Latest news with #GrandDemocraticAlliance
Express Tribune
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
GDA, PTI march against new canals
Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) staged a protest sit-in in front of Karachi Press Club against the construction of six new canals on the Indus River, followed by a protest rally towards the Empress Market. Addressing the sit-in, Functional League Sindh Secretary General and GDA's Information Secretary, Sardar Abdul Rahim, stated that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has consistently relied on misinformation and lies. He urged the people of Karachi to resist the new canals being drawn from the Indus River, noting that 85% of the city's water comes from Keenjhar Lake, which relies on the Indus. Without downstream flow, he warned, Karachi will face a severe water crisis. Citing international warnings about Sindh's water drying up, he called on Urdu-speaking and other communities to stand with their Sindhi brothers to protect the river and safeguard the city's future. Sardar Abdur Rahim declared that the slogan 'Canals Na Khappay' (No to Canals) should be raised from Karachi, as when Karachi awakens, the entire country awakens. He remarked that the person they hoped to make Prime Minister was shown on April 4 in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh that he can't even become Chief Minister there. He criticised Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, saying he claims to be from Mohenjo Daro, yet even the funds provided by UNICEF for the site's restoration were misused. They couldn't develop Gorakh Hill, nor could they provide education or healthcare. PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said, "Not only Prisoner Number 804 (Imran Khan) is imprisoned, but, we are all locked up - the whole country has become a one big jail." Sindh has awakened against the canals. The curses being hurled at a certain individual in Sindh should be enough reason for him to relinquish power. He is a sick man, one whom no one prays for anymore. Zardari had taken the contract to build canals. He also mentioned that the 26th Constitutional Amendment has made the judiciary controversial. He emphasized that the most powerful position in the federal government is held by Zardari. SUP central leader Syed Munir Haider Shah stated that no country can function on the foundation of injustice. He accused President Asif Zardari of "selling off" the Indus River in a bid to secure the Prime Ministership for his son. PTI Sindh General Secretary Ali Palh declared that the people of Sindh have delivered a clear referendum against the Zardari League and the PML-N. He alleged that a conspiracy is underway to turn Sindh into a barren wasteland, vowing not to allow the construction of new canals.
Express Tribune
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Freedom eludes anti-PPP alliance leader
As freedom from incarceration eludes Grand Democratic Alliance's leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, three bails from as many courts on Monday in addition to an earlier order of Sindh High Court failed to secure his release from the jail custody. The former federal minister after his discharge from Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, on Monday was sent back to Nara Jail as a civil judge and judicial magistrate of Sukkur district granted his 14-day judicial remand in a hitherto unknown case. Confusion prevailed while his discharge card was being prepared at the hospital with some sources insinuating about continuity of his imprisonment on judicial remand and others suggesting that he might be set free. He was admitted to the LUH on February 22 with complaints of chest pain. Earlier, Larkana's Additional District and Session Judge Rashid Ali Dayo granted bails to Jatoi in two separate FIRs registered at Badeh and Dokri police stations. Ahsan Hyder Shah Syed, Additional District and Session Judge in Khairpur, also approved his bail in an FIR lodged at Hingroja police station. These FIRs contain sections like 324, 353, 148, 149, 216A, 109, 506/2, 353, 224 and 402 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and 24 of Sindh Arms Act (SAA). The charges include attempt to murder, obstructing government officials from performing duty and robbery, among others. Interestingly, his remand has been given even though Sindh High Court Larkana Circuit on February 20 had barred the Sindh police from arresting Jatoi in any new case except those three cases in which he has already been taken into custody. These included the two FIRs in Larkana and one of a murder case registered at Moro police station in Noushehro Feroze district. The Anti Terrorism Court of Noushehro Feroze on February 20 had also granted bail to Jatoi in the murder case. The GDA leader's wife, Naveen Jatoi, has time and again blamed Pakistan Peoples Party's Sindh government for framing her husband in fabricated cases in order to pressurize their family. She alleged that political opposition to the PPP's leadership and agricultural lands are the obvious causes behind his arrest. "It appears that the accused isn't nominated in the FIR with specific allegation or role," reads the judicial remand order given by a civil judge and judicial magistrate of Sukkur on Monday. "However, it appears that the accused is implicated through further statements of the complainant under section 162 of CrPC." His jail custody has been approved till March 9. "It is an admitted fact that the name of the accused [Jatoi] isn't mentioned in the FIR or even in the challan," observed senior lawyer Sajjad Ahmed Chandio while talking to The Express Tribune. "And when the case is under trial then it's the prerogative of the concerned trial court to add or exempt/acquit any person as accused." He was referring to the civil judge's remand order.
Express Tribune
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Family not allowed to meet Jatoi despite court orders
The family of former federal minister and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi has complained that they are not being allowed to meet Jatoi who is kept in Nara Jail, Hyderabad, in violation of the court's order. Naveen Jatoi, wife of the GDA leader, said while talking to The Express Tribune that her husband's implication even in an FIR of motorbike snatching has made it evident that Pakistan Peoples Party's government is victimising political opponents. Jatoi was arrested on February 18 while returning from a court in Noushehro Feroze district in connection with a murder FIR lodged at Moro police station in Noushehro Feroze last year. He and his son Bilawal Jatoi were charged with planning to kill Bilawal Zardari on the election day on February 8, 2024. Meanwhile, his arrest was also declared in two more cases, registered at Dokri and Badah police stations in Larkana, under sections 324, 353, 148, 149, 216A, and 402. However, on Thursday, the Sindh High Court Larkana Circuit barred the Sindh police from arresting Jatoi in any new case except for three cases in which he has already been taken into custody. The order was given following a petition filed by Naveen Jatoi. On the same day, the Anti Terrorism Court in Noushehro Feroze granted him bail in the murder FIR. "If the petitioner's husband isn't shown to be arrested in the three impugned FIRs, he shall not be arrested," ordered justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar and justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon. The bench also ordered the Sindh police to submit a complete record of all the FIRs registered or pending against the GDA leader. Separately, during the hearing before the ATC judge, advocate Muhammad Ayaz Mari, who represented the FIR's complainant, cited the prohibitory clause to argue against grant of bail to the ex-federal minister. "A court of law can't dismiss bail on the sole ground that the alleged offence is falling within the ambit of the prohibitory clause, but it has to consider the available material and then decide [whether] the matter is of further inquiry or not?" observed the ATC judge Hafiz Misbahuddin Phulpoto. The court granted him bail against two solvent sureties of Rs100,000 each but with a note of caution for the 'accused' to remain careful in future. Jatoi's wife expressed hope that they will also secure bail in other cases from Larkana-based court. Political hostilities Naveen contended that President Asif Ali Zardari himself is behind his husband's arrest. "Antagonism is decades old. Zardari had faced election defeat from Ghulam Mustafa Khan Jatoi [former caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and father Murtaza Jatoi] in 1993." She claimed that a majority of the towering political figures from across Sindh have bowed down before Zardari but her husband continues to resist his tentacles. According to her, Jatoi was invited to join the PPP after his father's death in 2009. She said some years back he was again approached either to join the party or leave politics. She went on to blame men allegedly supported by the ruling party for attempting to occupy their agricultural land in Keti Jatoi in two separate attempts which stood foiled. "Zardari won elections through rigging," she alleged. "The people of Noushehro Feroez and Nawabshah are not with them." Jatoi underwent a cardiac procedure last year. His wife was worried that his medicines, which were handed over to the prison staff of Nara Jail, have been given to him or not. On Thursday the court expressed dismay over the transfer of Jatoi to a prison in Hyderabad in violation of the court order to shift him to a jail hospital in Noushehro Feroze. The jail superintendent was also slapped with a minor punishment of keeping him seated in the court until the judge left.
Express Tribune
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
GDA leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi arrested
KARACHI: Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi was arrested in Noushehro Feroze district on Monday, which the GDA and nationalist parties term political victimization. Jatoi was rounded up when he was returning from the court, where he managed to secure bail in an FIR of police encounter. Hundreds of policemen intercepted him outside the court and told him that he was being arrested in another FIR lodged in Moro taluka of Nourshehro Feroze. He was, however, later shifted to B-Section police station in Shaheed Benazirabad district instead of being taken to the police station in Moro where he was booked. The police claimed that the Anti Terrorism Court had issued non-bailable warrants for Jatoi on February 12 in an FIR of attacking the polling station Ali Baksh Jatoi in Moro on the day of the general elections last year. A man was killed and three were injured in that alleged assault. Nawan Jatoi town in Noushehro Feroze, a stronghold of Jatois, was shut down in reaction to his arrest. "I am being forced to bow down through such fake cases but I won't," said Jatoi while talking to the media after he was arrested.
