By Ed Vulliamy in The Observer, Mar 15, 2015 Pakistan is preparing to execute a man convicted over a murder committed when he was 14, in a move likely to provoke a storm of international anger. A juvenile cannot face the death penalty in Pakistan, but a so-called “black warrant” ordering the imminent hanging of Shafqat Hussain was announced suddenly last week, overturning government pledges to examine his case and age – in defiance of…
Posts published in “Day: March 15, 2015”
LAHORE: Ten people were killed and 50 others injured in twin blasts in two churches in the Youhanabad area of Lahore on Sunday, Express News reported. According to initial reports, it was a suicide blast. Rescue teams and security officials have reached the site of the blast.http://tribune.com.pk/story/853616/blast-heard-in-lahore-2/ One killed, four injured in Karachi explosion: report in The News, Mar 15, 2015 KARACHI: A man was killed and four others sustained injuries in an explosion in…
The military operation against militants in the restive tribal areas seems to have entered the decisive phase as the army and air force jointly continue striking the hideouts of the terrorists. The other day, the Pakistan Air Force fighter jets pounded areas in the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency and killed 48 militants. The army has stood resolute against the enemy and intensified its offensive against all militant groups without the discrimination of good or…
CLAIMS that a breakaway faction of the banned TTP, the Jamaatul Ahrar, led by Omar Khalid Khorasani, has rejoined the original umbrella organisation, the TTP led by Mullah Fazlullah, and that a third militant outfit, Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-i-Islam, has also joined forces have come as no surprise. The new pact formalises what had been an informal working arrangement in place for a while, including the sharing of suicide bombers for each others’ operations. Neither is…
BANNU / PESHAWAR: About 2,500 families displaced from South Waziristan almost five years ago will return to their homes in the first phase of the repatriation process starting from March 16 (tomorrow). Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan announced the process of phased repatriation on Monday at a media briefing at the Governor House along with Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Hidayatur Rehman. Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been living in makeshift camps…
Karachi- The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) today postponed the hearing of the Karachi airport attack case and reissued the arrest warrants of at least nine criminals, including Mullah Fazlullah and Shahidullah Shahid. According to the details, at least three criminals, Sarmad Siddique, Nadeem and Asif Zaheer were arrested earlier. The ATC has forwarded the cases against these criminals regarding possession of illegal weapons to the Sessions Court. They are also accused of having assisted the militants…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2015. GILGIT: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday challenged the appointments of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) governor, interim chief minister and chief election commissioner in the apex court, terming them illegal. A petition was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan by Amna Ansari and Mirza Hussain against Governor Birjis Tahir, Interim Chief Minister Sher Jahan Mir and Chief Election Commissioner Syed Tahir Ali Shah. Ansari and Hussain…
By Shabbir Mir in Express Tribune, Mar 15, 2015 GILGIT-BALTISTAN: At least five Rangers officials were injured on Sunday when suspected militants attacked a security check post near Diamer-Bhasha Dam area in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Home Secretary G-B Sibtain Ahmed said the assailants carried out the attack at 12:55am, taking benefit of darkness. “As they opened fire on the officials, the paramilitary force retaliated,” he added. Ahmed said the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital…
The Taming Of The Sharif : edit in The Nation, Mar 15, 2015
The latest Senate election offered a vital insight into Pakistan’s realpolitik: when they really want to do it, our politicians are capable of managing a constitutional crisis without giving any excuse for intervention to the judiciary, army, local terrorists, or any foreign power.The electorate’s brazenly corrupt ways, media’s wild sensationalism, Imran Khan’s naïve idealism, Zardari’s crafty vision, and Nawaz’s primitive alacrity produced gripping drama that, for once, had the happiest possible ending: the appointment of…