KARACHI: Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) on Wednesday announced that it had made a gas and condensate discovery at its exploration well Wafiq X-1 in the Sanghar District of Sindh.

“First test in the sands of Lower Goru Formation flowed 5.9 to 7.4 mmscfd of gas along with 40 to 54 barrels per day of condensate at different choke sizes, thus confirming the presence of commercial quantities of natural gas and condensate at Wafiq X-1,” a PPL statement said.

“Second test, which is in progress, initially flowed 16.8 mmscfd of gas along with 144 barrels per day of condensate.”

The well is located in Block 2568-18 (Gambat South) where PPL is the operator with a 65% stake along with joint venture partners Government Holdings (Private) Limited and Asia Resources Oil Limited with 25% and 10% interest, respectively.

Exploration well Wafiq X-1 was drilled on February 17 this year and reached final depth of 3,550 metres on May 21. “Based on wire line logs several hydrocarbon bearing zones were identified which are being tested,” it said.

The exploration companies will be carrying out more tests to see how much production can be increased.

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed bail applications on Wednesday of two Ahmadi men with blasphemy cases registered against them at Islampur police station.

Presided by Justice Tariq Masood, the bench dismissed bail applications of Khalid Asfhaq and Tahir Mahmood after listening to cases presented by both the prosecution and the defendant.

Police officials had registered an FIR on the complaint of Muhammad Hassan Muavia under Pakistan Penal Code and Anti Terrorist Act.

The complainant had accused them of printing and distributing Jamaat-i-Ahmadia’s community newspaper, Al Fazal.

It was alleged that the newspaper had blasphemous content.

Editor of the newspaper Abdul Sami and printer, Tahir Mehdi were also nominated in the FIR but they were not arrested till the filing of the report.

Earlier an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had also dismissed bail applications of Ashfaq and Mahmood but alleged accomplices, Faisal Tahir and Azhar Zarif were granted bail.

Ghulam Rasool, a relative of the child, said the baby, Ayan Hussain, aged 18 months, was brought to Faisalabad from Jhang on June 10. He had been running high temperatures for several days.

He said the child was admitted to children ward, where his condition worsened over the days.

On Tuesday, he said, it fainted. The ward in charge was informed and the duty doctor was called.

He said the doctor checked the child, pronounced him dead and issued a death certificate. The ‘body’ was handed over to the father, Muhammad Hussain.

He said on their way home, when the ambulance ran over a pothole, the jolt caused the baby to start crying.

It was rushed back to the hospital, where the nursing staff was shocked to see the baby alive. The baby was shifted to the intensive care unit.

Rasool said he found the idea that had the child not cried, it might have been buried alive scary.

He said the Health Department should take notice of the incident and cancel licences of the negligent doctor and others like him.

“Who knows how many children have been pronounced dead by the doctor when they were actually alive,” he said.

Medical Superintendent Rashid Maqbool said such mistakes were rare.

He said no such incident had ever occurred at the Allied Hospital before. He said a committee had been formed to investigate the matter. Action would be taken against the doctor, if he was found guilty of negligence, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

The protesters said that Hussain, 25, was not a criminal. They said the police had shot him simply for not stopping at the picket. Hussain was on his way to a wedding the day he was killed, one of the protesters said.

Chuhng Circle DSP Muhammad Mushtaq said that three men on bikes had been stopped by the Muhafiz Squad two days ago. The bikers opened fire at the police and tried to flee. The police, however, managed to shoot one of them, Hussain, while his accomplices fled. Mushtaq said no criminal record was found against Hussain. The protesters dispersed on receiving an assurance of a fair inquiry.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

The commissioner had inspected the LBOD and Dhoro Puran in Badin and Mirpurkhas on Sunday and voiced his apprehensions over the weak embankments, especially along the 29-km section of Kadhan Pateji Outfall Drain, which serves as a link between LBOD and the sea. He also pointed out two separate locations where the water flow was blocked by the debris of two fallen bridges. Several districts of southern Sindh, including Badin and Mirpurkhas, were flooded during the 2011 monsoon and it took the irrigation department months to drain water.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

LAHORE: Justice Shezada Mazhar of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought a reply from the Punjab government on a petition challenging the appointment of Ahad Cheema as director general of the Lahore Development Authority.

The judge directed the provincial government to submit its reply by June 26. The petition says Cheema is a junior officer unfit for the position. It says the appointment was made on political grounds and was therefore illegal and unconstitutional.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad has strongly rejected the fresh spate of accusations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan’s security establishment was destabilising Afghanistan.

In an interview with a Pakistan television channel, Karzai claimed that Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was not playing its role to bring peace in Afghanistan.

Karzai said he had no complaints against Pakistan’s civilian leadership but had ‘serious reservations’ over the role of the security establishment. In reaction, the foreign ministry issued a statement voicing its concerns over Karzai’s remarks, insisting that “government of Pakistan and all its institutions have unanimity of views on issues of national security and foreign policy.”

FO spokesperson Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said although Pakistan was committed to helping bring peace in Afghanistan, the success of this policy required ‘reciprocal action and goodwill’ on the part of the Afghan government.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

The judges ordered their arrest within a week. More than 125 petitions have been filed against Asim Malik. He is accused of defrauding people by promising to send them abroad. The petitioners have claimed that Malik neither sent them abroad nor returned their money.

Justice Naqvi had earlier ordered the FIA to confiscate Malik and his dependents’ assets and to place his name on the exit control list. Earlier Zobia Malik’s lawyer said that she had been out of the country and could not appear in court. He said she would appear in court when she returned to Pakistan. Justice Naqvi had held that she must appear in court before her bail request could be entertained.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

An official of the political administration of Mirali tehsil said that around 2:00 am, unidentified militants attacked a check post which is known as the Tikka checkpoint and killed two on-duty Khasadar security officials.

The official said that the checkpoint was established on Mirali-Bannu Road which is located near the frontier region of Bannu.

The officials also added that the Khasadar officials were inspecting and checking vehicles at the entrance and exit route of the area.

The Khasadar officials were identified as deceased Ameerullah and Bakhtal.

Both officials hail from Haider Khel, Wazir tribe.

It is pertinent to mention here that few months ago gunship helicopters pounded shells on various parts of Mir Ali tehsil and several hide outs of militants were targeted.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.

The authority will also accept the birth certificates issued by the Church authorities for an interim period of three months after which, the Christians like all other communities of Pakistan will have to present computerised birth certificates for registration of the children.

“It’s our first priority to resolve the Christian community’s registration-related problems,” said Nadra chairman Tariq Malik after a three-member delegation of Christian community called on him at Nadra Headquarters on Tuesday.

Bishop Samuel Azariah, Bishop of Peshawar Humphrey Sarfraz Peters, and Presbyter Nasim Fiaz put their issues before the Nadra chief, the Nadra statement said.

Christians who got married in a Church with Christian rites and got their marriage certificates issued by the Church registered with the union councils in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were facing registration problems, the delegation informed the Nadra chief.

Malik assured the delegation that their problem would be resolved soon and directed the department concerned to immediately circulate the registration policy for Christian community to all the Nadra Registration Centres (NRCs), the statement said.  He also stressed that under the prevailing security situation, it is important that evidence of identity must be verified, it added.

According to the recent directives of NADRA, the NRCs will accept marriage certificate issued by respective institutions and councils of minorities including churches.

The NRCs will also entertain birth certificates issued by the said authorities for the period of three months so that the churches in Pakistan can run public awareness campaign for their community.

After three months the Christian citizens are supposed to submit Child Birth Registration Certificate (CBRC), issued by local government just like every citizen, with Nadra for processing of Child Registration Certificate/CNIC/NICOP.

Meanwhile, the chairman Nadra informed the delegation that Christians are the second largest non-Muslim community in the country – Hindus being the largest – and Nadra has so far registered over 1.2 million Christians ensuring their rights as genuine citizens of Pakistan.

In his effort to facilitate the minorities, Nadra chairman has already met members of Sikh and Hindu communities respectively and resolved their issues.

“Currently, more than 450 employees within Nadra are non-Muslims who enjoy the same rights and benefits as all other employees of the authority. This non-discriminatory attitude of Nadra also reflects in its day to day dealings with the Pakistani population,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.