MQM activist shot dead
KARACHI: A middle aged
activist of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement was gunned down by
unknown assailants in Azizabad Police area on Monday. He
is the first victim to die in politically motivated
killings which came to a halt since the army's takeover
on October 12. Farhat alias Puppoo, an activist of the
Mohajir Qaumi Movement and resident of Liaquatabad No 6,
was gunned down by unidentified people in Azizabad Police
limits.
Sources said that on
Monday the Azizabad Police received an information that a
body was lying on the road, in Bhangoriya Goth area. The
police immediately rushed to the scene and found the body
bearing double bullet wounds lying on the road. They
immediately moved the body to the Abbasi Shaheed
Hospital.
SSP Central Hussain
Asgher when contacted by The News said that Farhat was a
close accomplice of one Ashraf Stand Wala and was a
police informer too. He said that he was killed by his
political rivals and maintained that the police were
trying to arrest the killers. He said the accused first
abducted him and then shot him dead on the spot and fled.
Meanwhile, Darakhshan
Police found the body of an unknown eunuch on the
roadside within their limits. Sources said that the
police on an information rushed to Khayaban-e-Rahat of
Phase VI Defence and saw the body of the eunuch lying on
the roadside. They with the help of Edhi volunteers
shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical
Center (JPMC) for autopsy. The sources identified the
deceased as Yasmin, a middle age eunuch, and added that
the victim was strangulated with a scarf. The police were
on the opinion that victim was probably killed by one of
the clients.
Kiran, 12, studying at
the Government Girl's School Jacob Lines, was killed when
she was run over by a Hyderabad-bound speedy bus
(JA-9648) of route Shandar Coach on M A Jinnah Road while
she was returning home. The passersby stopped the vehicle
and caught the driver, Ghulam Muhammad. They later handed
over the driver to police, who also impounded the
vehicle.
Muhammad Aslam a young
resident of Nabi Bukhsh Police area died of burn wounds.
He was residing in Laloo Building and was at his house
when suddenly he touched a snapped live electric wire and
received shock. As a result, fire erupted and his dress
caught flames. He received serious burn wounds and was
immediately taken to Civil Hospital where he died.
THREE WOUNDED: Head
Constable Liaquat Ali was shot at and wounded during a
shootout with bandits in Saeedabad Police area. Liaquat,
along with three other members of their 'Shaheen' Squad
patrol, was patrolling in the area, when they spotted
three suspicious men sitting at a place in Abidabad area.
The police party asked them to go through body search,
however, the outlaws drew out their weapons and shot at
and wounded one of the policeman's before escaping from
the scene. The policemen took their injured colleague to
the Civil Hospital.
The police later
recovered a gun from the spot. The police said that the
accused could be robbers who were to commit a robbery in
the area. In a dacoity bid in Aziz Bhatti Police area,
two unidentified robbers, riding in a car (ACL-695), shot
at and wounded an unknown man at a bus stop in Mumtaz
Manzil area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal when he refused to hand
over the cash. They later fled.
Three unidentified armed
men shot at and wounded Ejaz Ali during an hold-up in
Malir City police area. The injured was rushed to the
JPMC. The robbers looted huge cash in a holdup in
Al-Falah Police area. Sources said that the accused
barged into the house of Dr Abdul Hameed Khan of PML
Youth Wing and looted Rs 37,000, $6,055, Saudi Riyals
1,230 and 78 tolas of gold.
Bandits looted dollars
and rupees from Ghulam Hasan's house in Baloch Colony;
cash and jewellery from Kashif Iqbal's house in Gizri;
jewellery and other valuables from Abdul Salim's house in
PIB Colony; and cash in US dollars and rupees, prize
bonds and jewellery from Samar Abbasi's house in New
Karachi. Armed men took away 10 vehicles including six
cars and four motorbikes.
DCET gets MUET affiliation
KARACHI: After remaining
in a limbo for almost two years, the Dawood College of
Engineering and Technology (DCET) has finally obtained
Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET)
affiliation, it has been learnt on authority.
The atmosphere at the
college turned pleasant instantly when news of the
college's affiliation with the MUET broke out on Monday.
All the students were delighted. An official notification
in this regard is expected within a few days, sources
close to the college said.
The formal and final
approval of affiliation was granted by the MUET
Syndicate, which met on Saturday. The university's
Academic Council had earlier also given a green signal to
the college in this regard.
Things became worst at
the DCET when on April 8, 1998, the NED University of
Engineering and Technology, on account of alleged
discrepancies and irregularities in administration and
educational affairs of the college, stripped it of
affiliation.
Prior to the Academic
Council's decision, the (MUET) affiliation committee had
a detailed inspection of the DCET premises, which all
throughout the inspection was given an extensive
presentation on the college's affair by its
administration.
The college sought MUET
affiliation when its talks with the NED University
reached a deadlock, the cause of which was its
vice-chancellor who refused to grant concessions on
certain points. Since 1997, no new admissions have taken
place at the college, which had then received around
1,200 admission applications, which are presently under
process, sources in the college informed.
Talking on an earlier
occasion to The News, Principal DCET Dr Muhammad Ibrahim
Pathan said the backlog of students examinations of 1996
batch were in progress at the NED varsity and viva voce
was being conducted at the college. Moreover, the
admission formalities for the 1997 batch had been
completed and letters would be dispatched to the
successful candidates in the coming weeks, he added.
HYDERABAD: Two hurt as bomb goes off in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD, Nov 22: Two persons, including a 50-year-old woman, were injured in a bomb blast in Latifabad on Monday while in another blast, which police said was caused by a firecracker,
the telephone exchange of the Sindh University at Jamshoro was completely destroyed on Sunday night.
In Monday's blast, Ms Sakina, wife of Taj Muhammad Lashari and Aqeel Khanzada were injured.
The device was said to be a low intensity one. It went off in a Suzuki pickup (U-1290), parked in front of a hotel, at 12:15pm in unit no. 11 of Latifabad. The area is in the jurisdiction of the B-Section police.
The driver of the Suzuki, Patras Nasir, told Dawn that only two passengers had boarded his vehicle, which he plied between Hyderabad and Latifabad, since morning. He said a man, who seemed to be in his early 30s had boarded the vehicle, carrying a shopping bag but quickly got down, leaving the bag there. He said another passenger was insisting that he wanted to sit in the front seat. That was when the explosion occurred with a loud bang in which two people were injured.
The right side of the vehicle was destroyed as splinters of the bomb hit it from the inside. The vehicle has been impounded by the police.
One of the injured, Ms Sakina, is a resident of Unit No 9, Latifabad. She was seriously hurt and had been admitted to the Bhittai Hospital. The other injured person, Mr Khanzada, was discharged after being provided first-aid.
The Latifabad DSP interrogated the driver. According to bomb disposal squad the bomb was locally made.
Hyderabad DIG, Saud Ahmed and SSP, Ramzan Channa, inspected the site of the blast and also went to the hospital. The DIG told newsmen that the involvement of some political groups could not ruled out and said that they would step up efforts to maintain law and order in the city.
Explosion at SU's campus: On late Sunday night two unidentified armed motorcyclists went inside the computerised intercom-telephone exchange of the Sindh University, at Jamshoro.
Reports said they had warned the telephone operator on duty, Akhtar Babbar, to come out of the room as they had planted a bomb. It went-off as soon as they had left. No injuries were reported in this case.
The exchange, according to university sources, built at a cost of over Rs700,000, was completely destroyed, disrupting all telephone lines of the university and its colony.
The Kotri police believe that activists of the Students Action Committee were behind this subversive act as they were also responsible for setting fire to a university point bus (979- 136) in Citizen Colony on Friday.
The incident occurred in spite of the presence of over 250 policemen who had already been deployed at various points of the campus, in view of the on-going agitation of Action Committee. But the police were apparently being given a tough time by the miscreants as they had struck for the second time within the last three days.
After the explosion, the police initially picked up two students of the English and Business departments but released them on the assurance of the university authorities that they could not be involved in such acts.
Two Action Committee leaders, Nawaz Khushk and Shafiq Noorani, had already been booked for setting ablaze the bus. The Committee consists of rusticated students which is agitating against incumbent vice chancellor of the university and some of his policies and want him removed.
After Friday's incident some close relatives of the Action Committee leaders had been rounded up and the police claimed that Sunday's incident was in retaliation to the arrests.
They said that it was actually a powerful hand-cracker which was lobbed inside the intercom telephone exchange, not a bomb.
The Jamshoro police have reportedly registered a case, under Sections of the Explosive and the Anti-terrorism Acts, against the Nawaz Khushak and Amanullah Narejo. Admissions of both of them have already been cancelled.
The SSP said that the Monday's blast had no connection with Sunday's late night explosion in the telephone exchange of Sindh University.
LHC orders Azam Tariq's release
LAHORE: Lahore High
Court Chief Justice Rashid Aziz Khan on Monday ordered
the release of Sipa-e-Sihaba Chief Maulana Azam Tariq.
Declaring his detention illegal, the chief justice
directed the government to release him if there was no
other criminal case against him. Azam Tariq, through his
counsel, had challenged his detention. He said he was
invited by the previous Punjab government to attend a
meeting which was chaired by ex-law minister Raja
Basharat. "The authorities took me to a rest house
saying that I was being kept there as an official
guest," the SSP chief said in his petition. Later,
he was shifted to Okara jail and discovered that he was
under detention, he added. The prosecution neither hinted
at any other criminal case nor defended Tariq's
detention.
SSP's drive to seek release of detained workers
GUJRANWALA, Nov 22: The Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) has decided to form divisional and district level committees which will hold talks with army authorities to seek the release of detained SSP leaders and workers.
An SSP meeting held here on Sunday evening observed that Sipah leader Maulana Muhammad Azam Tariq and others had been detained by the ousted government of Mr Nawaz Sharif without any justification.
The meeting resolved to launch a "special drive" if the SSP negotiations with the army could not yield desired results.
PK-805 would have crashed, says witness
KARACHI, Nov 22: Chief Operation Officer of the Air Traffic Control (ATC), a prosecution witness in the October 12 conspiracy case, submitted before the judicial magistrate that Flight PK-805 would have crashed
due to shortage of fuel.
While recording his statement on Monday before JM Farid Anver Kazi under Section 164 CrPC, Yousuf Abbas, the CAA official, said that when he reached the airport at quarter to 7pm on October 12, he found Operators Nadeem and Asif on duty at the Control Tower. He stated that meanwhile he received an order from the DG of CAA, Aminullah Choudhry, an accused in the present case, that all international flights heading towards Karachi be diverted either to Abu Dhabi or to Muscat.
He stated that according to the DG of CAA, the directive was from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and that the directives be implemented at all costs.
The witness said he told the former DG of CAA that PK-805 had fuel for only 45-minute flight and can only be diverted to Nawabshah.
He said he contacted Ahmed Farooq, secretary to former CAA chief, and apprised him of the situation. He said the secretary ordered that the flight should be diverted to Nawabshah.
The witness recorded the statement in the presence of the five accused, Nawaz Sharif, Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Aminullah Chaudhry, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Rana Maqbool.
Yousuf Abbas said that while the flight was still halfway to Nawabshah from Karachi, he received another call from Aminullah Chaudhry who ordered that PK-805 should be diverted to Karachi. He (Chaudhry) also ordered that the flight should be parked in front of the jungle at Karachi airport after landing.
The witness further said at that time a contingent of Pakistan Army, headed by a brigadier, entered the control tower and ordered him for the return of the flight to Karachi.
"I immediately told Mr Asif to inform Mr Manzoor, the radar system operator, for the return of flight," he said.
He said after about three to four minutes some high officials of army also entered the control tower and strictly ordered the diversion of the flight to Karachi.
Yousuf Abbas said after four minutes Mr Manzoor called the air traffic control tower and informed that the plane had violated the instruction and was still proceeding to Nawabshah.
He said he immediately informed Maj-Gen Iftikhar, who ordered shifting of the frequency and strictly ordered the pilot to bring the flight back to Karachi.
He testified that Flight PK-805 landed at 7:48pm at the Karachi airport and was parked at the parking stand No. 64 as ordered.
The chief operation officer of the air traffic said: "In my opinion this flight would have crashed due to shortage of fuel. It may also be highlighted that no aircraft can land without the permission of the control tower," he concluded.
During cross-examination by the defence counsel for Aminullah Chaudhry, the witness said he was mainly concerned with the air traffic at the ATC. He also conceded that whatever communication between the aircraft and the control tower took place was always recorded on tapes.
To a question by the defence counsel, he stated that he was interrogated by various agencies on October 13. "I was interrogated by Army at the airport premises".
He also said that no tapes were played before him on October 13, and no recorded tapes were either recovered by the army personnel in his presence.
Yousuf Abbas said he was again called on November 12 by the SHO of Airport police for recording his statement under Section 161 CrPC. He also said no recorded tapes were played before him by the police.
Replying to another question by the defence counsel, the witness submitted that he could safely say that the army took over the air traffic control tower between 1914 hours and 1915 hours.
During the cross-examination, Yousuf Abbas deposed that the former CAA chief had ordered him to direct the pilot to bring the aircraft to Karachi airport at a time when it was between Nawabshah and Karachi. "As soon as I received orders from the DG CAA for bringing the PK-805 to Karachi, the army came at the tower and took over. Therefore, I could not communicate it to the pilot," he said.
The court adjourned the proceedings sine die after recording the statement. All the five accused were then taken to the Landhi jail.
The statement of another witness would be recorded after the police sought the custody of the accused from the trial court for producing them before the judicial magistrate.
The police did not allow the mediamen to enter the court premises despite the clearcut orders by the district and session judge, Malir, Salman Ansari.
However, later the sister of Khaqan Abbasi, herself a lawyer assisting the defence counsel, informed the judicial magistrate about the unofficial bar on the newsmen for covering the proceedings.
She came out and informed the journalists that the judicial magistrate had said there was no bar on the journalists to cover the proceedings. Only then the journalists could make their way to the court where half of the proceedings had already been conducted.