Pakistan court grants bail to rights activist, politician arrested under anti-terror laws
Pakistan court grants bail to rights activist, politician arrested under anti-terror laws/node/2362831/pakistan
Pakistan court grants bail to rights activist, politician arrested under anti-terror laws
The collage of images shows police officials presenting arrested lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Mazari-Hazir (right) on August 21, 2023, and former lawmaker Ali Wazir on August 20, 2023, before a court in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: @AsadAToor/Twitter and @IFazilaBaloch/Twitter)
Pakistan court grants bail to rights activist, politician arrested under anti-terror laws
Imaan Mazari-Hazir, Ali Wazir were arrested last week after appearing at a protest by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement
Some 3,000 people attended the rally, where both gave speeches condemning alleged shadowy policy of secret detention
Updated 28 August 2023
AFP
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan court bailed a prominent human rights activist and a former lawmaker on Monday, their lawyer said, after they were detained for protesting against enforced disappearances.
Lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazir and politician Ali Wazir were arrested under anti-terror laws last week after appearing at a protest by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which fights for the rights of ethnic Pashtuns.
Some 3,000 people attended that rally in the capital Islamabad, where both Mazari-Hazir and Wazir gave speeches condemning the harassment of Pashtuns and calling on state forces to end an alleged shadowy policy of secret detention.
Rights monitors say Pakistan authorities have a long-standing practice of holding dissenters without due process, whilst broad anti-terror laws are also used to choke off political opposition.
Lawyer Zainab Janjua told AFP Monday that Mazari-Hazir "should be released today".
Wazir was also granted bailed but will be produced before another Islamabad court in a separate case related to the protest, she said.
PTM was launched to fight against what it says are military excesses committed during anti-terrorism operations in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where most Pashtuns live.
The military denies the accusations.
Founded in 2018, the group is notable for its direct verbal attacks on a military establishment that plays a dominant role in national politics.
Pakistan's Pashtun heartlands were once plagued by violence and militancy, though army operations have dramatically improved security both there and across the country in recent years.
But the PTM claim these operations came at a heavy price, with soldiers using enforced disappearances and targeted killings against civilians.
Locals have staged a series of protests against the increased violence and have demanded better protection from the state.
However, strict media blackouts have kept news and images of peaceful PTM rallies off TV screens and out of newspapers nationwide.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) announced on Monday that it has arrested the main suspect in the 2024 Greek boat tragedy, vowing to continue its crackdown against human traffickers who send people to Europe and other countries on illegal sea journeys.
The incident took place in December 2024 when four Pakistanis died after a migrant boat they were on sank near the Greek island of Crete. Each year, thousands of Pakistanis pay large sums for risky and illegal journeys to developed countries, hoping to find work and send money back to their families.
The FIA said its team arrested the main suspect, Usman Jaja, from the eastern city of Sialkot. The agency said he had gone into hiding since the Greek boat tragedy took place in December last year.
“Suspect Usman Jaja tried to send several citizens to Europe via boat,” the FIA said in a statement. “The boat met with an accident in which several youths died.”
The FIA said Jaja was wanted by the FIA’s Gujranwala chapter in more than eight cases, alleging that he was part of an international gang of human traffickers. The agency said it has started an investigation against the suspect, adding that raids are being conducted to arrest others involved with him as well.
“Our crackdown against elements involved in boat accidents is underway,” FIA Gujranwala Director Abdul Qadir Qamar was quoted as saying by the agency. “All resources are being used to arrest the suspects.”
He said the agency’s intelligence-based operations against human traffickers are underway, vowing that no one would be allowed to play with the lives of innocent people.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.
Greece was a favored gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.
Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbor Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased since 2023.
KARACHI: UAE Consul General Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi held an iftar dinner in honor of Pakistan’s Special Olympics athletes on Sunday, the UAE consulate in Karachi said, stressing the need to empower them through confidence.
The development takes place as Pakistani athletes prepare to take part in the World Winter Games Turin 2025 that are being organized by the Special Olympics organization. The global event is scheduled to run from Mar. 8-15 and will feature at least 1,500 athletes from over 100 countries who will compete in eight sporting competitions throughout Italy’s Piedmont region.
The UAE consul general welcomed the athletes at his residence in Karachi on Sunday evening. He said that athletes from Pakistan are second to none in the Special Olympics.
“A little hard work on athletes boosts their morale,” Al Remeithi was quoted as saying by the UAE consulate. “The consul general said that despite mental or physical problems, special athletes are no less capable than anyone else. They need to be given confidence.”
The UAE consul general said that Arab culture during the holy month of Ramadan further strengthens the love and ties between the brotherly countries of Pakistan and the UAE.
The participants thanked the UAE consul general for hosting the iftar and thanked him for extending his hospitality, the UAE’s consulate general said.
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will address the joint session of Pakistan’s parliament today, Monday, at the start of the new parliamentary year, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
According to Article 56 of Pakistan’s constitution, the president is required to address both houses of parliament at the start of the first session of each parliamentary year. Zardari, who previously served as Pakistan’s president from 2018-2013, has addressed joint sessions of the parliament seven times before, including one last year in April.
Pakistani presidents’ addresses to parliament have been marred by noisy protests from opposition lawmakers in the past. Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party lawmakers shouted slogans and banged their desks when Zardari spoke in 2024. This year as well the party is expected to disrupt Zardari’s speech with sloganeering as the PTI’s tensions with the ruling coalition government persist.
“President Asif Ali Zardari will address the joint session of Parliament on Monday on the beginning of new parliamentary year,” Radio Pakistan said in a report. “The joint session will start at three in the afternoon.”
The state-run media said stringent security arrangements have been put in place at the Parliament House ahead of the session. It said that as per the National Assembly Secretariat, entry for guests has been prohibited while media representatives will be allowed in “limited numbers.”
According to English language newspaper Dawn, Zardari will outline the federal government’s performance and governance issues in his address.
The president’s address takes place as Pakistan navigates a tricky path to economic recovery after a prolonged macroeconomic crisis. Pakistan’s government says its economic reforms over the past one year have yielded fruit, pointing to improving macroeconomic indicators such as a decline in inflation, current account surplus and increase in exports.
The country, however, faces surging militancy in its western provinces bordering Afghanistan. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have reported an increase in attacks launched by religiously motivated militants and separatist outfits since November 2022, dealing a blow to Pakistan’s efforts to root out militancy.
The Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government is also grappling with political instability as its tensions with Khan’s PTI persist. The former prime minister continues to remain popular from behind bars, with his party leading a large protest calling for his release from prison last year that involved clashes with law enforcers.
Both sides attempted to break the political deadlock in the country by holding negotiations in December 2024. However, after three rounds of talks, the negotiations failed as the PTI pulled out in January, citing the government’s failure to form judicial commissions to investigate protests it led in May 2023 and November 2024.
QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen in southwestern Pakistan shot dead three barbers who hailed from Sindh on Sunday, a soldier of the paramilitary Levies force confirmed, amid a surge in ethnic attacks in the restive Balochistan province.
Attacks by ethnic Baloch separatist militants against Punjab-based laborers, barbers and commuters are common in the southwestern province. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources for the development of Punjab while neglecting the local population. Pakistan’s government denies these allegations, saying it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education, and infrastructure projects.
The latest attack took place in Gwargo, an area located around five kilometers away from Balochistan’s Panjgur district, Levies soldier Shakeel Baloch said. He added that unidentified armed men shot the barbers while they were sitting outside a hotel on Sunday evening.
“Three barbers who belonged to Mirpurkhas and Jacobabad districts of Sindh province were killed on the spot,” Baloch told Arab News.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the BLA, which has carried out attacks against Punjabi laborers and barbers in the past.
Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind strongly condemned the attack, describing the development as a “barbaric” move by the militants.
“Terrorists have been attempting to create divisions and hate among provinces by targeting laborers who are working in Balochistan,” Rind said.
He said security forces had started tracking the “terrorists” involved in the attack.
Balochistan has seen a surge in ethnic attacks over the past few months as the province’s security situation deteriorates. Seven Punjab-based passengers were forcibly removed from a bus heading to the eastern city of Faisalabad from Quetta and killed by a group of gunmen in Balochistan last month.
In August 2024, nearly two dozen passengers traveling in Punjab-bound buses were killed after BLA militants forcibly removed ethnic Punjabi commuters from buses after checking their identity cards.
In May 2024, gunmen shot dead seven Punjab-based barbers who lived and worked together near the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan.
Pakistan fails, Kohli roars and Smith retires: Champions Trophy highlights
Virat Kohli silenced critics over poor form in Test cricket by scoring century against arch-rivals Pakistan
Veteran batter Steve Smith called time on his ODI career a day after Australia lost semifinal to India
Updated 10 March 2025
AFP
DUBAI: India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final of the Champions Trophy on Sunday in Dubai.
AFP Sport looks at five storylines from the 50-over tournament.
Virat Kohli silenced the critics over his poor form in Test cricket with an unbeaten 100 against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Kohli took time to get into the groove on a sluggish Dubai pitch to anchor India’s chase of 242 with key stands.
His mastery of the conditions, combined with his ability to rotate the strike, took India to victory with six wickets and 45 balls to spare.
Kohli was also India’s savior in the semifinal against Australia when his 84 steered another successful chase.
Opposition skipper Steve Smith called the 36-year-old “arguably the best chaser the game has seen.”
Indian players celebrate with the trophy on the podium after winning the ICC Men's Champions Trophy against New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 9, 2025. (REUTERS)
Pakistan hosted a major cricket event for the first time in three decades and excitement there was sky-high, despite India’s refusal to tour and instead play all their matches in Dubai.
But the Pakistan team’s poor showing on the field deflated the spirits of the cricket-crazy nation with successive losses to New Zealand and India.
That signalled the end of Pakistan’s title defense, and to add insult to injury, their dead-rubber final group match against Bangladesh was washed out.
An auto-rickshaw drives past a billboard depicting portraits of the captains of participating cricket teams in ICC Champions Trophy 2025, installed at a roadside, in Lahore, Pakistan, on Feb. 16, 2025. (AP)
One disappointed fan called the tournament a “wedding where you don’t know the bride or groom.”
New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips lit up the tournament with his fielding heroics, notably against India in the group phase for the key wicket of Kohli.
Phillips dived full stretch to his right at backward point and somehow held on to the ball to send Kohli back for 11 off fast bowler Matt Henry.
Kohli stood in disbelief for a few seconds before trudging back to the pavilion as the fans in Dubai fell silent.
New Zealand's players celebrate after dismissing India's Virat Kohli during the ICC Champions Trophy one-day international (ODI) cricket match between New Zealand and India at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on March 2, 2025. (AFP)
Social media was abuzz with reactions to the catch, with one fan on X calling Phillips “the Superman of the tournament.”
Jos Buttler’s England came into the competition off the back of a 3-0 ODI whitewash in India, but piled on a mammoth 351 in their opener against Ashes rivals Australia.
England still managed to lose as Australia chased down the target to leave Buttler’s side on the brink.
Defeat to Afghanistan put England out of the tournament after just two matches.
Afghanistan's players celebrate after winning the ICC Champions Trophy one-day international (ODI) cricket match between England and Afghanistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 26, 2025. (AFP)
Two days later Buttler quit as England’s white-ball captain after three successive flops in ICC events, including their failed T20 and 50-over World Cup title defenses.
England's captain Jos Buttler (L) talks to the media at the start of the ICC Champions Trophy one-day international (ODI) cricket match between England and South Africa at National Stadium in Karachi on March 1, 2025. (AFP)
Veteran batsman Steve Smith, 35, called time on his ODI career a day after Australia lost in the semifinals to India.
Smith top-scored for Australia with 73, but his knock was in vain after India overhauled Australia’s 264 and the captain’s innings turned out to be his last in the format.
Another retirement seemed highly likely after the final with intense speculation that India skipper Rohit Sharma would end his one-day career if they won.
India's captain Rohit Sharma poses with the winners trophy after defeating New Zealand in the final cricket match of the ICC Champions Trophy at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 9, 2025. (AP)
Opener Rohit top-scored with 76 in the final and declared afterwards that he was not going anywhere, leaving Indian media stumped and fans relieved.
