KARACHI, OCT 12 (DNA) – Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday admitted for hearing appeals of five convicts challenging their sentences in the Baldia factory fire case.

According to details, SHC has sought the complete record of the case from the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) that handed down the September 22 verdict sentencing Zubair Chariya and Abdul Rehman to death for their role in the deaths of over 260 people in the 2012 Baldia factory fire.

Earlier, the two MQM workers along with other convicts approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) to challenge their conviction in the high-profile Baldia factory fire case. The appeal argued that the ATC ignored important evidence while pronouncing its verdict. They have asked the high court to overturn the ATC’s verdict.

Lawyers of factory workers who were handed over prison time argued that police declared their clients innocent in its investigation and no witnesses record statements against watchmen Fazal Muhammad and Ali Muhammad. Earlier, on September 22, anti-terrorism court in its verdict in the high-profile Baldia factory fire case sentenced Rehman Bhola and Zubair Charya to death.

Eight years after the terrifying industrial blaze, ATC in its verdict stated that incident was not an accident and sentenced two accused to death and four including Fazal Ahmed, Arshad Mehmood, Ali Muhammad and factory manager Shah Rukh were handed over prison time for facilitation in the crime.

MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui, Iqbal Adeeb Khanum, Ali Hassan Kadri and Abdul Sattar have been acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence. = DNA

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ISLAMABAD, OCT 12 (DNA) – The Financial Action Task Force International Cooperation Review Group will start reviewing on Tuesday Pakistan’s progress on regulations in curbing money laundering and terrorism financing.

The report and proposal for Pakistan will be submitted to FATF, which will hold another meeting in Paris from October 21 to 23 to decide whether or not to remove Pakistan from its grey list.

According to Finance Ministry officials, the meeting will be attended by members from China, the US, UK, France, Germany, New Zealand and India. The ministry says significant progress has been made on 21 of FATF’s 27 conditions, including recent legislation against money laundering and terror financing. Officials said they are optimistic.

Meanwhile, the National Counter Terrorism Authority, State Bank, Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Financial Monitoring Unit have met all targets set by the multilateral body.

On the other hand, the Asia Pacific Group released a progress report on Pakistan up to February 2020. It acknowledged Pakistan for taking significant measures against money laundering and terror financing. According to the report, out of 40 recommendations, Pakistan partially implemented 25 points, well on course to meet another nine recommendations and fully implemented two recommendations.

The Financial Action Task Force is an inter-governmental body that combats threats to international financial system. A potential downgrade to FATF’s blacklist has serious implications for Pakistan and here is why it matters.

Being on the blacklist means our banking system will be regarded as one with poor controls over Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) standards. The FATF doesn’t impose any sanctions directly, but its guidelines are taken seriously by global financial institutions.

This means overseas Pakistanis who send remittances to Pakistan will be subject to more scrutiny. The traders who deal in imports and exports will suffer because they have to make and receive payments with the help of international banks that may either increase the cost for our banks or simply not do business with us.

The implications for the economy as a whole can be far more serious. Being placed on FATF’s blacklist can affect capital inflows and lower investment to Pakistan, thus hurting the ongoing IMF programme.

Raising funds from global capital markets will be difficult, which will undermine our ability to pay foreign debt. Deficiencies in our banking system got us here, but this is not the first time we have been on the FATF’s grey list. We were removed from the grey list in February 2015 and placed on its white list, the one with no risk of sanctions. It put us on the blacklist again in June 2018 because of deficiencies in our AML and CFT regulations, which threaten the international financial system.

For example, Pakistan’s largest bank, Habib Bank Limited, was kicked out of New York with a fine of $225 million after it failed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. “The Department of Financial Services (DFS) will not tolerate inadequate risk and compliance functions that open the door to financing of terrorist activities that pose a grave threat to the people of this State [New York] and the financial system as a whole,” the American regulator had said.

FATF is a global watchdog for illicit financial activities and comprises experts from Indonesia, China, the UK, Maldives, US, and Turkey. Since Pakistan is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on money laundering, which falls under the FATF’s purview, it has to ensure technical compliance with the AML and CFT standards.

Money laundering and terrorist financing is a crime in Pakistan, but the country has not been able to enforce this law effectively. Despite making progress on the global AML and CFT index, Pakistan remains on the list of countries with significant risk.

Pakistan’s rank dropped to 23 in the global AML Index 2019, two levels below the previous year’s position. The country improved its score by 0.04 points to 6.45 points in 2019 on the Basel AML Index, an independent annual ranking that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing around the world.

Among 125 countries assessed for the 2019 report, Pakistan was among the 74 countries with a risk score of 5.0 or above. These were the countries that could be loosely classified as having a significant risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, the report said. With 2.68 points, Estonia has the lowest level of risk, while Mozambique faces the highest risk with 8.22 points.

Money laundering and terrorist financing continue to cripple economies, distort international finances and harm citizens around the globe, says Basel AML Index Report 2018. It estimates the amount of money laundered worldwide ranges from $500 billion to a staggering $1 trillion. = DNA

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DNA

ISLAMABAD, OCT 12  –   Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Tariq Banuri has assured the faculty members working under Tenure Track System (TTS) that the Commission has already made a decision to accept their genuine demands. He stated this on Monday while talking to a delegation of TTS faculty members who met him at the HEC Secretariat in Islamabad. He was accompanied by Executive Director HEC Dr. Shaista Sohail and Member Operations HEC Dr. Fateh Marri.

After detailed discussion on different demands by the TTS faculty, it was decided that within the current week HEC will issue three notifications. One notification relates to increase in tenure length of TTS faculty members from six to nine years, with the revised criteria. While the other two notifications relate to clarification regarding administrative positions previously held by TTS faculty as well as the future course of action for holding such positions.

Similarly, two more notifications will be issued in a month’s time. One for the revised salary structure of TTS faculty members and the other one for their pension scheme in light of decisions of the Commission, HEC’s governing body.

It was further discussed that HEC will also consider the other issues raised by TTS faculty members.

DNA

KARACHI, OCT 12  –  Senior Vice Chairman of Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and Chief of FPCCI Standing Committee on FBR, Public Utilities and Fairs and Exhibitions and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday supported the decision of the Prime Minister Imran Khan to appoint Tabish Gohar as Special Assistant to PM on energy.

Mr. Gohar is a foreign qualified and globally known energy expert and has a lot on his credit including bringing K-Electric to profit therefore the business community is pinning high hopes on him, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that putting the power sector back on track will be a challenge for him and the business community will fully cooperate with him.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said notorious power sector circular debt has jumped to Rs2.28 trillion by September and it is increasing at a worrying pace of Rs1.5 trillion per day.

The IMF programme which was suspended in January cannot be resumed unless the issue of circular debt is settled according to the wishes of the lender by increasing power tariff to unsustainable levels which is being resisted by the government.

He said that presently many old and inefficient power stations are being operated in the country adding to the debt, power production is more than consumption while government is bound to pay for it, heavy capacity charges are hitting power sector while the faulty transmission system is unable to transmit power generated by the power plants.

He hoped that Tabish Gohar will tackle these issues, close, sell or relocate old power plants, bring an end to power theft worth Rs400 billion, and improve transmission system. He will also focus on improving the power distribution system, ensure merit, pay attention to renewable energy, and push early completion of hydropower projects to provide affordable energy to domestic consumers and industrial sector.

He said that no economic policy can be fruitful unless the power sector is fixed and Mr. Gohar is well aware of this fact.

DNA

KARACHI, OCT 12  — Khurram Ijaz Vice President FPCCI While appreciating the performance of the Sindh Revenue Mr. Khurram Ijaz Vice President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry stated that the pandemic COVID-19 has badly affected trade and industry, while recent urban flooding has damaged inventory and markets that need support from both federal and provincial government to restore economic and business activities.

During the meeting with Chairman SRB Mr. Khalid Mehmood and his team who visited FPCCI including, the FPCCI vice president applaud the achievement of more than 16% growth in tax collection reaching to Rs.10.429 billion however, he also raised some issues being faced by sectors rendering services.

He said that multiplicity of sales tax on services by provinces has drastically reduced the growth of some sectors. Relief package should be extended to service providers which is badly affected due to COVID-19 outbreak. It was also proposed to inter-link customs house agent’s license number with NTN and clearing agents not to be treated as shipping agents. Sales tax on rental income is not a service like brokerage etc. therefore may not be treated as sales tax on service. IT industry is being taxed at 13% which is higher side it should be revised to 2-5 percent to ensure growth of this sector.

There is no clear cut definition of software available in SRB while 80% sale of software is subscription based and there is no taxation of SRB in this respect. Therefore, there is a need to define the taxation in this sector with reference to definition of software. SRB is imposing sales tax on service by security agencies and security guard salary as well as hence the sector is exposed to double taxation that is the sector is paying income tax and sales tax on services, there is a need to review this situation of double taxation. Similarly the interpretation of SRB on the issue of Hajj and Umrah and religious journey of Ziarat which are being considered under the definition of Hajj & Umrah and need to be reviewed.

While responding to the issues and problems raised by participants from different sectors, the Chairman SRB informed that our target is to increase 27 percent revenue collection. He told that during COVID-19 period SRB did its best to provide relief and relaxation to the surviving businesses.

Mr. Zubair Baweja, Vice President while speaking in the meeting said that there are still untapped areas for revenue enhancement. He said that SRB under the Chairmanship of Khalid Mehmood has achieved various milestones. He further proposed some measures for revenue enhancement including digitalization of land record, automation, provincial taxpayer’s directory, census of service sectors, and elimination of duplicity and multiplicity in tax collection by various organizations and departments.

The meeting was attended by a large number of high profile businessmen including Mr. Muhammad Ali Quaid, VP FPCCI Mr. Saqib Fayyaz Magoon and Mr. Shabbir Mansha EC Member FPCCI, Mian Zahid Hussain, Mian Shaukat Ahmed former SVP, Chairman and members of leading associations and chambers belonging to different services sectors including Travel & Tour, Security, Overseas employment generation, ICT etc. The SRB Chairman also brings the SRB team including Mr. Abdul Majid Yousfani Member IT SRB, Syed Mushtaq Kazmi, Advisor Tax Policy SRB, Mr. Masood Jhangir Member Operations SRB, Ms. Mona Mehfooz, Commissioner SRB for immediate response on issues.

The meeting was concluded with the presentation of FPCCI shield to the Chairman SRB.

DNA

RAWALPINDI  –  Determined to uproot drug menace from the country and the world, Anti Narcotics Force Pakistan seized 1.951 Ton Narcotics worth US$ 73.297 Million internationally, arrested 46 culprits including 7 Ladies and 6 foreigners and impounded 20 vehicles while conducting 40 counter-narcotic strikes. The seized drugs comprised of 1815.3 Kg Hashish, 45.96 Kg Heroin, 18.455 Kg Methamphetamine (Ice), 61.155 Kg Opium, 2300x Al-prazolam Tabs and 10 Kg Suspected Powder.

ANF KP, Police Station ANF Peshawar intercepted a Suzuki Car at University Road Peshawar and recovered 6.000 Kg Opium & 9.600 Kg Hashish which was tactfully concealed in a cavity beneath the front seat of seized vehicle. Accused Khan Alam resident of Khyber Agency was arrested on the spot. In another operation, ANF Peshawar conducted an Intelligence Based Operation at Ring Road Peshawar and intercepted a Suzuki Khyber Car and recovered 13.050 Kg Heroin from the seized car.

The accused (driver) succeeded mange to escape from the occurrence place. In third operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Mansehra intercepted a Charade Car at Township Market, Mansehra and recovered 7.200 Kg Hashish which was tactfully concealed in footboard of the seized car.

Three accused namely Muhammad Ismail Syed, Muhammad Aslam and Siraj Muhammad all residents of Peshawar were arrested during the operation. In fourth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Peshawar intercepted a Mini Pajero (FAW VAN) at Motorway Toll Plaza Peshawar and recovered 16.800 Kg Hashish which was tactfully placed in trunk of the said vehicle.

Three persons onboard including a lady namely Mustaqeem Khan resident of Nowshera, Ijaz Khan and Shakila Niaz both residents of Swat were arrested during the operation. In fifth operation, the staff of Police Station Regional Directorate ANF Peshawar arrested an accused namely Haroon ur Rasheed resident of Mardan at Motorway Toll Plaza, Peshawar and recovered 1.200 Kgs Hashish from his bag.

In sixth operation, the staff of Police Station Regional Directorate ANF Peshawar intercepted a Toyota Corolla Car at University Road, Peshawar and recovered 14.000 Kg Heroin which was tactfully concealed in trunk of seized car.

An accused namely Gul Khan resident of Afghanistan was arrested on the spot. In seventh operation, the staff of Police Station ANF D.I Khan conducted an Intelligence Based Operation at Sheikh Yousuf, D.I Khan, intercepted a Suzuki VagonR car and recovered 200 Gram Methamphetamine and 1.200 Kg Hashish from front doors of the said vehicle.

Accused namely Gul Khan resident of D.I Khan was arrested on the spot. In eighth operation, Police Station Regional Directorate KP apprehended an accused during naka near Motorway Toll Plaza Peshawar and recovered 1.200 Kg Hashish, from arrested accused Mumtaz Ali resident of Swabi.

ANF Rawalpindi, the staff of Police Station ANF Islamabad intercepted a Toyota Pickup (Dotson) near Islamabad Toll Plaza (M1 Exit Point) Islamabad and recovered 4.000 Kg Heroin and 10.000 Kg suspected powder from the said vehicle and arrested two accused namely Siraj Muhammad resident of Mardan and Naeem Akhtar resident of Karachi. In another operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Rawalpindi established a naka at link road Exit Point of Motorway, Islamabad and intercepted a Mehran Car and recovered 3.600 Kg Hashish & 850 Gram Opium from secret cavity of the said car.

Two accused namely Noor Alam resident of Khyber and a lady accomplice Aneela resident of Peshawar were arrested on the spot. In third operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Rawalpindi intercepted a Car at Old Motorway Toll Plaza, Islamabad  and recovered 3.600 Kg Hashish during search of the said vehicle.

Driver of the said car managed to escape from the scene. In fourth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Attock established naka near Iqbal Shaheed Toll Plaza GT Road Attock and recovered 1.200 Kgs Hashish from arrested accused Hazrat Bilal resident of Peshawar. In fifth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Attock established a naka near Iqbal Shaheed Toll Plaza, G.T Road, Attock and recovered 740 Gram Heroin (Brown) from possession of the arrested lady accused namely Shaheen resident of Nowshera. In sixth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Rawalpindi intercepted a Netherland bound suspected consignment from a private cargo office located at Rawalpindi and recovered 5.300 Kg Heroin which was tactfully concealed in photo album.

As per Initial investigation the parcel was booked by accused namely Waseem Majeed resident of Jhelum. In seventh operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Rawalpindi arrested five American nationals accused namely Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Zubair Iqbal Khan, Zahid Bibi, Mukhtiar Khan and Resham Jan all residents of Attock at Islamabad International Airport who were travelling through Flight No.E-613 and recovered 2300x Al-Prozolam Tabs (0.434 Kg) from all of them. In eighth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Rawalpindi recovered 900 Gram Hashish from personal possession of the arrested accused namely Jamroz Khan resident of Khyber Agency. He was arrested at Motorway Link Road, Islamabad.

In ninth operation, the staff of Police Station ICT Islamabad intercepted a Bahrain bound suspected consignment from an international cargo office located at I-8 Islamabad and recovered 1.010 Kg Methamphetamine, which was concealed in trolley bag. As per initial information parcel was booked by accused Abid Jan resident of Charsadda.

In tenth operation, the staff of Police Station ICT Islamabad intercepted a Jeddah (KSA) bound suspected consignment from international cargo office located at Aabpara Market, G-6, Islamabad and recovered 2.745 Kg Methamphetamine which was soaked in five gents clothes. The said parcel was booked by accused namely Muhammad Jeelani resident of Rawalpindi. In eleventh operation, Police Station ANF Rawalpindi apprehended a lady accused Rukhsana Ramzan resident of Sargodha and recovered 2.200 Kg Hashish from her personal possession.

She was arrested at Exit Point of Motorway Toll Plaza, Islamabad. In twelfth operation, Police Station ANF Rawalpindi while establishing naka at Exit Point of Motorway link road, Islamabad and recovered 4.800 Kg Hashish from personal possession of the two accused persons namely Muhammad Ullah resident of Khyber Agency and Ehsan Ullah resident of Peshawar. In thirteenth operation, staff of Police Station Regional Directorate Rawalpindi during a naka at M1 exit, Motorway Toll Plaza, Tehsil & Distt Islamabad, intercepted a Mehran Car and recovered 2 Kg Heroin (Brown) from secret cavity of the said vehicle, one accused Tayyab Khan resident of Hangu was arrested on the spot.

ANF Lahore, the staff of Police Station ANF Faisalabad raided near Punjab Academy, Millat Chowk, Faisalabad and recovered 2.400 Kg Hashish from the arrested lady accused namely Bushra Bibi resident of Gujranwala. In another operation, Police Station Regional Directorate ANF Airport Staff intercepted one Pakistani national accused Muhammad Iqbal resident of Sheikhupura at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore who was travelling to Dubai (UAE) through Airblue Airline and recovered 1 Kg Heroin & 1.650 Kgs Methamphetamine which was tactfully concealed in trolly bag. In third operation, Police Station Lahore raided near Justice A.R Kiani Bridge Saggianwala bypass road Lahore and recovered 3.600 Kg Hashish alongwith Motorcycle from the arrested accused Muhammad Usman resident of Lahore. In fourth operation, Police Station Regional Directorate Lahore, raided near Alnoor Ashiq Ali Chowk Ichra, Lahore and recovered 2 Kg Heroin from personal possession of the arrested accused Muhammad Aqeel Javed resident of Lahore. In fifth operation, Police Station Multan intercepted a Truck Hino loaded with 650 Crates of Apples at Khanewal road near Shamkot Motorway Toll Plaza and recovered 32 Kg Opium & 133.200 Kg Hashish from secret cavity in fuel tank of seized truck. Three accused namely Bashir Ahmed, Allah Muhammad and Muhammad Daood residents of Pishin were arrested on the spot. In sixth operation, Police Station Regional Directorate Lahore raided at 32 Chowk near Ravi road Lahore and recovered 14.400 Kg Hashish from arrested accused namely Saad Ullah and Shahzad Khan residents of Faisalabad. In seventh operation, Police Station Regional Directorate raided near Darbar Baba Niaz Ali Sarkar Harbuns Pura Railway Station Lahore and recovered 3 Kg Opium and 3 Kg Hahsih from secret cavity of seized vehicle Suzuki Balino. One accused Khair Muhammad resident of Jaffarabad was arrested on the spot.

ANF Karachi, the staff of Police Station ANF Karachi intercepted a car near Bilawal Chorangi and recovered 2.000 Kg Hashish from the arrested accused namely Qaiser Khan resident of Karachi. In another operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Sukkur conducted a raid at Shikarpur Phatak and recovered 1.000 Kg Hashish from the arrested accused namely Mir Hussain resident of Shikarpur. In third operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Sukkur intercepted a Suzuki Mehran car near Mashuallab Hotel located at Shikarpur road and recovered 70.000 Kg Hashish during search of the said vehicle. In fourth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Korangi, Karachi intercepted a UK bound parcel from a cargo office located at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi and recovered 3.870 Kgs Heroin which was concealed in 9x Sweet Boxes. Parcel was booked by Nasir Ali resident of Karachi. In fifth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Gulshan-e-Iqbal intercepted a Troller near Desi Hut Restaurant, Northern bypass, Karachi and recovered 236.800 Kg Hashish & 6.000 Kg Opium from the troller. An accused namely Matiullah resident of Qillah Abdullah was arrested on the spot.  In sixth operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Karachi, conducted a raid at Godown located at Plot No.H-3×4/5 situated near New Truck Stand, Hoksbay road, Karachi and recovered 132.000 Kg Hashish alongwith 1x container. The drugs was stored for destined to Qatar. Accused namely Ch Muhammad Qasim resident of Rawalpindi was also arrested during the operation. In seventh operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Karachi intercepted a KSA bound parcel from a private Courier office, Karachi and recovered 14.500 Kg Methamphetamine soaked in 228x paper sheets. The said parcel was booked by Nazeer Ahmed resident of Pesheen. In eighth operation, the staff of the Police Station Sukkur intercepted a Suzuki Mehran Car at Derya Stop near H.D Hotel Sukkur and recovered 2.700 Kg Opium & 23 Kg Hashish from said vehicle. Two accused Muhammad Bachal and Ghulam Muhammad residents of Khairpur were arrested on the spot. In ninth operation, the Police Station Hyderabad conducted an operation near Ayub Hotel National Highway Hyderabad intercepted a Suzuki Cultus Car and recovered 5 Kg Opium and 90 Kg Hashish from the arrested accused namely Nazeer Ahmed and Hadi Bux residents of Sanghar. In tenth operation, Police Station Korangi, Karachi intercepted a Rickshaw at Madina Colony Malir, Karachi and recovered 2 Kg Hashish and 1 Kg Heroin from the Rickshaw. Two accused namely Jahangir and Alam Zaib residents of Karachi were arrested on the spot.

ANF Quetta, in an intelligence based operation the staff of Police Station ANF Turbat recovered 1000.000 Kg Hashish from general area of Dehad near Baloch Chowk, Tehsil & District Kech. As per initial information the seized drugs were placed for handing over to some other narco gang. In another operation, the staff of Police Station ANF Turbat recovered 50.000 Kg Hashish from a Toyota Car without Regn number at Kaysaak, M-8, Hushaab Turbat road, District Kech.

All cases have been registered at respective ANF Police Stations under CNS Act 1997 and further investigations are underway.

DNA

GUJRANWALA, OCT 12 –  A ground-breaking ceremony of handing over state-of-the-art purpose-built Crime Scene Vehicles to Gujranwala Police concludes among a lot of applause at the Gujranwala Police Lines on 12 October 2020.

It brought together a cross-section of criminal justice sector stakeholders, including district police Gujranwala, Punjab Police and key representatives from UNODC. The event was appreciated as one of the milestones among a stream of transformative activities supported by the partnership between the Punjab Police and UNODC with the generous support of the Government of Norway.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jeremy Milsom, Representative, UNODC Country Office in Pakistan stressed the importance of equipping first responders with technology that helps to minimize the potential contamination of evidence in crime scene investigation. As the first-ever intervention of its kind for the Gujranwala Police, Mr. Milsom mentioned that this will go a long way in modeling investigation techniques and skills of front-line police personnel through access to state-of-the-art crime scene vehicles. He further affirmed UNODC’s commitment towards delivering peace and justice to the people of Pakistan

Through the Crime Scene Vehicles, Gujranwala Police will have the means to deploy better support in the gathering and processing of physical and forensic evidence in line with international standards. The ceremony was well-represented by senior representatives of Gujranwala Police. The participants appreciated the intervention as a refreshing and long-awaited step towards modernizing a speedy and efficient gathering of evidence in crime scene investigations.

The intervention is part of the four-year project, “Enhanced Capacities of Criminal Justice Actors in Punjab, Pakistan supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is expected to conclude in 2021.