Islamabad: President Arif Alvi has Thursday approved the appointment of Barrister Shehzad Atta Elahi as the Attorney General of Pakistan.

The appointment has been made in accordance with Article 100 of the constitution and rules of business.

Karachi: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated K-3, the third unit of Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUP), which will produce 1,100 mega watt of electricity.

The project has been completed with assistance from China.

Addressing the occasion, the prime minister said K-3 was a step forward in cooperation with Pakistan’s trusted friend China.

He congratulated the scientists and workers of Pakistan and China which led to the completion of the project.

He said the staff of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission who contributed to the project would be invited to the Prime Minister’s Office for public recognition.

The prime minister said in view of $27 billion energy import bill, Pakistan required alternative and cheaper sources of energy including solar, wind, hydel and nuclear.

He said Pakistan was gifted with enormous resources with the potential of producing 60,000 mega watts through hydel power, however, regretted that the power generation stood merely at 10,000 megawatt.

He recalled that the project of KANUP was finalized during the tenure of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and expressed gratitude to the government of China for extending cooperation in this regard.

Shehbaz Sharif mentioned that the electricity projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor were greatly contributing to the country’s energy demands through the production of thousands of megawatts.

Director General International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi in a video message emphasized the importance of using safe use of nuclear energy as Pakistan faced challenges of climate change.

Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Raja Ali Raza Anwar said National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had declared KANUP as a high power producing facility with its 27.15 percent production.

Kerala: Indian journalist Siddique Kappan has been released from prison more than two years after his arrest while travelling to report on an alleged rape.

He was arrested in October 2020 in Uttar Pradesh state, where a young Dalit woman had died after she was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men.

The case had sparked protests in India.

Police accused Mr. Kappan of conspiring to create law and order trouble and incite violence, which he denied.

Three men who were in the car with him that day were accused of similar offences.

Mr. Kappan, who had two cases against him, was given bail in one by India's Supreme Court in September. The Allahabad high court granted him bail in the second case in December.

But it took more than a month after that for him to be released due to procedural delays.

On Thursday, after Mr. Kappan walked out of the prison in Lucknow city, he said he would continue to fight the charges against him.

"I will also continue to do journalism. I will not sit idle, After all, I am a journalist - where can I run?" he told BBC Hindi's Anant Zanane.

Mr. Kappan, who is from Kerala state, was working at Malayalam-language news portal Azhimukham when he was arrested on his way to Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh.

After his arrest, he accused the police of physically and mentally torturing him. His family also alleged that authorities did not give him access to his medicines for diabetes.

The police denied the allegations.

They have claimed that Mr. Kappan and his companions were members of the Popular Front of India (PFI), a Kerala-based radical Muslim group that was banned last year for alleged links with terror groups. The PFI, Mr. Kappan's lawyer and a Kerala-based journalist union he belonged to have denied this.

Mr. Kappan's lawyer told the BBC in 2021 that his client was initially charged with "minor bailable offences".

But two days later, the police added other charges including sedition and provisions under a stringent anti-terror law which critics say makes it almost impossible to get bail.

In February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes, filed another case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The central agency said that Mr. Kappan received money from PFI to "incite riots", a charge he denied.

SOURCE: BBC