Karachi police operation, 30 suspects held

KARACHI: Police in a search operation in Orangi Town on Wednesday hauled up 30 suspected persons, Geo News reported.

SP Orangi Town, Sajid Amir Saddozai said that police launched an operation against suspected persons at Pirabad, Qasba and Frontier Colony in Orangi Town by blocking all exit/entry roads started house-to-house search operation and picked up 30 suspects in the process.

Youm-e-Ali (RA) being observed across the country today

KARACHI: The country is observing Youm-e-Ali (RA), the martyrdom day of Hazrat Ali (RA), as law enforcement agencies have made strict security arrangements to avert any untoward situation in any part of the country, Geo News reported.

The mourning processions following the planned routes and finally gather at the pre-decided venues. Strict security is being observed throughout the processions routes while the district administrations have also installed CCTV cameras.

SC upset by lack of food subsidies in Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: A Supreme Court bench was flabbergasted on Tuesday when it was told that no subsidy on food items has ever been extended to the neediest segments of Balochistan since the year 2009.

This is not all. Not a single fair price shop exists outside Quetta city to ensure the delivery of wheat flour or foodgrains at affordable prices to the poorest people of the province.

Pakistan reiterates NWA offensive will hit Haqqani network

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday reiterated that the ongoing Zarb-i-Azb military offensive, launched to eliminate insurgent hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal area, would target all militants, including the feared Haqqani network.

Briefing a delegation of foreign media reporters, DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa insisted the current operation would target “terrorists of every hue and colour.”

Judicial magistrate kidnapped? in Balochistan

QUETTA: Armed militants kidnapped Judicial Magistrate Ziarat Jam Saka Dashti from Pishin district of Balochistan on Monday, police said.A senior police officer who requested anonymity told Dawn.com that gunmen seized the vehicle of the judicial magistrate in Pishin district.

Qari Jalandhari in KSA to receive award

Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, the secretary general of the Wafaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia that runs at least 12,000 madrassahs in Pakistan has arrived in the Kingdom to receive award for producing the most huffaz of Qur'an in the world in the year 2013-2014

Jalandhari who is here at the invitation of the Muslim World League will receive the award from Abdullah Basfar, the secretary general, International Organization for Qur'an Memorization (IOQM), at its annual conference on July 27, which will be graced by the presence of the Makkah governor.

PML-N, PTI leaders want ‘change, not confrontation’

ISLAMABAD: Following the ultimatum issued by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, both the government and the PTI are sticking to their guns. But behind the scenes, leaders from both sides are hoping for a solution through negotiations.

Bannu IDPs: “We only have water to break our fast”

BANNU: For half a million Pakistanis displaced by a military offensive, the prospect of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan amid severe food shortages has sharpened anger towards the government.

Emirates to seek damages over Qadri episode

LAHORE: The Emirates airline plans to file a suit over the damages caused to its reputation by the enforced diversion of its plane carrying Dr Tahirul Qadri on Monday.

Official sources told Dawn that the airline had told the Civil Aviation Authority that it had been upset by the diversion of its flight EK-612 Dubai-Islamabad to Lahore, causing a great deal of inconvenience to passengers on the plane and those waiting at the airport to fly to Dubai.

Pakistan needs to make hard choices now: Hillary

WASHINGTON: Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said that Pakistan’s policy of seeking strategic depth in Afghanistan has been proven wrong and the country now needs to focus all its strength on dealing with the militants.

“Their idea, that they have these groups to provide strategic depth, as they like to say, vis-a-vis Afghanistan, or vis-a-vis India, I think if that were ever true, which I doubt, but if that were ever true, it no longer is,” she told Indian NDTV channel.

Nisar directs security agencies to secure twin cities

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed police and security agencies to gear up their resources to fully secure twin cities Rawalpindi-Islamabad and its residents in wake of the Zarb-i-Azb operation against militants in North Waziristan.

Attackers flee after firing at Karachi ASF camp

KARACHI: Attackers managed to flee as a heavy contingent of security forces reached Airport Security Force (ASF) camp number 2, which came under a fresh attack on Tuesday, DawnNews reported. Flight operations resumed after being temporarily suspended.

A security sweep and search operation is underway at the ASF academy, which is located in Bhitai Abad, Pehlwan Goth in Karachi.

Altaf released on bail, addresses Karachi sit-in participants

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain was released on bail four days after he was arrested on the suspicion of money laundering by the London Metropolitan Police, DawnNews reported.Police sources said Hussain was released on a personal bail without any charges framed against him with the condition that he would appear before authorities whenever required.

MQM workers, supporters observe Youm-i-Dua for Altaf’s recovery

KARACHI: Workers and supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were holding a Youm-i-Dua on Friday to pray for the early recovery of party chief Altaf Hussain who underwent an angiography in London yesterday.

Hussain’s angiography report had also been prepared and is expected to be reviewed by a medical board at a London hospital.

Pakistan Police Officers Accused of Chopping off Hand of Thieves

Lahore:  Police officials in Pakistan's Punjab province have been accused of chopping off the left hand of two alleged thieves while they were in custody.

Police arrested Ghulam Mustafa, 30, and Liaquat Ali, 28, from Ghagoo Mandi in Vehari district of Punjab, some 340 kilometres from Lahore, last week in connection with cellphone and electric wire theft.

The police shifted both the accused on Friday evening to Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur where it emerged that their left hands had been chopped off.

Taliban's Mehsud faction severs ties with TTP

PESHAWAR: The spokesman of the Mehsud faction of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Azam Tariq on Monday announced that his group has formally separated from the central outlawed militant group.

The spokesman of the Mehsud group, who was also a central member of the Taliban shura, made the announcement in a press conference.

He added that the other Taliban factions were also becoming distrustful of the main organisation.

Azam further said that the Mehsud group had tried to reform the TTP, adding that despite its efforts, conniving elements in the organisation had emerged successful.

FIR can be lodged against armymen, AG says

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General Aslam Butt informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that a First Information Report (FIR) could be filed against a currently serving army official according to Pakistan Army regulations. He said this in the hearing of the Malakand missing persons case, which concerns the disappearance of 35 people from an internment centre in the region, DawnNews reported.

Butt submitted his reply in the apex court regarding FIRs against serving armed forces personnel.

SC reinstates PTI's Qaisar Jamal Khan as MNA

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday reinstated Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate Qaisar Jamal Khan as Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-47, days after an election tribunal had declared his election void.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani, heard the case today.

The court issued notices to the respondents and adjourned the hearing of the case until two weeks.

Shootout in DHA leaves teenage boy and police guard dead, two wounded

KARACHI: An 18-year-old student and a police guard were killed while another teenage boy and a private security guard were wounded in an exchange of fire in the Defence Housing Authority in the early hours of Thursday.

The deadly exchange of fire took place at the bungalow of Suleman Lashari, an A-level student, in DHA Phase V on Khayaban-i-Shamsheer following a quarrel between the teenagers over some petty issue, police said.

Ex-CJ rubbishes Imran's 'absurd' rigging allegations

ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday rejected the rigging accusations made against him by Pakistan Tehreeak-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, terming them as 'baseless', DawnNews reported.

The former chief justice said that Returning Officers (ROs) for the 2013 elections were appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan and not by him. He added that the 'absurd' allegations hurled by the PTI chief did not warrant a response.