Category: Uncategorized

  • ‘Rising prices, higher taxes’: Honda halts production in Pakistan

    ‘Rising prices, higher taxes’: Honda halts production in Pakistan

    As car sales drop amid rising prices due to the imposition of higher taxes and rupee depreciation, Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan (HACP) has halted production in the country for 10 days, Dawn reported Saturday.

    According to reports, HACP shut down its plant for 10 days as its inventories piled up to 2,000 units while Indus Motor Company (IMC), which produces Toyota models in Pakistan, has also decided to stop car production for eight days, two days every week, during this month.

    The report quoted HACP and IMC executives as saying that their decision to scale down production during July was informed by plummeting sales in the first 10 days of the month.

    “Our inventories from the last month and the first 10 days of July have grown rapidly because of the steep increase in car prices after currency devaluation as well as the imposition of Advance Customs Duty (ACD) on all our imports and Federal Excise Duty (FED) on assembled cars,” an HACP senior executive said.

    “It has left us with no option but to shut down the plant to cut production. If the present trend holds, we expect our sales to drop to less than 30,000 units this business year (April 2019-March 2020) from over 48,000 units last year.”

    An IMC official also gave the same reasons for “observing eight no-production days” during July. The executive, however, did not give the size of inventory the company has built so far, saying the production cuts could increase next month if sales do not pick up.

  • Think twice before posting unkind comments on Instagram

    Think twice before posting unkind comments on Instagram

    Instagram is rolling out a new feature to identify negative comments before they are published and asks “Are you sure you want to post this?” before it is posted in order to stop bullying on social media platforms.

    It will not stop people from making negative comments, but it will give them the option to “undo” the comment before it is posted.

    People who are reluctant to block or unfollow their bullies will have a new option to restrict them without letting them know. If you restrict someone, their comments on your posts will only be visible to them, unless you approve a comment for general consumption. They also won’t be able to see if you’re active on Instagram or if you’ve read their direct messages.

  • ‘Drugs likely planted in Rana Sanaullah’s car’

    ‘Drugs likely planted in Rana Sanaullah’s car’

    Members of Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control have doubted the government’s version that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Rana Sanaullah had 15 kilograms of drugs worth Rs220 million in his car, Dawn reported.

    Sanaullah was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) earlier this month after the stash was discovered in his vehicle while travelling via the Faisalabad-Lahore Motorway.

    Protesting against the apprehension, members of opposition parties condemned the episode as they argued that the MNA was arrested without any allegation and case against him. They termed it the “worst example of lawlessness and political revenge”.

    “There is a general scare that anyone can plant drugs in anyone’s car. The matter has been hushed up. We want to know exact details of the case of Rana Sanaullah’s arrest,” said PML-N Senator Saleem Zia, who raised the issue during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Friday.

    “Why would a politician and a former law minister be carrying drugs with him and that too in such huge quantities?” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Anwar Lal Dean asked senior officials from the Narcotics Ministry and the ANF.

    While the senators implied that the drugs were planted in Sanaullah’s car, ANF Director General (DG) Major General Mohammad Arif Malik urged them to not make assumptions.

    “The minister for narcotics has already given a briefing on the matter. It would be unreasonable to assume that drugs were planted on him [Sanaullah]. Members should either come forward with proof that he was framed or believe the version of the ANF that drugs were recovered from him,” he was quoted as saying.

  • The negative impact of violent video games

  • The negative impact of violent video games

    There are many negative effects of violent video games which sometimes are too severe to ignore. The Current asked game players and developers how do these games affect them psychologically? 
    Here is what they said.

  • Old tweet comes back to bite PM Imran’s govt

    Old tweet comes back to bite PM Imran’s govt

    With the tragic train accident in Sadiqabad claiming over 20
    lives, an old tweet of the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has come
    back to haunt the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government.

    At least 24 people were killed and over 100 injured when the Akbar Bugti Express travelling from Lahore to Quetta on Thursday collided with a stationary freight train at the Walhar Railway Station.

    It wasn’t later that opposition leaders stepped up to seek Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed’s resignation.

    Blaming human negligence for the accident, Rasheed rubbished the opposition’s demands. “I will step down if [PM] Imran Khan asks me to do so,” a private media outlet quoted the minister as saying.

    However, soon after the opposition parties’ demand made headlines, an old PTI tweet quoting its chief started doing rounds on social media.

    “All over the world, just on an incident of railway accidents, minister resigns. This is real democracy, says Imran Khan [sic],” the tweet from August 2014 stated. It had come as Imran demanded Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and then railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique’s resignation.

    This isn’t the first time an old tweet has come back to bite the PTI government.

    As PM Imran reached China amid Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) nationwide protests last year, a 2012 tweet of his, went viral. In the tweet, he had criticised the then premier for traveling abroad as the country “burned”.

    It was aimed at criticising former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who had traveled to China for the Boao Forum while violence linked to sectarian, ethnic and political tensions continued in different parts of the country.

  • Mani thinks Momina Mustehsan’s performance at LSA 2019 was the ‘death of rap and dance’

    Mani thinks Momina Mustehsan’s performance at LSA 2019 was the ‘death of rap and dance’

    As much as this year’s Lux Style Awards tried to be politically and morally correct, in reality, the exact opposite happened. The awards continue to be in the headlines and not for the best of reasons. After the whole Iqra Aziz, Yasir Hussain drama, which frankly blew out of proportion, people are now turning their attention to the other things that happened at the award ceremony. Such as Momina Mustehsan’s performance.

    Momina, who was performing for the first time ever, opened the Lux Style Awards with Eva B, the cult classic rapper from Lyari. The entire segment, written, directed and produced by Mustehsan, raised more than just a few eyebrows and videos of her performing went viral on social media with people asking what exactly she was doing on stage.

    Salman Sheikh, better known as Mani, also had a few thoughts on the matter. Sharing the video on his Instagram, he remarked that Momina’s performance was the death of rap and dance.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzyE3unhvHQ/

    Meanwhile, here’s what Twitter had to say on her performance.

    Signing off with a video of her performance. Enjoy.

    WhatsApp-Video-2019-07-10-at-01.06.45
  • Lahoris beware: Pulling pranks might get you into trouble

    Lahoris beware: Pulling pranks might get you into trouble

    Pranking has become a common form of entertainment, especially among young boys who usually carry out their pranks in public to record the reactions of the people so they can then post them on different social media platforms. In a lot of cases, the pranks tend to get out of hand. Keeping this in the mind, the Lahore police has decided to arrest people who are caught doing pranks.

    According to reports, 77 cases of pranksters are being investigated by the Lahore Police, while 11 cases have been registered against prank callers and pranksters who ask inappropriate questions.

    As per Section 506 (punishment for frightening someone) of the Pakistan Penal Code or Section 25D (the penalty for causing annoyance) of the Telegraph Act, 1885, the police can arrest you.

    Section 506 of the PPC is punishable with an imprisonment of up to two years in jail or a fine, whereas Section 25D of the Telegraph Act is punishable by a jail term of up to three years or a fine.

    Pranks are not only troublesome for the general public but also for pranksters themselves. A prankster named Zuhair in Lahore was shot dead while making a ghost prank video with two of his friends.

  • PTI leader ‘who inserted iron rod into driver’s rectum’ becomes HR focal person

    PTI leader ‘who inserted iron rod into driver’s rectum’ becomes HR focal person

    Mir Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Lund, who allegedly violated his poor driver by inserting an iron rod into his rectum, has been appointed as a human rights focal person by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    According to a Human Rights Ministry notification dated July 10, Minister Shireen Mazari has appointed Lund as a focal person on the issues of human rights in Sindh.

    “He shall assist the office of the federal minister on the issues of human rights while keeping liaison with relevant stakeholders,” the notification read.

    While the appointment is “purely voluntary without the ministry bearing any expenses”, the news has taken social media by storm owing to the gross violation allegedly committed by Lund in April.

    Lawyer and activist Mohammad Jibran Nasir was among the first to point out.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzyDlAyna1P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    THE ASSAULT:

    As per the details, a van driver named Allah Rakhio was allegedly assaulted and meted out inhumane punishment in Sindh’s Ghotki district on the orders of his employer, Lund, and his three relatives.

    According to the victim’s son, Zahid Hussain Rakhio, his father had a disagreement with Shafiq Lund, following which he was called to Iftikhar’s residence where he was mercilessly beaten up by Shafiq, Rafiq Lund and Mumtaz Ali Lund in Iftikhar’s presence.

    Injured Rakhio called Hussain, who took him to the hospital, where he received eight stitches on his private parts. A video of Rakhio lying on his back on a stretcher and narrating his ordeal was also widely shared over the internet.

    FIR AGAINST LUND:

    A First Information Report (FIR) against Iftikhar, Mumtaz, Shafiq and Rafiq on the victim’s complaint was filed at the Khanpur Mahar police station.

    The FIR was filed under sections 324 (attempt to commit qatle amd), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 143 (punishment for being a member of unlawful assembly).

    Hussain, however, claims that police have not yet made any arrests and are trying to brush the incident under the carpet.

    Picture of the victim published with his consent

  • ‘Judge who convicted Nawaz to be removed from post’

    ‘Judge who convicted Nawaz to be removed from post’

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has decided to sack Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik, who convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia corruption reference, a private media outlet reported Friday. 

    Earlier, the judge had written a letter to the IHC, refuting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz’s allegations and the leaked tapes that purportedly showed him admitting to sentencing Nawaz after being blackmailed.

    PML-N leadership last Saturday had released the tapes that allegedly showed Malik confessing in front of a party worker named Nasir Butt.

    In the tapes, the judge was heard claiming he was coerced to hand down the prison sentence against the former PM despite there being no proof of corruption against him.

    In a subsequent press release, Malik had denied the contents of the video and termed them as edited, fabricated and aimed to defame him. He, however, had admitted knowing the PML-N worker and his brother.

    Meanwhile, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has demanded that Nawaz’s sentence be nullified and the former premier be immediately released.