Author: newsdesk

  • Wedding photography has been banned at Badshahi Mosque. Here’s why

    Wedding photography has been banned at Badshahi Mosque. Here’s why

    Bad news for those who wanted to have their wedding photoshoots done at Badshahi Masjid because the mosque’s management has banned wedding photography there. People who have already booked the spot for photography are safe, but no further bookings will be entertained.

    As per mosque’s caretaker Abdul Khabeer Azaad, the ban was put in order after photographers took pictures of brides and grooms in inappropriate poses that were against the ethics of a mosque. It also disturbed the people praying there.

    Meanwhile, people had mixed reactions to the ban.

    https://twitter.com/k_abjaoO/status/1208079271350210563?s=20
  • Unknown armed men break into residence of Musharraf’s ex-prosecutor, ‘warn him’

    Unknown armed men break into residence of Musharraf’s ex-prosecutor, ‘warn him’

    An armed robbery has been reported at the farmhouse of Akram Sheikh, who previously headed the government’s prosecution team against Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case against the latter, SAMAA reported.

    According to reports, the armed men remained at the lawyer’s residence for around two hours while they held his family hostage, and finally left after looting items worth millions of rupees.

    Sheikh’s farmhouse is located in Islamabad’s Chak Shehzad area, police said and added that the lawyer’s family was locked in a room after their mobile phones were taken away by the intruders. “The house was then combed and looted.”

    While a case has not yet been lodged amid Sheikh’s silence, senior journalist and analyst Hamid Mir has claimed that the lawyer was also threatened by the armed men.

    Sheikh was appointed as the prosecutor by former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to fight the Musharraf treason case on behalf of the government. He fought the case till 2018 and resigned after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was elected to power.

    The former army chief and dictator was handed death sentence by a special court earlier this week.

  • Atif Aslam welcomes another baby

    Atif Aslam welcomes another baby

    Pakistan’s biggest rockstar Atif Aslam welcomed a baby with wife Sara Bharwana. The name and gender of the baby has not yet been disclosed.

    Atif took to the gram to make the announcement.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B6VNGpwllxM/?utm_source=ig_embed

    The couple who tied the knot in 2013 also have a son, Ahad.

  • Dawat but no gas? Here are some low heat dessert recipes

    Dawat but no gas? Here are some low heat dessert recipes

    Easy and quick recipes that require no or less heat are the best solution during these cold no gas wintery days.  These easy recipes will also make lives easy of people at ‘shaadi wala ghar’.

    Banana Pudding

    Things you will need

    1 cup granulated sugar

    1/4 cup all-purpose flour

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    2 3/4 cups whole milk

    4 large egg yolks

    2 teaspoons vanilla extract

    3 tablespoons unsalted butter

    one packet marie biscuits

    4 sliced large bananas

    Procedure

    Combine the sugar, flour, and salt and whisk them together. Gradually whisk in the milk until combined, then place the pan over very low heat.

    Heat the milk mixture, stirring
    regularly, until thickened to a creamy salad dressing consistency and gently
    bubbling for  8 to 12 minutes.

    Whisk the milk mixture into the
    yolks. While whisking the yolks vigorously, slowly drizzle in the milk mixture.

    Return everything back to the low
    heat for 2 minutes. Once combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and
    place back over medium heat. It will be pale yellow. Stir constantly for 2
    minutes . Remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and butter until melted and
    combined. At this point, the mixture will be back to that creamy salad dressing
    consistency.

    Make the first cookie layer with
    marie biscuits, sliced bananas and the pudding. Repeat the layering process
    once more with the remaining biscuits, bananas, and pudding.

    Chill at least 2 hours. Cover the
    baking dish with a sheet of plastic wrap (press it directly onto the pudding if
    you don’t want a skin to form). Top with cream.

    No Bake Hot Cocoa Cake

    You’ll need:

    2
    cups of heavy cream

    1/2
    cup sour cream

    1/2
    cup confectioners’ sugar

    1/2
    cup hot cocoa mix (use one without milk powder)

    1
    tsp pure vanilla extract

    1/4
    ts. kosher salt

    70 chocolate
    wafer cookies (we used Famous Chocolate Wafers, about 1½ 9-ounce package)

    Procedure:

    Using an electric mixer on high, beat the heavy cream, sour cream,
    confectioners’ sugar, hot cocoa mix, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl until
    stiff peaks form.

    Dab some of the cream mixture on one cookie and place it in the center
    of a serving platter.Repeat with 6 cookies, arranging them around and touching
    the center cookie.

    Spread half cup of the cream mixture on top, spreading over the
    cookies, leaving a half inch border around the edge. Place a cookie in the
    center of the cream and arrange 6 cookies around it. Repeat with half cup of
    the cocoa cream and 7 cookies to make 10 layers of cookies total. Top with the
    remaining cream.

    Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Sprinkle with
    crushed chocolate cookies before serving.

    Oreo Cookie Balls

    You’ll need:

    Packets
    of Oreo cookies

    1(8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

    Pinch of salt

    1(12 oz) packet chocolate chips, melted

    Procedure:

    Use a food processor to crush cookies into fine crumbs.

    Add crushed cookies to a medium bowl. Add cream cheese and and salt and stir until evenly combined.

    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small cookie
    scoop, form mixture into small balls and transfer to prepared baking
    sheet.

    Freeze until slightly hardened, about 30 minutes.

    Dip frozen balls in melted chocolate until coated and return to
    baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. Freeze until chocolate
    hardens, about 15 minutes.

  • Musharraf’s exit: ‘PML-N was powerless after Raheel Sharif’s recommendation’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Pervaiz Rashid has said that former military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf, who was recently sentenced to death in abstentia for treason, “was allowed to go abroad for medical treatment on the recommendation of then army chief Raheel Sharif”, and the government stood “powerless”.

    “We [the PML-N government] didn’t have the power to stop him,” said the former information minister, who was sacked in 2016 following the Dawn Leaks fiasco that revealed the details of a high level civil-military meeting discussing the issue of Pakistan’s banned outfits.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Rasheed has also claimed that Gen (r) Raheel Sharif wanted an extension in his tenure as the army chief, but the then government of prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif refused it.

    However, a former army general rejected Rasheed’s claims that the PML-N had turned down Gen (r) Raheel’s request for an extension in his tenure. “In fact, the PML-N government had offered to give Gen (r) Raheel a promotion by making him a field marshal,” Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib said while speaking to the TV channel.

    He added that Shehbaz Sharif and then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar wanted to give Gen (r) Raheel an extension in his tenure as the army chief. Shoaib said that Raheel had announced 10 months before his retirement that he would not take extension.

    “Raheel Sharif had an offer from Saudi Arabia,” the former military official said.

    In 2015, Saudi Arabia announced that it would form a new Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition force. Gen (r) Raheel Sharif was appointed the alliance’s chief in January 2017, months after his retirement as the army chief.

  • Humayun Saeed, Shaan, Humaima Malick defend Mahira Khan after troll swears at her

    Humayun Saeed, Shaan, Humaima Malick defend Mahira Khan after troll swears at her

    The decade is drawing to a close and people still think slut-shaming is okay.

    Recently, a Twitter user resorted to name-calling Mahira Khan after she tweeted about the Musharraf verdict.

    https://twitter.com/MomalFayax/status/1207643435248828418?s=20

    Mahira instantly clapped back with a savage response.

    Following this, industry veterans including Humayun Saeed, Shaan and Humaima Malick jumped in to defend Mahira.

    Humayun Saeed, who also included Mehwish Hayat in the coversation, asserted that a nation can’t progress “until we learn to respect our women and treat them with dignity.”

    Mehwish Hayat thanked Humayun for standing up for them.

    Shaan remarked that Mahira has earned her respect through nothing else but sheer hard work.

    Meanwhile, Humaima Malick gave the troll a hard-hitting response.

  • Karachi to get its first street library on Quaid’s birthday

    Karachi to get its first street library on Quaid’s birthday

    The Sindh government has decided to open a street library to promote literature on December 25, marking the birthday of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

    The government has taken a new step to support education by developing a roadside street library near Metropole that would be inaugurated on December 25.

    As per reports, the library will operate on the ‘take a book and leave a book’ basis. Commissioner Karachi shared that the idea behind this first street library of the city is to encourage the practice of book reading among people.

    The Karachi Commissioner’s Office has decorated the wall surrounding the Metropole building with portraits of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his sister Fatima Jinnah, and poet Allama Iqbal. Wooden bookshelves have also been installed between the portraits.

    Plans to upgrade other public libraries in different districts of the city are also underway.

  • ‘No lenient view permitted’: BZU teacher sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’

    ‘No lenient view permitted’: BZU teacher sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’

    A former university lecturer in Multan, who was booked on blasphemy charges and arrested by police on March 13, 2013, was on Saturday sentenced to death by a district and sessions court, Dawn reported.

    Formerly a visiting lecturer at the Department of English Literature of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, Junaid Hafeez, according to Amnesty International, was charged with blasphemy over Facebook uploads.

    He was also in the process of getting a graduate degree in English Literature when he had been accused of blasphemy and arrested. The trial of the case had started in 2014.

    On Saturday, Additional Sessions Judge Kashif Qayyum sentenced Hafeez to death and imposed a Rs0.5 million fine under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC); in case of default he will undergo further imprisonment of six months.

    He was also sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 295-B, and 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 under Section 295-A of the PPC.

    According to the court’s short judgement, “All the sentences shall run consecutively and the accused would not be entitled to the benefit of Section 382-B CrPC because in case of blasphemer, this court has got no circumstance for taking [a] lenient view and it is also not permitted in Islam.”

    Under Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code, the period of detention of a prisoner has to be considered in the prison term when a person is convicted by a trial court.

    Hafeez has been lodged in the high-security ward number 2 of New Central Jail Multan.

    His previous lawyer, Rashid Rehman, was shot dead in May 2014 in his office.

    Hafeez’s parents had earlier this year appealed to former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa to look into their son’s case. They sought justice for their son, fearing for his mental and physical health.

    They had said their son had been languishing in solitary confinement in a cell of the Central Jail, Multan, for the last six years on the false charge of blasphemy.

    “Due to transfer of many judges, delaying tactics of prosecution witnesses, and difficulties finding adequate legal counsel for the defence because of the sensitive nature of the case, our son continues to await justice in a fabricated case,” Junaid’s parents had said in a written appeal to the chief justice.

    Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence. Anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.

    Rights groups have said the blasphemy laws are routinely abused to seek vengeance and settle personal scores.

  • The Current Quiz: Which chief justice of Pakistan are you?

    The Current Quiz: Which chief justice of Pakistan are you?

    With Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khan Khosa retiring and Justice Gulzar Ahmed being sworn in as the new top judge, The Current brings for you a personality quiz to find out which of the most popular CJPs are you.

  • Weekend events in your city

    Weekend events in your city

    Lahore

    Rooftop Family Fest

    Date and Time: Dec 20 at 3 PM – Dec 22 at 12 AM

    Venue: Fortress Stadium

    Musical Fest

    Date: 21st Dec

    Time: 06:30 PM – 11:30 PM

    Venue: Nishat Hotel.

    Islamabad:

    Rawalpindi Food Festival

    Date and Time: Dec 20 at 4 PM – Dec 22 at 7 PM

    Venue: Ayub Park

    Winter Fiesta

    Date: 21st Dec

    Time: 12PM – 10PM

    Venue: Awan E Quaid Mehran Gate F9 Park

    Karachi:

    Christmas Extravaganza at the Library

    Date: 22nd Dec

    Time: 2PM – 3PM

    Venue: British Council, Karachi

    Family Dinner Cruise 

    Date: 21st Dec

    Time: 5:30 – 9:30 PM

    Venue: 2nd Commercial Lane, Zamzama Commercial Area, Building 1/C