Category: Uncategorized

  • Unvaccinated Novak Djokovic gets green signal to play Australian Open

    Unvaccinated Novak Djokovic gets green signal to play Australian Open

    Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic received a medical exemption on Wednesday which will allow him to attend the upcoming Australian Open despite being unvaccinated against Covid-19. ⁣
    ⁣
    Many people on social media found the exemption unfair. Cities like Melbourne, which hosts the tournament, were under the world’s longest lockdown in 2020, with many Australians unable to visit their families. But organisers of the tournament say the decision has come after a ‘rigorous review process’ conducted by a panel of medical experts.

    Taking to Twitter, Djokovic wrote: ” Happy New Year! Wishing you all health, love & joy in every moment & may you feel love & respect towards all beings on this wonderful planet.”

    “I’ve spent fantastic quality time with loved ones over break & today I’m heading Down Under with an exemption permission. Let’s go 2022,” he added.

    Djokovic has already won nine Australian Open titles and will be bidding for his 21st Grand Slam.

    The tournament is set to begin from January 17.

    Earlier, Australia’s Indian Premier League (IPL) cricketers had been left in limbo after the tournament was suspended in response to India’s Covid-19 crisis.

    More than 30 people abandoned in India were unable to fly home after the Australian government had imposed a travel ban and threatened citizens who attempt to return with a hefty fine or even jail. The players were later allowed to land in Sydney after two weeks of the league’s suspension.

    Players, coaches and commentators caught a charter flight from the Maldives that touched down at Sydney Airport.

  • ‘The UN must take action on India’s war crimes: PM Khan expresses solidarity with Kashmiris

    ‘The UN must take action on India’s war crimes: PM Khan expresses solidarity with Kashmiris

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Wednesday berated the Narendra Modi-led Indian government for “brazenly” violating the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.

    PM Khan, expressing his solidarity with Kashmiris, took to Twitter and said the “UNSC commitment of a United Nations (UN)-supervised plebiscite in Kashmir remains unfulfilled” due to the attitude of the Modi government.

    He added that the international community, especially the UN, must take action against India’s war crimes and crimes against humanity in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

    “Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to the just Kashmiri struggle for self-determination,” he added.

    In a separate message on the occasion, the prime minister, while reminding the world community that it cannot abandon its moral and legal responsibilities towards Kashmiris, said that durable peace in South Asia is contingent upon peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with international legitimacy.

    “While observing 5th of January as the Right to Self-Determination Day for the Kashmiris, we reiterate our commitment to uphold the fundamental human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and pay homage to the Kashmiris’ just struggle spanning over more than seven decades,” he said.

    “We are commemorating this day to remind the world community that it cannot abandon its moral and legal responsibilities towards the Kashmiri people.”

  • Passenger aircraft narrowly escapes disaster in Pakistan

    Passenger aircraft narrowly escapes disaster in Pakistan

    An aircraft traveling from Islamabad to Saudi Arabia on Monday narrowly escaped a disastrous event.

    During the flight, a technical fault was detected and soon after that, the aircraft landed back safely at the capital’s airport.

    Currently, engineers are carrying out repair work of the aircraft after which the flight will take off again for Saudi Arabia today afternoon, ARY has reported.

    The passengers have been shifted to the lounge and they are being taken care of, according to airport officials.

  • PTI in trouble? ‘Corrupt, liar, conspiratorial’, Opposition hits out at PM Khan

    PTI in trouble? ‘Corrupt, liar, conspiratorial’, Opposition hits out at PM Khan

    The Opposition has heavily criticised the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan after a scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reported that the party did not disclose millions of rupees worth of funds to the constitutional body.

    Lashing out at the premier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz said Imran Khan had not only “stolen and hidden money, but also plundered the people”.

    Maryam said the “constant leaks, revelations, and evidence, are more than enough to bring down the PTI, including Imran Khan.”

    “Has there been such a corrupt, liar, and conspiratorial ruler like Imran Khan in the history of Pakistan?” she asked.

    PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal during a media briefing said that the scrutiny committee’s report had “washed away Imran Khan’s make up of honesty”.

    “Imran Khan acts as the champion of transparency in the country, but in the foreign funding case, he is making lame excuses to stop the hearing; PTI is resorting to mudslinging to cover its own theft,” he said.

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Shazia Marri, berating PM Khan tweeted, “Imran Khan talashi do (give yourself up for examination).”

    Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry termed the report “inaccurate” and called for a public comparison of all the parties’ foreign funding so people knew where they all stood.

    Fawad said that there were “two relevant transactions of Rs150m and Rs160m, which had been duplicated and therefore counted twice by the committee”.

    “In the same way, Rs150m transferred from the centre to the provinces from a PTI subsidiary was also counted twice.” He said these facts would be laid before the ECP during arguments in the case.

    The minister said the report showed that the PTI had 26 accounts out of which eight were inactive.

    “Out of the remaining 18 accounts, eight are functional and have transactions and also show funds coming in,” he added.

    He said that 10 of the accounts in question did not actually belong to the PTI, while six were subsidiary accounts, while the party has distanced itself from the remaining four.

    The report compiled by the ECP revealed the party under-reported an amount of Rs312 million over a four-year period, between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Year-wise details show that an amount of over Rs145m was under-reported in 2012-13 alone.

  • PTI did not disclose funding worth Rs310 million, hid bank accounts: report

    PTI did not disclose funding worth Rs310 million, hid bank accounts: report

    The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) hid 53 bank accounts and funds worth millions of rupees from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

    The report of an ECP scrutiny committee probing the party’s funds revealed the following details.

    The committee’s report showed that the PTI had only disclosed 12 out of its 65 accounts, which are registered with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

    The report stated that in the years 2008/2009 and 2012/2013, the PTI disclosed funding worth Rs1.33 billion against an actual amount of Rs1.64 billion which was reflected in SBP’s bank statement. Therefore, the party did not disclose funding worth Rs310 million.

    A scrutiny committee of the ECP constituted in March 2019 to audit foreign funds of the PTI had finally submitted its report to the commission on November 26, 2021, about six months after the last deadline was given.

    The PTI foreign funding case continues to linger since November 2014 when it was filed by Akbar S. Babar, the party’s founding member.

    In his petition, Babar alleged financial irregularities in the party’s accounts, including illegal sources of funding, concealment of bank accounts in the country and abroad, money laundering and use of private bank accounts of party employees as a front to receive illegal donations from the Middle East.

  • High Court seeks answer from PM Khan in defamation case against Khawaja Asif

    High Court seeks answer from PM Khan in defamation case against Khawaja Asif

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a notice to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan seeking his response in a defamation case against Khawaja Asif over the PML-N leader’s allegations about misappropriation of funds of Shaukat Khanam Memorial Trust, reports Dawn.

    In the hearing, Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah inquired for how long this case of defamation was lingering in the court? The Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Mohammad Adnan confessed that the delay was from both sides [PM Khan and Asif].

    Back in 2012, the premier had filed the defamation suit against Asif for recovery of Rs10 billion as the latter at a press conference levelled allegations about misappropriation of and money laundering through the Shaukat Khanam funds.

    Earlier, Imran Khan said he was the biggest individual donor of the Shaukat Khanam Hospital from 1991 to 2009. He said baseless allegations were made to undermine people’s confidence in the trust hospital.

    PML-N leader challenged the legality of the statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan recorded through a video link in a defamation suit

    The hearing was adjourned to January 12.

  • Punjab Govt to buy 46 new cars for ministers

    Punjab Govt to buy 46 new cars for ministers

    The Punjab government has issued a formal order for the purchase of 46 new cars for provincial ministers and will make an advance payment to a car manufacturer in this regard. The Cabinet Committee has approved payment for purchasing news cars.

    The Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) has issued a final order in this regard. According to reports, the provincial government has released a total of Rs 210 million for the purchase of vehicles. The existing vehicles will be preserved in the transportation pool.

    Punjab Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) Sunday said that the PTI government the provincial government’s spending have been drastically decreased, under the leadership of Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar.

  • Shahid Afridi believes Hafeez wanted to play more cricket for Pakistan

    Shahid Afridi believes Hafeez wanted to play more cricket for Pakistan

    Former captain of the Pakistan cricket team Shahid Afridi has said that he believes Mohammad Hafeez, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, wanted to play more cricket for Pakistan.

    While speaking on Samaa TV’s show Game Set Match, Afridi said that there is a communication gap between PCB and the players.

    “I was listening to his [Hafeez] statement and it was clear from his body language that he wanted to play more cricket for Pakistan rather than leaving early,” said Afridi.

    “I always talk about the communication gap between the PCB and players and I have a strong feeling that the same was the case with Hafeez. Although, it was good to see that he didn’t turn that into a major issue,” he added.

    Afridi also heaped praise on Hafeez over a great international career.

    “I would like to congratulate Hafeez, his family and parents. Hafeez had an outstanding career and he gave many match-winning performances,” he said.

    Hafeez announced his retirement from international cricket 18 years after making his debut in Sharjah against Zimbabwe on 3 April 2003.

    Hafeez represented Pakistan in 392 international matches, scoring 12,780 runs and taking 253 wickets, besides also captaining the side in 32 international matches.

  • ‘Tell people there is no inflation’: PM satisfied with economy, says he is ‘brand’ of the party

    ‘Tell people there is no inflation’: PM satisfied with economy, says he is ‘brand’ of the party

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Monday asked his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokespersons to inform the masses that there is no inflation in the country, as he expressed satisfaction over the economic team’s performance, reports The News.

    “We had inherited a ruined economy,” he said while hinting at the Opposition while chairing a meeting of the government and party spokespersons to discuss the national economy.

    Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin briefed the meeting. He assured that inflation has come down in December as compared to November and next month inflation will come down further as global commodity prices are declining.

    The premier directed that the statistics of the economy should be made public and asked his party to inform the people about the reduction in inflation next month.

    He told his party members that their prime minister was “their brand”, as he advised them to not let the Opposition dominate the political environment.

    “Your leader is not like those of the Opposition. The Opposition defends its dacoit, thief, and corrupt leaders,” he added.

    Despite the reassurances the inflation is growing at an alarming rate as earlier this month, the government increased the prices of petroleum products by Rs4 per litre.

    Last week, through the mini-budget 17 percent Good and Service Tax (GST) has been imposed on mobiles and multiple imported food items.

  • Missing persons bill gone ‘missing’, admits Minister Shireen Mazari

    Missing persons bill gone ‘missing’, admits Minister Shireen Mazari

    Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari revealed that a bill about enforced disappearances in the country, which was recently passed by the National Assembly (NA), had gone “missing”.

    Speaking at a press conference Mazari said: “We had prepared the bill regarding missing persons and it was passed by the [relevant] standing committee and the National Assembly. But it went missing after it was sent to the Senate.”

    The minister said there were reports, however, that the bill was now at the Senate Secretariat.

    The bill, Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2021, was passed by the NA on November 8, 2021, and is aimed at making amendments to the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure.

    It was introduced in the National Assembly by the interior minister in June 2021.