Author: newsdesk

  • Syra Yousuf, Sheheryar Munawar turn up the heat with their latest photoshoot

    Syra Yousuf, Sheheryar Munawar turn up the heat with their latest photoshoot

    The mercury may be going down but things are heating up. Syra Yousuf and Sheheryar Munawar’s latest photoshoot for a local magazine has become the talk of the town with people discussing how hot they look together.

    According to stylist Rao Ali Khan, who was the Creative Editor of the shoot, the theme of the shoot was ‘Boni and Clyde – a tale of love’.

    Read more – EXCLUSIVE: Sneak peek into Sheheryar Munawar’s diary

    Pakistanis, meanwhile, have a lot to say on the photoshoot. Check out their reactions below:

    Syra and Sheheryar have shared the screen in multiple projects together, including Project Ghazi and drama serial Tanhaiyan Naye Silsilay.

  • Bilawal announces protest against ‘stolen’ GB polls

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has alleged irregularities in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections, saying the results were manipulated to favour the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — leading on 12 seats as per the initial results.

    In a tweet, the PPP chairperson announced to join a demonstration in the region against the “stealing of elections”.

    “My election has been stolen. I will be joining the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in their protest shortly,” said the opposition leader in a tweet.

    The statement followed a series of tweets by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who claimed the PTI was able to bag more seats because of alleged pre-poll rigging. She claimed the PTI has no support in GB and its electoral victories would be a result of alleged rigging done by “selectors”.

    The PML-N candidates were forced to switch their loyalties and join the PTI, she said, adding despite the support of the state machinery, the party failed to gain a simple majority.

    PTI AHEAD OF PPP, PML-N:

    According to the initial results, the PTI and its allies are set to form a new government for the next five years in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. Unofficial results showed the PTI and its allies were leading, clinching half [12] of the contested seats.

    Official results are expected to be announced today as election authorities said they were facing difficulties in collecting results from several far-flung mountainous areas due to heavy snow and rain.

    The PTI and its allies, according to the initial results, are in the lead with at least 12 of the 24 seats being contested in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

    At least four independent candidates projected to win are most likely to join the PTI to form the government.

    The two other main contenders — the centre-left PPP and centre-right PML-N, which won the 2015 elections in the region — have cried foul, accusing the election authorities of “rigging”.

    The chief election commissioner, however, denied the charge, advising the opposition parties to contact the commission if there are any irregularities.

  • ‘Sorry Lala’: Haris Rauf apologises to Afridi for dismissing him

    ‘Sorry Lala’: Haris Rauf apologises to Afridi for dismissing him

    Power hitter, Shahid Khan Afridi got clean-bowled on a duck by Haris Rauf’s yorker in a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match between Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans. After dismissing the legend, Haris apologised to the senior player, the video of which went viral on social media.

    https://twitter.com/thePSLt20/status/1328038153790304256?s=20

    Afridi is nowhere close to the explosive big hitter he once was. There’s little need to get excited by him walking out to bat; he might once have been a trailblazer, but several around the world have mastered and bettered, the art. At 40, any exploits off Afridi’s bat are very much dying embers of a flame that once burned brightly, but Haris may just have snuffed them out in the eliminator match.

    In the 14th over when Afridi walked out to bat, Rauf bowled a yorker first up tailing into middle stump. Few might have kept it out, but Afridi was notably slow in getting his bat down, the ball, whistling through his legs and onto the base of middle stump.

    As Afridi began to walk off, Rauf clasped his hands together by way of apology. It was Rauf’s 50th T20 wicket this year and the 27-year-old is now the leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket this year (50 wickets from 31 games).

    Later, in field when asked by the commentator via spider cam that why did he do that, on which he said: “He is a senior player and I came to play with this intention that if I’ll take Shahid bhai’s wicket, I will do this style.”

    VIDEO: ‘Family Guy’ features Lahore Qalandars vs Karachi Kings joke in new episode

    Meanwhile, the biggest rivalry in PSL’s history is about to go down on Tuesday’s (November 17) match as both the teams [KK & LQ] will now get their first chance to snatch the trophy.

  • Control room established in Lahore to monitor smog

    Control room established in Lahore to monitor smog

    The Ministry of Climate Change has set up a smog control room in Lahore to regularly monitor smog that causes health problems to people in different areas of the province during the winters.

    The other objective of the Control Room was to have a constant check on smog Air Quality Index (AQI) in the province during coming days.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said the process to fight smog has begun.

    He said there would be a regular check on crop burning, transport and industrial emissions, brick kilns and cross-border emissions which are the main sources of smog production.

    Malik Amin said that farmers have been provided with much-needed technology to help them avoid burning of crop residue and instead convert the residue into organic fertilizer to enhance the fertility of their farmlands.

    He said technology is also being introduced across the country under the government’s project for Mechanized Management of Rice Crop Residue for which thirty billion rupees are being spent for payment of 50,000 units of rice straw shredder.

  • Maulana Tariq Jamil breaks silence on what he took to officiate ‘Pakistan’s most expensive wedding’

    Maulana Tariq Jamil breaks silence on what he took to officiate ‘Pakistan’s most expensive wedding’

    Renowned preacher Maulana Tariq Jamil has rubbished claims that he received a hefty amount to officiate what is being dubbed as “Pakistan’s most expensive wedding ceremony”.

    The Master Tiles-Jalal Sons wedding from earlier this month has been making headlines for its extravagant style and featuring several Pakistani celebrities in addition to a troupe of foreign gymnasts.

    “By the tawfīq of Allah, I have traveled around 6 continents to preach the message of Allah and I have been preaching the life of our Prophet ﷺ to the Ummah for a very long time. The hurdle in our advancement is our moral decline,” Jamil said in a Facebook post.

    “My message for those who accused me of taking money for performing Nikāh is that in the journey of preaching the message of Allah I have performed Nikāh of thousands of boys and girls for the sake of Allah,” he added.

    Jamil went on to say that Sheikh Mahmood of Master Tiles was an old friend of his. “How can I take money for performing Nikāh of his daughter on his invitation? May Allah protect us all from distrust and false accusations.”

    Earlier, it was reported that the preacher was paid Rs1 million rupees (Rs10 lacs) for his services.

    The claim had come as owner of Master Tiles landed on the Federal Board Revenue (FBR) radar for spending Rs2 billion on the wedding ceremony.

    A probe was conducted by the FBR into the “service providers involved in the lavish arrangements” to detect possible tax evasion. The document shared by the FBR said that Rosa Blanca Country Club, the venue of baraat located on Raiwind Road in Lahore, was paid Rs150 million for the premises.

    It, however, was just the tip of the iceberg.

  • Is Spotify coming to Pakistan?

    Music lovers rejoice. On November 15 Swedish-based audio streaming and media services provider Spotify created a verified Instagram account for Pakistan which has gained 14.6 thousand followers already.

    The appearance of a verified Instagram account suggests that the world’s biggest music streaming service might soon be launching in Pakistan. However, no official statement has been made yet.

    On the possibility of Spotify coming to Pakistan, many users took Twitter to express their joy.

    https://twitter.com/alina_grisha13/status/1327652183685419009

    Read more – Rs 10 million prize announced for PUBG Mobile Pakistan Challenge 2020

    Spotify is the world’s biggest music streaming platform by the number of subscribers. Users of the service simply need to register to have access to one of the biggest-ever collections of music in history, plus podcasts, and other audio content.

    Spotify, launched in 2008 grown to be one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world. There were 286 million monthly active users of Spotify according to the company’s 2020 report.

  • Karachi wedding hall owners reject new COVID-19 SOPs

    Karachi wedding hall owners reject new COVID-19 SOPs

    Karachi’s wedding, banquet and lawn owners have rejected the new COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) rolled out by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) after a sharp surge in cases.

    The Karachi Marriage Hall, Lawn, Banquet Owners Association held a press conference at the press club on Saturday to denounce the government’s decision to ban indoor weddings.  

    The association said thousands of employees and other businesses linked with weddings will be affected due to more restrictions and bans. 

    The president of the association said that wedding hall owners and their thousands of employees had already faced severe financial problems when all the halls were closed between March 13 and September 15 during the lockdown period.

    The association members said that when halls reopened after September 15, they did not get business as most people prefer not to get married during Muharram and Safar, which took place after the halls were reopened. 

    The association said that there are around 800 wedding halls only in Karachi and that the living of 50,000 people and their families are linked to these halls. 

    “Around 70 to 80% of our employees work on daily wages,” he said, adding that the earning of such employees depended on daily wedding events.

    The association pointed out that there are roughly 13,000 wedding halls in the entire country, with which 650,000 labourers’ livelihoods are directly linked. Fifty percent of the city’s industries, the association highlighted, were directly and the rest of the 50% were indirectly linked to wedding halls. 

    “With the closure of the wedding halls due the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of labourers will be directly or indirectly affected,” said the association’s president. 

    The government had itself failed to limit the number of people attending its political gatherings and implement the SOPs, stated the association.

    “We want to bring this into your knowledge that wedding halls is the only industry which didn’t get any relief from the government since the lockdown of March 13,” said Raees. 

    He requested Prime Minister Imran Khan, the chief justice of Pakistan and army chief to look into the miseries of the wedding hall owners and their employees.

    “We demand SOPs be drafted for wedding ceremonies after taking us on board,” he said.

  • PTI leads GB polls amid rigging allegations

    Amid allegations of rigging, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies are set to form a new government for the next five years in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, according to initial results late Sunday.

    Although Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz Khan told reporters that the election authorities have not officially announced any results, local media and unofficial results showed the PTI and its allies were leading, clinching half of the contested seats.

    Official results are expected to be announced Monday as election authorities said they were facing difficulties in collecting results from several far-flung mountainous areas due to heavy snow and rain.

    The PTI and its allies, according to the initial results, are in the lead with at least 12 of the 24 seats being contested in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly.

    At least four independent candidates projected to win are most likely to join the PTI to form the government.

    The two other main contenders — the centre-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and centre-right Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), which won the 2015 elections in the region — have cried foul, accusing the election authorities of “rigging.”

    The Chief Election Commissioner, however, denied the charge, advising the opposition parties to contact the commission if there are any irregularities.

    The PPP, which is likely to clinch three to four seats, said its workers had staged a sit-in outside several polling stations where it claimed the results were not being announced in an attempt to favour the PTI candidates.

    Meanwhile, the candidates belonging to the PML-N and the JUI-F were leading in one constituency each.

    Several activists and police personnel were injured after PTI and PPP supporters clashed in Skurdu district, local broadcaster Geo News reported.

    NO SURPRISE

    The PTI’s victory would come as no surprise to many as voters have previously sided with the party that has been in power in Islamabad.

    The first two elections were won by the PPP and the PML-N while they were in power in Islamabad in 2009 and 2015 respectively.

    Over 700,000 voters cast ballots for 23 of the 24 seats up for grabs in the region’s Legislative Assembly, according to election authorities.

    Voting for one seat was postponed after the death of a candidate.

    Gilgit-Baltistan is a strategic area for Pakistan, bordering China and serving as a key route for the multibillion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

    Formerly known as the Northern Areas, Gilgit-Baltistan is located at the confluence of the world’s greatest mountain ranges – the Karakoram, the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush and the Pamir.

    Before the end of British colonial rule and the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, the region was part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Rich in history, culture and natural beauty, the area, which also remained a centre of rivalry between the Russian, British and Chinese empires, has been a paradise for trekkers and adventure tourists for centuries.

  • Sindh CM tests positive for COVID-19

    Sindh CM tests positive for COVID-19

    Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has tested positive for coronavirus as Pakistan reports over 2,000 infections for the third consecutive day.

    According to a statement issued by the chief minister’s office, CM Murad got tested for COVID-19 on Friday after catching a mild fever. “After the test, I went into isolation on doctor’s advice,” said the chief minister.

    CM Murad said he is asymptomatic apart from the fever.

    On Saturday and Sunday, the country saw over 2,000 cases and 2,400 cases respectively, which means more than a 20 per cent increase in cases. These numbers are the highest since July. Seventeen people lost their lives to the coronavirus on Saturday as per the data from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). 

    Meanwhile, the prime minister will chair a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) today to chalk up a strategy to curb the increasing number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan. The meeting will take decisions about early and extended winter vacations in educational insitutions.

    Amid an increase in the infections, the NCOC had suggested a ban on public gatherings of all sorts, including a ban on indoor dining. The committee had allowed only takeaways and outdoor dining at restaurants till 10 pm, while suggesting closure of all cinemas, theatres and shrines with immediate effect.

  • Visually impaired Pakistani Rhodes Scholar raises voice for people with special needs

    Visually impaired Pakistani Rhodes Scholar raises voice for people with special needs

    Khansa Maria was born blind. During her childhood, Maria remembers rushing to get ready for her school interview but was always left disappointed as the school could not cater to her special needs.

    “It was disappointing,” she says. “Mainstream schools were not willing to make the required adaptations or go the extra mile for someone like me. You can never forget an experience like that.”

    Young Maria completed her early education at a school near her home in Lahore before she got enrolled at the Lahore Grammar School. Many people didn’t show any concern for her needs but there were some who saw her as an inspiration.

    Things changed for Maria. Today, the 21-year-old is a senior at Georgetown University Qatar, pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Foreign Service.

    The prestigious Rhodes Scholarship selected her to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Maria is the first Pakistani woman with a disability to be named a Rhodes scholar-elect.

    Campaigning from a young age, Maria has spoken at various conferences around the world calling for a removal of barriers people with disabilities face. Her own organization, “Hope for Tomorrow”, raises awareness about people with special needs.

    Maria explains that the single biggest obstacle in Pakistan is the lack of people with disabilities in the policy making and enforcement processes.

    “The disable community lacks a voice,” she said, “You just don’t see [disable] people on the mainstream level.”

    She hopes to change that when she returns to Pakistan after completing her postgraduate at Oxford University. “It is important to start engagement first at the grassroot level.”