She filed the petition that came up before Justice Sabeehuddin on Thursday. The counsel for state sought time to file comments on behalf of other respondents and the matter was put off till October 6.

KARACHI: The Superintendent of Police (SP), Clifton, on Thursday dismissed six policemen from service, says a press release. The press release said that SP Clifton, Khalique Shaikh, has dismissed six cops from service on various charges against them. Those whose services have been include PCs Muhammad Ashraf, Sajjad Ahmed, Nasir Mehmood, Mukhtar Ahmed, Rustam Khan, and Abdul Rauf. The press release further said that the SP also awarded major and minor punishments and penalties to 21 other officials of South police in accordance with Police Officers' Efficiency Rules.

HYDERABAD: Another 15 people, including four women and five teenage students, were recovered from the illegal confinement at Lakhra Coalmine Police Station here on Thursday, as a result of a raid conducted by the officials of Sindh High Court (SHC) Hyderabad Circuit Bench.

This is the second such raid in this week. A total of 34 persons have been recovered from the illegal police confinement only in this week. Earlier, the court officials had recovered 19 illegally-detained people.

The SHC bench comprising Mr Justice Amanullah Abbasi and Mr Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi had issued orders, on the petition of one Mst Razia Sultana, of raiding the Coalmine Police Station for the recovery of Ahmed Ali Chandio and Asif Ahmed Chandio, respectively the husband and son of Mst Razia Sultana who had named the SSP Dadu, the SP and the DSP Kotri, the SHOs Manjhan and Coalmine police stations as respondents in her constitutional petition.

She had alleged that her husband and son were arrested by police on July 21 and confined in Manjhan Police Station. The court ordered the judicial magistrate Kotri to visit the said police station in order to ascertain the detention of Ahmed Ali Chandio and Asif Ali Chandio.

The judicial magistrate Kotri visited the Manjhan Police Station and found both of them in the lock-up there. However, the police assured the judicial magistrate that they were nabbed on suspicion and would be released soon after investigation. However, instead of releasing them, the police tortured them and forcibly got their signatures on a plane paper.

The judicial magistrate dispatched his reply to SHC Hyderabad which summoned the SSP Dadu and the DSP Kotri, who on appearing in the court informed that the detainees were not arrested by the Dadu police.

Later, the petitioner came to know that her family had been detained at the Coalmine Police Station on which the bench ordered the court officials to visit and ascertain the illegal detention. The court officials, led by Deputy Registrar Ghulam Mustafa Channa and senior clerk Mumtaz Qambhrani, raided the police station and recovered 15 persons, including the petitioner's son Asif Ahmed Chandio, four women and school-going children.

After the recovery, Asif Ahmed Chandio informed the court officials that in all 80 persons were detained by police only at the Coalmine Police Station. He disclosed that a high-ranking police officer had informed the SHO that some SHC officials might raid the police station thus the detained person must be shifted to some other place as a preventive measure. He said that they, along with others, were shifted to a place three kilometres away form the place of detention. He said that police had just brought them back on the day of the raid. The SHC had ordered the SHO Coalmine Police Station to appear in the court on September 24 (today) along with the arrested people.

HYDERABAD: The Sunni Tehrik may give a strike call throughout the country if its leaders and workers arrested in a murder case were not release till September 24. Addressing a press conference here, Sunni Tehrik central leader Akram Qadri threatened to launch a protest movement against the district administration if the divisional convener of the party, Khalid Qadri, and other workers were not release. He said that the responsibility of the law and order situation would rest on the shoulders of the district administration. He also warned that the implication of Sunni Tehrik leaders and workers in the murder case of Hafiz Muhammad Idrees was a dangerous step on the part of the administration. He said that the family of Hafiz Idrees did not agree to the implication of Sunni Tehrik workers in the case, but it was administration which took such a step. He said the Sunni Tehrik's strike call would not just be for Hyderabad city, but for the whole country.

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Thursday accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of trying to remove the army chief on the pretext of 'Kargil failure'.

"Nawaz is trying to get rid of the army chief after removing the previous army chief," he told a gathering of party workers in Dhok Kasib, a remote village in Mandi Bahauddin. He claimed the rulers had sought the US help to fulfil their aims, and Shahbaz Sharif's recent visit to the US was part of this effort. He added the rulers had assured the US that Pakistan would sign the CTBT in return for this help.

The Jamaat chief also accused the rulers of seeking the US help against pro-Islamic forces in the country. But, he vowed, the US would not be able to save the rulers after the JI gave a call for a march on Islamabad. Qazi denied he ever wished to be the prime minister. "How come, anyone with integrity and self-respect opt for an office whose prestige has been lowered by Benazir and Nawaz," he said.

Qazi said that the people wanted accountability from the days of British Raj to-date under a transparent system and before the next elections. "People also want an electoral system, free of corruption and loopholes. The people voted for Nawaz in the 1997 elections, considering him as an honest and a patriot person who would support the Kashmir and nuclear cause. But soon they saw his real face as he exploited the poor for his own benefits" he said.

He said only those who were striving to oust the present government should be provided the opportunity to form the next government. He said his party wanted an Islamic revolution to establish a system based on justice and peace. NNI adds: Qazi Hussain Ahmed has convened high level meetings of the central leadership in the second week of October to finalise strategy against the government, Jamaat sources said.

QUETTA: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazalur Rahman on Thursday alleged that the US government wanted to end the Taliban-led Islamic government in Afghanistan. He remarked that the American government which was pressurising other countries for the restoration of peace in the world was in fact a big "terrorist" as it had designed the first atom bomb and used it against the humanity. He expressed his shock over the US efforts for reduction of arms in the world.

"Today the anti-Muslim elements peep in our religious schools to find out punishment against students. First of all the Americans should see to the affairs in its own country. America has become supper power on the basis of modern weapons and has established its hegemony in the world," he said. If any country wanted to move resolution in the General Assembly against America, there would be no status of the resolution if America exercised veto, he added.

Criticising the performance of the rulers, Fazalur Rahman remarked that the rulers had miserably failed to run the affairs of the country properly and they (rulers) had no courage even to talk before the US government. "At present there is a tug of war for power in the country as one approached the US government to save its rule while the other is convincing it to gain power," he said.

"Economically, the country is in the clutches of IMF and World Bank as the rulers are securing maximum loans and in return imposing taxes on the people at the behest of the donors," he said, adding that the life of the common man had become miserable due to the ill-conceived policies of the rulers who, he alleged, had intentionally collapsed the economy of the country. "Initially IMF would only supervise our budgets, but now the budget is totally prepared by the IMF," he alleged further.

He asked how the rulers were terming the budget as tax-free "when they are increasing the prices of general commodities every second day." The price hike and unemployment in the country had aggravated the problems of the people while the rulers were totally unaware of the extent of their problems, he said.

Regarding Saindak project, he said that the mega project in Balochistan was started during the Ayub Khan regime, but the rulers could not complete it despite a lapse of several decades. "Had the gold, silver and cooper of Saindak been introduced in the European market, the market would have been bankrupt," he added.

Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, President Balochistan MNA Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani and others spoke on the occasion and vowed to continue their struggle to safeguard the interests of these schools.

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Minister Hajj and Auqaf of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Moulvi Muhammad Muslim Haqqani called on Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq at his office here on Thursday. During the meeting they discussed problems being faced by the Hajj pilgrims from Afghanistan and those of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Zafarul Haq assured the Afghan minister of all possible help to resolve the problems.