Funeral Prayers Of Maulana Saeed Today
March 12, 2010
Funeral Prayers Of Maulana Saeed Today :KARACHI: Funeral prayers of chief of Aalmi Tehreek-e-Khatm-e-Naboat Maulana Saeed Ahmed Jalalpuri, his son and two of his fellows will be offered today. The relegious scholars have appealed people to remain peaceful.
Four people, including Maulana Saeed Jalalpuri, his son, Huzaifa Jalalpuri and his two fellows, Mufti Qamar and Mufti Attiq-ur Rehman, were killed and two others were injured in Gulzar Hijri Thursday.
The supporters of Maulana Jalalpuri rushed to the hospital where the injured and bodies has been taken.
The police condoned off the area. Tension prevails in the area soon after the incident.
Maulana Jalalpuri was on the way to his home when motorcyclists started firing on his vehicle.
Pakistan Muslim League :Nawaz Wins By Poll In NA 123
March 11, 2010
Pakistan Muslim League :Nawaz Wins By Poll In NA 123:LAHORE: According to unofficial results of by polls in NA 123, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Pervaiz Malik has won the seat. The success is celebrated by PML-N workers Wednesday night.
According to sources, only 20% voters used their right to vote in NA-123. PML-N candidate received 44,300 vites whereas Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidate Hamid Meraj received 9,326 and Jamat-e-Islami candidate Hafiz Salman Butt received 2,213 votes.
On the news of success, PML-N workers gathered at Provincial Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman’s place and started dancing to celebrate their party’s success.
Meanwhile, all the routes leading to central election office of PML-N were closed down due to which people faced difficulties. At some points, residents of Lahore also got physically violent with traffic wardens.
Furthermore, PML-N candidate Azam Chila has won seat in PP-82 in Jhang with 42,147 votes whereas candidate of Pakistan Peoples Party remained on 2nd number with 30,436 votes.
Pakistan Muslim League-Zia-ul-Haq (PML-Z) candidate Shahid Anjum has won from PP-284 with more than 54,000 votes. He received around 26,000 more votes then PPP candidate.
PPP candidate Nasir Khan Jamali has won from PB-25 Balochistan with 27,316 votes. Independent candidates Atta Ullah Balidi and Mai Joori received 8,915 and 471 votes respectviely.
Balochistan:By Polls Start In Punjab
March 10, 2010
Balochistan:By Polls Start In Punjab:LAHORE: The by polls on one National Assembly and two provincial seats are being held in Punjab and Balochistan Wednesday.
The polling started at 8:00am on NA-123 Lahore, PP-82 Jhang and PP-284 Bahawalpur in Punjab and PB-25 Jaffarabad, Balochistan. The polling will continue till 5pm according to the orders of Election Commission of Pakistan.
Several political and religious parties have given tickets to their candidates in NA-123 therefore 57 candidates are in competition. Eleven candidates are in PP-82 including of Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N. Twenty candidates are in PP-284. The tough competition is among the candidates of PPP, PML-N, PML-Q and the party of Eijaz-ul Haq.
The frontier constabulary has been deployed for security purposes in PB-25 constituency.
12 Killed In Lahore Blast, TTP Claims Responsibility
March 9, 2010
12 Killed In Lahore Blast, TTP Claims Responsibility:LAHORE: The office of the Pakistan’s intelligence agency in K Block of Model Town, Lahore was targeted in a suicide car bomb blast Monday. At least 12 people including two security officials have been killed while 89 others injured in the blast, Hospital sources confirmed
The spokesman of the banned outfit Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) by phone from an unidentified location that TTP claims the responsibility for the suicide car bomb blast which killed 12 people and injured 89 others.
The FIR of the suicide car bomb blast have also been registered in Faisal town police station.
The blast was so intense that it was heard from several kilometers away from the spot whereas smoke can be seen from roofs of the houses located far away from the blast scene. The office building was totally destroyed and a deep crater is formed at the blast scene.
The area is totally residential; however, the target was FIA office located in one of the house, confirmed police sources. Windows of nearby buildings were broken by the explosion. Several people have been feared to be stuck under the rubble.
Rescue activities are underway and the security agencies have cordoned off the area. Emergency has been imposed in nearby hospitals. Jinnah Hospital, Lahore has asked people to donate blood.
DCO Lahore Sajjad Bhutta said that the nature of explosion could not be confirmed so far. He said that around 150 people work in the FIA office and around 60-70 people must have been present at the time of blast as the day was just starting. He said that more than 30% people have been evacuated and injured are being transferred to different nearby hospitals. Responding to a question about reasons of not transferring the FIA office from the residential area despite several requests from the residents, he said that appropriate security measures were taken.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the investigation team will certainly analyze that why the office was not shifted from the area if there was any security threat; however, he said that there was no such threat and the office was not dealing with anti-terrorist activities.
He said that if we talk about the treat to any government office then shifting wouldn’t help because the terrorists have even targeted mosques and markets where only innocent people have been killed. He said that more attention should be given to improve security arrangements to prevent such incidents. When asked how come so much explosive material can be transported to center of a city when all the security agencies are on high alert, he said that obviously reasons of such security lapse will be analyzed and every possible step will be taken to prevent such acts in future.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has asked IG Punjab to submit report on the blast.
the Jinnah Hospital, doctors at the hospital were observing a strike which was called off due to the emergency situation and additional medical staff was also called to handle the situation.
A suicide car bomber destroyed offices used to interrogate suspected militants in Lahore on Monday, killing up to 13 people in the latest attack on Pakistan’s cultural capital.
More than 65 were wounded as buildings collapsed after the bomber tried to ram a car packed with up to 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of explosives into the investigations unit in Pakistan’s second city.
There were scenes of panic as volunteers and rescue workers dug with bare hands under the collapsed two-storey building and a severely damaged Muslim seminary, searching for survivors amid fears the death toll could rise.
Pakistan pointed the finger at Taliban-linked militants seeking to destabilize the nuclear-armed country of 167 million. A wave of similar attacks has killed over 130 people in Lahore over the last year.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since July 2007. The attacks have been blamed on Al-Qaeda-linked militants opposed to the government’s alliance with the United States.
“We had just assembled in our classroom when it looked as if hell had broken with a huge blast,” Noor Mohammad, a student at the seminary told AFP.
A thick pall of smoke accumulated outside the window as wood panels broke into pieces, hitting and wounding students.
“There was panic as students, many of them carrying their injured friends, rushed to the exit in a bid to find a safe place,” Mohammad said.
Flying glass also injured passers-by. A woman and her daughter were among the dead in the city of eight million. The wounded civilians were mostly office workers or parents dropping their children at school.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called on members of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party in Lahore to donate blood for the wounded.
“It was a police special investigation unit that was targeted. The building was used to interrogate suspected terrorists,” Lahore city police chief Pervez Rathore told AFP.
The blast gouged a huge crater out of the ground, crumpled roofs and littered the streets with tree branches. Bulldozers and other heavy-lifting machinery worked to clear mounds of rubble, witnesses said.
Police officials said 13 people were killed and 65 wounded, but Khusro Pervez, Lahore’s top administration official, put the death toll at 12.
Eight government officials, including police, and four civilians, including a woman were among the dead, he said.
“It’s plain terrorism… the same groups which are already operating in Pakistan. It is a suicide bomb. There is ample evidence,” Pervez told AFP.
Police said 30 to 50 people were in the investigative building, used by police and intelligence agents, at the time of the attack.
“We have found the head of the suicide bomber. It was found about 500 metres away,” said Model Town police official Ayyaz Saleem.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed “hired killers who want to destabilize Pakistan” and blamed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction holed up along the northwestern border with Afghanistan.
“In almost every blast there has been TTP involvement and they themselves have also claimed responsibility for attacks,” he added.
The city’s Jinnah Hospital declared a state of emergency, straining to cope with casualties as rescuers used seismic sensors to search for survivors.
The attack follows a recent decline in violence by Islamist militants in Pakistan after a significant increase in bloodshed in late 2009.
Pakistani officials had linked the reduction to the suspected death — still not confirmed — of TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud and military offensives that have disrupted militant networks.
The military claims to have made big gains against Taliban and Al-Qaeda strongholds over the past year, launching major offensives in the northwestern district of Swat and the tribal region of South Waziristan.
Washington says militants use Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt to plot and stage attacks in Afghanistan, where more than 120,000 NATO and US troops are helping Afghan forces battle the Taliban militia.
Update:11 killed And 61 Injured In Lahore Bomb Blast
March 8, 2010
Update:11 killed And 61 Injured In Lahore Bomb Blast
:LAHORE: Office of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in K Block of Model Town, Lahore was targeted in a blast Monday. At least 11 people have been killed and 61 have been injured in the blast.
The blast was so intense that it was heard from several kilometers away from the spot whereas smoke can be seen from roofs of the houses located far away from the blast scene. The office building was totally destroyed and a deep crater is formed at the blast scene.
The area is totally residential; however, the target was FIA office located in one of the house, confirmed police sources. Windows of nearby buildings were broken by the explosion. Several people have been feared to be stuck under the rubble.
Rescue activities are underway and the security agencies have cordoned off the area. Emergency has been imposed in nearby hospitals. Jinnah Hospital, Lahore has asked people to donate blood.
DCO Lahore Sajjad Bhutta said that the nature of explosion could not be confirmed so far. He said that around 150 people work in the FIA office and around 60-70 people must have been present at the time of blast as the day was just starting. He said that more than 30% people have been evacuated and injured are being transferred to different nearby hospitals. Responding to a question about reasons of not transferring the FIA office from the residential area despite several requests from the residents, he said that appropriate security measures were taken.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the investigation team will certainly analyze that why the office was not shifted from the area if there was any security threat; however, he said that there was no such threat and the office was not dealing with anti-terrorist activities.
He said that if we talk about the treat to any government office then shifting wouldn’t help because the terrorists have even targeted mosques and markets where only innocent people have been killed. He said that more attention should be given to improve security arrangements to prevent such incidents. When asked how come so much explosive material can be transported to centre of a city when all the security agencies are on high alert, he said that obviously reasons of such security lapse will be analyzed and every possible step will be taken to prevent such acts in future.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has asked IG Punjab to submit report on the blast.
According to SAMAA representative at the Jinnah Hospital, doctors at the hospital were observing a strike which was called off due to the emergency situation and additional medical staff was also called to handle the situation.
A bomb went off in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore during the morning rush hour on Monday but there was no immediate word on the number of casualties, officials said. “There are casualties but at the moment we don’t know how many. I’m on my way,” said city government official Sajjad Bhutta.
The attack outside a federal police office bore all the hallmarks of an operation by al Qaeda-backed Pakistani Taliban militants. The blast left a huge crater in the road outside the office of the main police investigation agency, the Federal Investigation Agency, which was severely damaged.
The agency has been attacked at least twice before in Lahore.
Television showed pictures of a man covered in blood trapped in a car and passersby trying to help him out.
Zardari:Govt To Preserve Workers’ Rights
March 6, 2010
Zardari:Govt To Preserve Workers’ Rights
:KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that the government will preserve rights of working classes and it will also ensure a conducive environment for business, setting stage for another phase of prosperity and development in Pakistan.
The President Zardari was speaking at a ceremony of signing two laws to repeal the Removal from Services (Special Powers) Ordinance 2000 and amend Services Tribunal Act.
He said the laws are aimed at protecting the working classes from exploitation and arbitrary termination from service.
The Removal from Services Ordinance was a bad law as it conferred arbitrary powers on the authorities in violation of the fundamental rights of workers, he added.
President Zardari said a bad law has now been done away with and the authorities will have no arbitrary powers over the employees and labourers who will get job security.
Section 2A of the Services Tribunal Act 1973 had snatched the rights of workers to take their disputes to the Labour Courts, Labour Appellate Tribunal as well as The National Industrial Relations Commission.
He called upon all the political forces to join hands in national interest in improving the lot of the working classes and for protecting them from exploitation.
President Zardari said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had a dream for the downtrodden sections of society and he gave the philosophy of Bhuttoism.
Outlining features of the government’s industrialization policy, President Zardari said the provinces, organizations and labour will get share in new industry for providing land, basic amenities and services.
He said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto secured rights for poor, labourers and farmers, gave people the right to vote and ensured women emancipation.
“But slowly and gradually anti-Pakistan, anti-people and anti-poor elements usurped rights of the people,” he said adding change in the Services Tribunal law will restore rights of the people.
The President said vision of Benazir Bhutto, her return to Pakistan and her martyrdom was a continuation of the philosophy of Bhuttoism.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto raised her voice against the black and draconian labour laws, he pointed out.
He congratulated the Prime Minister, Labour Minister and parliament for changing the service laws.
Calling himself trustee of the philosophy of Bhutto Shaheed, he said time has arrived to return back rights to the people.
“We continue to be inspired and guided by the policy principles laid down in the manifesto by the Shaheed leaders,” he added.
He vowed that the present government would not abandon the labour, peasants and the wage earners in their just struggle.
The President said Pakistan has to move forward in a new world in which labourers and farmers are not servants but partners in agriculture and industry.
In line with the party vision, the PPP government has handed over 10 percent shares of state owned entities including OGDC and PSO to workers free of cost as their inherent right, he added.
This scheme offers stock options from 80 public sector organizations and benefits 500,000 employees.
“The government’s job is not only to keep a good balance sheet but also to work for the welfare of the people,” the President remarked.
Zardari said now the workers will be treated as partners and co-owners as envisioned in the philosophy of Bhuttoism.
Enumerating the steps taken by the government for protection of rights of the workers, he said the sacked employees were restored through legislation, anti-labour legislation IRO 2002
was replaced with a pro-labour law and trade union activities were restored The President said the government prepared plans to build 80,000 housing units for the labour, minimum wage was enhanced to 6,000 rupees per month, the workers’ share in profit was increased and marriage grants were raised and could be availed by all workers.
He said all these measures are a manifestation of conscious efforts by the present government to restore to the labour and the working classes their dignity.
A disenchanted labour was one of the causes of low productivity and industrial unrest, he observed.KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that the government will preserve rights of working classes and it will also ensure a conducive environment for business, setting stage for another phase of prosperity and development in Pakistan.
The President Zardari was speaking at a ceremony of signing two laws to repeal the Removal from Services (Special Powers) Ordinance 2000 and amend Services Tribunal Act.
He said the laws are aimed at protecting the working classes from exploitation and arbitrary termination from service.
The Removal from Services Ordinance was a bad law as it conferred arbitrary powers on the authorities in violation of the fundamental rights of workers, he added.
President Zardari said a bad law has now been done away with and the authorities will have no arbitrary powers over the employees and labourers who will get job security.
Section 2A of the Services Tribunal Act 1973 had snatched the rights of workers to take their disputes to the Labour Courts, Labour Appellate Tribunal as well as The National Industrial Relations Commission.
He called upon all the political forces to join hands in national interest in improving the lot of the working classes and for protecting them from exploitation.
President Zardari said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had a dream for the downtrodden sections of society and he gave the philosophy of Bhuttoism.
Outlining features of the government’s industrialization policy, President Zardari said the provinces, organizations and labour will get share in new industry for providing land, basic amenities and services.
He said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto secured rights for poor, labourers and farmers, gave people the right to vote and ensured women emancipation.
“But slowly and gradually anti-Pakistan, anti-people and anti-poor elements usurped rights of the people,” he said adding change in the Services Tribunal law will restore rights of the people.
The President said vision of Benazir Bhutto, her return to Pakistan and her martyrdom was a continuation of the philosophy of Bhuttoism.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto raised her voice against the black and draconian labour laws, he pointed out.
He congratulated the Prime Minister, Labour Minister and parliament for changing the service laws.
Calling himself trustee of the philosophy of Bhutto Shaheed, he said time has arrived to return back rights to the people.
“We continue to be inspired and guided by the policy principles laid down in the manifesto by the Shaheed leaders,” he added.
He vowed that the present government would not abandon the labour, peasants and the wage earners in their just struggle.
The President said Pakistan has to move forward in a new world in which labourers and farmers are not servants but partners in agriculture and industry.
In line with the party vision, the PPP government has handed over 10 percent shares of state owned entities including OGDC and PSO to workers free of cost as their inherent right, he added.
This scheme offers stock options from 80 public sector organizations and benefits 500,000 employees.
“The government’s job is not only to keep a good balance sheet but also to work for the welfare of the people,” the President remarked.
Zardari said now the workers will be treated as partners and co-owners as envisioned in the philosophy of Bhuttoism.
Enumerating the steps taken by the government for protection of rights of the workers, he said the sacked employees were restored through legislation, anti-labour legislation IRO 2002
was replaced with a pro-labour law and trade union activities were restored The President said the government prepared plans to build 80,000 housing units for the labour, minimum wage was enhanced to 6,000 rupees per month, the workers’ share in profit was increased and marriage grants were raised and could be availed by all workers.
He said all these measures are a manifestation of conscious efforts by the present government to restore to the labour and the working classes their dignity.
A disenchanted labour was one of the causes of low productivity and industrial unrest, he observed.
No Meeting Between Gilani And Dr Manmohan
March 5, 2010
No Meeting Between Gilani And Dr Manmohan:ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is unlikely to meet his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh in Washington, where they are scheduled to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 12 and 13.
Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Abdul Basit said he is unaware of any such meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the upcoming summit.
“I don’t know yet,” The Daily Times quoted Basit, as saying.
The focus of the conference hosted by President Barack Obama is on securing vulnerable nuclear materials and preventing acts of “nuclear terrorism”.
The White House has invited 44 countries to the summit, though the list of delegates has not been finalised yet.The purpose of the summit is to discuss steps we can collectively take to secure vulnerable nuclear materials and prevent acts of nuclear terrorism,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had said earlier. (ANI)
1 Soldier And 30 MiliTants Killed In Pakistan
March 4, 2010
1 Soldier And 30 MiliTants Killed In Pakistan:KHAR (AP) — Officials say Pakistani security forces have killed at least 30 militants after coming under attack in a troubled tribal region in the northwest.
Two government and security officials said Thursday one of their soldiers also died and four were wounded in the overnight gunbattle in Chamarkand area of the Mohmand region near the Afghan border.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media on the record.
The attack happened not far from the Bajur region where the military this week announced it had cleared the one-time the militant stronghold after a successful operation.
Malik:Pak Serious In Mumbai Attacks Probe
March 3, 2010
Malik:Pak Serious In Mumbai Attacks Probe:ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that his country is serious in the probe of Mumbai attacks, and welcomes Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement for good ties between the two countries.
He said this while his meeting with Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik at his residence on Wednesday. Indian minister had told in his statement that his country wanted good ties with Pakistan.
Rehman Malik and Shahid Malik discussed Mumbai attacks probe. Shahid Malik also briefed Rehman Malik on recent secretary level talks between the two countries.
Contribute a better translationRaja Takes Notice Against PML-N Of Illegal Electricity Link
March 2, 2010
Raja Takes Notice Against PML-N Of Illegal Electricity Link:LAHORE: Federal Minister for Water and Electricity Raja Pervez Ashraf, taking notice of the illegal electricity connection in the public gathering of PML-N, has ordered Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) to submit report on the issue.
Earlier, a public meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Mian Mohammed Nawaz Sharif in NA-123 constituency was provided “illegal electricity connections”, Geo news reported Monday.
According to the sources, Nawaz addressed party workers on Grand Trunk Road near University of Engineering and Technology. While Nawaz made a case for his own leadership in overcoming the problems of the common man, sources said the electricity provided to the PML-N meeting had been “stolen from WAPDA’s main line”.
Sources said that Raja Pervez Ashraf, commenting on the issue, said had a common man been found guilty of such illicit activity, the action would be prompt, but no action was taken from LESCO this time.
Punjab government spokesman Pervez Rashid refused commenting on the media’s claim.
Meanwhile, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told media that there was “nothing surprising … the matter is trivial”.
“The company that arranged the meeting is responsible for the electricity theft rather than the PML-N leadership,” he said. LESCO Chief Azhar Abbas confirmed the electricity theft, and said action would be taken according to the law.Raja Takes Notice Against PML-N Of Illegal Electricity Link
