Designer, ex-PM Khan supporter Khadijah Shah remanded in Quetta police custody in murder case 

An undated file photo of Khadijah Shah. (Photo courtesy: @javerias/X)
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Updated 11 December 2023
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Designer, ex-PM Khan supporter Khadijah Shah remanded in Quetta police custody in murder case 

  • Khadija Shah was among thousands of Khan supporters and key aides arrested after violent protests on May 9
  • The designer is accused in four cases connected to the events of May 9, which are all being heard in Lahore

ISLAMABAD: A prominent Pakistani-American fashion designer who was arrested in cases related to violent protests over the brief May 9 arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan was remanded in the custody of police in the southwestern city of Quetta on Monday, dashing the hopes of her lawyers and family that she would be released after six months behind bars. 

Khadijah Shah, the founder of the luxury fashion brand Elan, was among thousands of people, including grassroots supporters and key Khan aides, who were rounded up after Khan’s arrest in a land graft case on May 9 unleashed nationwide protests in which his followers attacked and damaged government and military properties, including Lahore’s Jinnah House, the residence of a top army commander.

The designer, a vocal Khan supporter, is accused in four cases connected to the events of May 9, which were all being heard in Lahore, where Shah is imprisoned at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. She has been granted bail in all cases but had thus far been unable to secure release. Many other Khan supporters also complain that despite being granted bail, they keep being implicated in new cases. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has repeatedly accused the state, particularly the army, of cracking down on its supporters and members after May 9. The army and government deny this.

“Today #KhadijahShah case was fixed for announcement of judgment by LHC [Lahore High Court],” Shah’s lawyer Sameer Khosa said on X on Monday morning. “The MPO [maintenance of public ] order has apparently been withdrawn. A team from Quetta is here to take #Khadijah.”

Pakistani media widely reported later in the day that an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore had granted Quetta police two-day transitory remand of Shah in a case in which she is accused of murder and attempted murder in connection to the May 9 riots.

Her mother in law Mehvash Amin, a journalist and poet, tweeted that Shah had “committed no crime.”

 

 

Shah’s mother Aneela Shah appealed to the Supreme Court to take notice of her daughter’s case.

 

 

Shah’s husband Jarrar Shah said his wife was being taken to Quetta in “another manufactured fake case.”

 

 

On Nov. 15, an anti-terrorism court had granted Shah bail in the fourth and last case involving the May 9 protests. However, she was re-arrested on Nov. 17 under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance for 30 days.

Shah had subsequently challenged the detention in the Lahore High Court as “unlawful and unconstitutional,” and on Monday, the government in Punjab province submitted a notification to the LHC saying it had withdrawn Shah’s detention orders “with immediate effect”.

However, before Shah could be released, Quetta police filed a request in the ATC seeking her transit remand, which was granted for two days. The court also directed Quetta police to present Shah in court on Dec. 13.

Shah was arrested on May 25 after being on the run for almost two weeks following the May 9 violence. She denies any wrongdoing and says she protested peacefully.

Shah is the daughter of Dr. Salman Shah, a member of the finance team of former military ruler General Parvez Musharraf. Her father had also served as an adviser in the Punjab government during Khan’s tenure as prime minister. She is the granddaughter of a former Pakistani army chief.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has faced a widening crackdown since May 9, with thousands of his followers arrested and dozens of members of his party, including some of his closest aides, deserting him.

Khan, who is serving a three-year jail sentence in a separate graft case, says a slew of legal cases against him since he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022 are fabricated and politically motivated and that his associates are being forced out of the PTI under duress by the military in a maneuver to dismantle his party before elections scheduled early next year. The army denies this.


South Africa’s Breetzke hits 150 in record-breaking ODI debut in Lahore

Updated 4 sec ago
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South Africa’s Breetzke hits 150 in record-breaking ODI debut in Lahore

  • The 26-year-old’s brilliant 148-ball knock anchored the South African innings after they were sent in to bat at Lahore’s Qaddafi Stadium
  • Breetzke, who smacked 11 fours and five sixes, trumps the 148 made by Desmond Haynes for West Indies on debut against Australia in 1978

LAHORE: Opener Matthew Breetzke scored 150 on Monday — the highest by anyone on ODI debut — as South Africa made 304-6 against New Zealand in the tri-nation series in Pakistan.
The 26-year-old’s brilliant 148-ball knock anchored the South African innings after they were sent in to bat at Lahore’s Qaddafi Stadium.
Breetzke, who smacked 11 fours and five sixes, trumps the 148 made by Desmond Haynes for West Indies on debut against Australia in Antigua in 1978.
Breetzke put on 37 for the opening stand with skipper Temba Bavuma (20) and another 93 for the second wicket with Jason Smith (41) to give South Africa an ideal platform.
Breetzke hit New Zealand pacer Will O’Rourke for a boundary to reach three figures off 128 balls, becoming the fourth player from his country to hit a century on ODI debut.
Reeza Hendricks, Tony de Zorzi and Colin Ingram are the others.
Breetzke cracked a six off fast bowler Ben Sears to post his 150 before being caught at mid-off by Michael Bracewell off Matt Henry in the 46th over.
Wiaan Mulder scored a 60-ball 64 with five fours and a six to ensure South Africa posted a 300-plus total.
Henry 2-59 and O’Rourke 2-72 were the pick of the New Zealand bowlers.
South Africa were forced to give four debuts in this match as their top players were either active in a Twenty20 league back home or recovering from injuries.
New Zealand brought in opener Devon Conway for Rachin Ravindra, who was injured during their 78-run win over Pakistan, also in Lahore, on Saturday.
Pakistan are the third team in the tri-series, a warm-up event before it hosts the Champions Trophy starting February 19.


Pakistan says over 45 million children vaccinated in first countrywide anti-polio drive of 2025

Updated 10 February 2025
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Pakistan says over 45 million children vaccinated in first countrywide anti-polio drive of 2025

  • Pakistani authorities conducted countrywide immunization campaign from Feb. 3-9
  • South Asian country has so far reported only one polio cases while last year it recorded 73

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state media recently announced that over 45 million children were vaccinated against polio in the first countrywide national immunization campaign of the year conducted from Feb. 3-9, as Islamabad attempts to put a stop to rising cases of the infection. 

Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure and to ensure immunity, health experts say it is crucial that all children under five complete the oral polio vaccine series. The South Asian country last year reported 73 polio cases in 2024, a sharp increase from just six cases in 2023. 

The Pakistan polio program runs several mass vaccination drives annually. This year’s first anti-polio drive was conducted from Feb. 3 to 9. On Jan. 22, the country reported its first case of the disease in 2025 in the Dera Ismail Khan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“The Ministry of Health said more than 45 million children have been vaccinated during the National Polio Immunization Campaign,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said.

“During this polio campaign, more than 400,000 trained polio workers visited door to door to perform their services.”

Dr. Mukhtar Bharath, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Coordinator for Health, said it is a “national and moral” responsibility of parents to get their children under the age of five vaccinated against polio.

He said the complete eradication of polio was the government’s top priority, highlighting that the “war against polio” was being fought with “full force and consistency.”

Bharath said measures were being strengthened to improve polio immunization campaigns across the country.

Of the 73 cases recorded last year, 27 were from southwestern Balochistan, 22 from northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 22 from southern Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad. 

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries where polio remains endemic. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. 

Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994, but efforts to eradicate the virus have been hampered by vaccine misinformation, opposition from some religious hard-liners who view immunization as a foreign plot, and frequent attacks on polio vaccination teams by militant groups.


Pakistan launches crisis unit as ship carrying 65 migrants capsizes near Libyan coast

Updated 13 min 58 sec ago
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Pakistan launches crisis unit as ship carrying 65 migrants capsizes near Libyan coast

  • Pakistan says embassy in Tripoli trying to ascertain “further details of Pakistani affectees”
  • Thousands of Pakistanis yearly pay large sums to traffickers to arrange risky journeys to Europe

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office said on Monday it had activated a crisis management cell and was trying to ascertain whether any Pakistanis were aboard a ship carrying 65 passengers that had capsized near the coast of Libya. 
The last tragedy comes weeks after at least 13 Pakistanis died when a boat carrying 86 migrants to Europe capsized near the coats of Morocco on January 16. 
Each year thousands of Pakistanis pay large sums to traffickers to arrange risky and illegal journeys to Europe, where they hope to find work and send funds to support families back home. Many people also take unlawful migrant routes to escape conflicts and religious persecution. 
A foreign office spokesperson said a vessel had capsized near the port of Marsa Dela, in the northwest of Zawiya city in Libya, and the Pakistan embassy in Tripoli had dispatched a team to a local hospital to assist authorities in identifying the deceased. 
“The Embassy is also trying to ascertain further details of the Pakistani affectees,” the statement said. “The Crisis Management Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been activated to monitor the situation.”
Pakistan has recently launched a crackdown on human trafficking rings that arrange perilous journeys via sea for migrants, as its nationals are frequently among those who drown on crammed boats that sink on the Mediterranean Sea separating North Africa from Europe, considered the world’s deadliest migrant route.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos, marking one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea. 
More recently, five Pakistani nationals died in a shipwreck off the southern Greek island of Gavdos on Dec. 14.


Pakistani lawyers protest in capital against controversial constitutional amendments

Updated 3 min 5 sec ago
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Pakistani lawyers protest in capital against controversial constitutional amendments

  • Lawyers, opposition say contentious 26th constitutional amendment is aimed at curtailing judiciary’s independence 
  • Security at Islamabad’s Red Zone, home to judicial and executive buildings, beefed up as hundreds of lawyers protest

ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of lawyers are protesting on Islamabad’s streets today, Monday, against controversial constitutional amendments that they say are aimed at undermining the judiciary and the recent transfer of three high court judges to the Islamabad High Court (IHC). 

Pakistan’s ruling coalition government passed the contentious 26th constitutional amendment bill from both houses of parliament in October 2024, amid stiff resistance from opposition parties and Pakistani lawyers. The amendments empower a parliamentary committee to appoint the Supreme Court’s chief justice for a fixed term of three years, and call for the creation of new group of senior judges to weigh exclusively on constitutional issues. The government says the amendments are aimed at providing speedy justice to citizens and it is parliament’s right to pass laws it deems fit to ensure its sovereignty. 

The protests are taking place as the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is expected to meet on Monday to consider the elevation of eight high court judges to the Supreme Court. Four Supreme Court judges on Friday wrote to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, who is also the chair of the JCP, to postpone the meeting and not decide on new judicial appointments until a challenge to the controversial amendments is decided one way or the other. 

The lawyers are also protesting against President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent move to transfer three judges from the Sindh, Balochistan and Lahore high courts to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), alleging that the move is unconstitutional as it undermines the seniority of the judges already serving in the IHC. 

“Our job is very clear and it is that we have to participate in this [protest] and present our stance,” Barrister Ali Zafar, a prominent lawyer, told reporters at Islamabad’s Red Zone area.

Zafar acknowledged that some lawyers were in favor of the judicial transfers and the constitutional amendments, acknowledging that a “division” existed among them. 

“There is definitely a division among lawyers, some are on this side and some are on that side,” he said. “But you will see that this movement will keep on growing.”

Footage on social media showed lawyers chanting slogans against the government and demanding independence of the judiciary. Local media reported deployment of heavy police contingent within the Supreme Court’s premises while entry points to the Red Zone, which houses the highest executive, judicial and legislative authority buildings of the country, were sealed to keep the lawyers away. 

Local media also reported that Serena Chowk, Nadra Chowk and Express Chowk areas were sealed to prevent lawyers from arriving at the iconic D-Chowk venue to register their protest. 

Meanwhile, Islamabad Police took to social media account X to assure residents it would ensure their protection despite the protests. 

“Islamabad Police is actively working to ensure your safety and to ensure the establishment of law and order throughout the district,” police wrote on X. 


Injured Pakistan pacer Rauf to ‘fully recover’ ahead of Champions Trophy— PCB 

Updated 10 February 2025
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Injured Pakistan pacer Rauf to ‘fully recover’ ahead of Champions Trophy— PCB 

  • Haris Rauf sustained muscular sprain in lower chest wall during Saturday’s match against New Zealand 
  • PCB says injured pacer will not be available for selection as precaution against South Africa for Feb. 12 clash 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s injured right-arm fast bowler Haris Rauf is expected to be “fully recovered” ahead of this month’s ICC Champions Trophy tournament, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said recently, brushing aside concerns he would be ruled out of the tournament. 

Rauf sustained a muscular sprain in the lower chest wall region during Pakistan’s match against New Zealand on Saturday, triggering fears the bowler would be ruled out of the tournament. Along with pacers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi, Rauf is an essential part of the South Asian country’s pace attack.

“The injury is not serious and he is expected to be fully recovered for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which commences in Karachi on 19 February,” the PCB said on Sunday. “However, as a precautionary measure and part of his ongoing rehabilitation, he will not be available for selection against South Africa on 12 February.”

Pakistan are already reeling from in-form left-handed batter Saim Ayub’s absence, who was ruled out of the tournament after suffering an ankle injury while fielding against South Africa last month. Ayub’s injury has made room for left-arm batter Fakhar Zaman, who scored an impressive 84 runs from 69 balls against New Zealand on Saturday. 

Pakistan are currently playing a tri-nation series against South Africa and New Zealand in Karachi and Lahore cities respectively. The series, seen as a warm-up ahead of the 50-over Champions Trophy tournament, will conclude on Feb. 14. 

Pakistan lost the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand in Lahore by 78 runs. The tourists amassed 330/6 at the end of their 50 overs, which was too much for Pakistan who were bundled out for 252 runs in 47.5 overs.