From 20 April to 8 May 2016, at least 33 people, including five children, died in District Layyah, Punjab, Pakistan after eating a purposely poisoned laddu, a baked confection. [1] Testing of the confectioneries revealed they were laced with the highly toxic insecticide chlorfenapyr. A sweet shop owner, Khalid Mahmood, confessed to mixing the pesticide into the sweets after an argument with his brother and co-owner. [2]
A pesticide shop, close by the bakery where the sweets were bought, was being renovated, and the owner had left his products at the bakery for safekeeping. [3] Mahmood may have used a small packet in the sweet mixture. [4]
A man bought 5 kg of laddu for the celebration of a newborn on 17 April. At least 50 people consumed the sweets and ten of them died the same day. [3] On 25 April, the death toll rose to 23 with 52 people still being treated at various hospitals. [4] On 1 May the death toll rose to 33 with 13 people in hospital. [3] [5] In one case, a baby lost his father, six uncles and one aunt.
Two shop owners and one worker were initially arrested. [3] Two weeks later the police announced that Mahmood had confessed.
The Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, stated that the incident would be thoroughly investigated, and ordered the police to find and take action against the responsible people. [6]
The Chief Minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif, visited Layyah on 2 May, and expressed his condolences and regrets for the loss of life. [6]
The Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML(N) or PML-N; Urdu: پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن)) is a centre-right, conservative liberal political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate and the largest in the National Assembly. The party was founded in 1993, when a number of prominent conservative politicians in the country joined hands after the dissolution of Islamic Democratic Alliance, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The party's platform is generally conservative, which involves supporting free markets, deregulation, lower taxes and private ownership. Although the party historically supported social conservatism, in recent years, the party's political ideology and platform has become more liberal on social and cultural issues; however, members have been accused of using Islamist populist rhetoric. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), it is one of the three major political parties of the country.
These are lists of poisonings, deliberate and accidental, in chronological order by the date of death of the victim(s). They include mass poisonings, confirmed attempted poisonings, suicides, fictional poisonings and people who are known or suspected to have killed multiple people.
Laddu or laddoo is a spherical sweet from the Indian subcontinent made of various ingredients and sugar syrup or jaggery. It has been described as "perhaps the most universal and ancient of Indian sweets."
Mithai (sweets) are the confectionery and desserts of the Indian subcontinent. Thousands of dedicated shops in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka sell nothing but sweets.
Layyah District, is a district in the Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the southern part of the province. The city of Layyah is the administrative headquarters of Layyah district. Layyah has a hot semi-arid climate.
Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi is a Pakistani politician who served as the 29th Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2011. He had been a member of the National Assembly from August 2018 till January 2023. He is the vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party since December 2011. Previously, he was a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to May 2018.
Maner also spelled Maner Sharif, is a Block and satellite town in Patna Metropolitan Region. It is part of the Patna district in the Indian state of Bihar. The ancient name of Maner was Maniyar Mathan which means musical city. Maner Sharif lies 24 km west of Patna, the capital of Bihar on NH-922. The town has tombs of Sufi saints Makhdoom Yahya Maneri and Makhdoom Shah Daulat, known as Bari Dargah and Chhoti Dargah.
Malka is a town and union council of Gujrat District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Kharian Tehsil and is located at 32°51'0N 73°59'0E with an altitude of 285 metres. Malka village is 8 km from Guliana on the main Manglia Road. This road goes to Manglia, Thoota Rai Bahadur, and passing along different villages connects to Azad Kashmir.
Gourmet Foods is Pakistani chain of food products headquartered in Lahore, Pakistan. It has seven processing units across the country and over 100 stores in Lahore.
NA-183 Taunsa is a constituency for the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Saraiki cuisine refers to the native cuisine of the Saraiki people in central Pakistan. It is one of the key part of the Pakistani and South Asian cuisines. The style of cooking is present in the Saraiki-speaking region of southern Punjab, as well as parts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Sindh and northeastern Balochistan. Saraiki food comprises many unique local dishes, and also shares influences with neighbouring regional cuisines. The metropolitan city of Multan is a hub of Saraiki cooking.
Colonel Shuja KhanzadaHS TBt was a Pakistani politician and Pakistan Army colonel, who served as the Home Minister of Punjab from 2014 until his assassination on 16 August 2015.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Pakistan.
On 27 March 2016, on Easter Sunday, at least 75 people were killed, and over 340 were injured, in a suicide bombing that hit the main entrance of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, Pakistan. The attack targeted Christians who were celebrating Easter. The majority of the victims were women and children. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack led to worldwide condemnation and national mourning throughout Pakistan. Pakistan also launched a widespread counter-terrorism operation in South Punjab, arresting more than 200 people who may have had a possible connection to the attack.
Mahar Ijaz Ahmad Achlana is a Pakistani politician who is a Member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, from October 2002 to May 2013 and from August 2018 to January 2023.
The 2020 Punjab alcohol poisoning was an incident in late July and early August 2020, where at least 100 people died after drinking illegally-made toxic alcohol in Punjab, India. Hundreds of raids were conducted in the three affected districts - Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran - along with several other places in and around the Rajpura and Shambhu border in Punjab. Forty people were arrested in relation to the incident. Seven excise officials, six policemen were also suspended over the incident.
The events listed below are both anticipated and scheduled for the year 2023 in Pakistan.
