Briefs...

+Two more Hazaras killed, one hurt in Quetta attacks
QUETTA: Two men were killed and another was injured in firing by unknown armed men at a shop on the Mecongi Road here on Wednesday.Police said that unidentified armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire at a shop, leaving two men dead on the spot and injured another.The assailants managed to escape from the scene. The rescue team rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to Civil Hospital. According to doctors, the condition of the injured was critical. The police said that the victims belonged to the Hazara community.

Axact accounts debit transaction banned
Monitoring report
ISLAMABAD: The Crime Corporate Circle of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has written letters to different banks in which they were directed to impose immediate ban on debit transaction of 34 accounts of Axact. These accounts were opened in the name of Axact company and the people who were associated to this company. Under clause 5 of the FIA Act the debit transaction should be banned immediately and action should be taken in case of its violation.

Axact chief to face 49-year jail if proven guilty
Monitoring report
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a case against Chief Executive of Axact Company Shoaib Sheikh on serious charges. The sections which have been mentioned in the case are about fraud, money laundering, misappropriation in accounts, preparation of fake documents and use of machines, equipment and stamps illegally. According to the legal experts in case of proving offence the accused would be awarded seven year jail with fines under every section mentioned in the case. The sentence of 49-year each for the accused would be possible under the sections of PPC that have been brought against the culprits of Axact company.

Man shot dead in Dera Murad Jamali
DERA MURAD JAMALI: Unidentified armed men shot dead a man in the Goth Pervez area of Nasirbad district on Wednesday.Police said that the victim Sadam Hussain was on his way when armed assailants opened fire on him and fled from the scene. As a result, Saddam died on the spot.

Coast Guards arrest 54 illegal immigrants
QUETTA: The Pakistan Coast Guards arrested 54 illegal immigrants under the Foreign Act from Gwadar on Wednesday. Levies sources said that the arrested people were illegally travelling to Iran by sea and were arrested for having no travelling documents.

Body found
By our correspondent
NANKANA SAHIB: An unidentified dead body of a girl was found from a road near Mangtanwala on Wednesday.Police took the body into custody and shifted it to a hospital for autopsy.

Mother, daughter in critical condition after acid attack
By our correspondent
MULTAN: In yet another honour-related incident, a man burnt his wife and daughter by throwing acid on the suspicion of illicit relations at Shahpur village of Shujabad.The accused, Naseer Ahmed, threw acid at his wife and daughter when they were at home. Waziran Bibi, 35, received 80 per cent burn injuries and her eight-year-old daughter Kalo was burnt 75 per cent. Both the victims were brought to Nishtar Hospital Multan in a very critical condition. Police, who have registered a case against the accused, said the couple had developed differences three to four years on the issue of illicit relations. The daughter was not the target but she was burnt in a bid to save her mother, the police added.

Eight minors injured in toy bomb blast in Tank
By our correspondent
TANK: Eight children sustained injuries in a ‘toy-bomb’ blast in Kot Sultankhel area here on Wednesday, sources said. The sources said that the children found a toy-like stuff near garbage in Kot Sultankhel village. The sources said the stuff exploded when the children started playing with it. Eight children sustained injuries in the explosion and were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Tank where some of them were shifted to a hospital in Peshawar due to their critical condition. The injured were identified as Fanoos Khan, Safana Bibi, Mudassar, Wajid, Saqib Khan, Ziauddin Khan, Lufana Bibi and Kashif who were from five to eight years old. A social worker who had brought the injured children to the hospital told The News that only few doctors were on duty when they brought the injured to the hospital. He asked the PTI-led government to improve condition of hospitals in the districts for provision of better health services to the masses.

Gang involved in fake degrees business busted
By our correspondent
MULTAN: Police unearthed a network of fake degree providers and held five members, including the ringleader, as they recovered fake degrees of the country’s reputed educational institutions, machinery, stamps and other material on Wednesday. City Police Officer (CPO) Muhammad Salim at a press conference said the fake degree of various educational institutions - including Bahauddin Zakariya University, Bahria University and Karachi University - had been seized. The CPO said the ringleader, Muhammad Imran, and Kafayat (Mian Channu), Muhammad Ijaz, Nasir Jan and Muhammad Kamal were arrested from Bhutta Colony near Chungi No 22, where the network had rented a house and established the infrastructure. He said the network was also involved in printing of fake ID cards, prize bonds and ammunition licences, adding that the machinery, including computerised printing press, used in printing fake degrees had been seized. It is said that the network is active in different parts of the country.

Bail refused to four accused in Jarma land scandal case
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The Ehtesab Court on Wednesday dismissed bail petitions of four accused persons arrested and charged in the Jarma land scandal case. The court, headed by Hayat Ali Shah, dismissed the bail petitions of the accused persons. They included tehsildar Mohammad Ghulam, patwari Kamran and girdawar Daud along with Taj Muhammad with observations that it had no jurisdiction to grant bail to the petitioners. Deputy Additional Prosecutor General Qazi Irshad Babar in his arguments stated that all the four accused had been arrested along with the Kohat chief municipal coordinator Noor Daraz Khattak, father of PTI MPA Gul Sahib Khan, and were charged with grabbing 150 kanal of land. He pointed out that the Ehtesab Court under the law had no jurisdiction to issue release order of the accused persons on bail. After hearing arguments from both the sides, the court dismissed the bail petitions with observations that the court had no jurisdiction to grant bail to the petitioners.

Ehtesab Commission obtains
14 days remand of KP official
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The Ehtesab Commission Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday obtained a 14 days remand of Additional Secretary Finance Imtiaz Ayub from Ehtesab Court for his alleged involvement in irregularities as director of Social Welfare Department. The investigation officer of Ehtesab Commission produced the arrested additional secretary finance before the Ehtesab Court, headed by judge Hayat Ali Shah, for his physical remand. Deputy Additional Prosecutor General Qazi Babar Arshad, in his arguments before the court stated that the commission arrested the official for causing millions of rupees loss to the exchequer and making illegal appointments as Social Welfare Department director. He requested the court for his 14 days remand to the commission as that was required for further investigation. The court entertained the request. An official of the commission said that the arrest was made after completion of investigation.

Death row convict hanged in Peshawar
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: A death row convict was hanged in the Central Prison Peshawar on Wednesday, officials said. An official of the Prisons Department said that Shamsul Islam alias Fakhrul Islam, who was a cleric, was hanged in the prison at 5am on Wednesday. It was the second hanging in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in the country. The official said that the family members of the convict held meetings with him on Tuesday. Some family members said the former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti held a jirga with the relatives of the deceased person Gul Faraz in Mardan district to pardon the convict, but in vain. The PHC in 2005 had upheld the capital punishment awarded to the cleric by a trial court for killing one of his colleagues. It observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused-appellant. The Supreme Court in 2006 also upheld the sentence. The convict mercy petition was also rejected by the president of Pakistan.

Disenfranchising women a crime, warns ECP
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that to stop women from casting votes is a crime and those found involved in this illegal act will be punished. According to a press release issued from the office of the Election Commission, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Election Commission of Pakistan has asked the female voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to exercise their right to vote in the May 30 local government elections. It said as per the law, it was cleared that restraining women voters from using the right to vote was against the law and the violators would face punishment. The ECP also asked all the political parties to make proper arrangements for female voters at the polling stations and ensure that they cast votes in the local government elections.

Darra elders hail KP govt for resolving mountain dispute
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The elders belonging to Akhurwal tribe in Darra Adamkhel Wednesday lauded the efforts of the provincial government for resolving the dispute over the ownership of a mountain amicably. Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, the elders, including Malik Jan Sabir, Malik Yar Akbar, Malik Noor Muhammad and others said that the administration helped resolved the dispute over Kotla mountains in Darra Adamkhel. The elders lauded the efforts of Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan, corps commander, chief secretary, additional chief secretary and civil administration for resolving the dispute and distribution of Rs50 million funds among the sub-tribes.

IJT wants allocation for education in budget increased
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The activists of the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT) on Wednesday urged the provincial government to allocate five percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the budget for education. The demand was made during a seminar held at the Peshawar Press Club. IJT nazim Zubair Hafeez, provincial nazim Shah Zaman Durrani, Peshawar district nazim Shahkar were also in attendance. Speaking on the occasion, Zubair Hafeez said that no nation could make progress without education.

Four held for thrashing hospital guards
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Ichra police arrested four people for subjecting three guards of Wapda Hospital to torture on Wednesday. The hospital’s MS submitted an application against the four accused, Sagheer Butt, Qaisar and Qadeer. He told the police that the family of patient Sughran Bibi wanted to meet her. When the guards told them that the time of meeting the patients was over and they could not meet their patient, the accused tortured guards Nawaz, Khadim and Afzal.

Houses razed during TTS anti- encroachment campaign
By our correspondent
TOBA TEK SINGH: A TMA team and the Revenue staff under the supervision of AC Wasif Khokhar demolished about a dozen houses during anti-encroachment campaign at Nai Abadi of Chak 323/JB, Qiampur, on Wednesday.However, the people residing in the houses staged a demonstration and blocked traffic on Gojra Road and Bypass Road in protest besides locking railway level crossing on Bypass Road. They also burnt tyres in protest. They told journalists that they were residing in their houses for the last 25 years and they had been made shelterless in severe heat without any justification.

11 soldiers injured in two IED blasts in Mohmand Agency
By our correspondent
GHALLANAI: Eleven soldiers sustained injuries in two roadside blasts in Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency, official sources said on Wednesday. The sources said that a convoy of the Bajaur Scouts was on way from a checkpost near the Afghan border when their vehicle was targetted with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Gongat Jor. “Eight soldiers identified as Said Amin Khan, Kamran, Samiullah, Niaz Hussain, Usman, Subhanullah, Lal Hassan and Imran Hassan were injured in the blast,” an official source said. The sources said a bomb disposal squad officials dispatched to the area who were targetted with another IED. Three soldiers Subedar Shakir Khan, Hameed Khan and Khan Wali sustained injuries in the second blast. The injured were rushed to the Mamad Gat Hospital wherefrom some of the injured were airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital Peshawar. Twenty suspected persons were arrested during the search operation launched in the area after the blasts. Meanwhile, the political administration demolished houses of two accused of the Halimzai blasts. Ayaz Khan and Luqman, whose houses were demolished, had been accused of carrying out two blasts in Halimzai tehsil and killing a watchman.

Condemned prisoner to be hanged in Haripur Prison
By our correspondent
HARIPUR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department has fixed Thursday morning for the hanging of a condemned prisoner at the Haripur Central Prison, official sources said on Wednesday. Prison officials have received the death warrants issued by the Home Department after rejection of prisoner’s mercy petition from the office of President Mamnoon Hussain last week. Khurram Malik, a resident of Ghazikot in Mansehra, was convicted by the court of District and Sessions Judge Mansehra in 1998 when he gunned down his close friend Ehjaz alias Goga over a dispute developed between the two over a girl. The convict who was juvenile when he committed the murder also confessed to his crime of murdering and chopping the body into pieces. He filed appeals against his conviction but these were turned down by Peshawar High Court, Supreme Court and later by president of Pakistan.

AWKU among top 12 varsities of Pakistan
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan secured a place among the top 12 universities in Pakistan and second in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Higher Education Commission’s University Rankings for 2014. Abdul Wali Khan University, in a short span of mere five years, achieved this milestone due to its quality research, qualified faculty and the university commitment to invest in its faculty. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ihsan Ali congratulated the university administration, faculty members and students over the achievement. He said that two campuses of AWKU have been upgraded to independent universities. He said that the university is currently home to 8,653 students while the number of PhD faculty members has reached 147.

Blasts, military operation victims compensated
By our correspondent
KHAR: The political administration Wednesday distributed Rs3.6 million compensation cheques among the heirs of the victims of bomb blasts and military operation against militants in Bajaur Agency. A function to this effect was held in Khar, the administrative headquarters of Bajaur Agency. The relatives of the victims of militancy, tribal elders and other tribespeople attended the event. Assistant Political Agent Fayyaz Khan Sherpao distributed the cheques.

Arms seized at Torkham border
By our correspondent
LANDIKOTAL: The officials foiled a bid to smuggle arms to Afghanistan and arrested an alleged gunrunner at the Torkham border checkpost late Tuesday, official sources said. The sources said that the border authorities stopped a man identified as Ahmed Fawad, who was carrying his luggage in a handcart. On thorough search, the officials recovered four Kalashnikovs, three pistols, 3,000 cartridges, 22 magazines and 10 handcuffs concealed in his luggage. The accused was an Afghan national and shifted to the lockup for an interrogation.