An old video of Prime Minister Imran Khan is doing the rounds on social media in which he is celebrating basant. The location is likely to be Yousaf Salauddin’s iconic haveli with Lahore’s famous Badshahi Masjid in the background.
Watch video:
Author: newsdesk
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Govt launches ‘Sehat Tahaffuz’ helpline to provide health-related information
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza introduced the ‘Sehat Tahaffuz’ helpline ‘1166’ at a ceremony in Islamabad to provide health-related information services to the public.
As per reports, through the helpline, people will be able to get instant assistance to their queries and concerns, particularly related to polio and routine immunization services.
The helpline will also provide information and address queries of parents related to the vaccine. It will be active from eight in the morning to twelve midnight daily.
Pakistan remains one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where the poliovirus is still prevalent.
There is a strong national and international commitment to eradicate polio. It is a collective responsibility to ensure all children are protected and vaccinated against the poliovirus.
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Man kills female coworker for fat-shaming him
An Indonesian man murdered a female colleague after she called him fat and compared him to a sumo wrestler.
As per reports, Ali Heri Sanjaya, 27, was arrested on January 28 after his colleague Rosidah, 18, was found dead in village Banyuwangi, Java.
Sanjaya and Rosidah worked at the same restaurant and had known each other for years as they lived in the same neighbourhood.
The local police chief said that Rosidah had allegedly made fun of Sanjaya in public and compared him to a sumo wrestler triggering his anger.
Sanjaya had been planning the murder for a while. He waited for Rosidah outside their workplace on the pretext of dropping her home but took her to an unknown place instead.
When they reached the abandoned coconut plantation at Pondok Nongko Village, he asked her to get off the vehicle, strangled her and burnt her body using gasoline.
Sanjaya has been arrested and is likely to get capital punishment or life imprisonment.
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Pakistan International Screen Awards comes under fire for ‘disrespecting’ nominees
The first Pakistan International Screen Awards (PISA) are being held in Dubai Friday night. The organisers have gathered pretty much the entire entertainment industry and flown them to Dubai for the event. However, turns out that several nominees have been neglected and not given their due respect.
Among those is Osman Khalid Butt, Saqib Malik, Bulbulay actor Nabeel Zafar and Suno Chanda‘s Nadia Afgan. According to these celebrities, they were nominated and invited for the event but the management bailed on them at the last minute leaving them hanging.
In a social media post, Nabeel recounted how he was nominated for an award and invited to the event by the organisers through their PR company. He said that the organisers requested him to submit his documents only to vanish.
Nabeel regretted that his name was used to promote the event and attract audiences.
“To all the people who are expecting us in Dubai, let me categorically inform you all that I will not be a part of the show.”
Osman Khalid Butt had a similar story to share though he did not go into details.
Nadia Afgan who was also nominated for her “outstanding work as an actress in a comedy role” also shared her story in an Instagram post. She also shared screenshots of her conversation with the organisers of the event.
“I feel like if you’re not an Insta star you’re not an Insta star. Aap jitni bhi mehnat karley aap jitney bhi achay actor hoon (No matter how hard you work , how good of an actor you are) its no use if you’re treated like this,” Afgan said while speaking to a local media outlet, adding that she had even gotten her dress made for the event.
Usman Mukhtar also slammed the organisers for promoting the event by using his videos even though he asked them to remove them as he wouldn’t be part of the event.
Ali Safina also slammed the award show and the organisers in a Facebook post.
Several actors including Sanam Saeed, Tara Mehmood, Bilal Ashraf and Aijaz Aslam lauded Safina for speaking up against the organisers behaviour.
PISA had earlier also misled audiences by announcing that Mahira Khan will be performing at the award show. However, Mahira clarified this on Twitter saying that she will only be attending the event.
Earlier, the organisers of the award show had flown a handful of celebrities to Dubai in a private jet, pictures of which had gone viral on social media.
Meanwhile, other celebrities who will be attending the event include Meera, Ali Zafar, Mahira Khan, Sheheryar Munawar, Strings, Adnan Siddiqui, Humayun Saeed, Hira Mani, Aima Baig, Zara Noor Abbas, Ayesha Omar, Sarwat Gilani and Hareem Farooq among others.
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Sanam Marvi files for khula
Renowned folk singer Sanam Marvi has filed for khula (woman’s right to divorce) from husband Hamid Ali.
According to a report in Geo News, Marvi filed for khula in a family court of Lahore. In her petition, Marvi said that she married Hamid Ali in 2009, but after a while, her husband’s attitude towards her changed and he started becoming abusive.
“Hamid started abusing and torturing me in front of the children. I tolerated abuse from my husband for the sake of my kids,” the singer told the court.
Marvi requested the court to grant her khula as she can no longer live with her husband.
Marvi tied the knot with Ali in 2009 after her former husband Aftab Ahmed was killed in Karachi.
In an earlier interview, Sanam had shared that her stepfather married her at the age of eighteen because of their poverty-stricken circumstances. But a short while after her wedding, Marvi’s husband was murdered in a targeted attack in Karachi. She was pregnant with their first child.
The same year she married Hamid, who is also her cousin. Sharing details about their marriage, Marvi had said, “He said, ‘I always liked her. But you married her off too young.’ Then my mother suggested that he visit and meet me in person as well. There were sparks. He started liking me more and then phone calls upon phone calls from the next day. And that’s how our story started — our love story.”
Sanam and Hamid have three children together.
The 33-year old singer was recently also part of Coke Studio Season 12 and her song Hairaan Hua was a hit.
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Coronavirus: Let’s do what needs to be done
According to the National Health Commission’s latest figures, coronavirus has so far killed 636 people and infected 31,161 in mainland China. The death toll includes 73 new ones reported Thursday. Two people have died in Hong Kong and the Philippines, while 25 countries have confirmed cases of the novel virus.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) is also ringing alarm bells to address the global outbreak.
Although Pakistan has not yet confirmed any case of coronavirus, panic is running through the country due to trade worth over $15 billion between Islamabad and Beijing, besides China being a geographical neighbour. Pakistan has around 500 students in Wuhan — the epicentre of the coronavirus — and multiple video messages from Pakistanis in the Chinese city, who want the government to extract them, have also flooded the internet. Many other countries have rescued their nationals from Wuhan, while Pakistan, so far, hasn’t officially done so even though flights from China have resumed.
The reason Pakistani health officials have been reluctant to bring Pakistanis back from Wuhan is not only because they feel that Pakistan is not capable of providing basic medicare to coronavirus patients and/even suspected cases, but also maybe because they know that not everyone would be risking their lives to save others, as seen in China. An evidence of this remains the Sindhi youth, who was not even provided necessary aid after doctors suspected he had contracted the virus from China.
We don’t have proper quarantine facilities either. Others feel that these are just excuses and if countries like India and Bangladesh can bring back their citizens and quarantine them, so can Pakistan. It was quite insensitive of our embassy officials in China to tell those stuck there that death can come anywhere, be it Pakistan or China. Even if we could not evacuate them, there is a way of saying it in a more sensitive way rather than telling them that “one could die anywhere”. Our diplomatic staff definitely needs a crash course in diplomacy!
It would be a tragedy if something were to happen to any corona-infected Pakistani in China. They and their loved ones deserve the full support of our government. Given the proximity to China and the presence of the Chinese workforce in Pakistan, we should definitely be prepared to deal with the virus in any case. We should not just be ready to deal with coronavirus cases, but we should also have special quarantine facilities ready in every major city. Our airports should have proper monitoring systems in place for people coming back from China. Preemptive measures should be our top priority.
While this is what The Current believes should be done in times of this global health emergency, another thing — a rather social aspect — remains the apparently unintentional racism against Chinese nationals. At a time when certain people are antagonising the Chinese on the basis of their nationality, the least we can do is to not let our inner racist take over us as we try to help the world deal with the menace that is the coronavirus.
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‘The deafening silence is criminal’: Mahira Khan raises voice for ‘Zindagi Tamasha’
The fate of Sarmad Khoosat’s Zindagi Tamasha hangs in limbo as the government is yet to decide whether the film can be released or not. The film, which was scheduled to hit screens on January 25, was stopped from being released days before its release after the federal and provincial governments feared public unrest.
While the Federal Government had said that the film will be reviewed by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the Punjab Government directed the filmmaker to hold a screening on February 3 so that the film can be reviewed again. However, the screening has not taken place as yet. It is pertinent to mention here that the provincial and central censor boards had earlier cleared the film for release with a few cuts.
Read more – ‘Zindagi Tamasha’s fate hangs in limbo
As governing bodies are still to decide the future of the film, Mahira Khan took to social media to voice her support for the film.
Osman Khalid Butt not only agreed with her but also requested artists and actor attending the first Pakistan International Screen Awards in Dubai to raise their voice for the film.
Nadia Afgan, who played Shanno in Suno Chanda, also spoke out in favour of the filmmaker.
Ever since the film was barred from release, director Sarmad has not made a public statement. His father, Irfan Khoosat, who had filed a case against Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) for interfering in the smooth release of the film also withdrew his petition for reasons unknown.
Meanwhile, TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi recently said that he would not let the film release no matter what remarking: “We will not let Zindagi Tamasha release and will do whatever it takes to make sure it does not see the light of day.”
Read more – ‘Over my dead body,’ says Khadim Rizvi on Zindagi Tamasha release
Earlier, Sarmad had also appealed to the Prime Minister, President, Chief of Army Staff and the Chief Justice of Pakistan to facilitate the release of the film.
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Do you know about the new pinch emoji?
Sending emojis to convey a complete message without using a single word has emerged as a new trend in recent, millennial times.
Emoji 13.0 is the set of 117 new emojis that have been approved for release in 2020. Among them is the ‘pinch emoji’ gesture, designed to represent the Italian hand gesture ma che vuoi (or ‘finger purse’).
The “What do you want?” pinched fingers emoji proposal was submitted by Y Adriano Farano, Jennifer 8. Lee and Theo Schear of Emojination to Unicode. The proposal explains the significance of this emoji. It is part of the Italian gestural expression which is now widespread in Mediterranean countries and according to research published by the New York Times, Italians use this gesture roughly 250 times a day.
Not just Italians but many other cultures use the same pinched finger gesture to make a point, for example, one blogger mentions that this is an expression used for “just about everything”, and in Israel, it means “Wait a minute,” or “Hurry up” or “Relax.”
The gesture is used by pinching your fingers against the thumb and moving your hand back and forth against your chest which translates to “What do you want?”
Even Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy, in 2015 was seen flaunting this gesture to give an impactful speech in the Italian Parliament. Hence it is not just an emoji but represents the Italian culture and celebrates their tradition.
The proposal was accepted and we will soon be seeing this emoji in 2020.
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Weekend events in your city
Lahore
Book Fair
Date and Time: Feb 6 at 10:30 AM – Feb 10 at 10 PM
Venue: Expo Centre, Johar Town, Lahore.
Shehr-e-Tabassum: Film Screening and Panel Discussion
Date: Feb 8, Saturday
Time: 3 PM – 5 PM
Venue: British Council Library, 65 Mozang.
Qissay Kahaniyan: Open Mic Night
Date: Feb 8, Saturday.
Time: 5 PM – 7 PM
Venue: Karak Khel, 20_A Bankers Society Phase 1.
Islamabad
Chocolate Festival
Date and Time: Feb 7 at 1 PM – Feb 9 at 10 PM.
Venue: Safa Gold Mall, Jinnah Super, College Road, F-7 Markaz.
Soul festival 2020
Date and Time: Feb 7 at 3PM – Feb 9 at 1PM.
Venue: Fatima Jinnah /Capital / F-9 Park, F-9, Islamabad.
Karachi
Rafi Peer International Puppet Festival
Date and Time: Feb 7 at 3 PM – Feb 9 at 11 PM
Venue: Bagh Ibn e Qasim, Karachi.
Dhamaal Night
Date: Feb 8, Saturday
Time: 5 PM – 10 PM
Venue: Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Near Karachi Press Club.
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NA adopts resolution for public hanging of child rapists amid PPP’s opposition
The Lower House on Friday adopted a resolution seeking public hanging of child rapists with a majority vote despite opposition from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), ARY reported.
According to reports, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, who had tabled the resolution in the National Assembly, said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan wanted death sentence for child abuse convicts.
“When we raised the issue of a public hanging in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights headed by [PPP chief] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, it was opposed,” the minister said and added that the government desired a new law aimed at hanging of convicts.
While another PTI MNA, Imran Khattak, also supported the demand to adopt a resolution calling for public hanging of child sexual abusers, PPP leader and former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf opposed the same, saying that the country had signed a United Nations (UN) charter against public hangings.
“If this [resolution] is adopted, the world would not accept it,” he reportedly said.
It is pertinent to note that the PPP, according to its chief, is against capital punishment “on principle”. Bilawal’s maternal grandfather and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was also sentenced to death on April 4, 1979.