Author: newsdesk

  • ATC grants bail to Ali Wazir in fourth sedition case

    ATC grants bail to Ali Wazir in fourth sedition case

    Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and MNA Ali Wazir has been granted post-arrest bail by Karachi’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in the fourth sedition case registered against him.

    Wazir has been behind bars since December 31, 2020, for allegedly delivering provocative speeches inciting hate against the state institutions.

    The ATC judge announced the verdict on Wazir’s bail plea after hearing arguments from the defence and prosecution. He directed the applicant to submit a surety of Rs100,000 to secure his release.

    Cases have been registered against Wazir under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object), 500 (punishment for defamation), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief), and other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with the Section 7 (Punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

    In November 2021, the Supreme Court granted bail to Wazir in one case lodged against him, along with Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen and other leaders, for delivering incendiary speeches at a rally within the jurisdiction of Sohrab Goth police station.

    Later, the Sindh High Court in May granted him bail in a second identical case lodged at Sohrab Goth police station.

    However, Karachi police had then booked him in a third case lodged at the Shah Latif Town police station against the PTM leaders over alleged hate speech against state institutions.

  • ‘Terror case against me is a joke’: Imran Khan

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday appeared before Islamabad Police’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for questioning in connection with a terrorism case registered against him.

    Earlier this week, the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) had extended the ex-premier’s bail till September 20 and instructed him to become a part of the investigation.

    “I was quiet because of the economic conditions of the country; there was flooding[…] so we decided to protest peacefully,” the PTI chief stated while talking to the media, warning that if he gave the call “The government won’t able to tolerate it”.

    “You will not be able to bear the day I give a call, because people are already cursing you […] you go out and public curses you […] PPP in Sindh is hiding,” he said while addressing the government.

    “This is an imported government, robbers have been imposed on us through a conspiracy,” he said, adding that “free and fair” elections were the only way forward for the country.

    “This is a joke in front of the entire world. Why? Because everyone knows me, there have been headlines across the world that an FIR (first information report) has been registered against Imran Khan on terrorism charges,” he stated while talking about the allegations he faces.

    The world knows the definition of terrorism charges, he pointed out. “If you are slapping terrorism charges on me for saying that we will take legal action against the custodial torture [of incarcerated PTI leader Shahbaz Gill], then the entire world is laughing at you.”

    “They are trying to crush my party,” Khan said and warned that the government could not withstand his protest call.

    He maintained that his party may hold negotiations with the government but only on the topic of free and fair elections.

    He lashed out at the coalition government over its alleged failure in controlling the economic crisis and said, “Pakistan is following in the footprints of Sri Lanka.”

    He maintained that free and fair elections are the only solution to the economic crisis. He also criticised the government for doing politics amid floods and harassing his party’s donors.

  • Missing person returns home after court warning

    Missing person returns home after court warning

    Haseeb Hamza, who had reportedly gone “missing” in August has been produced before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by the police, a day after the court issued a strict warning to the police and intelligence agencies to locate him by Wednesday.

    His father, Zulfikar Ali, told the court that his son phoned him in the morning to inform him that he was near the Shifa International Hospital in the capital.

    During the hearing today (Wednesday), IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Justice Minallah asked Haseeb where he had been, to which he replied that he was blindfolded at the time he was taken and had no knowledge of where he was.

    Haseeb’s father had filed a petition in IHC, which stated that on the night between August 22 and August 23, around 20 people — 15 of them in black uniforms — entered his house without a warrant and whisked away his son along with a laptop computer, five mobile phones and some documents.

    After Hamza’s return, Justice Minallah ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to conduct an investigation into the kidnapping case and to submit a report to the registrar of the high court by September 22.

    ’Produce missing person by tomorrow, else intelligence services must appear at court’, Court directs police

    A day earlier, Justice Minallah gave strict orders to find Hamze by 10am tomorrow (Wednesday).

    The court also added that if the person is not produced by tomorrow, sector commanders of Military Intelligence (MI), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Special Branch and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) must appear before the court.

    His father Zulfikar Ali filed a petition in which he said his son was picked up from their home on August 22. According to him, he filed a First Information Report (FIR) at the time but all in vain.

    Zulfikar had said that his son was a labourer who worked in Layyah in Punjab.

    The IGP duly appeared before the court and confirmed that FIR had been lodged.

    Moreover, the petition said that the police say that Haseeb is with the intelligence agencies.

    Justice Minallah said that under an earlier court verdict IGP and other concerned officials should be held responsible for the disappearance of a citizen.

    Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif appeared before IHC and assured the court that all-out efforts will be made to recover missing persons.

    “I cannot say that all of the missing persons will be recovered, but we will leave no stone unturned”, he had promised.

  • Imran se barra kaptaan nikla Shehbaz: Cabinet with 70 members

    Imran se barra kaptaan nikla Shehbaz: Cabinet with 70 members

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif this week appointed eight more special assistants for himself.

    With the eight new special assistants to the prime minister (SAPM), the cabinet now consists of 34 federal ministers, including one without a portfolio, seven ministers of state, four advisers to the PM and 25 SAPMs.

    According to the notification, the Premier was “pleased” to appoint MNA Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Babar, MNA Maahr Irshad Ahmad Khan, MNA Raza Rabani Khar, MNA Mahesh Kumar Malani, Faisal Karim Kundi, Sardar Saleem Haider, Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi and Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha on the post of SAPM.

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan had a 52-member federal cabinet, including 25 federal ministers, four ministers of state, four advisers and 19 SAPMs.

    PTI’s Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry criticized PM Shehbaz for adding eight more members to his cabinet.

    “People are drowning in the quagmire of inflation and the imported government is increasing the army of cabinet members. Eight new non-important members have been added unnecessarily to the cabinet and this is an expression of the priorities of the Shehbaz Sharif government,” said Fawad while talking to The Nation.

    Chaudhry claimed that the back of the country’s economy had been broken and the middle class was shedding tears on monthly expenses while, at the same time, the “imported government” was playing the flute, like Nero.

    “It is a necessary evil in parliamentary systems, especially, when governments are based on a coalition,” said the president of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, while talking to The Express Tribune.

  • Deep condolences: US assures Pakistan of support

    Deep condolences: US assures Pakistan of support

    United States (US) State Department spokesperson Ned Price has extended his condolences to Pakistan and affirmed his country’s support for flood victims.

    In a briefing, Price said: “We are deeply saddened by the devastation and the loss of life throughout Pakistan that these historic floods have caused. We stand with the people of Pakistan at this difficult time.”

    He revealed that the US has provided more than $53 million in assistance to Pakistan and stated that more assistance will be provided.

    Giving details, the spokesperson said, “As of September 12th, earlier this week, a total of nine US Central Command flights delivered more than half of 630 metric tons of relief supplies from USAID’s Dubai warehouse for the response to the massive floods. In total, CENTCOM will airlift more than 41,000 kitchen sets, 1,500 rolls of plastic sheeting, tens of thousands of plastic tarps, and 8,700 shelter fixing kits – all in support of USAID’s flood relief.”

    Ned Price said that Pakistan’s F-16 program, is an important part of the broader US-Pakistan bilateral relationship, and this proposed sale will sustain Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats by maintaining the F-16 fleet.

    “This is a fleet that allows Pakistan to support counterterrorism operations, and we expect Pakistan will take sustained action against all terrorist groups,” he added.

    Last week, United Nations (UN) Chief Antonio Guterres visited flood-affected areas of Pakistan.

    He urged the international community to support disaster-hit Pakistan as the country needed substantial financial help to overcome post-flood crises.

    The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Commi­t­tee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that that the number of acutely hungry people in Pakistan is expected to rise substantially.

    Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in northern areas of the country have triggered unprecedented floods, sweeping away infrastructure and killing 1,481 people as yet.

  • Nursing Home apologises for hiring strippers to entertain senior citizens

    Nursing Home apologises for hiring strippers to entertain senior citizens

    A nursing home in Taiwan has issued an apology for hiring strippers to entertain senior citizens.

    The Taoyuan Veterans Home, a state-run facility for retired army veterans, hired a stripper to perform for a group of retired seniors in commemoration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is an important occasion in Chinese culture. The Moon Festival, which took place this year on September 10, is also known as the Mooncake Festival.

    After a video from the event was widely shared on social media, the facility came under intense criticism. The video shows the scantily-clad dancer performing for a crowd of about a dozen men in wheelchairs. The men can be seen laughing, clapping, and enjoying the performance.

    “The intention of the event was to entertain residents and make them happy. We are very sorry for the offence that was caused,” the senior care facility said in a statement after receiving backlash.

    The nursing home said that it will be careful in the future while organising events for its geriatric patients.

  • ‘Babar hits a cover drive, calculate kinetic energy,’ now a part of Physics syllabus

    ‘Babar hits a cover drive, calculate kinetic energy,’ now a part of Physics syllabus

    Cricket commentators and fans agree that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam’s cover drives are poetry in motion. Often termed as treat for sore eyes, the graceful shot has thrilled cricket aficionados since Azam made his debut. Now, his absolute best shot have got more recognition and are taught to students in Physics book.

    According to ESPN Cricinfo, “cover drive in cricket is the act of stroking the ball through the covers with well-timed wristwork and conventional movement of the front foot toward the pitch of a delivery aimed at or outside the off stump.”

    A tweet by Shiraz Hassan has been circulating on the internet. It points out that Federal Board has added a question regarding captain’s shot in a Physics book.

    Shiraz wrote, “Babar Azam’s cover drive related question in 9th grade physics syllabus (federal board) (via Reddit).”

    The question says:

    Babar Azam has hit a cover drive by given kinetic energy of 150 J to the ball by his bat. 

    a) At what speed will the ball go the boundary if the mass of the ball is 120g? 

    b) How much kinetic energy footballer must impart to a football of mass 450g to make it move at this speed?

    Twitteratis are now reacting to this tweet

    https://twitter.com/BozoHeadrock/status/1569712527159828481
  • IT sector’s GDP contribution will increase from 2.7% to 13% by 2025: MoITT

    IT sector’s GDP contribution will increase from 2.7% to 13% by 2025: MoITT

    According to estimates from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), the GDP share of the digital and information technology (IT) sectors would rise to 13 per cent by 2025 as a result of the rapid growth of the digital economy over the next five years.

    MoITT’s offical documents reveal that the size of the digital economy will significantly increase over the next five years as Pakistan’s adoption of digital technology expands. In the upcoming years, the GDP’s share of the digital economy will increase, according to Brecorder.

    While the GDP contribution of the digital and IT sectors will rise from 2.7 per cent to 13 per cent, the GDP contribution of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) core industry will rise from 1.2 per cent to 8.15 per cent.

    According to the data that is currently available, Pakistan’s digital economy is measured in two ways, i.e. The key industries of ICT, digital technology, and IT. The ICT core industry’s share of the global GDP in 2019 was 1.2 per cent. The IT and telecom industry in Pakistan makes about 2.7 per cent of the country’s GDP.

    Modern ICTs have the ability to accelerate social and economic growth, and this promise will be further realised with the maturation of four enabling technologies: IoT, cloud computing, big data analytics, and AI.

    The cornerstone for nations to build a digital economy and improve their overall economic competitiveness and well-being is ICT infrastructure and services. They can support sustainable cities and communities by lowering poverty and hunger, improving health, generating new jobs, reducing climate change, and enhancing energy efficiency.

    In low- and middle-income nations, mobile remains the main method by which many users access the internet (LMICs). The Information Technology University (ITU) estimates that 87 per cent of broadband connections in developing nations occurred through mobile devices in 2019. Mobile networks and devices are propelling economic growth by connecting consumers and businesses and delivering public and commercial e-services across a range of industries.

    According to the report, Pakistan’s mobile ecosystem is becoming more and more crucial to the country’s economic development due to its direct impact on GDP and the productivity and efficiency benefits it fosters in a variety of economic sectors.

    The majority of nations currently use 4G as the cornerstone of mobile broadband, and this number is continually increasing. The switch from 4G to 5G is happening at the same time all across the world.

    In 2019, 4G connections made up more than 50 per cent of all mobile connections worldwide for the first time, according to the most recent GSMA research. In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), 4G covered 82 per cent of the population compared to 90 per cent for 3G. Compared to 10 years for 3G, LMICs took about seven years to reach more than 80 per cent coverage for 4G.

  • Kanwal Aftab, Zulqarnain Sikandar host colourful baby shower ceremony post robbery incident

    Kanwal Aftab, Zulqarnain Sikandar host colourful baby shower ceremony post robbery incident

    TikToker-couple Kanwal Aftab and Zulqarnain Sikandar are grabbing headlines for multiple reasons, be it their very recent baby shower or an unfortunate robbery at their house earlier this month.

    The duo went out to do flood relief work for two days in Sindh and came back home to find their house broken into, and everything from cash to jewelry stolen. Revealing the news through their YouTube channel, they said that everything got stolen, primarily jewelry and cash from their house. Even watchmen were unaware of the theft, they added.

    In the vlog, they shared that the police investigation was underway.

    Earlier, the couple collected money, made packages and dispatched them to flood-affected areas, not only this, the couple also visited the flood-stricken areas to meet and help the victims there.

    Post the robbery tragedy, the couple had their stellar baby shower ceremony in Lahore.

    Photo: Instagram/ Mrs @ch.zulqarnain25
    Kanwal Aftab's baby shower pictures goes viral

    On this auspicious occasion, the couple held a baby shower ceremony (godh bharai) and shared the event’s photos and videos on social media. The clip and photos went viral soon after they uploaded it.

    The couple had their wedding ceremony in January this year. The pictures and videos of the couple from their special day went viral on social media.

    The bride looked elegant in an Ali Xeeshan ensemble.

    Have a look at the pictures:

    Have a look at the pictures from their Mayun, Mehndi and Milad also:

  • Zhalay Sarhadi strongly reacts to a troll referring to her as ‘nude’

    Zhalay Sarhadi strongly reacts to a troll referring to her as ‘nude’

    Actor Zhalay Sarhadi has expressed her dismay on a netizen’s crass comment under her latest picture on Instagram. The social media user commented, “Height me lambi ho ap or andar se nangi be ho (you are tall in height and internally nude)”.

    The Carma star was quick to clap back at the netizen’s vulgar comment. Zhalay gave him a shut up call and even schooled him on his mentality.

    Recently the Uraan star responded to a fan’s comparison of her with Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra. The Digest Writer diva indulged in a ‘Question and Answer’ session on her official Instagram handle.

    Last year also, a netizen quipped her about the similarity with the Baywatch actor.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 69bac483-6e39-4b96-a887-63af54b48b52-984x1024.jpg

    Pyar Ke Sadqay fame actor Omair Rana intervened to make a correctionon fan’s question.