Supreme Court discards police report on Hazara killings
A three-judge bench consisting of Supreme Court Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ejaz-ul-Hasan, and Justice Faisal Arab, on Thursday, October 1, rejected a police report regarding the targeted killings and disappearances of Hazara community members in Balochistan, citing the inadequate and unsatisfactory investigation. Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed lamented the Balochistan police’s inability to solve a single missing case that dates as far back as 2017 and ordered the immediate recovery of the disappeared persons.
Woman gang-raped in Nankana Sahib
Incidents of sexual violence against women continue to plague Pakistan as yet another gang-rape of a woman was reported on Thursday, October 1.
The rape survivor was traveling from Lahore to Jaranwala via a bus, which broke down near Mangantawala of Nanakana Sahib district, Punjab on the night of September 24. She was waiting for a friend to pick her up when two men in a white car offered to drop her home. During the ride, they drugged her and took her to a nearby dera where four others were waiting.
The six men then proceeded to rape her and then later dumped her in some fields. The culprits used her phone to call her friend to retrieve her from there. The rape survivor was taken to her sister’s house who told her what transpired. A case was registered under section 376 (punishment for rape) against two identified and four unidentified suspects on September 29. Police are on the hunt for the accused.
Libraries may close if the second wave hits
Public libraries may be closed down if a second COVID-19 wave hits, stated Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah during a visit to the Liaqat Memorial Library in Karachi on Thursday, October 1. He further added that if library directors continue to ensure SOPs are being implemented, library timings may be increased. He also ordered prompt sanitation, renovation and maintenance works and directed for the arrangement of new tables and chairs to accommodate more students in the reading hall.