RjNews

A member of the Ahmadi community was booked in Gojra, Toba Tek Singh district on Monday, at the complaint of an official of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), for sacrificing a goat on Eidul Azha. The first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , was registered under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Section 298-C of the PPC elaborates on the penalty for a person of the Ahmadi group calling themselves a Muslim or preaching or propagating their faith. In the FIR, the complainant stated that he was informed that a person of Ahmadi faith was sacrificing a goat at a village in Gojra. Upon reaching the village, the FIR states, the complainant found that the person was indeed sacrificing the animal “at his home”. “When he was warned,” the complainant said, “he stood firm and called himself a Muslim.” The FIR said that the suspect had “hurt the sentiments of Muslims by sacrificing an animal and claiming to be a Muslim”. “The suspect has commi...

LAHORE: Industry representatives and public have criticised the government over its plans to impose 18 per cent General Sales Tax (GST) on locally produced infant formula milk and baby food. They said the heavy taxation would worsen malnutrition among infants and children as parents would be compelled to choose cheaper and unhealthy alternative feeding solutions. According to the budget proposal presented by the finance minister last week, the government intends to withdraw the zero-rating status of locally produced infant formula, baby food and fortified child nutrition milk powders and impose 18pc GST on it. “In other countries, governments reduce taxes on such products,” said Akmal, a resident of Lahore, as he “condemned” the government’s move. “How can people, who are already under immense financial stress, afford costly formula milk and food?” he asked. Manufacturers want tax to be imposed in three phases The government’s decision has come at a time when Pakistan was alr...

SUKKUR: Four persons were killed and more than 10 others injured when the coach they were riding overturned while overtaking another vehicle at Siyal Morr (turning) within the limits of the Economic Zone police station in Khairpur district on Sunday. Most of the victims belonged to the Maitlo community and were returning home in Rohri after selling their sacrificial animals in Karachi. Some of the injured, while being provided treatment in the Khairpur Civil Hospital, told local reporters that residents of the nearby area rushed to the spot to rescue the victims but some criminals among them deprived the dead and injured of the cash and mobile phones they had kept in their pockets and luggage. According to the police and hospital sources, three of the victims had died on the spot and the coach driver, who was referred to a Karachi hospital due to his precarious condition, succumbed to his injuries on the way. Identity of none of the four deceased could be ascertained immediately. Th...

LALAMUSA: A year after the disappearance of his brother in one of the deadliest shipwrecks ever witnessed in the Mediterranean, Suleman Tariq wants answers. But, like other young Pakistanis, he is also determined to make it to Europe. Dozens of families gathered at a wedding hall in the Punjab’s town of Lalamusa earlier this week to mark the anniversary of the rusty and overloaded trawler sinking off the coast of Greece, killing more than 600 people. “Since my brother went missing, our financial situation has worsened. I have no choice but to leave Pakistan to help my family repay the loan we took,” said Tariq, whose brother Usman Tariq, was on board but not declared dead. “There’s absolutely nothing in this country… However, I will only pursue legal avenues and will not follow my brother’s path.” A year on, relatives of those who perished in Pylos tragedy are still searching for answers Almost every family from the surrounding area has a male relative who has travelled to Euro...

THE Gilgit-Baltistan region, the neglected mountainous expanse within the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has recently risen to prominence . Previously perceived as a remote liability and officially referred to as the Northern Areas, it was a nameless region of Pakistan. Local Kashmiri leaders, deeming it a barren land and a financial burden, forsook its ownership. Thus, in the Karachi Agreement between Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the government of Pakistan, the region was handed over to Pakistan unconditionally. This set in motion an ad hoc governance arrangement under the control of a joint secretary of government of Pakistan. For the simple folk of the region, the presence of Pakistani officials and the fluttering Pakistani flag symbolised their merger with Pakistan; they were, oblivious to the reality that they possessed no constitutional rights, as a disputed territory governed through decrees by the government of Pakistan. The people had merely exchanged one hars...

Five terrorists were killed after the security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district on Sunday, the military’s media affairs wing said. According to a press release issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was conducted on the reported presence of terrorists in the area. It said that security forces effectively engaged with the terrorists and five terrorists were killed as a result. Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as innocent civilians, it said. Sanitisation operation is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorist found in the area, it added. Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan after the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November ...

An armed man shot and injured nine people, including two children, at a water park near Detroit on Saturday evening before shooting himself after being cornered by police, authorities said. Authorities called the incident random gunfire and said they cornered the suspect in a house nearby, where he died after shooting himself. The local sheriff showed an image of a semiautomatic rifle from inside the house to which the unnamed suspect was tracked. A handgun was recovered from the scene of the shooting, officials added. The suspect was described as a 42-year-old man, while the motives for the shooting were not clear. An eight-year-old boy was in critical condition after being shot in the head while his four-year-old brother was also wounded but stable. Their mother was in critical condition, too, after being hurt in the abdomen and leg, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters. The other six victims, all aged 30 or older, were in stable condition according to Bouchard....