Day: May 20, 2023

ZHOB:A case regarding the suicide attack on the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Sirajul Haq, has been registered at the CTD police station in Zhob district of Balochistan, police said Saturday. Sources within Bomb Disposal squad revealed that two kilograms of explosives was used in the suicide attack, but the ball bearings remained intact, resulting in minimal damage.

Sources have also mentioned that a hand grenade was recovered from the scene, and the body of the deceased attacker has been shifted to the DHQ hospital. In response to the incident, the All Parties’ Action Committee has announced a complete shutdown strike for tomorrow. It is pertinent to mention here that the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Ameer Sirajul Haq barely escaped the suicide attack in which six party workers were injured.

In a tweet, the party said that Sirajul Haq was safe and that the attacker had been killed. “Sirajul Haq was present in the area to address a gathering,” the party said. Meanwhile, JI spokesperson Qaiser Sharif said a few vehicles had also been damaged in the attack. He said that the party chief had reached Quetta earlier today to address a rally in Zhob, adding that a large number of people had gathered to welcome Haq as he entered Zhob.

KARACHI:The moon of the month of Zilqad 1444 AH was not sighted so the Shawwal of month will complete its 30 days on Sunday May 21, while Monday, May 22 will be 1st of Ziqaad 1444 AH across the country. To see the moon of Zilqad 1444 AH, meetings of zonal sighting committees were held across the country including Lahore. Chairman of the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Maulana Syed Abdul Khabir Azad presided over the meeting of the Zonal Sighting Hilal Committee held in the provincial capital.

Director General Religious Affairs Punjab Asif Ali Farrukh, Deputy Director Admin Asif Ijaz, Khatib Jamia Masjid Data Darbar Mufti Muhammad Ramzan Sialvi also participated in the meeting. Mufti Muhammad Imran Hanafi, Allama Afzal Hydari, Mufti Muhammad Karim Khan, member of Ittehad-e-Bain-Muslimin Committee Punjab participated in the meeting. Hafiz Javed Shaukat along with Regional Director of Meteorological Department, SUPARCO officials also participated

Meetings of zonal sighting committees were also held in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta to see the moon of the month of Zilqad. Not a single piece of evidence of sighting of the moon of the month of Ziqad 1444 AH has been received from all over the country Chairman Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Maulana Syed Abdul Khabeer Azad officially announced during the press conference that the moon of Zilqad was not visible across the country. Tomorrow Sunday will be 30th Shawwal 1444 AH and 22nd May Monday will be 1st Zilqad 1444 AH.

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah has announced to quit his party. Addressing a news conference here in Islamabad on Saturday, he said the decision was taken in view of incidents of 9th May. PTI’s former provincial minister Dr Hisham Inamullah has also announced to quit the party.

In a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, he expressed his disgracefulness to be part of the PTI as he is saddened by the incidents of May 9 and the desecration of the martyrs’ statues. He said that in view of the current political scenario, and damages to public and private properties and military installations by violent protesters on May 9, he could not remain silent in such circumstances.

PTI leader Ajmal Wazeer has also announced to quit the party. During a news conference in Islamabad, he described unfortunate events of May 9 as major reason behind his decision of parting ways with the party.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan has held a meeting with Senator Dan Sullivan in Washington.

This was stated by the Ambassador in a tweet. They discussed ways to strengthen Pak-US relations. The ambassador said that Senator Dan Sullivan knows Pakistan and the region well, according to a Radio Pakistan’s report.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador also held a meeting with Ambassador Dan Feldman. He has held top leadership positions to lead the world on climate change as well as peace and security. They also discussed ways to work on Pak-US relations.

Gujranwala: Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastagir Khan said Saturday that once the resignations are accepted by the National Assembly, there is no clause in the constitution to withdraw them.

Addressing a press conference in Gujranwala, the minister said that it is the privilege of the National Assembly speaker to either accept or reject the resignations of house members.

The energy minister said that they always performed their democratic role. He denounced vandalism displayed by the PTI supporters following the arrest of their leader Imran Khan on May 9. He said that the PTI rioters vandalized and torched civil and military installations.

He said ‘everybody has seen the difference between those who have made Pakistan and those who have torched Pakistan’. He was of the view that political instability was harming country’s economy. He lamented that the PTI mobs set to fire motorcycles of common citizens. He rued that Imran was not ready to accept the responsibility of May 9-10 violent incidents.

The minister said that in the past only terrorists would burn schools, but this time the political miscreants torched a school in Dir. The Lahore High Court on Friday set aside decisions of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the speaker of National Assembly to accept the resignation of 72 PTI lawmakers from Punjab.

The judgement was announced by Justice Shahid Karim on the petitions filed by PTI leaders Shafqat Mahmood and Riaz Ahmad Fatyana.

The court ordered the PTI MNAs to personally appear before the speaker to withdraw their resignations and also directed the speaker to decide the matter after personally hearing each member.

The PTI lawmakers resigned en masse from the National assembly following the ouster of Imran Khan from power as a result of a no-confidence motion in April 2022.

LAHORE: Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif said Saturday that external forces are interfering in Pakistan as the want that the nation does not get relief.

“Imran Khan is being facilitated from outside Pakistan Are the financial institutions of the world not playing politics with Pakistan?” he said while addressing a news conference in Lahore. Javed declared “Those who are acting as a tool of global conspiracies do not deserve any concession.

“No one was worried when the RTS was closed in 2018. Can our loss be resolved through regret and condemnation? It cannot happen that the country is damaged by those who are playing the economy,” he stated.

“Those who damaged the public property will not be forgiven. Did the world powers write such letters before? The hands of those extending damage to Pakistan should be cut off,” he added.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly condemned storming of Al Aqsa Mosque by a member of the Israeli occupation authority and members of the Knesset under protection of Israeli occupation forces.

In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said violation of the sanctity of one of the holiest sites in Islam constitutes yet another reprehensible event in a series of escalatory Israeli actions disrespectful to religious sentiments of over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.

She said Pakistan reiterates that such acts are inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression and religion or belief of the Palestinian people, defying all humanitarian and human rights laws and norms.

RAWALPINDI: Three Army soldiers embraced martyrdom in an attack by terrorists on a newly-created check post in Zarghoon area of Balochistan, ISPR said Saturday.

According to a statement issued by the ISPR, a group of terrorists attacked a security forces’ post established Marget area of Zarghoon. The check post had recently been established to help check extortion efforts targeting coal-miners in the area.

The troops present inside the post retaliated swiftly to the terrorists’ raid, thereby repulsing their attack. In the ensuing heavy exchange of fire, however, three soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) while a terrorist was also killed by the security forces in the gun battle.

The martyred soldiers were identified as Lance Naik Abdul Qadeer, Sepoy Mudassir and Sepoy Zaheer Ahmed. The security forces did not waste time as they swung into action and cornered the fleeing terrorists in nearby mountains.

According to the ISPR, based on follow-up intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance effort, the likely hideout of the terrorists has been identified in the nearby mountains and a deliberate blocking and sanitisation operation has been launched.

At the moment, the operation was progressing well and security forces were maintaining pressure to deny terrorists any escape from the area.

Security Forces, in step with the nation, remain determined to thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Balochistan, said the ISPR statement.