Death toll increases to 30 in SL due to bad weather
Colombo, June 5: At least 30 people have died due to extreme rains and floods that have devastated Sri Lanka since May 15, State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon told Parliament on Wednesday. Heavy monsoonal showers have destroyed 71 houses while another 9,300 suffered partial damage. The deaths have been reported from 10 districts, including the capital Colombo, where torrential rains exceeding 300 mm caused flash floods, fallen trees, high winds, lightning, and earth slips. (PTI)
Prominent Pak activist arrested on trafficking charges
Islamabad, June 5: Prominent Pakistani human rights activist Sarim Burney was arrested on Wednesday on human trafficking charges by the country’s top investigation agency based on a complaint by the US government, according to media reports. The Federal Investigation Agency’s Anti-Human Trafficking Team apprehended Burney immediately upon his arrival at the Karachi Airport from the US, Geo News reported. Citing sources, the report said that the rights activist was arrested on the complaint of the United States government and is accused of trafficking more than 25 children to America and illegally getting the children adopted there. (PTI)
2 Pakistani sisters killed in latest case of honour killing
Lahore, June 5: In the latest case of honour killing in Pakistan, two sisters were killed by their father and brother in the Punjab province of the country for contracting love marriage, police said on Wednesday. The incident took place in Vehari, some 350 km from Lahore on Tuesday. According to police the victims – Nishat, and Afshan who were in their early 20s – left their house last month and contracted court marriage with the men of their choice. A Panchayat meeting held at the request of the sisters’ father ordered the families of the grooms to hand over the married girls to their parents. “As the grooms’ families complied with the Panchayat’s order, both girls were handed over to their parents. On Tuesday, the girls’ father Saeed and brother Asim along with others shot the girls dead at their house after inflicting torture on them,” police said. (PTI)
