Protest against girl’s killing in N. Waziristan operation
Scores of Khaisur residents continued their sit-in for the third day against the killing of a young girl during a confrontation between security forces and fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last Friday, December 31.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), four soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire during an intelligence-based operation on a TTP hideout in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. It was not initially reported that a civilian, 12-year-old Jansada, had also been killed in the firefight.
On Sunday, locals activists of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), blockaded the Pakistan-Afghan Highway near Elementary College Mir Ali and staged a sit-in that has entered its fourth day today. Despite several rounds of talks between protesters and the district administration, no consensus has yet to be reached.
Demonstrators are demanding an official inquiry into the killing and compensation to the aggrieved family.
Sisters get rightful inheritance after nearly 40 years
A two-member division bench comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Yahya Afridi of the Supreme Court of Pakistan awarded two sisters their due share in their father’s property after they had been fraudulently deprived of it by their brother for 38 years. The decision came during a hearing into a petition filed by the brother against a high court order.
In the three-page verdict, Justice Isa remarked that it was most unfortunate that the appellant retained the property by fraudulent means and then compelled his sisters/their legal heirs to retrieve their God-ordained share by filing execution proceedings. He also termed it deplorable that the appellant was able to deprive his sisters of their due shares for such a long period of time that only two of the six who filed the suit against him survive.
The order also noted that the court examined the mutation where the acceptance of the property as a gift by the appellant’s father, Ghulam Haider. Furthermore, the fact that the property was gifted the same day the father had died made it extremely suspect.
The apex court directed that possession of the due share in the property be delivered to the respective parties as prescribed under Islamic law within three months.
UN lauds Pakistan for registering 1.4 million refugees
On Tuesday, January 4, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that Pakistan successfully completed smart card registration of 1.4 million on-the-move Afghan refugees, including over 200,000 children under the age of five, in a country-wide verification campaign that concluded on December 31, 2021.
Data for 1.25 million Afghan refugees was also updated during the course of the campaign under the Documentation Renewal and Information Verification Exercise (DRIVE). Over 700,000 smart cards, which will be valid till June 30, 2023, have been issued till date while the remaining will be printed and distributed by early 2022.
The smart cards contain bio-metric data and are compatible with authentication systems in Pakistan, giving Afghan refugees immediate and safer access to health, education and banking. In its report, the UNHCR commended Pakistan for the campaign.
