Author: newsdesk

  • ‘Punjab exported wheat on Asad Umar’s orders’

    ‘Punjab exported wheat on Asad Umar’s orders’

    In his first media encounter after resigning as Punjab food minister, Samiullah Chaudhry has claimed that Asad Umar, as then federal finance minister, had asked for exporting wheat despite his opposition, Dawn reported.

    Threatening to expose the forces involved in the wheat flour report conspiracy, he said the inquiry committee never wished to summon him for investigation.

    “Asad Umar as federal finance minister had chaired a high-level meeting in Islamabad early last year and asked for exporting some of the wheat stocks, 7.2 million tonnes in Punjab at that time. I opposed the move because the government would have to offer subsidy for the export [for the grain being costlier than the world prices],” he said while speaking to a private media outlet.

    “I said the country could not afford to give the subsidy and suggested rather selling out the same stocks in the local market [for the benefit of the local population],” he said, adding that flour mills in Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) still enjoyed subsidised wheat at the cost of Punjab’s exchequer.

    The former minister maintained that he had also asked the inquiry committee to also include this fact in its report.

    In his reaction to the allegation, now Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said it was not his personal but a collective decision taken on the condition that prices won’t be allowed to be increased in the local market. He said the decision was first taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and then endorsed by the federal cabinet.

  • Around 10,000 Pakistanis lose jobs in UAE amid coronavirus outbreak

    Around 10,000 Pakistanis lose jobs in UAE amid coronavirus outbreak

    Due to the coronavirus outbreak in United Arab Emirates (UAE), 10,000 plus Pakistanis have lost their jobs, The News reported.

    Moreover, around 35,000 Pakistanis have registered with the consulate in Dubai in a bid to return Pakistan, Consul General Ahmed Amjad Ali Said.

    The officials informed that preparations are underway to bring back the stranded Pakistanis.

    Besides, “Tourists, unemployed and the elderly will be given preference,” as per evacuation policy.

    The screening measures have been completed at the Dubai airport but bringing Pakistanis back in such large number in very challenging for the authorities.

    According to Pakistani diplomats, Pakistan is a big labour supplier to the UAE — more than a million Pakistanis — who are living and working in UAE.

    In March, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Division Moeed W Yusuf had assured the nation that the government was in touch with the authorities of those countries where Pakistani passengers are stuck in transit.

  • Whatsapp imposes new limits on the forwarding of viral messages

    Whatsapp imposes new limits on the forwarding of viral messages

    We are all being bombarded with Whatsapp forwards about coronavirus cures or other related issues in our family/friends or other Whatsapp groups. Many times, these messages turn out to be fake.

    With heightened scrutiny on the potential of private message apps to spread misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic, WhatsApp on Tuesday said it would place new limits on the forwarding of messages. Messages that have been identified as “highly forwarded” — sent through a chain of five or more people — can only be forwarded to a single person. The move is designed to reduce the speed with which information moves through WhatsApp, putting truth and fiction on a more even footing.

    “We know many users forward helpful information, as well as funny videos, memes, and reflections or prayers they find meaningful. In recent weeks, people have also used WhatsApp to organize public moments of support for frontline health workers,” the company, which is part of Facebook, said in a blog post. “However, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”

    For much of WhatsApp’s existence, it was easy for users to forward a single message to as many as 256 people with just a few taps. Initially, these messages were not labelled as forwards, and the end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp could make it almost impossible for authorities to determine who might be using the app to spread hate speech or calls to violence. This triggered a crisis in India, where WhatsApp was linked to mob violence.

    In 2018, WhatsApp began experimenting with limits on the number of times a message could be forwarded. It also began labeling forwarded messages for the first time, and adding two arrows to show that a message has been repeatedly forwarded. Last year, the company began limiting the number of people you can forward a single message to to five.

    It’s a soft limit: nothing prevents you from forwarding the same message over and over again to different people. But introducing more friction helped to slow the rate of forwarding overall — in the past year, WhatsApp says, forwards are down 25 percent around the world.

    But amid a huge surge in use related to the pandemic, WhatsApp has come under the spotlight for the way it can be used to spread misinformation. Last month, CNN and other news organisations found that the app had been used to share a variety of false information about “cures” for COVID-19 and hoaxes about military activity related to the disease. The prime minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, urged people to “please stop sharing unverified info on Whatsapp groups.”

    In response, WhatsApp promoted a bot made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that provides information about the disease that has been vetted by healthcare professionals. The app has been used by more than 10 million people. WhatsApp also donated $1 million to the International Fact-Checking Network.

  • Imran govt renamed ‘Benazir Income Support Programme’ as ‘Ehsaas’

    Imran govt renamed ‘Benazir Income Support Programme’ as ‘Ehsaas’

    In yet another embarrassing development for the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the government’s lawyer has told the Supreme Court (SC) that Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) — a flagship project of the Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) government for poverty reduction — was renamed as Ehsaas — a similar and much-boasted-about initiative by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    As per the details, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan on Tuesday told the apex court that the data collected by BISP, “which had been renamed as Ehsaas”, was being used by the government to ensure that money reaches the poor amid lockdowns due to the spread of coronavirus.

    A five-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed was hearing the case regarding the closure of hospitals in the country during the global outbreak.

    During the course of proceedings, the AGP apprised the court that he had talked to Special Assistant to the PM (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza regarding the court’s query about the closure of out-patient departments of hospitals, who wanted to give a briefing to the court on the steps taken by the government in the health sector. The government was taking steps to combat the virus, he added.

    Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the government had to help the people on the ground. “If there were local governments, the people would have been helped at the grassroots level,” he said, adding that the local government system in the country, including Islamabad, was dysfunctional.

    The CJP said the government’s job was not to keep employees on contract instead of appointing on a regular basis.

    The AGP said that the federal cabinet had discussed the matter.

    The CJP asked the government to appoint all employees on a regular basis in all the departments of hospitals. “Many cases were pending in the SC regarding the regularisation of employees,” he remarked.

    CJP Gulzar further said the government had appointed the employees on a contract basis, instead of recruiting them through the Public Service Commission.

    He said the parliament should be in session at all times to formulate new laws. The job of courts was not to make laws, he added.

    The CJP then asked who was being paid under the Ehsaas programme, to which the AGP replied that the government would give money to those below the poverty line.

    “How will the government know if money reached the poor or not?” the top judge question.

    “The data collected by BISP, which had been renamed as Ehsaas, is being used,” the lawyer said in response, adding that Ehsaas programme had been approved by a foreign agency.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/fatah_pak/status/1247592261300424708?s=21

    PPP REACTS:

    Reacting to the revelation, PPP Information Secretary Dr Nafisa Shah has expressed her shock and said that a law made by the parliament could not be changed.

    “Thousands of poor have been left without income support by the people who are haters of the late Benazir Bhutto,” she said in a statement and asked what kind of Ehsaas took away bread from the poor women of Pakistan.

    Shah said that this was the time when the neglected needed the most help, but the government had let them down.

    “BISP had given confidence to the poor women of Pakistan. By changing the name of this programme poor women have been deprived of their income. Imran Khan and his government have no right or authority to change the name of a programme established by [the] parliament,” she concluded.

  • Twitter CEO Jack pledges $1 billion for coronavirus relief

    Twitter CEO Jack pledges $1 billion for coronavirus relief

    Jack Dorsey is devoting $1 billion of his stake in Square Inc., the payments firm he co-founded, to help fund coronavirus relief efforts.

    “After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI,” Dorsey said Tuesday in a tweet, referring to universal basic income. The pledge represents about 28% of his wealth.

    At the end of his Twitter thread, Jack said: “Why now? The needs are increasingly urgent, and I want to see the impact in my lifetime. I hope this inspires others to do something similar. Life is too short, so let’s do everything we can today to help people now. ✌?”

    Dorsey, also co-founder of Twitter Inc., has a net worth of about $3.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

    Meanwhile, Malala thanked Jack for his generosity.

  • US all-praise for Pakistani Americans for serving communities amid coronavirus outbreak

    US all-praise for Pakistani Americans for serving communities amid coronavirus outbreak

    Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary of the United States’ (US) Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, has appreciated Pakistani Americans for serving communities both in the country and back home during the persisting global health crisis of coronavirus.

    The diplomat took to social media to laud Pakistan-born Americans for providing food and assistance in the US, as well as supporting healthcare professionals in their native country.

    The tweet comes days after the US announced that it will give a $1 million grant to Pakistan under the USAID programme to help improve monitoring and rapid response against the COVID-19.

    “The US-Pakistan government partnership is helping fight COVID-19. The US government is responding to COVID-19 in Pakistan with [an] initial $1 million funding to bolster monitoring and rapid response,” Wells had said at the time, adding that Islamabad and Washington were longstanding partners in tackling global health challenges.

  • Jazz pledges Rs 1.2 billion for COVID-19 relief efforts

    Jazz pledges Rs 1.2 billion for COVID-19 relief efforts

    Pakistan’s largest digital service provider, Jazz, a VEON group company, has pledged PKR 1.2 billion support towards Covid19 relief. The support will include short to mid-term initiatives aimed to limit the negative impact of the pandemic, primarily for the most vulnerable communities.

    According to a press release, Jazz will provide support to leading welfare organisations across Pakistan. The initiatives include COVID-19 tests, life-saving ventilators, and food rations to be passed on to the ones most affected by the calamity. The relief response also facilitates Jazz customers to direct their charitable donations via SMS and JazzCash. Jazz employees will also be voluntarily contributing up to 3-days salary to the nationwide relief effort.

    A significant part of the announced support will be for continuing zero-rated and subsidized services for access to emergency care, medical helplines, and critical health applications, which have been either marked-down or made free for customers under this coronavirus relief effort. Additional support will come in through subsidized voice and data bundles and mobile payments. The company has also accelerated the sign-up process for JazzCash mobile wallets so that relief can be provided urgently by donors directly to local community members most impacted by this pandemic.

    Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim said, “We have been at the forefront of solving every crisis in Pakistan for the past 25 years. The COVID-19 is no exception in stepping up our national responsibility. As a digital company, we have a huge role to play in keeping the economy advancing through online connectivity. This global crisis is unprecedented in its scale, and our prayers are with those who are suffering.”

    Aamir added, “It has been our experience that reliance on scientific data, developing a robust, on-ground response, and an active collaboration will lead us out of this crisis. I’m glad that in this time of uncertainty, we are working together with the government, the armed forces, federal and provincial authorities, as they tirelessly contain the spread of Covid19.”

    Mobile communications, access to high-speed internet, and mobile payments are declared essential services during any crisis. The cellular company is working actively to ensure that its services remain unaffected so that Pakistan can stay connected to both work and family.

  • Abrarul Haq accused of stealing ‘Mohafiz’ smartphone app

    Abrarul Haq accused of stealing ‘Mohafiz’ smartphone app

    Abrarul Haq, Pakistani singer and chairman of Pakistan Red Crescent Society allegedly infringed the idea of an existing app, ProPakistani reported.

    Abrar Ul Haq and Pakistan Red Crescent Society launched an emergency response application under the name of “Muhafiz.” However, they are accused of copying already available application ‘Mohafiz” by HumanTek. 

    It bears mentioning that Abrar and his team launched their app at the Muahfiz Youth Force Launching Ceremony that took place on the 5th of April 2020 in Lahore. The honour was done by President Arif Alvi.

    The original Mohafiz application was launched almost 5 years ago. It was developed by HumanTek after 2014’s APS attack as an Emergency service smartphone application. 

    According to the CEO of HumanTek, they have saved over 8,000 lives. Furthermore, this application is already downloaded by almost 80,000 plus users. 

    Since the situation came out, Abrarul Haq has not commented on this matter. 

    Despite several allegations against each other, officials on both sides are trying to resolve this matter amicably. 

    Fahad Khan, the founder of real ‘Mohafiz’ said that both sides should work together to server humanity under dire situation rather than competing with each other. 

  • VIDEO: Banker uses steam iron to disinfect cheque

    A bank employee in India has found a unique way to disinfect cheques using a hot iron.

    A viral video of the cashier shows him holding cheques with a pair of tongs and then ironing them in a desperate attempt to disinfect them. Many people lauded him for his innovation.

    The video was shared on Twitter by Indian business conglomerate Anand Mahindra along with a caption: ‘I have no idea if the cashier’s technique is effective but you have to give him credit for his creativity’!

    According to a report by NDTV, the banker in the video is an employee of the Bank of Baroda whose creative method of disinfecting the cheques has won the internet, but it is not clear whether the measure is effective.

  • ‘No special flights between Pakistan, UAE,’ officials warn people of travel agents’ scam

    ‘No special flights between Pakistan, UAE,’ officials warn people of travel agents’ scam

    The Pakistan Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued a warning about a ticket scam involving travel agents offering to book tickets on “special flights” from the UAE to Pakistan.

    “Flights between Pakistan and the UAE are suspended and there is no announcement of any special flights from UAE to Pakistan so far,” said a statement issued by the Embassy on Tuesday.

    The statement added that the embassy would announce if any special flights would be offered, while stressing that there will be an official announcement whenever normal flight operations between Pakistan and the UAE resume.

    “This is to inform Pakistani community members in the UAE that some agents are offering tickets for ‘special flights’ from the UAE to Pakistan. Beware of such people and instead contact the respective airlines to confirm the flights before purchasing any tickets,” the embassy statement went on to say.

    The Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai reiterated the warning on its Twitter account.

    “Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai has not announced any special flight to Pakistan of any airline yet. The consulate will not be responsible for any such ticket purchases.”

    Thousands of Pakistanis are stranded in the UAE after flights were suspended amid the global coronavirus outbreak.

    It is understood that Pakistanis’ data is being collated to assist the government in formulating plans for repatriation.

    The Foreign Ministry in Pakistan is also believed to be working out how to bring back stranded Pakistanis from around the world, with some flights already being operated.