Over 50 dead in Afghan flooding

KABUL: Flooding in a remote part of northern Afghanistan has claimed more than 50 lives and forced thousands to flee their homes, a provincial official said Saturday.

Lt. Fazel Rahman, the police chief in the Guzirga i-Nur district of Baghlan province, said 54 bodies have been recovered, including the remains of women and children, but many others are still missing.

He said the death toll could climb to 100 and called for emergency assistance from the federal government. "So far no one has come to help us. People are trying to find their missing family members," Rahman said, adding that the district´s police force was overstretched by the scale of the disaster.

Guzirga i-Nur district is located more than 140 kilometers (85 miles) north of the provincial capital Puli Khumri. Jawed Basharat, the spokesman for the Baghlan provincial police, said they were aware of the flooding, but that it would take eight to nine hours for them to reach the remote and mountainous area.

50 people kidnapped from festival in Haider Kando

KOHAT: At least 50 people have been abducted from an area bordering Orakzai and Khyber Agencies on Saturday, sources said.

According to the sources, unidentified armed men kidnapped 50 people from a festival in Haider Kando.

Security forces have kicked off search operation in the area, the sources said.

Crackdown against one-wheelers in Karachi; 50 detained

KARACHI: Police conducted crackdown against one-wheelers on late Saturday night on Shahra e Faisal, detaining 50 youths and seizing 35 motorbikes.

Anti-car lifting cell of Sindh police launched crackdown against one-wheelers and apprehended 50 youth.

The police said that many of the detained youth didn’t even have driving license.

Over 50,000 illegal appointments made in Sindh LG Department

KARACHI: About 50,000 illegal appointments had been made in the Sindh Local Government (LG) Department during the last five years, ‘The News’ has learnt here on authority, writes Imdad Soomro.

Earlier, Sindh Minister for Information Sharjeel Inam Memon, who also holds charge of the LG Department, had mentioned 20,000 illegal appointments in the department but a recent report of a departmental inquiry committee suggested that the figure of 20,000 was only for one year, 2012.

The committee disclosed a fraud of appointing nearly 14,000 persons illegally in the LG department in 2013.The department sources told ‘The News’ that the figure of these illegal appointees from 2009 to 2013 is above 50,000 and a team of honest and impartial officers should be appointed to investigate the whole matter.

The illegal appointees caused a heavy burden on the exchequer and the department is now unable to pay salaries to its staff.Following the reports of illegal appointments in the Sindh LG department, the Sindh government appointed Nazeer Dhoon, the then additional secretary and now member of the Chief Minister Inspection Team (CMIT), as inquiry officer.

Dhoon inquired into the matter and submitted a report to the Local Government Secretary Javed Hanif, disclosing the scam.According to the report of Dhoon, a copy available with ‘The News’, illegal appointments were made on the directions of powerful PPP ministers with collaboration of department’s officers. The process started from 2009 and it reached its peak in 2012.

The report further said that the illegal appointments were made in the LG and its subordinate departments — former city governments, district governments and taluka governments. It was also disclosed that hundreds of persons were inducted as employees through fake transfer orders and the concerned officers, without verifying their employments, issued salaries to the illegal appointees.

Thousands of illegal employments were also created in former city government and its subordinate departments like KMC, Water Board, City Warden, Fire Brigade, but, despite the orders of the Sindh government, the record of these appointments was not produced before the inquiry team.

The report declared the department’s former secretary Ali Ahmed Lund as responsible for the matter. It is to be mentioned here that Lund, an officer of federal government, was posted irregularly as LG secretary in previous tenure of the Sindh government. His posting was declared as illegal by the Supreme Court in July 2013 and he was ordered among some other officers to join back their parent departments but despite the apex court orders Lund did not join his parent department and was appointed on an important position as secretary co-operative, Sindh.

Some of the illegal appointments were made on political basis while others were made after getting bribe by the officers of the department.According to the report, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officer Fakhar Shaikh appointed more than 1,000 persons illegally on contract basis and then confirmed them without provision and the permission of the competent authority; Larkana District Council officer Abdul Qadir Shaikh appointed over 800 persons, Taluka Municipal Administration (TMA) official Asghar Bhand appointed 443 persons, Manjhad TMA’s Aurangzaib Sammo appointed 160, Khairpur Nathan Shah TMA’s Rafiq Shaikh and Abdul Wahid appointed 300 plus, Nawabshah Municipal’s Najaf Rind 200, TMA Jati’s Munawar Mallah 155, Tando TMA’s Ghulam Ali Akbar Bhurt appointed 1,000 plus, Dadu District Council’s Parvez Chandio 400, Salih Pat Town Committee’s Aijaz Palh and Liaqat Kalhoro 300 plus, Dahrki Town Committee’s Hazar Khan Mahar and Abdul Rehman Soomro appointed more than 500, and Khan Garh Town Committee’s Banho Khan Mahar appointed 600 plus.

The report also accused the officers Tariq Hussain Bhugio, Abdul Rasheed Malak, Irshad Hulio, Abdul Qadir Shaikh, Gul Muhammd Khokhar, Ismail Nandwani, Nisar Magsi, Zafar Phulpoto, Nasurullah Sarki of illegal appointments.

It suggested for further and comprehensive investigation through the Anti-Corruption Department, and verification of record of all the employees through Nadra.The Dhoon report said that the investigation regarding illegal appointments in the Sindh LG department was conducted only for one year – 2012 - and insisted for a comprehensive probe i.e. from June 2009 till date.

The report pointed out Liaquat Kalhoro, Aijaz Palh, Rasheed Malak and others, who were appointed illegally in the LG department and then merged their services in other Sindh government departments.

LG Secretary Javed Hanif, confirming about the inquiry report, told ‘The News’ that the matter will be placed before the chief minister for proper action. Replying to a question, Hanif said he was unable to tell actual number of illegal appointees because the matter required more inquiry and scrutiny.

Iraq suicide bombing death toll rises to 50

HILLA: A suicide bombing at a crowded checkpoint south of the Iraqi capital killed 50 people and wounded more than 150, police and a doctor said Monday, raising the toll from the day before.
The bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle during rush hour on Sunday, the first day of the working week in Iraq, at a checkpoint at the northern entrance to the city of Hilla.
Among the dead were five policemen and two state television employees. The blast also left 153 others wounded, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
An interior ministry statement said the bomber had used an explosives-rigged tanker truck in the attack.
Provincial police chief Major General Abbas Abouzaid was moved to police headquarters in Baghdad in the aftermath of the bombing, and was replaced by Major General Riyadh al-Khaikani, a police spokesman said.