Author: newsdesk

  • ’PPP not discussed in PDM’: Maulana Fazl

    ’PPP not discussed in PDM’: Maulana Fazl

    Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman on Saturday said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) were not discussed in the forum, as they are not part of the alliance.

    “They [PPP] can still contact the PDM leadership and apprise them about their intentions. But it is not something that we will waste time over anymore during PDM meetings,” said Maulana Fazl.

    Earlier on Friday, Shehbaz Sharif said that no party has the right to bring or kick another party out of the alliance. “PDM is a forum and decisions are taken with consensus.”

    PDM also rejected the government’s “one-sided” electoral reforms, which include the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), and announced a fresh wave of anti-government protests.

    “PDM rejects the government’s unilateral electoral reforms ordinance, including the voting machines, and terms it as pre-poll rigging,” said Fazl.

    In this regard, the Election Commission of Pakistan, which is responsible for holding transparent elections, should call a meeting of all political parties to take a unanimous decision on reforms, Fazl added.

    The Opposition alliance announced a future course of action. On July 4, a massive anti-government protest will be held, followed by another one in Karachi on July 29.

    On the occasion of August 14, a massive protest will be held in Islamabad, with PDM showing solidarity with Kashmiris and Palestinians.

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will host a budget seminar soon to form a unified strategy during the budget session, while the task to hold the event has been given to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.

    The PDM chief said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif attended the meeting via video, while other Opposition party leaders were present in person.

  • Susan Sarandon lauds Bella Hadid’s efforts for Palestine, condemns Israel’s apartheid

    Susan Sarandon lauds Bella Hadid’s efforts for Palestine, condemns Israel’s apartheid

    American actress, activist, and producer Susan Sarandon has lauded Bella Hadid for her efforts for the Palestinians and condemned Israel’s apartheid in Palestine.

    “I stand with the Palestinian people fighting against the apartheid government of Netanyahu and pray for the Israeli people that they too, will enjoy peace,” said Susan while writting on Twitter.

    She also commended Bella’s efforts, saying: “I also support Bella Hadid for having the bravery to stand in solidarity with her people,” adding, “that can be lonely.”

    Replying to Susan, the American supermodel said: “Susan I’ve always looked up to you and your advocacy for the world. You give me the strength to keep speaking up for the things that matter to me… human rights for everyone worldwide. You give me the strength to stay strong in my power, to keep moving forward with kindness, respect, integrity, and love… no matter what!”

    “Thank you for your support, Susan. You are the legend above all legends. I am lucky to hear these words from you, and I know Palestine is grateful for your support as well. We will always stand tall for the voices of the oppressed and of the silenced, Thank you, I love you dearly,” wrote Bella.

    Earlier, Hadid had joined a protest in New York in solidarity with Palestinian people against Israeli violence in Palestine.

    Despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israel ruthlessly attacked worshipers at Al-Aqsa the next day during Friday prayers on May 21.

  • Rahim Pardesi’s wife ‘almost died’ due to doctor’s negligence

    Rahim Pardesi’s wife ‘almost died’ due to doctor’s negligence

    YouTuber and content creator Rahim Pardesi recently shared that his wife almost died due to a doctor’s negligence at a private hospital. Pardesi said that he made the video to highlight how doctors and big hospitals mistreat patients.

    In a video titled ‘My wife almost died,’ Pardesi and his wife Somia detailed their painful experience of childbirth and how Somia almost died due to doctors negligence.

    The couple revealed that the doctor first kept insisting on Somia to have a Cesarean delivery. When the child was delivered naturally via normal delivery, the doctors left five sponges inside her body.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k51kJhaSkE4

    The incident has sparked a debate on social media on negligence by doctors in Pakistan.

    Read More – Female YouTuber who was receiving threats thanks police for support

    Commenting on Pardesi’s video, one social media user commented that “his niece lost her brain” due to the negligence of the same doctor.

    “I am a doc and I don’t understand why some doctors in Pakistan think they are holy cows and they are not accountable to anyone (sic)”, wrote another user.

    On the other hand, some people thought that Pardesi’s video was a character and professional assassination of the doctor.

    “I can understand the discomfort or feelings but it’s clearly a character and professional assassination of a professional,” wrote a social media user.

    Pardesi, who moved to Pakistan from Scotland, a few years back is a well-known comedian, YouTuber and content creator who is famous for his funny videos. He is best known for his character Nasreen.

  • Ex-Southwest pilot confesses to exposing himself, watching porn in cockpit

    A retired Southwest Airlines pilot was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to exposing his genitals to a female first officer and watching pornography on a laptop during a flight from Philadelphia to Florida last year, Associated Press News has reported.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation and a $5,000 fine.

    “This is not the kind of aberrant behaviour that anyone should accept,” the prosecutor said.

    “She had a right not to be subjected to this kind of behaviour, regardless of what may have motivated it or prompted it,” he added.

    Read More: Airline flies passengers to wrong destination

    “It started as a consensual prank between me and the other pilot. I never imagined it would turn into this in a thousand years,” Haak said during a remote hearing.

    A Southwest spokesperson told abc news that Haak left the airline before the company was made aware of the incident.

  • ‘No party has the right to kick another party out of PDM’: Shehbaz Sharif

    ‘No party has the right to kick another party out of PDM’: Shehbaz Sharif

    “No party has the right to bring or kick another party out [of the alliance]. Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is a forum and decisions are taken with consensus,” said President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif on Friday.

    Shehbaz further added that we had invited ‘parliamentary leaders’ to the dinner, which had nothing to do with the PDM

    “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has already clarified this matter. I, being the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, have a duty to fulfil. We had gathered to discuss the upcoming budget, the ill-performance, and massive failures of the sitting government,” added Shehbaz.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, took to Twitter to comment on Shehbaz Sharif’s stance. “Shehbaz Sharif should first focus on uniting the PML-N instead of uniting the opposition. The boat is in a whirlpool.”

    Chaudhry further added that the government was ready to sit with the Opposition to discuss election reforms.

    The PML-N will host an important meeting of the PDM in Islamabad today. The meeting will take place at the PML-N secretariat. The meeting will be held under the chairmanship of the Leader of Jamat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and acting president of PDM Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

    Matters relating to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) will be contemplated upon. Opposition leaders will decide if both parties can be taken back again in the alliance or not.

    The PDM leaders will discuss the political situation in the country and the future strategy of the anti-government alliance.

    Just a day ago, Shehbaz in a TV show hinted at his plan to convince his elder brother and the PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on these issues in the larger national interest.

  • Imran Abbas wants click baiters to stop obsessing over his marriage

    Imran Abbas wants click baiters to stop obsessing over his marriage

    Imran Abbas has had enough of people (read: YouTubers, clickbaiters) getting him married to his co-stars.

    “After Alizeh Shah, Saboor, Ushna [and] now Urwa. My fourth marriage since January 2021,” wrote an exasperated Abbas on social media.

    “Yaar in bloggers ko koi aur kaam nahi hai? Ya ye samajhtay hain ke mujhe koi aur kaam nahi hai,” questioned Abbas while sharing a collage of himself with the aforementioned actresses in bridal shoots.

    The Khuda Aur Mohabbat actor further said: “Can we take action against these bloggers/clickbaiters? It’s very shameful to associate any female’s name with her co-actor/friend or vice versa.”

    “I would request all of you to atleast unsubscribe these YouTube channels, bloggers or social media pages to let them have their own medicine,” added Imran.

    Sharing Abbas’s post in her Instagram stories, Ushna Shah said: “Sometimes we laugh it off, sometimes it isn’t so funny. These clickbait headlines travel in WhatsApp groups to our families and it’s pretty embarrassing.”

    “Can you guys stop already?” questioned Shah.

    Earlier, fake news of Abbas’s marriage with Ushna had emerged on social media and both the actors took it lightly and responded to it humourously.

    Shah had tagged Imran on the screenshot, writing: “Mubarak ho Imran Abbas [Congratulations to you Imran Abbas].”

    In response to Shah’s story, Imran had said: “Ushna! And we even forgot to inform each other in haste.”

    At the same time, he had slammed YouTubers, saying: “YouTubers!! At least do photoshop properly.”

  • ‘Sufi, science and tech research centres being set up on Bushra Bibi’s special interest’

    ‘Sufi, science and tech research centres being set up on Bushra Bibi’s special interest’

    Sufism and science and technology research centres will be set up in Punjab due to the special interest of the First Lady, Bushra Bibi, The News has reported.

    Sheikh Abul Hassan Shazli Centre will be opened in Lahore in the first phase. Research on Islam, Sufism, religious thought, interfaith harmony, and modern sciences besides science and technology, would be carried out in Sheikh Abul Hassan Shazli Centre.

    Sheikh Abul Hassan Shazli Centre would serve the disadvantaged segment of society.

    The centre would also be linked with the shelter homes, child protection bureaus, prisons, particularly women and juvenile jails, schools, colleges, universities, public, private, and religious educational institutions. Sheikh Abul Hassan Shazli Centre will also be linked with international libraries.

    Bachelor, M.Phil and PhD programs in Islamic philosophy and Sufism will also be launched in the Centre.

    The Research Centre will be inaugurated in Lahore today.

    In March, Bushra Bibi made a rare public appearance and visited a Panah Gah (shelter home) in Lahore to inspect the facilities given to the people residing there.

  • Bride dies during her wedding ceremony, sister marries groom

    Bride dies during her wedding ceremony, sister marries groom

    A young bride fell ill, fainted and died during her wedding ceremony forcing the families to solemnize the marriage between the groom and a sister of the bride.

    As per reports, the incident happened earlier this week in Samaspur, India.

    After exchanging garlands and other wedding rituals, the couple was preparing for the final ceremony of ‘pheras’ when Surabhi suddenly fell unconscious beside her groom, Manjesh Kumar.

    The family instantly called a doctor who declared her dead telling them she suffered a severe  cardiac arrest.

    Read More – Bride marries wedding guest after groom-to-be ‘disappears’

    The wedding celebrations immediately turned into mourning.

    Surabhi’s brother Saurabh said: “We did not know what to do in the situation. Both the families sat together and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom. The families discussed the matter and both agreed.”

    Surabhi’s body was kept in another room and the marriage of Manjesh and Nisha was then celebrated. After the wedding, when the guests left with the bride, Surabhi’s last rites were held,” he said.

    Surabhi’s uncle Ajab Singh, said, “It was a tough call for our family. One daughter lay dead in one room and another daughter’s wedding was being solemnized in the other room.”

    “We have never witnessed such mixed emotions. The grief over her death and the happiness of the wedding have yet to sink in,” he added.

  • ‘No one can dare undermine me,’ Fawad Chaudhry burns BBC HARDTalk

    ‘No one can dare undermine me,’ Fawad Chaudhry burns BBC HARDTalk

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry talked on the protection of journalists, the involvement of the establishment within the state, the economy of Pakistan, missing persons, popularity of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Covid stituation and many other issues in an interview given to BBC host Stephen John Sackur on BBC HARDtalk.

    Journalists Protection

    The host opened the interview by asking what is the government and Fawad Chaudhry being the Information Minister doing to protect the journalists of the country. Sackur mentioned the recent attack on journalist Asad Ali Toor, who was severely beaten up by unidentified assailants in his apartment. Sackur further mentioned how a senior journalist and former Chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (Pemra), Absar Alam, was shot in Islamabad. To which Fawad Chaudhry replied, “Individual incidents do happen. The situation is not only dangerous for journalists but it has been for all the citizens of Pakistan. We have faced the worst terrorism. When we were fighting our war against terrorism, we lost a lot of field journalists and many civilians.”

    “Benazir Bhutto too got killed due to terrorism. We have been dealing with tough times,” replied Fawad.

    Stephen Sackur asked what the state was doing about the involvement of state agencies in such incidents.

    “It’s a bit fashionable for the western media to accuse ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)
    when such incidents happen. When you name any organisation or Pakistani intelligence agency, you are bound to produce evidence of their involvement as well,” replied the minister. “The two specific incidents which you have mentioned, the investigation is still under process, I still don’t know under what pretext have you concluded that the state must be involved in any of this.”

    Direct State Interference

    BBC host asked Chaudhry about freedom of speech in Pakistan. He said that media censorship has increased during Imran Khan’s tenure. Chaudhry replied, “We have about 112 private channels, 43 international channels, with this kind of mass media we have, how do you expect the state to intimidate the media? How can the state be accused of intimidating the media?”

    Censorship

    “I am the Information Minister of the world’s fifth-largest state. I am the Information Minister of one of the world’s seven nuclear states of the world. No one can dare to undermine me. I am here with full authority and I decide in Pakistan what will and what is happening,” answered Fawad when told by Sackur that Chaudhry has no real power or control.

    PTI government’s comparison with previous government’s

    The host compared the working of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with previous governments.

    “This may be a perception of some Indian-influenced think tanks, not ours. This is not the perception of the people in general. Imran Khan is the most popular prime minister,” said Fawad.

    “As said, don’t undermine the elected government of Pakistan. Imran Khan has received nearly 200 million votes. This is not a joke. He is the prime minister of a nuclear state. He takes the decisions, the cabinet takes the decisions,” added Fawad.

    Relation with establishment

    Fawad Chaudhry said that we have a very good relationship with the ‘so-called establishment’ “as you term it so often. They are part and parcel of our system. We have huge respect for them, but the decision-making rests with the prime minister and the cabinet.”

    Missing Persons

    The BBC host asked about missing persons the security establishments, and the deep state?

    “ISI and army respect human rights just as any other civilian government will do. They are the most civilised army of the world, they are the most responsible army of the world. People in Pakistan respect them for their role,” said Fawad.

    “Least number of missing persons were reported in Imran Khan’s government. We are the only government that has just passed a law against disappearance. We are the only ones who have made illegal confinement a criminal offense. And now the bill has been passed and will go to the parliament,” added Fawad

    Imran Khan’s pledge to deliver

    The show host said that PM Khan’s promises have not been delivered to the people of Pakistan.

    “Unfortunately, I do not agree with your conclusion. Right now Pakistan’s growth rate is 3.94 per cent, which is one of the highest in the whole world despite all the Covid crises,” said Fawad.

    Fawad added, “People who have voted for Prime Minister Imran Khan and PTI are still ardent fans. In the next elections, PM Imran Khan will be elected again.”

    Covid situation

    Sackur asked why only one per cent of Pakistan’s population has been vaccinated.

    “As far as Covid is concerned Pakistan is a great success story. The partial lockdown story that Prime Minister Imran Khan implemented in Pakistan was a great success story,” replied Chaudhry.

  • Sarfaraz Ahmed shares list of must-watch Pakistani dramas

    Sarfaraz Ahmed shares list of must-watch Pakistani dramas

    Pakistani wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed has shared a list of his favourite Pakistani dramas as he quarantines for Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) sixth edition.

    Read more – Wasim Akram is losing his mind as he quarantines for PSL6

    “Bhi Pakistani dramo ke be kiya baat hai bhi wah wah,” said Sarfaraz while sharing his list.

    The dramas which made it to his list include:

    Ishqiya featuring Feroze Khan and Hania Aamir, produced under Fahad Mustafa’s Big Bang Productions

    Raqs-e-Bismil featuring Sarah Khan, Imran Ashraf, Furqan Qureshi and Momin Saqib

    Fitrat featuring Saboor Aly, Ali Abbas and Zubab Rana

    Aulad featuring Marina Khan, Syed Mohammad Ahmed, Hassan Ahmed, Nabeel Zuberi and Sunita Marshall

    Nand featuring Aijaz Aslam, Shahroz Sabzwari, Minal Khan, Faiza Hassan, Javeria Saud and late Sumbul Shahid

    Khani featuring Sana Javed and Feroze Khan

    Qayamat featuring Ahsan Khan, Neelam Muneer, Shabbir Jaan and Saba Faisal

    Muje Khuda Pe Yaqeen Hai featuring Aagha Ali, Nimra Khan and Yashma Gill

    Jalan featuring Minal Khan, Fahad Sheikh, Nadia Hussain, Hajra Yamin and Emmad Irfani

    Sarfaraz also tagged the actors who were part of all the aforementioned dramas and appreciated their work in them.

    The Quetta Gladiators captain, along with other PSL6 players and coaching staff has to go through a seven-day quarantine period for the remaining matches, set to be played in Abu Dhabi in the first week of June.