Author: newsdesk

  • Pakpattan’s woman SHO solves 200 rape cases in two months

    Pakpattan’s woman SHO solves 200 rape cases in two months

    Pakpattan district’s first woman Station House Officer (SHO), Kulsoom Fatima, has solved 200 rape and sexual abuse cases within just two months of her appointment, BBC Urdu reported.

    In an interview to BBC, she said that the incidents of sexual abuse of minor girls made her angry, but she was not able to do anything at that time.

    “I got the opportunity. I was appointed as a sub-inspector in Punjab Police after passing the competitive exams,” Fatima said, adding that she had earlier hoped to be in the position one day so she could do something for the little survivours.

    The cop said that she was handed over cases related to women and minor girls — a task she always wanted.

    Pakpattan District Police Officer (DPO) Ibadat Nisar had appointed Fatima as SHO at Model Police Station Daloryam. He said that the appointment of women officers in Pakpattan has helped in dispensing justice to people.

  • Sri Lankan cricket team likely to visit Pakistan for test series in October

    The Sri Lankan circket team is likely to visit Pakistan in October to play a two-match test series, Cricket Pakistan has reported.

    According to reports, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed the dates of their security delegation’s arrival in Pakistan on a three-day visit. The delegation will begin its evaluation with a trip to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad on August 7, 8 and 9, respectively.

    It will assess the security situation in the country ahead of providing its recommendations to the SLC.

    They will visit the stadiums and hotels in the three major cities and will be briefed by local security officials as well. SLC, on the basis of those recommendations, will decide whether to tour Pakistan or not.

    “I’m confident that the delegation will be satisfied with the security arrangements in Pakistan and hopefully we will soon see red-ball cricket on home soil,” reports quoted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani as saying.

    Pakistan, since the unfortunate attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in March 2009, has not hosted any test series.

  • Celebrities pledge to support PTI’s Ali Haider Zaidi’s #LetsCleanKHI campaign

    Celebrities pledge to support PTI’s Ali Haider Zaidi’s #LetsCleanKHI campaign

    Heavy monsoon rains across Pakistan have caused flash floods in different parts of the country. One of the cities worst affected by the continuous downpour is the port city of Karachi. The provincial capital is facing terrible challenges with submerged roads, water inside houses, no electricity and overflow of sewage. It is pertinent to mention that Karachi is one of the most polluted cities in the country.

    Ali Haider Zaidi

    Keeping this in mind, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi announced that the government is planning to launch a campaign, Let’s Clean Karachi to rid the city of its garbage in the next two weeks.

    Zaidi’s decision gave some much-needed relief to the residents who had been continuously voicing their concerns and appealing to the government to help them. Following this, several notable personalities took to social media to pledge their support for Zaidi’s initiative.

    The entire team of Peshawar Zalmi including some foreign players shared the same message on Twitter to support Zaidi.

    The business community of the city also sent letters of support to the minister and vowed to help him.

    Speaking to the media, the minister remarked that Karachi was badly ignored by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government. He assured that the cleanliness drive would be completed before August 14 with the joint efforts of its citizens. The drive will begin on Sunday. Zaidi also directed municipal representatives and other relevant departments to speed up their work.

  • Foreign cricketers refuse to play entire PSL in Pakistan

    Foreign cricketers refuse to play entire PSL in Pakistan

    Foreign cricketers have refused to play the fifth season of the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) scheduled to be entirely held in Pakistan next year, Cricket Pakistan reported Friday.

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had earlier said that the fifth edition of the PSL will entirely be played in the country and is expected to take place from February 20 to March 22.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani insisted that there are no concerns regarding hosting the entire HBL PSL in Pakistan.

    “I took the approval of PCB’s patron-in-chief regarding holding the tournament in Pakistan, after consulting all franchise owners,” Mani said, adding that he had invited team owners for a meeting next week on Monday in Lahore, where the matter would be discussed again.

    “Till now, no franchise has shown any reservations, so there is no possibility of shifting the matches anywhere else,” he added.

    However, according to reports, franchises want to hold at least half of the PSL 5 matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as they feel it is currently not viable to play the entire season in the country.

    They are of the view that it will be difficult to convince foreign players to stay in Pakistan for a longer period of time.

  • Momina Duraid cancels Firdous Jamal from Hum TV for his comments on Mahira Khan

    Momina Duraid cancels Firdous Jamal from Hum TV for his comments on Mahira Khan

    Veteran actor Firdous Jamal’s comments on Mahira Khan have frankly been blown quite out of proportion.

    After the clip in which Firdous said Mahira that she is too old to be a heroine went viral, Mahira’s fans and colleagues went into overdrive to defend the actor and call out Firdous Sahab for his outdated and sexist comments. The matter became so controversial that Mahira had to step in and settle the issue. In a note shared on her Instagram, Mahira had said that she is grateful to all her seniors and that “in a world full of hate, let’s choose to love. Let’s be tolerant of other people’s opinions.”

    While Mahira continued to share her feelings on the issue, in various interviews that followed, the matter appeared to have more or less settled down. But, kyunkay Pakistan hai, twist toh aana hota hai.

    Yesterday, the CEO of MD Productions which comes under the HUM Films umbrella, Momina Duraid, took to social media to share her thoughts on the matter. It is pertinent to mention here that Momina is producing Mahira’s upcoming film Superstar and the two have worked on several projects in the past including Bin Roye.

    Momina began her note by praising Mahira for being “a woman with immense integrity, self-control, and solid principles.” She then went on to say that she is ashamed that Firdous Sahab is part of “our fraternity” and that his comments were “disrespectful and regressive” before announcing that her company “would not work with him again in any capacity.”

    Momina’s comments blew up a whole new controversy with some members of the film fraternity coming defending Jamal Sahab and calling out Momina for being extreme. The hashtag #SupportFirdousJamal also began to trend on Twitter soon after.

    Hamza Ali Abbasi asked everyone to be responsible.

    Firdous’ son Hamza Firdous who was part of a few Hum TV productions, most notably O Rangreza, also shared a video of himself in which said that he is ashamed that he was part of their dramas. He said that Firdous is a self-made man and he doesn’t need to stoop down to gain some fame.

    https://twitter.com/hamza_firdous/status/1156695645333458946?s=20
  • India divided after Hindu man refuses to accept food from Muslim rider

    India divided after Hindu man refuses to accept food from Muslim rider

    Neighbouring India has been left divided ever since a Hindu man refused to accept his order from a Muslim food delivery guy.

    “Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN. They allocated a non-Hindu rider for my food they said they can’t change rider and can’t refund on cancellation [sic],” Amit Shukla of Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur city tweeted Tuesday.

    Zomato is an Indian restaurant search and discovery service that operates in 24 countries. It provides information and reviews of restaurants as well as images of menus where the restaurant does not have its own website and also online delivery.

    Shukla, through the app’s customer support, requested another rider and when asked what was wrong, he replied, “We have Shravan [month of fasting] and I don’t need a delivery from a Muslim fellow.”

    The company refused to change the rider on the basis of religion and the customer care executive’s response was widely shared over social media.

    “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion,” Zomato tweeted.

    https://twitter.com/ZomatoIN/status/1156429449258250240

    The company’s founder, Deepinder Goyal, also tweeted:

    “We are proud of the idea of India — and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values,” he wrote.

    While Zomato’s stand against religious intolerance won many hearts, some stood up in Shukla’s support.

    https://twitter.com/ubereats_ind/status/1156552511509024768?s=21

    https://twitter.com/dnaasingh29/status/1156496007674208257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1156496007674208257&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgulfnews.com%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Findia%2Findia-man-cancels-order-over-non-hindu-rider-zomatos-response-wins-the-internet-1.65549839

  • Senator vs ISPR: Army rejects claims that Senate vote was ‘hijacked by ISI’

    Senator vs ISPR: Army rejects claims that Senate vote was ‘hijacked by ISI’

    Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor has rubbished Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo’s remarks that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief was “involved in manipulating the results” of the no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman.

    The National Party president and losing candidate for Senate chairman slot had on Thursday accused the country’s premier spy agency of hijacking the Senate vote by indulging in horse-trading.

    “Remarks by Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo implicating head of national premier institution are unfounded,” the military spokesperson tweeted Thursday night.

    “The tendency to bring [the] entire democratic process into disrepute for petty political gains doesn’t serve democracy,” he added.

    The response came as Bizenjo’s reply to a journalist’s query, following his shocking defeat in the upper house, started doing rounds over the internet.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “[ISI DG] General Faiz’s people are behind this,” he was heard as saying when asked to name those responsible for the defeat.

    Earlier in the day, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani survived a no-confidence resolution tabled against him by the joint opposition.

    The opposition’s no-trust motion against Sanjrani failed to receive the 53 votes required for his removal even though at the start of the session, 64 senators had stood up in support of the motion.

    Following the secret balloting, it was revealed that the motion received only 50 votes in its favour.

  • ‘Petrol should be sold at Rs58 per litre, demands Imran Khan’

    ‘Petrol should be sold at Rs58 per litre, demands Imran Khan’

    With Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan approving the Rs5.15 hike in petrol price, yet another tweet from the past has come back to haunt the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    On Wednesday night, the premier approved an Oil and Gas Development Authority (OGRA) summary recommending an increase in per litre prices of all petroleum products.

    The prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene oil and light diesel were jacked up by Rs5.15, Rs5.65, Rs5.38 and Rs8.90, respectively.

    With people starting to express their frustration over the development that could result in yet another inflation bomb, some took to Twitter to share a statement by the premier from back when he sat in the parliament on opposition benches.

    “Petrol should be sold at Rs58 per litre, demands @ImranKhanPTI [sic],” the 2015 tweet on PTI’s official handle read.

    This isn’t the first time an old tweet has come back to bite the PTI government.

    “All over the world, just on an incident of railway accidents, minister resigns. This is real democracy, says Imran Khan [sic],” a tweet from August 2014 stated.

    It had started making rounds last month after the tragic train accident in Sadiqabad, which claimed over 20 lives.

    Prior to this, as PM Imran reached China amid Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) nationwide protests last year, a 2012 tweet of his, went viral. In the tweet, he had criticised the then premier for traveling abroad as the country “burned”.

    It was aimed at criticising former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who had traveled to China for the Boao Forum while violence linked to sectarian, ethnic and political tensions continued in different parts of the country.

  • Ancient Buddhist caves in Islamabad to be developed as a tourist spot

    Ancient Buddhist caves in Islamabad to be developed as a tourist spot

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration to develop the historic Buddha Caves in Shah Allah Ditta as a tourist spot.

    According to details, PM Khan has directed both CDA and ICT to collaborate with the national history and literary heritage ministry for the restoration and development of the Buddha Caves to promote tourism.

    PM Khan’s government is actively working to open and develop historic religious sites across the country. Recently, a 1000-year old Hindu Temple was reopened in Sialkot. Plans to open a Gurdwara in Jhelum are also underway.

    The caves, located about half an hour from Faisal Masjid, are an important site for the followers of Buddhism and many worshippers who visit the caves often complain about the neglect.

    Archaeologists say that the Shah Allah Ditta caves date back to the Stone Age, while the Buddhist murals inside the cave are at least 2,500 years.

    The caves were used in various eras. Some of the surviving frescos depict images of Hindu deities, while a stream in front of the caves also shows that the site remained in the use of Hindus before partition.

    The area surrounding the caves is also rich in history. Marked on the ground close to the caves is the location where Alexander arrived and was received by King of Taxila Raja Ambi. Meanwhile, the road next to the caves that leads to the main top of the mountain is said to be built on the exact path followed by Pashtun emperor Sher Shah Suri during his visit.

    In the past, several calls for the preservation of the caves have been made but with little success.

  • Imad Wasim is getting married

    Imad Wasim is getting married

    Pakistani cricket Imad Wasim is all ready to tie the knot.

    According to details, the 30-year-old sportsman will be exchanging vows with London-based Sania Ashfaq on August 26 in Islamabad.

    Imad and Sania met in London and have known each other for a while now. Interestingly, Imad was also born in Swansea, Wales where his father briefly worked in as an engineer. However, his parents moved back to Pakistan soon after his birth. Imad was studying medicine before making his Twenty20 International debut in May 2015.

    Speaking about his marriage, the all-rounder who is currently playing for Nottinghamshire in the T20 Vitality Blast, said, “I will get a week’s break from my professional commitments for the marriage ceremony and will rejoin Nottinghamshire for the remaining matches.”

    Just two days back, marriage rumours of fast bowler Hassan Ali had taken the cricket world by storm. Ali is also reportedly getting married in Dubai to an Indian girl named Shamia Arzoo. However, Hasan later clarified the reports saying that the families are yet to meet.