CM Usman Buzdar removes Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has finally removed Lahore’s top cop Umar Sheikh from his post.

CM Buzdar approved the removal of Sheikh from the post of Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) and appointed Ghulam Mehmood Dogar in his place.

According to a notification, Sheikh has been transferred with immediate effect. He has been posted as the DIG/Deputy Commandant Punjab Constabulary, Farooqabad.

Sheikh's replacement Ghulam Mehmood Dogar is also a BS-20 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan.

Before being tasked with the assignment, Dogar was posted as the DIG of Technical Procurement at the Central Police Office of Punjab.

Umar Sheikh had been in the headlines ever since he took the charge of Lahore CCPO last year.

The police officer had immediately landed in hot waters when he got involved in a dispute with former Inspector General of Punjab Police Shoaib Dastagir.

Following the dispute, Dastagir was removed from his post and Inam Ghani was brought in as the new police chief of Pakistan's largest province.

Sheikh later landed in another controversy over his victim-blaming remarks in the motorway gang rape case.

In both the cases, the former Lahore CCPO had apologised for his remarks.

During his tenure as the CCPO, he also picked fights with other officials of his department. In one of the conflicts, Sheikh had ordered the registration of a case against a senior police officer for misbehaving with him.

Before that a foreign-educated cop had also resigned from his post because he was abused by Sheik in a meeting.

The controversial cop had also recommended that the police should start carrying out court-martial of police officers similar to the armed forces to prevent frequent misconducts that could not be addressed through the existing rules of the Police Department.

PDM is stronger than before, rumours about conflict within alliance are false: Fazl

The leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Friday addressed a press conference and said that the 11-party alliance is stronger than before, adding that rumours about conflicts within the party are false.

Speaking on behalf of the alliance, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman reiterated that the government only has one month to resign, after which PDM members will join heads and start planning the long march.

"We will decide whether to hold long march towards Rawalpindi or Islamabad," he said, adding that the alliance will announce the date and venue soon.

Speaking about the by-polls and Senate elections, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said PDM parties will participate in by-polls, adding that participating in the Senate elections will be taken by the alliance later.

Answering a question, the PDM chief said that many of the decisions taken during the meeting prior to the conference are confidential, therefore, the alliance is not under any obligations to share everything with media.

Prior to the press briefing, the PDM held a meeting at Jati Umra in Lahore to make final decisions regarding the future course of action of their anti-government campaign.

I have received resignations of PML-N assembly members: Maryam

Adding to the topic of resignations, PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that her party members have already submitted their resignations to her.

PPP has not said anything about resignations: Shibli Faraz

Speaking to Geo News in response to PDM's statements, Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the "expression on PDM members' faces showed that they did not make any significant decisions during their meeting."

Shibli Faraz added that the main stakeholder in the assemblies is the PPP, which has still not issued any statements about their resignations.

Police arrest man for intimidating citizens with weird facemask

Police have arrested a man for intimidating citizens by wearing a weird facemask on New Year night in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reported on Friday.

As per details, a man appearing as a demon hit the streets of Peshawar on New Year night, which created panic among the people who were celebrating new year’s night.

Meanwhile, the police after getting the information arrested the man late at night from Peshawar’s area of Shah Qabool.

On the other hand, at least four people, a woman among them, were injured in incidents of celebratory firing reported from various parts of Karachi to herald the new year.

The police said eight suspects had been arrested for resorting to aerial firing despite ban. Besides, as many bikers were also rounded up for reckless racing and one-wheeling.

IRCRA delegation briefed about global politics, Pak-Afghan ties

The Centre for Middle East & Africa (CMEA) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) hosted a delegation from the International Research Council for Religious Affairs (IRCRA) on Thursday including participants from Afghanistan.

President IRCRA, Mr Muhammad Israr Madani was also present on the occasion. Director CMEA, Ms. Amina Khan, and who also works on Afghanistan, welcomed the delegation and gave a brief introduction of the ISSI.

Director General ISSI, Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry briefed the delegation on global politics and Pak-Afghan ties.

He noted how at the end of the Cold War, it seemed that the world was heading towards multi- polarity. After events of 9/11, terrorism and counter terrorism became the focus of the world stage. Presently, however, the world is seeing intensifying competition between United States and China.

In order to counter China’s rise, the US has embarked on its Pivot to Asia strategy, where among other things, it is trying to fortify India as a counterweight to China. Amidst this competition, the issue of terrorism has taken a backseat.

Giving a political and geo-strategic overview of different regions, Ambassador Chaudhry was of the view that in India, the present Modi government is bent on making India a Hindu Rashtra while in the Middle East, many countries are still entangled in civil war. Europe is also embroiled in its internal issues and has not asserted itself as an active participant in global and regional politics.

In the backdrop of this scenario, he talked about the situation in Afghanistan and the peace process which is paramount not only for Pakistan but for the region and subsequently the world.

He outlined points which need special focus in this regard: the presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil, the formation and composition of the Afghan government, attainment of a sustainable ceasefire to end bloodshed and the responsibility of regional and other important countries to not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

He also highlighted the importance of a conducive Pak-Afghan relationship, and said that Afghanistan is and always will be Pakistan’s neighbor, therefore both countries need to expand the contours of their bilateral relationship, hence it is for the benefit of both countries and for the entire region that this relationship improves.

He concluded by saying that it was essential for both sides to expand cooperation on all levels, be it political, economic, military, or people to people contacts. He also emphasized on how the ISSI is working on increasing its outreach to Afghanistan through academic linkages and welcomes such initiatives to further strengthen the bilateral relationship.

PML-N to host PDM meeting at Jati Umra today

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) will host a special session of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders at Sharifs’ residence Jati Umra today, on Friday.

Sources told  that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will not attend today’s session of the opposition alliance. The session will be attended by PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Akhtar Mengal, Owais Noorani and others.

The PDM leadership will deliberate upon the Senate elections and resignations of opposition lawmakers from assemblies in the session.

It may be noted here that PPP had earlier announced to take part in Senate polls and by-elections, whereas, the opposition party expressed reservations regarding the resignations of legislators.

Sources revealed that PPP was not willing to withdraw from the Sindh government, whereas, its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari conciliated Nawaz Sharif over the resignations’ issue.

Sources added that PDM leadership is likely to make an important announcement regarding the resignation after concluding today’s session.

Yesterday, it emerged that cracks among the opposition parties alliance, Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) are widening as PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) top leaders expressed displeasure over onesided decisions taken by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Fazlur Rehman had also expressed his anger over the recent meeting of Muhammad Ali Durrani with the PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in jail.

Karachi rings in New Year with record breaking cold

Mercury dropped as low as 5.6 degrees Celsius in Karachi early Friday morning, breaking the ten-year record for the lowest temperature in the port city, reported.

Before this, 6.5 degrees Celsius was the city’s lowest minimum temperature recorded in 2014, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PDM). The maximum temperature is expected to range between 21 and 23 degrees Celsius during the day, it said.

Wind speed is currently eight to ten kilometres per hour. The weather department said the cold wave would subside in few days with the entry of a new weather system in the country.

Cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country. However very cold weather is expected in Upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, north Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Fog is likely to prevail in Plain areas of Punjab and upper Sindh.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded in the country was -17.7 degrees Celsius in Astore.

Decision on school reopening on January 4: Shafqat Mahmood

Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood has said on Friday that a final decision on the reopening of schools will be taken in the NCOC meeting scheduled to take place on January.

He was talking with the Private Schools Associations delegation, who were called by the government for negotiations after the announcement of the reopening of schools from January 11.

Shafqat Mahmood was accompanied by the parliamentary secretary, while the private schools’ delegation included Afzal Babar, Hafeez Bisharat, Abrar Khan and Nasir Mahmood.

The delegation appealed to the government to understand the problems being faced by the private schools association.

Shafqat Mahmood said that the government is mulling over to reduce this year’s summer vacations and postponement of examinations scheduled in March, but the final approval would be given by the NCOC.

It is to be noted that the Private Schools Supreme Council announced had announced to reopen educational institutions from January 11.

Addressing a press conference, office-bearers of the council had demanded that the government announce the reopening of schools from January 11. Even if it doesn’t do so, they said they would reopen schools on that date under the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.