Author: newsdesk

  • ‘I would like to marry a religious person’, Veena Malik reveals her plans for second marriage

    Veena Malik, in a recent interview with Samaa, revealed her plans for her second marriage. “If at all, I’ll marry again and I would like to marry a religious person because one who has a fear of God does not hurt others,” she said while answering a question about her marriage.

    She also said, “i would like to marry a guy who is good looking also with whom i can carry forward my relationship from this world to Jannat”.

    To which the anchor asked, “Veena, is there someone in your life?” to which she said, “No, right now there is no one, but InshAllah there must be somebody, somewhere.”

    The host further asked if she is looking for someone to which Veena jokingly said, “No he will come himself.”

    Veena Malik got married to Asad Khattak in December 2013, the two divorced in 2017, which they confirmed in 2018.

    Earlier this year, in September, the actor, in an interview with a news media publication, said, “Burqa is part of my life since i was 13 years old, and still whenever I go outside I wear burqa, not because someone has imposed it over me but because it’s my own choice, I feel very secure and safe.”

    Read more- ‘Afghanistan belongs to Taliban’: Veena Malik excited to visit Kandahar

  • Coke Studio announces all-star line-up for season 14

    Coke Studio announces all-star line-up for season 14

    Coke Studio has announced its line-up for their 14th season. Music composer Xulfi and his team of musicians are all set to be coming up with a new age melody.

    As per Express Tribune, there will be 12 songs this year with all different directors for each song.

    This time Xulfi is working with a few ‘associate producers’: Abdullah Siddiqui of ‘Resistance’ and Peshawar Zalmi anthem fame, and Zain Ali, who has an extensive catalogue ranging from ‘Red Blood Cat’ to ‘Epiphany Productions’ and touring with Atif Aslam, along with the ‘EDM’ artist Talal Qureshi. Xulfi himself is completely producing only a handful of songs.

    There will be rap, there will be qawwali, there will be EDM and no covers at all. Pakistani pop musician Hassan Raheem will be seen along with the music maestros Atif Aslam and Abida Parveen.

    Meesha Shafi gets another season but her brother Faris Shafi will be with her this time. It will be the first time that the two siblings will perform on a song together, most likely produced by budding artist Abdullah Siddiqui.

    Sajjad Ali and Bohemia were a part of the season initially but both will not be a part of the show, and neither are Shamoon Ismail and Natasha Noorani.

    Meanwhile, Coke Studio and Xulfi have made some drastic changes in the show’s overall approach that was usually more Sufi and devotion-driven.

    Artist line up

    Hasan Raheem

    Abida Parveen

    Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch (QB)

    Naseebo Lal

    Atif Aslam

    Momina Mustehsan

    Misha Shafi

    Faris Shafi

    Soch the band

    Butt brothers

    Karakoram

    Talha Yunus

    Faisal Kapadia

    Justin Bibis

  • It’s official: Katrina Kaif, Vicky Kaushal reveal wedding pictures, pen heartfelt romantic notes

    Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal have officially tied the knot on Thursday. The star couple got married in a traditional Indian wedding ceremony and took their seven pheras on Thursday afternoon.

    The couple’s wedding ceremony, which was a private affair, was held at Six Senses, Fort Barwara in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan.

    While no inside pictures or video have been shared with media outlets, paparazzi snapped some wedding guests inside Fort Barwara today, including groom’s father Sham Kaushal.

  • In Pictures: Priyantha Kumara buried in Sri Lanka with state honours

    In Pictures: Priyantha Kumara buried in Sri Lanka with state honours

    Sri Lankan manager, Priyantha Kumara, who was lynched and his body burnt by a mob in Sialkot on December 3, was buried in his native village in Sri Lanka on Wednesday with state honours.

    The Buddhist clergy performed his religious rituals before police led the procession along with Kumara’s family and friends. They carried a casket with his remains to the cemetery.

    Condolence banners and white flags that symbolise mourning were displayed along the roads.

    Buddhist Clerics are performing Religious Rituals
    The wife of Priyantha Kumara prays with children and family members during a funeral held in Srilanka

    Priyantha Kumara, a Sri Lankan national was working as a manager in a factory located in Sialkot since 2010. He allegedly tore posters off a wall in the factory, which had religious text written on it. After taking down the poster, hundreds of people gathered, dragged him outside, killed him, and then burnt his body on Friday.

    The victim’s brother, Arunasiri Wasantha Kumara Diyawadana, who is also working in Pakistan at a garment factory as a technical director, said that factories should have a secure environment.

    He added, “That was not happening in this particular case.”

    He requested both governments to find the root cause of the incident, whether it is a religious or industrial dispute and they have to find the solution accordingly.

    Family members of Srilankan manager Priyantha Kumara carrying his casket to a cemetery during his burial in Colombo, Sri Lanka
    The mother of Priyantha Kumara crying in front of his casket
    Gavith, a son of Priyantha Kumara, places his father portrait on casket during burial
    The wife of Priyantha Kumura cries in front of his casket

    Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that from now on, no one will be spared who resorts to violence in the name of religion.

    PM Khan made these comments during an event that was being held to honor Malik Adnan who tried to save Kumura.

    The police have arrested more than 100 people involved, and one of the main culprits, Farhan Idrees has been arrested. Farhan gave an interview to local news channels, taking pride in the murder he committed.

  • 293 journalists jailed, 24 killed in 2021: CPJ report

    Record number of journalists were jailed around the world in 2021 with China remaining the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row with 50 journalists behind the bars, states a report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

    Apart from China, 26 journalists are behind bars in Burma, 25 in Egypt, 23 in Vietnam and 19 in Belarus.

    Adding those jailed in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, the CPJ said a total of 293 journalists were in prison worldwide as of December 1.

    Forty of the 293 detained journalists – less than 14 per cent – are women.

    Executive director of the group Joel Simon said, “This is the sixth year in a row that CPJ has documented record numbers of journalists imprisoned around the world. It’s distressing to see many countries on the list year after year, but it is especially horrifying that Myanmar and Ethiopia have so brutally slammed the door on press freedom.”

    According to the report, 24 journalists are believed to be killed around the world this year. India has the highest number of journalists – four – confirmed to have been murdered in retaliation for their work. A fifth was killed while covering a protest. While, in the west, Mexico is at the top as three journalists were murdered for their reporting and the motives for six other killings are under investigation.

    The CPJ said the number of journalists behind bars reflects “increasing intolerance for independent reporting around the world”.

    Last month, Freedom Network reported that two dozen journalists in Pakistan had been prosecuted (2019-21) over the past under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

  • Remove ban on imported cars, petitioner moves Lahore High Court

    Remove ban on imported cars, petitioner moves Lahore High Court

    While hearing a case on prices of locally manufactured vehicles, the Lahore High Court (LHC) court has asked the government to level the prices of domestically assembled cars and also mitigate the ban on imported cars. The government had decided in principle to impose a temporary ban on the imported cars from Jan 2022 – June 2022 to help reduce the current account deficit .

    On Monday, the LHC was hearing a case in which looked for strategy concerning fixing cost of locally assembled cars. The plaintiff said that the demand for locally manufactured cars had increased drastically ever since the government had banned the import or vehicles.

    The plaintiff said that the government has failed in stabilising prices and the prices of cars are increasing daily. He pleaded to the court to make a decision regarding the fixing of prices of the vehicles and relaxing the ban.

    The LHC has been pleaded to pass judgment regarding the fixing of the domestically manufactured vehicles and the ban on the import of vehicles should also be relaxed.

  • Rohit Sharma replaces Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain, to take over from South Africa series

    Rohit Sharma replaces Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain, to take over from South Africa series

    The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named Rohit Sharma as the new ODI captain of the Indian cricket team. He will take over from his predecessor Virat Kohli starting the three-ODI series against South Africa in January 2022.

    Read More – Video: Ravi Shastri saying goodbye to Indian cricketers, Kohli goes viral

    BCCI tweeted: “The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward.”

    The announcement comes on the day the Indian board announced India’s squad for the three Test series starting December 26. Several floating reports in the media suggested that the change in guard was inevitable, before the board decided to end the suspense with a tweet. With it, Kohli’s near five-year-long limited-overs captaincy tenure has come to an end.

    Rohit, who took over as India’s T20I skipper after the T20 World Cup, led in the recently-concluded three T20I series against New Zealand, which the home team comfortably won 3-0. With Kohli already stepping down as India’s T20I captain, it was only a matter of time before Rohit took over as the team’s limited-overs captain. He was also promoted as India’s vice-captain in Tests, the deputy to Kohli, taking over from an out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane.

    Rohit has led India in 10 ODIs, out of which the team won eight. The biggest achievement of Rohit’s ODI captaincy came in 2018, when in Kohli’s absence, India won the Asia Cup in the UAE, beating Bangladesh in the final. The team won all its league matches, barring a thrilling tie against Afghanistan.

  • ‘Govt is going to ensure Pakistani citizens are safe without blood being spilt on either side’: Moeed Yusuf on BBC HARDtalk

    ‘Govt is going to ensure Pakistani citizens are safe without blood being spilt on either side’: Moeed Yusuf on BBC HARDtalk

    National Security Adviser (NSA) to the Prime Minister, Dr Moeed Yusuf, while giving an interview to BBC host Stephen John Sackur on BBC HARDtalk said that the state’s job is not to kill another Pakistani.

    “We are going to try our level best to ensure that Pakistani citizens are safe without any more blood being spilt on either side.” The NSA’s comments come in reference to the Pakistan government’s talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

    “How secure is Pakistan after the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan?”: Sackur

    Sackur questioned Yusuf on how secure Pakistan is after the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan.

    “Frankly it depends on how responsibly the international community plays the future. Pakistan was not behind anything. There was a policy employed by the United States (US) and others who are in Afghanistan. That was always a failing policy. The only country that kept saying that you will not find a military solution to this problem was Pakistan and our advice was not heeded.”

    “We kept saying negotiate from a position of strength, we weren’t listened to, we were blamed and scape-goated and the result is in front of you,” added Yusuf.

    “We heard the worried voices of the Supreme Court when they were grilling PM Khan,” Sackur

    “Pakistanis are very worried. We heard the worried voices of the Supreme Court when they were grilling PM Khan on what was going on under these negotiations with the Taliban,” responded Sackur and further added that during the grilling of the premier, one of the judges alluded to the 2014 terrible atrocity where the TTP attacked the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar and killed more than 130 children and questioned PM Khan whether the government was about to sign a documented defeat with those who killed these children, and are we going to surrender once again.

    “You should recognise the state of democracy in this country that the judge calls in the prime minister who goes gets grilled and now Stephen Sackur has the opportunity to ask me. That’s the state of democracy and I am proud of that,” responded Yusuf.

    “We have a consistent policy as a state to say that negotiation must happen from a position of strength and this is what we told the Americans and United Kingdom (UK).”

    “No military bases of China in Balochistan”: Yusuf

    Yusuf said there were no military bases of China in Balochistan, rather there were economic bases there where any country could invest.

    “Let me clarify that there are no military bases offered to China in Balochistan, including Gwadar. Yes, there are economic bases and the same was also offered to the United States, Russia, and the Middle East and we are open to all the countries,” the NSA said, adding, “CPEC is what, it is road infrastructure and energy infrastructure and anybody can come and invest there, we are not closed to anybody.”

    “Is Pakistan developing relations with China at the cost of its principles of supporting the rights of Muslims in the world?” Sackur

    Sackur asked whether Pakistan was developing relations with China at the cost of its principles of supporting the rights of Muslims in the world. “You raise your voice for Kashmiri Muslims but refuse to condemn the violation of human rights in a Chinese province,” the interviewer asked.

    Moeed said that Pakistan did not accept the Western version of human rights violations in Xinjiang province and if they have any concerns, they should talk to China. “We have relations of trust with China and our ambassador and other delegations from here also visited the Xinjiang province,” he said.

  • Police and judiciary most corrupt institutions in Pakistan, reveals National Corruption Perception Survey 2021

    Police and judiciary most corrupt institutions in Pakistan, reveals National Corruption Perception Survey 2021

    The National Corruption Perception Survey 2021 conducted by Transparency International (TI) Pakistan finds the police and judiciary are the most corrupt institutions in the country, reports Ansar Abbasi for The News.

    The police department has been ranked at number one with 41.4 per cent votes while the judiciary comes at number two with17.4 per cent votes. According to the Judicial Statistics of Pakistan 2020 report by the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee, there are 46,698 cases pending in the Supreme Court and 1,772,990 cases pending in the District Judiciary.

    In 2021, TI Pakistan conducted the NCPS 2021 in all four provinces. The survey was conducted from October 14, 2021, to October 27, 2021. It reflects the perception of the general public on governance issues. 

    According to the survey, the three most important causes of corruption are weak accountability (51.9 per cent), the greed of powerful people (29.3 per cent) and low salaries (18.8 per cent).

    40.1 per cent of Pakistanis say an increase in/stringent punishments is a way to reduce corruption while 34.6 per cent Pakistanis say accountability of public officers by expediting NAB’s handling of corruption cases, and 25.3 per cent say a complete ban on those convicted of corruption from holding public office are key to combat corruption in Pakistan.

    Moreover, the vast majority of people think the federal government’s self-accountability is unsatisfactory.

    In the report, a total of 89.1 per cent of Pakistanis claim that they did not pay any bribe to any government official during the federal government’s Covid-19 relief efforts for deserving citizens.

  • ‘I fear for my life,’ animal rights activist requests President, PPP chairman for help

    ‘I fear for my life,’ animal rights activist requests President, PPP chairman for help

    Animal rights activist and film-maker Mahera Omar, who had recently raised awareness about the situation of four elephants at the Karachi Zoological Gardens and Safari Park, has allegedly received threats due to her activism. She has sought protection from the police.

    “So, some goons showed up at my neighbourhood the other day asking for ‘the madam who has been going to the zoo’. This was bound to happen. Months after we filed a petition in Sindh High Court for an independent medical assessment of the Karachi elephants, my life is
    in danger,” the activist wrote in a tweet from the handle of Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

    She is the co-founder of the animal rights organisation, which a few months ago had filed a petition in Sindh High Court to draw the attention towards the plight of elephants at Karachi Zoo.

    In another tweet, Mahera Omar wrote: “The goons presumably saw me at the zoo with the Four paws veterinary team and now I’m their target. I fear for my family, and for my own life.”

    She continued by adding, ” I request President Arif Alvi my local elected member of the National Assembly, and Bilawal Bhutto Zardar ito look into the matter.”

    Speaking to Dawn, Mahera said, “I am living in fear…it was very difficult to help animals. And if anyone tries to draw attention towards the plight of animals, she/he has to face consequences.” She added that the security in her area has been increased.