An accomplice of the main suspect in the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway gang-rape case has confessed to the crime. Shafqat Ali, with whom key suspect Abid used to commit crimes, confessed to gang-raping a woman when her car had broken down on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway on Sept 9 even before his DNA test was carried out. The key suspect Abid Ali remains at large.
Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umer Sheikh apologised to the motorway gang-rape victim for his earlier remarks implying that she shared responsibility for her rape. Last week, two robbers gang-raped a mother of two on Lahore to Sialkot Motorway, while the woman waited for help in her car. Following the incident, the CCPO invited criticism for victim-blaming comments.
The provincial health authorities have told the Lahore High Court that the two-finger test (TFT), an old practice of examining sexual assault survivors, has limited evidentiary value and will be abolished from the protocol of medico-legal certificate (MLC) unless necessitated. The test is usually used in Pakistan despite calls for its revocation by healthcare professionals and human rights organisations world over.
Fifty-three DNA samples were taken after a woman was raped in front of her children on the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway late Wednesday. One of the samples taken from the crime scene has matched with DNA already in the Punjab Forensic Authority’s database. The match is of a 25-year-old man who raped a mother and daughter in 2013, according to police sources.
A low-cost Turkish airline, Pegasus, will be launching flights from Karachi to Istanbul on September 25. Flights from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport to Quaid-e-Azam International Airport will operate every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 8:35pm, while flights from Quaid-e-Azam International Airport to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport will depart every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 04:55am.
US President Donald Trump announced on another “peace deal”, this time between Israel and Bahrain. This deal makes Bahrain, the second Arab country to settle with its former foe in less than a month, United Arab Emirates (UAE) being the first one. A joint US-Israel-Bahrain statement said there would be “full diplomatic relations”.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) in an official report on CCPO Lahore Umer Sheikh had described him as ‘womaniser’ who was ‘financially and morally corrupt’. According to a copy of the report being shared on social media, the incumbent city police chief ‘remained involved in corrupt practices for financial gains’ during his tenure as a district police officer (DPO) of Sargodha.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has topped the list of politician across the globe for successfully fighting the impact of COVID-19 in the country. The list released by the British news outlet, Asian World, ranked Prime Minister Imran Khan at the top for launching a relief fund for those who were made jobless due to the current pandemics.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Pakistan was among countries from whom the international community should learn how to deal with Covid-19 pandemic. WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a media briefing said Pakistan deployed the infrastructure built up over many years for polio to combat Covid-19. Tedros named Pakistan among seven other countries as examples for international community to follow.
Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Shaikh’s insensitive comments on the heinous motorway rape incident has drawn sharp criticism from public and demand for his resignation #RemoveCCPOLahore has become top trend on Twitter. Sheikh, who has been tasked to probe the rape of a woman on the Motorway, started his investigation by questioning why the woman was out late at night on a deserted route.