Category: National

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  • Woman employed by in-laws of Pakistani media mogul alleges labour trafficking

    Rehana Bibi, who was reportedly hired by Geo/Jang CEO Mir Shakilur Rahman as a servant for his sister-in-law’s family in Virginia, has accused the Yahya family, whose home and children she cared for, and their Pakistan relatives, Mir Shakil and others, of engaging in human trafficking, according to a report in The Washington Post.

    Bibi has filed a case in a federal court in Alexandria, seeking damages. The case is in its early stages as of now, the US-based media outlet reported.

    Bibi was promised a “well-paying job as a maid” in Virginia, but after arriving in the US in 2013, she “spent the next five years effectively trapped in a Loudoun County home”.

    In a response submitted in the court by the Yahya family, they said the allegations are “as reprehensible as they are false”.

    “The conditions Bibi described would not amount to human trafficking,” the newspaper quoted the lawyer as saying. “Taking the allegations in the light most favorable to her, Ms Bibi was oppressed, not trapped,” he told the court.

    Mayfield notes that Bibi “was able to leave the first time she tried” and argues that “enduring unpleasant working conditions does not make someone a victim of trafficking or false imprisonment.”

    BIBI’s ORDEAL:

    Bibi, who has applied for asylum in the US because of potential threats she may face in Pakistan, told The Washington Post that she was considering suicide due to the treatment meted out by the Yayhas.

    “I have not seen anybody in my life, not even in Pakistan . . . treat anyone like that,” she said, adding her employer barred her from visiting Pakistan to attend the marriage of her daughters. “I couldn’t even watch the weddings on the family’s iPad.”

    The report said: “She slept on a mattress on the basement floor and kept her belongings in her suitcase, according to the complaint; for the first two years, she says, she was in a storage room infested with insects.”

    “Bibi maintains that she was confined because she spoke almost no English and was told she was in the country illegally. The visa she came to the country on was good for only one year. She says the family almost never let her out alone and warned her that if she went to the police, she would be arrested.”

    “I still have a lot of back pain from carrying heavy loads for the family. She also has gaps in her smile from the teeth she lost during her service,” she told the Post. “I was scared all the time,” she said. “I cannot forget these memories.”

  • Gwadar stadium hosts first cricket match, dedicated to Ali Sadpara

    Gwadar stadium hosts first cricket match, dedicated to Ali Sadpara

    It was a sight for sore eyes as the cricket stadium in Gawdar city, dubbed by many as the world’s most beautiful one, hosted its first ever cricket match on Friday.

    The picturesque stadium, surrounded by the majestic mountains and hills, is hosting a match between the Showbiz Sharks Vs the Gwadar Dolphins. Prime Minister Imran Khan dedicated the match to the unsung hero, Ali Sadpara.

    Sharing the images from the stadium, the official page of Khan wrote: “The first ever cricket match being held at Gwadar cricket stadium, the match was dedicated to Muhammad Ali Sadpara.”

    Zulfi Bukhari seconds Khan. “Dedicating the 1st ever match at Gwadar Stadium to Pakistan’s son #MuhammadAliSadpara. The match tomorrow will start with a prayer in his memory,” he tweeted.

    “This is the beauty of our land, even our loss unites us from K2 to Gwadar to Quetta,” he added.

    According to a report, the Showbiz Sharks were being led by PCB CEO Waseem Khan and will include Fakhr-e-Alam, Faysal Qureishi, Ali Zafar, Saleem Sheikh, Aijaz Aslam, Shezad Roy, Sami Khan, Kamran Jeelani, Salman Saeed, Ali Safina and Noman Habib.

    The Dolphins, on the other hand, were being led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari and features local players and Ali Zaidi and the GOC Gwadar.

    British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, officiated the toss between Zulfi Bukhari and Waseem Khan.

    Cricket buffs couldn’t hold back from tweeting pictures of the stadium. Here are some of the tweets:

    The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis decided to jump on the “Pawri Hori Hai” bandwagon.

    One Twitter account uploaded the new PSL banger playing loudly in the stadium.

    Zulfi Bukhari’s ministry tweeted a few pictures of the Dolphins’ captain on the field.

    Christian Turner himself was pretty excited to be at the venue.

    Before the game commenced, prayers for Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara and the other two foreign climbers were held who went missing with him on their adventurous expedition to K2.

    Sadpara was recently declared dead by his family.

    The stadium was first highlighted by singer, actor and TV personality Fakhar-e-Alam, who tweeted pictures and videos from the stadium.

    Soon, the International Cricket Council (ICC) caught wind of it and shared pictures of the stadium, upsetting some Indian cricket fans in the process.

    Meanwhile, sharing a video of the stadium, Aijaz Aslam wrote: “World’s most beautiful cricket stadium Gwadar.”

    Earlier Faysal Qureshi and wife, Sana faysal also shared pictures and video of their visit to Gawadar.

  • Pakistan to export pants made of ‘bhang’

    Pakistan to export pants made of ‘bhang’

    A group of scientists working at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, has successfully extracted hemp thread from indigenous cannabis and processed it with cotton to make ‘hemp jeans’.

    Department of Fibre and Textile Technology Chairperson Dr Asad Farooq told a private media outlet that hemp fabric is a sustainable material. It is made of fibres of a very high-yielding crop in the cannabis sativa plant family, he added.

    “We have signed an MoU with a US-based company and will soon begin mass production,” said Dr Farooq in conversation with Samaa. According to the chairperson, the cannabis pants will be exported to the US and Europe because these markets are replacing cotton with sustainable fibre.

    The fibres are extracted from the plant by a process called retting. In the next stage, impurities are removed and then it is converted into yarn through chemical treatment.

    The treated soft fabric is then blended with cotton. We used a ratio of 20:80 of hemp and cotton, said Dr Farooq, adding that at present, hemp costs more than cotton but the price will gradually decrease with an increase in production.

  • ACE unearths mega corruption scam in excise department

    ACE unearths mega corruption scam in excise department

    According to media reports, Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has unearthed multi-billion scam pertaining to vehicle registration.

    Reportedly, many vehicles were registered through a fake auction in the name of a government department in Punjab.

    In a letter to ACE, the department confirmed that it had never auctioned these vehicles and the vouchers used for auction were fake.

    A group of excise and taxation bureaucrats are responsible for registering these vehicles through fake action vouchers and caused losses of billions of rupees to the provincial economy.

    The report added that the ACE acquired the data of the bank transactions from the beneficiaries of the auctions that show money transfers worth millions of rupees.

    Earlier, in December 2020, a corruption scandal of the same nature was unearthed by ACE. Used, smuggled and stolen vehicles were auctioned on the basis of fake army action vouchers for several years by a gang, comprising officials of Punjab excise and taxation department and private person.

    The anti-graft watchdog started the investigation in 2017. They revealed that as many as 7,013 vehicles were dubious, with 4,000 of them being registered on the basis of fake vouchers. Moreover, they were unable to verify other vehicles in records. This has caused a total loss of Rs 300 billion to the exchequer directly or indirectly.

  • Imran’s neighbours accuse PM’s nephew of land grabbing

    Imran’s neighbours accuse PM’s nephew of land grabbing

    Residents of Bani Gala and reportedly the neighbours of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, namely Azmatullah and Mohammad Umar Gondal, have accused the nephew of the premier of grabbing their land.

    According to a petition filed by the two in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), they purchased land measuring 30 kanals in Mohra Noor Islamabad which is adjacent to the land of the premier.

    It said that out of 30 kanals, they have sold 16 kanals while 14 kanals of land was in their possession.

    The petitioners started landscaping and designed the land to convert it into an orchard; labourers were also hired for this purpose. However, the assistant commissioner (rural) and SHO Banigala stopped them from construction, Dawn reported citing the petition.

    When the petitioners approached the district magistrate (deputy commissioner) and others, they were told that Shahraz Azeem Khan, nephew of PM Imran, is interested in buying their land and advised the petitioner that “it is better for them to sell this land” to PM’s nephew.

    It said that the petitioners were called by deputy commissioner when they reached his office, he arranged their telephonic conversation with PM’s nephew. The petitioners claimed that Shahraz Khan categorically asked them to sell their land or face consequences.

    As per the petition, the district administration threatened the petitioners they would be placed in fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) or they would be jailed under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and when they will come out of prison, their property would be occupied and they would never be compensated.

    According to the petition, under Article 23 of the Constitution, any citizen has the right to hold or dispose of his property.

    The petitioners requested the court to declare the forced acquisition of their lawful land as illegal and restrain the district administration and police from interfering in the matter.

    Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri of the IHC has issued notices to the premier’s nephew, assistant commissioner (rural), the district magistrate and Banigala SHO on the petition, the report said.

  • ‘Women’s Health Crisis,’ Aurat March Lahore reveals theme and poster for this year’s March

    The Aurat March Lahore organisers have released the poster for this year’s march and the theme is ‘Women’s Health Crisis’.

    The poster was shared on the official Instagram of Aurat March Lahore, and it is designed by Shehzil Malik.

    Speaking exclusively to The Current, Shehzil Malik talked about the thought process behind designing the poster. “To know more about women’s health crisis, I reached out to a friend who works in Public Health,” she explained, “and it helped me in the research.”

    “I like to research before I draw something, especially if it is for Aurat March or if it has something to do with Pakistani women in general,” she added.

    Talking about her artwork Shehzil said, “I didn’t want to depict women suffering, but rather envision a new reality where their health and well-being is a priority.”

    She went on to add that the initial sketches were all about the things happening inside women’s bodies, but those sketches gave an impression that there is something wrong with women’s bodies. She wanted to show that there is nothing wrong with the female body but that it is an unhealthy environment, which doesn’t support or prioritise women’s health.

    Answering a question about why the posters in Aurat March gains attention, she said, “If people are getting pissed off at posters, it is okay because it helps start a conversation around patriarchal toxic norms.”

    An official statement about the theme, ‘Women’s Health Crisis’ by Aurat March Lahore read, “The past year was a difficult one for all of us, but collectively the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the stark inequalities in our society and amplified the oppression therein.”

    “We saw that those already disadvantaged, working and lower-middle-class, women and gender minority groups were particularly hit by the medical, social and financial fallout of the pandemic,” the statement said.

    “As conversations around public health took centre stage, we saw that the impact of the pandemic on women’s health and well-being was not part of these discussions. This is why we decided to highlight the issue of women’s health, an often neglected subject, this year.”

    “Most women in Pakistan suffer from lack of nutrition due to the lack of priority given to women’s health and safety. 52% of women of reproductive age in Pakistan are anemic. Pakistan has the highest incident rate of breast cancer in Asia, One in ten Pakistani women are likely to develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Women are criminally underrepresented in clinical trials and research, leading to a neglect of their particular needs.”

    The statement further said, “At a larger level, we decided to talk about the pandemic of patriarchy, much like the Covid-19 virus, patriarchy is a virus that has infected us all. During the pandemic, domestic violence numbers surged while at the same time women’s unpaid and care labour doubled as lockdowns and school closures took place. We wanted to use the metaphor of health to highlight the sickness of structural sexism and exploitation in our society—our collective societal body is in pain, our movement seeks to highlight this anguish.”

    “We also saw how all of this is deeply tied to capitalism and its vision of profit over care. The reality of the world in COVID-19 puts front and centre our need to also divest from ways of being and operating that are driven by structures that put profit over care. We need to divest from these ways in our individual and collective lives, at the level of our home as well as the state to truly live in a world where human life and well-being is above all else.”

    Aurat March is scheduled to take place on 8th of March, on International Women’s Day.

  • Here’s why PM Imran was ‘sorry’ for winning a $72,000 car in 1989

    Here’s why PM Imran was ‘sorry’ for winning a $72,000 car in 1989

    Prime Minister Imran Khan won a Range Rover car worth $72,000 in 1989 for being the International Cricketer of the Year and Australian press wasn’t happy with it.

    The PM shared a newspaper clipping of the incident on his Instagram account. At the time, Imran was the first Asian and eighth foreigner to win the prize that was started in 1979.

    Imran and Australian cricketer Dean Jones were in the run for the ICC prize and Australian skipper Allan Border was irked by the fact that the award went to Imran Khan from Pakistan. Border said that the award should have been given to his teammate Dean Jones.

    As per the article shared by Imran Khan on his social media account, when he went out for toss with Aussie cricketer Allan Border at the MCG for the first of the best of three finals, he wore a specially printed T-shirt saying “I’m sorry I won the car.”

    When Imran Khan told interviewer Ian Chappell that the proceeds from the $72,000 Rover 827 Vitesse were to be donated to the cancer hospital he was setting up in Lahore at the time, Allan Borders was embarrassed.

  • Naya Pakistan: PM House expenditure falls from Rs59 crores in 2018 to Rs28 crores in 2020

    Naya Pakistan: PM House expenditure falls from Rs59 crores in 2018 to Rs28 crores in 2020

    With Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s government still seeming determined to relieve the treasury of some of its burden as part of the ruling party’s austerity drive, the expenditures of PM House and Office have reportedly reduced by 49% and 29%, respectively.

    According to reports, the total expenditure of the PM House narrowed down to Rs280 million (Rs28 crores) in 2020 from Rs339 million (Rs33 crores) in 2019 and Rs590 million (Rs59 crores) in 2018 — the year when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was handed reins of the country.

    The PM Office witnessed a considerable decrease in its expenditure from 2018 to 2020, but last year was slightly more than in 2019. It stood at Rs334 million (Rs33 crores) in 2020, Rs305 million (Rs30 crores) in 2019 and Rs514 million (Rs51 crores) in 2018.

    In a first, the premier has not used any discretionary funds in the form of cash awards, gifts etc. He has made around 26 official visits till now, but their combined cost stood at a mere Rs176 million (Rs17 crores) as compared to his predecessors.

    The premier, since assuming office in 2018, has been pushing for austerity measures to save taxpayers’ money and reduce the burden on the national exchequer.

    Despite the steps taken by PM Imran in this regard, the austerity drive has faced multiple setbacks owing to the apparent reluctance of the lawmakers in cutting down expenses.

  • Boy from Thar sets world record for fastest Periodic Table arrangement

    Boy from Thar sets world record for fastest Periodic Table arrangement

    A Pakistani boy has set the world record for arranging the fastest periodic table. The existing record was two minutes and 42 seconds while the youngster from Thar arranged the table in one minute and 58 seconds.

    The school student, namely Rohan Khatwani, set the record at the Islamabad Science Festival. The event was arranged at the Pakistan National Council of Arts on February 13.

    In an official tweet, the government also congratulated Khatwani, saying that he had made the nation proud by setting the new world record.

    According to the details of the event, around 80 schools participated in the festival and displayed their projects.

    A range of innovative ideas, including walk-in sanitising stations, precautions against coronavirus, and myth-busting related to COVID-19 remedies, were also featured.

  • Nawaz signed NRO to go to London, claims ex-minister

    Nawaz signed NRO to go to London, claims ex-minister

    The establishment allowed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to go to London for medical treatment as a part of an NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance] deal struck between the two parties, claimed Ijazul Haq, former minister and son of military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq.

    In an interview with Samaa, the ex-minister claimed the change in platelets count was an NRO deal. “Certainly, there was establishment involved,” Haq claimed.

    Haq claimed that he knew the “platelets and blood report of Sharif was changed to facilitate his escape from Pakistan”.

    “I know that the platelet or blood report was something else and the report on paper was something else,” he said. Haq said the information is “authentic” and he has “proof” to substantiate his claim, reported Samaa.

    It may be noted that the former premier was rushed to hospital from jail after a drastic decrease in his platelets. Subsequently, he was allowed to go abroad for treatment in Nov 2019 after submitting an assurance in the court.

    Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is in London for more than one year due to medical reasons and his passport is also expired.

    The government has refused to renew his passport, saying it could issue an emergency travel document on his request for returning back to the country.

    However, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has tried all means to bring Nawaz back but without any success. PM Imran had announced that he would go to the UK himself to bring Nawaz back.

    His statement was followed by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed saying that only Allah can bring Nawaz Sharif back. But eventually, the government decided that it won’t renew the passport of the ex-PM in an attempt to force his hand.