PESHAWAR: Pakistan Army on Friday announced that an Afghan soldier, under treatment at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Peshawar, has been repatriated to Afghanistan.

According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, Naik Haider of the Afghan National Army (ANA) was discharged from Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Peshawar yesterday and has returned to Afghanistan through Torkham.

"Naik Haider got sick on a post opposite to Pakistani post at Nawa Pass Bajaur agency on July 26 and requested for medical treatment. He was initially evacuated to agency hospital and later on to CMH Peshawar where he was operated for appendix," read the statement issued from ISPR.

The ISPR statement adds the Afghan soldier was provided free of cost quality healthcare "on humanitarian grounds".

Pakistan on Thursday inaugurated a newly-constructed gate at the Torkham crossing point on the Pak-Afghan border, signalling the end of a long-running violent border row between the two neighbouring countries.

Clashes between Pakis­tani and Afghan security forces over the construction of the border gate last month left four soldiers dead on both sides, including Frontier Corp’s Major Ali Jawad Changezi.

The clashes kept Torkham, one of the busiest crossing points between the two countries and used by between 15,000 and 20,000 people and hundreds of vehicles daily, closed for six days.

Pakistan plans to have similar border control measures at all six major crossing points between the two countries that share a 2,600km-long porous border. Additionally, there are about 200 crossing routes which are not frequently used because of difficult terrain and absence of roads. At least 88 of them are accessible only through jeeps.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in an interview with Al Jazeera's Mehdi Hasan dismissed allegations of support for the Taliban as "absolute nonsense".

"Yes, they are [a terrorist group]," he conceded. "Anyone who kills innocent people are terrorists," Khan said.

Khan has often been criticised for adopting a "soft stance" on militants, as he has stressed for dialogue over militancy on several occasions. In one interview, he has described Taliban fighters as people oppressed by the state: "Terrorism in Pakistan is a reaction to drone strikes and military operations; suicide bombings are a tool of the weak used to attack oppressors."

He has also rejected his opponents labelling of him as "Taliban Khan", and said, “I am often made out to be the naughty boy who supports the Taliban."

In the interview with Al Jazeera, Khan urged scrutiny of his statements over the past 10 years for condemnations of violence.

Responding to allegations that he is soft on the Taliban, differentiates between 'good' and 'bad' militant groups and is 'mainstreaming extremism', Khan said, "Most people do not understand the Taliban syndrome. The Taliban syndrome has to be understood."

"There were no militant Taliban in Pakistan when 9/11 took place. There were no militant Taliban in Pakistan right up until 2004. The militancy started in Pakistan when the Pakistan Army went into our tribal areas, [which] are per capita the most weaponised place on earth."

Hasan also grills Khan regarding the controversial Rs300 million funding allocated for the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's provincial budget last month.

Both Khan and the KP cabinet have argued the funding is part of a plan to reform seminaries and bring them in line with mainstream education in the province.

The seminary is located in Nowshera district of KP and currently run by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami chief Maulana Samiul Haq. It has faced several controversies in the past as its students have been accused of involvement in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The seminary is also said to be the alma mater of many prominent Afghan Taliban leaders.

In the Al Jazeera interview, Khan says accusations by former president Asif Ali Zardari ─ who termed the move to fund Haqqania a "legitimisation of militancy and militant Taliban" ─ are "like so many of the Muslim corrupt rulers, ex-rulers, trying to win Western support by saying how liberal they are and how anti-Taliban they are".

The PTI chief earlier said that the seminary had agreed to implement reforms in exchange for the funding.

The PTI's stance was that funding and support for Darul Uloom Haqqania would help seminary students assimilate into society, bring them in to the mainstream and keep them away from radicalisation. The PTI chief claimed those opposing such moves knew "little of Pakistani society".

WASHINGTON: The father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq posed a question to Donald Trump: Have you read the Constitution?

To rapturous cheers, Pakistan-born Khizr Khan fiercely attacked the billionaire businessman Thursday at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, saying that if it was up to Trump, his son never would have been American or served in the military.

Khan said that Hillary Clinton, by contrast, "called my son the best of America".

The address was the latest effort by Democrats to highlight their diversity and criticise Trump's most contentious plans. Beyond his proposed wall across Mexico, the billionaire businessman has threatened to ban Muslims from entering the United States if he becomes president.

Capt. Humayun Khan died in 2004 when a car loaded with explosives blew up at his compound. He was 27.

Honouring his son, Khizr Khan pulled a copy of the Constitution out of his suit pocket and offered to lend it to Trump.

“Look for the words 'liberty' and 'equal protection of law', he said standing next to his wife, waving the paperback document vigorously.

"Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery?” he then asked. “Go look at the graves of brave Americans who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing.“

Khan, who moved to the US in 1980, said he and his wife were "patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to our country."

“Like many immigrants, we came to this country empty handed,” he said, believing that with hard work he could raise his three sons "in a nation where they were free to be themselves and follow their dreams".

Trump, Khan argued, was imperilling that ideal with his smears of Muslims, women, judges and other groups. He urged Muslims, immigrants and all patriots to “to not take this election lightly“.

“Vote for the healer,” Khan said, "not the divider".

KARACHI: A young Hindu doctor on Friday was found dead inside Civil Hospital Karachi premises under mysterious circumstances.

"Dr. Anil Kumar, 32, was found dead inside the Intensive Care Unit-II of the surgical wing where he was performing his duty," said Eidgah Station House Office (SHO) Naeemudin.

"Kumar went inside surgical ICU early in the morning around 5:30am and was found dead three hours later," Naeemudin elaborated.

The police official added Kumar was discovered after he did not answer a knock on the door. The door was broken and he was found dead sitting on his chair. A syringe was found from the spot.

"He had administered an injection on his hand as it was bandaged," revealed the SHO.

The body was shifted to the hospital’s mortuary where doctors reserved his cause of death for chemical examination.

The police officer said that the seized syringe has been sent to a forensic laboratory.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday approved the controversial cybercrime bill — ‘The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act’ — recommending 50 amendments to the original draft.

The bill will now go back to the National Assembly where the proposed amendments will be discussed among members.

Some of the major amendments include:

• Convicts under the bill will have 30 days to appeal the sentence in a high court.

• The implementation of the law will be reviewed by relevant authorities twice in a year to weed out problems.

• Pemra licencees, including TV and radio stations, do not fall under the ambit of this law.

State Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said on the occasion that the implementation of the cybercrime bill is the sole responsibility of the Interior Ministry.

Elaborating further, she said: "The law includes a total of 21 offences that can be imposed from activity on the Internet."

She went on to say that the government has put in all efforts to ensure that government agencies and officials are not able to misuse the law.

The bill, which has been widely criticised by the IT industry and members of civil society for curbing human rights and giving extraordinary powers to law enforcement agencies, was first passed by the NA standing committee on Information Technology (IT) in 2015, while it was approved by the lower house of the parliament on April 13 this year.

Salient features of the earlier bill:

• Up to seven years imprisonment, Rs10 million fine or both for hate speech, or trying to create disputes and spread hatred on the basis of religion or sectarianism

• Up to three years imprisonment and Rs0.5 million fine or both for cheating others through internet

• Up to five year imprisonment, Rs5 million fine or both for transferring or copying of sensitive basic information

• Up to seven years imprisonment and Rs0.5 million fine or both for uploading obscene photos of children

• Up to Rs50 thousand fine for sending messages irritating to others or for marketing purposes. If the crime is repeated, the punishment would be three months imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs1 million

• Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs0.5 million for creating a website for negative purposes

• Up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to Rs1 million for forcing an individual for immoral activity, or publishing an individual’s picture without consent, sending obscene messages or unnecessary cyber interference

• Up to seven year imprisonment, a fine of Rs10 million or both for interfering in sensitive data information systems

• Three month imprisonment or a Rs50 thousand fine or both for accessing unauthorised data

• Three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs5 million for obtaining information about an individual’s identification, selling the information or retaining it with self

• Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs0.5 million for issuing a SIM card in an unauthorised manner

• Up to three year imprisonment and fine of up to Rs1 million rupees for making changes in a wireless set or a cell phone

• Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs1 million for spreading misinformation about an individual

• Up to three years imprisonment and fine of up to Rs1 million for misusing internet

KARACHI: Syed Murad Ali Shah was sworn in as the twenty-fourth chief minister of Sindh on Friday evening.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad administered the oath to Shah at an oath-taking ceremony held at the Governor House.

Shah was elected to the post earlier today after an election for the province's chief executive was conducted in a Sindh Assembly session, which Shah won with a comfortable lead.

At the end of the provincial legislature's voting session, Shah secured 88 votes in favour, while three votes were cast in favour of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's Khurram Sher Zaman.

In a widely expected move earlier, the PPP formally nominated senior Sindh minister Syed Murad Ali Shah as chief minister after outgoing provincial chief executive Syed Qaim Ali Shah handed in his resignation earlier this week.

Seasoned politician

A former adviser to the chief minister, Shah has been returning to the Sindh Assembly from the Jamshoro constituency PS-73 since its creation in the 2002 general elections. He was elected to the seat from 2002-2007, and was elected again on the same seat during by-polls in 2014.

Shah was disqualified from the 2013 general election as he held Canadian citizenship at the time. He later renounced his Canadian citizenship so he could contest by-polls in 2014.

Shah has previously held positions in the Hyderabad Development Authority and Karachi Fish Harbour Authority.

PPP's crucial huddle in Dubai

The change of guard in Sindh came after the ruling Pakistan People's Party held a consultative meeting in Dubai earlier last week.

Former Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah along with senior PPP leader Faryal Talpur and Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal left the metropolis for Dubai earlier, where PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari were waiting for them to begin crucial deliberations.

The leadership of PPP were expected to hold discussions with Asif Zardari on two crucial issues concerning Sindh — another extension in Rangers’ special powers for Karachi and, more importantly, whether the paramilitary force be allowed to exercise the same policing powers in the rest of the province.

Rangers’ raid-and-arrest powers have expired as the last extension, which was given by the provincial government for 77 days and only for the Karachi division, ended on July 19.

The PPP-led Sindh government fears that the Rangers will target its cadre if it widens the scope of their special policing powers to the whole of Sindh.

Karachi corps comman­der had also met CM Sindh earlier, and had asked for renewal of Rangers’ special powers and an extension of their mandate to the whole of the province.

Shah told the corps commander that he would take a decision only after consulting the party high command that includes — or solely comprising — former president Asif Zardari.

Zardari and PPP chairman Bhutto-Zardari were expected to also review the affairs of the Sindh government for which Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah had also arrived in Dubai.

Before leaving for Dubai, the CM Sindh told reporters at Karachi airport that the party leadership would “review performance of the government and set new targets for development works”.

NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh will not be conducting any bilateral meetings with his Pakistani counterparts during his upcoming visit to Islambad.

"Let me categorically state that home minister is going for Saarc event. There will be no bilateral meetings with Pakistan," Indian MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted, rubbishing rumours in Indian media that he may meet counterparts from other countries including Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh is set to visit Islamabad next week to attend a meeting of Saarc interior ministers.

Singh’s visit comes at a time when relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours are strained due to India’s suppression of protests which erupted over the extra-judicial killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhanuddin Wani.

Pakistan has been extending moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri struggle. July 20 was observed as a ‘black day’ to protest Indian atrocities and a diplomatic effort has been launched to highlight the plight of Kashmiris.

LAHORE: Moving scenes of jubilation were in evidence on Friday in Lahore’s Muhammad Pura slum following the last-minute reprieve to a death-row Pakistani man in Indonesia in an alleged drug trafficking case, but sufferings of the relatives of the convict have not yet come to an end.

The wailing sisters and brother of Zulfiqar Ali are telling everyone visiting them that he has served more than a full sentence for the crime he has not committed. They say they are seeking deportation of their brother who is suffering from multiple illnesses.

Relatives, acquaintances and neighbours continued to visit Zulfiqar’s house, congratulating the family on their success of getting the execution stayed and sympathising with them by offering prayers for his early return home.

While the family made seating arrangements for the visitors, many neighbours also put chairs on the street. Media people continued to visit the house throughout the day, sharing jubilation and trying to get the latest information about the case.

The helpless family had been silently living with pain for over a decade and was stirred up only when the news came as a bolt from the blue that Zulfiqar would be executed within three weeks and soon afterwards re-notified that he would be no more after 72 hours.

“Since then, we have not sat silent and launched a protest with the help of a non-governmental NGO, Justice Project Pakistan,” Zulfiqar’s sister told Dawn on Friday.

Zulfiqar was arrested in Indonesia in an alleged drug trafficking case in 2004, but was never allowed legal assistance, according to his sister in Lahore. Within a few free months in Indonesia, he had married an Indonesian woman.

“The news of the scheduled execution came as a bombshell along with a visa to mother for visit and the last meeting with her son in an Indonesian jail,” Misbah said, adding that the family and neighbours joined hands to protest against the execution on a plea that Zulfiqar was not guilty of the crime as per revelation in an investigative report by Indonesia’s law and human rights ministry.

“We protested in and outside our locality, but it did not come up to the public eye and then we decided to go to the main protest venue in Lahore — The Mall in front of the Punjab Assembly,” Misbah said, adding that several people from all walks of life joined the protest.

She praised the role of electronic and print media in highlighting and sensitising the world about the matter.

“The media hype compelled the Pakistani authorities to respond to the cause and Indonesian authorities to give reprieve to Zulfiqar and nine other foreigners — for an uncertain time period. Today, I have heard my mother’s (Shamshad Begum) voice on the phone from Indonesia, saying ‘I am alive again’,” said Misbah in a matter-of-fact voice.

“We will not sit silent and continue the protest on The Mall on a daily basis to pressure the Indonesian and Pakistani governments for early deportation of Zulfiqar. My mother also said that another convict, Gurdeep Singh, who had blamed Zulfiqar for drug trafficking, had fallen at her feet and sought apology for implicating her son in a false case,” Misbah said.

Zulfiqar has two sons, including a mentally challenged boy, from his divorced wife in Lahore, as well as two daughters and a son from his Indonesian wife Sitti Rohani, she added.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association and other bar associations of the country on Friday presented a memorandum to the United Nations Office in Islamabad asking the UN Security Council (UNSC) to restrain the Indian government, by passing a resolution, from using fatal weapons against innocent Kashmiris.

The memorandum on protecting the human rights of the people of the India-held Kashmir from inhuman, illegal, brutal, barbaric and criminal acts by Indian security forces was meant to draw the attention of Vitlorio Cammarota, Director of the UN office in Islamabad, towards the plight of the people in India-held Kashmir.

Recalling the use of pellet guns, pepper gas and other dangerous weapons by Indian forces against Kashmiris participating in a funeral during which 60 people were killed and more than 5,000 injured, the memorandum appealed to the UNSC to make India comply with the resolutions of the UN on the dispute of Kashmir.

In the present situation, the memorandum said, the silence on the part of the UNSC and other international institutions amounted to criminal negligence.

The memorandum regretted that the Indian government had intentionally suspended the mobile phone and internet services in the occupied valley. It asked to allow the international media to work in held Kashmir so that the ground realities were presented before the international community in a transparent manner.

The memorandum deplored the ban imposed by the Indian government on the publication of newspapers in India-held Kashmir to hide their brutality from the international media.

It demanded that office-bearers of bar associations and senior lawyers from Pakistan be allowed to visit the bar associations in held Kashmir. For the purpose, the Indian government should issue visas to them and make foolproof security arrangements for them.

It also highlighted the need for employing immediate rescue measures like medical aid that should include doctors, ambulances, medicines, etc., in addition to access of international and Pakistan’s human rights foundations and rescue missions to help hapless Kashmiris in this hour of need.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over a marathon meeting in Murree on Friday in which a strategy was formulated to implement development projects during the remaining 22 months of his government’s current tenure.

The meeting continued for about seven hours.

According to a statement issued by the PM Office, the prime minister will visit various parts of the country during the coming month to review the ongoing development projects.

He himself will oversee the projects to ensure their timely completion.

Appropriate persons had also been selected to fulfil various responsibilities in this regard, the statement added.

Apparently as a part of the plan, Prime Minister Sharif will address a public meeting in Sialkot after inaugurating the Sialkot-Lahore motorway project on Aug 9, almost a month after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan held a rally there.

Sialkot public meeting to mark launch of work on another motorway

According to a member of the federal cabinet, the public meeting is being held to mobilise the PML-N cadre after a report hinted at weakening links between the party leadership and the people.

“A report authored by [Punjab] Governor Rafiq Rajwana for internal consumption has pointed out that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNAs and MPAs are in contact neither with the local party leaders nor with the masses,” he said.

To improve the situation, he said, it had been suggested that the prime minister should address public meetings.

This would motivate the party’s lawmakers to follow suit and boost the morale of the workers, he added.

The public meeting will be organised by the PML-N and local members of the provincial assembly.

The minister said that Mr Sharif had agreed to address the rally and the security authorities had been asked to make arrangements for the event.

Mr Khan addressed the rally in the district on July 8 during the campaign for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections.

The prime minister’s planned public appearance comes at a time when the opposition parties are planning to mount pressure on the government over the Panama Papers leaks regarding offshore holdings.

He made his first public appearance in Muzaffarabad after his open-heart surgery by addressing a rally on July 25 to mark the party’s landslide victory in the AJK polls.

The PM had undergone the open-heart surgery in London on May 31. He continued to stay in the British capital for about another six weeks to recuperate and returned home in a special PIA flight on July 9.

He may address more rallies in the coming days in what many think an attempt to mobilise his supporters to counter the opposition’s campaign against him.

Meanwhile, the governor’s political report has raised some eyebrows.

Opponents argue that being a representative of the federation, the governor must be apolitical instead of “running errands” for a political party.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

GWADAR: Two bullet-riddled bodies were found in the Sharak area of Kech district on Friday.

Levies officials said that the people of Sharak, a town some 40km away from Turbat, informed the local administration about the presence of the bodies. After receiving information, Levies personnel shifted the corpses to the district hospital in Turbat.

The deceased were identified as 28-year-old Mohammad Naveed, a resident of Karachi, and 42-year-old Mohammad Latif, a resident of Chichawatani district, Sahiwal.

Turbat’s tehsildar Sher Jan told Dawn that the victims were identified with the help of their national identity cards found in their pockets.

He said no case of kidnapping or missing persons was reported with the Levies force or the local administration.

The official said the purpose of the victims’ visit to the area had not been ascertained. “We are investigating the case and collecting information from local people,” he said.

Quoting doctors in the hospital, the Levies officials said that the victims received multiple bullet wounds in their head and chest.

The bodies would be sent to Karachi and Sahiwal.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan International Airlines has included three Airbus A-330 planes in its fleet after signing a wet lease agreement with Sri Lankan Airlines.

A spokesman for PIA said that the national flag carrier formalised the wet leasing of three A-330 aircraft from Sri Lankan Airlines at a ceremony held in Colombo on Friday.

PIA CEO Bernd Hildenbrand signed the contract with Sri Lankan Airlines chairman Ajith Dias and CEO Capt Suren Ratwatte.

He said the contract had been materialised after a series of talks between the two sides.

First of the aircraft will be delivered to PIA the next week, while the rest in the following months.

The aircraft are in very good condition and will be used for PIA Premier, giving passengers a better experience and allowing the airlines to start regaining its market share, the spokesman said.

PIA Premier is scheduled to be launched on Aug 14, initially only for London. There will be six weekly Premier flights to London — three from Islamabad and three from Lahore.

Later, with addition of more aircraft, the service will be expanded to other destinations, he said PIA Chairman Azam Saigol appreciated efforts of the PIA team, led by Mr Hildenbrand, in finalising the contract.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

http://www.dawn.com/news/1274162/investigation-as-girl-found-dead-in-hotel

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday suspended the managing director and the director estate of Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation (PHAF) in connection with the bogus allotment of executive apartments to government officers.

The prime minister also ordered the director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Amlish Khan, to initiate criminal proceedings against the officers responsible for the bogus allotments.

The PHAF last month allotted 350 apartments to the officers working in BS-20 to BS-22. However, after a news report pointed out a lack of transparency in the process, Mr Sharif ordered an inquiry into the matter.

The inquiry report submitted to the prime minister said the entire balloting process was “fraud and bogus.” Subsequently, the prime minister office annulled the allotments as “void ab initio.”

An order issued by the prime minister on Friday said: “The two officers, who have been identified in the report as bearing primary responsibility for the fraudulent and bogus allotments - Mohammad Ilyas, MD PHAF, and Syeda Sahafq Ali, director land and estate PHAF, - shall be immediately placed under suspension.”

The director administration Javed Iqbal and deputy secretary housing and works Usman Sarosh Alvi, who were also part of the balloting process, have been transferred with the directions that they shall not be posted to the housing ministry or its affiliated organisations in future.

The order added: “In future, the ministry of housing and works shall advertise complete specifications of available apartments, built houses or plots along with the eligibility criteria for officers to become a member.”

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

http://www.dawn.com/news/1274173/samia-murder-inquiry-body-collects-record-from-jhelum-police

LARAKANA: One Rangers official was killed and at least 14 others including five Rangers personnel sustained injuries in two explosions near a Rangers checkpost on Miro Khan Road here on Saturday, security sources said.

DIG Larkana Rangers Abdullah Shaikh told journalists 500 grams of explosives were used in each of the bombs, one of which was planted in a bicycle and the other under a garbage can.

The injured, which included five Rangers personnel and 10 passers-by, were shifted to Chandka Medical Hospital for treatment. However, one Rangers official succumbed to his injuries.

Another Rangers official was said to be in a critical condition.

A heavy contingent of the police cordoned off the area after the blasts and started a search operation in the area. Police sources told Dawn two suspects were arrested in the police operation, and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation

A bomb disposal squad from Sukkur has reached the spot to determine the nature of the bombs.

Director General Rangers Major General Bilal Akber also reached the location.

The newly-elected chief minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah took a strong notice of the attack. He telephoned DIG Larkana Abdullah Shaikh and directed him to bring all those involved in the attack to justice and report to him as soon as possible.

Rangers personnel have been targeted in Karachi and other parts of Sindh in the past as well.

The paramilitary force was targeted four times in March through grenade attacks in Karachi, leaving at least three Rangers soldiers wounded.

KARACHI: The whereabouts of social worker and publisher Abdul Wahid Baloch, a resident of Chakiwara in Lyari, are still unknown after he went ‘missing’ on July 26, while his family alleges that he was picked up by law enforcement agencies.

A telephone operator at the Civil Hospital in Karachi, Abdul Wahid was a book lover, and helped Baloch authors publish their works and activists print posters.

According to Ghulam Mohammad, a close friend and neighbour of his, he was known for participating in events, protest rallies and hunger strikes held by Baloch activists and fishermen for the missing persons. “He was referred to as comrade and used to be a constant fixture at the Karachi Press Club.”

Speaking to Dawn, Baloch’s eldest daughter, 20-year-old Hani, said her father and his friend Sabir Ali Sabir, and his two children, were coming back from an event in Digri on Tuesday afternoon when two men in civilian clothes, “one in black and the other in white, came towards the van as it stopped at the Superhighway toll plaza and asked my father’s friend to show his identity card.”

Hani was given details of the incident by her father’s friend.

“One of the men dressed in black coloured shalwar kameez — similar to how the Levies dress in Balochistan — then turned towards my father and asked him to show his identity card. Upon looking at his ID, the man took out his phone and checked something. He then asked my father to step out with his bags. As he did so, the men asked the driver to leave immediately.”

According to Hani, the two men were standing near a blue-coloured Vigo in which her father was taken away.

The family, along with a few friends, approached the Gadap Town police station, located right next to the toll plaza. “The police refused to register an FIR and asked us to wait for three days, as he might return. We then approached the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), where we submitted an application along with his details,” Hani added.

Another application was submitted by the Civil Hospital administration to the Gadap police station, acknowledging Abdul Wahid as an employee working with the hospital for the past 25 years.

Vice chairperson of the HRCP, Sindh, Asad Iqbal Butt said that Abdul Wahid’s family approached him on Wednesday and submitted an application. “What bothers me is the fact that there’s a police station and a Pakistan Rangers checkpost situated right next to the toll plaza and yet a man was whisked away so easily,” he said.

Asad Butt added that they have asked the family to push the Gadap Town police to register an FIR which would “strengthen their case,” in case they eventually want to move a petition in the court.

Abdul Wahid has four children — three daughters and a son.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan kept its key policy rate unchanged at 5.75 per cent on Saturday, citing steady remittances and low oil prices.

SBP Governor Ashrah Mahmood Wathra also told a news conference that foreign direct investment is projected to increase as work on projects under the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) gains momentum.

The country's $250bn economy is growing at the fastest pace in eight years, but it has struggled to attract large-scale investment and is counting on planned CPEC roads, a deep-water port and several energy projects for a boost.

Wathra also said he expected the newly consolidated Pakistan Stock Exchange to attract new inflows in the wake of its reclassification from a frontier to an emerging market.

Know more: Pakistan gets MSCI upgrade, shares soar to all-time high.

ISLAMABAD: A fresh push led by the US for India’s inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is expected by October this year, according to a diplomatic source.

The NSG’s consultative group is tentatively scheduled to meet in October and a special session of the 48-member nuclear trade cartel is likely to be convened around the same time for considering Indian candidature.

The United States, which is the principal backer of the Indian bid, had vowed to get it admitted before the end of the year after the stalemate on India’s entry into the NSG at the group’s plenary meeting in Seoul in June.

With US presidential elections scheduled for November, it is believed, the Obama administration will make an attempt to fulfil the outgoing president’s promise with India before the transition process sets in.

Zahir Kazmi, a Pakistani official who was speaking at the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) seminar on ‘Indo-US Nuclear Deal: Politics of NSG and its Implications for Pakistan’, however, believes that the deadlock in the NSG on India’s membership will not be resolved anytime soon.

Government urged to continue diplomatic engagement with NSG members over the issue of admission of non-NPT states

“There is a stalemate, which is unlikely to be overcome in the next six months to a year at least,” he said, adding that Pakistan remained hopeful of simultaneous entry into the NSG along with India because of support within the NSG for criteria-based approach.

“Only uniform criteria-based approach will break the impasse,” the official added.

Besides China, which is the main supporter of adherence to NPT criterion for entry into the NSG, a number of other countries in the NSG, which are often referred to as the non-proliferation purists and have been calling for uniform admission criteria, are opposed to exceptionalism for India.

US support for India flows from Indo-US strategic partnership, which first led to the nuclear deal and then NSG waiver (for India) was managed giving it the status of a de-facto member of the group. The US is now going all out to get India the status of a full member of the NSG, which would put India firmly in the nuclear mainstream.

Pakistani officials contend that the Indo-US strategic partnership and the nuclear deal destabilised the region and exacerbated Pakistan’s security dilemma.

Mr Kazmi called on the NSG to revoke the exemption granted to India and adopt uniform criteria for new admissions. He also cautioned the US against pushing for India’s exclusive entry into the NSG.

“If the US continually pushes for India’s exclusive entry into the NSG, bilateral relations with Pakistan would not be ‘business as usual’. The people of Pakistan will not accept such discrimination,” he said.

Pakistan’s former permanent representative at UN in Geneva, Zamir Akram, said the debate at the NSG was moving towards new membership criteria because India being a non-NPT state did not fulfil the NPT consideration.

“The debate (on expansion of NSG) is moving towards what is going to be the criteria that can be accepted by consensus at the Nuclear Suppliers Group,” he said.

SVI President Dr Zafar Iqbal Cheema said that India’s entry alone into the NSG would put back Pakistani efforts for developing its infrastructure and industry by decades, besides having serious consequences for national security and economic and industrial development.

He observed that the world in its obsession for India should not forget that India was one of the worst proliferators.

He called on the government to pro-actively continue diplomatic engagement with NSG members over the issue of admission of non-NPT states.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2016

PESHAWAR: Flash floods triggered by monsoon rains swept away a bus carrying a wedding party on Saturday in Khyber Agency's Landi Kotal area, killing 26 people, an official said.

The spokesman for the local disaster management authority, Latifur Rehman, said the incident took place in the Landi Kotal tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The dead included 18 children, six women and two men.

The van was swept away by the gushing water when it was crossing a stream in Sra Shaga area near Bazar Zakhakhel of Landi Kotal.

Local administration official Iqbal Khan said several passengers were also injured in the incident. He said it was unclear whether the bride and groom were also traveling in the same bus.

Rescue teams retrieved the bodies and shifted them to the Agency Headquarter Hospital in Landi Kotal.

National Disaster Management Authority said in statement Saturday that as many as 55 people have been killed across the country since the monsoon rains started in July.

Flash floods commonly occur during South Asia's summer monsoon season, which ends in September.