It seems that the government and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) have become even more resolute against all types of crime and militancy in the country. There are clear indications that decisive action is being taken against miscreants without bowing to any political pressure. The resolve was reiterated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday when he was given a briefing by the Rangers about the law and order situation in Karachi. The manner in which…
Posts published in “Day: March 27, 2015”
Karachi stands on the very brink of a precipice – a steep and particularly dangerous precipice. The time has come when we wait to see whether it will be able to stay on. We certainly hope it can be saved from a plunge into a new orgy of violence. With the two sides battling it out in Karachi now clearly defined, there is a real risk of this. This battle needs to be averted. Its…
by Mazhar Abbas in The News, March 27th, 2015 The longest serving Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad must have read the “writing on the wall.” Will he step down on his own or await Islamabad’s orders? The key question is that how such a powerful governor suddenly lost the confidence of the state. Was the decision not to hold a meeting at the Governor’s House or the Chief Minister’s House taken by the prime minister?…
The writer is a doctoral researcher at the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham. Sindh is a land of Sufis where people belonging to all religions have lived in harmony for centuries. Jhoolay Laal or Laal Shahbaz Qalander of Sehwan is respected by Hindus and Muslims alike. Both throng the shrine of Qalander annualy for his urs. The recent attack on an Imambargah in Shikarpur may have shocked many due to the pluralistic and…
KARACHI: There is a fundamental difference in the understanding of the concept of a university by the West and in our part of the world wherebyin the West it is not meant for ideological indoctrination, said Dr Syed Nomanul Haq in his talk at the University of Karachi on Thursday. He was giving a lecture on the `Study oftheEarlyIslamicHistory:Methodology of Research and Teaching in Western Academia` organised by the faculty of social sciences as part…
ISLAMABAD – Three months after civil and military leadership joined hands to purge the country of religious seminaries involved in spreading sectarian hatred or having links with terrorists, the National Assembly was informed Thursday that about zero progress made so far regarding registration of unregistered seminaries across the country. MNA Dr Fauzia Hameed got no answer from Minister of State for Religious Affairs Pir Aminul Hasnat Shah when she asked him about the progress made…
PESHAWAR: An unknown assailant shot dead a traffic police official while he was on duty near Marchako Mandi area in Peshawar city on Thursday. An official of Faqirabad police station said that ASI Mohammad Fayaz was on a routine duty when an unidentified armed man opened fire on him with a pistol. He breathed his last on way to the Lady Reading Hospital. The official said that the ASI had no enmity and seemed to…
QUETTA: At least five police personnel, including two officers, were gunned down by suspected militants in Makhtar area of Loralai district, some 350km northeast of here, on Thursday night. Sources said Rara-Sharam’s Station House Officer Tahir Shah was going to Punjab in a passenger coach when armed men killed him after ordering him out of the vehicle. Personnel of Frontier Corps, along with a heavy contingent of police, launched an operation to arrest the assailants.…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2015. GILGIT: A four-year old ban on the trade of gemstones in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) was lifted on Thursday, restoring the income of nearly 10,000 families associated with the sector. The directives came from Chief Secretary Sikandar Sultan, overturning the ban which was imposed by the previous government on the recommendations of the bureaucracy “in order to streamline the trade” by forming mining laws. The mining laws,…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2015. GILGIT: Two policemen were shot dead Thursday evening in Skwar, in the suburbs of Gilgit city. According to the police, Hussain Iqbal and Manzoom Hussain were killed around 6pm when armed men attacked them and fled. The policemen were not in the uniform when they were shot and killed, said an officer. Preliminary investigations reveal the two officers might have been killed over personal enmity.…
Karachi operation: EDITORIAL in Dawn, March 27th, 2015
A YEAR and a half since the so-called Karachi operation against militant and criminal elements in the provincial capital was first approved by the federal government, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once again huddled with the senior-most military commanders in the city on Wednesday.The outcome: a new, wider and, possibly, even more intense, crackdown on militant and criminal elements is to begin.To the extent that the political and military leadership has reiterated a collective resolve to…