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  • Imran stresses on apolitical police force in Karachi

    Talking to media outside the Supreme Court, Khan said that the entire country is aggrieved over the tragic incident which took place in Karachi yesterday.

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    Read: LIVE UPDATES: Karachi bus attack death toll rises to 47

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    He slammed Muslim League-Nawaz and Peoples Party for making an alliance in order to save their political turf. He recalled that both the parties used to dub each other “terrorist parties”.

    He said that a judicial commission always holds open trials, adding many quarters were unsettled when he explained the way to detect irregularities in polls.

  • Eloping couple beaten to death in Bihar, cremated in ‘honour killing’

    Jairam Manjhi, 25, and his 16-year-old girlfriend Parvati Kumari were stopped by Kumari’s relatives at a railway station in Gaya district as they tried to run away together on Wednesday morning, police said.

    “They were brought back to the girl’s village under heavy protection, beaten to death and then cremated together outside the village,” Gaya’s Sub-Divisional Police Officer Manoj Kumar Sudhanshu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

    “This is a clear case of ‘honour killing’. They took the law into their own hands.”

    Manjhi, who was married and had three children, had been in a relationship with Kumari for six months, and this had angered Kumari’s family in Amaitha village, police said.

    No one in the village tried to stop the attack on the couple, and police heard of it only when someone from a neighbouring village reported the crime.

    Kumari’s aunt has been arrested and police are carrying out raids and searching for 14 other people, some of them Kumari’s relatives, police said.

    “Honour killings” – when a person is killed by a family member who believes the victim has brought shame on the family, clan or community – are common in parts of South Asia.

    Government figures show that 18 “honour killings” were reported in India in 2014. Activists say the crime is under-reported and many such killings are covered up and made to look like suicides from poisoning or hanging.

    In India, Khap Panchayats – community groups made up of powerful men who set the rules in villages – are often seen as instigating such killings. Police said preliminary evidence did not suggest the village council was involved in this case. -Reuters

  • Nawaz, Zardari discuss political situation

    The co-chairperson of PPP and Mr. Sharif discussed the Pak-China economic corridor and called it for beneficial for Pakistan.

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Murad Shah and Saleem Mandviwalla were also present.

    Both the leaders also discussed overall Karachi security situation and measures to control the deteriorating law and order in the provincial capital of Sindh.

    They said the Karachi bus attack was a design of anti-state forces.

  • Yemen aid starts to flow as truce mostly holds

    Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of Arab states backed by the West, has pounded Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s former leader since March 26, aiming to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, now exiled in Riyadh.

    However, despite weeks of strikes, the Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh remain entrenched across the country and no side yet looks ready to make concessions for a political solution.

    Meanwhile, concern is growing that the air strikes and the fighting between the Houthis, tribal militias, units loyal to Hadi and southern separatists will cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

    Aid flights have started from the United Arab Emirates to the capital Sanaa, which is under Houthi control and has faced air strikes but no ground fighting. The United Nations said aid ships had docked at ports of Hodeida and Aden.

    A shipping source in Yemen said at least three ships with fuel and wheat had docked in Hodeida and in al-Mukalla; Saudi Arabia had sent eight truckloads of diesel overland to Hadramout province; and Qatar had sent medicine and food via Djibouti.

    The Houthi-run Saba news agency said two planes with medics and supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres had landed in the capital.

    CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS

    In north Yemen, aid agencies started to distribute food to 33,000 people, as well as medicine to hospitals and hygiene kits to refugees, said the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

    Since Saturday, about 8 percent of the 5 million liters of fuel needed to distribute aid each month had arrived in Yemen.

    Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have each accused the other of violating the truce.

    Late on Wednesday, 24 hours after it began, Saudi Arabia said the Houthis had fired on the Saudi border and continued to fight inside Yemen, but that it would not resume air strikes yet.

    On Thursday, residents said Houthis were still pushing toward al-Bureiqa, where Aden’s oil refineries are located. Residents also said two people had been killed by Houthi snipers in Aden, and seven Houthis had died in the city of al-Dhalea.

    Talks between political parties other than the Houthis will start in Riyadh on Sunday and focus on southern demands for independence, which have grown as a result of the fighting, Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla said.

    “Aden and the south has suffered most of the damage, most demolition, most of the people killed and tortured. The Houthis concentrated their damage on the south. They killed what remained of the unity of Yemen,” he said by phone.

    The former ruling General People’s Congress and main opposition groups including the southern Herak and Islamist Islah will attend the three-day talks, as well as tribal leaders, he said.

    The United States has pushed Saudi Arabia and Hadi’s government to use the talks as a bridge to wider U.N.-sponsored discussions including the Houthis, Gulf diplomats have said.

  • Islamic State battles Syrian army near world heritage site

    Islamic State fighters reached online said the group was shelling an air base near Tadmur, an oasis in the desert north-east of Damascus also known as Palmyra.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the militants had taken up positions outside the town, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, after capturing al-Sukhna, 75 km (46 miles) to the northeast, on Wednesday.

    An army source said fighting continued in al-Sukhna for a second day on Thursday and troops were still in their positions.

    The Syrian military and allied Lebanese militants have been pushed back in the northwest and south recently, but this week cleared insurgents from mountains near the Syria-Lebanon border north of Damascus in a notable advance.

    The Observatory reported heavy casualties on both sides in fighting near al-Sukhna on Wednesday, with at least 70 troops and 40 Islamic State fighters killed.

    It would be the first town taken by Islamic State in direct fighting with government forces. Others seized by the group in the north and east were taken from other insurgents.

    Islamic State has in recent months mounted frequent attacks on government- and rebel-held areas to the west of its strongholds in Deir al-Zor and Raqqa provinces, where its fighters have been facing air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition.

    Tadmur, which has previously been a frontline in the four-year-long Syrian conflict, was included in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage in danger in 2013, according to the UNESCO web site. It contains the monumental ruins of a city that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world.

    The ultra-radical Islamist group has systematically destroyed antiquities in Iraqi territory it seized last year.

    The military source said Syrian forces had inflicted heavy losses on what it said were many Islamic State fighters targeting al-Sukhna. “They are attacking in large numbers like cattle with heads facing the ground,” the source said.

    The army had yet to confirm losses in its ranks, the source added.

    Syrian state media said Islamic State fighters were being hit by Syrian army air strikes, adding that an Islamic State convoy had been destroyed to the east of al-Sukhna.

    Since March, the Syrian army and allied militia have lost control of wide areas of the northwestern province of Idlib, and also a crossing at the border with Jordan.

  • Taliban claim attack on Afghan guesthouse that killed 14

    Four Indian nationals, a Briton, an American and a Kazakh national were confirmed among the dead in a five-hour assault at Park Palace guesthouse in an upscale neighborhood of central Kabul.

    The attack heightened a sense of insecurity in the Afghan capital and throughout the country as the Taliban step up attacks following the withdrawal of most foreign troops.

    Kabul’s police chief said 44 people were rescued.

    A day after the assault, there was still confusion about how many gunmen attacked. A statement from President Ashraf Ghani’s office said there were three gunmen, while Kabul police said they could confirm just one.

    Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement that one of the insurgents’ operatives carried out the attack with the aim of killing foreign citizens in retaliation for the United States and its allies supporting the Kabul government of President Ashraf Ghani.

    “The occupying forces should realize that they are not safe from our attacks under any cover or in any location,” Mujahid said.

    The death toll rose from five to 14 on Thursday as more bodies were found.

    “It was one attacker and we are still investigating how he got in,” police criminal investigation chief Farid Afzali Kabul said.

    A Kabul security official put the number of dead at 14, and the number was confirmed by the United Nations Assistance mission in a statement.

    The U.S. and Indian embassies and Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed their citizens were among the dead, and an Afghan with British nationality was also killed.

    “With regret we can confirm that a British dual national was killed in last night’s attack on a Kabul guesthouse,” a British embassy spokesman said on Thursday.

    The shooting started on Wednesday night as some guests gathered for a dinner at the guest house and others were arriving for a concert.

    A spate of similar attacks in Kabul last year has dampened the city’s once-vibrant social scene.

    Late last year, a suicide bomber detonated at a French cultural center performance, killing one person.

    In March 2014, Taliban gunmen killed nine people – including three children – in the upscale Serena Hotel in Kabul.

    Two months earlier, attackers stormed into a popular Lebanese restaurant in the capital and gunned down 21 people, including three United Nations staff and a senior IMF official.

  • MQM’s unit in-charge among 15 activists picked up by Rangers

    At least 15 MQM activists have been apprehended by the paramilitary force near Sindhi Hotel area in Liaquatabad, sources told.

    Before launching the search operation, Rangers continued besieging the area for some time to ensure no party worker could flee.

    All the arrested activists have been moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

  • Govt announces names for performing Hajj

    According to details, Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Yousuf made the announcement of official Hajj Scheme under which the names of fortunate Pakistanis were declared that will be performing Hajj this year.

    The details of finalized names for performing Hajj have been made public on the official website of Ministry of Religious Affairs – https://www.hajjinfo.org/  – and the applicants can check out their status through their application number.

    Log on to the official website of Ministry of Religious Affairs and check out your Hajj Status

    Over 2,70,000 masses had submitted Hajj applications, out of which 1,43,368 names were finalized for performing Hajj under the official scheme.

    The Hajj Operation will commence from August 16.

    Sardar Yousuf vowed to make arrangements better than the past, while last year too the pilgrims had appreciated the arrangements for the ritual.

  • IDB puts Islamic finance on AIIB drawing board

    The move could spur the use of sukuk (Islamic bonds), which have gained prominence as funding tools for a range of countries in recent years, and among multilateral lenders to help fund some of Asia’s mounting infrastructure needs.

    A potential link-up between IDB and AIIB, which have 20 member countries in common, would also open a growing pool of capital in the hands of private-sector Islamic investors across the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

    “Our delegation has visited Chinese counterparts and we expect them to visit us soon,” IDB president Ahmad Mohamed Ali said on the sidelines of an industry conference.

    “We are ready to collaborate with AIIB on this project and also to help them develop expertise in Islamic financing.”

    Most analysts believe the AIIB will have to work with established institutions for some of its initial investments, as it takes time to develop its own pipeline of deals.

    Developing countries spend about $1 trillion a year on infrastructure and an additional $1-1.5 trillion will be needed through 2020 in areas such as water, power and transportation projects, according to the World Bank.

    The asset-backed nature of Islamic finance makes sukuk ideal for such transactions, but until now the format has been confined to handling mid-sized deals with shorter tenors.

    The IDB wants to change this, with the multilateral lender now planning to set up a dedicated infrastructure unit.

    “Our research unit is currently exploring ways on how to pursue these plans and formation of a special unit to deal with infrastructure projects is on the table,” Ali said.

    Even the Asian Development Bank, seen as a rival to the AIIB, is stepping up efforts to assist its member countries to use sukuk for infrastructure financing.

    The IDB is also coordinating with Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to support efforts by the G20 group of nations which has included infrastructure sukuk in its annual agenda.

    The AIIB has yet to start operating, but it is designed to cater to Asia’s growing appetite for infrastructure, with many of its projects housed in IDB member countries.

    Besides the three Muslim-majority G20 members, the AIIB counts other Muslim countries such as Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, Jordan and Oman as founding members. All have issued or have plans to issue sovereign sukuk. -Reuters

  • Karachi at standstill after Safoora Chowrangi incident

    Hundreds of distraught relatives lined the streets around a cemetery in the city’s eastern Safoora Goth area passing the coffins of the men and women who were killed on Wednesday when up to six gunmen stormed a bus and shot them in the head and upper body.

    Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah had announced a day of mourning as all markets, shops and schools were shut and public transport was suspended.

    Schools, colleges and universities also postponed examinations.

    The toll from the attack rose from 43 to 44 after a wounded woman died at the city’s Aga Khan hospital, a spokesman told AFP.

    Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo told AFP the police had rounded up several suspects and most of them were the members of banned militant outfits.

    Thebo said: “According to initial investigations, there were six attackers. Three went inside the bus and three remained outside. They fired with 9 mm and Kalashnikov rifles.”

    Wednesday’s attack was the first in the country officially claimed by the Islamic State group, which controls swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

    It was also claimed by local militant faction Jundullah, which reportedly pledged its allegiance to the group last year.

    Thebo, the police chief, was cautious about the claims and said the attackers seemed to be locals.

    “The attacker seemed to be local and knew the area well. Maybe their handlers were from outside Pakistan,” he said.

    “In a previous attack on Bohri community mosque the attackers also left a pamphlet, investigators are looking into whether it is the same group which struck yesterday,” he added, referring to another Shiite minority sect.

    Wednesday’s attack was the second-deadliest in Pakistan this year after 62 Shiite Muslims were killed in a suicide bombing in late January.  -AFP