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LAHORE: The PML-N has criticised the government for giving C class facilities to the party’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz in jail. The former first daughter was sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand by an accountability court last Wednesday in a money laundering case. Hitting out at the government for giving Ms Nawaz C class jail facilities, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said Maryam Nawaz’s only crime was that she secured a share in the family’s properties from her grandfather, Mian Sharif. Call it political vendetta, she said Maryam deserved B class as per jail manual, but Imran Khan’s government was usurping even legal rights of political rivals. Alleging that the government had crossed all limits in political vendetta, the spokesperson said banning home-cooked meals, changing her class and treating her like a habitual criminal would fail to weaken Maryam’s resolve. Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2mWkn6O via IFTTT

LAHORE: Nawab Town police on Sunday registered a murder case against four policemen who allegedly tortured a youth during a raid at his house in Ayub Chowk locality of Nawab Town area on Saturday night. Action was taken against Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Mohammad Younis, constables Yasir, Ansar and police van driver Arshad after scores of locals staged a protest against death of 18-year-old Ashfaq in police raid. Police torture: A product of Pakistan's authoritarian political values? The protesters blocked a road, burnt used tyres and shouted slogans against police, demanding action against the raiding team of Nawab Town police station. The situation remained tense in the area for hours as protesters refused to disperse till registration of a murder case against the policemen involved in the raid. SP denies torture allegations Senior police officers later reached the spot, held negotiations with the relatives of the deceased boy and assured them that justice would be done

ISLAMABAD: Tourist traffic at cultural sites in Pakistan has seen a massive increase of 317 per cent over the past five years with Punjab’s contribution being nearly 95pc, according to a report. The report Cultural Heritage and Museum Visits in Pakistan by Gallup Pakistan, a research organisation affiliated with Gallup International Association, indicates that tourism could be a potential game changer that could revitalise the struggling economy of the country. According to data presented in the report, available with Dawn , tourism at cultural sites has experienced a massive increase since 2014. From approximately 1.6 million visits in 2014, the tourist traffic at cultural sites rose to 6.6m visits in 2018, a 317 per cent increase in a span of five years. Punjab, as the largest and most populated province, contributed approximately 95pc whereas tourist traffic in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa fluctuated over the years. A Gallup Pakistan report indicates that tourism could be a pot

ISLAMABAD: As the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked the provincial election commissioners to update voters’ lists, the number of registered voters is likely to increase from the existing 109 million to 113m, it emerged on Sunday. A senior ECP official told Dawn that provisional electoral rolls would be published and displayed at the union council level in November to invite objections in view of the upcoming local government polls in the provinces. He said he expected an increase of four million voters in the updated lists. The voters, he added, would be given three weeks to check the provisional lists for corrections. The official said the term of local bodies in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had expired on Jan 27 and Aug 28, respectively. He said the KP Assembly had enacted a new local government law and was in the process of making rules. He said that after the issuance of a notification in this regard, the process of delimitation would commence in the provinc

MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit the southern Mirpur district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday (today) to express solidarity with the victims of the earthquake that hit the lakeside city and its adjoining areas on Tuesday, officials said on Sunday. The prime minister would be given a briefing on losses as well as rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the AJK officials at the helipad following which he would drive to the divisional headquarters hospital to inquire after the health of some of the survivors being treated there, said Chaudhry Mohammad Tayyab, divisional commissioner of Mirpur. According to Mr Tayyab, the quake’s death toll had swelled to 40 — 38 in Mirpur district and two in the neighbouring Jhelum district of Punjab — while the number of the people with serious and minor injuries was 172 and 680, respectively, in Mirpur district. Death toll in the tragedy has risen to 40 Of the seriously injured persons, 27 were still being

ISLAMABAD: The textile industry has complained to the Prime Minister Office about ‘non-implementation’ of the export-sector support package involving subsidised gas and electricity rates and tax breaks approved by the government and called upon the federal cabinet to take up the matter at its Oct 1 meeting. In letters to various ministries and the PM Office, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) called upon the federal cabinet to “review implementation status of the decisions taken by the government”. “Very painfully and regretfully we want to highlight the two decisions of the cabinet that have not been implemented and have been scuttled in a manner whereby the purpose of the policy decisions has been defeated,” wrote APTMA chairman Syed Ali Ahsan. The special energy package of 7.5 cents per unit of electricity and $6.5 per unit of combined gas (LNG and domestic gas) and domestic gas at Rs780 per unit (million British thermal unit) was extended early this year to the e

Saudi state television is reporting that a prominent bodyguard to King Salman has been shot and killed in what authorities describe as a personal dispute. The state TV report on Sunday said Maj. Gen. Abdulaziz al-Fagham was killed in a shooting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. A one-sentence statement published by state TV on Twitter identified al-Fagham as "the bodyguard of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," the honorific given to Saudi kings. There was no further information released by state TV. The country's interior ministry also had no immediate comment. Saudis on Twitter offered condolences for al-Fagham, publishing pictures of him similarly guarding late King Abdullah. from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2mNK5ub via IFTTT