Category: National

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  • Dawn sacks Lahore resident editor as layoffs continue

    Dawn sacks Lahore resident editor as layoffs continue

    Amid staffers’ protests against its policy of retrenchment and pay cuts, Dawn on Thursday sacked Asha’ar Rehman, the newspaper’s Lahore resident editor.

    His sacking was the first from the editorial department in Lahore, after the managers laid off 24 employees in November, including cleaners and security guards, reported JournalismPakistan.com.

    It said the staff felt uneasy following the editor’s termination and sensed more layoffs in the days ahead.

    Rehman had joined Dawn in February 2007 from The News on Sunday, where he worked as an editor. He was on the launch team of The News. Earlier on in his career, he had stints with the Kuwait Times and the Frontier Post.

    Dawn also laid off several employees at other centers earlier, prompting protests by the workers’ union and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). The paper has also slapped pay cuts.

    The Dawn union held the protest in Karachi on Tuesday. The journalists warned the newspaper management against any further layoffs and cuts in salaries and benefits. They also asked the government to protect journalists’ economic rights.

    Earlier, the employees held a similar protest outside the Dawn Islamabad office.

  • ECP finds ‘serious discrepancies’ in Hammad Azhar’s assets: report

    ECP finds ‘serious discrepancies’ in Hammad Azhar’s assets: report

    The Election Commission of Pakistan is likely to take action against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and federal minister Hammad Azhar over “some serious discrepancies observed during scrutiny of [his declared] assets”.

    The News reported that the minister did not declare his “shares in a flour mill and few other businesses in one of his declarations submitted to the ECP”.

    “After he became MNA in 2018 and later became a member of the cabinet, the assets declared by him and his spouse were different from those he had declared earlier” while filing his nomination paper, the report said, adding that this prompted ECP to launch the scrutiny some two years back.

    “Our [ECP’s] team found an apparent mis-declaration, serious discrepancies and deficiencies in Hammad’s declarations, and he failed to explain his position before the electoral body scrutinising his and his wife’s assets and liabilities,” the report quoted an ECP official.

    Meanwhile, Hammad Azhar has refuted the content of the report and said that it “is compiled without reading my reply to ECP which easily answered all queries in May 2019”.

    He said the reporter ignored his written filed in the election commission in response to the scrutiny.

    About his response in 2019, the ECP official quoted by The News said that it was “unsatisfactory”.

  • Nomi Ansari designs AirSial’s crew uniform

    Nomi Ansari designs AirSial’s crew uniform

    The cabin crew of the all-new local Pakistani airline, AirSial, will be wearing the uniforms designed by Nomi Ansari.

    Ansari, who is renowned for his aesthetically-pleasing designs, took to Instagram to announce the news.

    “We are delighted to announce our affiliation with AirSial,” wrote the designer. “As the airline is set to spread its wings, we have designed a range of sleek yet stylish uniforms for its crew members.”

    AirSial also made the announcement about their affiliation with the designer on its Twitter account.

    “It is with immense pleasure AirSial announces, that Pakistan’s topmost performing designer in the fashion industry known for his exceptional and astounding dresses, having bagged countless awards has designed uniforms for us and it is none other than Nomi Ansari the styling icon of Pakistan,” read the post.

    “We would like to thank Nomi Ansari for his tremendous and tireless effort in shaping our uniforms to the international standards giving them the most modest image matching our culture and traditions,” it further added. 

    The airline, which is expected to start its operations from mid-December, was inaugurated today (Wednesday) by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Sialkot.

  • PM Khan shares breathtaking pictures of Skardu with photo credits

    PM Khan shares breathtaking pictures of Skardu with photo credits

    Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday posted some beautiful pictures of  Skardu, Gilgit Baltistan on his Twitter account but this time the photographer has been credited for his work.

    “I have been sent more pictures,” he wrote on Twitter. “This time from around Skardu after my last tweet with pictures from GB.”

    The photographer Abrar Khawja also took to social media to express his joy over his work being shown to the world.

    “My passion for photography has delivered results today,” wrote Abrar, sharing the premier’s tweet. “My beautiful Pakistan, captured through my lens, is being shown to the whole world by my own prime minister.”

    Earlier, the PM’s post showing Gilgit Baltistan’s beauty stirred controversy when the photographer alleged that his watermark had been removed from the pictures. 

    A day later, however, Asmar tweeted that the PM Office had apologized for the mistake.

  • Saudi Crown Prince MBS to hunt rare houbara bustard in Pakistan

    Saudi Crown Prince MBS to hunt rare houbara bustard in Pakistan

    At least 18 Saudi and Qatari royals, including Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, will visit Pakistan to hunt rare houbara bustard after the confirmation of their special hunting licences.

    The members of royal families have obtained permission to hunt houbara bustard in Balochistan in spite of the international and local bans on the hunt of the endangered species.

    Media reports suggest that Saudi CP Muhammad Bin Salman will hunt the bird in Layyah and Bhakkar region, whereas another Saudi royal Prince Fahad Bin Sultan has been allotted Awaran and Chaghi areas of Balochistan for the hunting of the rare bird.

    Qatari royal Muhammad Bin Khalifus Sani and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamadus Sani will be hunt the migratory bird in Loralai and Musakhel, respectively. Sheikh Muhammad bin Ali Sani was allotted Barkhan while Sheikh Sani Abdul Aziz was given Kalat and Surab.

    In total 18 sheikhs from Saudi Arabia and Qatar succeeded in getting permission for hunting in Balochistan and other provinces. In return, the Balochistan government will receive Rs150 million for granting this permission.

    Last month, the federal government had granted permission to Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, to export 150 falcons of rare species from Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates.

    The Dubai ruler had needed younger falcons to hunt houbara bustards, and permission in this regard was issued by the foreign ministry.

    The permit issued on Sept 15 this year had read: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs…has the honour to inform that the esteemed embassy may export one hundred and fifty (150) falcons from Pakistan to the United Arab Emirate (UAE) for the personal use of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, vice president of UAE and ruler of Dubai, from Karachi/Bahawalpur/Rahim Yar Khan/Islamabad/Quetta.”

  • High-tension video shows police ‘forcefully picking up’ DJ Butt ahead of Opp’s Lahore jalsa

    High-tension video shows police ‘forcefully picking up’ DJ Butt ahead of Opp’s Lahore jalsa

    A high-tension video doing the rounds has shown Punjab Police personnel detaining popular disc jockey and political activist DJ Butt.

    According to journalist Munizae Jahangir, Butt, who is responsible for the sound system arrangements at the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) anti-government protest in Lahore on December 13, was “forcefully taken to Model Town police station”.

    https://twitter.com/MunizaeJahangir/status/1336582648488226817?s=19

    The video that shows Butt resisting arrest and seeking the reason behind his detention comes at a time when tensions run high among the country’s political quarters.

    The joint opposition is determined to send the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government packing with its protests.

    The government, on the other hand, has refused to let the opposition “blackmail the state into giving them a clean chit in corruption cases”.

    While the government has also not allowed the PDM member parties to gather in Lahore amid the second wave of COVID-19, leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) among other joint opposition parties say the gathering will be held come what may.

    Meanwhile, the premier has also announced to hold by-elections on vacant seats if PDM leaders go forth with plans of resigning from assemblies.

  • Anti-govt protests: PML-N’s Khokhar brothers resign as lawmakers

    After MPA Rana Munawar Ghous, Lahore’s Khokhar brothers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have also handed over their resignations from respective assemblies to the party leadership.

    As per the details, MNA Malik Afzal Khokar and MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar submitted their letters amid talks of mass resignations by opposition lawmakers in protest against the government.

    PML-N leader Azma Bukhari has said that the party has not asked lawmakers to hand in their resignations but they are submitting them on their own.

    On the other hand, the leadership of the 11-party opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), will meet in Islamabad today to devise strategy for the second phase of the anti-government movement.

    Resignations from the assemblies by PDM lawmakers will also be discussed in the meeting.

  • KP govt orders inquiry after six patients die due to lack of oxygen supply

    At least six COVID-19 patients died after “criminal negligence” resulted in a delayed supply of oxygen to a hospital in Peshawar, prompting the provincial government to order an inquiry into the incident.

    More than 200 patients — including nearly 100 with coronavirus — were left for hours with limited supplies of oxygen at government-run Khyber Teaching Hospital.

    “The sad incident happened due to lack of central oxygen supply in the hospital,” provincial health minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra told a press conference, confirming the deaths.

    “We will hold an inquiry and get to the bottom of the incident,” he added, promising action against those responsible “for this criminal negligence”.

    Hospital spokesman Farhad Khan told AFP a disruption in oxygen supplies affected some 200 people, “including 96 COVID-19 patients”.

    He blamed a private supplier, saying the Rawalpindi-based company had “failed to meet the growing demand”.

    Pakistan has reported more than 400,000 cases of coronavirus — including over 8,000 deaths — since the virus arrived in late February.

    Intensive care units in hospitals across the country are now almost full, with provincial governments struggling to deal with the soaring caseload.

  • British vlogger loves Pakistani food, people, doesn’t want to leave

    British vlogger Jay Palfrey is in Pakistan these days and he is absolutely in love with the country, its people and the food. 

     During his visit, he visited various beautiful northern areas of the country including Skardu, Hunza, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

    He shared many pictures on his social media accounts. Taking to Instagram, he expressed, I used to run to chase my dreams, now I’m living them, cannot begin to tell you how HAPPY I am to be exploring the raw beauty of Hunza.”

    Jay has been posting videos on his YouTube channel for a year now and earlier he had revealed that he has converted to Islam. 

    He also visited Lahore and Islamabad and wore the shalwar kameez to blend in with the Pakistani culture. 

    He has documented his trip in his vlog titled Pakistan, The Land of Wonder.

  • Another U-turn? Mobile phones have destroyed society, says PM

    Another U-turn? Mobile phones have destroyed society, says PM

    Prime Minister Imran Khan used to call the mobile phones a necessary part of digital Pakistan until a couple of years ago, but it seems he has changed his opinion about them.

    In a recent interview with Hamza Ali Abbasi, the PM has held mobile phones responsible for the decadence in society. He said the government cannot curb sex crimes on its own, as society’s help is necessary to create awareness.

    The negative impact of mobile phones on teenagers is disastrous, the PM said, adding that the “teens can watch the stuff on their phones that no one has ever seen in the history of humankind”. He said the “sex-related material” on phones have posed unprecedented challenges to the teens.

    The PM held Hollywood and Bollywood responsible for the decadency. He said that’s why he asked Turkey for permission to broadcast their show because it contains “Islamic values”.

    In Dec 2018, the prime minister had praised the increased usage of mobile phones in Pakistan, saying they were a harbinger of a digital media revolution. The PM had said the government would use mobiles to disseminate information.

    “The government would use mobile phones to run an awareness campaign,” the PM had said while addressing a moot on overpopulation.