Punjab rulers did nothing for masses in 5 years: Imran

PTI chief urges masses not to miss the opportunity for change on May 11 by voting for PTI.

OKARA (Dunya News) - Addressing an election rally at Okara Tuesday, Imran Khan said people of Pakistan would celebrate their victory on May 11 evening when Punjab will be freed from the traditional rulers.

Imran said he would free Punjab from the clutches of police and Patwaris.

Lashing out at Shahbaz Sharif, Imran said PML-N ruled over Punjab for five terms but could not bring change in even a single department.

He said PPP and PML-N have an agreement to rule the country in turns but people would thwart their designs with the power of their votes.

PTI would not wait for another turn and bring changes in its first term.

“Has the Thana and Patwari culture changed in Punjab,” he asked the crowd that responded with a big ‘NO’.

He said Shabaz Sharif has not been able to redress the system of education and hospitals in Punjab despite ruling the province for the last five years.

“PTI is the party of the youth, and youth will no decide the future of the nation,” Imran said. 

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Kayani leaves for Brussels today

Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will attend trilateral core group meeting on Afghanistan.


ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is participating in high level consultations, trilateral core group meeting, between Pakistan, Afghanistan and United States scheduled to start from today in Brussels on Afghanistan.

The participants of the trilateral core group meeting will discuss matters relating to peace and stability and national reconciliation in Afghanistan.

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Army Staff and Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani will be proceeding to Brussels for the trilateral core group meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and John Kerry, US Secretary of State. During the visit, General Kayani will also meet with senior NATO officials.
 

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ATC adjourns BB murder case until May 3

Scuffle between dozens of lawyers and supporters of Pervez Musharraf took place outside the court.


RAWALPINDI (AFP) - Pakistan s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday appeared before an anti-terrorism court for the first time over the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf was driven to the court in Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the army he once led, from his plush villa on the edge of Islamabad where he is serving a two-week arrest order for other charges dating back to his 1999-2008 rule.

Musharraf is accused of conspiracy to murder Bhutto, who died in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007. It is one of three cases he is fighting in the courts since returning home last month after four years in self-imposed exile.

His arrest and disqualification from contesting elections on May 11 have been a humiliating blow for the former ruler of nuclear-armed Pakistan, previously a key ally of US president George W. Bush in the war on terror.

Despite a heavy police and paramilitary presence, scuffles broke out between lawyers and Musharraf supporters, who threw stones and beat each other with sticks outside the court building, an AFP reporter said.

About 150 lawyers shouted: "Dog, dog, Musharraf dog!" while two dozen supporters chanted "Long live Musharraf!"
"Today it was routine hearing of Benazir murder case and General Musharraf appeared for the first time in this case," his lawyer Salman Safdar told AFP.

Musharraf spent around 15 minutes in court and then another 15 minutes with his lawyer, before being driven back to his home.

Nobody has been convicted or jailed for Bhutto s assassination on December 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi, despite a long-running court case.

In November 2011, the court indicted two police officers and five alleged Taliban militants over her assassination.

In August 2010, it ordered the confiscation of Musharraf s property and the freezing of his bank accounts in Pakistan over his failure, while in exile, to appear to answer questions related to her death.

Safdar told AFP that Musharraf s team asked the court to rescind those orders, given that he was now prepared to appear in court, complained that lawyers had been barred from meeting him and ordered police to investigate.

The court adjourned until May 3.

Musharraf s government blamed Bhutto s killing on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement and who was killed in a US drone attack in August 2009.

In 2010 a UN report said Bhutto s death could have been prevented and accused Musharraf s government of failing to give her adequate protection.

Bhutto s son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the outgoing Pakistan People s Party, has accused Musharraf of her murder.

On Monday, Pakistan s caretaker government refused to put Musharraf on a separate trial for treason, saying it was beyond its mandate and up to the incoming government, which will be elected on May 11.

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Musharraf escape case: DSP suspended, five declared responsible

Police have completed inquiry report regarding escape of Pervez Musharraf from Islamabad High Court.


Five police officials have been declared responsible for escape of ex-president.

According to the report, SHO Secretariat police station Qaiser Gilani, DSP Idris Rathor, SP Captain Ilyas and SSP Operation Yasir Farooq are responsible for escape of ex-president pervez Musharraf from the Islamabad High Court.

SSP Operation had ordered to deploy 40 security men for arrest of ex-president but only three security men were present in the court when Pervez Musharraf managed to escape from the court.

So far as the DSP Secretariat is concerned, he was absent from the site.

On the other hand, 140 Rangers Jawan had been deployed in the precinct of the court.

The report also exposed that legal action is being taken against the DSP.

The IG would submit his inquiry report in the Islamabad High Court.
 

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Counsel: Musharraf does not trust bench hearing treason case

Pervez Musharraf's counsel told the court his client had no faith in the Supreme Court bench.


ISLAMABAD (Dunya News): Musharraf’s counsel Ahmed Raza Kasuri on Tuesday told the apex court that his client, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, had no faith in the Supreme Court bench hearing the treason case against the former military strongman.

During Tuesday’s hearing of the case at the apex court, another counsel for Musharraf, Ibrahim Satti, said adding his client’s name to the exit control list was in violation of the Constitution.

Satti added that there was no hint of a case for high treason against his client and therefore the addition of Musharraf’s name on ECL was a violation of his fundamental rights.

Furthermore, Kasuri said his client had no confidence in the apex court bench hearing the treason case against him.
“My client has no faith in the bench hearing the case,” Kasuri said, adding that the Supreme Court should first address the question of formation of a larger bench on the matter or handing the matter over to the full court.

Earlier today, Musharraf had appeared in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorist court which was hearing the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

He had also reached the premises of the anti-terrorist court for the hearing which was subsequently adjourned to May 3.
Earlier, the ATC had summoned all accused, including the retired general, for the case’s April 23 hearing.

The former president is currently under judicial custody and is residing in his farmhouse residence of Chak Shahzad on the outskirts of Islamabad. The farmhouse was declared a sub-jail by the anti-terrorist court in Islamabad as it heard the judges’ detention case against the former military strongman.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007. She was killed after addressing an election campaign rally in the city.

The ATC had indicted Musharraf in the case in February 2011, and in August the same year he was declared a proclaimed offender and his property was attached because of his absence.
 

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Police: 5 dead in shooting in Washington state

There were no reports of any officers being injured in the incident.


FEDERAL WAY (AP) - Gunfire erupted at an apartment complex in a city south of Seattle and five people were shot to death, including a suspect who was shot by arriving officers, police said early Monday.

Officers responding to an emergency call at 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the apartments in Federal Way found two injured men on the ground in a parking lot.

"When we arrived, there was a lot of gunfire already being fired and multiple calls, 911 calls of gunfire," said Federal Way police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock. One of the men reached for a gun as police moved in to assist the two on the ground, she said.

At that point, other officers opened fire. The suspect died but police said it wasn t immediately clear if it was from their gunfire.

The other man on the ground and a third man in the parking lot were found dead.

In a search of the complex, police found a fourth man dead in one apartment and a slain woman in another unit.

Schrock said police were trying to determine if the woman was accidentally hit by gunfire.

There was no immediate word what set off the shooting.

"We re gonna continue to go door to door in hopes that we can find some additional witnesses, and hopefully we won t be finding any more victims." Schrock said.

After police flooded the scene and carried out searches of the area, authorities said they did not think another shooter was on the loose or that there was an immediate threat to the public.

There were no reports of any officers being injured. The names of the five people who were killed were not immediately available.

Federal Way is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Seattle.

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Notification declaring Musharraf's farmhouse sub-jail challenged

The petition stated keeping Musharraf at sub-jail was a violation of court orders.


ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) The notification that declared Musharraf’s farmhouse as sub-jail has been challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday.

Advocate Ashraf Gujjar challenging this notification made a plea that the accused Musharraf should be sent to Rawalpindi Adiala jail, as the one who is accused of terrorism could not be kept at place of his choice.

He said that keeping Musharraf at sub-jail was in violation of High Court and trial court orders.

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Treason case: Musharraf's counsel objects to judges' bench

Musharraf's counsel lamented that he had been barred from meeting his client at sub-jail.


ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Supreme Court (SC) resumed hearing of the treason petitions against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Monday.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja, of the apex court reconstituted last week is hearing the case.

During the course of proceedings, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, counsel for Musharraf, objected to the bench, adding that Justice Jawad S Khawaja took oath under PCO.

The counsel lamented that he had been barred from meeting his client at sub-jail.

Meanwhile, the government will tell the apex court whether it wants to initiate proceedings against the former military ruler under Article 6 of the Constitution.

The retired general is currently residing in his farmhouse at Chak Shehzad which was declared a sub-jail last week.

Legal analysts believe that this case will prevent aspiring military dictators to overthrow democratic governments and suspend the Constitution. However, some politicians are cautioning that the trial may open a Pandora’s Box.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), made a statement on Sunday suggesting that the trial should not target any specific institution of the state.

Shujaat was an ally of the former president when he unlawfully ruled the country for nine years (1999-2008).

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Lawyers barred from meeting Musharraf despite SC order

Earlier, the court allowed Musharraf's lawyer to meet him at sub-jail after they sought permission.


ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) The lawyers of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf were barred from meeting him despite Supreme Court’s order on Monday.

According to sources, the Registrar of the Supreme Court also called to permit the lawyers to meet Pervez Musharraf, however, the lawyers weren’t still allowed by the jail officials.

Ahmad Raza Kasuri, one of the lawyers representing Musharraf, told the media that the jail officials barred the lawyers from meeting their client and that they were asked to bring a permit from the Punjab government.

In protest, the lawyers’ team returned from Chak Shahzad farmhouse that is currently serving as a sub-jail for Musharraf.
Ahmad Raza Kasuri told that the time granted by the Supreme Court has expired and they had to return to the court.

Earlier, the court allowed Musharraf’s lawyer to meet him at sub-jail after they sought permission.

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Group in parliament supporting terror:ANP

The ANP has announced 17 candidates from National Assembly and 36 from provincial assembly in Sindh.


KARACHI (Dunya News):- ANP Sindh president Senator Shahi Syed while speaking at a press conference in Mardan House said that targeted operation and seizure of unlicensed arms is well and good but licensed arms should be returned to the honorable citizens.

He said all political parties should be provided equal atmosphere, adding that ANP’s gatherings are being hit but Jamaat e Islami and JUI is holding its rallies without any fear and hesitation.

He said that a terror group in the parliament is patronizing terrorists.

“The ANP has given a lot sacrifices in war on terror. Neither the ANP has ever surrendered before miscreants nor it will bend before them”, said Shahi Syed.

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