LAHORE: Pakistani police fired tear gas and charged at student protesters who ransacked a college building Thursday, as anger spread over an alleged on-campus rape.
Tensions have been high on college campuses since reports about the alleged rape in the eastern city of Lahore went viral on social media, and protests have broken out in four cities so far.
Sexual violence against women is common in Pakistan, but it is underreported because of the stigma attached to it in the conservative country, and protests about the issue have been rare.
Thursday’s violence started when hundreds of students demonstrated outside a campus in the city of Rawalpindi in Punjab province. They burned furniture and blocked a key road in the city, disrupting traffic, before ransacking a college building. Police responded by swinging batons and firing tear gas to disperse them, police official Mohammad Afzal said.
In a statement, police said they arrested 250 people, mostly students, on charges of disrupting the peace.
In Gujrat, also in Punjab province, a security guard died in clashes between student protesters and police on Wednesday. The police have arrested someone in connection with the death.
They also arrested a man who is accused of spreading misinformation on social media about the alleged rape and inciting students to violence.
Earlier this week, more than two dozen college students were injured in clashes with police in Lahore after they rallied to demand justice for the victim, who they alleged was raped on campus at the Punjab Group of Colleges.
Authorities, including the province’s chief minister and the college administration, denied there was an assault, as did the young woman’s parents.
The ongoing protests appear to have begun spontaneously. Student unions have been banned in Pakistan since 1984. The youth wings of several opposition parties have since expressed support.
On Thursday, Usman Ghani, the head of youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami opposition party, demanded an end to the ban on student unions, saying they might have helped resolve the matter without violence.
He said cases of sexual abuse at educational institutions are common.
“But the main thing is how you respond to make it sure that the attackers don’t get away without getting arrested.”
Hasna Cheema, from the rights group Aurat Foundation, said neither Pakistani police nor the media were trained to handle such sensitive matters.
“They turn things from bad to worse instead of solving them,” Cheema said.
The Sustainable Social Development Organization said last month that there were 7,010 rape cases reported in Pakistan in 2023, almost 95 percent of them in Punjab.
“However, due to social stigmas in Pakistan that discourage women from getting help, there is a high chance that due to underreporting the actual number of cases may be even higher,” it said.
This week’s protests come less than a month after a woman said she was gang-raped while on duty during a polio vaccination drive in southern Sindh province.
Police arrested three men. Her husband threw her out of the house after the reported assault, saying she had tarnished the family name.
Pakistani police fire tear gas at protesting students as anger spreads over alleged on-campus rape
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Pakistani police fire tear gas at protesting students as anger spreads over alleged on-campus rape
- Sexual violence against women is common in Pakistan, but it is underreported because of the stigma attached to it in the conservative country
South Korea starts releasing Jeju Air crash victims to families
- Investigators race to determine why the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crash landed and burst into flames
- Everyone aboard Jeju Air Flight 2216 was killed, save two flight attendants pulled from the wreckage
US investigators, including from Boeing, arrived at the crash site in southwestern Muan, officials said, as South Korean authorities began assessing two black boxes retrieved from the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft.
The plane was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it made a mayday call and belly-landed before crashing into a barrier and bursting into flames.
Everyone aboard Jeju Air Flight 2216 was killed, save two flight attendants pulled from the wreckage.
South Korea is observing seven days of mourning, with flags flying at half-mast.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who has only been in office since Friday, said the accident was a “turning point” for the country, calling for a full overhaul of air safety systems.
He urged officials to “thoroughly reexamine the overall aircraft operation system... and immediately address any necessary improvements.”
“Today marks the final day of 2024,” he said Tuesday, urging citizens to “reflect on the past year and prepare for the new one.”
“I am well aware that whenever challenges arose, both domestically and internationally, all citizens and public officials united with one heart and mind to overcome these crises.”
At Muan airport, investigators combed over the wrecked fuselage and soldiers picked carefully through the fields around the airport Tuesday, as people left ritual offerings for victims – including food and letters – near the airport’s perimeter.
“Captain, first officer, and crew members, thank you so much for doing your best to save the passengers. I pray for your eternal rest,” one letter left on the fence said.
Inside the airport, where victims’ relatives have been camped out since Sunday, waiting for information, anger was growing over delays in identifying passengers on the doomed plane.
But officials said they had begun releasing the first bodies to relatives, even as work to identify all victims continued.
“Of the 179 victims, the bodies of four have completed the handover procedures to their bereaved families for funerals,” transport minister Park Sang-woo said at Muan airport Tuesday.
“For 28 victims, whose identities have been confirmed and autopsies completed, we will allow funeral procedures to begin from 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) today with the consent of their families,” he added.
One family lost nine members – including the oldest passenger on the plane, who was taking his first-ever overseas trip to celebrate his birthday, local broadcaster KBC reported.
The passenger, surnamed Bae, was traveling with his wife, his two daughters, one son in law, and four grandchildren, including a five-year-old.
The entire family was killed, with only one of the daughter’s husbands – who was not able to join the trip – left behind to face the loss of his wife and three children.
“Yesterday, the village chief went to Muan Airport and said the son-in-law was in utter despair, saying, ‘I should have gone with them and died with them,’” KBC said.
Memorial altars for the victims have been set up nationwide, including in Seoul.
At Muan airport, families were overseeing the set-up of a new altar Tuesday, with black-and-white funeral flowers filling the area.
A fuller account of what went wrong in the flight’s final moments is expected once authorities have analyzed the black boxes.
“Regarding the black box, surface contamination cleaning has been completed at the testing and analysis center, and its condition is currently being assessed,” deputy civil aviation minister Joo Jong-wan said.
“However, the flight data recorder’s data storage unit is still under evaluation,” he said, as it was found with a missing connector.
Technical reviews are underway to determine how to extract the data.
South Korean court issues warrants to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search his office
South Korean court issues warrants to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search his office
- The country’s anti-corruption agency said it is investigating whether Yoon’s declaration amounted to rebellion
- But experts still say there is little chance of detention or searches unless he is formally removed from office
SEOUL: A South Korean court issued warrants Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search his office and residence over his short-lived declaration of martial law.
The country’s anti-corruption agency said it is investigating whether his declaration amounted to rebellion. But experts still say there is little chance of detention or searches unless Yoon is formally removed from office.
The Seoul Western District Court issued warrants to detain Yoon and to search the presidential office and residence in central Seoul, according to a statement from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities.
Under South Korean law, the leader of a rebellion can face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted. Yoon has presidential immunity from most criminal prosecution, but the privilege does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.
Yoon’s powers have been suspended since the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over his imposition of martial law, which drew hundreds of troops and police officers into Seoul streets.
Yoon has argued his decree was a legitimate act of governance, calling it a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he has called “a monster” and “anti-state forces” that has used its legislative majority to impeach top officials, undermine the government’s budget, and which he claims sympathizes with North Korea.
The Constitutional Court is to determine whether to dismiss Yoon as president or reinstate him.
Experts said Yoon is likely to ignore the warrants. He’s ignored repeated requests by investigative authorities to appear for questioning, and the presidential security service has blocked attempts to search his office and residence citing a law that bans raids on sites with state secrets.
A lawyer for Yoon rejected the anti-corruption agency’s request for warrants on Monday, arguing it lacked legal authority to investigate rebellion charges.
The anti-corruption agency said it has no immediate plans on how to proceed with the warrants.
“Unless Yoon voluntarily lets them detain him, there is no way to detain him,” said Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership. “Should investigators have hand-to-hand fights with the security service?”
Choi said that investigators were still likely to visit Yoon’s residence to show they are strictly and fairly carrying out their work.
Park Sung-min, president of Seoul-based political consulting firm MIN Consulting, said the push for an arrest warrant is likely an attempt to pressure Yoon to cooperate with investigations.
Former President Park Geun-hye, who was thrown out of office in 2017 following an impeachment over a corruption scandal, also refused to meet with prosecutors while in office. She underwent questioning by them and was arrested after the Constitutional Court removed her from office.
Yoon’s imposition of martial law lasted only six hours but triggered huge political turmoil, halting high-level diplomacy and rattling financial markets. Despite Yoon’s deployment of troops and police, enough lawmakers managed to enter the assembly chamber to overturn it unanimously.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested over their roles in the martial law enactment.
Yoon has claimed he wasn’t trying to stop the functioning of the assembly, saying that the troops were sent to maintain order, and also denied planning to arrest politicians. But comments by now-arrested commanders of military units sent to the assembly have contradicted this claim. Kwak Jong-keun, the commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, testified at the National Assembly that Yoon called on troops to “quickly knock down the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside.” Kwak said he did not carry out Yoon’s orders.
The country’s political crisis deepened last Friday, when the Democratic Party and other small opposition parties voted to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo as well over wrangling over his refusal to fill in three justice seats at the Constitutional Court. Observers say adding more justices could affect the court’s ruling on Yoon’s impeachment.
The deputy prime minister and finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, has become South Korea’s new interim leader.
Declassified files show UK anger at Chirac over Iraq
- Blair expressed “sorrow, regret and apology” for mistakes made in planning the conflict, while his influential press chief at the time of the war, Alastair Campbell, said the decision would “weigh heavily on him”
LONDON: Newly-declassified UK government documents published Tuesday reveal the frustrations of then-prime minister Tony Blair and his government with French leader Jaques Chirac for blocking UN-backed military action in Iraq in 2003.
Minutes of an emergency cabinet meeting on March 17, 2003 — a week after Chirac said he would veto any resolution approving military action — showed UK ministers agreed “the French attitude had undermined the mechanism of the UN to enforce the will of the international community.”
“We had tried our utmost” but the French “were not prepared to accept that if President Saddam Hussein of Iraq did not comply with UN obligations, military action should follow,” Blair told the meeting, according to files released by the National Archives.
Britain joined the US-led military action to oust Saddam in 2003, despite fierce opposition across the country, with Blair highlighting allegations that the Iraqi dictator had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.
The WMD accusations fueled by the administration of then president George W. Bush were later proven to be false.
According to the files, then foreign minister Jack Straw told cabinet “effectively, one member of the UN Security Council had torpedoed the whole process,” and accused Chirac, who died in 2019, of deciding to “open up a strategic divide between France and the UK.”
In a meeting three days later, Straw said Chirac “appeared to be positioning himself ... (to) become leader of one side of the bi-polar world he advocated,” in contrast to a US-dominated world.
By contrast, ministers were told in the March 17 meeting that the Labour government “was motivated by a world view which promoted justice, good governance and pluralism and this set it apart from other governments of the industrialized world.”
The final minute of the meeting read: “Summing up, the prime minister said that the diplomatic process was now at an end; Saddam Hussein would be given an ultimatum to leave Iraq; and the House of Commons would be asked to endorse the use of military action against Iraq to enforce compliance, if necessary.”
The UK joined the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, despite around one million people marching in London to protest against military intervention.
The invasion and subsequent war severely dented Blair’s popularity, culminating in the independent Chilcot inquiry, which concluded in 2016 he had deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime.
Blair expressed “sorrow, regret and apology” for mistakes made in planning the conflict, while his influential press chief at the time of the war, Alastair Campbell, said the decision would “weigh heavily on him.”. “for the rest of his days.”
Campbell was also caught up in controversy when the BBC reported he had “sexed up” a dossier on Iraq’s military capabilities, claims he has denied.
US soldier dies in non-combat incident in Iraq
- In September, the US announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the American-led coalition’s military mission against the Daesh group in Iraq by 2025
WASHINGTON: A 34-year-old soldier serving with the Indiana National Guard in Iraq has died in a non-combat incident, the Army said Monday.
Capt. Eric Richard Hart, 34, of Indianapolis, Indiana, died Saturday in Iraq, the Army National Guard said in a statement. Hart was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion of Indiana’s 38th Infantry Division in Iraq. His death is under investigation.
While all combat operations have ceased for US forces in Iraq, the US maintains a presence of 2,500 troops to assist the Iraqi military in counter-Daesh operations and training. Those forces have repeatedly come under attack in the 14 months since Hamas attacked Israel, spurring a wider, deadly response from Tel Aviv.
During the last year, Iranian-backed forces have launched one-way attack drones, rockets and missiles at US facilities in Iraq in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
In September, the US announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the American-led coalition’s military mission against the Daesh group in Iraq by 2025. US troops have departed some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.
Washington has had a continuous presence in Iraq since its 2003 invasion. Although all US combat forces left in 2011, thousands of troops returned in 2014 to help the Iraqi government defeat Daesh.
Since the extremist group lost its hold on the territory it once seized, Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of coalition forces, particularly in the wake of a US airstrike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis outside the Baghdad airport.
Before Monday’s announcement, a total of 4,419 troops had died in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom military campaign, including 3,482 combat deaths and 937 non-combat deaths, according to the latest Defense Department data. A total of 31,993 troops were wounded in action in Iraq.
The Defense Department’s summary does not include all of the forces who returned from war with wounds that surfaced later, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or toxic exposure.
Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations
- Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party was canceled on public safety grounds
LONDON: Adverse weather on Monday looked set to hit UK New Year festivities, as the organizers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party canceled the event on public safety grounds.
The Edinburgh celebrations, a major tourist draw which last year attracted some 30,000 people, had been due to feature a fireworks display and a concert headlined by Scottish band Texas.
But organizers said it would not be safe to go ahead with preparations for outdoor events scheduled for Monday and New Year’s Eve on Tuesday due to “ongoing high winds and inclement weather.”
Planned New Year fireworks in the holiday resort town of Blackpool in northwestern England were also canceled due to a forecast of high winds, the local council said.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued a rare severe flood warning of “danger to life” for parts of Scotland.
It said a heavy downpour was expected to burst riverbanks in Aviemore in northern Scotland and nearby areas of the Scottish Highlands.
“Due to persistent and heavy rainfall, river levels on the River Spey will rise throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning causing serious flooding,” it said.
“Extensive flooding to properties and businesses is expected in and around Aviemore.”
The UK’s Met Office, meanwhile, said heavy rain and strong winds could be expected in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Some snow was also forecast for parts of Scotland.
“A series of low-pressure systems will track across the UK over the next couple of days bringing some potentially disruptive weather,” said Met Office meteorologist Steve Willington.
“Almost the entire UK is covered by at least one weather warning” over the coming week, he added.
A Met Office amber warning for rain and snow — the second most severe weather notice, meaning there is a potential risk to life — is in place for Scotland.
A number of less severe yellow warnings for rain, wind and snow were also in place for Scotland and northern England.
