Expat proved innocent in murder case

LAHORE: A Pakistani expatriate falsely implicated in a murder case was exonerated due to the efforts of Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) Punjab.

Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab Commissioner Afzaal Bhatti said Muhammad Akthar, currently settled in UK, lodged a complaint that he had been wrongly involved in FIR of a murder case. The incident happened in 2012. At the time of incident, he was in UK.

Afzaal Bhatti said this case was handed over to OPC DIG Agha Yousaf, who with the help of police investigated the case. During the investigation Akthar was found innocent. Gujrat police submitted a report in the court in this regard.

film screening: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition seeking ban on exhibition of Indian movie “Padmavat” asking the petitioner to approach Punjab Film Censor Board over his grievance.

Mian Omar Ikramul Haq, a resident of Johar Town, Lahore, had moved the petition with a prayer to put a complete ban on the screening of the Bollywood film for containing anti-Islam content and distorted history.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Jawad Zafar argued before the court that the censor board failed to properly examine the content of the movie before issuing a certificate and allowing its public exhibition.

He said the permission granted for the screening of the film was in violation of Section 6 of “The Motion Picture Ordinance 1979”, which did not allow any film or any part prejudicial to the glory of Islam. The counsel pointed out that not only the distorted history had been shown in the movie but Muslim ruler Allauddin Khilji had also been depicted as a beast, which was beyond the facts.

He said the exhibition of the movie had also been banned in Malaysia for its anti-Islam contents and representations. He argued that the public exhibition of “Padmavat” was also in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution, which prohibits freedom of expression prejudicial to glory of Islam.

The counsel requested the court to stop screening of the movie not only in Punjab but also in entire Pakistan and declare void the certificate issued by the censor board for the exhibition of the film.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza disposed of the petition and asked the petitioner to approach the censor board for the required relief. PU: Punjab University College for Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Department of History and Pakistan Studies in collaboration with Center for Health and Gender Equality organised a peace planning session.

The faculty members devised peace promotion content for the students by having an extensive discussion at the session. This content will be used as a resource to strengthen the implementation process of the National Action Plan.

The session ended up with a special dialogue on teachers’ role to strengthen the peace. Columnist Salman Abid and Department of History teacher Dr Mehboob Hussain distributed certificates among participants.