Amid global pressure, pak govt takes control of Jaish headquarters
Lahore, Feb 22: Succumbing to intense international pressure to rein in militant groups operating from its soil, the Pakistan government on Friday took over the administrative control of the headquarters of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), the terror outfit which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.
The move came a day after the powerful UN Security Council comprising 15 nations, including Pakistan's key ally China, named JeM in a statement condemning in the "strongest terms" the "heinous and cowardly" terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based JeM in Pulwama and stressed on the need to hold organisers and financiers of such "reprehensible acts" accountable and bring them to justice.
"The Punjab government has taken over the control of the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur," Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told PTI.
"The government of Punjab has taken over the control of a campus comprising Madressatul Sabir and Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah in Bahawalpur...and appointed an administrator to manage its affairs," the minister added.
Bahawalpur is 400 km from Lahore.
A statement issued by the Interior Ministry also said the crackdown on Jaish "has been taken in line with the decision of the National Security Committee meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan".
The Islamic seminaries in the campus has a faculty of 70 teachers and currently 600 students were studying in it, the statement said, adding that Punjab police is providing security and protection to the campus.
Pakistan on Thursday also banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
Earlier, the two outfits were kept on the watchlist of the interior ministry.
The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.
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SC asks Centre to consider amending law on terminating pregnancy of rape survivors
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday took strong exception to a plea by AIIMS seeking to set aside its order allowing a 15-year-old girl to medically terminate her 30-week pregnancy, and asked the Centre to consider amending the law to permit rape survivors to terminate unwanted pregnancies even beyond 20 weeks.
The top court said when there is pregnancy due to rape, there should not be a time limit.
Law needs to be organic and in sync with evolving time, it stressed.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said this is a case of child rape and the survivor will have a lifelong scar and trauma if termination is not allowed.
The top court said if the mother does not have permanent disability then it should be carried out.
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It asked AIIMS to counsel parents of the survivor over the issue and said the decision has to be of the person concerned.
"There are children for adoption. In this country we have lot of sympathies...There are deserted, abandoned children on the streets and even mafias on it. We have to look at them. This is an unwanted pregnancy of a 15-year-old child.
"This is a curative petition. Unwanted pregnancy cannot be thrusted on a person. Imagine she is a child. She should be studying now. But we want to make her a mother. Imagine the pain, the humiliation the child has suffered in this," the bench said.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for AIIMS, mentioned the curative plea, and said the termination of pregnancy is not possible.
"It will be a live baby with severe deformities. Minor mother will have lifelong health issues and cannot reproduce. Minor mother will have lifelong health issues. This child can be given for adoption. It has been 30 weeks now. It is a viable life now," she said.
The top court said the decision on termination has to choice of the survivor and her parents and AIIMS may help them take an informed decision.
On April 24, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had allowed the girl to medically terminate her pregnancy of 30 weeks.
