Justice Faez Isa will be the new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) after a notification to that effect has been approved by the President of Pakistan, Arif Alvi.
موجودہ چیف جسٹس آف پاکستان، جسٹس عمر عطا بندیال، آئین کے آرٹیکل 179 کے تحت 16 ستمبر 2023ءکو ریٹائرمنٹ کی عمر حاصل کرلیں گے
صدر مملکت نے چیف جسٹس کی تعیناتی آئین کے آرٹیکل 175 اے تین کے تحت کی
صدر مملکت جسٹس قاضی فائز عیسیٰ سے 17 ستمبر 2023 ء کو عہدے کا حلف لیں گے
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) June 21, 2023
Justice Isa will assume the charge as the new Chief Justice on September 17, 2023, after the retirement of current CJP Umar Atta Bandial under Article 179 of the Constitution.
The current head of the apex court, Justice Umar Atta Bandial, will reach the age of retirement on September 16, 2023.
President Alvi will administer the oath to Justice Isa, making him the 29th senior judge to take the oath as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).
According to the new rankings of the International Cricket Council (ICC), England’s Joe Root has become the number one Test batsman in the world.
After the first Test of the Ashes series, there has been a change in the ICC Test Player Rankings and England’s Joe Root has moved up five places to the first place in the rankings, replacing Australia’s Marnus Libuschen, with New Zealand’s Kane Williamson moving up two places to the second position and Marnus Libuschen to the third position.
In the Test batsmen’s ranking, Travis Head is at the fourth position after a step up, while Pakistan captain Babar Azam remains at the fifth position.
Similarly, Australia’s Steve Smith has dropped 4 places to sixth, Usman Khawaja has moved up 2 places to seventh and England’s Harry Brook has moved up to 13th place after 5 places.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin remains at the top of the ICC Test bowlers rankings.
In the bowlers ranking, England’s James Anderson is second, Rabada has moved up one level to third, Pete Cummins has moved down one level to fourth, England’s Ollie Robinson and Australia’s Nathan Lyon have moved up one level to 5th and 6th respectively.
The OceanGate Titan submersible dominating global headlines lost connection and went missing an hour and forty minutes into its expedition on Sunday.
U.S. and Canadian navies, marine authorities and commercial deep-sea companies began a frantic search beneath the North Atlantic Ocean.
It was confirmed through a statement by the Dawood family that Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Sulaiman, were onboard the vessel.
But who are the Dawoods?
The Dawoods are a prominent business family primarily based in Karachi. Shahzada’s grandfather, Seth Ahmed Dawood, migrated to Karachi from Bombay when the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947.
He and his brothers started Dawood Corporation Ltd. In the following decades, Dawood founded several businesses and chaired companies in a plethora of industries including cotton, textiles, paper, consumer goods, oil, logistics, insurance, jute, chemicals, motorbikes, home appliances, electronics, and fertiliser industries in East and West Pakistan.
Seth Ahmed Dawood was a major figure in the industrialisation of Karachi. Pakistan’s former president Ayub Khan would often consult Dawood on trade and industry affairs.
Seth Ahmed Dawood with former president of Pakistan, Ayub Khan
When Bangladesh achieved independence in 1971, Dawood lost his factories in Dhaka and Chittagong. Back home in Pakistan, the nationalisation process initiated by the government led to him losing his most profitable industrial projects. One of these projects, Dawood Petroleum Limited, became an official part of PSO (Pakistan State Oil) in 1974.
In spite of the massive losses, Dawood continued to develop projects on a relatively smaller scale. The fertiliser business founded by the family in 1965 eventually grew to become one of the biggest companies in the country today: Engro Corporation.
Engro operates through four divisions: Food & Agriculture, Energy & Related Infrastructure, Petrochemicals, and Telecommunication Infrastructure. Shahzada, who is lost somewhere at the bottom of the North Atlantic with his son, is currently the acting vice-chairman of the company.
Pakistan’s philanthropists
The family also set up a not-for-profit foundation called The Dawood Foundation. It has financially assisted Pakistanis affected by the 2005 earthquake and the catastrophic 2010 floods.
During the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Pakistan, Shahzada’s father Hussain Dawood, pledged one billion rupees on behalf of Engro Corporation and Dawood Hercules Group, another company predominantly owned by the family.
Moreover, the foundation has funded a variety of formal and informal education projects, the most notable ones including Dawood University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi School of Business and the Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts and Design at Beaconhouse National University.
The latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, released in June 2023, reveals that despite challenges posed by geopolitics and macroeconomic slowdown in certain markets, communication service providers worldwide are persistently investing in 5G technology. The report demonstrates that the adoption of 5G subscriptions in North America has surpassed previous expectations, with the region leading in global 5G subscription penetration at 41 per cent by the end of 2022.
The study further indicates a consistent rise in 5G subscriptions across all regions, projected to reach over 1.5 billion by the end of 2023. Concurrently, global mobile network data traffic continues to escalate, with an anticipated monthly average usage per smartphone exceeding 20 GB by the end of 2023.
Additionally, the report highlights sustained revenue growth in prominent 5G markets. Fredrik Jejdling, the Executive Vice President and Head of Networks at Ericsson, emphasises the positive impact of 5G technology on communication service providers, stating, “The global adoption of 5G technology has exceeded one billion subscriptions, resulting in favorable revenue growth for leading 5G markets. The increase in 5G subscriptions correlates directly with enhanced service revenue. Over the past two years, the introduction of 5G services in the top twenty markets has generated a seven percent revenue boost. This trend underscores the increasing value of 5G, benefiting both users and service providers.”
Globally, approximately 240 communication service providers (CSPs) have introduced commercial 5G services, with around 35 deploying or launching 5G standalone (SA) networks. Notably, CSPs commonly offer various bundled packages that include popular entertainment services, such as television, music streaming, or cloud gaming platforms. Presently, about 58 per cent of 5G service providers offer such bundled packages in diverse formats.
Moreover, the report identifies 5G as a catalyst for innovation in mobile service packaging. This is exemplified by the increasing number of CSPs offering Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services over 5G, with more than 100 providers, accounting for approximately 40 per cent of FWA service providers, currently delivering FWA over 5G. FWA is experiencing solid growth in terms of the number of mobile service providers offering it, the proportion of providers offering FWA over 5G, the proportion of CSPs implementing speed-based tariff structures, and the volume of traffic served, as both the number of connections and traffic per connection continue to increase. By 2028, it is projected that 5G will account for nearly 80 per cent of all FWA connections.
The June 2023 Ericsson Mobility Report also includes four comprehensive articles exploring various topics, including the influence of traffic patterns on network evolution, the potential for differentiated services in 5G networks, the advancements facilitated by mobile networks in augmented reality (AR) adoption, and the readiness of mobile networks to deliver a superior quality of experience for new services.
Firdous Ashiq Awan, Central Information Secretary of the newly launched Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) has in a tweet accused former Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar of doing corruption during his tenure as CM.
Awan has listed out Budzdar’s alleged involvement in the following corruption scandals:
• 5 billion to Farah Gogi’s account
• Encroachment of 9 kanals on government land
• 50 Crore fraud in Multan City Housing
• 30 lakh per capita from the shopkeepers of Taunsa
• 420 million in bribes in commissioner and deputy commissioner appointments
Awan further said that more cases of Buzdar’s corruption will be revealed soon.
— Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan (@Dr_FirdousAwan) June 21, 2023
Last week, Aleem Khan made startling revelations in a TV show about former Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar.
It is pertinent to mention here that Firdous Ashiq Awan has served as special assistant to the former CM Punjab. Buzdar and Awan both have left the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Firdous Ashiq Awan left PTI on May 26, accusing Imran of using people like tissue papers, and later throwing them away. Usman Buzdar has also left PTI after the May 9 riots.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee announced the names of eight governing board members in yesterday’s meeting.
However, the Ministry of Interprovincial Affairs stated that the committee’s term concluded on 19th and 20th June, invalidating its decisions. Moreover, it is expected that the individuals announced as governing board members will not be accepted.
Former Pakistan captain, Aamer Sohail, has already taken a legal and proactive stance by sending legal notices to the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Minister and Election Commissioner to impede the committee’s functioning and operations.
It should be noted that an important meeting of the management committee of PCB has been called this evening which will be chaired by Najam Sethi.
The main agenda of the meeting is the formation of the governing board of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
According to sources, four representatives of the department and four representatives of the regions will be approved in the meeting.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had given the task of holding the election to the management committee as the governing board.
The management committee includes Najam Sethi, Shakeel Sheikh, Haroon Rasheed, Azad Syed, Tanveer Paanzai, and Gulzada Kakar, but former captain Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir have resigned from working in the management committee.
In response to an inquiry from the Cricket Pakistan representative, Ahmed Shahzad Farooq Rana, the Deputy Chairman of the Election Commission and Acting Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), confirmed that he had directed the legal department to evaluate the current situation and meet him on Wednesday morning to address the matter. Following this, a certain future action plan will be devised.
Now, the question is who holds the authority to form the governing board? To which he said that as per Article 38, Section 6, the management committee was supposed to do this.
Furthermore, he said that any of the ten members of the BOG (Board of Governors) have the option to nominate themselves for the position of chairman. The final decision will be reached through a voting process.
As of yet, no notification has been received regarding the two members announced by the government. Rana further mentioned that the appointment of the new PCB chairman might take two more weeks because of the upcoming Eid holidays.
Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is being remembered today on her 70th birth anniversary. She was born on June 21, 1953 and passed away on December 27, 2007, at the age of 54.
Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, the daughter of Benzair Bhutto, wrote in a tweet, “Shaheed Mohatarma Benazir Bhutto led Pakistan through its darkest hours, and her legacy can guide us out of darkness today.”
Honoured to have attended the seminar held by the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation @ShaheedBhuttoF1 in Islamabad to honour the life and struggle of my mother. Shaheed Mohatarma Benazir Bhutto led Pakistan through its darkest hours, and her legacy can guide us out of darkness today.… pic.twitter.com/HNoiS7PDsh
Happy birthday to the brave daughter of East and first ever woman PM in the muslim countries Shaheed bibi, Your struggle for democracy and women’s empowerment is a beacon for us. Alas! You left us so early. #HumSabKiBenazir ♥️ pic.twitter.com/Tq662Ydw4G
In a patriarchal society, surrounded by thousands of men, when a woman couldn’t step out, she then emerged as a lioness, breaking all patriarchal norms.
— Bhevish Kumar Maheshwari (@iambhevishk) June 20, 2023
70 years of inspiration, courage, and legacy. I miss you bibi. Your support and encouragement towards your workers is dearly missed. Happy birthday shaheed ranri #HumSabKiBenazirpic.twitter.com/zEoxn2FtUF
In a frantic search for the missing OceanGate Titan submarine, a Canadian maritime surveillance aircraft is reported by Al-Jazeera to have detected ‘banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes.’
On Sunday, the submersible went missing in the North Atlantic Ocean 100 minutes into its voyage to see the wreck of the Titanic. Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Sulaiman Dawood are onboard the vessel.
The United States Coast Guard said that one of the Canadian aircrafts involved in the search for the deep-sea vessel has detected “underwater noises in the search area”.
Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans. 2/2 #Titanic
Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) were then relocated “in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises”, the coastguard said on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera reports.
So far, the ROVs have “yielded negative results”, said the coastguard in a tweet. Still, they are continuing their search.
Rolling Stone magazine, citing internal US government communications, was the first to report the news of what was described as “banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes”.
The magazine cited an internal email sent to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials. “Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard,” the magazine reported.
The oxygen supply on OceanGate’s Titan will run out by Thursday morning, according to officials.
A foreseeable tragedy?
The former director of marine operations for OceanGate, David Lochridge, had previously raised safety concerns about Titan before being fired from his position.
Lochridge’s concerns about the safety of the missing submersible are still contained in a response he filed to the lawsuit that OceanGate brought against him for breaching a non-disclosure agreement.
Lochridge wrote an engineering report in 2018 that said the craft under development needed more testing and that passengers might be endangered when it reached “extreme depths”.
According to his claim, he learned the vessel was built to withstand a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate planned to take passengers to 4,000 meters, CBS news reports.
Bollywood news outlets have announced that the massively popular Ali Sethi and Shae Gill hit ‘Pasoori’ is being remade for the upcoming film ‘Satyaprem Ka Katha’ which will star Kiara Advani and Kartik Aaryan.
The shoot will take place tomorrow and it will be shot in Mumbai over a period of two days. The set is being put up and the team is ready to unleash their final brahmastra in the release week. The song, Pasoori, is extremely popular in the digital world and the team is hoping to recreate the same magic.”
Since this news broke out on Twitter, Pakistani fans have slammed Bollywood for plagiarising yet another brilliant single from Pakistani singers, because kya Nach Punjaban aap logon kay liye kaafi nahi tha?
it’s a year old only and they’re making a remake of it?!??? please bollywood bring back your originality and leave pasoori alone. @cokestudio protect this song at all cost pic.twitter.com/YUID19HIt6
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab president, Rana Farooq Saeed, has terminated party membership of former Governor of Punjab, Latif Khosa, over crossing what the party has dubbed a “red-line”.
PPP Punjab president accused Khosa of blackmailing party leadership when his plea to appoint his son as Attorney-General of Pakistan (AGP) was denied.
Rana Farooq Saeed, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday, said that Latif Khosa wanted to see his son Khurram Khosa as attorney-general, however, when his demand was not met due to certain reasons, he resorted to “blackmail”. “We don’t want Latif Khosa and his son to cross the red line of the party and Khurram should stop saying (unfounded) big things (against the party), otherwise, they will be paid back in the same coin,” he warned.
Latif Khosa had said in a news conference at Lahore High Court on June 17 that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari should not be part of Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet.
Separately, PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan and Sardar Latif Khosa met Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial on Tuesday to discuss important legal matters.
On June 15, unidentified persons attacked the residence of Latif Khosa, in the Defense area of Lahore.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday visited Khosa’s residence demanding strict action against those involved in the attack.
