Author: newsdesk

  • New pro-IMF State Bank law would leave country bankrupt, lead to Pakistan’s collapse: prominent economist

    Renowned economist Dr Kaiser Bengali has warned that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Ordinance, which is likely to be introduced soon, is anti-national and could lead to no accountability of central bank officials besides ultimately resulting “in the collapse of the country”.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, he said that the law would leave the federal government and subsequently the state paralysed.

    “There would be no money to pay salaries because the top priority would be paying back loans for which new loans will be sought,” Dr Bengali said.

    To a query by host Asma Shirazi, he said the law had no parallel in the modern world, however, a similar one dating back to the Ottoman Era played a key role in the downfall of the House of Osman.

    “They didn’t have any money to fight wars or deal with the rebellion after handing control of all the money to the central bank.”

    “This would dissolve Pakistan because there won’t even be enough money to pay the police,” Dr Bengali maintained, adding that it was a bleak picture.

    “The opposition alliance should put its other demands on hold and work towards stopping this legislation,” he concluded. The same was stated by him in a tweet as well.

    Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal also claimed the government was enacting such a law which would hand over the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) control to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions.

    Addressing a press conference, he said that with the new legislation, the SBP would not be accountable to the parliament, the prime minister or any institution of the country and it would only be answerable to the international institutions.

    He said National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) or any other institution would not be able to ask the SBP governor and other officials for any corruption.

    “If the prime minister of Pakistan can appear before NAB, then why can’t the SBP governor?” Ahsan said adding it was only to mortgage Pakistan’s economy with the international institutions.

  • Pakistan replaced by India, Iran as top trade partners of Afghanistan

    Pakistan replaced by India, Iran as top trade partners of Afghanistan

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are no longer leading trade partners. Strong Border restrictions on both sides and declining bilateral relations are the main reasons.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan used to have $2.5 billion worth of trade that has now declined to $1 billion, replacing Islamabad with New Delhi and Tehran as the biggest trade partners.

    In this regard, Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber (PAJC) former senior vice president Ziaul Haq Sarhadi said that the Torkham border crossing was open for 24 hours a day since 2019 to promote Pak-Afghanistan bilateral trade, but no significant progress was made.

    More than 832,000 containers of Afghan transit trade worth $33 billion used to pass through the Torkham border. However, a 30 per cent reduction in transit trade had been observed as it shifted to Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

    For years, Afghan traders are demanding that the process of clearing the Karachi port should be expedited. “The volume of trade annual shipments from Karachi to Afghanistan can be increased to 75,000 containers while the volume of bilateral trade can rise to Rs5 billion if their request is accepted,” Sarhadi said.

    Afghanistan also wants to access India through the Wagah border, but Pakistan cannot facilitate Afghanistan due to its official policy stance and strained relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.

    On the other hand, Pakistan wants free trade with the Central Asian Republics (CARs) through Afghanistan, but no agreement has been reached so far.

  • VIDEO: Turkish military band plays ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’s’ theme song at Pakistan Day celebrations

    VIDEO: Turkish military band plays ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’s’ theme song at Pakistan Day celebrations

    The Pakistan Day celebrations at Parade Avenue in Islamabad were a grand affair. The event which takes place on March 23 every year to mark Pakistan Resolution Day was rescheduled to March 25 due to bad weather conditions.

    While everything was taking place as per the norm, what caught everyone’s attention was the Turkish band’s performance of Diriliş: Ertuğrul’s theme song. As per Radio Pakistan, the Turkish military band also presented different tunes including Dil Dil Pakistan during the parade.

    To reaffirm the strong bond between Pakistan and Turkey, a Turkish fighter jet also presented a whole range of dazzling maneuvers.

    The Turkish band was holding three flags, white red and green.The white flag represented peace, red represented Ottoman Empire and the green represented Islam.

    Meanwhile, President Arif Alvi, who was the chief guest at the occasion, said: “Pakistan is laced with capabilities to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, categorically stating that any misadventure will receive a befitting response.

    The President added that Pakistan is a strong nuclear power and “apart from making progress in the socio-economic sectors, the country has achieved self-reliance in defence”. He also expressed satisfaction that Pakistan is also exporting its defence products.

    The floats of Ministry of Science and Technology and the front-line healthcare workers against Covid-19 were also part of the parade.

    Performers from Pakistan also participated in the parade. Ali Hamza from Noori the band and Young stunners were also performing.

    It is pertinent to mention here that the Prime Minister Imran Khan was unable to attend the parade because he had tested positive for coronavirus last week.

  • Is a Pakistan-India T20I series on the cards?

    Is a Pakistan-India T20I series on the cards?

    Reports are rife on social and electronic media that a T20I bilateral cricket series is on the cards between Pakistan and India.

    According to a report published in Jang, “India and Pakistan might soon get involved in bilateral cricket series again with a possibility of the six-day window for a three-match T20I series later in the year.”

    While a PCB official initially denied the speculations and said that there are no talks between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the (Board of Control for Cricket in India) BCCI, he hinted that there is a possibility of a series later in the year.

    On the other hand, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani on Tuesday said that no one has contacted the board while denying that the Pakistan board is in talks with the Indian board.

    PCB sources have said that if the series goes ahead then it will be the Indian team that will visit Pakistan as Pakistan had toured India the last time.

    The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was held in 2012-13. Ever since bilateral cricket relations between the two nuclear countries was suspended, the two countries have competed in only ICC events and Asia Cup.

    In case a series comes to fruition, a window of six days for three matches could be identified despite this being a busy calendar year for cricket.

    Meanwhile, nothing is confirmed as yet and everything is hearsay and based on reports.

  • Chrissy Teigen deletes Twitter account after 10 years

    Chrissy Teigen has deleted her popular Twitter account, saying the site no longer plays a positive role in her life.

    “For over 10 years you guys have been my world,” Teigen wrote to her 13.7 million followers Wednesday night. “But it’s time to say goodbye. This no longer serves me as positively as it serves me negatively, and I think that’s the right time to call something.”

    Teigen’s account was popular for its mix of jokes about her husband John Legend and their children, their playful banter on the site, funny observations about assorted topics and fierce retorts for those she disagreed with or who criticised her.

    That reputation is at odds with who she really is, the model and cookbook author wrote.

    “My life goal is to make people happy,” she wrote. “The pain I feel when I don’t is too much for me. I’ve always been portrayed as the strong clap back girl but I’m just not.”

    Last year, Teigen shared the heartbreak of a miscarriage on the site, posting an anguished picture of her in the hospital. Another image showed her and Legend grieving over a bundle cradled in her arms.

    While her candour about the loss of their son won praise, some criticised her for putting such painful moments on social media.

    She wrote Wednesday that she’s experienced so many attacks from low-follower accounts that she’s “deeply bruised.”

    In one of her final posts, she told her followers to “never forget that your words matter.”

    Teigen’s Instagram account, with more than 34 million followers, remains active as does Legend’s Twitter account, with 14 million followers.

  • Boris Johnson warns UK could place France on ‘red list’

    Britain could soon place France on a travel “red list” and tighten border controls due to the risk of a new coronavirus variant, Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.

    France is expanding lockdown due to the rising number of cases after the third wave hit the country.

    The South African and Brazilian variants of the virus prevalent in France are potentially more transmissible, which has caused particular concern.

    United Kingdom’s (UK) Senior Members of Parliament (MPs) asked why France was not on the British’s travel “red list”, to which Johnson said that it was “something we will have to look” at while warning it “would cause disruption, particularly to cross-Channel trade”.

    Placing the country on a red list means barring travellers from entering the UK unless they are British or Irish nationals or have residence rights.

    Johnson acknowledged that “we have to look at the situation at the Channel”.

    “We can’t rule out tougher measures, and we will put them in if necessary,” he said.

    Many lorry drivers were entering the UK and, when MPs raised their concerns, Johnson said that the government has to mitigate the balance of risks. It will cause “serious disruption” to the flow of goods such as food and medicine.

    England’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Chris Whitty and his deputy Jonathan Van-Tam have also reportedly put pressure on Johnson to bring in stricter border controls.

    France is expanding its lockdown due to the rising number of cases after the third wave hit the country.

    When senior members of the Parliament (MPs) asked why France was not on the UK travel “red list”, Johson said that this is “something we will have to look at” while warning it “would cause disruption, particularly to cross-Channel trade.”

    Placing the country on a red list means barring travellers from entering the United Kingdom (UK) unless they are British or Irish nationals or have residence rights.

    Johnson acknowledged that “we have to look at the situation at the Channel. We can’t rule out tougher measures, and we will put them in if necessary,” he said.

    Many lorry drivers were entering the UK and when the MPs raised their concerns, Johson said that the government have to mitigate the balance of risks. It will cause “serious disruption” to the flow of goods such as food and medicine.

    England’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Chris Whitty and his deputy Jonathan Van-Tam have reportedly put pressure on Johnson to bring in stricter border controls.

  • Pakistani who attacked French magazine’s office says PM Imran, Khadim Rizvi influenced him

    Pakistani who attacked French magazine’s office says PM Imran, Khadim Rizvi influenced him

    The Pakistani man who attacked the former offices of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, last September was radicalised by videos of preachers in his home country and anti-France demonstrations at the time, AFP reported, citing a local newspaper.

    According to Le Parisien, police investigation has revealed the 26-year-old had spent the days leading up to his knife attack watching extremist preachers on YouTube and TikTok denouncing France and Charlie Hebdo.

    “I couldn’t eat. I was crying watching the videos,” Zaheer Hassan Mahmood told investigators.

    Weeks before, the magazine had republished sketches of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which were considered blasphemous by Muslims, to mark the start of a trial of men linked to a 2015 attack on its offices.

    Mahmood said he did not realise the magazine had moved offices after the 2015 attack and presumed the two people he slashed with a meat cleaver were employees of the publication, the report said.

    Both victims, who worked for a TV production company with no links to Charlie Hebdo, sustained serious injuries.

    Mahmood, from the village of Kothli Qazi in Punjab province, had entered France with false papers showing him as an unaccompanied minor, enabling him to claim asylum.

    Islamist groups organised demonstrations in Pakistan in September against Charlie Hebdo and French President Emmanuel Macron, who defended freedom of expression and blasphemy, which is legal in France.

    Mahmood watched videos by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the late founder of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, and other radical preachers.

    He was also influenced by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who accused Macron of “attacking Islam”, the newspaper said.

    Blasphemy is a criminal act in Pakistan, where laws allow death penalty for anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic personalities.

    Mahmood said he initially intended to damage the office building, rather than attack people, and has offered to apologise to his victims.

    Investigators have found a video he sent to a friend the day before his attack which called for the decapitation of blasphemers, and he received a call from Greece the same day which appeared to refer to a pre-meditated assault.

    He has been charged with “attempted murder with relation to a terrorist enterprise”.

  • Police file case against four-month-old boy

    Police file case against four-month-old boy

    Police in Chiniot have registered a case against a four-month-old boy for violating the sound system act.

    According to reports, a few religious scholars had delivered their speeches at an event in Chiniot on loudspeakers.

    After the event, the police had registered a case against dozens of people, including a four-month-old boy named Hasnain Shehzada, under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

    The police refused to remove the child’s name from the FIR when they were told about the child’s age.

    On Wednesday, his father submitted the papers in the court for interim bail.

  • Harry gets another job as ‘disinformation’ officer

    Harry gets another job as ‘disinformation’ officer

    Britain’s Prince Harry — who is often at war with the British press — was on Wednesday announced as a commissioner for a US study into misinformation online.

    The non-profit Aspen Institute said it was “honoured” to have the Duke of Sussex as one of the 18 members of its “Commission on Information Disorder.”

    The announcement came a day after Harry became Chief Impact Officer at San Francisco life-coaching startup BetterUp as he adds to his growing portfolio of jobs since stepping away from royal duties last year.

    As part of the Aspen study, Harry will help conduct a six-month investigation into misinformation and disinformation in the American digital world that will start in April. The commission aims to identify the biggest causes of the sharing and spreading of false information and find solutions to help the government, private sector and civil society respond.

    “The experience of today’s digital world has us inundated with an avalanche of misinformation, affecting our ability as individuals as well as societies to think clearly and truly understand the world we live in,” Harry said in a statement.

    “It’s my belief that this is a humanitarian issue — and as such, it demands a multi-stakeholder response from advocacy voices, members of the media, academic researchers, and both government and civil society leaders,” he added.

    The prince is likely to bring his own experiences of media coverage of his life to the commission.

    Harry told US talk show host James Corden in February that he left royal life and moved to the United States with Meghan Markle because the British press was “destroying his mental health.”

    The prince has long had a difficult relationship with Britain’s tabloids, blaming press intrusion for contributing to his mother Princess Diana’s death in a car crash in 1997.

    Harry and Meghan have filed several lawsuits against newspapers and last April told Britain’s tabloids that they were ending all cooperation with them due to “distorted, false or invasive” stories.

    An explosive interview they gave to Oprah Winfrey this month — in which they claimed an unnamed royal had asked how dark their baby’s skin would be — plunged the monarchy into its biggest crisis since the death of Diana.

    Meanwhile, Harry’s new boss at BetterUp has said that the British royal likes to be called Harry in the workplace.

    “He’s a colleague, he’s a partner, and so we address him as Harry,” said Chief Executive Alexi Robichaux.

    Robichaux said he met Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, through a mutual friend in late 2020, and talked about how to encourage mental wellbeing.

    “Through a series of conversations over months, (we) really had a lot of shared energy and enthusiasm for how it could be really awesome to find a way to work together and advance the shared mission,” he said.

    As well as being an executive, Prince Harry said in a blog post that he was also a user of the service. Robichaux said he and the coach he was paired with are still working together.

    As for how much Prince Harry is being paid in his new position, Robichaux declined to say.

    “As a private company, you can imagine we don’t disclose compensation information of any of our folks. But I think it’s fair to say he’s deeply invested in the success of BetterUp,” he said.

  • Mahira Khan’s next film to be a biopic

    Mahira Khan’s next film to be a biopic

    Mahira Khan has revealed that her next production after Baarwan Khiladi will be a biopic and that she will be acting in it herself. Mahira recently set up her production company Soulfry Films with close friend and producer Nina Kashif.

    In an interview with a local media outlet, Kashif revealed that Mahira is “acting in our next production”.

    To this, Mahira added: “It’s a biopic but that’s all we can tell you right now!” Further details about this upcoming project are not yet known, though The Current reached out to Mahira for more on the project.

    Meanwhile, Mahira also revealed that her upcoming production venture Baarwan Khiladi will also feature cameos by Fawad Khan and Shoaib Malik.

    “I’m so grateful to the two of them for doing this for us,” said the actor-turned-producer.

    Baarwan Khiladi, which features young and upcoming actors including Danyal Zafar, Shahveer Jafry, Kinza Hashmi and Khaqan Shahnawaz, has a cricket-themed story. According to Mahira, the web series is “a coming of age story about friendships, relationships, unity, failure, success, love and courage.” It has been written by Shahid Dogar and directed by Adnan Sarwar, the man behind Motorcycle Girl. Saba Faisal, Mira Sethi and Sarmad Khoosat are also part of the cast.

    Talking about the cast selection, Nina said that they “didn’t want to bank on well-known actors for our cast.”

    “We wanted to select boys of a certain age because the story is about a young cricket team. We also opted for new actors because they are yet to have any characters associated with them from previous projects,” added the producer.

    Much of the series has been shot inside the Walled City of Lahore, though Mahira couldn’t be part of most of the filming because she had tested positive for COVID-19.

    Nina and Mahira were hoping to release the series at the end of the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) but their plans were thwarted when the matches were postponed. They now hope to release it before Eid-ul-Fitr.

    Baarwan Khiladi will stream on Tapmad, a South Asian streaming service.