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Author: newsdesk
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Newsletter- 18th January 2021, Monday
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#WesupportIqrar: Celebrities back Iqrarul Hassan after netizens demand apology for praising India
Social media users are demanding an apology from television anchor Syed Iqrarul Hassan for praising India. The Sar-e-Aam host was replying to a tweet that stated that India is the ‘vaccine hub’ of the world.
“India vs Pakistan,” Hassan had written in response to the tweet. “We are not even sure that we ordered the vaccine or not, banana to door ki baat (making it is another story).”
“Muqabla kerna hai to taleem main kerain, science main kerain, khail main kerain, infrastructure main kerain, economy main kerain, technology main kerain … aur such ka samna kerain (If you want to compete, do it on the basis of education, science, sports, infrastructure, economy, technology … and face the truth).”
Later, the television host also compared the public transport facilities of the two countries.
Hassan then went on to highlight how even Pakistan’s currency is at a much lower value than other developing countries.
Soon after these Tweets, Twitterati started calling him out and demanded an apology.
Following the backlash, several celebrities, and social media users supported the anchor with the hashtag #WeSupportIqrar trending on social media. Shoaib Akhtar, Kamran Akmal, and Imran Ashraf were among those who came forward to defend the anchor.
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EXCLUSIVE: Hareem Shah reveals why she slapped Mufti Qavi
A video of Hareem Shah slapping Mufti Abdul Qavi has gone viral on social media.
The video has also been shared on Hareem’s verified Instagram account without any details or explanations.
Speaking exclusively to The Current, Hareem shared that she went to visit Mufti Qavi with her friend. During their meeting, the religious leader passed inappropriate comments and was rude to them prompting Shah to slap him. She said that she left his hotel room after slapping him.
The TikTok star also clarified that all other videos with Mufti Qavi on her feed are old and that only the slapping one is recent.
Earlier, in an exclusive interview with The Current, Hareem had said that if she could slap anyone it would be Mufti Abdul Qavi because he had lied that she took a selfie with him.
Meanwhile, Hareem is all set to foray into the world of acting with a web series titled Raaz on Pakistan’s first Urdu OTT platform – UrduFlix.
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Humaima Malick vows never to have Mc Donalds again
Humaima Malick has sworn never to have Mc Donalds again as she and her nieces are not well after having ‘Chicken Uncle Donald’.
Taking to Instagram stories, the Bol star addressing Mc Donalds, wrote: “It’s been two days my stomach is cursing me. You guys give old bad food to people. This is the third time this happened to me and my nieces.”
She added that she is also dealing with vomiting and really bad stomach cramps.
“I’m not eating your chicken uncle Donald any more,” she stated.
Malick, who has had a prolific career over the years, has not been seen on the screen in recent years. She will be seen next in The Legend of Maula Jatt alongside Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, and Gohar Rasheed.
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Saif Ali Khan provided police security after ‘Tandav’ sparks outrage
Saif Ali Khan and the makers of Tandav are at the receiving end of backlash and outrage after a local official from India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party registered a police complaint against Amazon Prime’s latest web series alleging it insults Hindu gods and goddesses.
Protests against Amazon were also organised and party supporters marched to Amazon’s office in Mumbai on Monday, but the police only allowed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Kadam and few other supporters to enter the office. After the BJP leader met the officials of Amazon Prime Video, he tweeted that the company’s officials were adamant about their views and urged people to boycott Amazon altogether.
“We went to Amazon’s office in BKC to ask them to stop Tandav’s streaming and apologise for the same. But they still aren’t letting go of their pride. I ask the whole nation to boycott Amazon’s products and show the power of this nation,” said Kadam in a tweet.
According to details, the political drama drew the ire of lawmakers from the BJP causing fresh controversy for the e-commerce giant which last year had to withdraw dozens of rugs and doormats depicting Hindu gods from its international Amazon.com platform after a backlash in India.
BJP Member of Parliament Manoj Kotak, in a letter to India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar dated Saturday, said that the makers of Tandav “have deliberately mocked Hindu gods and disrespected Hindu religious sentiments”.
He called on the ministry to immediately form an authority to regulate streaming platforms, and in the meantime called for a ban on the series till the required scenes are not removed.
Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Saif Ali Khan, who plays the ruthless Samar Pratap in the show, has been given police security. A set of policemen were seen guarding his building to ensure all the safety required to the star and his family.
BJP leaders have also demanded Saif to clarify his position related to the controversy.
“Whenever an actor signs a film or a web series, he’s narrated the script,” said MLA Ram Kadam. “A seasoned actor like Saif would have clearly known what was the content of the series and yet he agreed to do it.”
“We have a question for Saif. Why didn’t he say no to such a project where the religious sentiments of Hindus are being hurt? Why didn’t he say such content is inappropriate? We want to know what is the position of the talented actor in this regard,” he continued.
“The whole country and supporters of Hindu Gods and Goddesses will delete the app and boycott all Amazon products from here on. This has been going on for far too long. The Bollywood industry, web series makers, and actors like Saif need to understand that Hindus will not tolerate this anymore,” he added.
Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the political drama also stars Sunil Grover, Dimple Kapadia, Sarah-Jane Dias, Gauahar Khan, Kritika Kamra, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Dino Morea in lead roles.
India late last year brought streaming platforms under the oversight of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and said it plans to regulate their content.
Read more – Netflix in trouble for kissing scenes in temple in ‘A Suitable Boy’
Streaming services have gained traction in India because of the availability of affordable smartphones and cheap mobile data, making the South Asian nation a battleground for Amazon, Netflix, and Disney as they seek to expand outside their home markets.
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Beat Monday blues with these adorable pictures of animals interrupting wildlife photographers
It is not uncommon for us to start the week with a bit of sadness. If you are one of those who find Monday unbearable, The Current has something that might cheer you up and help you beat the blues.
These pictures of animals interrupting wildlife photographers will definitely put a smile on your face.
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Pakistan Army ranked 10th strongest in world
Pakistan has become the tenth most powerful country in the world in terms of military power, according to the Global Firepower index 2021.
According to a report published by Global Firepower, Pakistan has surpassed Iran, Indonesia, Israel and Canada among others in terms of military power.
The Global Firepower ranked the armies of 138 countries by taking into consideration a number of factors including the diversity of each country’s weapons, manpower, population, geography and state of development.
The Global Firepower ranking utilises over 55 factors to determine a country’s PowerIndex score. The formula allows smaller, more technologically advanced countries to compete with larger, less developed ones.
A perfect PwrIndex score is 0.0000, which is realistically unattainable. The closer countries are to that number, the more powerful their military is.
In the list released for the year 2021, Pakistan has improved five places — 15th to 10th.
While India has retained the fourth slot, Angola, Bulgaria and Syria have declined in the ranking.
Among other prominent militaries that Pakistan has beaten are Turkey, Italy, Egypt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Australia.
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Zulfi Bukhari, DG ISPR stand out at Pakistani cinema celebration
Hum TV on December 16 celebrated the 16th anniversary of its premier entertainment channel in Islamabad in a special show hosted by Ahmed Ali Butt and Shiffa Yousafzai.
The anniversary celebrations was a star-studded event attended by prominent faces of the country’s entertainment landscape and dignitaries including DG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Zulfi Bukhari, Adnan Siddiqui, Bushra Ansari, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Farhan Saeed, Sarah Khan, Vaneeza Ahmed, Momina Duraid, Usman Mukhtar, Sultana Siddiqui President HUM Network Limited and CEO HUM Network Duraid Qureshi.
While everyone enjoyed watching their favourite stars take the stage, it was DG ISPR and SAPM Zulfi Bukhari who Twitter couldn’t stop talking about.
Check out Twitter reactions below:
Meanwhile, others were concerned that none of the participants were wearing masks.
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Saudi king hasn’t asked Nawaz to visit kingdom, says PM’s aide Ashrafi
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Affairs Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi said that Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz has not invited former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to visit his Kingdom in case things get complicated in London.
In the wake of a request by the Pakistan government to the United Kingdom for the extradition of Nawaz, reports had been making rounds that the Saudi king had offered Nawaz to come to Saudi Arabia if he ran into problems with the UK government.
Addressing a presser in Lahore, Ashrafi said Saudi Arabia has never intervened in internal and external affairs of Pakistan.
King Salman did not invite Nawaz Sharif to visit his country in line with its “tradition of not intervening” in the internal affairs of Pakistan, he added.
It may be noted here that in a bid to bring Nawaz Sharif back, the government had announced it would cancel Nawaz’s passport on Feb 16.
In Dec 2020, the minister had said that the passport of the ex-PM would be revoked owing to his refusal to return to Pakistan. Nawaz had left for London for a medical check-up in 2019 after his health deteriorated in jail. The ex-premier, who was convicted in two graft cases, has refused to return since.
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Both Buzdar and Shehbaz agree on Lahore becoming ‘garbage dump’
Amid growing heaps of trash across Punjab, former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government turned the province, especially Lahore, into a garbage dump.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president made these comments during a hearing of a graft case against him at an accountability court in Lahore.
Shehbaz remarked that he had saved billions of rupees while signing a contract with the Lahore Waste Management Company. However, the judge stopped Shehbaz from making any further comments, saying it is a “courtroom, not a conference hall”.
Shehbaz was apparently responding to the allegations made by the Punjab CM’s aide on information, Firdaus Ashiq Awan. In a presser, she had accused Shahbaz Sharif’s government of causing a huge loss to the national exchequer in awarding the contracts to the Turkish companies.
Meanwhile, Punjab CM Usman Buzdar expressed displeasure with the LWMC officials over the heaps of garbage in the city and asked them to clean it within two days, saying the city is a “garbage dump”.
“I have received reports that Lahore has been turned into a garbage dump. Every time I have visited the city, I have found bad conditions. Let all the departments work together to make Lahore clean on a priority basis,” he added.
Pakistan Today reported that the LWMC has been failed to develop garbage from most areas of the city, including Ichra, Shadman, Nishtar Colony, Gulberg, Sanda, Samanabad, Allama Iqbal Town, Harbanspura, Township, for the past 10 days amid delay in the garbage disposal.
It reported that the LWMC’s waste management contract was with Turkish companies that expired on December 31. The contract, however, couldn’t extend due to a dispute between Turkish companies and LWMC. The government subsequently signed a contract with a new party, but the cleanliness situation in the city failed to improve.