After months of struggle, parents have secured a win over private schools with their owners being barred from increasing fees by more than 5 per cent a year, a private media outlet reported.
According to reports, the Supreme Court (SC) delivered the verdict on Wednesday while hearing a case filed by owners of private schools. They had sought legal approval to increase fees by 15 per cent to 20 per cent every year.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan read out the reserved verdict.
The top court upheld the verdict of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and overturned the Lahore High Court (LHC) decision in favour of the private schools.
The schools have been ordered to return or adjust the extra amount they charged parents since the first ruling in the case.
The week has been pretty lit as far as Pakistani politics is concerned with three high-profile arrests, including those of former President Asif Ali Zardari, Altaf Hussain and Hamza Shehbaz, and the 2019-20 budget being presented.
Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, who often expresses her political thoughts on Twitter, took to the social media to defend her father and in the process, got into a Twitter feud with State Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, who is also no stranger to controversy.
It all started when Gul tweeted a picture of the arrested politicians crying, referring to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, who in his election campaign, had vowed to “make his opponents cry”.
Bakhtawar responded to Gul in a tweet she later deleted. But, Zartaj had already taken a screenshot. She shared the tweet, calling Bakhtawar “disoriented”, “timid” and a “coward” and referred to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as her “sister”.
Disorientated and timid Bakhtawar deleted her tweet after a smashing and humiliating response I gave! Cowards! pic.twitter.com/U36be9AcUF
Senior journalist Hamid Mir has trolled Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda for claiming that “anti-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)” media houses had started liking the government after financial benefits.
Speaking on Mir’s show, Vawda on Tuesday said that media outlets, known for their alleged affiliation with opposition parties, were now highlighting achievements of the PTI government as they had been “provided with ease of doing business”.
“It wasn’t our job, but we fought against lay-offs in the media industry. We made doing businesses easy by giving them [media houses] budgets,” he said.
When Mir asked if he meant the government had paid media houses any money, Vawda agreed, saying the PTI had “paid them against government advertisements”.
It wasn’t later that both Mir and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan broke into laughter.
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Senior journalists have time and again expressed concerns over the state of Pakistani media ever since the PTI government took reins of the country.
With cuts in government advertisements, a shakeout has been triggered and hundreds of thousands of media workers have gone jobless. Some journalists have also accused the PTI of using “stoppage of government ads to media as a weapon”.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has been spotted dancing on the floor of the National Assembly, in what appears to be an attempt to mock the opposition.
As per the details, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Tuesday presented its first federal budget while members of opposition parties recorded a strong protest against PM Imran.
They raised slogans, held placards and wore black armbands during Revenue Minister Hammad Azhar’s budget speech.
As the minister concluded presenting the budget, the premier was seen being escorted out of the house, waving his hands in the air — suggesting he was least bothered about the ruckus.
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Earlier, a Rs7 trillion austerity budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 was presented by the PTI government. It received severe criticism from opposition parties who termed the budget “anti-people”.
India and Pakistan have been hit by a terrible heatwave which is making life very difficult for those living in these areas.
While the rest of us wait for the monsoon rains to come, citizens from the Indian state of Karnataka decided to take matters into their own hands. They got together and arranged a marriage between two frogs to appease the Hindu rain god.
According to reports, four frogs were taken by the organisers to the department of Zoology in Manipal, where the zoologists identified the male and female frogs. Following the identification, one male and one female were singled out.
The two frogs were then dressed up in specially made outfits and taken to the wedding venue in a decorated cycle auto.
Several guests participated in the frogs wedding ceremony and celebrated the occasion. A feast followed the wedding ceremony.
Interestingly, the frog couple will be sent on a honeymoon to Manna Palla near Manipal in Udupi. The main intention in arranging this frog wedding was to appease the rain Gods who seem to have deserted the coastal district over the past few months, and the people have been struggling to get water for drinking and other basic purposes.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Tuesday announced its first federal budget for the fiscal year 2019-20, which received mixed reactions from people.
It was presented by Federal Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar, who delivered his speech while opposition members protested against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and his government.
Amid all the confusion over the increase in prices of different products, which may follow the budget, here is a list of stuff The Current suggests you stock up on before an inflation bomb is dropped.
Rooh Afza
That was exactly our reaction. But, a new health tax has been proposed on sugary drinks, which will make it costlier to buy sharbat. It’s not just that though…
Soft Drinks
You heard that right. Those little soft drink breaks during summers will be costing you more now as the health tax will also be jacking up soda prices. The excise tax on soft drinks has been increased from 11.25 per cent to 13 per cent, which is not too much, but will ultimately affect you.
The good part? The money will reportedly be used to provide free medical treatment to people using Sehat Cards that offer treatment up to Rs720,000 from a private or government hospital.
Cooking Oil/Ghee
Branded cooking oil and ghee prices will also be rising as a 17 per cent sales tax will be imposed. You must be thinking that it doesn’t really affect you much, but you never know how it may or may not affect food prices.
The good news, however, remains no increase in General Sales Tax (GST) in case you’re planning to dine out.
Sugar
The price of sugar is expected to increase by Rs3.60/kg since the government is unhappy with the tax collection from the sector. The new budget recommends increasing sales tax on sugar from 8 per cent to 17 per cent.
We don’t endorse the next thing you need to stock up on, but let’s be honest, we know a lot of people who smoke.
Cigarettes
The budget has also recommended a federal excise duty of Rs5,200 on every 10,000 cigarettes be imposed, which means every pack of 20 cigarettes you buy will cost you at least Rs10 more.
Just so you know, tobacco consumption kills nearly 160,000 Pakistanis every year, and a lot of people are supporting the move.
Just a few hours after Turkish hackers took over Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s Twitter, they have now hacked into Adnan Sami’s account.
The hackers have not only uploaded a series of pro-Pakistan tweets, but they have also change the singer’s username and bio, as a result of which the blue verification tick has disappeared. The account’s profile picture has been replaced by a picture of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the same one which was used on Amitabh’s Twitter. Though the tweets have now been deleted, screenshots are forever.
The hackers also shared screenshots of Adnan Sami’s DM on their own Instagram page.
It is interesting to note that a few hours before the incident, the hackers hinted that they will troll Adnan Sami. Sharing a photo of Adnan’s anti-Pakistan tweet, the hackers asked their followers, “What shall we do about this man?” While a lot of social media users asked the Ayyildiz Tim to change Adnan’s name to Major Adnan Sami, they decided to take over his account and post pro-Pakistan stuff.
Late last night, the Ayyildiz Tim hacked in Amitabh Bachchan’s Twitter account and also posted a series of pro-Pakistan tweets while also changing the profile picture to that of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The tweets were later deleted and Bachchan is said to have taken the case to the Mumbai police who are investigating the matter. Funnily, a lot of Twitter users suggested that Adnan Sami was behind the hacking Big B’s account.
Uber has increased the fares of Go, Go Mini and Auto rides for the residents of Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore following the fluctuation in petrol price and the inconsistent dollar rate in the market. The last increase in prices occurred at the start of this year and six months later Uber is increasing the price again for Islamabad. Lahore and Karachi.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairperson and former president Asif Ali Zardari will be arrested by the National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) in the fake bank accounts case today, The Current has learnt.
As per the details, Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur will be taken into custody after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected their pre-arrest bail pleas earlier in the day.
Issuing its orders, the bench also permitted NAB authorities to carry out the arrests.
“A team of NAB officials has already informed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in this regard,” sources said, adding that an elected representative cannot be detained unless the speaker of the respective house has been informed.
NAB’s letter to NA Speaker Asad Qaiser
“Another NAB team has reached Zardari’s residence, however, PPP leaders are seeking a certified copy of the judgment ahead of the arrest,” they said further.
The judgement is being sought so that the Supreme Court (SC) can be petitioned against the high court’s order. “That is the only option left for the two PPP leaders.”
Meanwhile, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s spokesperson Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar has requested party workers to stay calm and not resort to violence.
The fake accounts case relates to transactions of hundreds of millions of rupees to Zardari and Talpur’s private companies allegedly through fake bank accounts.
Every year the Kalash, a group of less than 4,000 people confined to a handful of villages in the north, greet the new season with animal sacrifices, baptisms, and weddings at a festival known as “Joshi“.
As celebrations kick off, tourists with phones jostle to get close to and photograph the Kalash women, whose vibrant clothing and headdresses contrast starkly with the more modest attire worn by many in the conservative Islamic republic.
“Some people are using their cameras as if they were in a zoo,” said local tourist guide Iqbal Shah.
Known for their pale skin and light-coloured eyes, the Kalash have long claimed ancestral links to Alexander the Great’s army, who conquered the region in the fourth century BC. They worship many gods, drinking alcohol is a tradition and marriages of choice is the norm, unlike in the rest of Pakistan where unions are often arranged.
However, the community is far from being modern. Members of the community often wed in their teens, with women poorly educated and expected to perform traditional roles in the home.
Nonetheless, stories about the Kalash are frequently fabricated, and this has been amplified in recent years by the influx of tourists and their smartphones and cameras.
One video viewed 1.3 million times on YouTube, claims the Kalash “openly have sex” with partners of their choosing “in the presence of their husbands”.
In the main Kalash village of Bumburate a hotel manager estimates that about 70 percent of Pakistani tourists visiting his establishment are young men, who often inquire about where to “find girls”. Hence, in Bumburate, posters now call on visitors to seek permission from villagers before photographing and signs warn tourists not to harass women.
“If they don’t respect us, we don’t need tourists,” says Yasir Kalash, the vice president of the local hotel association.
Regulating tourism is a cumbersome but vital task for the Kalash, with money from the industry increasingly providing an important source of revenue for the community which is dwindling and burying under increasing costs.
