Category: Others

The Current is Pakistan’s first digital news-lifestyle platform and others that simplifies news for Pakistani millennials.

  • Punjab govt removes name of Hamid Mir’s father from underpass

    Punjab govt removes name of Hamid Mir’s father from underpass

    The Punjab government has renamed the Waris Mir Underpass on the provincial capital’s Canal Bank Road near the Punjab University (PU), where the late writer and intellectual taught journalism for about 25 years.

    The name of Waris Mir, a Hilale Imtiaz recipient, was removed from the underpass on Saturday and renamed the Kashmir Underpass in a sudden and mysterious move that has been condemned by the Waris Mir Foundation.

    Senior journalist and anchorperson Hamid Mir’s father, Waris, taught for 30 years at the PU’s Mass Communication Department.

    He was not the only one to be honoured by the state in March 2013, since all newly-constructed underpasses, which tallied up to more than a dozen across the city, were named after outstanding intellectuals and prominent personalities, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ashfaq Ahmed, Habib Jalib, Justice A R Cornelius, Ustad Daman, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, Khushaal Khan Khatak, Liaqat Ali Khan, Chakare Azam Rind, Justice A R Kiyani and Patras Bokhari.

    The names had been decided through a procedure in several meetings of the City District Government, headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court (SC).

    Commenting on the move, Waris Mir Foundation spokesperson said “it was nothing but an act of aversion, not against Waris Mir alone, but a sequence of hatred and uncalled-for enmity towards the Pakistani media, in general, which seems to be a line of action of the government”.

    “This act, in general, has only been secretly carried out to hurt the sentiments of hundreds of Waris Mir’s students, readers and his posterity,” the spokesperson added.

  • Indian Air Force finally admits ‘accidentally’ shooting down its own helicopter

    Indian Air Force finally admits ‘accidentally’ shooting down its own helicopter

    After six long months, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has finally confirmed that Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash in Budgam on February 27, which killed seven people, including six uniformed personnel, was caused by friendly fire, The Print has reported.

    According to reports, the investigation has discovered that the crash was a result of system failure, while the IAF has blamed two officers: the chief operations officer (COO) and the senior air traffic control officer (SATCO), who can face court-martial proceedings as a punishment.

    The report further said that the helicopter was shot down by IAF’s Israeli-made Spyder Air Defence System following the failure of command and control.

    The Russian-made chopper had crashed near Srinagar on the same day Pakistan Air Force (PAF) downed two intruding IAF fighter jets, killing one pilot while capturing another, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

    Budgam is a town located in Indian occupied Kashmir’s (IoK) district of the same name. The helicopter had crashed in an open field near Garend Kalaan village at around 10 am on February 27.

  • ‘Maryam distances herself from NAB judge’s scandalous video’

    The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has informed the Supreme Court (SC) that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President (VP) Maryam Nawaz has “distanced herself” from the video scandal of ex-accountability court judge Arshad Malik, Express Tribune reported Thursday.

    Maryam on July 6 had presented to journalists a secretly recorded video of judge Arshad Malik and claimed that he was “forced to give the verdict against Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference case”.

    According to latest reports, FIA presented before the court a 105-page report, wherein it said that Maryam has now distanced herself from the video and placed burden of the details and specifics of the video upon Nasir Mehmood Butt.

    Butt is the person who reportedly recorded the conversation during which Malik had allegedly confessed convicting Nawaz under pressure.

    The FIA report further said that PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has also distanced himself from the videotapes.

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had on July 12 removed Malik as a judge and directed the registrar to repatriate him to his parent department, the Lahore High Court (LHC).

  • VIDEO: ‘No one drives cars as old as our jets,’ Indian air chief says

    VIDEO: ‘No one drives cars as old as our jets,’ Indian air chief says

    Indian Air Chief Birender Singh Dhanoa has exposed the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) weakness by saying that they are still flying 44-year-old MiG-21 fighter jets “when no one even drives cars that old”.

    Addressing a seminar on the modernisation and indigenisation of the IAF, he said even the Russians were not flying the MiGs, but the IAF was because they had “overhauling facilities”.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Dhanoa also said the basic version of the Russian fighter jet would be phased out this year, “Hopefully, I will fly the last sortie in September, subject to visibility”.

    Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and later taken into custody in February this year, was also flying the MiG-21 fighter jet.

    Abhinandan’s jet called MiG-21 Bison, however, was an upgraded version of the aircraft.

  • Naya Pakistan: Communications Ministry generates record revenue of Rs43.32 billion in a year

    Naya Pakistan: Communications Ministry generates record revenue of Rs43.32 billion in a year

    The Ministry of Communications has registered over a 52 per cent increase in its annual revenue during the first year of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.

    According to the one-year performance report of the PTI issued Monday, the ministry generated record revenue of Rs43.32 billion during the fiscal year 2018-19, as compared to Rs28.64 billion in the fiscal year 2017-18, witnessing an increase of over Rs14 billion.

    The ministry has so far recovered Rs7 billion through audits. In addition, a new system containing facilities such as e-billing, e-tendering and a mobile app has been introduced by the ministry to enhance transparency.

    In the head of accountability, total audit recoveries of Rs7.02 billion were made in 2018-19, whereas no recoveries were made in 2017-18.

    A special audit of delayed projects of the National Highway Authority, including Lyari Expressway, Khuzdar-Shahdadkot Highway(M-8), Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab Highway (M-8), Lowari Tunnel (N-45) Civil Works, and Kalat-Quetta-Chaman Highway (N-25) was also ordered.

    During past one year, NHA launched an anti-encroachment drive under which 3,347 encroachments were removed and 448.25-kanal land was recaptured. The estimated cost of the vacated land stood at Rs2.503 billion.

  • Yuvraj Singh’s response to Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet will crack you up

    Yuvraj Singh’s response to Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet will crack you up

    Former Indian cricketing star Yuvraj Singh’s hilarious response to former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar’s tweet, wherein he had criticised England’s Jofra Archer, has gone viral over the internet.

    As per the details, Akhtar recently slammed Archer when the latter’s bouncer left Australian batsman Steve Smith rolling on the ground.

    He was seen sharing a laugh with English wicketkeeper Jos Buttler after Smith suffered a nasty blow to his head on day four of the 2nd Ashes Test at Lord’s on Sunday.

    Being a paceman himself, Akhtar criticised Archer over his reaction and tweeted:

    However, Akhtar’s reaction was met with a hilarious tweet by Yuvraj Singh, who wrote, “Yes you did! But your actual words were, hope you are alright mate cause there are a few more coming”.

    This isn’t the first time that the cricketing legends have passed wacky comments on each other’s tweets.

    In 2017, Akhtar had shared an inspirational quote by WWE icon and film star, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson:

    Reacting to the tweet, Singh had tweeted in Punjab:

    “Sounds good, but where are you headed for [some] welding job?”

  • Pakistan should threaten Saudi Arabia of destroying Ambani’s oil refinery: Zaid Hamid

    Pakistan should threaten Saudi Arabia of destroying Ambani’s oil refinery: Zaid Hamid

    Self-proclaimed defence and security analyst Zaid Hamid has
    suggested the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government to “threaten
    Saudi Arabia of destroying Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s oil
    refinery” to secure the Kingdom’s support.

    The world is divided as Pakistan and India face-off over
    Kashmir ever since New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of its constitution, robbing
    the disputed territory of its autonomy.

    Hamid’s advice to the government comes after Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Kingdom might not be standing up in Pakistan’s support since it has hefty investments planned in India.

    Earlier this month, Ambani had announced that his Reliance Industries’ plan to sell 20% stake in its refining and petrochemicals business for $15 billion to Saudi Aramco. The oil refinery has an enterprise value of $75 billion.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, Hamid criticised FM Qureshi
    for “making Pakistan’s position weaker in the diplomatic war against India” and
    suggested the government to threaten the Kingdom of destroying the refinery to
    garner its support.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    He further said that Pakistan should threaten Israel of a nuclear
    attack to put India on a short leash.

    “India took Israel and the United States (US) into
    confidence before moving to annex held Kashmir,” he claimed and added that therefore
    Pakistan should target Israel instead of talking to India.

  • India may change its ‘no first use’ nuclear policy: defence minister

    India may change its ‘no first use’ nuclear policy: defence minister

    Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the country may see a major shift in its nuclear weapons doctrine by doing away with the ‘no first use’ policy in the future, a private media outlet reported.

    ‘No first use’ is a pledge by a nuclear power to not use its nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by the opposition using its nuclear arms.

    “Till today, our nuclear policy is ‘no first use’. What happens in future depends on the circumstances,” the Indian defence minister said while addressing a gathering in Pokhran, the site of India’s nuclear tests in 1998.

    In a tweet, Singh added:

    The comments come amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and India ever since New Delhi revoked Article 370 of its constitution and robbed occupied Kashmir of its special status.

    Condemning the move, Pakistan has approached the United Nations (UN) against the development that can pave way for the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the disputed valley.

  • Indian media falls for Pakistani meme, fact checks Arya Stark’s picture as ‘Kashmiri girl’

    Indian media falls for Pakistani meme, fact checks Arya Stark’s picture as ‘Kashmiri girl’

    Amid the ongoing unrest in held Kashmir, a viral picture of Game of Thrones (GoT) character Arya Stark being portrayed as a Kashmiri girl, has been fact-checked by Indian media.

    As per the details, the image was first shared by a Twitter handle, “Fan of Zaidu”, mentioning Arya — played by Maisie Williams — as a Kashmiri girl “who had gone blind after being hit by a pellet gun”.

    https://twitter.com/TheZaiduLeaks/status/1157727539873402882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1157727539873402882&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsmobile.in%2Farticles%2F2019%2F08%2F14%2Fpicture-of-gots-arya-stark-shared-as-kashmiri-girl-heres-the-fact-check%2F

    It wasn’t later that the image took the micro-blogging website by storm.

    Despite the handle clearly stating that its tweets are nothing but satire and “100% fake”, Indian media has started doing fact checks over the image, claiming that Pakistan’s premium intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was “leading the propaganda campaign against India”.

    Moreover, a noted Indian scholar and activist, Madhu Kishwar, has retweeted the image and asked Fact Check India to “confirm if it is real”.

    India TV Editor-In-Chief Rajat Sharma has also accused Pakistan of spreading false propaganda.

    https://twitter.com/TheZaiduLeaks/status/1161722132214308864

    The image comes as tensions soar on either side of the border ever since India robbed occupied Kashmir of its special status. Pakistan fears the move can lead to a Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.

  • #RedForKashmir: Social media goes red in solidarity with Indian occupied Kashmir

    #RedForKashmir: Social media goes red in solidarity with Indian occupied Kashmir

    After the Indian government scrapped the Article 370
    of the constitution which allowed Indian occupied Kashmir to have special
    status.

     By eliminating Article 370 of the constitution,
    people from the rest of India will have the right to get property in occupied
    Kashmir and settle there permanently. This is seen as an attempt to dilute the
    demographics of  Indian occupied Kashmir.

      Thousands have taken to social media to show their support and stand with the citizens of the disputed valley. This action of the Modi-led BJP government was widely condemned by social media users from across the globe.

    A large number of social media users are changing their profile pictures to red and using hashtags like #RedForKashmir, #BleedForKashmir, #StandWithKashmir, and #Kashmirunderthreat to express solidarity with Kashmiris.

    https://twitter.com/youdawood/status/1158146341371076613
    https://twitter.com/nrafiqii/status/1158127648658341890