A US reporter has become the subject of memes after a video of her saying she tried to reach a dead man for “comment” live on air.
Sara Welch made the mistake on air saying she tried to get a comment from a dead man while reporting on a happening which involved the death of a suspect in a police chase.
And the internet never lets anything die, social media users started trolling her.
Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul has drawn ire of hundreds of activists for “taking credit for Friday’s Climate March” in various cities of Pakistan and around the world.
The minister, from her Twitter account, posted pictures of the march and wrote, “Held an engaged public awareness in Islamabad to trigger a more committed behaviour from civil society, and to affirm focus on sustainability initiatives.”
But since the march was actually a citizens-led global event organised by Climate Action Now to help stop global warming in a call answered by Pakistanis as well, Twitterati didn’t let go of Gul’s claim easy.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) minister faced severe criticism for her claims from participants of the march, including environmentalists, journalists and lawyers, as she didn’t really have much to do with the demonstrations.
Gul’s tweet has since been deleted.
Following multiple deaths in the province due to rabies, the Sindh Government has ordered mayors, municipal commissioners and other officials to start immediate and effective campaigns for the culling of stray dogs in the province.
According to reports, as many as 13 people, including men, women and mostly children, have lost their lives in Sindh due to rabies encephalitis, a deadly infectious disease caused by a rabid dogs, this year, while as many as 135,000 people have been attacked and bitten by stray dogs in Sindh, including Karachi.
However, the issue gained momentum after a video of a 10-year-old boy who passed away in his mother’s lap due to full-blown rabies in the Larkana district, went viral on social media. The public and media bitterly criticised the provincial government for failing to control the population of stray dogs and arrange anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) for those who are bitten.
In a notification, the Sindh Local Government Department directed local bodies authorities to launch an “effective and well-coordinated campaign” in their areas on a top priority basis.
Officials of the health department said they had been urging the authorities to direct the elimination of stray dogs for a long time but owing to pressure from animal rights campaigners, no decision had been taken.
Meanwhile, Sindh Director General Health Dr Masood Solangi said that he was satisfied with the decision because it was difficult for Pakistan, being a poor country, to afford the expensive anti-rabies vaccine and vaccinate hundreds of thousands of people who become victim to stray dogs every year in the province. He added that the vaccine is imported from India and due to political tensions, the supple of the vaccine is affected.
Delays in construction of Lahore’s Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) has escalated its premium cost by 50 per cent as suspension of development work on the mega project has served a Rs11 billion blow to the national exchequer, The News reported.
The estimated premium cost of the project was Rs22 billion, but it has increased to Rs30 billion, reports quoted a Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) official as saying and added that an additional Rs3 billion has been allocated for the construction of footpaths for the project, escalating the total premium cost to Rs33 billion.
The OLMT has two components. The first component of the project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) whereas the second one is to be funded by the Punjab government.
The estimated cost of the first component, which includes the civil as well as electrical and mechanical (E&M) works, is unchanged and stands at $1.458 billion. All funding for the CPEC component has been done by the Chinese government; however, the estimated premium cost of the local component, which is to be funded by the Punjab government, has escalated from Rs22 billion to Rs33 billion.
In order to cut the project’s expenditures, the government has slashed some components of the project, such as the 0.4 kilometers long moving walkway from Lahore Railway Station to Metro Bus Station and the Anarkali-MAO passenger transfer section, reports said.
PMTA officials were quoted as claiming that the local component price escalation was not because of any delays in civil or E&M works, but because of court cases, some issues on part of the provincial Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), Special Protection Unit (SPU) and some other reasons.
They added that 96.5 per cent work on OLMT had been completed and it was on the punch list stage, but they couldn’t give an exact deadline for the inauguration as it “depends on the present government when it decides to complete the remaining part”.
Pakistan head coach-cum-chief selector Misbahul Haq has named a 16-member squad for the upcoming One-Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka, Cricket Pakistan reported.
According to the details, Abid Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Shinwari, Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Rizwan have made a comeback in the ODI side, while fast-bowlers Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been left out of the team due to back spasm and dengue fever, respectively.
All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been dropped from the squad, while Shoaib Malik has already announced retirement from the 50-over format.
The squad for the T20 matches to be held in Lahore will be announced later. Until then, other players will continue training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
“After thorough discussions with the members of the selection committee and meticulous planning, I feel we have put together the best possible squad,” Misbah said Saturday and added how his experience told him that “there are no easy games or opponents”.
Following are the players included in the ODI squad:
Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imamul Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari and Wahab Riaz.
The Sindh government has set a minimum wage of Rs 17,500 per month for adult unskilled and juvenile workers.
According to an official notification, the Sindh government said that the order will be implemented under the provisions of Section 4 of the Sindh Minimum Wages Act, 2015.
The notification further said that the order will apply uniformly throughout the province to all adult, unskilled and juvenile labour, including female workers.
“The employers shall revise the rates of payments for piece rated
workers and make sure that the worker in each piece rate occupation is enabled
to earn not less than Rs.84.00 per hour in any working day,” the notification
read.
A two-month bear cub is on the loose after it escaped its cage at the Peshawar Zoo.
According to media reports, the cub was in a cage with its mother when one of the caretakers left the door open and the cub escaped.
Both the mother and baby had been brought to the zoo from Dir a few days ago. They had been confiscated by the wildlife department at a check post in Upper Dir a few days ago because they were being illegally brought from Afghanistan.
The zoo administration believes that the cub is still inside the zoo and are examining CCTV footage to locate it. The cub hasn’t been seen in footage of the zoo’s exit points.
There is currently some renovation work going on at the zoo and a lot of heavy machinery inside. Officials believe the cub could be hiding there somewhere.
An inquiry has also been ordered and the management of the zoo has been directed to register FIR.
While the cub doesn’t pose a threat to anyone, the zoo administration made announcements about its disappearance via local mosques.
Due to a continuing fall in demand, Indus Motors Company (IMC), the maker of Toyota vehicles, has decided to shut down all production for the remaining days of September, Dawn reported.
As a result, reports said, the total number of Non-Production Days (NPDs) this month will reach 15 and quoted an IMC official as saying that the company had already observed eight NPDs in July and 11-12 NPDs in August.
Claiming that “half of the month was off”, the official said that the federal excise duty (FED) leveled on various engine capacity cars, the skyrocketing prices of the cars owing to the rupee-dollar parity and high-interest rates had made their cars too costly.
A Toyota vendor was also quoted as saying that IMC’s production would remain shut from September 20-30.
Toyota Corolla production and sales dropped to 5,308 units and 3,708 units respectively in July-August from 8,804 and 8,770 units in the same period during last fiscal year, representing a fall of 40 per cent and 57 per cent, respectively.
“Toyota Hilux production and sales have also plunged while that of Toyota Fortuner have come down to 232 units and 162 units from 484 units and 424 units, a drop of 52 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively,” the report said.
Likening women to uncovered candy or screaming about the virtues of the hijab or issuing thoughtless circulars regarding schoolgirls and what they should wear — none of these can be solved by a quick-fix order from a government.
I don’t know about you but I’m not particularly keen on being likened to a lollipop — or any other candy, really. But, judging by social media posts and general attitudes towards harassment and women’s bodies, men in Pakistan seem very (disturbingly) comfortable with being likened to the house fly or the common ant.
In keeping with the way women are seen (as candy that needs to be covered up, in case you didn’t get the idea), a week or so back schoolgirls in Haripur were instructed to cover up lest something unfortunate were to happen to them.
“Instruct all students to use gown/abaya or chador to veil/conceal/cover up their-self in order to protect them from any unethical incident.” With these words, District Education Officer (DEO) Samina Altaf put the onus of sexual harassment or anything else that comes under ‘unethical incident’ on young girls. Altaf’s Haripur circular was followed by one for Peshawar. The usual debates ensued on social and traditional media and — as is now pretty much what is expected from this government — the circulars were taken back.
That the original notification was issued by a woman needs to be unpacked in a whole other article, but let’s just say that the patriarchy and right-wing morality we all grew up with is not confined to one gender and needs to be fought from within.
Child rights organisation Sahil has said that from January to June in the current year, 1,304 cases of sexual abuse of children have been reported by the media in the country, which means that at least seven children are abused daily in Pakistan. Let the numbers sink in: seven children every single day are either raped or sodomised or otherwise abused — and some are then even murdered. That is not a joke and no number of inane circulars can help correct this without some deeper corrective measures.
We live in a country where a district in Punjab — Kasur — has almost become synonyms with child abuse, and yet nothing seems to be done about it other than some ineffectual and bizarre reshuffling in the police order. We live in a country where colleges in a big city like Karachi find it perfectly normal to police girls clothing by checking if the kameez/shirt they’re wearing covers their posterior. We live in a country where the only solution to child rape is the death penalty for the rapist (which is not a deterrent) but never a campaign to raise awareness regarding child sexual abuse or sexual harassment generally.
It is not odd then that in this same country we would have a ‘#HijabIsProtection’ Twitter trend soon after the Hairpur/Peshawar circulars and smack in the middle of three fresh cases of abuse and murder in Kasur. The only thing that reinforces is the absolutely incorrect belief that covering up is the solution to harassment — whether in school, on the street or at home. And it reinforces all the guilt, shame, fear that women here (and in other parts of the world too) grow up with when it comes to their bodies and what harassment is all about (hint: it has nothing to do with what you’re wearing).
Likening women to uncovered candy or screaming about the virtues of the hijab or issuing thoughtless circulars regarding schoolgirls and what they should wear — none of these can be solved by a quick-fix order from a government. We need a change in attitudes, in the way women are perceived and what little girls are taught about themselves and their ‘virtue’. That requires a change in how society sees ‘safety’. And that then requires a change in how the state perceives issues of security and safety — not of the state but of the people it is meant to serve.
You will not protect our little girls and boys by asking girls to cover up, or asking parents to employ guards at homes and at school. That’s not deterrence, that’s fear and state’s incompetence. You will not protect our little girls and boys just by hanging one rapist and thinking your work’s done. It’s not. The monsters created by a sick society won’t go away if you just close your eyes. We need your eyes open, your minds working and your people — state representatives — doing much more than issuing ill-thought-out circulars.