arrested tanker driver Zulfiqar and
impounded the tanker.
A hit-and-run vehicle knocked down to death a minor
child Najeebullah, while he was playing outside his house in Shirin
Jinnah Colony in Boat Basin police limits. He was taken to the JPMC
where doctors declared him dead.
SUICIDES: Parveen (35), mother of five,
self-immolated sprinkling kerosene oil in Bilal Colony in the limits
of Korangi Industrial Area. She was taken to Civil Hospital where she
died. Police said she ended her life over a domestic dispute with her
spouse over custody of children.
A young man Sajjad committed hanged himself with
the ceiling fan at his house in Hasrat Mohani Colony limits of Pak
Colony police. Police said he ended his life as his wife eloped with
her paramour after a dispute with him.
BURNS VICTIMS DIE: Naseeb Khan (20) and M Saeed
(38), two of the 10 workers of a factory, who had received burn
injuries on Aug 12 after the boiler exploded, succumbed to their
wounds in Civil Hospital on 14th.
ELECTROCUTED: Obaid Nawab was electrocuted while he
was switching off a water pump at his house in Boat Basin. He was
rushed to the JPMC where doctors pronounced him dead. A young man
Amjad died after he received electric shock while hoisting flag on an
electric pole in Orangi Town area. He was taken to Abbasi Shaheed
Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
FALLS TO DEATH: Daud (35) died after he fell from
roof of his house in Bhutto Colony near Old Haji Camp limits of
Kalakot PS while trying to fix a flag. He was rushed to Civil Hospital
where he breathed his last.
DROWNED: A boy Fahim of Liaquatabad area drowned at
Clifton beach where he had gone with his brother Waseem for picnic on
the Independence Day. Edhi lifeguards could not recover his body till
late in the night.
Two other boys Abdul Mannan (17) and Aqil (18)
drowned in the sea when a launch with 20 people aboard capsized in
Gadani beach where they had gone for picnic from Karachi. Lifeguards
managed to rescue 18 people while bodies of two were recovered in the
evening and were shifted to Civil Hospital.
INJURED: A boy M Salim was critically injured when
a stray bullet hit him while he was playing in a park in Eido Lane, in
Kalri area. He was taken to Civil Hospital where he died of his
wounds.
BODY FOUND: Body of an unidentified man of about 22
was recovered near Clifton helipad on Thursday. Police shifted it to
the JPMC where doctors reserved the cause of death after post-mortem.
LIQUOR SEIZED: Excise Inspector Ch M Maqsood
arrested Ali Taqi Shah and recovered 24 bottles of liquor from his car
(F-5818) in Clifton area. Later, on his disclosure police raided a
house in Defence, Phase II and seized 432 bottles of wine.
ROBBERIES: Unidentified criminals snatched a
repeater rifle from Babar Khan in Aziz Bhatti police limits; bandits
barged into Abdul Razzaq's house in Saeedabad and looted cash,
jewellery and other valuables; Amir Nazeer was deprived of Rs4,000 by
two armed men in North Nazimabad police limits.
VEHICLES: Carjackers took away 46 vehicles,
including 18 cars and 28 motorcycles during the last 48 hours from
different parts of the city. Eight cars and eight motorcycles were
snatched while 10 cars and 20 motorcycles were stolen. Police,
however, claimed recovery of seven vehicles including four cars
(ACP-643, ABY-132, ABK-881 and R-1399) and three motorcycles
(KCB-6730, LOB-7847 and KCW-8745).
14 parties have their leaders thrust upon them: report
ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: Fourteen political parties have their heads, who were elected "un-opposed" after the conditionality of inner-party democracy, thrust upon them through the Political Parties Order 2002, a report said.
The report on the state of political parties was launched by the Liberal Forum Pakistan on Tuesday. It is based on a countrywide survey of the parties, which had the opportunity to win seats in representative institutions - the parties which contested 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1997 general elections in at least five constituencies, and those which were created after the 1997 election.
The findings of the report are based on a survey of selected political parties including Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam), Pakistan Muslim League (Junejo), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf, Qaumi Jamhoori Party, Awami Qiadat Party (didn't respond), Pakistan People's Party (Shaheed Bhutto Group), Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan (didn't respond), National People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League (Functional), Sindh Democratic Alliance, Sindh National Front, Awami Tehrik, Pakistan Millat Party, Pakistan Awami Tehrik, Jamaat-i- Islami Pakistan, Pakistan Democratic Party, Jamiaat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rehman), Jamiaat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (Samiul Haq), Awami National Party, National Awami Party, Pakistan Awami Party, Balochistan National Party, Jamhoori Wattan Party, Balochistan National Movement (Dr. Hayee group) and Pakhtoon Khawa Mili Awami Party (didn't respond).
The report said despite the ritual of intra-party elections, most of the parties had retained their old leadership, electing the leaders "un-opposed". In order to accommodate other heavy weights, the parties have been creative to add other top offices like Quaid, Rehbar, chief organizer, chief coordinator etc., besides the formal head of the party.
The report said only Awami National Party and couple of religious political parties refused to hold fresh elections. These parties maintained that their incumbent office bearers had already been already elected through formal elections within the party.
In terms of professional background, the report said, 11 parties were headed by leaders who were either landlords or were associated with agriculture sector. These include Benazir Bhutto, Asfandyar Wali, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Ghinwa Bhutto, Fanoos Gujar, Pir Sahib Pagara, Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Akbar Khan Bugti, Akhtar Mengal and Hamid Nasir Chatta.
Four parties, all with religious orientation, are headed by educationists: Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Samiul Haq.
The leaders of two political parties have an industrial background: Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Mohammad Azhar. Two party leaders, the report said, were former civil servants: Farooq Leghari, Imtiaz Sheikh. Two leaders are doctors: Dr. Abdul Hayee, Dr. Imran Farooq.
Rest of the parties, the report said, were headed by a retired air marshal, Asghar Khan; a cricketer, Imran Khan; a journalist, Ajmal Khattak; and a lawyer, Rasul Bux Palijo.
Giving a province-wise breakdown of the party heads, the report said eight were from Sindh - Benazir Bhutto, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Rasul Bux Palijo, Ghinwa Bhutto, Pir Sahib Pagara, Mumtaz Bhutto, Imtiaz Sheikh and Dr. Imran Farooq. Seven were from Punjab - Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Azhar, Nawabzada Nasrullah, Farooq Leghari, Imran Khan, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, Hamid Nasir Chatta. Similarly, seven were from the NWFP - Asfandyar Wali, Ajmal Khattak, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Fanoos Gujar. Three were from Balochistan - Akbar Khan Bugti, Akhtar Mengal and Dr. Abdul Hayee.
Most of the leaders of the mainstream parties, the report said, were from Punjab, followed by the NWFP. The second most important office in the political parties remain that of the general-secretary and the situation there is not different as well, except Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan's PDP, whose post of secretary general is lying vacant, the report said.
The report said the blatant confession of reality in the electronic text of the Political Parties Order 2002 - posted on National Reconstruction Bureau's (NRB) website till August 8, which said: "Whereas it is expedient to provide for "deformation" and regulation of political parties," - had yielded its dividend within five weeks.
It said in the name of intra-party elections, country's two mainstream parties stood deformed. The Pakistan People's Party had to add an extra "P" for parliamentarian in its nomenclature, while retaining the non-registered party headed by Benazir Bhutto. The Pakistan Muslim League-N replaced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif with his younger brother, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, as the new party president, it added.
The report said the worst victim of PPO 2002 became the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which, despite the impression of being the so-called Kings Party, had to experience more factionalism, adding yet another faction to the existing club of over a dozen Muslim Leagues.
Another interesting but less noticed development in the wake of these intra-party elections was un-opposed election of the chairman of Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, that had become a sick political unit after Air Marshal Asghar Khan (retired) left it to support his son, late Omar Asghar Khan, in forming a new party - Qaumi Jamhoree Party. Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, former member of the National Assembly from Chaniot (Jhang), had been aspiring for the last three years to cobble-up the party of businessmen, but at the end of the day, he was able to assume the leadership of Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, the report said.
About membership base of the political parties, the report said out of 25 political parties, that responded to the questionnaire, only 14 were able to give approximate figures about their membership.
According to the figures claimed, Jamaat-i-Islami had 16,000 full members and an additional 4.8 million proclaimed supporters, making it the largest party in terms of organized membership. The party does not charge any formal membership fee.
TOBA TEK SINGH: Seven girls of a family 'raped'
TOBA TEK SINGH, Aug 15: Seven girls of a family were raped on the night of Aug 4 in Chak 343-JB Gojra, it is learnt on Thursday.
According to an FIR registered by the Nawan Lahore police on Wednesday, 13 men, nine of them unidentified, forced their entry into the house of Joyas. They beat up men and women and pinioned them to cots and raped seven girls, including a guest.
A police official said all the girls were married except one and they belonged to the same family.
He said a case has been registered under Section 397 PPC and 10 of Hadood Ordinance and four nominated accused have been arrested. When contacted, a relative of the accused claimed that the case was baseless. However, a source said the accused and the victims had an enmity over the issue of 'exchange' marriages (watta satta).
The arrested accused are Rafiq, Nasir, Bashir and Jafer, all sons of Habib Joya.
Punjab police smash terrorist gang
LAHORE: The Punjab Police have smashed a 12-member
gang of terrorists allegedly involved in terrorism in Taxila, Murree
and Islamabad Church, and confiscated a large number of sophisticated
weapons from their possession.
The police took the action on the directives of
President General Pervez Musharraf to eliminate the terrorists from
the society. "All the terrorists represent new terrorists group
whose ages range between 20 to 28, belong to various parts of the
Punjab while some of them have links with defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,"
Inspector General of Punjab Police Malik Asif Hayat told a press
conference here on Thursday.
The police chief did not mention the check post
from where the terrorist was arrested. He, however, said that
interrogation of suspected terrorist led to the arrest of rest of his
accomplices, who were nabbed from various parts of the province,
including Lahore, Muzzafargarh, Multan, Leiah and other areas.
The alleged terrorists are identified as Saifur
Rehman of defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi belongs to Leiah, Inayatullah of
Baltistan, Abu Bakar of Muzzafargarh, Muhammad Azhar of Gujranwala,
Muhammad Asif of Karachi, Abdul Qadeer of Rahim Yar Khan, Muhammad
Ayaz of Lahore, Shahid Nadeem of Rahim Yar Khan, Muhammad Yusuf of
Leiah, Atiqur Rehman of Kot Abbdu, Muhammad Abu Bakar Siddique of
Shujabad and Athar Munir of Muzzafargarh.
Terrorists trained in Afghanistan, says IG: Attack on Christians
LAHORE, Aug 15: Police claimed on Thursday to have arrested 12 alleged terrorists involved in bombing of Christians in Murree, Taxila and Islamabad.
Punjab IG Malik Asif Hayat told newsmen that police had got the lead from the belongings of a terrorist killed during a terrorist attack on the Taxila chapel on Aug 9.
The IG said the police then conducted raids and arrested 12 members of a group that had vowed to kill government officials and foreigners, especially the Westerns. He said that most of the arrested belonged to the Punjab and were nabbed from Lahore, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Multan and Layyah.
They were identified as Saifur Rehaman (ring leader) who belonged to Layyah, Anayatullah of Balochistan, Abu Bakar of Muzaffargarh, Muhammad Azhar of Gujaranwala, Muhammad Asif of North Karachi, Abdul Qadeer and Shahid Nadeem of Rahim Yar Khan, Sabir of Taxila, Muhammad Yousaf of Layyah, Atiqur Rehman of Kot Addu, Abubakar Saddiq of Shujaabad and Muhammad Iayaz of Lahore. Their ages ranged between 20 to 28, the IG said.
Six rocket-launchers, 490 detonates and 20 kg of explosive have been recovered from their possession.
The IG said that some five members of the group were still at large and the police would soon hunt them down. The IG said the group was "Afghanistan trained" and most of its members belonged to a banned militant organization.
During interrogation, it was revealed that the terrorists visited Afghanistan to wage a war against the US lead forces. On their return to Pakistan they made plans to attack certain government officials for their support to the US and Western nationals, he said.
Malik Asif said the group used to make a team of three members to carry out the attacks. Before each strike, the terrorists rented houses near their targets and hid weapons at another place.
The IG said that this group was financed by some one from Karachi. So far, they had been paid about Rs600,000 to buy weapons and to meet other expenses, he said. He said that the police teams had been constituted to track down the financiers. He said the terrorists had bought the weapons from tribal areas.
The IG said all the arrested terrorists had been put into different cells to avoid any eventuality.
Answering questions, the IG said that the group had no connection with Shiekh Omar, Naeem Bukhari and Akram Lahori."It's a new group reacting to the US-led attacks on Afghanistan. Many government officials and Christian's worship places were on their hit list."
The IG said that besides these 12 terrorists who came back to Pakistan after the war in Afghanistan, the government had arrested 29 other terrorists. "Some 60 were still on the run." He said that the terrorists had attacked Taxila chapel because it was hugely financed by the foreigners.
Malik Asif said that they had asked the foreigners to restrict their movement and brought their activities into the knowledge of the police so that it could provide them proper security. The security of government officials had also been beefed up, he added.
The IG denied that any other foreign agency took part in the operation. He said that it was a sole Punjab police operation. However, he said the CIA had helped the police in certain cases.
Christians mourn attack victims
TAXILA: Thousands of Christians observed a 'black
day' of mourning on Thursday for the victims of a chain of attacks on
Christians, saying they are bearing the brunt of Islamic militant fury
at Pakistani's support of the US-led war on terror.
"We have selected this day as a symbol of
protest against the ongoing attacks against Christians," Shahbaz
Bhatti, a Christian rights activist who heads the All Pakistan
Minorities Alliance, told AFP.
Christians marched in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and
Quetta to protest against the violence and to call for tighter
protection of their churches, schools and people. Rallies were
forbidden in Islamabad because authorities deemed it a security risk.
Eleven people were killed last week in separate
attacks on a Christian-missionary run school near Murree and on a
hospital chapel in Taxila.
The bloodshed was the latest in a series of violent
attacks which began as Pakistan took up a frontline role in US-led
campaigns to wipe out Afghanistan's Taliban and the al-Qaeda terror
network.
Eight attacks on Christians and Westerners since
October have claimed 59 lives, 43 of them Pakistanis. Some 200
hospital staff and relatives held a memorial service at the Taxila
Christian Hospital on Thursday for the latest victims. Bandaged and
wheelchair-bound survivors of last Friday's attack prayed, wept and
sang in the hospital chapel, whose windows were still splintered by
the blasts from grenades hurled by three Islamic militants at
worshippers as they emerged from a morning prayer service.
"Let us give thanks for the gift of life for
all those who were not hurt in Friday's terrorist attack," said
Reverend Alla Ahrasi, leading the service. "Let us also pray for
the three terrorists and that they may repent and feel sorry for this
act."
Stunned Christian leaders, expressing their
congregations' vulnerability, have said they are being blamed for
Islamabad's alliance with Washington. "This is clearly
retaliation by the al-Qaeda and Taliban," Bhatti told AFP.
"These militants want to kill our people because it is easier for
them to attack the innocent rather than the US-led forces in
Afghanistan. Christians are feeling sorrowful and shocked and insecure
in their own homeland."
All militants involved in last week's attacks have
either been killed or arrested, President Pervez Musharraf said in his
Independence Day speech on Wednesday, his most scathing address since
launching a crackdown on Islamic extremists at the start of the year.
Police on Tuesday arrested 15 militants from the
outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammad networks who were
involved in both attacks last week and "were operating against
Christian interests", interior ministry spokesman Iftikhar Ahmed
said. "It was a group of around 15 militants who were active in
Punjab province," he told AFP.
The gang was caught in the districts of Multan and
Vehari. Iftikhar added that the gang's leader was among those
arrested, but he declined to identify him. Police were interrogating
the detainees for possible links with other militant groups. -AFP
Our Hyderabad correspondent adds: The minority
communities have demanded of the government to punish those involved
in terrorist attacks in Taxila and Murree. Dozens of people belonging
to the Hindu and Christian communities held a protest demonstration in
front of the press club against the attacks here on Thursday.
The protest was organised by National Commission
for Justice and Peace Hyderabad and addressed by Reverend Daniel
Fayaz, M Parkash, Brother Phillips, S Lal Ahuja and others. They
expressed condolence with the victims' families and condemned
terrorism at home and abroad. They said that the attack hurt the
feelings of the Christians and the incident had left a black spot in
the history of Pakistan. Killing of people was against the basic
element of all religions and humanity, they added.
The speakers demanded of the government to take
steps to reduce intolerance and religious disharmony and terrorism in
the name of religion. They said it was the duty of the government to
provide protection to the people belonging to all religions. The
demonstrators prayed for the repose of the souls of those who lost
their lives. The community also held special prayers at their worship
places.
Independence Day amid baseball match in New York
NEW YORK: Some Pakistani-Americans found an
innovative way to celebrate the Independence Day of their native
country Pakistan. Thousands of Americans bought expensive tickets to
enter the stadium where Pakistan Independence Day was celebrated here
as part of the national sport of America, baseball.
They watched these Pakistani celebrations before
the start of the game and at the end of 2nd and 7th innings of the
baseball game between two nationally known professional teams. Rather
than confining it to Pakistanis only, these Pakistani organisers held
the Independence Day celebrations in a baseball stadium in front of
thousands of American sports fans, who paid for entering the stadium.
Pakistani national and folk songs, instrumental
music and classical Tabla playing enthralled thousands of Americans in
the stadium before the match began between the two nationally known
teams METS of New York and PADRE of San Diego.
This is the first time in the history of New York
that Pakistan's Independence Day has been celebrated in any sports
stadium in such an impressive and unique way. At a time when Pakistan
and Pakistanis in the US badly need to better their image among
Americans, this style of celebrations also infused some confidence
among many Pakistanis who suffered some trauma after September 11.
On the giant TV screens in the famous Shea Stadium
with a seating capacity of about 30,000, baseball fans watched and
listened to Pakistani national anthem followed by American national
anthem before the game between METS and PADRE began. Earlier in the
day, flag-hoisting ceremony was held at the Pakistan mission to the
UN. Families of the staff of Pakistani mission and consulate attended
the ceremony. Children dressed in Pakistani costumes were presented
gifts and candies.
In Houston, Texas, thousands of Pakistani-Americans
attended a Pakistani Mela held at a famous hall. Singer Abrarul Haq
and others performed while some city and state officials also attended
it as guests.
On Sunday, Pakistan Azadi Mela will be held in
Brooklyn New York. Being held for the last 12 years, it is attended by
about 15,000 to 20,000 Pakistanis depending upon the weather and other
factors. This Mela is held on the same Sunday when Indian community
holds India Day Parade in Manhattan. Pakistan Day Parade is scheduled
to be held on Sunday as well.