The prosecution case against the man accused of murdering five-year-old April Jones is expected to conclude later.
Prosecution in April case due to end
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City’s waste collection: a case study
LAHORE:
The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has been selected as a success story, by ISTAC (the Municipality of Istanbul), to be presented as a case study at the Solid Waste, Water and Wastewater Management Conference 2013, to be held in Turkey from May 22 to 24.
The conference has been organised by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and ISTAC in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration, the union of municipality of Turkey and various international universities. Solid waste, water and wastewater issues will be discussed in scientific presentations, training courses, private sessions, exhibitions, technical tours and the world Mayors’ Meeting.
LWMC Managing Director Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry will give a presentation on reforms in solid waste management, LWMC’s performance and future strategies regarding the introduction of integrated waste management in Lahore. LWMC’s reports, information literature and documentaries will be shared with the participants of the conference at the ISTAC kiosk. The LWMC delegation will include Workshop Manager Malik Ghayas, Operations assistant managers Ahmad Hassan, Mohsin Saboor, Sajid Riaz and Fozia Mahmood. They will attend technical training courses, exhibitions and visit offices of the ISTAC, Albayrak and Ozpak.
The conference aims to provide stakeholders around the world a platform to encourage greater coordination and collaboration between local and regional authorities, waste management professionals, researchers and civic society representatives.
“LWMC’s selection as a case study is a source of pride for us. LWMC has greatly improved its capacity and produced satisfactory results with ISTAC’s technical assistance,” said Chaudhry.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2013.
Catch me if you can: Curious case of Ali Hassan
KARACHI:
There was nothing obviously unusual about 10-year-old Ali Hassan. He wore worn-out slippers, jogging trousers and a simple T-shirt. But in reality, this boy was far from ordinary. He was the last remaining passenger on the plane. And this minor had travelled from Islamabad to Quetta without a ticket, a boarding pass or a guardian.
This story of a young boy who managed to cross multiple security checks at Islamabad International Airport and hoodwink Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) crew to find a seat on a flight to Balochistan’s capital has raised serious concerns about the safety of airports.
On the evening of May 9, PIA crew found Hassan sitting alone in the aircraft, which had just landed in Quetta.
“He didn’t have a ticket, boarding pass or parents accompanying and he kept coming up with different stories. He is a very shrewd boy,” said a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official who is linked with the case. “The way he managed to get on the aircraft leaves a big question mark about the performance of the Airport Security Force (ASF).”
According to the CCTV footage from Islamabad airport, Hassan walked to the ASF counters alone. One after another, he casually passed through all the security checks, the official said.
“When he reached the Boeing 737’s gate, the PIA crew asked him about his ticket. He said it was with his parents who were sitting somewhere inside. Our staff checked the name on the list and it was there. Apparently another boy named Ali Hassan was also on the flight,” said a PIA official.
At the Quetta airport, he was handed over to CAA officials and sent back to Islamabad on a PIA flight the next day. He was handed over to SHO Airport Police Station Malik Rafaqat but the boy has been missing since then.
“I can’t say anything on the matter right now. Just give me a day and I will come up with details,” said Rafaqat, insisting he was in Lahore on an official engagement. He didn’t say where the boy was.
A reliable source in CAA said Hassan was shifted to SOS Children’s Village, a social welfare organization that takes care of orphaned and abandoned children. But there the trail grows cold.
“We don’t have any boy by that name,” said SOS Rawalpindi’s Director Fatima. “As a matter of fact police has not shifted anyone to our facility in the past two months.”
PIA’s Quetta station officer and managers of Quetta and Islamabad airports refused to comment on the story. Islamabad’s ASF officials were also unable for comments.
A PIA spokesperson said that the fault lies with ASF, which didn’t stop the boy at the entry gate. “We accept that there might have been some oversight on our part. But it was clearly the responsibility of security officials to stop him from approaching the plane.”
Officials say the boy could have been used to see if someone can bypass the security checks. “Anyone could be behind this. They could be smugglers or terrorists. We don’t know yet,” said another airport official.
This is not the first time that poor security checks at airports have come under the spotlight. In 2011, a stowaway fell to death in Lahore from an aircraft. The investigations into that case were never completed. More recently, Shahrukh Jatoi, the main accused in the Shahzeb murder case, also breezed through airport security when leaving Karachi for Dubai. He was on the Exit Control List at the time.
The recent incident has again forced the Ministry of Defence to constitute a high level committee led by Additional Secretary Muhammad Iftikhar Mir for the investigation. The enquiry is supposed to be completed in two weeks.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2013.
Shahzeb Khan murder case: ATC given four days to re-examine Jatoi’s birth record
KARACHI:
The Sindh High Court (SHC) gave on Monday the anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of the Shahzeb Khan murder case four days to decide questions regarding the exact age of the prime suspect, Shahrukh Jatoi.
The direction was given by a bench, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, while disposing of a plea seeking a fresh inquiry into Jatoi’s age and hence granting him legal concessions under the Sindh Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000.
Shahrukh Jatoi, along with his friends Nawab Siraj Talpur, Nawab Sajjad Talpur and their servant Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, have been charged with murdering Shahzeb Khan, the 20-year-old son of a police officer, on December 25, 2012.
Since January, the Anti-Terrorism Court-III (ATC) has been holding hearings daily to conclude the trial, even though the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 says this must be done within seven days. After a special medical board’s ossification test indicated that he was above the age of 18, the court dismissed Jatoi’s plea for a separate trial from the adults accused in the case.
But Jatoi decided to challenge the trial court’s decision in the Sindh High Court. Jatoi’s lawyer, Akhtar Hussain, claimed his client had been falsely implicated in the case. He also argued that Jatoi is a minor since the National Database and Registration Authority’s B-Form, academic documents and birth certificates issued by a private hospital and a zonal municipal committee, show his date of birth as November 17, 1995.
Hussain argued that though this record was given to the medical board, it wrongly declared Jatoi an adult on the basis of admission and school leaving certificates issued by the Aitchison College, Lahore. In the light of the medical board’s faulty report, the trial court dismissed Jatoi’s plea to be tried as a minor, added Hussain. He pleaded the SHC to suspend the trial court’s order and declare Jatoi underage and hence entitled for legal concessions.
Shahzeb Khan’s family also joined the proceedings. Their lawyer Faisal Siddiqui argued that the defence had not objected to the authenticity of the suspect’s official birth record and that the medical board had correctly declared him an adult. He pleaded the court to dismiss the suspect’s plea for legal concessions.
On Monday the lawyers appearing for Jatoi, Shahzeb’s family and the prosecutor all agreed that to decide the questions regarding Jatoi’s age, the trial court should re-examine the evidence and records. With consent of all the parties, the bench directed the ATC-III to re-examine the records, including the suspect’s academic certificates, Nadra’s records, passports, report issued by the medical board and the doctors’ evidence to decide the issue of his age within four days.
Disposing of the appeal, the judges also directed the trial court not to announce its order about the issue until the final arguments in the murder trial have been completed.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2013.
Footballer assault case dismissed
Liverpool footballer Raheem Sterling has a charge of common assault dropped after a witness fails to turn up to court.
Benazir murder case: Pervez Musharraf granted bail
RAWALPINDI: Former dictator and arrested suspect Pervez Musharraf was granted bail in the Benazir Bhutto murder case, reported Express News on Monday.
The court ordered Musharraf to submit two surety bonds of Rs 1 million each even though the FIA prosecutor suggested that Musharraf should be made to pay Rs 1 billion for the bail.
Musharraf’s lawyers argued that this was a political case and the responsibility of Benazir’s security lay with the officers on duty, not Musharraf.
Another arrested suspect in the case Abdur Rasheed Turabi was denied bail by the court.
Pervez Musarraf is now at the centre of two cases, the illegal disposition of judges’ case and the Akbar Bugti case.
Musharraf’s lawyers plan to apply for bail in the judges’ detention case on May 22.
Murder case: Brother and sister let off by complainants
LAHORE:
A brother and sister who allegedly bludgeoned a man to death have been acquitted of murder charges after the family of the victim forgave them.
Muhammad Tanveer, the complainant in the case and son of the victim Bashir Ahmed, Saleha Bibi, the victim’s wife, and Ahmed’s sons and daughters Muhammad Maqbool, Saeed Ahmed, Mumtaz Bibi, Shehbaz Bibi and Saima Bibi submitted a written statement saying they forgave the accused “in the name of Allah without taking any diyat”.
According to the prosecution, on May 28, 2010, Muhammad Tanveer demanded that Muhammad Asif, who lived in his house on rent, return him Rs20,000 that he had lent him earlier. An argument ensued and Asif and his sister Mehwish Bibi began beating Tanveer with clubs. Bashir Ahmed, Tanveer’s father, tried to stop them but Asif and Mehwish attacked him too, according to the complainant.
Ahmed was badly injured and later died in a hospital. Tanveer lodged a murder complaint against Asif and Mehwish at Factory Area police station.
On Saturday, after the family of the deceased forgave them, Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Tariq Javed acquitted the defendants. Mehwish had been on bail while Asif had been in jail.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.
Judges’ detention case: ATC extends Musharraf’s remand for 14 days
ISLAMABAD:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday extended the judicial remand of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for another 14 days in the judges’ detention case.
During the hearing on Saturday, the investigation officer in the case informed the ATC that police had appointed Malik Amir Nadeem as the new prosecutor in the case after his predecessor, Syed Muhammad Tayyab, disassociated himself from the case.
Musharraf’s counsel Advocate Ilyas Siddiqui pointed out that the main complainant, Advocate Chaudhry Aslam Ghuman, had also disassociated himself from the case. However, he had not submitted a written statement before the court regarding his decision. Ghuman said that he has made the decision “in the interest of the country”.
Nadeem requested the court to grant him extra time so he could prepare the case.
Meanwhile, the ATC extended the judicial remand for another two weeks and adjourned the proceedings till June 1. The hearing of the former president’s bail plea was adjourned till May 22.
Musharraf’s counsel had earlier submitted the bail application requesting bail for his client. He had argued that a terrorism charge inserted by the Islamabad High Court did not apply in the judges’ detention case.
The police have yet to submit a complete challan in this case as the statements of judges who were detained in November 2007 under the emergency is essential for further proceedings.
The SHO of the secretariat police station had approached the Supreme Court registrar in this regard. However, the registrar did not give a positive response. “The statements of the victims are essential, otherwise the challan remains incomplete,” said a police official.
On April 20, the ATC had sent Musharraf on judicial remand for 14 days after Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had rejected his bail and ordered his arrest. Later, the Islamabad chief commissioner had declared Musharraf’s farm house a sub-jail.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.
Case Registered: Police doubt robbery-murder complaint
FAISALABAD:
The family’s account of the death of a seventy-year-old man ostensibly killed during a robbery in Hajiabad on Friday night could be an attempt to hide the truth, police said on Saturday.
Mureed Wala SHO Inspector Ali Akhtar said the police were informed that unidentified robbers had broken into the house of Muhammad Afzal and had killed him. He said, “A police team reached the scene and found Afzal dead. They noticed that he had been gagged.”
Akhtar said, “It was learnt during questioning that Afzal, his wife and daughter-in-law were sleeping inside the house. Afzal’s son, Amjad, 29, was sleeping on the roof.”
He said according to the family’s account, the robbers entered the house, killed Afzal and took away some valuables but Amjad and his wife remained unaware of the crime.
“Also the robbery reportedly took place at around 11pm but the police were not informed until Saturday morning,” he said.
He said no valuables were missing from the house. He said the police suspected that the deceased was killed before his mouth was taped. The SHO said the robbery complaint might be a ruse to divert police’s attention from facts about the murder. “Police have registered an FIR against four unidentified suspects under Sections 302 and 34 [murder, conspiracy] of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC),” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.
RPPs case: Raja Pervaiz denies receiving kickbacks
ISLAMABAD:
Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf appeared before the National Accountability Bureau on Friday over allegations that he had accepted kickbacks in Rental Power Projects (RPPs), while serving as minister for water and power.
In the questioning session which lasted 30 minutes, the former premier denied allegations against him. Taking an offensive stance, he told the investigating officers that the allegations levelled against him were without any concrete evidence and had damaged his reputation.
“The former premier denied receiving any kickbacks in the rental power projects,” said a NAB official. The NAB investigators had earlier summoned Ashraf to appear before the bureau on Tuesday over the Naudero II Rental Power plant, one of the 12 RPPs, which he failed to comply citing ill health as a reason.
Ashraf, as the minister for water and power, was accused of accepting kickbacks in awarding the 50 MW Naudero II project contract to a foreign company which failed to produce electricity for the government to purchase.
“Enough evidence against the accused was necessary to file references in the accountability court otherwise the chances of conviction were slim,” said a NAB official who added that at least 70% evidence was mandatory to get a conviction against an accused in the court which was still unavailable to investigating team.
However, Ashraf along with all other accused in the case were barred from leaving the country. Their names were put on Exit Control List. NAB were required to complete investigations against Ashraf and co-accused prior to May 27—deadline given to the bureau by Supreme Court for completing the probe and filing references against the accused in the accountability courts.
Ashraf was accused of receiving kickbacks from several foreign companies for rental power projects disregarding the fact that the power plants would sell expensive electricity to the government. Against the rules, the former minister also recommended release of advance money to the plants which was materialised after a heads up from the former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Following investigations, the NAB estimated that the RPPs owed Rs22 billion to the government besides damages. The NAB managed to recover Rs5 billion of the amount while the rest was still unpaid.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2013.