Category: Lifestyle

The lifestyle of millennials is underreported in our mainstream media. The Current’s lifestyle news covers social events and issues that are unique.

  • Father kills son in Peshawar for planting PTI flag at home

    Father kills son in Peshawar for planting PTI flag at home

    A father has allegedly killed his son in Budhbir, a suburb of Peshawar after the younger man put up a PTI flag on the roof of the house following a bitter dispute, BBC Urdu has reported.

    A case has been registered on the complaint of Arifur Rahman, the brother of the deceased Atta-ul-Rehman, in which it is said that the father and son had a repeated and bitter verbal argument on politics, upon which the father got angry and opened fire on his son with a pistol.

    Son Atta-ul-Rehman in Qatar

    Arifur Rahman, the complainant in this case and the victim’s brother, told the BBC that his brother had been living in Qatar and was working as a sanitary worker. His brother had come home to Peshawar after taking a two-month leave and was supposed to return to Qatar in 20 days.

    Arif says that the argument between his father and brother started with the hanging of the PTI party flag on the roof of the house, which escalated to bitter words and his father shot Atta-ur-Rehman in a fit of rage. He was visibly upset when the BBC interviewed him. In his words, his younger brother Atta brought the flag home and put it on the roof, but his father did not like it. According to Arif, his father urged his brother to “vote whoever you want, but raising this flag is not right.”

    Arif says that his younger brother started an argument with his father that it was not a big deal to plant the flag and eventually the argument escalated to such an extent that Noor Rehman pulled out a pistol and fired at his son.

    According to the FIR of this case, Atta-ur-Rehman was being taken to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment, but he died on the way.

    Arif has said that his father had retired from his job some time ago. His father does not seem to belong to any political party, but the Awami National Party is supported in his area and representatives of this party are elected. He says that there is an atmosphere of sadness in the house now. Our breadwinner brother is no more and the whole area is saddened by the incident. Atta-ur-Rehman has been buried. His brother relayed that it was not such a big deal, just that the bitterness in the conversation increased so much that no one understood what happened.

    The father has escaped from the house. SP President Division Abdul Salam Khalid says that raids are being conducted in search of the accused.

  • Man found hanging from bridge in Islamabad was mentally ill: Police

    Man found hanging from bridge in Islamabad was mentally ill: Police

    A video of a dead body hanging from the pedestrian bridge at Express Highway has gone viral on social media.

    Update: Islamabad police on Monday declared that the man who hung himself from the bridge was “mentally ill’.

    The details as per police investigation reveal that the full name of the 30-year-old deceased is Umar Shaham, son of Umar Bahadur. Further investigation is being carried out with the help of the family, reports Geo.

    “A dead body hanging from a bridge, in an incident that seems to be suicide, was discovered within the Aabpara Police Station’s jurisdiction […] and the deceased has been shifted to the PIMS hospital,” read the investigation officer’s (IO) report.

    Previously, a social media account named Islamabad Updates shared the disturbing video on X (formerly Twitter) earlier today. As per ARY News, the body kept hanging for several hours as it was not visible in the dense fog in Islamabad.

    The police has confirmed that they found the body of a young man identified as Umar, a resident of Mardan’s Katlang area. He is presumed to be 30 years old. Initial reports said that the young man had committed suicide, while an investigation has been launched into the incident.

    Police officials stated that the family of the deceased man has not been found even after several hours had passed.

  • UN migration agency needs $7.9 billion in 2024

    UN migration agency needs $7.9 billion in 2024

    The United Nations migration agency launched its first global annual appeal on Monday, requesting nearly $8 billion for this year alone to manage the growing scale of population displacement.

    The International Organization for Migration said it was seeking a total of $7.9 billion in 2024 to “save lives and protect people on the move, drive solutions to displacement, and facilitate safe pathways for regular migration”.

    “Irregular and forced migration have reached unprecedented levels and the challenges we face are increasingly complex,” IOM chief Amy Pope said in a statement.

    “The evidence is overwhelming that migration, when well-managed, is a major contributor to global prosperity and progress,” said Pope, who last October became the first woman to lead the organisation.

    “We are at a critical moment in time, and we have designed this appeal to help deliver on that promise,” she said.

    “We can and must do better.”

    IOM was founded more than 70 years ago, but only became a UN agency in 2016 as a smaller, parallel operation to the UNHCR, which focuses on refugees.

    It works in emergency situations, advocates for migrants’ rights, and sees humane and orderly migration as a benefit to people on the move and the societies they settle in.

    The agency said Monday that full funding of its appeal would allow it to serve almost 140 million people, including internally displaced people and the local communities that host them.

    It would also help IOM to expand its development work, aimed at helping prevent further displacement, it said.

    Breaking down the appeal, it said a full $3.4 billion of the requested funds would go towards saving lives and protecting those on the move.

    Another $2.7 would be used to work on solutions to displacement, including reducing the risks and impacts of climate change.

    The remainder would help facilitate regular pathways to migration and to help make IOM’s service delivery more effective.

    “This funding will address the large and widening gap between what we have, and what we need in order to do the job right,” Pope said.

    IOM said that its Missing Migrants Project showed that more than 60,000 people had died or disappeared during perilous migration journeys over the past nine years.

    “The consequences of underfunded, piecemeal assistance come at a greater cost, not just in terms of money but in greater danger to migrants through irregular migration, trafficking and smuggling,” it warned.

    Like a number of other UN agencies, IOM is calling for funds to be able to take a more longterm, preventative approach, instead of being forced to always respond in crisis mode.

    The agency said that properly funding its operations would help it streamline and optimise its response, and would effectively reduce the cost of crisis management.

    It also urged countries to recognise the benefits of migration.

    “Migration is a cornerstone of global development and prosperity,” it said, adding that “the 281 million international migrants generate 9.4 percent of global GDP”.

    “Well-managed migration has the potential to advance development outcomes, contribute to climate change adaptation, and promote a safer and more peaceful, sustainable, prosperous and equitable future.”

  • Security situation in Islamabad is under control: IG

    Security situation in Islamabad is under control: IG

    Islamabad Police’s Inspector General, Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan, has stated that the security situation in Islamabad is “under control”.

    His statement comes hours after it was reported by news platforms that educational institutions were unexpectedly shut over security concerns.

    Arab News reveals that parents received messages from schools on Monday morning “urging them to pick their children a few hours after they had dropped them off” for reasons pertaining to their “safety and security.”

    According to IG Islamabad, however, the situation is under control.

    “I would like to inform you that the security and law and order situation in Islamabad is currently under control,” Dr. Khan said in a video message posted on X (formerly Twitter).

    “As of now, there is no situation which should cause you to bring about any change in your [routine regarding] schools and colleges and usual way of life out of fear,” he added.

    He added that citizens should avoid moves that could threaten the security of the city.

    What happened earlier?

    On Monday morning, several educational institutes located in Islamabad reportedly closed until further notice amid security concerns.

    According to news reports, Bahria University, Air University, and National Defence University were shut down. Security, in particular areas of and around Margalla road, F-8, and F-10, had been beefed up.

    However, according to ARY News, a number of other schools and colleges were also shut down, adding that sources reported that threat alert suggested that ‘terror attacks’ were to be carried out by “female suicide bombers affiliated with the banned organisations between January 22-24″.

    Geo News reported that according to the Islamabad Police, security was already tight due to the upcoming elections and protests outside the Press Club. Additionally, search operations were conducted yesternight in certain areas.

  • Inauguration of Ram Mandir- Modi’s Hindutva in full force

    Inauguration of Ram Mandir- Modi’s Hindutva in full force

    Ram Mandir in India is being inaugurated today (Monday) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with state-sponsored fanfare.

    “This will be our Vatican City, the holiest site for Hindus across the world,” said Sharad Sharma, spokesperson for Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a rightwing Hindu group, and member of the Hindu trust building the temple. “After 500 years of Hindu oppression, Lord Ram will finally be returned to Ayodhya,” The Guardian cites him as saying.

    Considering the importance the event holds, the ceremony is going to be attended by a huge number of Bollywood celebrities, cricketers, politicians and leading businessmen of the country. A newly commissioned airport in Ayodhya is also in the works. Security has been tightened, while the fear of violence has prompted Muslim residents of Ayodhya to send their children and women to relatives in neighbouring towns.

    Bollywood celebrities at the inauguration of Ram Mandir

    The temple is a reminder of the very inception of this controversy built on the ruins of 16th-century Babri Masjid. It was demolished by a Hindutva-infused right-wing mob in 1992 after decades of disputes. The riots that happened following the demolition killed more than three thousand Muslims.

    The mosque was built in 1527 by Mughal Emperor Babur and was a rare surviving example of the architecture of the early Mughal Empire, which ruled India from 16th to 19th centuries. Muslims worshipped in the mosque for more than 300 years.

    Summarising the history of the site, Dr. Audrey Truschke wrote in Time: “In the 1850s, when India was largely under British colonial rule, the first signs of trouble arose as the Babri Masjid emerged as a key site of Hindu nationalist attempts to rectify perceived historical wrongs by Muslims, an idea inherited from British colonialists. Hindus claimed that Lord Ram, a major god and mythological hero, had been born at the very spot on which the mosque stood. Competing claims of Ram’s birthplace were once attached to many sites in Ayodhya, but the Babri Masjid drew particular fervor because it was a mosque. Some imagined further historical wrongs associated with the Babri Masjid, including claiming that the mosque was built after Babur’s general destroyed a Hindu temple at that location. None of these claims stand up to historical scrutiny. But in the 1980s, Hindu nationalist groups began tapping into these claims to argue that the mosque needed to be destroyed to clear the way for a new Hindu temple, declaring Mandir wahi banayenge (‘The temple will be built right there!’). After years of agitation, their efforts resulted in an explosion of Islamophobic violence on December 6, 1992, when a Hindu mob numbering at least 75,000 descended on Ayodhya and dismantled the Babri Masjid, brick-by-brick.

    Modi’s BJP benefitted from the situation and came to power in 2014. After the second victory in BJP in 2019, India’s Supreme Court—laden with judges affiliated with BJP- the court called the mosque’s destruction ‘an egregious violation of the rule of law,’ but nonetheless ruled that a Hindu temple could be built on the mosque’s ruins.”

    Modi laid the foundation stone at a groundbreaking ceremony in August 2020.

    Posed as a divine moment this is interpreted as a political gimmick by The Guardian because general elections are going to be held in April in India and by invoking the religious sentiments of the 80 per cent majority of the country, Modi is seeking a third term in power. Prime Minister Modi has also declared that God had chosen him as an instrument to be “representative of all Indians” and he had begun 11 days of “strict vows and sacrifice” to prepare for the event.

    Even though many Indians have given in to the political gimmickry, most are reminded that this Vatican City is nothing but a monument built after demolishing Babri Masjid by force with the help of brute majority.

    Dr. Audrey posted, “Today is a dark day for India”. She was then hugely criticised by Hindu extremists over her tweet and the article she shared.

    A Twitter user commented that this is the win of Jinnah’s two-nation theory.

    Pratesh from India shared a clip from ANI where a teacher was teaching dance steps on bhajans in schools to celebrate the inauguration. He commented, “Now what happened to no religion in school? Was it only applicable for hijab?”

    Someone sarcastically trolled Narendra Modi’s poster by writing, “Very hard to say at this point whose temple is being inaugurated.”

    A user named Sabah counted the Bollywood actors that are attending the event just to appease the government.

    Writer and Educationist Raju Parulekar lamented the state of India has lost its secular spirit in a tweet.

    The most viral is that of a kid schooling the government that a Mandir can’t educate and enable people only a school can.

  • Ski industry in Indian-occupied Kashmir melts as temperatures rise 

    Ski industry in Indian-occupied Kashmir melts as temperatures rise 

    Winter in the Himalayas should mean blanketing snow, and for Gulmarg in Indian-administered Kashmir, one of the highest ski resorts in the world, that usually means thousands of tourists.

    This year, the deep powder once taken for granted is gone. The slopes are brown and bare, a stark example of the impact of the extreme weather caused by the rapidly heating planet, experts say.

    The lack of snow is not only hammering the ski industry but has a worrying impact on agriculture, the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy.

    “Seeing this snowless Gulmarg, I feel like crying every day,” said adventure tour operator Mubashir Khan, who has put wedding plans on hold with his business teetering near collapse.

    “In the 20 years of my working here, this is the first time I see no snow in Gulmarg in January,” said Majeed Bakshi, whose heliskiing service for high-spending tourists stands idle.

    A lone helicopter waits for the few tourists who have still come, offering flights over higher peaks that have a dusting of snow.

    “Our guests are mainly skiers, and they have all canceled their bookings,” said hotel manager Hamid Masoodi. “Those who come despite no snow are also disappointed.”

    Ski lifts are closed, rental shops are shut and a newly constructed ice rink is a pool of dank water.

    “The current dry spell is an extreme weather event — which are predicted to become more intense and frequent in the future,” said climate scientist Shakil Romshoo, from Kashmir’s Islamic University of Science and Technology.

    For decades, an insurgency seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan — and military operations to crush that movement — has seen tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels killed in Kashmir.

    The rebellion has lost much of its former strength, and India has been heavily promoting domestic tourism in the region, home to spectacular mountain scenery

    But in Gulmarg, hotel bookings have plunged by as much as three-quarters, tourism professionals say, as hundreds of guides and scooter drivers sit waiting in the sunshine, praying for snow.

    “Most foreigners who mainly come for skiing on the deep powder slopes have canceled,” Bakshi said. “I have lost about 70 percent of bookings so far.”

    Perched at 2,650 meters (8,694 feet), the Himalayan resort is also home to the Indian army’s High Altitude Warfare School, located close to the highly militarised Line of Control, the de facto border that divides contested Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

    Kashmir has recorded little rain, and temperatures are about six degrees Celsius (42.4 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than normal since autumn last year, according to meteorology officials.

    Last month, precipitation across Kashmir was down 80 percent from past years.

    Gulmarg received a few snow showers, but that soon melted.

    India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences said in a 2020 report they expected the Himalayas and Kashmir would be “particularly subject” to warming temperatures.

    Earlier this month, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the 2023 annual average global temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) — the warmest year on record.

    The nine hottest individual years on record were the last nine.

    In Kashmir, the impact is clear. Gulmarg’s bowl-shaped landscape, beloved by tourists for the snow in winter and meadows of flowers in spring, is brown and bleak.

    Scientists warn rising global temperatures are unleashing a cascade of extreme weather events.

    Beyond the collapse of the skiing industry, many in the ecologically fragile region are worried about impending water shortages that would have a dire potential impact on agriculture.

    Romshoo, the climate scientist, said research indicates Kashmir “will experience more frequent and prolonged dry spells,” worsening in the decades ahead.

    Changing weather patterns have already altered farming practices.

    Snow melt usually helps refresh the usually full rivers, but this week, authorities in Kashmir warned of water shortages and the risk of forest fires, with many wooded areas tinder dry.

    Rice farmers needing plentiful water for their paddy fields have begun switching to fruit.

    But that crop is also at risk, with the dry spell and sunshine meaning some trees are already flowering, blossoming more than two months early.

  • Comedy shows are taking off in Pakistan: what you need to know

    Comedy shows are taking off in Pakistan: what you need to know

    After watching tons of videos of standup comedians online from all across the globe, getting hold of tickets of a show in Pakistan, No Offence was such a pleasant surprise. Expectations were high and excitement was going through the roof.

    First and foremost, we need to have more standup shows in the country to give a boost to the comedy landscape of Pakistani entertainment. It was thoroughly refreshing to see a live comedy show. Many in the audience, especially uncles, found most jokes relatable and laughed their lungs out.

    The show was held in Ali Auditorium on Ferozpur Road on a foggy winter night in Lahore. Expected to get defrosted by the warmth and hysteria of jokes, we were introduced to Mohsin Ejaz performing for the first half. His set literally was the music to the ears. The situations he created with old classic songs had some really good laugh-out-loud moments. The way he compared the nineties music of Bollywood and Pakistan and how he made Mehdi Hassan the pioneer of stalkers because of his song “Zindagi mein to sabhee” is one such example. He proved the power of his vocal chords and the audience appreciated him by singing along. His set did take a dramatic turn towards the end which hit the right chord and made us all emotional (you’ll have to go and see to understand). The use of dark humor was done in the right proportion.

    The audience was charged up when we were introduced to Dawar Mehmood, the man of the hour. He started off by acknowledging his association and training by the legendary Anwar Maqsood. The stakes were high now. He started off nicely by doing a set about PIA air hostesses and how Punjabi humour does not appeal to a Karachiite. One could sense a hint of Moin Akhtar in them. His mention of the jokes shared by Anwar Maqsood were legit taking a dig at the current political landscape had a healthy amount of sarcasm in them. The way he relayed the story of his show getting cancelled because of Lahore’s obsession with Imran Khan during the days of his arrest was indeed funny. It would have been great had he just remained there because even though, the show was meant to be inoffensive, the jokes about cheating men, the Me Too movement, and feminism were archaic if not offensive. In today’s day and age, we are past these jokes, aren’t we?

    In a nutshell, it is a great attempt for a start and Kopykats deserve all the applause for initiating this.

  • Social media services once again down in Pakistan

    Social media services once again down in Pakistan

    Social media services are once again down in Pakistan. Users in different parts of the country are facing difficulties in accessing Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and X.

    Several users have complained about the lack of access to social media, but no statement or reason has been released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

    It should be noted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has announced its virtual jalsa on social media today. Social media services were down last time on PTI virtual Jalsa and also on the fundraising program of PTI on social media a few days ago.

    The Government of Pakistan didn’t take notice of the sudden shutdown of social media from PTA.

  • In a first, man sentenced to three years in jail for marital rape

    In a first, man sentenced to three years in jail for marital rape

    In a legal first, a man has been sentenced to three years in jail after he was found guilty of having non-consensual sex with his wife, a punishable act under Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the Pakistan Penal Code, The News has reported.

    Additional Sessions Judge (South) Ashraf Hussain Khowaja announced the reserved judgment in Karachi after recording evidence and final arguments from both the defence and prosecution sides.

    He sentenced the convict named Javed to three-year rigorous imprisonment and ordered him to pay a Rs30,000 fine. If he fails to pay the fine, he would have to undergo an additional one month of simple imprisonment.

    “From a perusal of evidence brought at the trial by the prosecution, it appears that the victim has fully established a commission of sodomy with her by the accused being her husband,” the judge observed.

    “Though the victim/complainant contradicted some facts relating to the period of her stay with the accused, putting her signature on the memo of site inspection at PS, suffering from disease of piles and her age which are immaterial facts which would not be fatal to the prosecution case,” he added.
    The judge noted the medical evidence supported this version. On the other hand, he said the accused failed to establish “enmity” that her wife loved somebody else and therefore she implicated him falsely. The convict’s sisters who appeared as defence witnesses failed even to disclose the name of the alleged affair of the victim, he added.

    The victim testified that her husband would commit sodomy with her despite her attempts to stop him. About two months after their marriage, she informed her mother-in-law, who didn’t say anything to him, she said, adding that then she disclosed her ordeal to her sister and brother, after which she lodged an FIR against her husband on November 23, 2022.

    Advocate Bahzad Akbar of the Legal Aid Society, who represented the complainant, contended that sodomy falls within the definition of rape and marital rape in this case after an amendment brought to Section 375 of the Pakistan Penal Code in 2021.

    He said that the woman’s testimony and medical evidence corroborated the charges against the accused, requesting the judge to punish Javed as per the law.
    “I am not sure about other provinces but this is certainly the first such conviction over marital rape in Sindh following the amendment,” he told The News.
    He added there are no known convictions on charges of marital rape in the country. An FIR had been lodged under Section 377 of the PPC at the Chakiwara police station on the woman’s complaint.

  • Aik, do, teen….. nahin, pooray sau; Khushab’s ‘Madhuri’ loots 100 men

    Aik, do, teen….. nahin, pooray sau; Khushab’s ‘Madhuri’ loots 100 men

    A Khushab woman named Nasreen, also known as Madhuri, has been accused of marrying more than 100 people in the last eight years to steal money from them. She was finally arrested by the police from Khushab along with her gang of dacoits, reports City 42.

    A differently-abled man named Junaid made a request in the open court of DPO Khushab Tawqir Muhammad Naeem, stating that a woman named Nasreen married him but ran away after two days, stealing household goods and cash.

    It was found out that Nasreen alias Madhuri is a resident of Quaidabad Tehsil of Khushab. Further investigations revealed that the woman had cheated several people along with a gang which included her fake parents and a fraudulent nikahkhwan.

    Police arrested the con woman and her gang, while Junaid was returned his three lacs rupees. Police officials have revealed that the gang’s operating style involved luring men into marriage and then exploiting them.