A Lahore sessions court sentenced a man to death on Wednesday for committing blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), other Islamic figures and religious rituals.
The first information report (FIR) — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — of the case was filed at the Shahdara Town police station on September 29, 2020, by a member of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan party under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 295C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet [PBUH]) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
“I was informed that for the past several months [the convict] … has been mocking the Holy Prophet [PBUH] and burning religious symbols and images of religious sites,” the FIR said. “When I met the man, he used blasphemous words in my presence.”
The FIR said the man also disrespected Islamic rituals and obligations.
According to the court order announced and issued today by Additional Sessions Judge Syed Shahzad Muzaffar Hamdani, the man was formally indicted on January 27, 2021.
The judge sentenced the man to death by hanging and subject to a Rs500,000 fine for violating section 295C.
“In case of non-payment of fine, the accused … will undergo imprisonment for six months and will not be released until the payment of fine,” the order said, adding that the convict was able to appeal the verdict.
The judge ordered that the convict’s sentence warrant be issued in the name of the superintendent of Lahore’s Camp Jail for serving the punishment to the man while a reference be sent to the Lahore High Court to confirm the death sentence.
Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in Pakistan, where even unsubstantiated accusations can incite public outrage and lead to lynchings.
On January 20, two men were sentenced to death by an Islamabad district and sessions court for “proliferating blasphemous content” online.
Two warrants of the commitment of conviction to the Adiala Jail superintendent were issued for the two convicts by Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka. They said the two were sentenced to death by hanging for violating Section 295C of the PPC.
“[The] convict shall be hanged by his neck till he is dead subject to confirmation of death punishment by honourable Islamabad High Court,” both warrants read. The judge noted that both convicts had the right to file an appeal in the Islamabad High Court within 30 days.
They were also sentenced to life in prison under 295B (defiling, etc, of the Holy Quran) with a fine of Rs100,000; three years imprisonment under 298A (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of holy personages) with a fine of Rs500,000 and seven years of “rigorous imprisonment” for violating Section 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) with a fine of Rs100,000.
The country has witnessed a sharp increase in the prosecution of “online blasphemy” cases, with private vigilante groups bringing charges against hundreds of young individuals for allegedly committing blasphemy.
Several parts of Karachi on Tuesday witnessed serious traffic, law and order issues mainly due to protests against ongoing work on water and power infrastructure with authorities fearing an escalation in public anger, according to officials.
Citizens are likely to suffer a water crisis till Friday mainly due to the disruption of the water line on University Road near old Sabzi Mandi during ongoing construction activity for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
Residents of the metropolis faced difficulty in reaching their homes as both tracks of several roads in various areas were blocked by protesters, forcing traffic authorities to divert traffic on alternative routes where slow movement of vehicles was reported, as per updates from the Karachi Traffic Police (KTP).
According to a statement from the KTP spokesperson, there were several protests and sit-ins on main roads across the city. Barring main MA Jinnah Road where retired employees of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation held demonstrations for their pension issue, all other protests were related to water and power issues, according to the KTP statement.
In the South Zone, the old city area, particularly Arambagh, Eidgah Chowk, Tibet Centre and Fresco Chowk, were the most affected because of protests against water and power shortage, according to South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza.
He said the police expected more protests and sit-ins with an aggravation of the law and order situation as there were reports that several areas of the metropolis may not get water supply till Friday owing to the disruption of the water line near old Sabzi Mandi.
He said these civic issues needed to be addressed by the authorities as the police could engage the protestors in talks or help divert and regulate traffic but they could not provide water.
DIG Raza said that realising the gravity of the problem, the Sindh chief secretary was taking concerted efforts for overhauling the traffic situation by taking several initiatives such as the removal of encroachments and more. “It is a long haul but it should be religiously followed,” DIG Raza said.
Newly appointed Traffic DIG Pir Mohammed Shah told Dawn.com that during the last two months, at least 190 protests and sit-ins had taken place in the city, mainly due to water and power issues and other problems.
The most affected areas were Teen Hatti, Guru Mandir, Lyari, Gharifabad, Liaquatabad, Askari Park, Subzi Mandi, Quaidabad, Dawood Chowrangi, Link Road and Sohrab Goth.
He said two to three protests took place daily against water and power issues on average. “This is a genuine and serious issue, which needs to be addressed urgently for smooth flow of traffic and preventing traffic chaos,” the traffic police chief said.
A KTP statement said both tracks of Jehangir Road near Shah Najaf remained closed for traffic as the residents were protesting against a lack of water and power.
Traffic was diverted on alternative routes and the road remained closed to traffic till the filing of this report. The citizens suffered due to traffic chaos on several adjoining roads such Numaish Chowrangi towards Guru Mandi, Bahadur Yar Jang Road and Business Recorder Road.
Both tracks of Jamshed Road near a Pakistan State Oil petrol pump remained closed for traffic for identical issues of water and power. The residents of Landhi-89 blocked both tracks of the main road because of lack of water while Murtaza Chowrangi also remained closed for the same issue. Both tracks of the main road in Garden were also closed for traffic because of the residents’ protest against water and power shortage.
Similar protests were also reported from the Korangi Industrial Area.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Saturday criticised the sealing of an Islamabad building related to the civil society organisation Pattan.
A press release issued a day ago by the organisation said the residence of Pattan National Coordinator Sarwar Bari was sealed and his family evicted.
Earlier this month, Pattan had published a report on the general elections and described them in a statement as “unprecedentedly rigged” with “vote-rigging, fraud and manipulation”. The findings were similar to its observation last year.
The press release said: “Since the launching of Pattan’s report on Pakistan general elections, Islamabad police have visited residence of Sarwar Bari, our national coordinator, twice in two weeks. On February 21, more than a dozen of police officials along with two magistrates searched his residence and later sealed it. His wife along with her 90-year-old aunt were forced to leave the home.
“As usual, the pretext that is being used to punish Pattan for discovering unprecedented rigging means in the February elections, is utterly baseless. Virtually a three-liner notice for sealing the premise carries no solid ground. It says: ‘Pattan NGO was deregistered on November 19, 2019, and since then, it has been running its affairs illegally. Hence, it was necessary to close it working and to take legal action against the organisation.’”
The organisation asserted it had never received any de-registration notice from the registration authority and also pointed to its many activities held in the presence of state officials through out its “so-called deregistration period”.
“The sealing of national coordinator’s residence and evicting his family members from home is politically motivated and we strongly condemn the brutal action of the administration,” the press release concluded.
Lambasting the development, the HRCP said it amounted to a violation of Article 14(1) of the Constitution. “Such tactics of intimidation against citizens are unacceptable. The matter should be heard immediately in a court of law,” the rights body said in a post on X.
Article 14(1) states that the dignity of a person and the privacy of their home are inviolable and subject to the law. It also states that no person can be tortured to extract evidence.
Bari, currently in London, told AFP that his home in Islamabad was sealed off on Friday night. “This is obviously in response to the report,” he told AFP.
His wife Aliya Bano said the property was closed off by a team of around two dozen, including police officers, magistrates and Islamabad administration officials.
A judge’s order to seal the residence, seen by Dawn.com, said Pattan’s registration as a non-governmental organisation had been cancelled in 2019 and it was operating illegally.
Bari said he often used his residence for Pattan meetings and postal correspondence but was adamant it was primarily his home.
Separately in a post on X, he said Pattan’s office in Multan was sealed as well by “unknown persons”.
Images of the sealed Multan office showed a notice from the Registrar Joint Stock Companies Multan that said an investigation showed Pattan was dissolved as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in 2019 and no court had as of yet cancelled the dissolution order.
“Despite this, the said NGO is running its affairs illegally. Therefore, in view of this illegal act, it is necessary to close it or take legal action against it. The property is sealed in the light of the following factors,” the notice said.
Pattan had said last year that the February 8 general elections had lost their credibility entirely as people in Pakistan as well as the international community, including the UN, demanded a thorough investigation into alleged irregularities.
Additional input from AFP.
The federal government on Monday decided to form a high-level committee to address the grievances of locals protesting against the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in Gilgit Baltistan’s (GB) Diamer for not compensating locals for their land acquired to build the Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
Thousands of people gathered to protest Wapda in the airport area in Chilas over the weekend, accusing Wapda of reneging on its commitments and giving the authority a week to meet their demands. They said they would stop construction work on the dam if their demands were not fulfilled.
Their demands include the settlement of 18,000 acres of land acquired by Wapda without compensation, the disbursement of the chula package to over 2,500 households, the provision of residential and agricultural land for affected people and the appointment of locals on posts in the dam project.
According to a press release from the GB Chief Minister’s House, a high-level meeting was chaired by the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and GB Amir Muqam in Islamabad, where the decision was made to form a high-level committee to address the protesters’ grievances.
The press release said the committee would visit the area within the next two days to listen to the protesters’ grievances and make decisions to implement their demands.
Speaking at the meeting, GB Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan — who hails from Diamer — said that “the feeling of deprivation agitated those affected” due to the non-implementation of decisions by Wapda.
“The delay of disbursing the households package and the unnecessary delay in implementing confidence-building measures aggravated the situation,” he said.
Muqam said that the legitimate demands of the protesters would be implemented “considering their sacrifices”, according to the statement.
“A high-level committee will be formed as per the demands of the Diamer Basha Dam protesters after taking instructions from the prime minister of Pakistan,” Muqam was quoted as saying.
“The committee will visit GB in the next two days and talk with affected people to take comprehensive decisions to resolve their legitimate demands as per their Charter of Demand.”
Meanwhile, protesters refused to call off the demonstration and the 40-member council of the protest movement decided to continue for the next two days.
They said that the prime minister should form an authorised ministerial committee to negotiate with protesters, warning that if their demands were not met by the end of the new deadline, Plan B would be announced, which would be “very dangerous”.
Speaking to the protesters today, GB Agriculture Minister Engineer Muhammad Anwar and Adviser on Forests Shah Baig assured demonstrators of their full support and to hold Wapda officials responsible for the agitation.
The head of the protest movement, Maulana Hazratullah, said that Wapda should stop construction work on the dam until the demands were met.
He said that the people of Diamer had “sacrificed their native homes, land, graveyard, culture, history [and] everything for [the] construction of the Diamer Bhasha Dam project for national interest”.
He said that the affected people had been deprived of their rights and agreements made with them had been violated.
PPP Local President Amjad Hussain, as well as leaders from other parties and social, political and religious organisations in other districts of GB, announced their solidarity with the protesters. They warned that if the protesters’ demands were not met, the demonstration would be widened across the territory.
Women across Pakistan were encouraged to lead the country’s information technology (IT) and e-commerce sectors as the 9th edition of the Women Tech Quest (WTQ) took place in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore on Saturday.
The WTQ, an initiative of 10Pearls University, not only puts women’s tech skills to the test but also helps them gain recognition and network with others in the industry, opening their paths to new opportunities.
In Karachi, the competition took place at the state-of-the-art National Aerospace Science & Technology Park (NASTP), while in the capital it was held at the Nust School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and at the University of Central Punjab (UCP) in Lahore.
In all cities, the competitions were followed by sessions where women industry leaders gave their insights into the world of tech and business. They highlighted how women have been leading various initiatives with digital innovations making their challenges a bit easier.
Addressing one such session in Karachi, Hira Khalil, the senior lead for e-commerce at Dawlance, noted that the e-commerce industry was “booming in Pakistan and women could gain the most from it”.
Similarly, Sohail Zindani, an author and entrepreneur who founded his The Sohail Zindani Company, urged women to lead the digital disruption in Pakistan.
Javeria Siddiqui, chief financial officer (CFO) at Feroze1888 Mills Limited, advised women to aim to have multiple streams of income.
Bringing the day-long WTQ to an end, Sarah Peracha, chief executive officer (CEO) at Peracha Ventures and Futurist Vally founder, gave a motivational boost to those who could not secure a winning position: “Maybe some wanted to win today’s competition but everyone is a winner in it.
“You all are winners, who worked so hard every day after signing up for this competition.”
The contest had six winners from each city, divided into three categories — testing, design and coding. Each category had one winner from the students and professionals sections.
From Karachi, Umme Shara won the design category for students while Muntaha Memon bagged the award from the professional side.
Memon told Dawn.com that her test involved building an online dashboard for a school system. “It was very basic in terms of design,” she said humbly of the contest she won.
In the category of testing software, Rabeeha Ali emerged victorious in the student section while Nida Ramzan won the professional contest.
Ramzan told Dawn.com that database knowledge and checking for bugs were among the various skills tested in the competition. “The most challenging is test cases’ curation, for which you have to perform some brainstorming tasks,” she added.
In coding, Noori Shaukat bagged the winning student place from Karachi while Maryam Nasir was the winner in the professional section. All six winners in Karachi were awarded a cheque worth Rs25,000, as well as a Rs5,000 voucher by one of the sponsors.
The post-contest conference kicked off with a keynote by 10Pearls Senior Director Anne Bracegirdle.
In her address later, Dawlance e-commerce lead Khalil said: “The e-commerce industry is booming in Pakistan and women can gain the most from it.”
Stating that the figures for male digital users were often high, she said a possible reason for that could be that many women, who were not well-versed with using the internet or had other online safety concerns, used their close male relative’s accounts for online shopping.
She highlighted that the industry received a major boost after the Covid-19 pandemic, which had many people confined to their homes. “E-commerce has made it so easier that you can even run a business from your bed.”
Asking the women audience about the numerous challenges they faced, two participants listed stereotypes and a lack of available time as some of those.
Responding to an audience member, Khalil pointed out that advice often given to women business students to not venture into marketing and sales was now invalid as people no longer needed to market a product by visiting shops physically.
Boasting Dawlance’s efforts to bridge the gender gap in employment, she said: “We have women as almost 45 per cent of the workforce in the [e-commerce] department.”
While the WTQ is exclusively for women, and all speakers except one were also female industry leaders, Zindani stood out as the odd one — which he acknowledged right at the beginning of his zestful session.
Zindani, who founded his own coaching firm, was speaking to the participants during a session titled ‘Future-ready leadership: why women should pioneer the tech disruption’.
“I don’t know where this conception came from that women have to win like men. […] At least have a better benchmark,” he quipped, eliciting chuckles from the audience.
Explaining his line of thought, Zindani said: “Women should succeed like women, not like men. We need to eliminate this idea of men and women and bring the idea of masculine and feminine.
“There is a love for facts, ideas and structure, and there is a love for design, compassion and love,” he added, describing the world views of masculine and feminine professions.
“Human potential is not masculine or feminine; it is both.”
Zindani further said the conversations for women’s rights had been propagated so much in recent years that the essence of that potential was lost.
Speaking on empathy, he said that it was not the same as the widely known idiom “to put yourself in someone else’s shoes”.
He then went on to recall an anecdote of a conversation about the differences in challenges faced by working men and women. “I asked him ‘Have you ever been followed to your office by [men’s] eyes?’.”
Another of the speakers at the WTQ was Dr Sara Saeed Khurram, co-founder and CEO of telehealth startup Sehat Kahani, who recalled various achievements secured by her initiative.
Dr Khurram highlighted how Sehat Kahani played a vital role in treating patients during the Covid-19 pandemic, recalling its app launch in April 2019. She stated that four million people had used the health service till today, terming it a great achievement.
During her address, she also noted the lack of available mental health services in Pakistan. Dr Khurram claimed that in the entire country — comprising over 240m people — only 500 psychologists and psychiatrists were present.
According to a 2020 article published in The Lancet journal, there were “less than 500 psychiatrists” in the country. It was unclear if psychologists were included in the figure.
“We (Sehat Kahani) have fixed the cost of each consultation at Rs200,” she added, emphasising the importance of mental wellbeing for pregnant women and their child’s health.
Speaking further about making healthcare accessible to the lower-income class, she pointed out that the Akhuwat Foundation had made various efforts to that extent.
Building upon Sehat Kahani’s achievements so far, she highlighted a planned timeline for the organisation’s prospective launches in Saudi Arabia and other countries. “There are 3.5m people in the world who do not have access to healthcare,” Dr Khurram said.
Siddiqui, the Feroze1888 Mills CEO, highlighted that personal health and finance were the two aspects of one’s life upon which a person should build their habits.
She stated that to secure long-term career growth, women needed to have awareness of their expenditure and patience for climbing up the ladder.
While stating that overspending was not always the issue, Siddiqui said: “The cardinal rule says you have to spend less than you earn, which is difficult in Pakistan.”
Advising women on savings, the Feroze1888 Mills CEO suggested setting aside 20pc of their salaries as soon as they receive it for their personal use.
Underscoring the need to be patient, Siddiqui acknowledged that employees were often not paid high — around Rs40,000 to Rs50,000 — at the beginning of their careers.
However, at the same time, she stressed the importance of having a “long-term view”, adding: “You have to be living below your wage.”
She urged working women to keep track of their earnings and expenditures while avoiding the urge to splurge on shopping sales. “Budget hona boht zaroori hai [Having a budget is very important].”
Siddiqui also encouraged young women, as well as men, to invest in themselves. Striking a chord with individuals doing jobs, she acknowledged it was hard to find time for oneself during the day-to-day work.
“There was a time when we used to thrive. Now, it’s [only] survival.”
Stressing the need to have multiple sources of income and diverse investments, the Feroze1888 Mills CEO said: “It is always possible for all of us to have a second stream.”
The competition finally concluded with participants, speakers and organisers posing for a group photo to imprint this year’s WTQ in their memories.
World Health Organisation (WHO) member states will discuss cutting part of its budget by $400 million in light of President Donald Trump’s move to withdraw the US, its biggest government funder, from the WHO, a document released on Monday showed.
Opening the UN agency’s annual executive board meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the agency’s work and recent reforms and reiterated a call for Washington to reconsider its exit and enter into dialogue on further change.
“We would welcome suggestions from the United States, and all member states, for how we can serve you and the people of the world better,” he said.
The budget cut will be addressed at the February 3-11 Geneva meeting, during which member state representatives will discuss the agency’s funding and work for the 2026-27 period.
The executive board proposes cutting the base programmes section of the budget from a proposed $5.3 billion to $4.9bn, according to a document released on Monday.
That is part of the wider $7.5bn budget for 2026-27 that was originally proposed, including money for polio eradication and tackling emergencies.
“With the departure of the biggest financial contributor, the budget could not be ‘business as usual’,” the document reads.
The US is the WHO’s biggest government donor, contributing around 18 per cent of its overall funding. The WHO has already separately taken some cost-cutting steps after the US move.
However, some board representatives also wanted to send a message that the WHO would preserve its strategic direction despite the challenges, the document adds.
The $4.9bn is roughly the same as the base programme budget for the previous period, 2024-2025.
Trump moved to exit the WHO on his first day in office two weeks ago. The process will take one year under US law.
On Monday, Tedros also specifically addressed some of Trump’s criticisms, including around the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the WHO’s independence.
He said the agency acted fast on the Covid outbreak, adding that the WHO is happy to say no to member states where requests go against its mission or science.
