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Karachi, Mar 26 :  Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.


Karachi, Oct 12 (PTI) Nine children, including seven girls, were killed and two others injured when a wall of a mud house near which they were playing collapsed on them in Pakistan's Sukkur district, police said. 

The incident happened Thursday at Ghulam Sarwar Shambani village. The children were aged between four and 12 years, they said. 

"An inquiry has been ordered into the matter to prevent such incidents in future," Sukkur division Commisioner Rafiq Ahmed Buriro said.

A group of 11 children was playing near the mud house when the incident took place, he said 

The two injured were rushed to a hospital and have recovered, he added.


Karachi, Sep 13: Pakistan authorities have arrested 18 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in the country's territorial waters, an official said.

The latest batch of Indian fishermen was arrested on Tuesday by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) and they will be produced before a judicial magistrate on Thursday by the Docks police, the official said.

Two fishing boats of the Indian fishermen were also seized.

They will now join hundreds of other Indian fishermen lodged in jails in Karachi before they are released either on completion of sentences or through any goodwill gesture announced by the Pakistan government.

On August 14, the Pakistan government had as a gesture of goodwill on the country's Independence Day released 26 Indian fishermen in Karachi.

Pakistan and India regularly arrest each other's fishermen who inadvertently enter into their waters. They languish in jails until they are set free on occasions.
 (PTI)

Karachi, Aug 13: At least six miners have been killed and 13 others were trapped after a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in southwestern Pakistan's Balochistan province, officials said today.

The explosion took place last evening in the mine situated in Sanjadi area, about 50 kilometres east of the provincial capital, Quetta.

Rescue workers have so far recovered the bodies of six miners while efforts are on to rescue those trapped inside the coal mine, the Balochistan Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said.

According to Deputy Commissioner Quetta, Capt (retd) Tahir Zafar Abbasi, at least 13 miners were still trapped after the underground methane gas explosion.

"According to our estimates, at least 13 miners are still trapped in a 4,000 feet deep pit inside the coal mine," Abbasi was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

Senior officials, including Balochistan's Chief Inspector of Mines, have also reached the accident site to monitor the rescue efforts, which has slowed down due to lack of electricity in the area, the report said.

"It's going to be difficult to get them (trapped miners) out as rescue work is being slowed down because there is no electricity in the area," a local engineer said.

Meanwhile, Balochistan's caretaker chief minister Alauddin Marri has expressed his sadness on the incident, and directed authorities to rescue the trapped miners.
 (PTI)

Karachi, Aug 1: Twelve religious parties, including Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-backed Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, which contested the general elections in Pakistan saw a decline in their vote share when compared with the 2013 polls, securing just over 9 per cent of the total votes polled across the country.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the highest number of votes for religious parties was cast in Punjab (2,704,856 votes) but that contributed to only 7.98 per cent of the province's overall vote bank the lowest among all other provinces in Pakistan, The Dawn reported.

The far-right groups managed to secure only 5,203,285 (9.58 per cent) of the total 54,319,922 votes polled across the country as most of them saw a decline in their vote bank when compared to the 2013 general election, the preliminary results showed.

As compared with Punjab, their performance was better in Sindh where the religious parties received 1,116,644 votes (10.57 per cent of the total votes polled), it said.

Hafiz Saeed-backed Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) had fielded 265 candidates including 13 women countrywide.

Apart from Hafiz Waleed, the other prominent AAT candidate was Saeed's son Talha Saeed who was in the run for a National Assembly seat from Sargodha. The party did not win any seat.

However, religiously-motivated groups dominated the electoral space in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where nine parties collectively secured 18.84 per cent of the votes polled, followed by Balochistan 16.78 per cent, The Dawn reported.

The recently revived Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) an alliance of various religious parties managed to secure 12 seats with 2.5 million votes for the National Assembly, it said.

Earlier in 2002, the MMA had emerged as the country's third largest party with 3.1 million votes and 59 of its candidates had won.

Similarly, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Nazryati-Pakistan just received 34,170 votes as compared with 1,030,98 votes in 2013.

Another religious party that did not leave an impact on the electoral battleground was Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (Noorani) that only got 22,918 votes in contrast to 67,966 votes in 2013, according to the ECP.

The Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen which received 41,520 votes last time got only 19,597 votes this time.

The Sunni Ittehad Council also witnessed a significant drop in its popularity as it received 5,939 votes only as compared to 37,732 votes in 2013.

On an unexpected front, the newly formed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) led by clerics of the Barelvi sect emerged as the top fifth party which received 2,234,138 votes for the National Assembly, outranking major parties like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Awami National Party among others.

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf emerged as the single largest party in the general elections held on July 25, winning 116 National Assembly seats out of the contested 270 parliamentary constituencies.
 (PTI)

Karachi, Jul 27: Political analysts in Pakistan fear choppy waters lie ahead for the politics in the country with several political heavyweights who have suffered defeat in their strongholds likely to band together amid allegations of rigging in the General elections.

The elections in Pakistan have produced some stunning upset results and many of the political parties who have suffered reversals continue to cry foul over the way the votes were counted and announced after long delays.

According to the unofficial results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) so far, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has won the majority seats (119) in the National Assembly to form the next government while a number of seasoned politicians suffered defeat in their traditional strongholds.

"The next few days will be critical for Pakistan politics. Because if the political parties who have come second best to PTI get together and launch a combined protest over the results, it could be a big challenge for Khan and his party, analyst Omair Alavi said.

The PML-N has already rejected the election results despite securing a respectable 122 seats in the Punjab assembly and another 68 in the national assembly until Thursday evening.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parliamentarians are also crying foul particularly after their Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto lost in one of their safest constituencies, Lyari area of Karachi to a PTI candidate.

Religious parties like the Jamiat Ulema Islam (Maulana Fazlur Rehman), the Khadim Hussain Shah led Tehreek-e-Labaik have also alleged foul play in the counting of votes and have threatened agitation.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman an arch-rival of Khan and seasoned politician who also lost out in the elections has announced he will be inviting all parties for a conference soon to discuss the election results.

Bilawal Bhutto who also lost on a seat from Malakand in the KPK province but managed to win in his ancestral Larkana constituency on Thursday to enter the parliament for the first time said there was a clear conspiracy to ensure he lost on all three seats.

"Our party leadership will convene on Friday to discuss the situation and announce our next step, Bilawal said after finishing behind the PTI and Pakistan Tehreek Labaik candidates in the final vote count.

Lyari has always been considered one of the safest constituencies for the PPP with slain former prime minister, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and before her other party leaders always winning from Lyari so Bilawal's defeat has shocked many.

PPP workers and leaders also held a protest outside the Karachi Press Club rejecting the election results while the Mutthaida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan leaders, Dr Farooq Sattar and Khalid Maqbool travelled to Islamabad to echo their grievances with the election commission of Pakistan.

Sattar a senior leader of the MQM also lost in the elections from his home constituency to PTI candidate Aamir Liaquat Hussain while the MQM Pakistan suffered a major reversal when their candidate lost in the constituency that also covers the MQM 90 headquarters in Azizabad.

Sattar and Maqbool claimed that the results were engineered after polling ended and would ask for a recount of all polling stations where the MQM candidates contested.

But many political analysts were not even giving MQM Pakistan a chance of winning the six NA seats after the party split into two groups last year due to the ban on founder, Altaf Hussain who remains exiled in London.

The MQM Pakistan's six NA and seven Sindh Assembly seats from Karachi are a far cry from previous elections when the MQM candidates used to sweep the NA and PA seats from the metropolitan city by big margins.

Sattar who usually garnered over a 100 thousand votes from his home constituency in Karachi in previous elections on Wednesday managed to secure just 36,000 votes which he says is unthinkable and hard to accept while his rival, Aamir Liaquat got around 56,000 votes.

Another splinter group of the Altaf Hussain led MQM, the PSP anchored by former Karachi Mayor, Mustafa Kamal also failed to win any seats from the city.

More astounding has been the poor results produced by religious parties in Wednesday's elections namely the Tehreek Labbaik (TLP), the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq party an electoral platform for the outlawed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Hafiz Saeed's political front Milli Muslim League (MML) and the five party religious alliance, Mutthaida Majlis Amal (MMA) which comprised of the Jamaat-e-Islami, JUI F and others.

The MMA has managed some nine seats in the NA in the unofficial results but their performance in the four provincial assembly elections is not encouraging while the other religious platform candidates were blown away.

The TLP is the same party which last year brought Islamabad to a halt when they staged a long sit-in over the Khatam-e-Nabuwat law.

Interestingly, the PML N, PTI and PPPP had all assured support to Auranzeb Farooqi, a senior leader of the Rah-i-Haq party in the constituency he was contesting from in Karachi.

The Rah-i-Haq party is seen as an offshoot of the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba party with Farooqi still facing number of cases.

TLP founder, Khadim Hussain Shah had promised big surprises and upsets in the elections in Karachi but this didn't happen and this has left the party even threatening street protests.

A political science professor, Dr Anwari Aziz, said the outcome of the elections showed that the common Pakistan voter did not have enough trust in the religious outfits and parties to vote them into power.

In a way it is a very positive message sent out by Pakistan voters that they want peace and are peace loving people, she said.

She noted that the international media and community had generally expressed concern over some outlawed extremist figures being allowed to contest the elections.

A TLP leader, who requested not to be named, admits that they have learnt the hard way from the election that they need to properly mobilize their general work force and resources in the country.
 (PTI)

Karachi, Jul 7 : 
 Several religious ultra-right and right-wing extremist groups have fielded their candidates for the July 25 general election in Pakistan, raising the stakes for democratic and liberal forces in the country, a leading newspaper said in an editorial.

Two newly-formed ultra-right religious parties, the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan and the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek have fielded more than 200 candidates for the National Assembly seats from all four provinces in the country.

The Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT), said to be the latest incarnation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, has filed nominations for 50 National Assembly seats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa provinces.

Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-linked Milli Muslim League is also contesting the election under the banner of AAT after the election commission dismissed a plea to register it as a political party.

The Dawn newspaper in its editorial has noted that while several mainstream political parties have been subjected to exceptional scrutiny and several mainstream politicians have struggled to get their names on a ballot paper, the new ultra-right religious crop has virtually faced no public scrutiny.

The mainstream religious parties have formed the Mutthaida Majlis Amal (MMA) platform from will be contesting election.

The 'Dawn' editorial says the normalisation of the religious far-right and right-wing extremist groups in national politics ought to be of a great concern to all right-thinking and democratic citizens of Pakistan.

"It is not clear if a so-called policy of mainstreaming of militant groups is being surreptitiously foisted on a largely unsuspecting electorate or if the religious far-right and militant groups have themselves identified a political opening of a lifetime." the editorial said.

The editorial said that the right of individuals to participate in an election, as candidates or voters, must not be limited or infringed upon unless there is a compelling legal reason or judicial verdict declaring otherwise.

However, all candidates should be required to renounce violence and pledge their support for a democratic, constitutional form of government, it said.

But the rhetoric of the far right can often be considered hate speech, an incitement to violence and an attempt to spread sectarian discord. When it comes to groups with an external militant orientation, participation in the general election could leave Pakistan on the wrong side of international law and a global consensus against militancy, the editorial said.PTI

Karachi, Jul 5: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has said that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif tried to improve the Indo-Pak relations but the "aggressive anti-Pakistan posture" of the Indian government resulted in the current stalemate between the two neighbours.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief, whose party appears to be gaining ground ahead of the July 25 elections, also said that the key to the Prime Minister House lies in understanding the country's complex political realities.

"Sharif tried his best (to mend relations with India)," Khan told the Dawn newspaper in an interview.

"Sharif tried everything, even personal (gestures) like calling him (Narendra Modi) over to his house. No one got in his way. But I think it is the policy of the Narendra Modi government to try and isolate Pakistan. They have a very aggressive anti-Pakistan posture...What can one do in the face of this attitude?" the 65-year-old leader added.

Prime Minister Modi visited Pakistan in December 2015 but the terror attacks by Pakistan-based militants in Pathankot in January 2016 and then in Uri in September strained the ties between the two countries.

Commenting on the military's influence in Pakistan's foreign policy, Khan said, "The army will get involved where there are security situations. If you look at the US policy in Afghanistan, a lot of the US-Afghan policy was influenced by Pentagon. Even when (President) Barack Obama did not want to continue the war in Afghanistan, he did it because he was convinced by Pentagon."

Pakistan's powerful military has always played a crucial role in the country's politics. The army has ruled Pakistan for more than 33 years of the country's 70-year history.

"We have had military influence on politics in Pakistan because we have had the worst political governments. I am not saying it is justified but where there is a vacuum, something will fill it," he said.

Khan said that under crooked and corrupt governments, people welcome the military with open arms, and cited the example of a bloodless coup by the then army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf in 1999 when people celebrated the ouster of the Sharif government by the military.

Talking about the importance of manpower and financial resources for a successful election campaign, Khan said, "This is not Europe, where all you need to do is tell people what you stand for and they will go out and vote for you. In Pakistan, you need money and thousands of trained polling agents who can bring out people on the day of election. If you do not have those workers, you cannot contest the election."

The PTI chief said though he is more "more optimistic" than have been in his 22 years in politics, he cannot vouch for each of the near 700 national and provincial-level candidates his party has fielded to contest the upcoming elections, he is playing with what exists in Pakistan's political class.

"You contest elections to win. You don't contest elections to be a good boy. I want to win. I am fighting elections in Pakistan, not Europe. I can't import European politicians, he said.
 (PTI)

Karachi, Jun 30: In a first, a Sikh man has been hired as an anchor by a news channel in Pakistan.

Harmeet Singh, who is a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province's Chakesar city, has joined the Public News channel.

The official handle of the media house posted a video of Singh on twitter and captioned, "Pakistan's 1st Sikh News Anchor Harmeet Singh only on #PublicNews."

Recently, Manmeet Kaur had become the first female Sikh reporter in Pakistan.

"I was always interested in the thriving media industry in Pakistan," Singh said.

"I didn't use any religion card to gain access in the media industry. I worked hard and did a lot of work before I got any recognition," he added.

Media veteran Yousaf Baig Mirza, who heads the Public News channel, said Singh was chosen as newscaster due to his flamboyant looks and voice pitch.

Singh completed his masters in journalism from Federal Urdu University Karachi. He started his media carrier as a reporter.

Though the immediate family of Singh is based in Pakistan, his extended family members keep on visiting from India.
 (PTI)


Karachi, Jan 22:  The top Pakistani authrities have decided to arrest Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwar in in connection with the Naqeebullah Mehsud extra-judicial murder. 
A meeting presided over by Counter-terrorism Department (CTD) Additonal Inspector General (IG) Sanaullah Abbasis on Sunday took the decision to this effect.
Mehsud was gunned down last week in Karachi by Rao Anwar-led police over alleged terror activities however, preliminary probe revealed that Mehsud was killed in cold blood and had no terror links.
Sindh Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP) sacked Malir SSP following the incident and reportedly, authorities have moved to arrest the alleged perpetrator.
CTD Additonal IG-led meeting agreed to arrest Anwar and the personnel involved and transfer Station House Officers (SHO) of District Malir.
The meeting resolved to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) against the suspended officer and the personnel involved. Reportedly, the meeting decided to have Investigation Wing Superintendent of Police (SP) Abid Qaimkhani lead the probe.
On the other hand, forensic tests of the weapons that Anwar claimed to have seized from Mehsud’s possession reveal that the weaponry was never used.
Reportedly, Rao Anwar has denied to appear before the inquiry committee and refuted the news that three police have recorded their statements against him.
In what came as an important development in slain Najeeb’s case, an imprisoned operative of an outlawed organisation denied knowing the person.
CTD Additional IG Abbasi and East Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sultan Khawaja among four members of the probe committee recorded Qari Ahsan’s statement in Central Jail. UNI


Karachi, Jan 20: Police said here today that seventeen Indian fishermen have been arrested for allegedly fishing in Pakistani waters.
A court here remanded them to custody on Saturday.
"These fishermen were handed over to us by the Maritime Security last night for further legal process," he said, adding that most of the fishermen belonged to Gujarat.
The arrests come after the release of 145 Indian fishermen on December 28.
An official of the Pakistan Maritime Security Force said that since late November the number of Indian fishermen detained for fishing in Pakistani waters was around 185.
A total of 438 Indian fishermen were released in 12 days time in December 2016-January 2017 by the Pakistani authorities from the Landhi and Malir jails in Karachi.
Pakistan and India frequently arrest fishermen as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in the Arabian Sea and these fishermen do not have boats equipped with the technology to know their precise location. UNI


Karachi, Dec 29: A prominent Baloch leader Hyrbyair Marri has claimed that the Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav was never arrested from his province and actually he was abducted from Iran by the Pakistani state-sponsored religious proxies and handed over to Pakistani forces.
"The Indian citizen Jadhav was never arrested from Balochistan. He was, in fact, abducted from Iran by Pakistani state-sponsored religious proxies and handed over to Pakistani forces. There have been numerous such incidents in the past where religious extremists abducted Baloch refugees in Afghanistan or on their way to Afghanistan and sold them to ISI and army," said Marri.
"In the late 70s and the 80s element of Pakistan-backed Taliban killed innocent Marri Baloch refugees, severed their heads from the body and took pictures to get head money from ISI and the Pakistani army," he added.
"If Pakistan can disrespect an elderly woman who travelled from India to visit her son then it should not need rocket science to imagine what the Baloch prisoners, including women and children, go through at Pakistan army's secret and illegal detention centres," Marri said.
Underscoring the existence of the secret torture cells in Pakistan, Marri said, "Even a Pakistani Senator Farhatullah Babar recently said that "there were secret torture cells operating throughout the Pakistan." 
The Pakistani media quoted him as saying, "no one, including Parliament and Supreme Court, knows about how many such torture cells are present, the number of people that are present there and the number of people that have died during interrogation. UNI

Karachi, Nov 13: Former Pakistan President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has claimed that his 23-party alliance can beat PPP in Sindh and PML-N in Punjab in next general elections, Samaa News reported. This he said in a video message. The former military ruler was of the view that Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) attempted to form an ‘unnatural’ alliance. Musharraf maintained that he was worried about people of Pakistan, claiming that he has no sympathy with MQM. “I think about the welfare of Muhajirs, not the MQM. I don’t consider myself the leader of one community only,” he added.
On Friday, Musharraf announced the formation of a 23-party alliance under the umbrella of ‘Pakistan Awami Ittehad’ and ‘invited’ the MQM-P and the PSP to join him. UNI

Karachi, Oct 25: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday charged that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari was chief of a Mafia syndicate in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, he said reforms couldn't be carried out without "bringing the PPP leader to justice," The News International reported. Khan said there was not a single institution in Sindh province which is not under Zardari’s influence. “Recruitment, postings, transfers and approval of funds could not be carried out without Zardari’s consent," he added. PTI chief called on the National Accountability Chairman to launch an investigation to identify who was sending the stolen money abroad. UNI

Islamabad/Karachi, Oct 21: A 26-year-old Pakistani woman journalist Zeenat Shahzadi, who was allegedly kidnapped while pursuing the case of an Indian engineer two years ago has been rescued, local media reports said here. Ms Shahzadi had filed an application with Pakistan's Supreme Court's Human Rights Cell on behalf of Fauzia Ansari, the mother of Indian national and a Mumbai resident Hamid Ansari. Ms Shahzadi, a journalist with daily 'Nai Khaber' reportedly had gone went missing on August 19, 2015, when some unidentified men allegedly kidnapped her from a locality of Lahore. She is said to have been working on the case of Indian citizen Hamid Ansari. Reports further said Mr Ansari went missing in Pakistan in November 2012. "Zeenat Shahzadi today has been reunited with her family in Lahore and we are happy for her safe recovery. I am thrilled that she is home safe," rights activist Beena Sarwar said. Ansari was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by a military court on charges of illegally entering Pakistan. He is still in jail. The rights activists in Pakistan, reports said, have demanded release of Ansari stating he has already served his sentence. UNI

Karachi, Sep 4: Karachi Police today claimed to have killed four terrorists affiliated to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Swat involved in the attack on Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai. According to a report in "The News International" today, SSP Malir Rao Anwar claimed terrorist Khursheed was cousin of TTP Chief Mullah Fazlullah and was involved in attack on Malala and Pakistan Army officials. Khursheed was also the culprit of bomb attack on Karachi’s Quaidabad police, the police officer said. The militants killed in the gunfight were affiliated to TTP Swat faction, Rao said and added that the exchange of fire with militants took place in Sadaf Society near Quetta Town. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, who is known for human rights advocacy, especially education of women in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending schools, was injured on 9 October 2012 by a Taliban gunmen when she was returning home from school. Malala’s advocacy has grown into an international movement. Taliban militants had said that they attacked the girl for her pro-peace, anti-Taliban and ‘secular’ agenda UNI