Author: newsdesk

  • Ahead of Maryam’s jalsa, FIRs registered in Gujranwala for violating coronavirus SOPs

    Ahead of Maryam’s jalsa, FIRs registered in Gujranwala for violating coronavirus SOPs

    Over 100 people, including internet service providers, sound system organisers and residents holding corner meetings, have been named in at least seven FIRs [First Information Reports] at different police stations across Gujranwala for violating coronavirus guidelines ahead of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz’s jalsa.

    The daughter of former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif is due to hold a public gathering in the city on October 16 as part of the joint opposition’s anti-government campaign. She is expected to be joined by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as well in what is expected to be a mammoth power show by opposition parties.

    While PM Imran Khan has reportedly given permission to the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for holding its protest rallies that are expected to feature fiery speeches against the government and security establishment as it puts forward 26 demands, including the resignation of the premier, sources claim that authorities concerned are springing into action in this regard.

    “After Federal Minister Sheikh Rasheed’s warning that the next few months could be critical in terms of internal security and any prominent personal could suffer an attempt on his or her life, coronavirus is being used as a reason to bar the opposition from protesting against the government,” they alleged.

    However, according to the police, the people named in the aforementioned FIRs had not been following coronavirus SOPs, especially social distancing rules.

    “Residents have to submit a request for an NOC [no-objection certificate] before holding gatherings,” a police officer said, adding that Gujranwala’s chief police officer had instructed the police to ensure strict implementation of COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the city.

    “The government has been cracking down on restaurants and other public spaces across the country for violation of SOPs since the number of cases in Pakistan spiked again in September,” he said.

    NEW COVID-19 RULES:

    Earlier in the day, it was also reported that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has said public gatherings should preferably be avoided and those that are held, their duration should not exceed for more than three hours.

    Interestingly, the NCOC made it clear that the guidelines were not for wedding events or sports ones as separate SOPs had been issued for the former and for the latter, will be released soon.

    The NCOC defined a public gathering as an event “where people are assembled on any given space; indoor or outdoor, for some purpose such as cultural events, religious gatherings, sports events, entertainment/cultural events, parties, political gatherings or other similar events”. 

    The following public gatherings will have to follow the newly issued guidelines: 

    • Entertainment/Cultural Gatherings

    • Public gatherings of Unions/Associations or any such group

    • Religious gatherings

    • Political gatherings

    • Family gatherings

    • Civil society group gatherings

    • Sports related gatherings (SOPs to be issued separately)

    • Marriage (being a frequent & obligatory activity) has been excluded from the list and a separate list of SOPs comprising strict restrictions has already been issued for it

    A day earlier, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) had warned that a second coronavirus wave could hit the country this winter. 

    The PMC warned authorities and the general public about the foreseeable second spike of coronavirus, saying that it is likely to start from educational institutions as it happened in the United States (US), India and Iran.

  • Imran’s national security aide terms Chinese persecution of Muslims a ‘non-issue’

    Imran’s national security aide terms Chinese persecution of Muslims a ‘non-issue’

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on National Security aide Dr Moeed Yusuf has termed the Chinese persecution of Uyghur Muslims a “non-issue”.

    In an interview with Indian media outlet The Wire, Yusuf on Tuesday revealed that India had expressed a “desire for conversation” but said that Pakistan’s agreement to talks would be conditional.

    While his statements and Pakistan’s pre-conditions for the resumption of “meaningful dialogue” with India to resolve all outstanding issues have made headlines, the details less reported are of what he had to say about Chinese persecution of Muslim minority Uyghurs in its Xinjiang region.

    Even though China is facing growing criticism over its crimes against the said minority group, huge numbers of whom are allegedly being held in internment camps, Pakistan has been accused of turning a blind eye towards the same.

    READ: In a first since Kashmir’s 2019 siege, Imran’s national security aide gets interviewed by Indian journalist

    On Tuesday, when asked why PM Imran Khan had never raised his voice for the Uyghur community in China, the SAPM said, “China and Pakistan are friends like no other. We have a completely transparent relationship; virtually everything under the sky, we discuss.

    “Uyghurs is a non-issue […] Our delegations have visited, we’ve seen and we are a 100 per cent satisfied that it’s a non-issue. The West can say what it wants. I am telling you as a responsible official: we know everything we need to know about the Uighurs and everything else in China as they do about us.”

    Thapar quoted an interview PM Imran gave to the Financial Times last year, where the premier had said: “Frankly, I don’t know much about” the Uyghur issue. Yusuf, however, continued to insist that the matter was a non-issue and said that he had briefed the premier about it.

    YUSUF UNDER FIRE:

    Among the many prominent persons who reacted to Yusuf’s remarks was Omar Waraich, who is the South Asia deputy director of global rights group Amnesty International.

    Here’s what he had to say:

    Several others also called Imran’s aide out.

  • Komal Aziz Khan hits back at troll for moral policing her

    Komal Aziz Khan hits back at troll for moral policing her

    Komal Aziz Khan, who is currently vacationing in Turkey, had an unpleasant run-in with trolls who are busy criticising her holiday wardrobe.

    Under a picture in which Komal is posing at Bodrum in a blue dress, a social media user commented: “Pakistan se baahir jaate hee inki haya saath chor dyti hai, ye baat samajh nahi aati kyu (I don’t understand why their shame leaves them when they step out of Pakistan).”

    In response, Komal commented: “Because we feel safer abroad in wearing what we want and travelling alone. We meet less judgmental and hateful people like you, who misuse religion as an excuse to judge and spread hatred.”

    Read more – Mehwish Hayat has the perfect response to a misogynist troll

    Komal’s colleagues and peers including Mikaal Zulfiqar, Ayesha Omar and journalist Maria Memon lauded the actor for her response and agreed with her comments.

    Do you agree with Komal?

  • Motorway rapist wasn’t arrested, he surrendered: father

    After the arrest of the prime suspect in the motorway rape incident, Abid Malhi, his father claimed that the suspect had turned himself in after having escaped the Punjab police for a month.

    The father released a video Tuesday stating the above after police arrested Malhi a day ago from Faisalabad.

    Reportedly, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Special Branch of the police, and other agencies had tipped off Punjab police about the whereabouts of the suspect before the arrest was made, but the father’s video alleges that Malhi had called the police himself and that the arrest was made from Lahore’s Manga Mandi area in front of a person named Khalid Butt.

    Furthmore, as the arrest has been made, the father demanded that the female members of their family be released. Some of Abid’s relatives had been apprehended by police shortly after the incident took place.

    “Abid had expressed his wish to come home. At 6:30 pm, he returned,” his father said. “Abid was sent to the Crime Investigation Agency’s (CIA) [office] in Khalid Butt’s car,” he claimed.

    On the contrary, Punjab Inspector-General Police (IGP) Inam Ghani said that the suspect had been arrested by police.

  • Couple receives tiger cub after ordering kitten online

    Couple receives tiger cub after ordering kitten online

    A couple in France was shocked when they discovered that they received a tiger cub instead of the kitten they had ordered online.

    According to details, the couple had paid 6,000 euros (Rs 1,157,793) to buy a ‘Savannah cat’. The French couple said they were doubtful about the animal after taking care of it for a week. When they called the cops, the investigation resulted in a very strange revelation that the animal was a Sumatran tiger cub.

    The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) is a protected species of big cats and is forbidden for private ownership. The Savannah, on the other hand, can be kept as a pet. According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a tiger cannot even be transported without paperwork.

    After the case came to the light, the couple and nine other suspects were arrested for trafficking the protected species. Meanwhile, others involved in this incident are facing charges of being involved in organised crime.

    The cub is in good health and was handed over to the French Biodiversity Office.

  • Indian jewellery ad slammed for showing Hindu-Muslim couple

    Indian jewellery ad slammed for showing Hindu-Muslim couple

    Popular Indian jewellery brand Tanishq has withdrawn an advertisement featuring an interfaith couple after a right-wing backlash on social media, BBC News has reported.

    Opponents of the adverts argued that the ad, which shows a baby shower organised for the Hindu bride by her Muslim in-laws, promotes “love jihad”, a term radical Hindu groups use to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage.

    The description for the 43-second ad – promoting a jewellery line called ‘Ekatvam‘ (Hindi word for unity) – reads: “She is married into a family that loves her like their own child. Only for her, they go out of their way to celebrate an occasion that they usually don’t. A beautiful confluence of two different religions, traditions and cultures.”

    The ad sparked outrage among a section of conservative social media users who led calls to boycott the brand, taking it to the top of Twitter trends. On the other hand, many joined in to condemn the abusive posts and comments.

    The brand first disabled comments and Likes/Dislikes on the advert, posted to Facebook and YouTube before removing the video altogether. In a statement, the jewellery brand said: “We are deeply saddened with the inadvertent stirring of emotions and withdraw this film keeping in mind the hurt sentiments and well being of our employees, partners and store staff.”

    Congress party MP Shashi Tharoor, who posted the advert to his Twitter account, said: “Hindutva bigots have called for a boycott for highlighting Hindu-Muslim unity through this beautiful ad. If Hindu-Muslim ‘ekatvam‘ irks them so much, why don’t they boycott the longest surviving symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity – India?”

    https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1315833504253374464?s=20

    Other prominent personalities also argued that the ad promoted inter-faith harmony and should not have been taken down.

    https://twitter.com/RichaChadha/status/1315906312417415168?s=20

    Read more – Hindu couple gets married at a mosque in India

    Kangana Ranaut, on the other hand, stood with the right-wingers and slammed the ad for promoting love-jihad.

    “As Hindus we need to be absolutely conscious of what these creative terrorists are injecting in to our subconscious, we must scrutinise, debate and evaluate what is the outcome of any perception that is fed to us, this is the only way to save our civilisation,” wrote the actor on social media.

    https://twitter.com/KanganaTeam/status/1315912815509598208?s=20

    Most Indian families still prefer weddings arranged within their religion and caste; and marriages outside these boundaries have sometimes led to violent consequences, including women – sometimes even men – being killed by their relatives.

    According to the India Human Development Survey, only about 5% of all marriages are inter-caste and interfaith couples are even rarer.

  • In a first since Kashmir’s 2019 siege, Imran’s national security aide gets interviewed by Indian journalist

    In a first since Kashmir’s 2019 siege, Imran’s national security aide gets interviewed by Indian journalist

    In a first, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf has been interviewed by an Indian journalist.

    During his interview with Karan Thapar, Yusuf set five pre-conditions for the resumption of “meaningful dialogue” with India to resolve all outstanding issues, including the longstanding dispute of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK).

    While he said that Pakistan desired peaceful ties with India and wanted to resolve all issues through dialogue, Yusuf asserted that for any meaningful dialogue to take place between the two neighbours, India has to release all political prisoners in Kashmir, end inhuman blockade and restrictions, rescind domicile law that allows non-Kashmiris to settle in the disputed territory, stop human rights abuses and end state terrorism in Pakistan.

    This is the first time Pakistan put forward its pre-conditions for resumption of talks with India since the Modi government revoked the special status of IoK.

    Interestingly, he did not mention the restoration of the special status of Kashmir as one of the pre-conditions for restarting talks with India, which Pakistan has been condemning since August 5, 2019, when New Delhi had revoked Article 370 and 35-A of the Indian Constitution to rob the troubled valley of its autonomy.

    “Pakistan would be ready for dialogue with India if Modi government accepts those preconditions,” Yusuf said and also spoke of the involvement of Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW), in terrorism in Pakistan.

    “Pakistan had evidence that the mastermind of December 2014 APS terrorist attack in Peshawar was in contact with RAW,” he said.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The SAPM added that India used its missions in one of the neighbouring countries of Pakistan to facilitate and sponsor terrorist attacks at a five-star Hotel in Gwadar, the Chinese Consulate in Karachi and the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

    He maintained that Islamabad, under the leadership of PM Imran Khan, wanted a peaceful neighbourhood but India’s Hindutva policies were obstructing the path to attain regional peace.

  • Online dating still a taboo in Pakistan

    Online dating still a taboo in Pakistan

    After endlessly swiping through pictureless profiles on dating apps, Muhammad Ali Shah still hasn’t found the one — or really anyone — to get serious with.

    In Pakistan, where arranged marriages are the norm, he says many women choose to stay anonymous, making online dating matches tricky.

    “It’s slim pickings,” sighs the 36-year-old entrepreneur living in Islamabad, saying friends have called him “desperate” and a “man whore” after going on dozens of dates over the past three years to little avail.

    Unlike in many countries where meeting online is routine, Pakistanis who use dating apps regularly face harassment and judgmental relatives — and now also have to contend with a government clampdown.

    Women users in particular fear possible retribution and often reveal little about themselves — using cartoons, avatars, or random pictures of nature instead of a profile photo.

    “Girls aren’t comfortable… so they don’t really put their pictures or their real names. So it’s a guessing game,” explains Shah.

    The self-described conversationalist relies instead on humorous icebreakers with new matches to kick-start chats, and only asks for a picture if the potential date is comfortable and possibly up for meeting.

    “Most of the time I’m just left swiping because there aren’t any pictures. There’s no real information. The names are not there,” adds Shah. “I don’t blame women for being so careful. I actually think it’s very smart.”

    A 27-year-old woman from Islamabad who was brave enough to post real photos and her name said it was “kind of taboo to be on Tinder”.

    “I was getting phone calls from friends saying ‘I can’t believe you’re on Tinder’,” she said, asking not to be named, adding that she connected with both women and men.

    But she eventually deleted the app once business clients started trying to interact with her on it.

    She says some of her friends who were willing to take the risk have found varying levels of success, but only after going on carefully planned dates.

    “What we do when a friend of ours is going on a Tinder date, we normally just hang out at the same place,” she adds. “We make it sort of safe.”

    If finding love online was already difficult, authorities last month banned Tinder, Grindr and other popular apps for failing to “moderate” their content.

    The move dealt a fresh blow to what is already a niche scene in the country of 220 million people, where most online daters come from the middle and upper classes in Pakistan’s urban areas.

    For the more traditionally inclined, life without dating apps will serve as a return to normality.

    “Dating is not part of our culture or religion. Things need to be done in a halal way — especially something as important as finding a life partner,” explains a 50-year-old matchmaker based in Karachi who has been helping families find suitable partners for arranged marriages for over a decade.

    “Banning these dating apps is a way to preserve our traditions.”

    But despite the potential pitfalls, some say finding love online is possible and a way to avoid arranged marriages.

    “I’d simply had it with the whole culture of arranged marriage in Pakistan, where I’m paraded around in front of mothers, sisters and matchmakers as they pick on my flaws and remind me how I’m not worthy of their son,” says a 23-year-old medical student living in Lahore who met her husband on Tinder and asked not to be named.

    “It took a while until I found someone I could trust, respect, and rely on,” she adds. “But I found him on my own terms, and that’s what makes it special too.”

  • Beast of a phone: Is iPhone 12 the next one for you?

    Beast of a phone: Is iPhone 12 the next one for you?

    Whenever Apple launches a new iPhone, they integrate new chipsets to improve users’ experience while also enabling them to do things like edit Ultra High Definition (UHD) videos and play graphic-intensive games.

    In the iPhone 12, Apple is expected to further upgrade its features, including cameras, chips and the company’s newest software, iOS 14. Besides, the company is said to have reduced the chipset transistors to the size of only 25 atoms that will pack millions more in the processor. 

    Furthermore, all this will further increase the processing power of the chipset and the handset will also have the fastest 5G wireless connectivity.

    The launching ceremony is on October 13th, and it will be held virtually. Those who are interested can stream the ceremony on Apple’s website.

    Apple’s invite, which often has some clues, this time has an Apple logo inside circles with different hues of blue, orange and red. And there’s a pun, “Hi, Speed.” 

      Apple might also announce new over-ear headphones, AirPods Studio, at the event, driving some people to wonder whether the said circles have to do with audio sounds.

      In 2019, the price of iPhone 11 was $799, iPhone Pro and Pro Max started at $1,099. But according to rumours, the price of the iPhone 12 will largely remain the same.

    • Bajwa’s resignation amid political uncertainty affects stock market

      Bajwa’s resignation amid political uncertainty affects stock market

      Pakistan’s stocks reversed gains on Monday as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Special Assistant on Information (SAPM) Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa resigned ahead of protests planned by opposition parties, raising concerns of increased political uncertainty, foreign media reported.

      “Imran Khan approved my request to relinquish the additional post,” Asim Bajwa tweeted Monday.

      The resignation of Imran’s key spokesperson comes amid increasing challenges to his about two-year-old government as he struggles to contain inflation and revive the country’s economy. Meanwhile, an alliance of 11 opposition parties is planning on holding its first protest rally this week, which is the start of a series of such meetings aimed at ousting Imran Khan.

      The benchmark KSE-100 index closed down 1.4%, reversing earlier gains of as much as 0.6%. The stocks have advanced 48% since touching this year’s low on March 25. “The investors are being cautious and booking profits after recent events including Bajwa’s resignation and the opposition’s planned protest add to the uncertainty,” said Qasim Shah, head of international sales at JS Global Capital Ltd in Karachi.

      The premier had turned down Bajwa’s earlier request to resign.