Thursday, 13 August, 2020 I 22 Dhul-Hijjah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 44 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition
MaryaM aMong PML-n Leaders booked for ‘thuggery’
LAHORE sTaff rePorT
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HE Punjab police on Wednesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz and scores of party workers and leaders for attacking police and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials outside the agency’s Lahore office a day earlier. A violent clash had erupted between police and PML-N supporters after Maryam arrived for a hearing in a case pertaining to “illegal” acquisition of land injuring many on-duty officials. Many people, including some officials, were injured and around 50 men were rounded up after police fired tear gas besides hurling back stones at the activists, with each side blaming the other for triggering the clash. Maryam claimed that the government had planned to “cause harm” to her through police action while posting a video of her bulletproof car’s broken windshield on her Twitter account. The FIR, which was filed by NAB’s Director of Security and Intelligence Mohammad Asghar at the Chung police station, stated that Maryam had been called to the bureau’s Lahore office in a “personal capacity”. But instead of merely appearing for the hearing, the FIR alleged she “incited PML-N workers at the behest of her husband Safdar Awan”. “The workers then started displaying
thuggery — pelting stones and creating disorder.” Besides Maryam and her husband, the FIR also named multiple PML-N leaders including Rana Sanaullah, Mirza Javed, Javed Latif, Mian Abdul Raouf and 184 other supporters. It also pointed to the involvement of another 300 unnamed workers who the security team “would be able to identify from the pictures and video footage”. The FIR also identified different vehicles that came to the NAB office as part of Maryam’s caravan. “This is the first time in NAB’s 20-year history that this level of horrendous attitude has been shown in which the day to day office operations of the organisation have been destroyed and the state’s work has been interfered with,” it said. “This evil act was done by Maryam Safdar and her husband Safdar Awan after proper planning and coordination with the PML-N workers. They also brought stones in their cars from Jati Umra,” the FIR stated, adding that MPA Mirza Javed and his son had also come to the NAB office with bags of stones in their car. The FIR also alleged that the workers had organised an “unlawful assembly on Maryam’s instigation” and were told to disperse by the police. “The PML-N workers under their leadership’s guidance also pelted stones at the police officials.” The NAB official also stated in the FIR that the movement of the accountability body’s employees and passers-by was “restricted” and fear and chaos was created, adding that the building’s glass was
Coronavirus in
Pakistan
also broken by throwing stones. He requested the police to “start action against them according to the law”. The FIR was registered under section 147 (punishment for rioting), section 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), section 290 (punishment for public nuisance in cases not otherwise provided for), section 291 (continuance of nuisance after injunction to discontinue), section 440 (mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt), section 109 (punishment of abetment), section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and section 86 (offence requiring a particular intent or knowledge committed by one who is intoxicated) of the Pakistan Penal Code. PETITION FOR PHYSICAL REMAND OF PMLN WORKERS REJECTED: Meanwhile, a Lahore district court rejected a petition by the investigating officer for granting an eightday physical remand of more than 50 PMLN workers and activists who were held after Tuesday’s clashes. Judicial Magistrate Hafiz Nafees Yousuf heard the case. Advocate for the PML-N workers Farhad Ali Shah said that they were citizens of the country and could go wherever they wanted according to the rights granted by the Constitution. “The police inflicted torture on them,” he said, adding that six of the sections under which the case was registered were bailable offences and section 440 was “not applicable”. He added that none of the workers had any weapons and the police “beat whoever they wanted”. The court sent all the accused to a 14day judicial remand. However, all those held filed a petition for bail, arguing that they were implicated in a “false and baseless” case. “The accused have no connection to the incident. The police made the PML-N workers a target for torture,” the petition read.
Safdar seeks police case against PM Imran, NAB chief STORY ON PAGE 03
Indian cyber attacks against govt, defence officials foiled: ISPR RAWALPINDI TLTP
Security agencies have foiled multiple Indian cyber attacks aimed at hacking mobile and other equipment used by the government and defense officials of the country. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Indian spy agencies were behind a bid to launch multiple cyberattacks in Pakistan. “We have improved our cybersecurity after the recent bid was foiled,” the army’s media wing said on Wednesday, adding that it came to the notice of the security agencies after they carried out a thorough probe into the targets of the cyber attack. It further said that all government institutions have also been intimated to improve cybersecurity to avoid such attempts in the future. It is pertinent to mention here that Kaspersky Lab has ranked
Five FATF-related bills sail through NA
285,920
STORY ON PAGE 02
NAB asks Punjab CM to submit reply in graft case by 18th
LAST UPDATED AT 09:41 AM ON AUGUST 12, 2020 DAY'S DEATH TOLL: NEW CASES:
730
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
SINDH:
PUNJAB:
263,193 6,129
124,556
94,715
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
34,859
11,956
2,157/2,382 15,296
more inside
CJP Gulzar terms Sindh govt a ‘complete failure’
CONFIRMED CASES:
17
Pakistan among the most unprotected countries with regard to cybersecurity. A report of the Russian based multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider said that internet consumers in Pakistan are greatly unprotected. The situation in Bangladesh, Iran, China, and India is comparatively far worse, it said. This may be noted that the Kaspersky Lab report has ranked India a more insecure country than Pakistan. Kaspersky Lab said about 25 per cent of mobile devices in Pakistan had been attacked by malware and viruses, while in India it was more than 25 per cent. Bangladesh has been rated as the most unprotected country of the cyber world, Nigeria is second most unprotected, China fifth and India sixth, while Pakistan stands at number seven in the list. Only eight countries were included in the research as their numbers were completely and easily available.
STORY ON PAGE 03 ISLAMABAD sTaff rePorT
A day after the government and the opposition succeeded after much dilly-dallying in developing a consensus on six out of eight Financial Action Task Force(FATF)related bills, the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday smoothly passed five bills after their approval from Standing Committee on Finance. The bills, presented by Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem, included: the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Bill,
2020 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Bill, 2020. Speaking on the floor of the House, the minister termed the day a historic one, saying that the legislation was carried out in the larger interest of the country. “Whitening the economy and keeping a check of potential terror financing is important to take the country forward on the road to development,” Naseem said. Earlier, while addressing the House, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said terror financing and money laundering was a menace the country needed to confront. “Long deliberations were held with the opposition parties to reach consensus on the FATF
related legislation,” he said referring to opposition parties complaints about the bill being approved NA Standing Committee on Finance on Monday. The government had deferred the presentation of the legislation for a day in order to meet conditions of the FATF and engage the opposition parties through Speaker Asad Qaiser with whose efforts the government had previously managed to get three such bills approved through parliament. The treasury had decided to take the opposition on board on the legislation that had already been passed by the assembly’s standing committees amid protest by the opposition parties and following their announcement to block these bills in parliament.
PTI govt’s flagship Peshawar BRT becomes operational today STORY ON PAGE 02
Democrat Joe Biden chooses Kamala Harris for White House running mate STORY ON PAGE 10