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Pakistani hostages held by Somali pirates issue new distress message seeking govt help

More than 100 days after being taken hostage by Somali pirates, crew members on board MT Honour 25 have released another distress message in which they appealed directly to the Pakistani government for their release, it emerged on Sunday. The Honour 25 — a Palau-flagged oil tanker carrying 17 to 19 crew members, including 10 Pakistanis — was hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia on April 21. Despite over three months passing, there has been no progress either in negotiations or the payment of the ransom, said to be around $3 million, for the recovery of the hostages, despite concerns abounding about their declining health. In two video messages seen by Dawn , the Pakistani hostages and foreigners can be seen in a state of extreme distress, with most looking sick and weak. They requested that the Pakistani government talk to the Somali pirates and take steps to release them. Yasir Khan, a hostage aboard the ship, said that many of the crew members had falle...

2 tribal elders shot dead in KP's Lower South Waziristan

LOWER SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Two tribal elders were shot dead by unidentified armed men in the Zarmilan area of Toi Khulla tehsil of Lower South Waziristan on Sunday, police said. Lower South Waziristan District Police Officer (DPO) Shah Hassan told Dawn that the victims were travelling in a car from the Gul Kach area towards the Zarmilan area when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle at Darozanda. The two men sustained multiple bullet wounds and died at the scene, the DPO said, adding that the deceased were identified as Haji Gul and Malik Badshah, both belonging to the Suleman Khel tribe. He said the attackers fled the area after the shooting. “Police have filed a preliminary report at the Toi Khulla police station and launched an investigation into the incident,” he said. “Every aspect of the incident is being examined, and efforts are under way to trace and arrest the assailants.” Lower South Waziristan, as well as the rest of KP, has been facing security challenges an...

Karachi's Red Line suffers another blow as decision to cancel Mosamiyat-to-Numaish contract declared ‘invalid’

KARACHI: In a major blow to hopes of easing Karachi’s transportation crisis anytime soon, the Sindh government’s decision to cancel the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line construction contract has been declared “unlawful, invalid, null and void”. The ruling was delivered by the Dispute Resolution Board after the Sindh High Court asked the parties to approach the forum. The Dispute Board’s decision also delivered an extraordinary indictment of the very agency entrusted with executing the project — TransKarachi — questioning its institutional capacity and pointing out its lack of experienced project management needed to administer a project of this magnitude and complexity. The contract requires both the employer (TransKarachi/Sindh government) and the contractor to resolve the dispute through an independent Dispute Board before resorting to formal court lawsuits. The Sindh government had announced termination of the BRT Red Line project’s key segment called Lot-2 from Mosamiyat to Num...

Flawed investigations

THE botched case of a young Karachi businessman, Mir Raza Ali , who died under suspicious circumstances, took a new turn recently when his parents alleged kidnapping, torture and murder, while the police, at least initially, leaned towards suicide . The police surgeon questioned the post-mortem report on television; the deceased’s father filed a plea seeking exhumation of the body and the constitution of a medico-legal board. A day after the court’s permission, exhumation was postponed after the family objected to the sudden reconstitution of the board. Regrettably, reports submitted by medico-legal surgeons have been disputed with disturbing regularity in the country. Criminal cases rest on their findings. Any loopholes can bury justice for victims and their kin. Yet, not only have these assessments often been flawed, pressure is exercised to have the evidence altered. An inaccurate record of a victim’s wounds hinders the dispensation of justice. M...

Heavy rain disrupts traffic, daily life in Lahore’s low-lying areas

LAHORE: Heavy rain lashed Lahore on Saturday, inundating low-lying areas, major roads and several underpasses, making movement difficult for pedestrians and motorists in different parts of the city. The downpour disrupted normal traffic as rainwater accumulated on roads and in low-lying localities, leaving motorists struggling to navigate waterlogged stretches. Pedestrians also struggled to move through streets and roads where water had accumulated. According to rainfall data from the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), the city received an average of 24.6mm of rain. The highest rainfall of 104mm was recorded at the airport, followed by 75.6mm at Kahna, 62.6mm at Hadiara Defence Road and 58.6mm at Manawan. Tajpura sub-divisional officer’s (SDO) office recorded 40.2mm of rain, while 32.8mm was recorded at the Mughalpura SDO office. Shadipura received 28.4mm, Nishter Town 28mm, Chowk Nakhuda 11mm, Johar Town SDO Office 11mm, while 10.8mm was recorded at the Wasa head office in Gu...

Mir Raza Ali's body exhumed following restoration of original medical board

The body of Institute of Business Administration (IBA) graduate and businessman Mir Raza Ali was exhumed on Saturday, his father’s lawyer said after the Sindh government restored the original medical board. The exhumation had been scheduled for Friday morning but was postponed after Raza’s family objected to the abrupt reconstitution of a medical board and inclusion of members from outside Karachi division. “The investigation officer was present when the body was exhumed and the examination was carried out. All eight people of the medical team were present; the parents were also nearby. And most importantly, a judicial magistrate … was present,” Advocate Jibran Nasir told the media in Karachi on Saturday. The lawyer contended that “incomplete CCTV footage and out-of-context messages” have been used to ignite rumours and reach hasty conclusions since the killing. The body of 25-year-old Ali was found in bushes in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar last mo...