According to details, an unemployed person of Multan city attempted to commit suicide by setting ablaze himself, wife and four children after spraying petrol.
However, neighbours hearing the screams and cries of children reached the scene and put off the fire. All the six people suffered minor burn wounds and were shifted to Nishtar Hospital Multan for treatment.
The neighbours told media persons that the victim had no source of livelihood due to which he was facing financial problems and unable to feed children which forced him to commit heinous act like committing suicide.
The citizens have criticized the federal government for failure to resolve masses hardships and said that sitting government has deprived people of basic life necessities forcing them to commit suicides.
Rio police seized $1.6 million Tuesday from a samba school leader suspected of running an illegal lottery, hauling away a stash of 50- and 100-reais bills in a shopping cart.
Police said the money -- three million reais -- belonged to Helinho de Oliveira, the head of the Uniao da Ilha samba school, one of twelve that participate in the annual Rio de Janeiro Carnival.
Golden replicas of weapons and jewelry were also seized in the raid on a luxurious house in the western borough of Barra da Tijuca.
Police pushed a shopping cart filled to the brim with bank bills that they found stashed behind the refrigerator, under the roof and in the bathrooms of a house belonging to Oliveira's uncle. Money was even found in nearby sewers.
Oliveira, who is suspected of running an illegal lottery, is at large but five other people were arrested in the operation.
Another alleged gaming boss, Aniz Abraao David, who funds the prestigious Beija Flor samba school, is also sought by police. He is believed to have ties to the Jogo do Bicho ("animal game") illegal gambling game.
Police have already arrested 44 people in a crackdown on illegal gambling code-named "Dedo de Deus" ("God's Finger.").
Day laborers and other poor workers began falling ill late Tuesday after drinking the brew that was laced with the toxic methanol around the village of Sangrampur, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Kolkata, according to district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam.
”It’s a very sad thing that this has happened. Why don’t the police stop this? I cannot understand? What connection do they have?” said Anwar Hassan Mullah, who brought six people from his village to the hospital. All of them died, Mullah told NDTV news channel.
Police arrested four people in connection with making and distributing the methanol-spiked booze, said police official Surajit Kar Purkayastha. Highly toxic methanol can be used as a fuel, solvent and anti-freeze.
By Thursday morning the death toll had skyrocketed to 102, and dozens more remained hospitalized, Nigam said.
Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the state of West Bengal, promised a crackdown.
”I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor,” she said, according to Press Trust of India. ”But this is a social problem also, and this has to be dealt with socially also along with action.”
The deaths came just days after more than 90 people were killed in a hospital fire in nearby Kolkata that led to the arrest of the facility’s directors for culpable homicide.
The latest tragedy began Tuesday night when groups of poor laborers finished work and bought some cheap homemade booze for about 10 rupees (20 cents) a half liter, less than one-third the price of legal alcohol.
The men were drinking along the roadside near the railway station, when they began vomiting, suffering piercing headaches and frothing at the mouth, Nigam said.
Arman Seikh, 23-years-old, rushed his brother-in-law to the hospital.
”He complained of burning chest and severe stomach pain last night,” he told The Associated Press.
Furious villagers ransacked the illegal alcohol shops. Bootleg liquor kills dozens of people every year in India. In 2009, at least 112 people died from a toxic brew in western India.
Despite religious and cultural taboos against drinking among Indians, 5 per cent —roughly 60 million people, the population of France —are alcoholics.
Two-thirds of the alcohol consumed in the country is illegal hooch made in remote villages or undocumented liquor smuggled in, according to The Lancet.
According to police, unknown murderers at 6 am barged into a house located in village Chughalpura of Dijkot and stabbed to death four persons present in the house.
The deceased included house owner Ashiq, his wife Nasra Bibi, son Mohsin and a house maid Iqbal alias Kala.
The police shifted the bodies to hospital for medico legal requirements.
Brother of the deceased Ashiq told police that on Sunday morning he knocked at the door and after prolonged wait climbed the wall and found the four dead bodies lying in pool of blood.
Households and clothes in the house were scattered which reveals that the incident was outcome of resistance during robbery.
However, the relatives and neighbours told police that Ashiq was in dispute with his brother over property share who had repeatedly threatened to kill him.
A team under the supervision SP Iqbal Town has been formed to investigate the incident and police have taken into custody three suspects including brother of the deceased.
“I am not going to disclose the names of ministers allegedly charged with corruption cases since investigations are at an initial stage,” he said. The director-general did not disclose the nature of the cases either.
The watchdog has been authorised to hold inquiry into 25 cases this year, the director-general said, adding that of these, as many as 13 are being investigated by NAB while 11 references have been filed in courts, with four people convicted in these cases.
“NAB has recovered Rs200 million out of Rs3 billion in 25 cases, and a total of 22 accused have been arrested,” he said.
According to NAB, the major ongoing cases include those against officials of railway, zakat, food, and health departments.
“There are six cases against government officers from the [afore-mentioned] departments,” he said.
The authority has sealed three warehouses of the health department since thousands of sacks of wheat were missing from various food procurement centers.
Citing large scale corruption in various other departments, including the Balochistan Development Authority, the communication and works and the education departments, the provincial NAB chief said that “the menace has to be eradicated otherwise it will affect the rest of the province.”
About Rs15 million have been embezzled in Quetta Electric Supply Company besides corruption in procurement of machines for Bolan medical Complex and in the Ziarat earthquake victim funds, the official said.
He added that NAB will hold a seminar on Friday (today), marking the anti-corruption day.
The petition filed by Sapna Khan’s father Masal Khan said Sapna’s husband Dost Khosa kidnapped her.
Hearing the petition, the LHC Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed issued notice to the former Punjab Chief Minister Khosa and directed the High Court office to schedule case hearing in second week of December.
It should be mentioned here that the court had earlier also sought a reply from Khosa, whose counsel submitted at the court a written statement that Dost Muhammed Khosa had already divorced Khan and that he is no more in relation with her.
The irregularities surfaced when the auditor-general audited in 2009-10 the accounts of Communications and Works Department, Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department, Irrigation and Power Department, Local Government and Community Development Department, Planning and Development Department (Cholistan Development Authority) besides Environment Protection Department (Kasur Tannery Pollution Control Project).
The report exposes the efficiency of the Shahbaz Sharif’s government which takes pride in ‘good financial control’.
The audit report said the Punjab government departments could not ensure the enforcement of adequate internal control in their organisations, resulting in consequential effects of financial indiscipline to the tune of Rs7.14 billion. The reports contain observations finalised in the light of written responses and discussions with the principal accounting officers concerned in the departmental accounts committee meetings.
Internal controls are the set of rules, regulations, technical memos, policy instructions and standard operating procedures which have been prescribed by the departments or organisations for efficient operation and economic development activities in the domain of works affairs.
Submitted to the Punjab governor in February last year for presenting the same before the provincial assembly, the report highlights 159 instances of breach of inbuilt internal control having cost effect of Rs497.250 million in project management.
The report speaks volumes of the efficiency of the Punjab government: there are 53 cases of loose financial management having cost effect of Rs4.88 billion; another 19 instances of abrupt changes in design or scope of works led to audit observations of Rs118.461 million; the report finds worth of Rs357.127 million some 16 violations of bill of quantities; government’s interest was not taken care of in 52 cases and this laxity in implementation of management controls cost Rs655.114 million to the exchequer. Also 166 instances of non-recovery of Rs624.232 million have been included in the report where regularity, assessment and control measures were not followed. Except for the Local Government and Community Development Department, none could utilise all of its budget allocations.
Of an annual budget of Rs93.65 billion, the Communications and Works Department could utilise Rs55.49 billion (59.24 per cent) while 81.96 per cent (Rs45.479.844 billion) of its total expenditure was audited.
The Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department had a budget of Rs26.09 billion. It utilised 72.83 per cent (Rs19 billion) while 30 per cent (Rs5.74 billion) of its total expenditure was audited.
The Irrigation and Power Department utilised 94.59 per cent (Rs6.35 billion) of its Rs6.71 billion budget while 70.6 per cent (Rs4.48 billion) of the total expenditure was audited.
The Planning and Development Department’s Cholistan Development Authority had a budget of Rs998.433 million. It could utilise 44 per cent (Rs439.342 million) while only 10 per cent (Rs43.934 million of its total expenditure was audited.
The Environment Protection Department’s Kasur Tannery Pollution Control Project utilised 64 per cent (Rs17.826 million) of it Rs27.75 million budget which was audited, said the report.
FIA authorities were given directives by an important personality affiliated with Zardari family, and overlooking political affairs of Sindh, to look into the fraudulent embezzlement.
Three people, including 2 bank managers were arrested by FIA and a case against was registered against them.
FIA has informed that another suspect had managed to flee abroad, and contacts were being made with Interpol for his arrest. Arrest of other employees of the bank, alleged to be involved was also being sought.
Besides, the controversial memo issue was slightly discussed by only one member of the house. The house also adopted a bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, and code of criminal procedure, 1898, (the criminal law, amendment) bill, 2011 regarding punishment for a person who molests an underage and commits unnatural or carnal intercourse. It was moved by PPP MNA Justice (Retd) Fakhar-un-Nisa.
PML-N legislator Qudsia Arshad was the only MNA, who on point of order demanded of the judicial commission to investigate the matter of memo. “It is an important matter and the commission should conduct probe into it so as to unmask the faces behind the controversy,” she added.
Raising the issue about Zulfiqar Mirza, MNA from MQM Sajid Ahmed said Pir Mazharul Haq had claimed that the allegations against Altaf Hussain were baseless. “Pir Mazharul Haq should be called in the house for details,” he added. On this, PML-N legislator Shireen Arshad said Zulfiqar Mirza was a respectable person, as he informed the nation about the extortionist and corrupt mafia on oath. She said all of his documents should also be shared with the nation.
Another MNA from PML-N Rohail Asghar was of the view that four incidents of swearing on Quran by the government ministers happened, due to which the country was facing acts of terrorism, killings and other issues. He said it should not be practiced in politics.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, responding to the point raised by the MNAs on human rights issue, informed that Punjab was at the top of the list in crime rate, as 6242 murders, 192 kidnappings and over 2000 rape cases were witnessed in 2010. He said the provinces should take steps to control crimes. Earlier, MNAs Muhammad Pervaiz, Nisar Tanveer, Tasneem Siddiqui, Shireen Arshad Khan and Nighat Parvin expressed their concerns on human rights issues.
Speaking on point of order, PML-N legislator Abdul Qadir Baloch demanded investigation into the reason for terrorist attacks on armed forces, which claimed several precious lives. He said the parliamentary committee on Karachi and Balochistan brought no fruitful results and it should be probed. On it, PPP chief whip Khursheed Shah said dates were fixed for visiting Balochistan, however the visit was delayed as most of the committee members went to perform Haj. Speaking on point of order, PPP-S Chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao drew the attention of the house towards Lowari Tunnel project, saying that work had been stopped on it.
Responding to the issue of Lowari Tunnel, Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir said work on Lowari Tunnel project would be started soon after payment of Rs two billion. He said the Korean company had stopped work on the project due to shortage of funds, but now after receiving Rs two billion the work would be resumed.
On the issue of urea fertilizer, which would be debated in the house today (Wednesday), Parliamentary Secretary for Industries Pir Haider Ali Shah, while responding to queries on a call attention notice by different MPs, said that local production of urea fertilizer in the country was four lakh ton, which was more than the requirement.
In response to a question by notice of Yasmeen Rehman and other legislators, he said the government was purchasing urea from international market at Rs 3000 per bag and was providing Rs 1300 to Rs 1500 subsidy on each urea sack. He said in order to control the shortage, two lakh metric ton urea had reached Karachi and five lakh metric ton would arrive till December. He said it was also a responsibility of the provinces to take initiatives against smuggling. While, MNA Raza Hiraj said a resolution was moved to debate on urea fertilizer issue on Wednesday. It was against the rule 259 to take business on this matter.
The National Assembly also offered Fateha for martyred personnel of security forces in Balochistan. Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada requested the house to offer Fateha for the security forces personnel, who embraced martyrdom in the line of duty and former minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi led the Fateha. Earlier, a bill moved by MNA Justice (Retd) Fakhar-un-Nisa Khoker regarding amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 and the code of criminal procedure 1898 (the criminal law, amendment) bill 2011 was laid in the house. The statement of objects and reason says that “Child-molestation is increasing in different places in the country and even at public places, like bus stands, railway stations, roadside hotels or other hotels, children are molested and the molestation has become a business that is run at the cost of future of innocent, poor and needy children. It requires harsh measures to control it and punish the person involved in such heinous business.”
Meanwhile, MNA Nauman Sheikh on the behalf of ANP President Asfandyar Wali presented this report on the bill to provide of preservation, protection and assertion of sovereignty of Pakistan (the sovereignty of Pakistan bill 2010) moved by Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada and to the committee on 12th January 2010.
The 18-member committee comprising Asfandyar Wali, Palwasha Khan, Farahnaz Isphahani, Fuazia Habib, Nauman Islam Sheikh, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Mir Amir Ali Kahn Magsi, Aftab ahmed, Ayza Amir, Raja Muhammad Asad, Humair Hayat Khan Rokhri, Muhammad Hamza Shabaz Sharif, Fasisal Saleh Hayat, Ghias Ahmed Mela, Rana Asif Tauseef, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman, and other members. The committee in its meeting held on January 21, 2011 considered the bill in details. The majority of the members did not approve the said bill and recommended that the same may not be processed with by the National Assembly for legislation.
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the considered bill, “there are many forces both inside and outside Pakistan who are weakening the defence of Pakistan and endangering the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan. A vulnerable economic situation is being used to force Pakistan to take the steps, which are not in the national interest. It is, therefore, necessary to enact this law.
Definitions: In the act, unless there is anything repugnant to the subject or contact (a) “Armed forces” means the army, navy and air force of Pakistan’.(b) “Foreign country” means a country other than Pakistan; (c) “Parliament” means the National Assembly and the Senate; and (d) “President” means the president of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
According to the certificate to be issued by the president:(i) The sovereignty and dignity of Pakistan have not been compromised in any manner (ii) No compromise has been made on security or effectiveness of the nuclear program of Pakistan (iii) No understanding has been reached with any foreign country for interference in the change of command or promotions in the Pakistan Armed forces or in the structure or rule of the security forces of Pakistan (iv) No conditionality has been accepted from any source to weaken the defence of Pakistan against foreign aggression.
Three top Khmer Rouge leaders accused of orchestrating Cambodia's "killing fields" will face court on Monday.
A UN-backed tribunal is beginning their trials more than three decades after some of the 20th century's worst atrocities.Survivors of the regime held a remembrance ceremony outside Phnom Penh on Sunday.
Relatives of the victims wept as they chanted and burned incense near a glass case filled with skulls at Choeung Ek Genocide Centre, a memorial built in a field where bones still jut out from the ground, the remnants of the Khmer Rouge mass executions.
The emotional ceremony was held to allow Cambodians an opportunity to share their concerns and remember loved ones ahead of the trials of three of the Khmer Rouge's surviving inner circle - all now in their 80s - on charges including crimes against humanity, genocide and torture in connection with the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror.
Intellectuals, entrepreneurs and anyone considered were imprisoned, tortured and often executed.
"I want to remind the victims and ask them to push this trial to find justice for those who were killed by the Khmer Rouge's regime," 80-year-old Chum Mey, one of the only two survivors from the notorious S-21 prison, said at Sunday's ceremony.
Tribunal spokesman Huy Vannak called the proceedings beginning on Monday "the most important trial in the world" because of the seniority of those involved.
"It sends a message that the trial, which survivors have been waiting more then three decades for, finally begins," he said.
The defendants are 85-year-old Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist and the No.2 leader behind the late Pol Pot; 80-year-old Khieu Samphan, an ex-head of state; and 86-year-old Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister.
A fourth defendant, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, was ruled unfit to stand trial last week because she has Alzheimer's disease. She is Ieng Sary's wife and served as the regime's minister for social affairs.
The regime's supreme leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 in Cambodia's jungles.
He was a prisoner of his own comrades who after being toppled from power fought a guerrilla war that did not fully end in the late 1990s.
Pol Pot had led the Khmer Rouge from its clandestine revolutionary origins to open resistance after a 1970 coup installed a pro-American government and dragged Cambodia directly into the maelstrom of the Vietnam War.
After a bloody civil war, the Khmer Rouge guerrillas took power in 1975 and all but sealed off the country to the outside world.
It immediately emptied the capital Phnom Penh of almost all its inhabitants, sending them to vast rural communes as part of an effort to turn the country into a socialist utopia.
With intellectuals and anyone too closely associated with the previous regime purged, an economic and social disaster ensued.
The failures only fed the group's paranoia, and imagined traitors said to be working with the US, or Vietnam, the country's traditional enemy, were hunted down, only plunging the country further into chaos.
Vietnam, whose border provinces had suffered bloody attacks, sponsored a resistance movement and invaded, ousting the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979 and installing a client government.
More than three decades later, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians still struggle with the trauma inflicted by the regime and the long-delayed hunt for justice.
The UN-backed tribunal, which was established in 2006, has tried just one case, convicting Kaing Guek Eav, the former head of the regime's notorious S-21 prison, last July and sentencing him to 35 years in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other offences.
That case was seen as much simpler than the current case, which covers a much broader range of activities and because Kaing Guek Eav confessed to his crimes.
Those going on trial on Monday have steadfastly maintained their innocence. The prison chief was also far lower in the regime's leadership ranks than the current defendants.
There has been concern that the top Khmer Rouge leaders, all ageing and in poor health, could die before a verdict is delivered. The tribunal announced in September that it would try to expedite the proceedings by splitting the charges.
Huy Vannak said he didn't know how the trial would last but said the tribunal will take time to examine each accused, civil party and witness to ensure that the trial is fair.
The first part of the trial will consider charges involving the forced movement of people and crimes against humanity, while later proceedings will focus on other charges including genocide.
"I'm so happy and I could not sleep last night when I heard these leaders were to appear before the tribunal," said 80-year-old Chum Mey, one of only two survivors from the S-21 prison.
"We have been waiting for more than 30 years to hear these leaders' voice saying the true story of their reign that brought death to over a million people."
The official Xinhua News Agency says police busted 144 drug rings involved in narcotics production and trafficking in a recent campaign. It did not say what drugs were being sold or had been seized.
Xinhua says police in the western cities of Lanzhou and Xi'an found that some people were selling and buying drugs through chat rooms that were not accessible to outsiders. It says newcomers could only join if they were introduced by existing users.
Xinhua said in Sunday's report that about two-thirds of the 12,000 suspects arrested were people under 35 years old.
An addict son has shot eight of his own family members dead in Gujaranwal, Express news 24/7 News reported.Police say Afzal, a junkie, killed his six siblings and parents after drugging them. The family members were shot at a point-blank range, they added. The murderer, who was arrested shortly, confessed to killing his parents, four brothers, and two sisters. Murder weapon, a 30-bore pistol, was also recovered as an injured Afzal himself led the police to it. The motive according to Afzal 18, was constant domestic bickering, which drove him to commit this heinous act.
Earlier the culprit had told police that unknown gunmen stormed their house and killed his whole family, but his injured hand gave the game away to police.
The unfortunate family is reported to be very poor as Asghar, the deceased father was a donkey-carter.
Afzal, later, told police that he first killed his parents while they were still asleep and then tied-up his siblings to gun them dead.
Earlier the culprit had told police that unknown gunmen stormed their house and killed his whole family, but his injured hand gave the game away to police.
The unfortunate family is reported to be very poor as Asghar, the deceased father was a donkey-carter.
Afzal, later, told police that he first killed his parents while they were still asleep and then tied-up his siblings to gun them dead.
She demanded that the government provide her entire family protection. “Shameem’s maternal uncles disapproved of the marriage because of my profession,” she said. “They threatened to take her away on numerous occasions if I continued singing.”
According to Khoso, he was on his way back from Sukkur with Sahar on Sunday, October 9 when one of children called to inform him about the kidnapping. He claims that Shameem’s uncles broke into the house.
SSP Clifton Tariq Dharejo said the two men, who were identified as Danial and Faisal, were involved in the killings of at least 26 people and belonged to a political party. Dharejo refused to name the party.
Two SMG rifles and a TT pistol were also recovered from the arrested men.
Since August 23, law enforcement agencies have been raiding different political and religious party offices and centres in Karachi. So far, they have covered the MQM, Awami National Party, Sunni Tehreek, People’s Amn Committee and the home of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz’s chief.
Earlier, the Rangers had confirmed the detention of 30 people after raids on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) offices.
They were identified as Bilal and Babar whose dead bodies were recovered on the information of the accused. The father reported to the police about the disappearance of his sons and named Asif as accused.
Asif told police that Babar was his neighnour and friend. He was also the teacher of his niece.
Asif was enraged when he came to know that Babar had his niece's picture in his mobile and killed both the brothers with the help of his friends.
The police have recovered the pistol and initiated the probe into the murder.
