Courtesy: Dailytimes

This he said while chairing a high-level meeting regarding transitional time frame for reconstruction of local government system under SLGO 1979, held at the Chief Minister’s House here on Wednesday.

He said the law of 1979 is in field, which should work effectively and meantime we have to deliver. On the report from Sindh local government and after detailed discussion, the chief minister approved extension in implementation of SLGO 1979 for period of six months, as the time period for the implementation of newly re-adopted system would end on Feb 7.

He said the district councils (DCs) had already been revived and the notification for newly districts had also been issued, as such the deputy commissioners had been given charge of administrators of district councils.

Shah further said as per 1979 law, the deputy commissioners are controlling authority for municipal committees and union councils, while commissioners are controlling authorities of divisions. He maintained that as per existing law, the government might appoint administrators of District Councils in the province.

The meeting was informed that the process of reconstruction of local government system, under Local Government Act, 2011 will be finally discussed soon, as the main member of the committee, Senior Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq was out of country and would come back within few days.

The meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, Law Minister Muhammad Ayaz Soomro, Chief Secretary Sindh Raja Muhammad Abbas, Principal Secretary to Governor Mumtaz-ur-Rehman, Special Secretary to CM Sindh Hafeez Abbasi, Secretary Local Government Ali Ahmed Lund, Secretary Law Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah, Commissioner Karachi Roshan Ali Sheikh, Administrator Karachi Muhammad Hussain Syed, Special Secretary to CM Sindh Dr Atta Muhammad Panhwar and others.

Courtesy: Dailytimes

According to details, five armed men tried to rob a private bank situated in Clifton block 5, however, they faced resistance from the security guards of the bank. As a result, the robbers snatched arms from the guards and fled from the scene.

Courtesy: Geo

Courtesy: Dailytimes

The leaked information was later used for acquiring a cellular SIM card.

Habibur Rehman, an FIA inspector, confirmed the arrest but did not reveal the name of the detainee. He said that the FIA was also looking for the man who activated the SIM using Malik’s particulars.

The FIA also took five employees of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in custody from the office near Lucky Star in Saddar. However, they were later released after questioning.

Nadra’s Sindh chapter chief, Brigadier (retd) Zahid Hussain said that the FIA had approached them after receiving information that someone had used Malik’s information for requisitioning a mobile SIM.

The computer to which the information was traced back to had been used by three data operators. The operators were sent to the FIA office accompanied with their manager and assistant manager to explain things over.

“There was no raid. We handed over our employees to FIA ourselves,” said Hussain. “But thank God no one was found involved.”

According to him banks, CPLC and other security agencies have access to the Nadra database. Hussain though believes that the incident showed incompetence of the Pakistan Telecommunication Agency (PTA) in registering the mobile subscribers to their SIM cards.

However, a PTA official maintained that his agency did not have access to Nadra database. He defended the SIM issuing company, which he said had followed set procedures for issuing SIMs, and that it was not a question of regulation but the matter of concern on how the data was leaked.

“The SIM was activated after completing the required Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),” he said. “The subscriber gave all the correct information. The FIA should arrest the man who actually got the SIM activated so that they can pin point where the information was leaked from.”

However, the CPLC chief, Ahmed Chinoy, refrained from commenting and said that he will only say anything after the investigation was completed.

Courtesy: Tribune

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the KESC said the federal and provincial governments had failed to fulfil their contractual obligations as they owed Rs56 billion under various heads, including unpaid bills, to the utility by December.

When the current management was taking over the KESC, the government committed to a regular and stable supply of 276MMCFD of natural gas to run its old power plants, said the handout. Another 130MMCFD was committed for the new BQPS-II.

However, the commitment has not been fulfilled in the last two years.

“Non-payment of such huge outstanding amounts and short supply of natural gas on the part of government has been playing havoc with the power generation and supply system for Karachi consumers,” said the handout.

“The utility neither has an endless cash flow to buy furnace oil through upfront cash payment for power generation, nor is it an ideal position to sustain an ever-growing circular debt.”

The handout added that the utility had invested $450 million in the 560MW power plant at Bin Qasim and also spent generously for the improvement of existing power stations, transmission system, distribution network and public complaint redressal system.

Courtesy: Dawn

During a daily press briefing, the state department’s spokesperson Nuland Victoria said that US was talking to countries around the world to cut global dependence on Iran, adding that Pakistan was one of the countries that the US was working with.

Replying to a question, the spokesperson that she didn’t have anything specific that where those conversations with Pakistan were leading. She said that US was talking about all kinds of diversification.

According to the British website, the officials from USAID have taken part in a meeting at Pakistan’s petroleum ministry to indicate that LNG could be made available by the US at $4.5 per mmbtu.

Courtesy: Geo

The presence of terrorist-fighting commandos is going to be a routine affair at the high court amid rising threats to the life and security of the members of the bench.

For the second day on Tuesday, police officers tasked with providing security, were seen reviewing their arrangements to ensure that there was no gap in the security net.

The threats are still pouring in, an official of the high court told, adding that if this “threat game” is allowed to continue, judges would not be able to work.

The security officials also confirmed that the “level of threat” was very alarming. “We are taking every threat as a potential one and are not ready to leave any room for a terrorist intending to cause harm to any judge and thus scaring them away from the dispensation of justice,” said a security official.

The latest threats were conveyed after a man arrested in high-profile sectarian killing cases of noted scholars was given the benefit of doubt.

In fact, the accused was found severely tortured when he was presented before the then administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts, Justice Maqbool Baqar.  He had a disability in his right hand finger and palm and thus the use of a weapon by him as alleged by the prosecution was considered unbelievable by the ATC judge.

The orders passed in some other cases are also believed to have earned the ire of a particular sect, said a source previously related to the ATC Registrar at high court.

Courtesy: Tribune

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry resumed hearing of the Khurram Rasool fraud case on Wednesday.

During today’s proceedings, the CJ remarked that if the allegations were proven right, then it would be the biggest crisis of the country as the prime minister and his secretaries were named in the case.

The CJ also questioned how Nargis Sethi got details of Khurram Rasool’s alleged fraud.

Courtesy: Geo

Courtesy: Dailytimes