Briefs...

Nadra gets new chairman
By Shakeel Anjum
ISLAMABAD: Usman Yousaf Mobeen has been appointed as chairman, National Database Regularity Authority (Nadra) on Wednesday, the Nadra sources said.The Establishment Division has issued the notification regarding appointment of Usman Mobeen as chairman of the authority after the approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the recommendation of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Usman Mubeen has served the authority for over 14 years. Mubeen had topped the world in O-level and A-level exams. He has also been awarded with Sitara-i-Imtiaz (SI) for his services.

Suspects held in Mansehra search
MANSEHRA: The law-enforcement agencies have arrested several suspects for alleged links with banned organisations and shifted them to an undisclosed location.The operation is being carried to arrest members of banned the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and its allied organisations in the aftermath of a remote-controlled explosion that left two policemen dead and another injured on Monday night.

Narrowly escaped PAF bombing in
Jan 2014: TTP commander
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: A senior Pakistani Taliban commander Adnan Rasheed has disclosed that he and his family had narrowly escaped when the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jets pounded his house in Miranshah, North Waziristan, in January last year.In a video statement released to the media, Adnan Rasheed said four members of the Mehsud tribe living in another portion of the same house were killed while his wife suffered slight injuries.He said he immediately fled the house when the jets targetted the house. He said his injured wife recovered later.

Member of Christian community killed in Peshawar
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: Armed men shot dead a member of the Christian community outside a church in Mohallah Islamabad near Gulbahar on Wednesday. Police said Imroz Masih, a Christian community member, was present outside the church when armed men opened fire on him, leaving him dead. The assailants escaped. Police started investigation to find out if the attack was related to terrorism. Members of the Sikh community were shot dead by armed men in Peshawar in the past.

K-Electric’s parent firm sells 4.1pc of its shares
By Javed Mirza
KARACHI: The KES Power Limited, the parent company of K-Electric Limited (KEL), has sold 774.639 million shares in K-Electric through Karachi stock exchange at a rate of Rs8.50 /share to sundry investors, a company official said on Wednesday.Murtaza Hussain, Director Finance at KES Power Limited, said the company has divested its stakes in KEL, which would approximately double the free float of KE shares in the market.The KES Power holds 19.11 billion shares in K-Electric constituting 69.20 percent of the total share capital. With the sale of 774.639 million shares, KES shareholding has reduced by 4.1 percent to 65.1 percent.

House partially damaged in Tank blast
By our correspondent
TANK: A house was partially damaged in a bomb blast in Garah Shahbaz area in the district, police said on Wednesday. They said suspected militants had planted a bomb near the boundary wall of the house of Malik Saifur Rehman, which went off early in the morning. As a result, the sources said, the house was partially damaged in the bomb blast. However, it caused on casualty.Heavy contingents of police reached the spot soon after the blast and started investigation into the incident.

Three killed in Peshawar firing
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: Three men were killed and two women wounded when armed men opened fire on a car in Tehkal on Wednesday. Police said Shehryar and his brother Arif and a relative Aminullah were killed while two female passers-by were wounded when armed men opened fire on their car in Tehkal.The victims were said to be having an old enmity.Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Mian Saeed Ahmad later told reporters that the police had conducted raids and arrested five of the accused along with weapons.

JUI-F leader shot dead in Naurang
By our correspondent
LAKKI MARWAT: A leader of the JUI-F Sheikhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Amin Ghaznikhel was shot dead by unidentified gunman in Sera Naurang on Wednesday, sources said. The sources said that the gunman knocked at the door of the house of Maulana Muhammad Amin after ‘maghrib’ prayers and opened fire on him as he opened the door. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital in Serai Naurang in a critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries.

Condolence reference for Nasim Hassan Shah held
By our correspondent
MULTAN: The Multan High Court Bar Association on Wednesday held a condolence reference and offered funeral prayers in absentia for former chief justice Nasim Hassan Shah.The condolence reference was held in the chair of MHCBA president Syed Athar Bukhari. The participants of the reference paid tributes to the former CJ and expressed grief over his sad demise. Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi, Justice Shah Khawar, Justice James Joseph, Justice Zafarullah Khakwani, Justice Shahid Jamil Kahn, Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmed, Registrar Javedul Hassan Chishti, Additional Assistant Advocate General Mirza Salim Baig, Multan Drug Court chairman Hafiz Allah Ditta, Kashif Bosan, MHCBA general secretary Sajjad Tangra and senior lawyers and members of the Punjab Bar Council attended the condolence reference.

Couple killed on railway track;
girl commits suicide in Nawabshah
By our correspondent
NAWABSHAH: A young man and his wife, belonging to Bheel community, were crushed under the wheels of a goods train when they were attempting to cross the railway track near Bandhi station during the night on Tuesday. They were identified as Ajab and Gori and were coming from Tando Adam after purchasing medicines but were crushed under the wheels of a goods train. The bodies remained at the track till the next morning when villagers working in the field spotted them. On information police shifted the bodies to hospital and handed them over to their relatives. In another incident a nine-year-old girl Naghma committed suicide in Bhangwar Colony over some petty issue.

Main accused in jubilant firing case held
By our correspondent
GUJRANWALA: Cantonment police have arrested the main accused in a jubilant firing case. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, SSP Operations Ali Zia said that police, on a tip-off, raided and arrested Zahid Butt alias Thumma Butt. Earlier, police had arrested Asher Ali Cheema, son of Inspector Tahir Farooq, his cousin bridegroom Usman Cheema, Khawar and Javed. They had allegedly resorted to aerial firing in the wedding function of Usman Cheema.

Three human traffickers arrested
By our correspondent
GUJRANWALA: The FIA arrested three human traffickers for sending people abroad on fake medical certificates. The FIA, on a tip-off, raided a laboratory at Eminabad and recovered passports, fake medical certificates and other documents. The FIA also arrested human traffickers Muhammad Shafiq, Mujahid Shah and Athar Iqbal. A case has been registered.

Bail plea of rape accused dismissed
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed bail application of a pseudo-spiritual healer, Ghulam Rasool, facing charges of rape. The Lahore South Cantonment police had arrested the accused who criminally assaulted an intermediate student on the pretext of spiritual healing.

Explosive device defused near Bannu school
By our correspondent
BANNU: The police defused an explosive device that was planted near a school in the limits of Mandan Police Station on Wednesday, sources said. “The explosives were stuffed in a bottle and placed in front of the Government Primary School in Badshah Khan village,” the sources said. The watchman of the school spotted the bottle and informed the police, they said, adding, the bomb disposal unit officials defused the explosive device weighing one kilogram.

‘1,500 water filtration plants to be set up in Punjab’
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said Saaf Pani Project is of vital importance as it is directly linked with public health. The CM was speaking at a meeting on Wednesday held to review the pace of Saaf Pani Project. He said billions of rupees were being spent by the government on the programme of provision of potable water to the common man. He said 1,500 water filtration plants would be set up in Punjab.

Dr Nasim Hassan laid to rest
LAHORE: Dr Nasim Hassan Shah, former chief justice of Pakistan, was laid to rest in Miani Sahib Graveyard here on Wednesday.Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasirul Mulk, LHC Justice Khwaja Imtiaz Ahmad, senior lawyer and former governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, additional attorney general Naseer Ahmad Bhutta and many political figures were among the prominent participants of the funeral.

Two more arrested in explosive-laden truck case
By our correspondent
OKARA: Elite Force on Wednesday arrested two more accused in the explosives-laden truck case. They are Ahmad Yar and Yamin. Elite Force arrested them after the hectic struggle. However, another accused Ishtiaq Hashmi is sill at large. Earlier, Elite Force seized a truck loaded with explosives and arrested driver Jehangir Khan near Basirpur while three others managed to escape on Tuesday.

30 militants arrested in Hangu, Kurram search operations
Body of slain militant commander shown to media
By our correspondent
HANGU: The security forces Wednesday arrested 30 militants affiliated with the proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during a search operation in various parts of the Hangu district and Kurram Agency, official sources said. They said the personnel of the security forces launched a search operation against suspected militants in various areas and made the arrests. They said the detained militants were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The security forces also recovered and showed the body of a militant commander, Ahmad Gul, to the reporters. He was killed during a clash with the security forces in Warmi area a day earlier, the sources said. Four soldiers were also killed in the clash.

Arms display, vehicles with tinted
glasses banned in Peshawar
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The administration has banned carrying and display of arms, plying of vehicles with tinted glasses, unregistered vehicles in the limits of the district. “Anyone found violating this order shall be proceeded against under Section 188 Pakistan Penal Code,” said an official communique.