KARACHI:A man was electrocuted in North Karachi areas of the metropolis in the wee hours of Thursday.
According to rescue sources, a 30-year-old man, Sabir, son of Jameel, received severe electric shocks while working on live power lines in North Karachi’s Sector 5A-1. As a result, he sustained injuries and died on the spot.
The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for an autopsy.
KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday rejected a government request to suspend hearing of a petition against recent hike in prices of petroleum products.
A two-member bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and comprising Justice Agha Faisal, heard the petition filed by Iqbal Kazmi against hike in petroleum prices. The bench expressed its dissatisfaction over the federal government’s petroleum ministry’s failure to submit the reply in the court.
It remarked it had become a problem for the court to get a reply from Isalmabad. “The court had sought a reply on another petition but the federal government did not gave answer and submitted the reply only after the court issued arrest warrants of secretary,” Justice Mazhar remarked.
The bench asked the government’s counsel what did he thought that the bench summon the secretary petroleum? “The Islamabad people do not give attention to any notice from Sindh High Court,” the bench remarked.
Deputy Attorney General told the bench that he had talked to petroleum ministry which has given its reply as saying that hike in price formula is policy matter.
The bench asked what is the policy matter, give us in written what you want to say. The bench rejected the government counsel’s request to postpone the hearing of the petition. “We will announce verdict, if the federal government do not submit its reply until 14 June,” the bench remarked.
“Ask petroleum ministry what is reason behind not submitting reply in the court regarding the petition,” Justice Mazhar instructed the counsel.
Petitioner Iqbal Kazmi said that the petroleum ministry, federal government and other parties were issued notices by the court, demanding the mechanism for hike in petroleum products’ prices. He said the petrol prices will again increase on June 1st. Despite petition in the court, the fuel prices are being enhanced.
KARACHI: Sindh Rangers on Thursday claimed to have arrested a suspected target killer associated with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London (MQM-L) during an intelligence-based raid in New Karachi.
A spokesperson for Rangers said in a press release that acting on a tip-off, the paramilitary force conducted the raid in New Karachi’s Sector-11 F and arrested the suspected target killer. He said that the suspect was identified as Muhammad Irfan alias Mota. The spokesman said that the suspect joined MQM as an activist on 2013.
The accused was also involved in target killings, extortion, snatching of sacrificial animals’ hides and other heinous crimes during 2003 to 2016.
The spokesperson further claimed, “The suspect is also the member of a target killers’ team associated with MQM-London.” He further claimed that the arrested suspected was also involved in seven target killings, including the murder of Suni Tehrik activist, Saleem Qadari and MQM-Haqiqi’s members, Nadeem, Zuhaib, Hira and an unknown citizen.
The rangers recovered one 12-bore riffle with rounds from the suspect’s possession. The accused was handed over to police for further legal action.
KARACHI: Dr Muhammad Nawaz Shaikh, secretary, Auqaf, Religious Affairs, and Zakat Usher Department has been transferred and posted as secretary Social Welfare Department against as existing vacancy with immediate effect till further orders.
Shaikh, an officer of PSS (BS-20), will also hold additional charge of the post of secretary Auqaf, Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushar Department in addition to his own duties till further orders. In this regard, SGA and CD has issued a notification on Thursday.
KARACHI: Huawei today filed a motion for summary judgment as part of the process to challenge the constitutionality of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (2019 NDAA). It also called on the U.S. government to halt its state-sanctioned campaign against Huawei because it will not deliver cybersecurity.
Banning Huawei using cybersecurity as an excuse “will do nothing to make networks more secure. They provide a false sense of security, and distract attention from the real challenges we face,” said Song Liuping, Huawei’s chief legal officer. “Politicians in the U.S. are using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company,” Song noted. “This is not normal. Almost never seen in history.”
“The U.S. government has provided no evidence to show that Huawei is a security threat. There is no gun, no smoke. Only speculation,” Song added. In the complaint, Huawei argues that Section 889 of the 2019 NDAA singles out Huawei by name and not only bars U.S. government agencies from buying Huawei equipment and services, but also bars them from contracting with or awarding grants or loans to third parties who buy Huawei equipment or services—even if there is no impact or connection to the U.S. government.
Song also addressed the addition of Huawei to the “Entity List” by the U.S. Commerce Department two weeks ago. “This sets a dangerous precedent. Today it’s telecoms and Huawei. Tomorrow it could be your industry, your company, your consumers,” he said.
“The judicial system is the last line of defense for justice. Huawei has confidence in the independence and integrity of the U.S. judicial system. We hope that mistakes in the NDAA can be corrected by the court,” Song added.
Glen Nager, Huawei’s lead counsel for the case, said Section 889 of the 2019 NDAAviolates the Bill of Attainder, Due Process, and Vesting Clauses of the United States Constitution. Thus the case is purely “a matter of law” as there are no facts at issue, thereby justifying the motion for a summary judgement to speed up the process.
Huawei believes that U.S. suppression of Huawei will not help make networks more secure. Huawei expects the U.S. to take the right approach and adopt honest and effective measures to enhance cybersecurity for everyone, if the U.S. government’s real goal is security.
KARACHI: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday filed a reference against Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, his seven family members and other associates pertaining to assets beyond means of income.
The bureau included names of 20 persons, including Durrani, his wife, son, four daughters, one brother and servants as accused in the reference filed in an accountability court after an inquiry which has been continued for three months and 10 days.
According to the NAB chargesheet, the accused made assets of upto Rs 1.6 billion while some properties have been sold by Durrani.
The chargesheet reveals that there are 35 vehicles and houses in illegal assets made by Durrani, adding that upto 3 tola of gold have been recovered from the locker of Durrani and expensive watches of Rs11 crore have also been recovered from the accused. According to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Durrani showed Rs11 crores of assets since 2007 to 2018.
It said that it had been told that this assets are of land, but during the investigation, Durrani revealed Rs8 crores of income.
According to the chargesheet, there are prosperities, including 11 vehicles, registered in the name of Durrani’s wife, daughters and son in Karachi and Abbtoabad, and the payment of the properties was made through servants.
The court has yet to approve the NAB reference against Agha Siraj and others for hearing. However, NAB officials had informed Sindh High Court on Wednesday that reference will be filed against Durrani and other accused on Thursday.
NAB investigation officer in progress report of the case informed the court that the NAB inquiry had unearthed 35 vehicles owned by Siraj Durrani apart of crores of rupees properties.
He said that the probe against Durrani and co-accused had been completed and evidence about illegal use of authority, illegal recruitment and other corrupt practices had been found. The bureau has also key evidence about his assets beyond known means of income, the NAB investigation officer said. The bench ordered NAB to submit report to the court on June 11 after filing reference against the provincial assembly speaker. The NAB Karachi had arrested Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani from a hotel in Islamabad in February this year.
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the federal government was not serious in running the constitutional bodies which was evident from the fact that the prime minister left National Economic Council (NEC) meeting without getting the PSDP approved and the next day the national media carried the news that the PSDP was approved.
This he said on Thursday while addressing a press conference here at Committee room of Old Assembly Building. He was flanked by Sindh PPP President Nisar Khuhro, Minister Excise Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Advisor on Information Murtaza Wahab and Advisor on Jails Aijaz jakharni.
The chief Minister said that the NEC was a 13-member constitutional body headed by the prime minister and constitutionally it has to meet twice in a year. It was first meeting of the year and the next meeting has to be convened.
Mr Shah said that the federal government presented a five-year plan in the NEC meeting and with its presentation the prime minister loudly said approved. “At this I told him that neither the plan has been shared with the province and nor comments or suggestions have been heard in the meeting how it could be approved,” he said and added that how the national issues were being handled at the federal level.
Mr Shah recalled that he had written a letter to the prime minister with the request to directed NHA to expedite work on Rs14 billion dualization of Jasmhoro-Sehwan road for which provincial government has already released its Rs7 billion share to NHA. The prime minister directed his state Minister Murad Saeed to settle the issue. When Murad Saeed came to Karachi he told me to meet him in Governor’s House. “I told him to come to the Cm House but he did not bother to visit CM House and then he was promoted as full-fledged minister, he surprised.
Talking about Karachi Circular Railways, the chief minister said that the railways authority has given undertaking to the supreme court that they would start local train within 15 days. Contrary to it the railways minister was saying that the Sindh government would operate the local train. “The railway is a federal subject and in the past it was the railways ministry which used to operate local train in the city,” he recalled and questioned that the provincial government has bogies and engines how it would operate local train.
Mr said the provincial government had been pressing the federal government to award the same concessions to KCR which it had given to Orange line in Lahore. “We are ready to launch KCR project as it was approved in CPEC projects but due to federal government’s reluctance it is still hanging in balance,” he lamented.
Talking about MQM-P Ministers, the chief minister said that one of these `sophisticated’ minister [nafees people as was commented by the prime minister] was misguiding the prime minister on legal and constitutional issues. He said that not a single penny in Karachi package has been released so far. “These nafees representatives of Karachi were deceiving their constituents,” he said.
The chief minister said that the 12 five year plan has set a target of five percent average annual growth but “I don’t think they will be able to achieve the target but I think they will not be able to achieve 4 percent target,” he said and added “this is because the prime minister do not meet with the stake holders such as provincial governments, traders, businessmen, industrialists to seek their input. Mr Shah said that he told the prime minister that he was not meeting with the chief ministers. ‘At least you are not meeting with me and even you avoid to meet me in Karachi,” he told h eprime minister.
The solution of Pakistan’s dropping down recoveries was with the Sindh government. ‘I have advised the federal government to give collection of sales tax to the provinces- yes, we are ready to start collection on behalf of the federal government and deposit it in the national exchequer but their [fed govt] policy is very simple `don’t work and do not let other work.’
The chief minister said that the federal government has already deleted on-going 36 schemes from its PSDP. These schemes include world bank assisted rehabliation of Sukkur barrage, construction of bridge on River Indus to connect Sukkur-Rohri, construction of Mirpurkhas-Umerkot section, construction of Southern bye-pass Hyderabad, rehabliation of existing Sehwan-Ratodero Carraigeway, Lining of KB Feeder to provide water to Karachi, construction of feeder canal to Mamnchar Lake and various others.
The chief minister said that the federal government has unleashed an obscure policy of PSDP in which location of the schemes was not reflected, as a result the provinces could not calculate their share. “In the last NEC meeting held in March 2018 I had raised this issue and it has been recorded in the minutes also but again has not been implemented so that the province could not raise their voice,” he said.
Mr Shah said that the federal government has refused to finance Makhi Rarash Link Canal Project for supply of water to Thar Coal. “They [fed govt] are saying that it was a province-specific or localized project- which is a big joke, this is a national project from where electricity was being produced to the entire country,” he lamented. He added that the federal government has launched a number of localized projects in South Punjab, KPK and Balochistan.
Giving a an examples, the chief minister said that the federal government has launched Dual Carriage way from Sui to Kashmore- this just touched Kashmore and could not be categorized as National Project but the federal government was financing it.
Shah said that Sindh’s overall share in the federal PSDP has remained less than 11 percent annually and now it has been reduced to 7 percent. He added that the allocation for 2019-20 was just Rs47.53 billion which constituted seven percent of the PSDP allocations.
The chief minister said that he had had a video conference with federal Minister Mr Khushro bakhtiar and told him that some important schemes of water, road network and Higher education must be included in the next PSDP. He added that the federal minister has assured him that some schemes such as Sukkur Barrage rehabilitation, Coastal Highway, S-III and some others would be included in the PSDP.
He said that bridge financing amount for urban Water Supply Scheme Nawabshah Phase-V filteration Rs299.710 million and construction of Roads in Hyderabad district under Hyderabad package Rs175.864 million must be provided to Sindh government in PSDP 2019-20. He added that work on Sukkur-Hyderabad corridor of CPEC has not been started where as multiple corridors in other provinces have been taken up. “Now the federal government was planning to take it up on BoT basis which was an injustice with the people of Sindh,” Shah said.
The chief minister said that HEC’s total on-going schemes for Sindh were 15 with a cost of Rs16.83 billion against which only Rs2.39 billion have been allocated in 2019-20.
He said that some Higher Education Commission’s schemes such as establishment of Center of art in Mehran University another scheme of Tando jam have been deleted.
Shah said that the Prime minister during his visit to Karachi on March 30, 2019 had announced a Rs162 billion package with 10 projects of public transport and seven of water and sewerage, a university at Hyderabad and RO plant for Thar for Rs1 billion. “Where are these schemes and contrary they have deleted S-III from their PSDP,” he asked from `the nafeeslog’ – the sophisticated ministers.
Mr Shah also disclosed that apart from 36 on-going schemes the federal government has also deleted another 31 new schemes from its next PSDP.
He said that in the next budget the federal government was going to imposing heavy taxes which would further increase poverty ratio in the country. “In such circumstances the provincial government has worked out a poverty reduction programme under the banners of `Peoples’ promises’ to be launched by Chairman PPP in the next budget,” he disclosed.
AIDS: Talking about outbreak of AIDS In Larkana district, the chief minister said that it was a serious issue and the provincial government had taken it seriously. “We are establishing a Endowment Fund for the purpose and have started investigations to unearth the reason of its sudden outbreak.
Mr Shah urged the media not to disclose the names of the HIV positive patients. “This attitude will lead to social problems and being a society, we should focus on their rehabilitation instead of making their lives miserable,” he said and also urged politicians to avoid doing politicize this issue.
He said it was PPP’s federal government which took revolutionary measures such as changed criteria in NFC award and also gave award, passed 18thamendment, increased salaries of government employees by 150 percent, released all political prisoners, demonstrated political tolerance, improved over all foreign policy and stabiles national economy. “Only PPP is capable to run federal government,” the chief minister concluded.
