ISLAMABAD: Former president Pervez Musharraf has challenged a decision of the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday, Express News reported.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), on May 22, had rejected the bail plea of former president general (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the judges detention case.

Musharraf was also accused of conspiracy to murder Bhutto, who died in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007. It is one of three cases he is fighting in the courts since returning home last month after four years in self-imposed exile. He was also charged for imposing emergency and judge’s detention case.

On April 17, the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench had granted Musharraf pre-arrest interim bail in the murder case till April 24 against two surety bonds of Rs 5 million each.

PESHAWAR: Three people were killed and two others sustained injuries in a suicide attack on a madrassah in the Saeedabad area, Peshawar, reported Express News on Friday.

According to Rescue 1122 officials, manager of the madrassah Haji Inayatullah was the target of the attacker. Inayatullah remained unhurt as he was not present near the blast site.

The bomber detonated his explosive jacket close to Haji Hayatullah’s car as worshippers were leaving a mosque following Friday prayers in the city’s congested Faqirabad neighbourhood, local police chief Liaquat Ali said.
“The bomber blasted Haji Hayatullah’s car from the right side, killing the driver and Hayatullah’s guard,” he said.

Senior police officer Khalid Hamdani confirmed the attack and the casualties.

The bomber carried about six kilograms of explosives.

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2:29pm

Windows of nearby houses were shattered due to the impact of the blast and residents came out on the streets in fear, reported Express News. 

The exact cause of the bombing is not yet known though it is speculated that a religious scholar was the target, reported Express News. 

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2:23pm

Three people were killed while two are injured, reported Express News .

The blast took place outside the gate of a Madrassa according to Express News. Injured people include those people inside the Madrassa along with pedestrians on the road.

The area surrounding the blast side is a residential area.

Police have taken control of the area and investigations are underway, reported Express News.

The blast took place 30 minutes after Friday prayers concluded.

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2:20pm

Three people were killed as a result of the blast. The injured are being shifted to Lady Reading Hospital.

A car was damaged completely due to the intensity of the blast and initial reports suggest that the bomb was planted in a car.

There was a crowd of people in the area due to Friday prayers.

Rescue teams have been dispatched to the blast site.

LONDON: If my party workers fail to reform themselves, they will lose me as their leader forever, said Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain said on Friday.

Altaf was speaking to members of the interim Rabita Committee and other party workers.

“I never taught MQM workers to take bribes, be corrupt or put undue pressure on people for favours,” he said.

Addressing the issue of his stay away from home, Altaf told his party members that his family members went abroad to save their lives.

He said his family worked hard while living in a foreign land.

Delving more into his family and political affairs, the MQM chief said he never favoured his family with gains from his political movement.

“I did not give party tickets to my relatives in elections,” he added.

LAHORE: The heat wave experienced by Lahore has become worse for locals as load-shedding nears 12 hours a day, reported Express News on Friday. 

Even after the caretaker PM Mir Hazar Khan Khoso released Rs 22 billion for electricity relief, there has been no improvement in the load-shedding. In some areas, it has nearly doubled in fact. In the previous schedule after every four hours of load-shedding, an hour of electricity was released however now load-shedding has increased to eight hours.

According to reports, some areas in Lahore experience nearly 12 hours of load-shedding in a day. The daily life of residents has been severely impacted as there is also a reported shortage of water.

Similarly, in some parts of Karachi and Faisalabad, load-shedding is for nearly eight hours a day.

People wait for relief as the incoming government has made promises to eliminate the problem of load-shedding.

According to recent data, the power shortfall has crossed 6,500 megawatts.

The total demand for power is 15,700 megawatts, whereas around 9,000s megawatt energy is produced only.

Because of the severe shortfall, the duration for power outages has reached 22 hours in certain parts of the country.

LAHORE: American Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson and Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal met Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Friday, Express News reported.

Nawaz is expected to be the next prime minister of Pakistan after his party emerged as the victor in the May 11 elections. PML-N managed to win 125 out of total 272 National Assembly seats.

Earlier on May 23, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met Nawaz and vowed to provide assistance in overcoming the Pakistan’s worsening power crisis.

British High Commissioner Adam Thomson on May 18 met Nawaz in Raiwind and congratulated him for winning the elections.

Apart for international leaders, the PML-N chief recently met President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and discussed national issues.

Olson visits Imran Khan

American Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson visited Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan at Zaman Park, Lahore,

While talking to the media after the visit, Olson said that the voter turnout rate in the 2013 general elections was far more than the previous elections.

He further revealed that matters concerning the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were discussed during the visit.

KARACHI: Unidentified miscreants threw a hand grenade at a government school in the Orangi Town area, Karachi, injuring a teacher and few students, reported Express News on Friday.

There were no causalities as a result of this attack. Eyewitnesses said the unidentified men fled the scene soon after the attack.

Other schools have been attacked by grenades in the area before.

Similarly, philanthropist and social activist Abdul Waheed, was shot dead on May 13 by unidentified men at his medical store in Islamia Colony, Manghopir.

Waheed ran a private educational institution, Naunehal Public School in SITE and Orangi. He was known for his humanitarian work and for assisting Parween Rehman on the Orangi Pilot Project.  After attacking Waheed, the unidentified men detonated an explosive device which created panic in the area and fled.

An American citizen that was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan, Jude Mohammed, was arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2011 but escaped after being granted bail, the Associated Press reported.

The Barack Obama administration on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that US drone strikes have killed four Americans in Pakistan and Yemen since 2009, the New York Times reported.

According to Pakistani security officials, Jude was killed in a drone attack in South Waziristan in late 2011.

Jude, a part of an eight-member suspected terrorist group based in the US, was indicted by American authorities in 2009 for an alleged plot to attack a US Marine Corps base.

Pakistani officials arrested Jude when he tried to illegally cross into Mohmand.

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has nominated his brother Shahbaz Sharif for the post of chief minister of Punjab, Express News reported on Thursday.

Shahbaz had served as Punjab CM in the last government.

Shahbaz, in his earlier tenure, was equally praised and criticised for his decisions such as Metro Bus project and free laptops to students.

In Sindh, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah is said to be the frontrunner for the slot and sources in Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) told The Express Tribune that the party would officially nominate him for the post soon.

If this is done, Shah will serve as CM Sindh for a record third time.

KARACHI: As per the new schedule, schools across Sindh will remain closed from June 14 to August 13 on account of summer vacations, Express News reported on Thursday.

The announcement was made by Sindh’s secretary education.

Last year, summer holidays for the province were scheduled from July 1 to August 31.

Earlier on May 17, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department issued its schedule for summer vacations which stated that in the plain areas of the province, all primary schools will remain closed from June 1 to August 31 while the middle, higher and secondary schools will remain closed from June 15 till August 31. All schools in the northern region of the province will be closed for a month, from July 1 to July 31.

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Rabita Committee in Pakistan and London have been dissolved, reported Express News on Thursday. 

A new Rabita Committee will be formed and announced on Saturday at a meeting scheduled by chief Altaf Hussain.

For overseeing matters temporarily, a seven member committee has been formed which include senior representatives of the party.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain dissolved the party’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee on Tuesday night, following complaints received from his workers regarding the committee’s inefficiency.

The move to dissolve the committee comes days after an incident took place at the MQM headquarters of Nine Zero early Sunday morning, when workers of the party manhandled not only members of the MQM’s Coordination Committee but journalists as well. This action of the workers followed Altaf Hussain’s criticism of the MQM’s Coordination Committee.

Altaf Hussain criticised the MQM Coordination Committee in a telephonic address for failing to act against those who insulted him. This charged emotional party workers against the Committee.

Altaf’s criticism of the committee was in relation to allegations put forward by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan of murdering senior female party worker, Zahra Shahid Hussain.

The Coordination Committee on Wednesday said that the basic party membership of Karachi Tanzeemi Committee (KTC) in charge, Hammad Siddiqui had been terminated. The decision to terminate KTC in-charge’s membership came shortly after MQM announced its decision to dissolve the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee itself.

In his telephonic conversation with MQM party workers, MQM chief emphasised that if any member is found asking for money from shops and businesses, his membership should be immediately terminated.

The MQM chief added that membership should also be revoked of  party workers who have illegally occupied properties and buildings in the city.

Correction: An earlier version of the story contained a minor grammatical mistake. The error is regretted.