Four police officials suspended in rape case

RAWALPINDI: Four police officials, including Bahria Town check post in-charge, were suspended and departmental inquiry was ordered following complaint by a victim who alleged that she had been raped by a police official.

The City Police Officer has chargesheeted the SHO Rawat for his negligence regarding to keep a check on activities of the Bahria Town check post staff.

The suspension of the police officials came after the victim knocked the door of the court of law and filed a petition seeking justice as she was unable to get justice from the police.

Police spokesman said the City Police Officer has taken notice of the complaint regarding allegations leveled by the woman against the policemen and suspended the officials.

On the request of the petitioner, the SDPO Saddar Division has already been conducting an inquiry into the allegations, said the police.

In the light of the inquiry report, if the allegations of the petitioner proved, strict departmental action will be taken in accordance with the law, said the spokesman.

The victim alleged that she had been abducted and subjected to sexual assault allegedly by the police official who also made her video.

Source: Dawn

Alleged rapist, killer of minor girl nabbed

TAXILA: The Attock police on Thursday claimed to have arrested a youth who allegedly raped, killed and later dumped the body of a two-year-old girl in Ahmedal area of Pindigheb.

Subdivisional Police Officer (SDPO) Pindigheb circle Zanaib Ayub told a press conference that Nadia Bibi went missing under mysterious circumstances on November 24 from her tent where her family members from Kurram district of KP lived and worked as labourers.

Later, the sexually assaulted and strangled body of the girl was found from a nearby pond. The police collected DNA of suspects and sent them to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency Lahore for cross-matching.

The SDPO said the suspect, identified as Sadqat Khan, 18, was arrested when his DNA matched with that of the victim. She said during interrogation, the suspect confessed to raping, strangling the girl to death and later throwing her body into the pond.

Meanwhile, the Fatehjang police claimed to have busted a four-member gang of motorcycle lifters.

SDPO Fatehjang circle Raja Fayyazul Haq told mediapersons that the police busted the Jehangir gang and arrested its four members – Naveed Ahmed, Mohammad Fayyaz, Shakeel Ahmed and ringleader Jehangir Khan. The police also recovered 23 motorcycles which were stolen by them from different parts of Attock.

Separately, the police arrested four drug peddlers and recovered narcotics form their possession.

Source: Dawn

Man gets 21 years in jail for torturing wife

KARACHI: A sessions’ court on Thursday awarded a collective sentence of 21-year in jail to a man for subjecting his wife to severe physical torture and taking her obscene pictures.

Aamir Baloch was found guilty of beating, torturing and burning the private parts of his wife (Asma) within the jurisdiction of New Karachi police station in November 2016.

On Thursday, the Additional District and Sessions’ Judge (Central) pronounced her verdict reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

She noted that the “prosecution produced sufficient evidence against the accused person who was unfortunately husband of the complainant/victim, but he kept merciless behaviour with his own wife and he treated the complainant/victim lesser than an animal”.

“The act of accused is so much merciless which is unbearable, as wife is the life partner of husband and our religion as well as Holy Prophet gave lesson and direction to keep the wife happy, but in present case, the accused kept her as slave”, observed the judge.

The judge further observed that “the current value of society does not allow to happen such or similar atrocities to human being. In the light of above circumstances, I have come to the conclusion that the prosecution has succeeded to prove its case against the accused beyond any shadow of doubt”.

Therefore, the judge awarded a collective sentence of 21-year and three-month imprisonment to Aamir Baloch. He was also ordered to pay Rs25,000 as compensation (Daman) to the victim.

Earlier, the state prosecutor Zabiha Khattak argued that the complainant was married and living with the accused since 14 years along with his parents. The couple has two kids.

The prosecutor added that after the passage of sometime of their marriage the accused started maltreating the complainant and in 2015, he severely maltreated her with fists, kicks and with large spoons and also confined her in the house.

She escaped many times from the house, but he retrieved her back. Now, since one and half years, her husband chained and confined her in his house and also maltreated her, stated the prosecutor.

She added that the accused also shaved her hair and eyebrows, adding that due to maltreatment she sustained internal and external injuries on her body.

“During the maltreatment, her husband also committed unnatural offence act with her and also burnt both side.

She further stated that her husband in order to fulfill his sexual desire, gave her sex medicine and also used the same. He also orders her to roam in the house without dress and also took her nude photographs”, stated the prosecutor.

The complainant also deposed that she got married with the accused on June 07, 2002 adding that after 2015 he frequently used to physically torture her.

“The accused had broken my ear bone with a water bottle. The accused had burnt me with spoons and he had also burnt my private parts”, she testified.

In his statement, recorded under the Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the accused denied the allegations and claimed that his wife had levelled false allegations against him. Therefore, he pleaded to acquit him of the false accusations.

Source: Dawn

Pakistan Single Window (PSW) launches women entrepreneurship programme

KARACHI: The Pakistan Single Window (PSW) has launched “Khadijah – The Women Entrepreneurship Programme” in Karachi. The programme aims to increase female participation in international trade through the PSW platform.

This programme builds on the ongoing efforts by the Government of Pakistan to achieve gender equality and women’s economic empowerment through greater participation of women in cross-border trade by providing effective and sustained mechanisms of trading to women entrepreneurs and traders.

This programme has been developed as a component of the Gender Action Plan developed by the PSW company with the objective to enhance the capacity of women in business and cross-border trade, to support women’s entrepreneurship development and to motivate women joining international trade-related workforce and professions.

Speaking on the occasion, CEO PSW Aftab Haider said, “Technology is lowering costs of doing business, helping SMEs and women-led businesses join the global value chains, improving standards of living for all and resulting in the economic empowerment of women and marginalized communities everywhere. We would like to leverage the PSW platform to encourage more women and women-led businesses to integrate with the international supply chain and play their part in the national development.”

The programme has targeted training and a comprehensive awareness strategy. The aim is to transfer knowledge and information to women entrepreneurs and equip them with the requisite know-how, skills, and expertise, which enables them to upscale their existing businesses for an export market and sustain and grow them over time.

At the launch of “Khadijah”, National Project Manager Reforms & Innovation in Government UNDP Pakistan, Dr Samina Taslim Zehra congratulated PSW for taking this initiative to empower women and said, “The PSW Khadijah Programme is designed professionally in a way that covers the whole business cycle including financial inclusion, technical capacity building, and social media marketing initiatives for uplifting women-led businesses.”

As a leading public sector entity, Pakistan Single Window (PSW) is committed to serving the community and society through inclusive and equitable policies and operations that support the economic growth agenda of the Government of Pakistan and are fully aligned with the United Nations ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2030. Amongst other goals, the PSW system seeks to narrow the opportunity and gender gap through a fully integrated digital system that provides women entrepreneurs with an easily accessible environment where they can transact with minimal cost and without the cost for intermediaries, and that eliminates potential gender discrimination from the cross-border trading industry of Pakistan. The PSW is the first public sector company to have conducted a gender audit of the PSW Company and one of the first public sector organizations to have signed the “Women Empowerment Principles” advocated by the UN Women. Recently the PSW launched the dedicated PSW Women Helpline to provide guidance and support to women traders already engaged in cross-border trade.

The Pakistan Single Window (PSW) is an integrated digital platform that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single-entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. It aims at reducing the time and cost of doing business by digitalizing Pakistan’s cross-border trade and eliminating paper-based manual processes. The PSW digital platform will transform the trading landscape of Pakistan. It automates and integrates cross-border trade-related procedures of Customs and other government agencies (OGAs), making trade faster, easier, and cheaper.

Source: Business Recorder

Three men ‘who gang-raped girl in DHA’ remanded in police custody

On December 15, Islamabad’s funding and propagation of terrorism came under fire from S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs (MEA), who urged Pakistan to straighten up and attempt to be a good neighbour. During a media interaction at the UN, he was responding to a query from a Pakistani reporter who had charged India with supporting terrorism.

The sharp remarks from the MEA were made in response to a statement made by Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s state minister for foreign affairs, in which she claimed that India was employing terrorists to destabilise Pakistan.

When Hillary Clinton last visited Pakistan over ten years ago, Hina Rabbani Khar was Pakistan’s foreign minister, Jaishankar said. Clinton, who was standing next to Khar, said it was impossible to have a snake in your backyard and expect it to attack your neighbour only. Ultimately, it will bite the people who keep it there, the MEA added while quoting the former US Secretary of State.

This time, the Pakistani journalist asked,  How long the South Asia is going to see this terrorism disseminating from New Delhi, Kabul and, you know, Pakistan?” “You’re asking the wrong minister when you say ‘how long will we do this’,” said Jaishankar.

Jaishankar shot back with a scathing rejoinder, saying that the world is neither stupid nor forgetful. He said that the journalist had chosen a wrong person about the duration of support for terrorism. It is the Pakistani ministers who will be able to clarify how long Pakistan plans to practise terrorism, he added.

“The world increasingly calls out countries, organisations indulging in terrorism…my advice is to clean up your act and try to be good a neighbour,” the MEA said.

Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Raja Pateria arrested over ‘ki…Many of us are experiencing brain fog as a result of COVID in the last two and a half years, Jaishankar said sarcastically. However, the world is still aware of the people whose fingerprints are on several regional and international operations, he said while making a direct reference to Pakistan’s hand in promoting terrorism.

Jaishankar earlier launched a veiled attack on Pakistan by saying that it should never be necessary to defend actions that the rest of the world deems objectionable. It also holds true for hosting Osama Bin Laden and attacking a neighbouring Parliament, neither of which may be used as justification for preaching before the UN Security Council, he added.

Source: The News