LAHORE: Police made no headway in arresting the prime suspect involved in murdering at least eight underage girls, 10 days after his latest victim Zainab went missing on January 4.

The 36-hour deadline issued by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to police for arresting the suspects also lapsed without any progress.

On Sunday, Inspector-General of Police Arif Nawaz personally visited Kasur and held a meeting with members of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
The meeting was attended, among others, by JIT head RPO Multan Muhammad Idrees, RPO Sheikhupura Zulfiqar Hameed, Director-General Punjab Forensic Science Agency Dr Muhammad Ashraf Tahir, SSP IC3 Akbar Nasir, DIG Investigation Lahore Chaudhry Sultan, DIG Investigation Waqas Nazeer, AIG Legal Abdul Rub, DPO Kasur Zahid Nawaz Marwat, SSP Special Branch Irfanullah Khan.

Members of the JIT briefed IGP about efforts made by police in this regard. JIT head Muhammad Idrees told the IG Punjab that Zainab murder would be solved as soon as CCTV footage and images of alleged person were matched and all persons of this area were DNA tested.

IGP ordered JIT to hasten efforts to arrest the suspect.

JIT separately interviewed family members of previous victims.

It also issued a fresh sketch of the suspect after obtaining a new picture from CCTV camera. The JIT could not obtain any information about the suspect through the picture from NADRA record. They also decided to conduct DNA tests of all people matching the suspect’s age and living in a two-kilometer radius of Zainab’s house.

Meanwhile, Zainab’s father Muhammad Ameen also lashed out against police for their failure to arrest his daughter’s killer. He said that the authorities concerned were assuring him that he would get quick justice but police had so far made no progress. He also called for releasing people arrested by police during protests. He said that family members of arrested protestors were approaching him for help. JIT had so far investigated 247 suspects, collected and analysed CCTV footage and call data record of the area where Zainab went missing.

After interrogating suspects and data analysis, 10 suspects had been short-listed. More persons were weaned out, leaving just three suspects. But, DNA and other evidence showed that the prime suspect was still at large.

The prime suspect, who is yet to be unidentified, is now thought to be a serial killer who is involved in murders of at least eight girls aged between five and seven. At least 13 cases of rape and murder were reported in Kasur since last year.

On Tuesday (January 9), the issue was again highlighted when people staged a protest after Zainab’s body was recovered.

KARACHI: The murder case of a youth in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) took a U-turn on Sunday after personnel of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) of the Karachi police were found to be involved in the killing.

Though the police high-ups have suspended all nine ACLC men allegedly involved in the murder, officials only arrested six of them as according to the police, the remaining three had gone into hiding to avoid arrest.

In an unfortunate incident late on Saturday evening in Karachi’s posh locality of DHA, a 21-year-old man, Intizar Ahmed, who lived on Khayaban-e-Badban, was found shot dead in mysterious circumstances on Khayaban-e-Ittehad.
Intizar’s killing was termed an act of targeted killing by the police in their initial report. However, the case took a U-turn after the ACLC team’s involvement was discovered.

Police investigations revealed that Intizar was not shot by target killers. Instead, he was killed by a special team of the ACLC, the Karachi police’s specialised cell which deals with the theft of vehicles.

Initially, all nine ACLC personnel were suspended by Criminal Investigation Agency chief DIG Saqib Ismail Memon and an inquiry was ordered against them.

The suspended officials included three inspectors, Tariq Rahim, Tariq Mehmood and Azhar Ahsan Rizvi, two head constables, Ghulam Abbas and Shahid, and four constables, Ghulam Abbas, Fawad Khan, Daniyal and Bilal. It was reported that Mehmood was the ACLC SHO while constables Daniyal and Bilal were gunmen of the ACLC SSP.

“[The suspended personnel] have been shifted to Line Sharifabad, ACLC, Karachi till completion of the inquiry. They shall draw pay and allowances as admissible under the rules during suspension period,” reads a letter issued by DIG Memon.

However, six of them were later arrested after the Darakhshan police registered a murder case against them on the complaint of Intizar’s family, while the other three managed to escape.

“We have registered a murder case against the ACLC cops on the complaint of the family,” explained South police chief SSP Javed Akbar Riaz.

“It was an incident of mistaken identity but we have booked the ACLC men in a murder FIR according to what the parents of the victim demanded,” he said, adding that for the past few days vehicles bearing official registration plates were being snatched in the area and a car was also snatched on Saturday.

Speaking to the media outside Jinnah hospital, DIG Memon confirmed that the ACLC police personnel had shot dead the young man. “The ACLC personnel opened fire on the car and hit him. We are looking into this matter,” he said.

In their defence, the ACLC personnel claimed they were looking for car lifters who had been involved in the theft of vehicles bearing official registration plates in DHA.

“We had information that the snatchers usually used a white Corolla. We were looking for them for the last few days and had deployed men in plainclothes in the area,” said one of the arrested ACLC cops.

“We asked the youth to stop his car. When he didn’t stop the car, we opened fire on the vehicle and the young man died.”

Intizar was his parents’ only child and was studying at a university in Malaysia after completing his O and A Levels from The City School Darakhshan campus. He came to Karachi in November for his winter break.

Father’s claims

The deceased’s family also held a press conference over the incident, seeking justice from the authorities.

Accompanied by his sister and lawyer Muhammad Asif Khudai, Intizar’s father Ishtiaq Ahmed demanded justice for his son. The father expressed no faith in the police and appealed to the chief justice and chief of army staff to provide him justice.

“Intizar had a fight with two men two days back – Fahad and Haider – sons of a lawyer and policeman respectively,” the father claimed. He added that it was evident from the multiple bullets fired by the ACLC personnel that they wanted to kill him instead of stopping him.

“There was a clear intention to kill,” said the lawyer. “Multiple bullet holes in the car shows the police aimed not to stop him but kill him.”

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also took notice of the incident and directed the police to share the recovered evidence with the deceased’s family.

Pakistan People’s Party have proposed Aseefa Bhutto’s name for contesting elections from Lyari or Tando Allahyar, Express News reported.

Benazir Bhutto’s youngest daughter, Aseefa Bhutto will begin her political career in the 2018 elections.

Aseefa will turn 25 years old next month and will be eligible to contest elections from NA-248 in Lyari and NA-223 from Tando Allahyar.
She is a registered voter from Tando Allahyar but is interested in contesting from Lyari.

However, the parliamentary board will finalise the seat she will be contesting from.

Bilawal Bhutto will also contest elections in the upcoming polls this year.

The PPP chairman has dispelled all rumors andhas clarified that the party will not forge any alliance in the next general elections and will contest the polls on its own.

Bilawal rejected the idea of forging alliance with any party, saying the party will step into the elections on its own sign and slogan.

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND: A withering spell by Trent Boult saw New Zealand destroy Pakistan by 183 runs in the third one-day international to comfortably wrap up the series in Dunedin on Saturday.

Boult rocked Pakistan with three wickets in five balls to take out the cream of their top order on his way to figures of five for 17.

New Zealand, batting first, were restricted to 257, with their innings boosted by 11 off the final over before Boult was dismissed on the last ball.

Then, after Boult’s near unplayable overs, Pakistan were all out for 74 in the 28th over to give New Zealand an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

At eight for 32, Pakistan were threatening two unwanted records – the lowest ODI score of 35, held by Zimbabwe, and Pakistan’s own lowest score of 43 – before Sarfraz Ahmed (14 not out), Mohammad Amir (14) and Rumman Raees (16) delayed the inevitable finish.

Boult was in action in the second over when Azhar Ali was caught by Ross Taylor at first slip without scoring.

Dangerman Fakhar Zaman was bowled for two and Taylor also caught Mohammad Hafeez for a duck in Boult second over and Pakistan were in a hole they were never going to get out of.

If New Zealand thought they were slow making 37 for one off the first 10 overs, Pakistan were in dire trouble at nine for three at the same stage.

But when struggling to stay afloat, Babar Azam was unnecessarily run out for eight to start another slide.

In the following over Shoaib Malik was caught by Taylor off Lochie Ferguson for three and seven balls later part-timer Colin Munro bowled Shadab Khan for without scoring and Pakistan were 16 for six in the 15th over.
With light drizzle falling, but not strong enough to send the players off the field, Faheem Ashraf gave Pakistan supporters something to cheer about when he top-edged Lochie Ferguson for six.

But on 10 Faheem was gone hooking Ferguson to Todd Astle at fine leg, before Boult came back to claim Amir and Rumman to end the innings.

Pakistan came to New Zealand on a nine-match winning streak and the promise of providing a more formidable opposition for New Zealand who had just swept a series against the West Indies.

After losing the first two matches they arrived in Dunedin needing to win and had their tails up when Munro went for eight in the second over.

But half-centuries to Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor plus 45 for Martin Guptill set New Zealand up.

Williamson never looked particularly fluent but reached 73 off 101 deliveries while Taylor made 52 off 64 deliveries.

Pakistan did look smart in the field and finished with a flourish taking seven wickets for 48 in the last eight overs.

LAHORE: It may be a while before Pakistan can participate in the FIFA World Cup, considering the shambles the country’s football is in, but football fans in the country can at least satisfy themselves with the fact that the World Cup trophy will be in Pakistan on February 3.

The 2018 trophy tour includes 50 countries from six continents, with Pakistan being among those countries for the very first time.

The suspension of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) had raised fears that the trophy may not come to Pakistan, but Coca FIFA’s World Cup partner Coca Cola have helped ensure that Pakistan stay on the tour.
General Manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Rizwan U Khan, spoke at a press conference that also featured the national men’s and women’s captains Kaleemullah and Hajra Khan.

“As a Pakistani, I am very excited,” Rizwan told The Express Tribune. “This will increase awareness in our youth and revive a culture of football. I foresee Pakistan playing in the World Cup in the future as well.”

Rizwan revealed that bringing the country to the country was not easy. “There was a lot of competition,” he said. “Many countries were vying for it. We can’t comment on the PFF-FIFA issue but this is a big deal for Pakistan.”

The FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca Cola kicked off in September 2017 in Russia and will see the trophy travelling approximately 126,000km in nine months before eventually returning to Russia.

A delegation of 16 Pakistanis, including representatives from the media, Coca Cola and the national football team, will join the tour in Chiang Mai, Thailand to receive the Trophy and bring it to Lahore. The trophy will remain in Pakistan for one day and will be to the media and thousands of football fans at the Coke Fest in Lahore, according to a press release.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani fan will also get the opportunity to participate in the coin toss in the match between Brazil and Costa Rica in the group stages.