The teaser of Hum TV’s latest offering Ehd-e-Wafa dropped yesterday and considering the names attached to the project, it comes as no surprise that everyone is excited and looking forward to it.
Starring Ahad Raza Mir, Osman Khalid Butt, Zara Noor Abbas, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Wahaj Ali, Alizeh Shah and Hajira Yamin, Ehd-e-Wafa is directed by Saifee Hassan. The Current has exclusively learnt that Ehd-eWafa will be a TV drama.
According to Hum TV, the drama is about “Friends, friendship, the journey of hardships and hustle, and willingness to sacrifice everything for the country.”
Ahad, Osman, Ahmed and Wahaj will be essaying the roles of four friends who are SSG (Special Service Group) officials. Alizeh will be Ahad’s love interest and it is being speculated that Zara will be Osman’s.
From the first look, the drama has been shot in the Lawrence College. Murree and the areas surrounding it.
Teaser 1
As soon as the teasers dropped, everyone took to Twitter to express their excitement so much so that the hashtag for it started trending at number one, as did Ahad’s dialogue, “Kutte bano, insaan mat bano.“
Everything aside, we’re still curious to know if this is the same project which DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor had hinted at when he congratulated Ahad on his engagement.
In what is being termed as a blatant breach of citizens’ privacy, a cinema in Lahore has released explicit footage of couples putting on public display of affection at the movies.
The videos showing couples holding hands, making out and being involved in sexual activities, started doing rounds on Friday evening, sparking outrage over social media.
While some called out the cinema for “blatant violation” of the couples’ privacy, others stepped in to train guns at the couples for publically being involved in the activities.
Apparently there’s videos circulating from an emporium cinema of couples making out in the cinema hall. The videos are from infrared security cameras mounted inside the hall facing the crowd.
Why are there cameras facing the crowd watching the screen in the first place?
No official statement over the episode has yet been released, however, former Punjab’s Strategic Reforms Unit director general (DG) Salman Sufi has announced filing a lawsuit against the cinema.
Important thread: Just found that video recordings of citizens from cinema halls in #Pakistan have been shared around.This is NOT acceptable and is a violation of law. We demand that all theaters/Public places delete ALL video recordings that have no recorded safety threat ASAP pic.twitter.com/ZeeKpjhTSn
— Salman Sufi (Get New Covid Booster Today) (@SalmanSufi7) August 30, 2019
“Just found that video recordings of citizens from cinema halls in #Pakistan have been shared around. This is NOT acceptable and is a violation of law. We demand that all theaters/Public places delete ALL video recordings that have no recorded safety threat ASAP [sic],” Sufi tweeted.
In a first, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is going to hire a woman director, who will either serve as an election commissioner, deputy election commissioner or one of the adjudicators.
As per the details, PCB on Friday held its 55th Board of Governors (BoG) meeting during which a three-member nominations committee — in accordance with Clause 41 of the PCB Constitution 2019 — was constituted.
According to the said clause, BoG is to form a three-member committee responsible for presenting recommendations on the appointment of four independent directors, one of which will now be a woman.
“The BoG meeting chaired by PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani also approved various recommendations of the Audit Committee, including the board’s central budget for the 2019-20 financial year,” stated a press release issued here.
PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan also briefed the BoG on the outcomes of the cricket committee meeting held on August 2 to review the national cricket team’s performance within the last three years.
The BoG acknowledged and appreciated the PCB’s efforts in convincing Sri Lanka Cricket to send their team for an ODI and T20I series, which will be played from September 27 till October 9 in Pakistan.
Following constitutional changes, the BoG also reviewed and approved the revised powers and functions of the PCB chairman, chief executive, chief operating and the chief financial officers.
The account of Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey was hacked,
sending public tweets and retweets including racial slurs and curse words to 4
million followers before Twitter secured the account.
The offensive tweets and
retweets were deleted less than an hour after the incident. The social media
company said the phone number associated with his account was compromised due
to a security oversight by the mobile provider.
“This allowed an unauthorized person to compose and send tweets via text message from the phone number. That issue is now resolved.” the company said. There was no indication that Twitter’s systems had been compromised, it added.
One of the tweets from the hacked account said Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler was innocent, while others contained derogatory comments about black
people and Jews. There was also a tweet suggesting there was a bomb at
Twitter’s headquarters.
This was not the first time that Dorsey’s Twitter account has been hacked. His account was compromised in 2016 by a group that also hacked the Twitter accounts of Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Twitter shares were down less than 1% in after-hours trade
following the hack.
One week later, Naimal Khawar and Hamza Ali Abbasi’s wedding is still trending. Though the hype has died down a bit, fans still get excited when they get an update from the couple.
The new bride has also resumed her social media activities and hit back at trolls just earlier this week. Now she’s shared how she felt while wearing her mother’s jora on her nikkah and that she did her own hair and makeup.
“The moment I realised I’m getting married, I knew I wanted to wear my Amma’s nikkah jora,” she wrote. “I have always been drawn to old-world charm and the nazakat of bridal joras back in the day. There is also a certain emotional attachment that comes with wearing your mother’s jora.”
“Having worn it, I can say it was easily the best decision I made,” she continued before revealing that she even did her own hair and makeup.
“I also did my own hair and makeup because I wanted to keep it simple and minimal.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1y2bVQjlMo/
Naimal kept her nikkah look simple and minimalistic with clean, glowing skin, light eyes, well-defined brows and a peachy pout – perfect for an afternoon summer wedding.
Naimal’s decision of stepping away from the norm and being confident enough to do her own hair and makeup considering that she knew how much coverage her wedding would be getting is admirable and we love it.
Do you think more brides will follow Naimal’s footsteps or will we stick to the regular parlours?
A day after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said that the ideology of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had taken over India, a much similar statement of the great grandson of independent India’s founding father Mahatma Gandhi, has emerged.
“The RSS ideology has taken over India, the way the Nazi party had taken over Germany,” the premier had said while addressing a Kashmir Hour gathering on Friday. “They think that Muslims should be taught a lesson, that they are not equal citizens. Today, the whole world is seeing what is happening in Kashmir.”
With the premier’s words being widely shared over the internet, it wasn’t later that someone pointed out their similarity with an earlier statement by Gandhi’s great grandson, Tushar Gandhi.
Addressing a gathering earlier this year, he had called for fighting the ideology of RSS, which he said was trying to divide India.
Tushar, who is the son of Mahatma’s grandson Arun, had said that Gandhiwadis (believers of the Gandhian philosophy) can remain neutral, but those who call themselves Gandhi’s workers, cannot do the same in the present era as the RSS was threatening the very ideals espoused by Gandhi.
“I do not hate the RSS functionaries. But I oppose RSS… that idea, which is dividing the country… I do not say that others have not done this. We oppose them as well. We will have to protest, otherwise, we don’t deserve to be called Gandhi’s workers.”
PM Imran’s Friday address wasn’t the first time when he called out his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s regime for being inspired by the RSS.
In two loaded tweets on the eve of Eidul Azha, he had tweeted, “The curfew, crackdown and impending genocide of Kashmiris in IoK [Indian occupied Kashmir] is unfolding exactly according to [the] RSS ideology inspired by Nazi ideology. Attempt is to change demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing. Question is: Will the world watch & appease as they did Hitler at Munich?”
I am afraid this RSS ideology of Hindu Supremacy, like the Nazi Aryan Supremacy, will not stop in IOK; instead it will lead to suppression of Muslims in India & eventually lead to targeting of Pakistan. The Hindu Supremacists version of Hitler’s Lebensraum.
“I am afraid this RSS ideology of Hindu Supremacy, like the Nazi Aryan Supremacy, will not stop in IoK; instead it will lead to suppression of Muslims in India and eventually lead to targeting of Pakistan. The Hindu Supremacists version of Hitler’s Lebensraum,” he had said further.
By the end of next month, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be receiving bunker buster version of Israel-made Spice 2000 bombs, which the country is reported to have used in the failed Balakot airstrikes in February, India Today reported.
According to reports, India and France had signed a Rs3 billion deal with Israel to acquire the bomb that has a standoff range of 60km and approaches the target using its scene-matching algorithm.
It consists of an add-on kit for warheads such as the MK-84, BLU-109, APW and RAP-2000; and was also used by the IAF in a failed attempt to bomb the religious seminaries in Balakot in February this year.
The attack had been foiled by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) that had forced Indian pilots to abort their mission and return in haste.
India had also later failed to support its claims with facts as observers and international media reported that the seminaries New Delhi had claimed to have destroyed, were standing even days after the intrusion.
Two episodes in, ARY’s latest offering Meray Pass Tum Ho is being discussed everywhere – from Whatsapp groups to Facebook groups. ARY knew they had a hit on their hands with Humayun Saeed, Ayeza Khan and Adnan Siddiqui in the main roles. And this isn’t your run of the mill saas/bahu drama.
The story begins with a happily married Danish (Humayun Saeed) and Mehwish (Ayeza Khan) who live within a government officer’s means. They have a son who isn’t going to a good school because of lack of finances. Danish is smitten by his wife and is willing to do everything and anything to make her happy. Mehwish, on the other hand, is materialistic and wants expensive jewellery because her friend Anushay (Meher Bano) is loaded and she wants to be too. To make Mehwish happy, Danish gives up his morals and resorts to corruption, because as the man he must give her what she wants.
So Danish turns to becoming a corrupt government official and getting lakh, two lakh rupee kickbacks to buy his wife jewellery so she can compete with her richer friend Anushay. In walks, Anushay’s husband’s boss Shahwaar (Adnan Siddiqui) who is a ladies man, has a wife who lives abroad, travels a lot with his secretaries and has a Prado.
The Kabab mai haddi
At the end of the second episode, we kind of know what’s coming. Mehwish, entranced by Shahwaar’s good lucks, dashing smile and above all, money, money, money is going to flutter towards him, and Danish, getting a feeler of Shahwaar’s interest in his wife asks her to stay away from such a “loose” character.
The moment when they spot Shahwaar together
The actors are great and the story is realistic. The script has been penned by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar while Nadeem Baig has directed this – both masters of their games. The lust for money taking over a genuinely loving marriage happens – to both men and women and it seems the drama might be taking that interesting route. Let’s see how it goes since the twist is bound to be epic.
Water wastage is high and agricultural yields are low. We are also among the 10 countries with the lowest access to clean water.
Water is a resource that has been taken granted for
centuries. People think it’s an abundant and limitless, but this faulty
perception is changing and it’s about time. We’re running out of fresh water…
and fast.
According to a World Bank report published in January 2019,
the country is “well-endowed” with water but “water wastage is high and
agricultural yields are low”. This, according to the report, is because of bad
management of available water resources.
We are also among the 10 countries with the lowest access to
clean water, according to a study “The Water Gap — The State of the World’s
Water 2018”, by WaterAid. About 21 million out of the total population of 207
million do not have access to clean water.
“Pakistan is facing severe challenges; industrialisation and
the demands of agriculture, depleted and increasingly saline groundwater, rapid
urbanisation and drought have all taken their toll,” says the report.
What adds to the problem is the outdated water
infrastructure. The lack of reservoirs and the dilapidated existing facilities
mean that our ability to store water is way lower than what is needed.
Pakistan has clearly a lot to make up for in almost each of
the areas identified above. Compared to the United States (US) and China where
40% and 65% of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, respectively;
in Pakistan, the figure exceeds 90%.
The government clearly needs to have a well-thought-out
policy in place with proper implementation to ensure that the scales do not
tilt in one stakeholder’s favor. There are sectors where urgent interventions
are merited because they use up the most water the most notable being the
agriculture sector.
Intensive irrigation not just wastes water but also
increases the risk of over-irrigation leading to low crop yield. Since most of
the farmers are practicing agriculture the way their forefathers did, the
government and private sector need to work together to help the farmers adapt
to more responsible irrigation techniques.
Another area is intensive water use industries like textile,
leather and sugarcane to name a few. The world over, industries are looking to
reduce their water footprint. For example, Levi Strauss & Co. recently
announced that it would reduce its water use for manufacturing by 50%, especially
in water-stressed areas by 2025. Abercrombie & Fitch has also pledged a 30%
water reduction by 2022.
There are food and beverage companies who are trying to work
on reducing water waste, not just in their own processes but also outside their
fence. A leading name in these efforts is that of Nestlé Pakistan, which
under its “Caring for Water” initiative is helping farmers move
on from water-intensive irrigation practices and take up high-efficiency
irrigation systems like drip and sprinkler irrigation.
The company claims that it has helped save more than 300
million litres of water in two years by promoting drip irrigation on about 107
acres of land. Their aim is to help save 400 million litres by the end of 2019.
In addition, the company has also developed smart soil sensors. The sensor
detects the level of soil moisture sensors and send real-time data to the
farmers helping them to save water (about 12%), avoid crop stress and
ultimately increase yield.
The company has developed cheap versions of the sensor with the help of the Lahore University of Management Sciences’ (LUMS) Centre for Water Informatics and plans to scale the project up this year.
We need positive initiatives like these, which involve
different partners working together on various aspects of the water challenges
to help address them. The multiple and cross-sectoral challenges beg
collective solutions.
It’s only with a collective approach that we can ensure
effective water management, which requires planning, developing and
distributing water in such a way that all the competing demands (agriculture,
access to safe drinking water, daily use, biodiversity etc) for water are met
and it is allocated on
an equitable basis to satisfy everyone’s demands.
