Rangers get powers for Karachi only

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday, in a bid to end the persisting tense relations and row between the Sindh government and the Rangers, signed the summaries for extending the stay of the Sindh Rangers in the province by one year and to extend the special policing powers of the paramilitary force in Karachi for 90 days.

The federal government, meanwhile, expressed its resentment over the provincial government for not extending the Rangers’ policing powers to the whole Sindh.

The terms of both special policing powers of the Sindh Rangers in Karachi under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the stay of the paramilitary force in the province in aid of civil administration and the police had ended on 19 July, 2016.  

Previously, the Sindh government had extended in May 2016 the special policing powers of the Sindh Rangers in Karachi for 77 days while the term of stay of the Rangers in the province in aid of the civil administration and police had been extended for a year in July 2015.

Apart from straining relations between the Sindh government and the Rangers, the lingering issue regarding the stay and special powers of the Sindh Rangers also strained relations between the provincial authorities belonging to the PPP government and the interior minister in Islamabad as the latter repeatedly called for immediate extension in the special powers of the Sindh Rangers for the sake of the continuity of the ongoing targeted operation in Karachi against terrorists and lawless elements.

The other day, during a meeting with Syed Murad Ali Shah in Dubai, Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari directed him to resolve the issue regarding powers of the Sindh Rangers at the earliest after completing legal consultation on the issue.

Under the special policing powers derived from the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Rangers could conduct raids, detain and investigate people suspected of being terrorists. The powers of the Sindh Rangers to detain people suspected to have links with terrorism for a period of 90 days to interrogate them had already ended as the Protection of Pakistan Act had lapsed after passage of its sanctioned two-year term.

Meanwhile, presiding over a meeting on law and order here at the CM House on Monday, the new Sindh CM said that Pakistan Rangers and police have done a wonderful job by restoring peace in the city. 

“We must appreciate their struggle and sacrifices for restoring law & order in the province,” he said and addedthat their role in eradication of terrorism and target killings and crackdown on extortionists was no doubt commendable.

On the occasion, the Sindh Chief Secretary, Siddique Memon, gave the chief minister a summary under which the Home Department had recommended the extension in the stay of Pakistan Rangers in Sindh for another one year and granting special power to the paramilitary force for 90 days in the city of Karachi.

The chief minister approved the summary forthwith and directed the chief secretary to coordinate with the federal government for issuing a notification at the earliest in this regard.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, Inspector-General of Sindh Police, A D Khawaja, Home Secretary Riaz Hussain Soomro and others.

The IG police briefed the chief minister on the overall law and order situation and invited him to visit the police headquarters. The chief minister accepted the invitation.

Meanwhile, Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Information, Moula Bux Chandio, said that Rangers’ special powers issue had been resolved amicably that would help maintain law and order in Sindh province.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Islamabad at the Punjab House, Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan expressed Centre’s resentment for not extending Rangers’ policing powers to the whole Sindh. He said that that if the paramilitary force’s policing powers were not approved for the whole province then they will consider other options in this regard.

While pining hopes with incumbent Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, the minister said that the issue of Rangers’ policing powers in Sindh will be a settled with sharp progress in awarding Rangers an extension in their policing powers.

Commenting killing of several police and military personal in Karachi and Larkana, the minister said that lineage culprits have not yet been traced. “The paramilitary force has to have legal cover as they curb activities of criminals in the city.”

“So far 31 personnel of security forces have been killed in Karachi operation. The operation has not come at an easy price,” the interior minister added.

He said Rangers personnel in Karachi are carrying out operation with consent of the Sindh government and the federal government and Rangers extension issue in Sindh will not be politicised and controversies on extension issue of Rangers will not be allow to turn into political football.

The interior minister said that people from all over Pakistan have supported Karachi operation as this operation has put positive implications Karachi situation.

Nisar said that he got the information from the media that Rangers’ powers had been extended. The minister said security forces have put their lives on stake and their sacrifices should not be played upon for seeking political mileage. “We hope the extension of Rangers’ policing powers does not continue to be delayed.”

â€"Shakeel Anjum reported from Islamabad

 â€"Originally published in The News

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BSF firing martyrs Pakistani citizen in Kasur

KASUR: A Pakistan citizen was martyred in unprovoked firing by Indian Border Security Forces in Kasur, sources said.

According to Rangers officials, Iqbal Ejaz, a shepherd by profession, was grazing his cattle in Bhaki Wand area of Kasur and by mistake crossed the border. After which the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel without prior warning opened fire on him. The victim died on the spot. The BSF personnel took Ejaz?s body with them.

The Rangers protested strongly to the incident upon which the BSF returned the body, which the Rangers handed over to the relatives of the deceased.

The  firing is an open violation of the recent decision taken in talks between the Pakistan Rangers and India?s BSF, said Rangers? officials.

The Rangers officials demanded convening of a flag meeting.

The two-day bi-annual talks between the Pakistan Rangers and BSF had concluded on July 20, discussing matters related to border management.

Both the sides in talks had agreed on joint patrolling on border and resolved to address the issues relating to defence installation and objections to these installations amicably through talks.

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Rangers carry out raids in Karachi a day after powers extended

KARACHI: Rangers sprung to action a day after their stay in Sindh was extended with special policing powers in Karachi.

A targeted operation was conducted at a building in Liaquatabad. During the raid Rangers arrested four suspects and took them away to an unknown place for interrogation.

Weapons hidden inside four gunny bags and two bullet proof jackets were recovered during the operation, Rangers said.

The operation was conducted over a tip off from an under custody suspect Khalid.

A shootout at Singoo Lane, Lyari killed an alleged gangster from Ozair Baloch group. Shah Zaman alias Shaho was involved in six murders including that of a policeman, a Rangers statement said. The shootout injured a Rangers personnel.

A search at two hotels near Preedy Station, Saddar lead to the arrest of over 10 suspects who were taken to an unknown location for interrogation.

 

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Trump campaign asks Capitol Hill to back him in Khan controversy

WASHINGTON: US Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign appealed to Capitol Hill for support on Monday as his attacks on the Muslim parents of a decorated American soldier killed in Iraq drew sharp rebukes from fellow party members.

Trump's criticism of Khizr Khan and Ghazala Khan, who took the stage at last week's Democratic convention, sparked growing concern and dismay from Republican lawmakers responding to the latest Trump outburst to blindside his party colleagues.

Republican Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war and the most prominent veteran in Congress, along with the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, joined the chorus of condemnation, reflecting the highly regarded place the military and its veterans hold with many in the United States.

Trump's dispute with the Khans has dominated the White House campaign in recent days and underlined the uneasy alliance between many leading Republicans and the party's freewheeling, unorthodox nominee for the Nov. 8 election.

Rob Wasinger, a onetime congressional candidate who has been working for the Trump camp on congressional outreach, sent an email to senior Senate aides saying, "We want to get several member statements out today on this, and would really appreciate your help."

A similar appeal was made to Republicans in the House of Representatives, according to a senior aide.

Attached to the appeal were talking points lawmakers could use to try to tamp down the controversy growing since last week's appearance at the Democratic convention by the Khans, the parents of US Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed by a bomb in Iraq 12 years ago.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said that the campaign was grateful to have support in Congress and that Republicans are working to keep Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from winning the presidency. Wasinger refused to comment when contacted by telephone.

The appeal did not generate any help for Trump. A senior Senate Republican aide, who asked not to be identified, said Republican senators were pleased with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's statement on Sunday calling Captain Khan "an American hero" and noting "a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values."

At the same time, the aide said the controversy would probably not cause Republican senators to withdraw their endorsements of Trump.

In a convention speech delivered with his wife at his side, Khizr Khan showcased his son's military service and criticized Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States, holding up a copy of the US Constitution and suggesting Trump read it.

Since then, Trump has complained he was "viciously" attacked by the couple and suggested Ghazala Khan might not have been "allowed" to speak, implying her silence reflected restrictions placed on women by some traditional Muslims.

McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate and current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a lengthy statement sharply criticizing Trump's comments.

"While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us," said McCain, a prisoner of war for five years during the Vietnam War.

His counterpart on the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas, echoed McCain, saying in a statement he was "dismayed at the attacks Khizr and Ghazala Khan have endured after they spoke about their son's service and sacrifice."

The head of the 1.7 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars also said Trump's attack on the Khans went too far. Trump and Clinton spoke to the group's national convention last week.

 'No tolerance'

"Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression," said Brian Duffy, the national commander of the country's oldest and largest war veterans organization, referring to families who have lost relatives in wars.

President Barack Obama did not mention Trump by name, but said military families who had lost loved ones in service should be honored for their sacrifice.

"No one has given more for our freedom and our security than our Gold Star families," Obama said at the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Atlanta. "Our Gold Star families have made a sacrifice that most of us cannot even begin to imagine. They represent the very best of our country."

In the talking points sent to lawmakers, the Trump campaign said he had been asked about the Khans' comments during the convention and wished them well. The talking points also noted that Trump "wants to end radical terror, so that our soldiers like Mr. Khan's son will be safe."

The list also says Trump had not directly compared his sacrifices to the Khans. Trump said over the weekend he had also made sacrifices in his life by working hard, creating jobs and being successful.

The Khans bristled at that suggestion and, in numerous television appearances over the weekend, said Trump was ignorant about Islam and about their family's sacrifice.

Trump's off-the-cuff insults and controversial proposals such as the Muslim ban and a plan to keep illegal immigrants out by building a wall along the Mexican border, have made many in the party establishment reluctant backers of his White House bid.

On Monday, during a town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, Trump told supporters he thought the November election might be "rigged." Later that day, he said former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders "made a deal with the devil" when he agreed to back Clinton. "She's the devil," Trump said, referring to Clinton.

In his statement, McCain recalled how Humayun Khan died, saying that when a suicide bomber aimed his vehicle toward a building housing hundreds of US soldiers, the captain told his subordinates to stay away, then ran toward it.

McCain thanked the Khans for coming to America, saying "your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation ? and he will never be forgotten."

In a remarks to television networks on Monday, Khizr Khan said Trump lacked the empathy to be a leader and chided him for throwing the first salvo in their exchange.

 

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Bus-truck collision kills 10, injures 38 in Jamshoro

JAMSHORO: A collision between a bus and truck claimed 10 lives while 38 others were wounded on Tuesday near Petaro, police said.

The dead included one child as well. The injured were shifted to the Jamshoro hospital, police said.

According to SHO Jamshoro Haroon Rashid, the bus was en route from Dera Ismail Khan to Karachi when the accident occurred near Petaro.

Earlier today, at least two people were reported dead and 21 wounded after a passenger bus overturned on the National Highway near Ghotki.

Road mishaps are common in Pakistan with over-speeding as the main cause in most of the accidents. Worn-out vehicles transporting people, bad road infrastructure and rampant disregard of traffic laws also lead to similar incidents.

 

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Bus-truck collision kills 10, injures 38 in Jamshoro

JAMSHORO: A collision between a bus and truck claimed 10 lives while 38 others were wounded on Tuesday near Petaro, police said.

The dead included one child as well. The injured were shifted to the Jamshoro hospital, police said.

According to SHO Jamshoro Haroon Rashid, the bus was en route from Dera Ismail Khan to Karachi when the accident occurred near Petaro.

Earlier today, at least two people were reported dead and 21 wounded after a passenger bus overturned on the National Highway near Ghotki.

Road mishaps are common in Pakistan with over-speeding as the main cause in most of the accidents. Worn-out vehicles transporting people, bad road infrastructure and rampant disregard of traffic laws also lead to similar incidents.

 

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Nawaz to open Saarc interior ministers meeting

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will be inaugurating the Saarc Interior Ministers meeting on August 4 at a local five star hotel where all interior/home ministers except from Bangladesh are expected to attend. However, Dhaka will be represented by senior diplomats and officials.

Sharif’s inaugural address on Thursday will take into consideration recommendations of the three-day envoys’ conference which commenced on Monday in which according to the FO spokesman, “the envoys (will) also present their recommendations about the existing foreign policy with a view to reviewing, adapting and recalibrating policy in accordance with the prevalent strategic, political and economic trends.”

Sharif will also be addressing the concluding session of the envoys conference. All eyes will be on Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on August 4, who so far will be calling on Nawaz Sharif after the inaugural in a group with other Saarc interior ministers as has been the protocol. But no one is ruling out Singh calling on Sharif individually with the Indian media speculating that he will be carrying a message from Sharif’s counterpart Narendra Modi.

New Delhi has ruled out a bilateral meeting between Singh and his counterpart Chaudhry Nisar, and Islamabad does not appear to be desperate to seek such a meeting. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has demanded: “But it is important that if there are bilateral meetings, the government does what it has failed to do in the past and that is to take the nation into confidence as to what its vision is.”

Indian media reports point out that Singh is expected to raise the issue of cross-border terrorism at the meeting. It was at the 13th Saarc Summit held in Dhaka in November 2005 that the heads of state decided that the Saarc interior/home ministers would meet annually preceded by a meeting of the interior/home secretaries to strengthen cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism, which they agreed was a challenge to all states and a threat to humanity, and could not be justified on any grounds.

The first meeting of Saarc interior/home ministers was held in Dhaka on May 11, 2006, followed by a meeting in New Delhi in 2007. Though Nawaz Sharif has raised the issue of the latest situation in Indian Held Kashmir on several occasions, his Thursday’s address is also expected to focus on the issue which Greater Kashmir described on Sunday as one where there was “complete shutdown and undeclared curfew-like restrictions in many Kashmir areas, clashes were witnessed in Srinagar and various places in North and South of Valley in which at least 20 people including a girl sustained pellet, bullet and teargas shell injuries.”

Sharif should send out a strong appeal and there should be one from the Saarc interior ministers to New Delhi too about banning the pellet shooting guns and saving Kashmiris from losing their eyesight.

Greater Kashmir further reported today, “With the number of eye injury cases rising during the past three days, the surgeons at the SMHS hospital here were forced to postpone the scheduled retina surgeries to attend to the fresh pellet victims.

Sources said during the past two days the hospital could conduct only 10 to 12 vitrectomies as the surgeons at the Ophthalmology Department remain busy “repairing” the wounds of the fresh victims which were rushed from across Kashmir.

“Even the eye-specialists from outside, who were scheduled to conduct vitrectomies, had to attending to fresh pellet victims, the sources said.  On Thursday while the hospital admitted 15 fresh pellet victims, the number of the injured persons received on Friday was 29, the day when more than 120 persons had got injured across Kashmir.

Today, the hospital again admitted five more persons with pellet injuries to eyes, taking the total number of eye victims including bilateral cases to 49 for the three days.” Saarc, especially at the interior minister level, should raise the issue of pellet guns and continuing blinding of unarmed Kashmiris. The situation is changing and Saarc’s charter is out of date while discouraging bilateral issues.

- Originally published in The News

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