Author: newsdesk

  • More than 500 animals reportedly ‘missing’ from Islamabad zoo

    At least 513 animals are reported to have gone “missing” from Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo.

    According to a report in The Express Tribune, the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), which was managing the zoo in July 2019, in a report had stated that there were a total of 917 animals of and birds of different species present at the zoo at the time. In May, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) handed over the zoo’s management to the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) with directions to shift the animals in the zoo to shelters.

    Following the IHC’s orders, the handover documents dated July 16, 2020, and signed by the Zoo Deputy Director Dr Bilal Khilji, Ministry of Climate Change Biodiversity Director Naeem Ashraf Raja and the takeover authority, IWMB Chairman Dr Anisur Rehman, showed that only 404 animals have been handed over to the new management.

    A comparative analysis of the reports showed that the numbers of animals in both reports are different. While some animals decreased in numbers or went missing, others such as the Barking Deer or Hog Deer showed an increase.

    As per the details available, the population of the spotted deer fell from 12 to 11 in a year, while the Chinkara Gazelle decreased from seven to three. Similarly, the Black Buck Gazelle fell from four to three, Urials from 11 to four, Nilgai (Blue Bull) from 18 to 16, Zebras from five to four, Mallard Ducks from 108 to 74 and Rose Ringed Parakeet from 136 to 30.

    Meanwhile, common doves, which were counted at 255 last year, completely disappeared from the handover document.

    While it is not clear as to what happened to these missing animals, a report quoting sources said that the animals have either died or have been stolen.

    A few weeks earlier, the Islamabad Zoo’s management had come under fire for burning two lions to death while attempting to force them out of their cage so they could be transported to a sanctuary in Lahore. Animals at the zoo are being relocated to temporary sanctuaries after the IHC while hearing Kaavan’s case, ruled that the zoo is not fit enough for them and lacks the necessary facilities.

  • Double-decker bus makes trial drive between twin cities

    Double-decker bus makes trial drive between twin cities

    A test trial of double Decker bus service was conducted in Rawalpindi and Islamabad on the special orders of Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar.

    According to details, the Punjab Tourism Development Corporation with the coordination of Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) initiated a test drive of double-decker bus service on the occasion of Independence Day, celebrated across Pakistan yesterday.

    The bus service is expected to start next week in twin cities. The goal of the service is to promote tourism, to invite local and foreign tourists to enjoy the culture and scenery of the twin cities.

    Advisor to CM Punjab for Horticulture and Tourism Asif Mehmood said, “The Tourism Development Corporation Punjab (TDCP) will operate the buses,” adding the construction work of the main terminal at Allama Iqbal Park double road is now in the final stage.

    At first, two buses will be operated and local people can benefit from this plan, he added.

    In Islamabad, the tourists can visit different tourist spots including Faisal Mosque, Marghrzar Zoo, Daman-e-Koh, Constitution Avenue, Lok Virsa, Pakistan Museum of Natural History and Shakarparian through this bus service.

  • Sarwat Gilani took inspiration from Miranda Priestly for her character in ‘Churails’

    Sarwat Gilani has revealed that she took inspiration from Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada for her character in Churails. Sarwat plays a lawyer turned trophy wife Sara in the series.

    Read more – Cheating husbands, badass women & girl power: ‘Churails’ promises to be ‘witchy’ delight

    In a recent interview with an Indian media outlet, Gilani shared: “In TV and films, you have to emote a lot for the audience to feel the pain or happiness but for the web it had to be altered to zero. I had to unlearn and start new. In The Devil Wears Prada, Streep doesn’t say much but her aura is so powerful. I even got inspired by Angelina’s [Jolie] film Mr and Mrs Smith, I wanted to take that subtleness.”

    She added, “Basically, I adapted the subtleness of these strong personalities in my character.”

    Talking further about the show, Gilani said that director Asim Abbasi’s aim was to break the stereotype that a woman who steps out of the house is bad and the one who stays home and takes care of the house in good. She said Pakistani dramas are often unable to portray women like they are and end up sugarcoating them and presenting an unrealistic character.

    “The stories are fictional. There is not much reality attached to it, although we see some stories in the news every day. Like a guy throwing acid on a woman because she refused to marry him. But we don’t want to talk about it in the entertainment sector, we want to sugarcoat the story. Asim wanted to break this,” said the actor.

    “In Churails we didn’t need a man to rescue a woman, we wanted to show that a woman can stand for herself and uplift other women going through problems.”

    Meanwhile, Gilani is thrilled about the response they are getting for Churails.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CD3gppMD2bn/

    Created and directed by Cake director Asim Abbasi, Churails is now streaming on ZEE5. The series also features Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha, Omair Rana and Meharbano in the lead roles.

  • Did you know Indians made desi version of ‘FRIENDS’?

    We just found out that there exists a desi version of FRIENDS made by ZeeTv. Episodes of the desi version titled ‘HELLO FRIENDS‘ are on YouTube and it is not only unfunny but also unoriginal because the makers copied each and every scene and the exact dialogues from the original. Needless to Friends fans were outraged with this and some even called it a bigger pandemic than COVID-19.

    A Twitter user posted a video of its opening scene on the microblogging site and people think it was not a good idea to make a desi version of the super hit show.

    https://twitter.com/PancholiRudri/status/1293949864879902722?s=20

  • Corona times: What’s next for educational institutes, wedding industry, restaurants and cinemas?

    Corona times: What’s next for educational institutes, wedding industry, restaurants and cinemas?

    The spread of coronavirus in Pakistan has decreased significantly. In June, Pakistan ranked 12th on the list of the countries hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, but within two months, it has improved its ranking with a drop in both the number of daily infections and fatalities.

    Not only the drop but anti-corona efforts of Pakistan’s government which led to it are being praised internationally as president-elect of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Volkan Bozkir, has termed the same a “good example for the world to follow”.

    The decline in COVID-19 cases has been followed by the government allowing to reopen all sectors that had been closed for months, excluding educational institutions and marriage halls. The two are likely to reopen on September 15, after a final review by authorities concerned on September 7. 

    While it’s still difficult to estimate the economic losses Pakistan suffered due to the global pandemic, it can be said that people associated with educational institutions, wedding halls, cinemas and restaurants were more vulnerable amid lockdowns.

    EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS:

    Pakistan’s 317,328 educational institutions have remained closed for the past six months and as a result, more than 40 million students are suffering. Teachers, on the other hand, and other staffers have no source of income. While many have been sacked by private institutions, some private school owners such as Muhammad Danish from Karachi, who had been running the school for the past 14 years, has now been forced to set up a biryani stall at his own school.

    While reopening of the institutions still is to be decided upon, experts believe it will be hard to bounce back from the current situation and that with extra precautions.

    WEDDING INDUSTRY:

    As the second most-affected industry remains wedding, marriage halls have been served a severe blow. According to Punjab Marriage Halls Association President Khalid Idrees, as many as 12,000 marriage halls run the households of over four million staffers and management members in Punjab alone, all of whom have been jobless since March.

    Trends suggest that a number of people are awaiting the new wedding world order to once again resort to huge gatherings or continue shifting towards smaller, simpler functions.

    RESTAURANT SECTOR:

    Meanwhile, as the restaurant sector also remains affected by COVID-19, Arab News reported that 30% to 40% of restaurants in Lahore have shut down permanently.

    Admin of popular food blog Foodies ‘R Us, Asad Sheikh, believes some of the government-issued guidelines for coronavirus prevention are beyond comprehension as the dine-in capacity of restaurants being reduced by 50% would affect sales and ultimately leave owners with no other option but to prefer managing takeaways.

    CINEMAS & THEATRES:

    In the case of another hard-hit industry, cinema and theatre owners are not yet ready to implement social distancing SOPs for coronavirus either and ensuring limited seating capacity.

    While there are 160 cinemas in the country with almost 24,000 seating capacity, reopening to public at the cost of half their audiences would be unprofitable.

  • Momina Mustehsan, Muneeb Butt hit out at Kangana Ranaut for promoting ‘anti-Pakistan’ sentiments

    Momina Mustehsan and Muneeb Butt lashed out at Kangana Ranaut for “dragging” Pakistan into all her arguments.

    “Why does Pakistan get dragged into all your arguments?” questioned Momina. “It serves no purpose but takes away from your mission to rightly get justice for SSR (Sushant Singh Rajput), fight nepotism, your own internal state politics and curb religious hatred and prejudice.”

    “Justice can’t be achieved by propagating regional hatred,” she added.

    Butt voiced a similar opinion, saying: “Why are they so obsessed with Pakistan?”

    Ranaut, who has been actively campaigning against the Bhatts including Alia and Mahesh and accusing them of driving Sushant Singh Rajput to suicide, in a recent tweet passed an anti-Pakistan statement in order to make her point against them. Kangana was objecting to Alia’s dialogue in her upcoming film Sadak 2 which is: “In guruo ki wajah se mainay kisi apne ko khoya hai.”

    Labelling someone as a “Pakistani tout” is nothing new and Indians often use this label to bring down someone whose point of view they don’t agree with.

    Meanwhile, Alia Bhatt’s upcoming film Sadak 2 has been mired in controversy ever since the trailer dropped. The trailer has become the ‘most disliked’ trailer on YouTube and the makers of the film have been accused of stealing a song from Pakistani artist Shezan Saleem a.k.a JO-G.

  • PM praises Islamabad top cop as capital ‘safer city than London, Paris’

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has lauded Islamabad Inspector General (IG) Muhammad Amir Zulfiqar Khan over the ongoing operation against land grabbers and a significant reduction in crime rate in the federal capital, which was also highlighted by a report of the World Crime Index issued by the international organisation, Numbeo, earlier this year.

    According to a statement from Islamabad police, the crime index decreased to 28.63 per cent in 2020 from 32.88 per cent last year. Islamabad was 232nd on the list earlier while it stands at 301 in the recent ranking of most vulnerable cities to crime in the world.

    Its ranking is far better compared to Sydney, Berlin, Moscow, London, Paris and Shanghai, said the report issued after a survey of 374 cities of the world in January.

    While the top cop had back then said that crime rate decreased in the capital as a result of an effective strategy, he has now briefed the premier on the same, after which he has been tasked to continue full-scale operation against the land mafia involved in land grabbing.

    According to Information Minister Shibli Faraz, the police have retrieved 1,537 acre land from grabbers over Rs450 billion in Islamabad.

    In addition to this, the capital has also witnessed a decline in crime up to 15 per cent.

  • 184 recipients of civil awards announced; Edhi, Faraz, Ali Zafar, veteran actors, foreign delegates among others on list

    184 recipients of civil awards announced; Edhi, Faraz, Ali Zafar, veteran actors, foreign delegates among others on list

    A list of 184 civil awards recipients has been issued by the government on the occasion of Pakistan’s 73rd Independence Day, all of whom, including actors, poets, soldiers, television anchors, singers and foreign dignitaries, will be presented their respective honours by President Dr Arif Alvi in a ceremony on Pakistan Day next year.

    Philanthropist and Edhi Foundation head Faisal Edhi will be awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz. The Nishan-i-Imtiaz will be awarded to ace painter Sadequain Naqvi. Other recipients of the award include singer Abida Perveen and late poet Ahmed Faraz.

    Actors Bushra Ansari and Talat Hussain have been named for the Sitara-i-Imtiaz award. They have entertained audiences both inside and outside Pakistan for more than two decades. Anchor Naeem Bukhari is also one of the recipients of the award.

    President Alvi will also present the Pride of Performance award actors to Humayun Saeed, singer Ali Zafar and religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jameel. Sakina Samo will also get the same award for her acting skills.

    Last year, Mehwish Hayat, Sajjad Ali, Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, Babra Sharif, comedian Iftikhar Thakur and journalist Arshad Sharif were among others who received the awards.

    Pakistan Civil Awards were established on March 19, 1957, following the proclamation of Pakistan as an independent republic on March 23, 1956. The announcement of civil awards is generally made once a year on Independence Day, and their investiture takes place on the following Pakistan Day, March 23.

    According to Article 259(2) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, along with the Decorations Act 1975, the president confers civil awards on Pakistani citizens in recognition of gallantry.

    Awards for pride of performance are conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of art, literature, science, sports and nursing.

    In December, the ministries and their divisions are invited to recommend candidates to the Cabinet Division. Received nominations are considered by three awards committees after which the final proposal is sent to the president for approval.

    The president can confer awards to foreign nationals any time during the year. For such awards, proposals are made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and approved by the president prior to conferral.

    The awards comprise five orders, each with four descending classes: Nishan [Order], Hilal [Crescent], Sitara [Star] and Tamgha [Medal].

    VIEW THE COMPLETE LIST:

    August 14, 2020
  • Pakistani researchers win Facebook’s ‘Integrity Research Challenge’

    Pakistani researchers win Facebook’s ‘Integrity Research Challenge’

    Agha Ali Raza and Ihsan Ayyub Qazi from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) wins Facebook’s Foundation Integrity Research that solves the problem of misinformation on Facebook.

    In February, Facebook asked academic institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from all over the world to send proposals.

    “Our goal is to support independent research that will contribute to the understanding of the phenomena and, in the long term, help us improve our policies, interventions, and tooling,” said Alex Leavitt, Senior Researcher at Facebook.

    Raza and Qazi’s research tackles the challenges by measuring the role of prior beliefs and analytical reasoning, and how this impacts the beliefs of internet users.

    Raza and Qazi also designed an educational intervention that uses influential public figures to spread awareness about misinformation on the platform.

    “We are thrilled to have our research been awarded the grant by Facebook which would serve as a stepping stone for us to take our project forward.

    Through our research, we aim to understand how non-textual misinformation (e.g. deepfakes) is perceived by internet users with low digital literacy and the role of pre-conceived notions, and analytical reasoning in shaping the beliefs of such users.

    We are hopeful that by the completion of this project, we will be able to make a substantial contribution towards combating the circulation of false and unverified information on the internet,” stated the winning duo.

    The social media giant received around 1,000 proposals out of which 25 awardees have been finalised for Facebook’s research and policy teams.

    The winners’ will be investigating issues across 42 countries including Canada, Denmark, Pakistan, Turkey, and the UK.

  • Karachi to get its second street library today

    Karachi to get its second street library today

    The second street library of Karachi will be inaugurated on Independence Day (today) at Baloch Chowk in Lyari.

    As per reports, the first street library with over 600 books was inaugurated on December 25, last year on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

    The street library in Lyari has been set up at Baloch Chowk in alliance with the District Municipal Corporation (DMC) South.

    Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani is going to inaugurated the street library today.

    The city administration had started its work to establish the second street library from July 05 this year.

    The first street library of Karachi is located at the Commissioner’s Corner at Metropole. The library was inaugurated by Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah.

    Not only Karachi, Hyderabad is also going to get its first street library on the Independence Day of Pakistan which is being celebrated across the country today.

    The Hyderabad administration has developed a street library at the city’s iconic “Thandi Sadak”.