Author: newsdesk

  • Four obstacles that could have blocked Gen Munir’s appointment as COAS

    Four obstacles that could have blocked Gen Munir’s appointment as COAS

    Pakistan’s new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir was given command of the armed forces on November 29 in a ceremony in Rawalpindi.

    In the weeks leading up to the announcement of the new COAS’ name, speculation had been rife as to who among the top 6 senior most Lieutenant Generals would get the coveted spot.

    Kamran Shahid, senior journalist and anchor, while speaking about Asim Munir’s selection on his talk show, “On the front with Kamran Shahid”, revealed that many hindrances dotted the path that eventually led to his selection.

    Imran Khan proposed extension for Bajwa:

    Shahid said on his show that to stop General Asim Munir from becoming the new army chief, “a proposal to extend the then army chief General Bajwa’s tenure was given.” The journalist further revealed that this proposed extension was suggested by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

    Martial law was an option:

    “I am telling this to you with a lot of responsibility that there were chances of a martial law being imposed in the country,” revealed Shahid. He further said that this idea was rejected in the Corp Commander’s meeting.

    Now-retired General thought of going to court to challenge his appointment

    The third obstacle to stop General Asim Munir from becoming the COAS was that a “now retired General” thought of going to court over the matter. The problem with this idea was that the Supreme Court can only listen to an aggrieved party. So keeping in view the law and order situation in the army, the now retired General thought of not pursuing the matter further.

    Govt was told to appoint Sahir Shamshad

    The federal government was told to appoint Lieutenant General (Lt-Gen) Sahir Shamshad Mirza, the now Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), as the new army chief. However, Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif was not in favour of the suggestion, hence General Asim Munir became the new army chief, Kamran Shahid said.

  • Video: Babar Azam reveals his favouite batter, Hint: It isn’t Kohli

    Video: Babar Azam reveals his favouite batter, Hint: It isn’t Kohli

    Pakistani Skipper Babar Azam has revealed his favourite batter in an interview with former English captain Nasser Hussain. To our surprise, it isn’t Virat Kohli, who Babar has praised many times.

    “To be honest, my role model is AB de Villiers. I love him, especially with the way he plays his shots. So, when I saw him batting on television, the very next day I tried to play similar shots in the nets and on the ground. I try my best to copy and play like AB de Villiers because he is my idol.”
    “My father supported me a lot,” he said, adding that when he was a child, his father used to take him to the cricket ground. “He played a crucial role in my learning the game. He monitored my performance,” said Babar.

    In the interview Babar also discussed Pakistan’s preparations ahead of their Test series with England.

  • Islamabad Police intensifies crackdown against vehicles with tinted windows

    Islamabad Police intensifies crackdown against vehicles with tinted windows

    Islamabad capital police stepped up their enforcement of the law against cars with tinted windows and black paper. In order to combat the vehicles, special squads have been formed.

    The Islamabad police believe that it is their moral obligation to promote road safety while upholding the law, hence they intend to implement a zero-tolerance policy.

    The Excise and Taxation Department and the Islamabad Transport Authority also fined 65 automobiles for having decorative or non-pattern licence plates, while 30 vehicles received fines for having tinted windows.

    Tinted glass and fancy license plates were on the administration’s radar, thus the action was carried out on the direction of Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Nawaz Memon.

    According to a release from ICT, the administration advised taking strict action against smoke-emitting cars and those operating without valid licenses. The Excise officers and traffic police physically checked automobiles at G-14, Srinagar Highway, and E&T Department, where 65 vehicles had their non-pattern and fancy number plates removed.

    The ICT administration declared that its campaign against tinted glasses and road safety measures was in full swing and added that commercial cars lacking fitness certificates would not be permitted on the roads at any cost since there must be no compromise on public safety.

  • Suicide attack by TTP on FC truck leaves two dead, 23 injured

    Suicide attack by TTP on FC truck leaves two dead, 23 injured

    An explosion in Quetta’s Baleli area on Tuesday left one policeman and one child dead. The explosion also left 23 people injured including 20 police men.

    Police said that a truck of Frontier Constabulary (FC) was targeted in the explosion. They said that the injured cops and civilians were rushed to a nearby hospital.

    Emergency responders and police rushed to the scene to provide rescue assistance. Police said, adding 16 Balochistan constabulary also suffered multiple injuries.

    Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed the attack. This is the third attack by the militant organisation since they announced an end to ceasefire on Monday.

  • ‘Sir budhe hone ka koi plan he apka ya inkar smjhain?’: Twitter reacts to Shehzad Roy’s latest picture

    ‘Sir budhe hone ka koi plan he apka ya inkar smjhain?’: Twitter reacts to Shehzad Roy’s latest picture

    Pakistani singer, social activist and discoverer of the fountain-of-youth, Shehzad Roy, posted his latest picture on Twitter, leaving fans going gaga over him.

    Minutes after the picture was posted on the social website, Twitterati questioned Roy if he would ever age.

    Here are few of the comments;

  • ‘Nazia Hassan must be turning in grave’: Adnan Siddiqui blasts Malaika’s ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ version

    ‘Nazia Hassan must be turning in grave’: Adnan Siddiqui blasts Malaika’s ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ version

    Bollywood is often criticised for remixing old classic songs now and ruining the original essence of cult songs. Now, Pakistan’s pop icon Nazia Hassan’s iconic track Aap Jaisa Koi has been revamped for Ayushmann Khurrana’s upcoming film, An Action Hero.

    The new version, sung by Zahrah S Khan and Altamash Faridi, was released on YouTube on Saturday. It also marks the comeback of the Chaiyya Chaiyya  diva Malaika Arora. Hassan’s vocals were initially picturised on Zeenat Aman, and late actors Feroz Khan and Vinod Khanna in the 1980 Bollywood film Qurbani. 

    Aap Jaisa Koi was a touchstone track in the disco movement back in the day.

    Actor Adnan Siddiqui tweeted his opinion on the remixed track on Twitter.

    He wrote, “Is there something in the air that the world has suddenly developed a penchant for ruining perfect classics? Even re-creation requires talent. Nazia Hassan must be turning in her grave. #AapJaisaKoi nahi..”

    The heavily auto-tuned newer remixed version has also been panned by netizens. Not only they termed it “unnecessary” but also “criminal” by social media users. Netizens took to Twitter to rant about how the Indian industry should stop “ruining classics” and focus on creating new music instead and how the originals remain “unmatched.” 

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    https://twitter.com/NuhaNjb/status/1596593712049508354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1596593712049508354%7Ctwgr%5Ea5934d3c660276b8b1c5da0f6699fd3a655115e8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1191220

    Earlier this year, Bollywood upset Pakistani fans after recreating Abrar ul Haq’s Nach Punjabun in the Varun Dhawan starrer, JuggJugg Jeeyo. In May this year, Haq had accused filmmaker Karan Johar and his Dharma Productions of stealing his music.

  • Husband slaughters wife and three daughters in Karachi before attempting suicide

    Husband slaughters wife and three daughters in Karachi before attempting suicide

    A resident of Karachi, identified as Fawad, killed his wife and three daughters in Shamsi Society in Malir before attempting suicide. He is now admitted in a hospital where his condition is said to be critical.

    Local police have said that they found the bloodied remains of a woman aged 38 and three girls, 16, 12, and 10 in the house.

    According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sajid Sadozai, the man first killed his daughters then his wife with a sharp-edged tool as a knife has been recovered from the scene. He also added the incident was the result of an internal dispute within the family.

    “The suspect, a sales manager at a spice-selling company by profession, tried to commit suicide after killing his wife and daughters,” the police official said.

    The SSP said the house was locked from the inside after the murders, “which indicates the suspect was behind the killings”.

    When the incident happened, Fawad’s brother, whose family lives just one floor below Fawad’s, was at work and the neighbours were also unaware of the incident.

  • Dissolution of assemblies: Khan to make important announcement next week

    Dissolution of assemblies: Khan to make important announcement next week

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan will make an important announcement regarding the dissolution of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies next week, Geo News has reported.

    Khan will address all PTI members of the assembly via a video link. Meetings for both KP and Punjab parliamentary parties have also been called.

    The KP Parliamentary Party meeting will be held on Friday while the Punjab Parliamentary Party meeting will be held on Saturday, in which Khan will take both parties into confidence to dissolve the assemblies

    The meeting also decided that the PTI would approach the National Assembly (NA) speaker and push him to accept the resignations of its legislators.

    On Saturday, Khan announced that PTI wouldn’t be part of “this system” and would quit all the assemblies. Following the announcement, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi showed support for Khan’s decision.

  • Rizwan gifted shoes to young player when he bowled him out

    Rizwan gifted shoes to young player when he bowled him out

    Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Muhammad Rizwan gifted his spiked shoes to a young player when he bowled him out during a practice session ahead of the Pakistan-England Test series.

    In a video —which has been trending on social media—the young man said that Rizwan told the younger players that whoever gets his wicket, will be given a gift.

    The man said that he got Rizwan’s wicket and was later gifted a pair of shoes by him.

    This is not the first time that Rizwan has been generous. Earlier, he gifted his jersey to an Indian doctor who cured him when his health deteriorated during T20 World Cup 2020.

    Last month, the wicketkeeper completed 2500 runs in T20Is and became only the third Pakistani after Muhammad Hafeez and Babar Azam to do so.

    Rizwan will be seen in action during Pakistan’s upcoming Test series against England in December. The first match of the series will be played in Rawalpindi.

  • PKR remains largely stable after Pakistan receives $500 million

    PKR remains largely stable after Pakistan receives $500 million

    Strangely, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) did not increase or decrease at the time of closing on Tuesday. The PKR’s closing rate was Rs223.95 and showed no change from its previous closing rate of Rs223.95.

    The local currency only declined by one paisa on Monday.

    After falling for four straight days, the rupee’s slide against the US dollar came to an end today. The market confidence was bolstered by the Finance Division’s earlier confirmation of receiving $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

    What do Pakistanis think of the current dollar exchange rate?

    Some Twitter users claim that the government is controlling exchange rates, which will harm the economy in the long run since exporters are reluctant to accept payments made through banking channels and question why they should sell dollars to banks for less when the open market price is more than Rs250.

    The daily dollar rate announcement from SBP, according to a Twitter user, has lost all relevance because “the rate is controlled and not determined by market forces. The hefty difference between the interbank rate and the open market rate proves the point.”