Rawalpindi: Suspects booked for filming woman after stripping her clothes

RAWALPINDI: Police confirmed on Thursday that they registered a complaint against a group of men accused of filming a teenage girl on a road in Rawalpindi after stripping off her clothes, posting the video clip online, and allegedly gang-raping her.

Authorities in Rawalpindi said a first information report (FIR) had been registered against “intoxicated young men [who] stripped a 17-year-old girl naked and made a video” near Saidpuri Gate in the Rawat police station’s jurisdiction.

The accused had reportedly undressed the girl and made a video of her but police only sprang into action when the video surfaced on social media.

They said the girl told them that the men had also gang-raped her at knifepoint. The scope of the investigation has therefore been widened after her statement, they added.

In her statement, the teenager said she was helpless, did not have any support, and was the “sole breadwinner for my three orphaned brothers”.

“I was returning from working at someone’s home at night,” she said in her statement. “I went to the Banni police station but police refused to file a report.

“I have no support. The accused had threatened me so I remained silent. Police only contacted me after they watched the video on social media,” she added.

Rawalpindi police, on the other hand, explained that although a raid was carried out to arrest the accused, their families resisted and the men were free on pre-arrest bail until August 7.

They added that the accused faced prior complaints of drug-peddling, as well as the rape of a boy, filed at the Banni police station.

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Shan Masood’s classy ton takes Pakistan to 326 all out against England

MANCHESTER: Shan Masood added another feather to his cap and became the first Pakistani in the 21st century to have scored hundreds in three successive Test innings as his excellent century led the tourists to 326 all out against England on the second day of the series opener at Old Trafford.

Left-handed opener Masood batted for nearly eight hours in largely bowler-friendly conditions for a Test-best 156, surpassing his 135 against Sri Lanka in Karachi in December.

He received excellent support from Shadab Khan (45) in a sixth-wicket stand of 105 that turned the tide after Pakistan had been struggling at 176-5.

The pair ran England ragged, with even defensive shots producing well-taken runs.

Pakistan had managed just 48 runs for the loss of three wickets in Thursday’s first session to reach 187-5 at lunch.

But with five overs until the new ball, England captain Joe Root then bowled his own occasional off-breaks as well as frontline spinner Dom Bess immediately after the interval.

They bowled several loose deliveries to release the pressure on the batsmen, Masood and Shadab adding 27 runs in the first five overs after lunch.

Although Root took the new ball as soon as he could, with Pakistan 214-5 off 80 overs, the sixth-wicket pair were well set and the runs continued to flow.

There were no nervous 90s for Masood, who had been reprieved twice on 45 by Jos Buttler on Wednesday after the wicketkeeper dropped a catch and missed a stumping off the unfortunate Bess.

Two late-cut boundaries off Stuart Broad took him to 96 before twos off Broad and James Anderson saw Masood, who struggled during Pakistan’s 2016 tour of England, to a 251-ball century, including 13 fours.

With the series being played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus, there was none of Pakistan’s traditional enthusiastic crowd support to acclaim the landmark.

Instead, Masood’s team-mates clapped and cheered the 30-year-old from the changing room balcony, with Pakistan great Younis Khan — now the batting coach — joining the applause.

As well as being his fourth hundred in 21 Tests, and a first against England, it was also Masood’s third in a row, after his century against Sri Lanka was followed by 100 against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi in February.

Masood, educated in England, was the sixth Pakistan batsman to score a hundred in three consecutive Test innings after Zaheer Abbas, Mudassar Nazar, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq.

All-rounder Shadab holed out off Bess with a mistimed slog to mid-on.

Fast bowler Jofra Archer then took two tail-end wickets with successive deliveries before Shaheen Afridi survived the hat-trick.

Masood, playing a textbook opener’s innings, upped the tempo by hoisting and driving Bess for two sixes.

He eventually fell lbw after tea to Broad, having faced 319 balls, hitting 18 fours and two sixes.

Broad led England’s attack with 3-54 from 22.3 overs while Archer also took three wickets.

Earlier Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, struck with just the sixth ball of the day when he had Babar Azam edging to Root at first slip on 69.

CCI agrees on water resource distribution in a Month

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Thursday made a number of important decisions, including resolution of 30-year-old controversies among the provinces over the 1991 Water Accord through consensual distribution of water resources in one month.

The 42nd meeting of the CCI chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan referred the issue of appointment of chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority and other officers to the federal cabinet.

It decided that the voice of the provinces would be included in decision making by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

The CCI unanimously approved the Alternative and Renewable Energy Policy 2019.

The meeting was apprised that the county would face major gas shortage by the winter 2021-22.

Decides to include provinces’ voice in decision-making by Ogra

Implementation status of decisions of the previous meeting of the CCI was also reviewed.

According to an official press release, the meeting discussed recommendations of the attorney general for Pakistan on the Water Accord 1991. The CCI was informed that a committee comprising technical experts of the federal and the provincial governments had been constituted to look into the issue of fair distribution of water among the provinces. The CCI directed the committee to complete its work in one month.

A source told Dawn that since 1991, Sindh and Punjab have some differences over the water accord as Sindh demands distribution of water under para 2 of the accord under which Punjab’s share will be cut by 4 to 5 million acre feet while Punjab insists that distribution should be made under para 14 of the accord, which says that the provinces will get water with the same ratio they were receiving before 1991 unless new dams are constructed in the country.

The source said that though Sindh had not agreed on the distribution formula since 1991, it has been accepting the majority decision of the council with a dissenting note.

The meeting was apprised about the progress in installation of telemetry system.

The press release said that the meeting considered proposed amendment to the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance-2002, as suggested by the government of Sindh.

The CCI asked the ministry of petroleum to explore the possibility of providing the provinces with a mechanism to give their input to the regulatory body.

The meeting considered the request of Punjab for transfer of control of lower portion of Chashma Right Bank Canal from Wapda to the government of the Punjab. Agreeing to the proposal, the CCI constituted a committee comprising representatives of the Indus River System Authority and the government of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to work out modalities and finalise a bilateral agreement between the two provinces in this regard.

The CCI deliberated upon the future role and functioning of the National Commission for Human Development and Basic Education Community Schools. It was decided, in principle, to hand over the schools, currently run by the federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training, to education departments of respective provinces/regions. The process will be completed before the end of the current financial year. The CCI directed that the ministry to formulate a transition and integration plan in consultation with the provinces, which will be presented during next CCI meeting.

The strategy to combat Covid-19 was also discussed by the CCI. It appreciated the strategy adopted by the government to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Discussing the issue of sharing of windfall levy, the meeting decided that 50 per cent share of the receipts, collected under the head of windfall levy on crude and condensate and natural gas under Petroleum Policy, 2012, would be shared with the province concerned.

The meeting approved placement of annual reports for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 before the Senate and the National Assembly.

The special assistant to the prime minister on petroleum gave a presentation to the CCI on annual demand and supply situation of gas with special reference to future requirements and dwindling domestic gas reserves.

While presenting gas production, consumption and transmission data from the provinces, he said that the country would face major gas shortage by the winter 2021-2022.

It was recommended that a national consensus should be built for a major push for new exploration and production, conservation of domestic gas and rationalisation of price mechanisms to prevent impending crisis.

The meeting was informed that the federal government was organising a summit of industry experts to discuss various options to meet this impending challenge and requested the provinces for their active participation.

Upgrades guidelines release in urdu Version by TikTok

ISLAMABAD: After warnings and negotiations with the telecom regulator, global short funny video platform TikTok has not only upgraded its ‘Community Guidelines’, but also released its Urdu language version for the first time.

The upgraded Community Guidelines provide general guidance on “what is and what is not” allowed on the platform to keep TikTok a safe place for creativity and joy. The platform is now localised and will work in accordance with local laws and norms.

TikTok has taken measures for making its teams able to remove content that violates the Community Guidelines and suspend or ban accounts involved in severe or repeated violations.

Besides, TikTok has an in-app reporting feature for users to flag potentially inappropriate content or accounts to the management of the platform.ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

Global video platform assures PTA local laws and norms will be implemented

TikTok has recently released its Transparency Report highlighting the volume of videos which have been removed from the platform for violating its Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. Pakistan had the third highest number of removed videos.

This demonstrates TikTok’s commitm­e­­nt to removing any potentially harmful or in­­appropriate content reported in Pakistan. The content moderation is performed by deploying a combination of policies, technologies and moderation strategies to detect and review problematic content and accounts and implement appropriate penalties.

After receiving complaints that the funny videos being uploaded at TikTok are immoral, obscene and vulgar and even hurt sentiments of respectable citizens, the Pakistan Telecommunication Aut­ho­r­ity issued a warning to it on July 20.

The PTA warning to TikTok said that the free for policy of the social media platform was having an “extremely negative effects on society in general and youth in particular”.

The PTA had told TikTok to moderate socialisation and content within legal and moral limits and in accordance with the country’s laws. A warning was issued to TikTok that it could be banned in Pakistan.

Parliament rejects changing of Kashmir’s special status

ISLAMABAD: As a joint sitting of parliament in a unanimous resolution on Thursday reiterated its complete rejection of India’s illegal and unilateral action of changing the special status of occupied Kashmir on Aug 5 last year, Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded the UN Security Council for its latest meeting on the disputed matter.

In a series of tweets, Mr Khan said: “I welcome the UNSC for again taking up the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, which has been on its agenda for over 70 yrs. The UNSC, under the UN Charter, not only has the responsibility for maintaining international peace & security but also of ensuring implementation of its resolutions.

“We thank the Council members who expressed concern over the deteriorating human rights & humanitarian situation in IIOJK, advised against escalation of tensions, underscored the need for respecting international law & called for a peaceful resolution of the dispute.

“Pakistan’s position remains clear & unambiguous. The J&K dispute must be resolved in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions granting Kashmiri people the right of self-determination under a free & fair plebiscite.ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

“Pakistan will continue to extend all possible support to the Kashmiri people until they secure this inalienable

Imran welcomes UNSC meeting on dispute

The parliament condemned continued human rights violations by India aimed at perpetuating its inhumane occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

It emphasised that the illegal Indian action was a blatant violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, bilateral agreements and the precepts of international law.

The parliament denounced the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government for taking advantage of the world’s preoccupation with the Covid-19 pandemic to introduce new domicile rules in occupied Kashmir in an attempt to illegally change the demographic structure of the region to advance its Hindutva agenda.

It declared that the illegal steps to turn the Muslims into a minority in India’s only Muslim-majority area were in clear violation of the UN resolutions, bilateral agreements and international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention.

The parliament condemned extra-judicial killings of the Kashmiri youths in fake encounters and cordon-and-search operations as well as arbitrary arrests and detentions of senior Kashmiri leaders and activists.

It also condemned the refusal by India to hand over mortal remains of the martyrs to their families for burial, and burning and looting of houses of Kashmiris to inflict collective punishment on the communities and neighbourhoods.

The parliament deplored that the Indian occupation forces had partially or completely blinded more than 11,000 Kashmiri civilians, including women and children, through the deliberate use of pellet guns.

It denounced that to divert attention from grave human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, the Indian occupation forces had been continuously targeting civilian populated areas along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary with artillery fire, high-calibre mortars and automatic weapons, committing more than 1,800 ceasefire violations this year alone that resulted in 14 martyrdoms and serious injuries to 138 innocent civilians.

The parliament appreciated strong statements from world leaders of support on the Kashmir dispute and for seeking its resolution in accordance with the UN resolutions.

It underscored that Jammu and Kashmir was an internationally recognised dispute and the longest outstanding item on the agenda of the UN Security Council and categorically stated that the “illegal Indian steps do not and cannot alter its disputed status”.

It commended the three discussions on the Kashmir dispute in the Security Council after a gap of more than 55 years; the two reports on the issue by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and the consistent support of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

It reaffirmed the firm resolve of the people and the armed forces of Pakistan to thwart any act of aggression resolutely and effectively.

The parliament called upon the international community to use all tools at its disposal to hold India accountable for its illegal and unilateral actions and human rights violations against the Kashmiri people and force it to allow international media, humanitarian organisations and independent observers to visit occupied Kashmir to independently verify reports of abuse, violations and use of excessive force.

It urged the UN Human Rights Council to constitute a commission of inquiry to investigate gross and consistent human rights violations in occupied Kashmir.