Category: 1. Pakistan

QUETTA:

In a significant development in the Degari double murder case, police have obtained DNA samples from Gul Jan, the mother of the slain woman, Bano Bibi. The sampling was conducted on the request of the Serious Crime Investigation Wing.

Following the conclusion of her two-day police remand, Gul Jan was produced before an Anti-Terrorism Court, which ordered her to be sent to jail.

According to police officials, Gul Jan was taken into custody after a video surfaced in which she appeared to justify her daughter’s killing as a form of “punishment” under Balochi tribal customs. The statement drew widespread public condemnation and is being treated as a key element in the investigation.

The case drew national attention after a man and a woman were brutally murdered in the Didi area of Degari. A graphic video of the killings went viral on social media, triggering outrage and demands for swift justice from civil society, journalists, and the legal fraternity.

The Balochistan High Court took suo motu notice of the incident and directed senior police officials to submit a detailed report. Investigations remain ongoing.

Renowned Kashmiri jurist and rights advocate Dr Syed Nazir Gilani on Saturday said that India’s unilateral revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5, 2019, was a grave violation of international law and called on Pakistan to pursue the issue on international forums.

On August 5, 2019, India’s Narendra Modi-led government stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its special status by repealing Article 370 of the constitution, splitting the former state into two territories directly ruled by New Delhi.

Pakistan observes Youm-i-Istehsal (Exploitation Day) to mark the anniversary of India revoking occupied Kashmir’s special autonomy and to show solidarity with Kashmiris.

Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad on Saturday, Dr Gilani, who heads the London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights (JKCHR), said the nature of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India on October 27, 1947, changed just 81 days later when India took the matter to the UNSC on January 15, 1948, and accepted a plebiscite under UN supervision.

“India had no legal or moral authority to unilaterally decide the future of the disputed territory,” he stressed.

He cited UNSC Resolution 91 of 1951, which not only reaffirmed the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir but also cautioned the government of the occupied territory against taking any steps contrary to the framework laid down by the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP).

“India’s claim of constitutional finality over Jammu and Kashmir stands nullified by binding international commitments. No domestic court can override these legal instruments,” Dr Gilani added, criticising the Indian judiciary for treating Kashmir purely as an internal matter.

He revealed that JKCHR had made a formal submission on this issue to the UN secretary general, which was subsequently published as a UN General Assembly document on June 9, 2021, further strengthening the legal case against India’s actions.

Dr Gilani emphasised that Pakistan, as a principal party to the Kashmir dispute, bore an even greater responsibility to protect and safeguard the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.

He urged Islamabad to take the issue more vigorously to global forums, particularly Geneva and Washington, by introducing new faces and voices into its diplomatic efforts.

“The current geopolitical landscape and international public opinion are favourable to Pakistan. India’s atrocities in occupied Kashmir have created space for Pakistan to rally Kashmiris’ support for accession by responding to their suffering with concrete advocacy,” he noted.

Institutional inaction enabled India’s move

Dr Gilani strongly criticised the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) for failing to establish an institutional framework for a plebiscite, as envisaged in the Karachi Agreement, the AJK interim constitutions of 1970 and 1974, and the AJK High Court’s 1999 judgment on a JKCHR petition.

“India did not act in a vacuum. It took advantage of the permissive silence and institutional inaction of the AJK government,” he said.

“Had the 1999 High Court verdict been implemented and a plebiscite mechanism established in line with UN resolutions, the global perception of the Kashmir dispute would have been vastly different. This was a historic forfeiture of representation.”

He stressed the need to redefine AJK’s constitutional role, saying it was not a political charity but a moral and constitutional trustee of a disputed territory.

“The foremost responsibility of the AJK government is to articulate, defend, and develop the legal and political case of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

Historical and human rights violations

Dr Gilani pointed out that until April 1959, Indian citizens required a permit to enter occupied Jammu and Kashmir, reflecting its distinct constitutional and political status. He said this status was systematically eroded by India through judicial manipulation and military aggression.

He also criticised India for breaching the original understanding on troop presence.

“Indian security forces were to be limited to 21,000 unarmed personnel, aiding civil administration under four bilateral agreements and three clauses of UNSC Resolution 47. Instead, India has deployed over one million heavily armed troops, violating UN resolutions and the original terms of engagement,” Gilani said.

He said thousands of political prisoners, including Syed Shabbir Shah, Yasin Malik, Zafar Akbar Bhat, Naeem Khan, Asiya Andrabi, and dozens of other women, remained in detention — most of them shifted to prisons outside the occupied territory.

“This is not just a political issue; it’s a humanitarian crisis, and it must be presented as such.”

Gilani said JKCHR had published five reports on Kashmiri prisoners and two on women from AJK and Pakistan stranded across the Line of Control, and that efforts were ongoing for their release and repatriation.

Water blockade and ‘crime against humanity’

Condemning India’s stoppage of natural water flows from Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan, Dr Gilani called it a crime against humanity, which must be raised at international environmental and human rights forums.

“India has no authority under international law to halt the natural flow of rivers originating from a disputed territory. Blocking these waters constitutes water terrorism, and global institutions must take notice,” he said.

ISLAMABAD:

Authorities in capital have uncovered a disturbing illegal meat operation at a farmhouse in the Tarnol area, where donkey meat was allegedly being processed for sale both locally and abroad.

The Islamabad Food Authority, backed by local police and district administration, conducted the raid and found approximately 25 maunds (over 900 kilograms) of meat, which was immediately destroyed. Officials also recovered around 60 live donkeys from the premises.

A foreign national found at the scene was arrested and handed over to police for further investigation. Early reports suggest the meat was not only being distributed locally, but was also allegedly part of a wider supply chain extending abroad.

Dr Tahira Siddique, Deputy Director of the Islamabad Food Authority, said around 60 live donkeys were recovered from the property. “It was revealed that the meat was allegedly being supplied not only to the local market but also exported abroad,” she said.

Investigators believe the illegal business was being overseen by a Chinese national who had reportedly been active in Tarnol for an extended period. The farmhouse was being used without authorisation to prepare and distribute meat.

Read More: Man, son held for selling donkey meat

Further investigations are under way to trace the meat distribution network and identify the buyers involved, both domestically and internationally.

Dr Siddique stressed the seriousness of the issue: “Ensuring the availability of safe and quality food in Islamabad is the Food Authority’s top priority. We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against those who endanger public health.”

The Food Authority has urged the public to report any suspicious activities or low-quality meat to the relevant authorities so such illegal operations can be dismantled swiftly.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has clarified that his recent remarks about Dr Aafia Siddiqui, made during a question-and-answer session at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, were “taken out of context”.

Dar, who is currently on an official visit to the United States, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York before travelling to Washington, where he spoke at a session hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank.

During the event, Dar was asked about the incarceration of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan. In response, he drew a comparison with Dr Aafia’s case.

Read More: PM Shehbaz reaffirms continued support for Dr Aafia’s family

“What happened on May 9… unfortunately, a man like me cannot even do anything. The due process of law has to take place — and it is in progress. So I think we should not politicise anything at this stage,” Dar said.

He added: “For example, if I say Aafia Siddiqui is here for decades and going to be — God knows — till when… I think it would be unfair. A due process of law has resulted in that action. The same applies to everybody. There’s no exception.”

He went on to state that being a popular political leader does not grant the right to take up arms, provoke unrest, or attack state institutions. “This is nothing but treason,” he said. “The due process of law will take its own course. It is the judiciary handling the matter… and like any democratic country, we hardly have any right to interfere in the judicial system.”

Following his comments, the statement drew widespread criticism on social media, prompting the deputy prime minister to issue a clarification.

In a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Senator Dar stated that his reference to Dr Aafia’s case was misunderstood and misrepresented in connection with the question regarding Imran Khan’s legal situation.

The foreign minister reaffirmed that successive PML-N governments had consistently provided full diplomatic and legal support for efforts aimed at securing Dr Aafia’s release — and would continue to do so until the matter is resolved.

“Every country has its own legal and judicial systems which must be respected — whether it is Pakistan or the United States,” he said.

He further underscored that the government’s position on Dr Aafia’s case remains “firm and unambiguous”.

Meanwhile, Dr Aafia’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, also criticised the deputy prime minister’s remarks, accusing him of undermining the case.

In a post on X, Smith wrote: “Sorry but this is idiotic! ‘Due process’ does not equal something where Aafia had no witnesses, they lied, and it was all false. That’s called a miscarriage of justice — not what’s ‘due’.”

He added: “The DPM appeared to be going out of his way to undermine Aafia’s case yesterday by acting like she got ‘due process’ when all she got was torture and a trial in New York, when all the real witnesses were in Afghanistan. I hope he has been reminded whose side he is on today.”

Dr Aafia, a Pakistani neuroscientist currently incarcerated in the United States, was sentenced to 86 years in prison on charges of attempted murder — a sentence significantly exceeding the US legal maximum of 10 years for the crime.

She has served 16 years behind bars and has been separated from her children for more than two decades.

Dr Aafia was reportedly intercepted in Karachi in March 2003 while travelling with her three children and subsequently disappeared for five years. It was later revealed in 2008 that she had been imprisoned in Afghanistan before being transferred to the United States.

While two of her children, Ahmed and Maryam, were released in 2008 and 2010 respectively, the whereabouts of her son Sulaiman remain unknown.

A court in Rawalpindi on Saturday remanded three suspects to police custody over an alleged murder and honour killing case of a newlywed woman.

Police had initiated the investigation based on information that a woman had been murdered in the name of honour in Pirwadhai, following a jirga in which members of both families participated. As the woman’s family and in-laws became aware that the police were secretly investigating the incident, the deceased’s husband registered a case with the police under Section 496A. Police sources had said that the case was registered by the husband on the same day the woman was allegedly killed by suffocation with a pillow.

According to sources close to the investigation, as many as eight people, including the gravedigger, the graveyard secretary, the rickshaw driver who transported her body to the graveyard, her husband and family members including her brother, have been detained by police in connection with the case.

Three of the total suspects were present in the court of Magistrate Qamar Abbas Tarar today, according to a court order seen by Dawn.com.

The judge approved the investigation officer’s (IO) request for custody, stating: “… Three-day physical remand of the accused for said purpose is hereby granted. Accused persons be produced before the court on July 29.”

In another order from today, the judge approved the application to conduct the exhumation of the victim’s body and scheduled it for July 28 at 10am. The judge directed the Holy Family Hospital’s medical superintendent to depute a medical officer who would arrive at the graveyard for the exhumation and also order the Pirwadhai Police station house officer to designate a guard at the victim’s grave until the exhumation.

The Rawalpindi tehsil medical officer was also instructed to provide sanitary workers for the process.

Separately, the police added Sections 109 (abetment), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 302 (murder) and 311 (Ta’zir after waiver or compounding of right of qisas in qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code to the FIR on Friday.

City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani also told Dawn.com that a 10-member team was formed to assist in the investigation.

He said the team included various senior police officials further and IT experts of Rawalpindi Police, who would ensure timely support and the provision of technical evidence to the investigation officer from various institutions.

Hamdani said that the team would also conduct raids to ensure the timely arrest of more suspects in the light of information obtained from those detained during the investigation.

The incident comes a few days after police arrested at least 14 suspects for their involvement in the killing of a man and a woman in Degari area of Balochistan’s Quetta, who were shot dead on the orders of a tribal jirga ahead of Eidul Azha for so-called ‘honour’.

The arrests were made after a video of the killing went viral on social media, in which a group of people could be seen shooting the couple.

In Pakistan, ‘honour’ killings continued to claim the lives of women throughout 2024, perpetuated by deeply ingrained societal beliefs about family dignity and shame.

Data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan shows that in 2024, ‘honour’ killings continued to be a serious issue across Pakistan, with particularly high figures in Sindh and Punjab. From January to November, a total of 346 people fell victim to ‘honour’ crimes in the country.

The previous two years also saw a consistent rise in murders related to the so-called ‘honour’.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to continue Pakistan’s facilitation scheme aimed at encouraging overseas Pakistanis to send remittances through formal channels, the Prime Minister’s Office said Saturday.

According to the official statement, the prime minister directed the Ministry of Finance to immediately release funds on a priority basis under the Workers’ Remittances Incentive Scheme.

“Overseas Pakistanis are a vital asset and strength of the country,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz. “The hard-earned remittances sent by them play a significant role in Pakistan’s development — a contribution valued by the entire nation, including myself.”

The premier highlighted that in the fiscal year 2025, overseas Pakistanis sent a record-high $38.3 billion in remittances. He noted this was instrumental in securing a current account surplus — Pakistan’s first in 14 years — and helped meet the import bill while boosting foreign exchange reserves.

Shehbaz Sharif also emphasised that contributions come from all sectors of the diaspora — from labourers to business professionals — and underscored the need to remove barriers to remittance flows.

“Efforts are ongoing to make the remittance system more efficient, effective, and user-friendly for our hardworking overseas community,” he added.

The incentive scheme aims to channel more remittances through formal banking channels, a crucial factor for Pakistan’s economic stability.