Islamabad's News Box

Tuesday,17 July, 2012

ISLAMABAD, July 16: Five people, including three women, from the Dadu district of Sindh here on Monday attempted self-immolation in protest against alleged occupation of their land by a feudal back home, police said.
However, police personnel snatched the petrol and matchboxes before they could set themselves on fire in front of the National Press Club.
The police put out the flames from the bodies of two of the protesters as they had already showed match to their petrol-soaked clothes.
A brief scuffle took place between the police and the five persons and, according to the police, one of the victims sustained injuries after hitting his head with a stone in anger.
The police shifted them to hospital for medical assistance and later took the two men to the Kohsar police station. The three women were taken to the woman police station.
A case was registered against them on the charge of attempt to murder and the two men were put behind bars. They will be produced before the court of law on Tuesday (today) from where they would either be sent on judicial remand or released on bail, the police said, adding the fate of the women was yet to be decided.
The police said about one month back, one of the victims had made similar attempt but it was also foiled by the policemen.
The five persons had been staging protest in front of the press club for the last seven months against alleged occupation of their seven-acre land in the village of Chandio seven years back.
The land owner, Malook Pasand, had also got a case registered against the land grabber but the police did not take action against him.
The five persons were identified as Malook, 28; Altaf Gulzar, 26; Farwa Pasand, 35; Pari Pasand, 18, and Perveen Imam, 17.

 Saturday,14 July, 2012

ISLAMABAD – NAB Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari has given a go ahead to the prosecutor general accountability (PGA) to get reopened three pending cases against Nawaz Sharif, his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other family members.On all these three cases – Hudaibya Papers Mills, Ittifaq Foundry and assets beyond known income sources – a Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench, an appellate authority, had barred the NAB (national accountability bureau) to proceed against the accused and place all the record with the court.On the recommendation of a special committee scrutinising cases against politicians, the NAB chairman signed a formal request to the NAB courts and directed PGA KK Aga to proceed accordingly as per NAB Ordinance to get these cases opened. Such request from NAB is required under the law to get the sane die adjourned cases reopened.After getting an affirmative nod from the NAB courts, the PGA would contest the matter at the LHC Division Bench to argue against the plea of Sharif brothers for quashing all the three cases and to get the stay order of the court vacated so that these cases could be proceeded with in the trial court.Nawaz and Shahbaz had moved the LHC Rawalpindi Division Bench for overturning these cases against the family talking the plea that all these cases were politically motivated and framed to victimise them.Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari, soon after assuming the charge of NAB chairman, constituted a committee to look into the cases against the politicians with the task to sift out the genuine cases. After going through all these three references and about half a dozen inquiries pending against Sharif family, the committee recommended to the chairman to get these three cases reopened.All these three cases were made in 1999 and 2000, after dislodging of Nawaz government, and were fixed for trial in the accountability court in Attock, where Nawaz and his brother Shahbaz were detained. These cases were adjourned sane die when under some clandestine deal Sharif family went in exiled to Saudi Arabia, but were reopened in 2007 when the Supreme Court allowed Nawaz to return to Pakistan; however he was resent to Saudi Arabia moments after he landed at Islamabad International Airport.A request for the reopening of these cases was made in 2010 when the then PAG Dr Danishwar Malik moved an application taking the plea that cases should be reopened as the accused had returned to the country. But the matter once again went into limbo when Rawalpindi Accountability Court No 1 judge directed the prosecutor general to furnish request duly signed by NAB chairman; but since the slot of NAB chairman was vacant so the court adjourned these cases sane die.In State Vs Hudaybia Paper Mills (Pvt) Ltd-nine members of the Sharif family were accused of committing a corruption of Rs642.743 million. As per NAB allegations the accused had secured loan against the Hudaybia Paper Mills and later used this money to pay off the loans of other companies owned by the Sharif family. Mian Muhammad Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Mrs Shamim Akhtar (mother of Nawaz Sharif), Mrs Sabiha Abbas, Mrs Maryam Safdar and former Federal Minister Ishaq Dar were the accused in this reference.In State Vs Ittefaq Foundries etc, Nawaz Sharif, his brother Abbas Sharif and Kamal Qureshi were charged with the wilful default of Rs1.06 billion. The main allegation against the accused in this case was that M/s Ittefaq Foundries Ltd obtained cash finance from the National Bank of Pakistan. As per NAB allegations, the company wilfully defaulted to pay back the amount in 1994.State Vs Nawaz Sharif etc case is about the Raiwind assets. Main allegation in this reference is that the accused had acquired vast tracts of land on which a number of palatial houses and mansions were constructed with pecuniary resources, which appeared to be grossly disproportionate to their known sources of income. As per NAB allegations, there involves an amount Rs247.352 million that is under question. Apart from Nawaz, his mother was also an accused in this case.There are six investigations against Sharif pending before the NAB following chairman NAB’s order. These pending investigations included; case of illegal appointments in the FIA against Nawaz Sharif; misuse of authority by Nawaz as Punjab ex-chief minister and the construction of road from Raiwind to Sharif family house causing loss of Rs125 million; Sharif Trust case against Nawaz Sharif/Sharif Trust involving allegation of money laundering, misappropriation of trust funds and acquisition of Benami assets in the name of Sharif Trust; London properties case against Nawaz and others regarding owning of Aven Field properties in London; Illegal appointments in PIA allegedly by Nawaz Sharif, and Corruption in the allotment of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) plots involving ex-CM Nawaz Sharif, LDA ex-DG Brig (r) Manzoor Malik, Estate ex-director and Shahid Rafi.Two pending inquiries against Sharifs in the NAB included a complaint of allotment of LDA plots and another complaint about alleged misappropriation of government property by allotting 12 plots to Mian Attaullah instead of one in Gulshan Ravi Scheme thereby causing loss of Rs20 million to the state. Nawaz Shairf and other accused in Plane High-jacking Case and Helicopter Case were acquitted.

Thursday,July 12, 2012

SLAMABAD: President Zardari has signed Contempt of Court Bill 2012 into law today, Geo News quoted Presidential Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar as saying.

Both the houses have passed the Contempt of Court Bill 2012 with majority support.

New Contempt of court law:

The contempt of court bill was approved by the National Assembly on July 9.

The Senate on Wednesday night passed the new contempt of court law, as two PPP stalwarts, Aitzaz Ahsan and Mian Raza Rabbani, openly expressed reservations, saying the Supreme Court could partially strike it down.

The bill, exempts the 'holders of public office' from contempt in 'exercise of powers and performance' of functions and allows suspension of an appeal.

Many see it as a calculated person-specific move of the treasury benches to save PM Raja Pervaiz Ashfar for meeting the same fate as Yusuf Raza Gilani for not acting in accordance with the apex court order to write to the Swiss authorities with regard to President Asif Ali Zardari's accounts.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

ISLAMABAD: The senior bureaucracy underwent a major reshuffle on Friday following directives issued by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, as 14 federal secretaries were simultaneously changed, while several bureaucrats were appointed as OSD (On Special Duty) officers.
On Friday morning, the Establishment Division (ED) issued the ground-breaking notification. According to sources, the prime minister took the decision following close consultation with President Asif Ali Zardari.

Under the fresh spurt of changes, Chaudhry Rashid Ahmad was appointed as the new Information Secretary while Kazi Abdul Muktadir was made Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for a period of three years. Information Secretary Taimur Azmat Osman has been appointed Secretary Establishment Division.

The other appointments include: Muhammad Ayub Qazi (as Principal Secretary to the prime minister)‚ Javed Iqbal (as Secretary Economic Affairs)‚ Dr Waqar Masood (as Secretary Petroleum and Natural Resources)‚ Imtiaz Inayat Elahi (as Secretary National Regulations and Services)‚ Israr Rauf (as Secretary Capital Administration Division)‚ Kamran Qureshi (as Secretary Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan division) and Major General Tauqeer (as Managing Director of Passco).

The decision to appoint Kazi Abdul Muktadir as SBP deputy governor for a period of three years from the date he assumes office was announced in a notification issued by the Finance Division on Friday. Kazi assumed charge as SBP deputy governor the same day. Prior to taking over as the SBP Deputy Governor, Kazi had been serving as an SBP executive director since December 2002.