ISLAMABAD: The lower House of the Parliament on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding an immediate halt to drone attacks on Pakistani territory. The resolution moved by Naeema Kishwar Khan and others‚ strongly condemned the US drone attacks saying these constitute violation of the principles of the Charter of United Nations‚ international laws and humanitarian norms. The Frontier Post, Daily Times, Daily Mashriq.
PESHAWAR: A radical religious scholar known as the “Father of the Taliban” has issued a fatwa urging parents to immunise their children against polio and other fatal diseases, adding that vaccinations comply with Islamic law. The edict by Maulana Samiul Haq, who heads the hardline Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqania seminary, comes more than a year after the Pakistani Taliban banned polio immunisation following a fake CIA vaccination programme meant to help track Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The ban has led to a surge in polio cases in Pakistan that threatens worldwide efforts to eradicate the infectious crippling disease, which is also endemic in Nigeria and Afghanistan. Taliban fighters have launched regular attacks on medical workers and security personnel resulting in at least 25 deaths since the June 2012 prohibition on inoculation.
But according to a statement signed by Haq and dated October 30, parents should disregard the militants’ warnings. “According to Sharia there is no harm in using vaccines which medical experts recommend to save children against deadly diseases,” the statement seen by AFP on Tuesday said. The Nation.
ISLAMABAD: A day before taking off the robe after eightyear eventful tenure as the country`s top judge, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry handed down on Tuesday two judgments, both relating to missing persons. Disposing of a case about production of 35 detainees, including Yasin Shah, who went missing in September 2011 after the army authorities had taken their custody from an internment centre in Lakki Marwat, Malakand, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice held that except for the regulations relating to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata), there was no other law which allowed security agencies to confine people without any authority. Dawn, Daily Mashriq.
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Pervez Rasheed said that PTI was putting national interest on stake to win only some seats of councilors in LB polls. Pervez Rasheed said, ‘If international aid blocked due to demonstrations against NATO supply, then demonstrators will be responsible for this act.’ He stated that Imran Khan who always talks against NATO supply in day, also has dinners with foreign diplomats at nights. The Frontier Post, Daily Times.
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said that Defence Secretary Chuk Hagel during his talks with Pakistani leadership stressed the need for keeping the ground supply routes out of Afghanistan open as American troops pullout, and a leading US newspaper, quoting officials, denied reports that he had threatened to cut-off aid if Islamabad failed to do so. The Nation.
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah has said that the visible change especially in respect of maintenance of law and order what can be witnessed both in respect of FATA and the respective settled districts of the province is a big achievement of the government institutions and now serious efforts are afoot to ensure rapid rehabilitation and accelerated development. Talking to a visiting group of participants of 14th Senior Management course, currently in progress at Karachi based National Institute of Management who called on him at Governor’s House here on Tuesday, the Governor further pointed out that indeed rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure facilities in FATA is quite a huge task and the government is doing its best to overcome it. The Frontier Post.
ISLAMABAD (INP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan is looking forward to deepening further its cooperation with its European partners in key areas including trade, investment, energy, infrastructure development, education and human resource development. European countries, as our largest trade and investment partners, enjoy a unique position in our priorities, he added. The prime minister said this while addressing the ambassadors of European countries to Pakistan at a luncheon hosted in their honour at the Prime Minister House on Tuesday. The Frontier Post, Daily Mashriq, The Nation.
BAJAUR AGENCY: Speakers at a seminar held in connection with “International Human Rights Day” on Tuesday termed that presence of Frontier Crimes Regulation, absence of fundamental rights and a proper social justice system were main hurdle in the development of Federally Administered Tribal Areas and urged the government to take speedy efforts for the provision of basic constitutional rights to the tribesmen. All Bajaur Political Parties Alliance (ABPA) organized the seminar, where leaders of various political and religious parties, tribal elders, tribesmen and a number of social activists were present. ABPA President Gull Dad Khan, Pakistan Muslim League- N MNA Shahabuddin Khan, PML-N leader Haji Rahat Yousaf, Dr Mohammad Gull Pechawal, Bajaur Social Welfare Organization President Bahadar Said, Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child Agency Coordinator Hanifullah Jan and Haji Sultan Khan Umary of PTI addressed the seminar. They said the people of tribal areas were the first class citizen of the country but they had been deprived of its fundamental rights and the rulers didn’t ready to provide basic civic rights to the tribesmen. The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: The ongoing suspension of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation`s (Nato) supplies by Pakistan Tehreelc-iInsaf in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is against Palcistan military`s interest and therefore, the military cannot afford to remain indifferent to it, according to security experts. These experts told Dawn on Tuesday that PTPs campaign against Nato supplies via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had implications for the military, harming its interest directly and indirectly alike. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Two houses were partially damaged when two improvised explosive devices went off in different areas here on Tuesday morning. The first incident took place in Wadpaga area in the limits of Chamkani police station where the explosive device was planted near the main gate of the house of Naseem Hayat, a police officer. Sources said that unidentified callers had demanded extortion from the police officer and threatened to kidnap his children if their demand was not met. Dawn, The Frontier Post.
PESHAWAR: Around 700 `missing persons` have been shifted to the notified internment centres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) during the last few months, according to a report produced in the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday. While submitting the 25-page report of the Task Force on Missing Persons to a bench comprising Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk and Justice Musarrat Hilali, Deputy Attorney General Muzamil Khan said 643 people were shifted to internment centres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 64 to such centres in tribal areas. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has invited Nigerian businessmen to invest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa`s hydel power sector, hoping it would enhance bilateral trade and business activities between Pakistan and Nigeria. In a meeting with the Nigerian High Commissioner Dauda Danladi, who visited the Chamber on Tuesday, the KPCCI leaders called for improving cooperation between the two nations by taking measures to bring businessmen of the two countries closer. Speaking on the occasion, KPCCI`s president Zahidullah Shinwari said the size of bilateral trade could be improved from the existing $500 million annually by removing irritants in the way of making investment in the two countries. Dawn.
PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has criticised federal government for assuring the US government of resumption of Nato supplies to Afghanistan. In a press release issued here on Tuesday, PTI vowed to continue its anti-drone protest in the province. Supplies to Nato and US forces would not be permitted as long as the drone strike continued, it added. The release said that PTI lawmakers Hamidul Haq, Jamshed Khan, Fazle Illahi, Zareen Zia and Arif Yousaf visited the protest camp, set up at Hayatabad Township. Dawn.
KABUL (INP): A member of the Afghan High Peace Council (AHPC), Qazi Amin Weaqad has said that a delegation from the council will visit neighboring Pakistan soon to meet the Taliban second in command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Weaqad said that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has pledged to ensure a meeting of AHPC delegation with Baradar. He also confirmed that so far it has not met the real representative of the Taliban group. The Frontier Post.
