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SWABI: The mobilisation of the masses for the release of Imran Khan is in full swing here in the district and the first convention in this regard was held on Saturday at the residence of Asad Qaiser, former speaker of the National Assembly.

The participants including PTI parliamentarians and workers from across the district, vowed to render more sacrifices to get free the party’s founding chairman.

It was decided that the party would hold a power show on Wednesday in district headquarters in which all central leaders will participate. They said that a door-to-door campaign would be launched for the protest demonstration to be held on August 5.

Provincial minister for secondary and higher education Faisal Khan Tarakai, provincial minister for irrigation Aqibullah Khan, adviser to the chief minister on industries Abdul Karim and others spoke on the occasion.

BODY RECOVERED: The body of an unidentified teenager was recovered from the Indus River in Tarbela Dam area on Saturday, said locals. The photos of the body were posted on social media platforms for his identification.

UNBRIDLED POPULATION GROWTH: The speakers in a seminar organised on the World Population Day said that if our rulers and the society failed to control the unbridled population growth then the objective of economic prosperity could not be achieved.

The seminar was organised by Samajee Behbood Rabita Council (SBRC) and it was graced by experts, jirga members, journalists and religious scholars.

The participants were unanimous in their views that all the stakeholders should be on board, keeping in mind that Pakistan was the fifth most populous country in the world, as there was no room for indifference to this threatening issue, while collective efforts were required to arrest the ever increasing population.

They stressed the need to avoid child marriages and early marriages and called for imparting quality education to both boys and girls, as they could better understand the hazards of over population.

They said that the time has finally come that all stakeholders should put their heads together and move forward on this pressing issue.

20 INJURED IN STAMPEDE: More than 20 people were injured in a stampede during a bull race in the Tordher village the other, said rescue officials.

Immediately after the incident, the Rescue 1122 medical team reached the spot and provided medical assistance to the injured.

“We responded promptly and saved several precious lives and brought the situation under control. The injured were immediately shifted to a local hospital. Some of them were in a critical condition,” said Luqman Khan, one of the rescue officials.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2025

Pakistani model and actress Humaira Asghar, who was found dead early this week, was finally laid to rest here even as the police said on Saturday that prima facie no foul play was suspected in her death.

Only a few people attended her funeral in Model Town locality of Lahore on Friday evening. Earlier her family had refused to receive her body, disowning her for entering the showbiz.

The 32-year-old actress-model, who lived alone in Karachi, had acted in several television serials and two films.

Humaira, whose body was discovered in decomposed state earlier this week in an apartment in Karachi’s upmarket Defence Housing Society, had died eight to 10 months ago, the initial post-mortem findings said.

The autopsy report was released to the police but the coroner could not determine the actor’s exact cause of death because of the level of decomposition. “We are awaiting the chemical examination and histopathological reports. However, it appears that no foul play was involved in this case,” police said on Saturday.

If any foul play is involved, an FIR would be filed and legal proceedings would be carried out accordingly, police added.

Meanwhile, the actress’ family’s refusal to take her body for burial caused an uproar on social media with several people and government institutions coming forward to offer to arrange the burial.

However, her brother Navid Asghar, who received the model’s body after DNA matching, said the family had not refused to take the body. He admitted that the family had disowned her for joining showbiz against its wishes.

“The media’s focus was entirely on our family. It never highlighted other possible causes of death,” he said.

He said that Humaira was an “independent person” who would not visit the family for extended periods.

“She moved to Karachi and had been living there for the last seven years. She didn’t contact us for a year, although our mother would reach out to her some of the time,” he said and added Humaira’s mobile phone had been switched off for the last six months.

Humaira was a graduate of National College of Arts. She performed in Ajoka and Rafi Peer Theatre in about 100 plays before moving to modeling. She also performed in some TV plays and two films.

• Gandapur leads KP lawmakers to Punjab’s capital
• Gohar says leadership will also take up suspension of 26 MPAs

LAHORE: The PTI top leadership arrived in Lahore on Saturday to devise a strategy for its nationwide protest, which will reach its crescendo on Aug 5 to seek the release of party founder Imran Khan, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur describing the Lahore visit as the formal launch of the movement.

Before their departure, the party leaders held a meeting in Islamabad to discuss several issues, including the potential disqualification of the party’s Punjab Assembly lawmakers who had been suspended by the speaker.

In the evening, a caravan of KP lawmakers led by CM Gandapur, as well as Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar reached Lahore via G.T. Road. During a layover in Jhelum, the KP CM said that the protest had been launched, and the parliamentary meeting in Lahore would mull the final protest strategy to step up the campaign ahead of the two-year anniversary of Imran Khan’s imprisonment on Aug 5.

PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the party’s parliamentarians were going to Lahore for a meeting and added they would discuss the issue of 26 MPAs, suspended by the Punjab Assembly speaker. “The Punjab government has been unleashing fascism for the past two years, and now it is time that common sense should prevail,” he stressed.

Though there were reports that the Punjab police could block PTI parliamentarians’ entry into Lahore, the leaders had said they would stage a sit-in at the blocked point. However, the parliamentarians, led by CM Gandapur, made a smooth entry and camped at a farmhouse in Raiwind, Lahore.

The police, however, did raid party leaders and workers’ homes throughout the day and even went to the Shahdra Morr – Lahore’s entry point on G.T. Road – and took into custody five leaders, including Yasir Gillani from among those gathered to welcome the PTI caravan.

At a late-night party meeting in Raiwand, CM Gandapur told parliamentarians that they had reached the ‘political hub of the country’ to launch their protest campaign. “Any campaign launched from Lahore earns success and this too will be successful across the country,” he asserted.

Asserting that party leader Imran Khan is in jail for no valid reason, CM Gandapur advised party leaders to move forward through consultations and plans in respective jurisdictions to step up the protest campaign. “All the provinces should prepare their protest plans and implement them in line with their local issues and take the protest campaign to its peak by Aug 5,” he asserted.

He said the establishment had been ruling the country for decades and imposed multiple martial laws as part of different experiments, destroying the country. “The establishment this time has imposed a new kind of martial law, which is not official, but wielding every kind of power and pressure,” he observed and added that it destroyed the country but the perpetrators were not even showing any remorse.

At the meeting, Mr Bhachar said Punjab could not warmly welcome CM Gandapur because a “fascist government” was ruling Punjab that even lacked parliamentary as well as social norms. Mr Bhachar said the party’s 11 MPAs were suspended after Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz came to the assembly and her second visit led to the suspension of 26 members. “This clearly shows the level of fear the Punjab government is facing from PTI’s 107 tigers in the Punjab Assembly,” he asserted.

“Though the PTI leaders and workers are facing thousands of FIRs, the party is all set to launch a massive protest campaign aimed at the release of Imran Khan, his wife and all political leaders,” he added.

While the PTI parliamentarians have camped in Lahore, the party’s Punjab chapter, led by Aliya Hamza Malik, had already mobilised party workers across the province and assigned duties to step up the protest campaign and take to its pinnacle on August 5.

Before leaving for Lahore, the party’s interim chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, while talking to media persons, said that the party had already sent a letter to the provincial government stating that it would hold a meeting in Lahore. However, he made it clear that the party was not planning to hold any rally or public meeting in the provincial capital.

Ikram Junaidi in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2025

• Apex council defers complaints against five judges for the time being
• CJP’s proposal to make ‘frivolous’ allegations public not endorsed by colleagues
• Meeting approves draft of Supreme Judicial Council Secretariat Service Rules-2025

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) after perusal on Saturday, dropped 19 complaints out of a total of 24 filed by individuals under Article 209 of the Constitution against different judges of the superior courts.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, who also heads the council as its chairman, the five-member SJC disposed of 19 complaints through a unanimous decision.

However, it decided to defer five other complaints against different judges for the time being.

The members who attended the meeting included Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah (who joined via video link), Justice Munib Akhtar, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum, and Sindh High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar.

During the meeting, the CJP suggested that the complaints, which were rejected by the council, should at least be made public so that the people could know about the frivolous allegations levelled against the judges, but other members of the council did not endorse the idea.

On the completion of the first 100 days of the CJP in February, it was announced by the council that the SJC during the last two sittings had examined 46 complaints, under Article 209 of the Constitution, received against constitutional office-holders, of which 40 had been disposed of.

In one of the meetings of the council, it was decided to hold regular monthly sessions to clear the backlog of outstanding complaints against superior court judges on the fast track.

On Saturday, the council discussed all the agenda items one by one and approved the proposed draft of Supreme Judicial Council Secretariat Service Rules-2025, while it was resolved that the procedure of enquiry and amendments in the Code of Conduct and Procedure of Enquiry 2005 needed to be examined from a legal and drafting point of view; therefore, these required further deliberations.

To reinforce judicial accountability, the SJC had earlier appointed Justice Munib Akhtar as head of a committee to propose amendments to the code of conduct for judges and to suggest the procedure for conducting an inquiry against the superior court judges.

In one of the interactions with the media, CJP Afridi had conceded that the draft for amending the code of conduct had been finalised, outlining the procedure for submitting complaints and the preliminary scrutiny of complaints to determine their validity, or further investigation, etc.

The SJC had earlier established a separate secretariat to enhance its operational capacity.

Earlier this week, CJP Afridi called the SJC meeting to consider around two dozen pending complaints against superior court judges and a set of recommendations to streamline the process of handling complaints and to ensure transparency while probing allegations of misconduct against judges.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2025