PPP Govt. dismiss 13 cases of massive Corruption.

Interior ministry report: Punjab tops list of abduction cases

Tribune
Province also has the most number of incidents of violence against women.

ISLAMABAD: Punjab tops the disturbingly long list of criminal cases of kidnapping for ransom and violence against women in Pakistan.

According to official documents of the interior ministry tabled in the National Assembly by Interior Minister Rehman Malik during question hour about the law and order situation in the country on Wednesday, a total of 2,300 persons were kidnapped for ransom from 2007 to 2010 in the four provinces and 11,789 women were subjected to violence in the last two years between 2009 and 2010. Punjab topped in both categories.

Out of 2,300 cases of kidnapping for ransom in the country, 834 were reported in Punjab. Similarly, out of 11,789 cases of violence against women, 8,433 cases were reported in country’s largest province.

Islamabad, too, witnessed an increase in cases of kidnapping for ransom last year. As compared to 12 cases in 2007, a total of 23 persons were kidnapped in 2010.

In 2007, a total of 449 persons were kidnapped, but in the following year, 2008, the figure went up to 670 – an increase of 221 cases. In 2009, there were 645 cases.

A breakdown of the figures shows that, in 2007, Punjab saw 190 cases of kidnapping for ransom, followed by Sindh’s 134, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) 87, Balochistan 26 and Islamabad with 12 cases.

In 2008, of the 670 cases of kidnapping for ransom Punjab was once again at the top with 248, while Sindh had 217 cases, K-P 150, Balochistan 35 and Islamabad 20. In 2009, a total of 645 cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered, out of which 224 were in Punjab, 188 in Sindh, 180 in K-P, 37 in Balochistan and 16 were in Islamabad. In 2010, 604 cases were reported out of which 192 were in Punjab, 177 in Sindh, 162 in K-P, 50 in Balochistan and 23 were in Islamabad.

Big cases mean big bucks for 15 lawyers

Tribune

Lawyers in NRO and 18th amendment cases paid Rs26 million by PPP govt to defend cases.

ISLAMABAD: Two high profile cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan – the National Reconciliation Ordinance and the 18th Amendment – opened the gates of wealth on 15 lawyers of the country in 2010.

The lawyers were paid Rs26million by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government to defend these cases.

Former chairman Senate and PML-Q leader in the upper house, Senator Wasim Sajjad emerged as the highest paid lawyer in the country in one government case when he was paid Rs5.9million by the government to defend the 18th Amendment in the Supreme Court.

These lawyers were paid after the government approved the hiring of a brigade of 15 lawyers for just one case, paying them a total of Rs19.5million.

The names of these lawyers and the fees paid to them were produced in the National Assembly on Monday during the question hour when MNA Nighat Parveen Mir sought these details, as well as the procedure adopted in the selection of the advocates. However, no reason was given regarding why such a large number of lawyers were hired in the first place to defend the 18th amendment when the government had the services of some top constitutional lawyers such as Wasim Sajjad and a few others.

The NA was informed in writing that these advocates were hired with the mutual consultation of the Law Minister, Secretary Law and Attorney General of Pakistan.

According to the list produced in the NA, the government hired a total of 13 lawyers to defend the 18th amendment in the court.

Wasim Sajjad, who led the team, was given Rs5.9 million, Sardar Ghazi Rs1 million, Barrister Bachaa Rs2 million, Raja Ibrahim Satti Rs1 million, Masood Chishti Rs1.5 million, Salaudin Gandapur Rs700,000, Iftikharul Haq Khan Rs500,000, Ch Nasrullah Warriach Rs3 million, Mumtaz Mustafa, Rs1.2million, Ch Mushtaq Masood Rs1 million, Khurshid Ahmed Sodhi Rs1 million, Iftikhar Ahmed Mian Rs500,000, Mahmood Sheikh AOR Rs200,000. Thus, a total of Rs19.5million were paid to 13 lawyers.

In the NRO review petition, Kamal Azfar was first paid Rs2.5 million and then Rs1.5 million. Advocate KK Agha got Rs1million and Masood Chishti Rs1.5million. The fee of Governor Punjab Latif Khosa was yet to be paid as the fee was under consideration.

Facebook blamed for divorce cases

Geo
LONDON: Facebook, which was first blamed for encouraging illicit encounters, is being increasingly cited as an evidence while seeking divorce.

Family lawyers have revealed that the problem has become so great that almost every divorce they have dealt with in the past year has involved the website.

One expert said she had dealt with 30 cases in the last nine months and Facebook had been implicated in them all.

Whilst another online law company said one in five of their divorce petitions in the past year contain references to Facebook.

Emma Patel, the head of family law at Hart Scales & Hodges Solicitors, said the site acted like a "virtual third party" in splits.

"Facebook is being blamed for an increasing number of marital breakdowns, and it is quite remarkable that all the petitions that I have seen here since May have cited Facebook one way or another," she said.

"Its huge popularity as well as the lure of sites like Second Life, Illicit Encounters and Friends Reunited are tempting couples to cheat on each other.

"Suspicious spouses have used these to spy and find evidence of flirting and even affairs, which have then led to break-ups."

She said that many of divorces came after partners found "flirty messages" on the Facebook wall of their partner - and also "inappropriate suggestive chats" which spouse's can see.

The lawyer said that she urged all clients to "stay off" Facebook during divorce proceedings - as it could throw a spanner in the works of it going smoothly - especially if they post photos of new lovers.

She said: "They feel compelled to share their feelings online, and, in some cases, they not only express their stress, but also make inflammatory accusations against their partner.

"Divorce is a highly-charged and emotional time, but it is vital not to turn the situation into a public slagging match, played out for everyone to see online.

"The situation has deteriorated so badly that we advise feuding couples to avoid these sites until their divorces are settled."

The family law specialist based in Dorking, Surrey, said that one divorcing couple's rows on Facebook got so bad one party was charged with malicious communication after the police got involved.

James Wrigley, 34, of Hackney, east London, said: "My girlfriend left me after finding out I had been sending Facebook messages to a girl at work.

"She got my password and read the messages and that was the end of that - four years together down the drain, but at least we hadn't got married."

Other examples include Marianna Gini, 32, a housing support worker and mother-of-one who was married for six years before she found out through Facebook that her husband Robert, 34, was having an affair.

Sarah Picket, 36, a housewife from Oldham and mother-of-three was married to taxi driver Chris, also 36, for eight years, until her Facebook flirtations led to their split.

She did not have an affair but her husband found flirtatious messages and the relationship ended in acrimony and jealousy.

In 2009, a 28-year- old woman, from Newquay in Cornwall, ended her marriage after discovering her husband had been having a virtual affair in cyberspace with someone he had never met.

Amy Taylor split from David Pollard after discovering he was sleeping with an escort in the game Second Life, a virtual world where players reinvent themselves.

Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of Tony Blair, ended up causing problems in her relationship when in a fit of pique she changed the status on her Facebook profile from married to single.

Miss Booth, who is half-sister of Cherie Blair, said it was a rash decision which she changed back but not before it upset her husband.

A spokesman for Facebook said it was "tosh" that Facebook could ruin a relationship.

"It is like blaming your mobile phone or your emails," he said.

"Does being on Facebook force you to do something - absolutely not I would say."

Illegal wealth: NAB yet to reopen 14 cases against Sharifs

Tribune
Cases against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif are yet to be revived by NAB.

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is yet to revive 14 cases against the Sharif brothers, their family members and bureaucrats associated with them.

Meanwhile, the Punjab chapter of the anti-corruption watchdog has 11 dormant cases, while the Rawalpindi bureau of NAB has also not been able to reopen three references against top PML-N leaders, including ones concerning defaults on payment of loans by the Ittefaq Foundries, the Hudaibiya Paper Mills and Raiwind assets.

All of these cases have been dormant since Nawaz Sharif and his family were exiled in 2000.

Sources said that allegations against the Sharif brothers included amassing wealth and assets through illegal means, abuse of power, bank defaults, illegal plot allotment and land acquisition, import of luxury vehicles without import duty payment, using public funds for personal benefit, tax evasion, transfer of money through fake accounts to foreign countries and concealing valuable assets in and out of the country while filing details of their assets with the Election Commission of Pakistan.

A NAB official said that the 11 cases were called ‘MNS cases’ by NAB Punjab functionaries.

Sources told this correspondent that during executive board meetings held under former NAB Punjab director-general Maj-Gen Nasir Mahmood and Maj (retd) Shahnawaz Badar, these cases “were discussed, but no written remarks were recorded”.

“Relevant NAB officials were verbally advised to finalise…these cases and wait for further orders,” the sources said.

NAB Punjab Director A&P and spokesperson Atiqur Rehman said cases against Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif “are yet to be revived by the bureau’s headquarters in Islamabad. We have not yet received any such instructions”.

“Only the NAB chief can authorise the launching of an inquiry or filing of a reference in accountability courts.”

In May last year, an accountability court in Rawalpindi had rejected NAB’s plea to reopen three pending corruption references against the Sharif brothers because the document did not bear NAB chief’s signatures.