Category: Uncategorized

  • COVID-19: Sindh re-imposes smart lockdown

    COVID-19: Sindh re-imposes smart lockdown

    Amid rising COVID-19 cases, the Sindh government has re-imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. The government has imposed smart lockdown across the province until April 15 to fight against the third wave

    According to a notification issued by the department:

    • All businesses e.g. markets, shopping malls, marriage halls etc. will operate from 6am to 10pm (except essential services i.e. medical stores, clinics, hospitals, petrol pumps, bakeries, milk shops, restaurants etc)
    • Amusement parks to close by 6pm
    • 50% staff in all public/private sector offices will be allowed
    • No indoor marriages will be allowed. As per earlier decisions only outdoor events/marriages will be allowed with a maximum limit of 300 persons till 10pm under defined SOPs.
    • No indoor dining will be allowed at restaurants.
    • All indoor gathering places, gyms, indoor sports facilities, cinemas and theaters, shrines to close.
    • Outdoor gatherings will be allowed only in open spaces with a maximum limit of 300 individuals.

    The province has reported 261,411 cases so far. However, 232 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours.

  • Ahsan Mohsin Ikram pens a love letter for beau Minal Khan

    Ahsan Mohsin Ikram pens a love letter for beau Minal Khan

    Ahsan Mohsin Ikram has opened up about his feelings for Minal Khan and penned a love letter for her.

    Sharing a selfie of the two, Ahsan said: “This is from my heart, to thank you for everything you have done for me, for all the times I forgot to tell you how I feel about you and how happy I am that you are in my life.”

    Commenting on his post, Minal said: “Ahsan this reminds me of a song ‘Will keep this love in a photograph, we made these memories for ourselves‘.”

    Minal’s comment included several heart emojis.

    Minal and Ahsan had made their relationship official on Valentine’s Day and subtly announced that they have gotten engaged.

  • VIDEO: Helicopter showers currency notes on wedding guests in Punjab

    VIDEO: Helicopter showers currency notes on wedding guests in Punjab

    A video showing a helicopter showering currency notes and rose petals on guests at a wedding in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin has gone viral on social media.

    According to reports, the groom’s brothers, who had come from abroad to celebrate their brother’s wedding, had specially arranged for a helicopter to shower currency notes and flowers on the ‘baarat’ guests.

    Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner of the area has asked officials to take legal action against the organisers for not seeking permission for the helicopter.

    Earlier, a man in Sialkot celebrated his wedding by showering US dollar notes on his guests.

  • Fawad Chaudhry defends expelled couple

    Fawad Chaudhry defends expelled couple

    Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has stepped in to defend the couple, who were expelled from a private university in Lahore for publicly expressing their love.

    “Every girl has the right to marry whoever she wishes,” said Fawad in a tweet. “Marrying with one’s own choice choice is the fundamental right given to women in Islam.”

    “The university administration should re-think their decision,” asserted the minister, adding “Treating women like property is against Islam.”

    Other prominent personalities who criticised the university for its decision included PPP’s Sharmila Faruqi, Shehzad Roy, Yasir Hussain and Shaniera Akram.

    https://twitter.com/ShehzadRoy/status/1370705950479355906?s=20

    The University of Lahore, on Friday, allegedly expelled two students for publicly expressing their love and proposing on university grounds. In a video that went viral on social media and created a stir online, a girl could be seen getting down on one knee and asking her partner to marry him with a bouquet of roses. The proposal ended with the two hugging each other.

    According to a notification, dated March 12, the two students were expelled for “[being] involved in gross misconduct and violation of university rules and were called to appear before the special disciplinary committee [but] failed to appear.”

  • Peshawar cleric sentenced to death for raping minor girl

    Peshawar cleric sentenced to death for raping minor girl

     A child protection court on Saturday sentenced a cleric to death for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in Peshawar two years ago. Judge Wadeeya Mustaq Malik ruled that Qari Saeed based in Peshawar was found guilty of an offence of rape.

    As per reports, the convict was also given a fine of Rs300,000 as the girl had suffered mental and physical torture and lifelong trauma. The convict should compulsorily pay a fine to her in the form of saving certificates to be withdrawn by her on reaching the age of 18 years, stated the court in its order.

    “As far as the quantum of sentence is concerned, no mitigating circumstances could be found and rather, aggravating circumstances exist. The rape was committed of a girl aged eight years,” said the judge, adding that the convict was a mosque’s pesh imam (prayer leader), who committed the crime in one of its rooms.

    The convict held the Master’s degree in Islamiyat and led Friday prayers in his mosque.

    The court added that the crime was gruesome, as the convict was also found guilty of committing sexual violence by biting and bruising the child on her neck.

    “The statement of child witness not only found confidence-inspiring, truthful but also has not been contradicted on the material aspect,” said the court. “[The] sole testimony of [the] victim of an offence if inspires confidence can be safely relied upon for the purpose of conviction and when as rule of prudence same is supported through confirmatory medical evidence not a single circumstances can be inferred for false implication of the accused facing trial at behest of police.”

    The FIR of the sexual assault was filed by the police on March 14, 2019, on the complaint of father of the girl.

    The complainant had stated that he and other family members were present in their house when his daughter came from outside crying and said Qari Saeed called her to the mosque on the excuse of giving away an amulet but sexually assaulted her in a room there.

    The convict didn’t accept the charge and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case at the behest of the Ahmadi community as he was very vocal against it. However, he failed to verify that claim.

    The defence counsel also insisted that the girl might have received injuries accidentally and that she was not subjected to a sexual assault.

    The girl was also presented  in the court as witness where she testified against the prayer leader.

    She said that her father gave her Rs 10 to buy candies and when she was returning from the shop, the convict had asked her to accompany him to the nearby mosque so that he can give her an amulet (taweez). The girl said the convict took her to his room in the mosque and sexually assaulted her.

    The court has also invoked a provision of the KP Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010, prohibiting the publishing of any information regarding the girl’s identity, including picture, name, status, address or school.

  • Mustafa Khokhar, Musadik Malik to be billed for Senate wiring: Fawad

    Minister for Science Technology Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday that Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Dr Musadik Malik will be sent a bill of Rs 54,000 for tearing out the wiring in the Senate Hall in their quest for ‘spy cams’.

    The minister made these comments in a press conference as well as Geo’s show Jirga.

    On Friday just before the Senate Chairman elections, both Khokhar and Malik found hidden cameras installed inside and around the polling booth in Senate.

    According to Senator Khokhar, Chaudhry’s tweet led him to another spy camera that was found in a screw.

    Chaudhry also tweeted on Friday that an investigation committee should be formed before Khokhar and Malik tear down the entire wiring system in the Senate.

    Sadiq Sanjrani won the polls amidst the opposition’s protest regarding the seven votes that were in favour of PDM candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani but were rejected by the presiding officer.

    After Gilani’s defeat, Chaudhry tweeted that had the opposition spent 25-30 per cent of their time in telling their people on how to vote correctly, they would not be crying now. He also added that the opposition should pay heed to Prime Minister Khan’s suggestion of an open ballot in the Senate so as to avoid such issues in the future.

  • Government testing 5G ‘bands’ for immediate launch in Pakistan

    Government testing 5G ‘bands’ for immediate launch in Pakistan

    The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MOITT) is testing options available for the immediate launch of 5G in Pakistan.

    As per details, the ministry has tested seven bands to evaluate the adoption of 5G services like low bands, mid bands and high bands.

    • 700 MHz
    • 2.3 GHz
    • 2.6 GHz
    • 3.5 GHz
    • MiIIi8meter wavebands
    • C-Band (3.6 – 4.2) GHz
    • Unlicensed Backhaul Frequency bands (P2P & P2MP)

    “The Government of Pakistan aims to launch 5G services in the country by December 2022. Having 5G at disposal will open avenues for investment. It will also accelerate the progress towards achieving the goal of ‘Digital Pakistan’,” said an official of the ministry.

    Last year, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) permitted mobile operators to conduct tests and trials of 5G technology under a limited environment and non-commercial basis.

    PTA has also issued a framework for the Test and Development of Future Technologies, particularly 5G wireless networks in Pakistan.

    The rapid growth in the demand for mobile data traffic for a better broadband experience has led to an increasing emphasis on the upcoming fifth generation of mobile technologies.

    International Mobile Technology (IMT) 2020 is much broader than the previous generation of mobile broadband communication systems. The IMT-2020 will be a cornerstone for all of the activities related to attaining the goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

  • Endangering innocent lives

    Endangering innocent lives

    Aurat March has rattled many a misogynist over the years. Women out on the streets, marching for their rights and raising their voice is somehow considered ‘vulgar’ and ‘obscene’. This year, though, what the anti-women brigade did was unforgivable. By their false and malicious propaganda, they have put the lives of thousands of women at stake.

    Last week, a doctored video of Aurat March was widely shared on social media. Some men from mainstream media with a large following on social media platforms like Twitter shared the video without verifying it. Their tweets amplified the propaganda against Aurat March organisers and participants so much so that the banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) issued a threat to the women and told them to “fix their ways”. It is indeed criminal how a doctored video and false propaganda was carried out about the Aurat March even on the media where the flag of the Women Democratic Front was falsely misrepresented as the French flag, a poster about child sexual abuse and a video with slogans were misrepresented as being blasphemous. Right-wing groups took out rallies and threatened the Aurat March organisers as well as participants.

    Organisers of the Aurat March released a statement that said that the Aurat March faces severe backlash every year. “Our videos and posters are targeted and manipulated, spreading misinformation and maligning the March. This year, one of our videos was doctored and heinous allegations are being placed on us.” They demanded an immediate apology and retraction from all those who shared the doctored video as well as a retraction by all journalists and media houses that shared this disinformation.

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that this campaign was not just repugnant but an incitement to violence. “We demand that action be taken against all such persons.”

    It is a no-brainer why a majority of our society would propagate such false accusations against women. How dare women ask for their rights, how dare they fight for equality, how dare they raise their voice for issues related to women’s health, how dare they talk about sexual harassment and rape, how dare they talk about child abuse and child marriage, how dare they ask for the rights of the marginalised… how dare they? No wonder why Pakistan ranks so low on the gender gap index as well as other indicators related to gender. We have weaponised an entire society against women. There was so much outrage about a doctored video, the misrepresentation of a flag and a poster but have we ever seen such outrage over domestic violence, child marriage, rape, sexual harassment, lack of health facilities for women, child molestation, low wages for women workers, etc? No, we have not. Because our patriarchal society will only reserve this misplaced anger and outrage at women.

    Read more – ‘Ek hee dafaa sari aurton ko ban ker do’: Meesha Shafi defends Aurat March

    It is time that we all raise our voice against this dangerous and vicious campaign against Aurat March. Some from media have tendered an apology for sharing the doctored video and deleted their tweets but is a mere apology enough for putting the lives of thousands of women at risk with allegations of a topic as sensitive as blasphemy? These people must be held accountable. The government should not only provide protection to these women but must also take action against all those who took forward the false propaganda against Aurat March.

  • Mawra Hocane, Aiman Khan respond to ‘body shaming’ controversy

    Mawra Hocane, Aiman Khan respond to ‘body shaming’ controversy

    Mawra Hocane and Aiman Khan have hit out at social media pages for creating an issue out of a non-issue.

    As per details, controversy erupted after a clip of Aiman, in which she was commenting on Mawra’s weight went viral on social media. The clip in question was from Hina Altaf and Aagha Ali’s The Couple’s Show on which Aiman appeared with husband Muneeb Butt.

    During the show, when asked to give advice to Hocane, Khan had remarked that “she [Mawra] should gain some weight as she is very skinny”. Aiman’s comments did not go down well with Mawra’s fans who then attacked the actor for them.

    Responding to the controversy, Mawra requested all her fan pages and other social media pages to “be kind” and “give each other some space for improvement.”

    In a note shared on social media, the Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2 said: “I DO NOT appreciate anyone throwing the other person under the bus in the garb of supporting me.”

    “We must know how far we must go and not vilify the other person involved in the process,” she continued. “We are all humans and utter words we don’t entirely understand or mean!”

    “Let’s give each other space for improvement and not to do the same or worse by spewing hate,” added Mawra, urging everyone to be “please be kind”.

    On the other hand, while asking netizens to keep their opinion to themselves, Khan said: “I don’t understand why people take things personally and spread negativity. My life is not your property, you have no right to say anything to me if I can’t say anything to you.”

    Read more – Aiman Khan says her 8 million following is ‘organic’

    “My education, my accent is not your problem,” said the actor further. “Would my degree land you a job? No, right? Keep your nose out of my business, thanks. Make life easy and stop this nonsense.”

    Khan added: “Games are games and shows are shows – nothing is personal. I think bloggers shouldn’t make everything breaking news.”

    “We are already suffering a lot so stop making our lives tough with your stupid comments. Stop making issues out of nothing. Stop this nonsense, stop this hatred,” she asserted.

    Later in another post, she shared an announcement on her Story whereby she clarified a number of issues circulating on social media.

    She wrote, “This is to clear a number of issues that I’ve been seeing circulating on the social media.”

    Aiman stated “Initially, I’m not the form of particular person to disrespect anybody on nationwide tv or by social media.”

    “Secondly, social media portals and bloggers shouldn’t mislead a remark simply to create a stir and get eye balls on their platforms. They need to act responsibly and never add gasoline to fireside,” she added.

    Aiman Khan went on to say, “Thirdly, my training and my accent in none of anybody’s concern, I’m a public determine sure, however not the general public property that anybody can write something damaging or derogatory about.”

    “I’m not a hater nor do I consider in spreading hate. A lot love,” she concluded.

  • PSL and PCB’s buffoonery

    PSL and PCB’s buffoonery

    The coronavirus pandemic has turned all the world’s industries upside down and sports has been no exception.

    The resumption of sporting events after the outbreak of the pandemic has been nothing short of a blessing for the fans as well as the players but its success was contingent upon whether the players would comply with the COVID protocols or not. There can be no denying that staying inside the bubble, not interacting with outsiders and playing in empty or half-empty stadiums would take a physical and psychological toll on them but it was expected of them to be acutely aware of their responsibilities and not to contravene the rules. However, the reality was different as the matter was handled carelessly and scores of players flouted the restrictions. The same was the case in PSL 2021, as a consequence of which, it has screeched to an indefinite halt.

    The guidelines explicitly mentioned that anyone who attends the game would be required to wear a face mask throughout the duration of the game and observe social distancing. However, as the screengrab from one of the matches below shows, the implementation of these rules was nowhere to be seen.

    Even worse, celebrities and social media influencers like Shahveer Jafry and Dananeer Mobeen were seen interacting with the players and team owners making an absolute mockery of the health protocols. None of the breaches mentioned thereof went unpunished thereby setting a wrong precedent.

    Following the news of Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed testing positive for the virus, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should have been more cautious and stringent with restrictions but instead, Multan Sultans bowling coach Azhar Mahmood was allowed to throw a birthday party that was also attended by a number of players. This surge in the virus cases, due in large part to management’s carelessness (six players and one member from the team officials tested positive), behooved the PCB to postpone the league who had no option but to swallow the bitter truth that they have been incompetent in ensuring that the tournament is smooth sailing.

    The blame-shifting game instantly began, media outlets started peddling hyperbolic and even false reports and overseas players (on the condition of anonymity) averred that the bio-secure bubble was not well-maintained. PSL is in its boom years and is improving over time but untoward incidents like these will blemish its image.

    Responding to the backlash in his presser, PCB’s Chief Executive Wasim Khan admitted that they weren’t equal to the task.

    “It was a great disappointment for us that we found ourselves in a situation where neither us nor others are able to provide what we need to provide and that is the full protection for players,” Wasim said.

    “This is a collective effort that we all had a responsibility to actually police and self-police that environment. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it effectively enough. Hence, we find ourselves in this situation today,” he added.

    As in, the uppermost task on PCB’s plate now is to find a window in a jam-packed schedule in which it can hold the remaining games of the league. Pakistan is set to play South Africa in April followed by a tour of Zimbabwe but reports suggest that Pakistan will push these tours to accommodate the remaining matches of the league.

    I’m no epidemiologist thus it would be naïve to comment on the spread of the virus and measures to mitigate the virus but it is not rocket science to understand that carelessness over a deadly contagious pandemic is downright buffoonery. There’s no point in crying over spilt milk but whenever the PSL resumes, PCB should ensure that it learns from its mistakes and the remaining tournament goes without any chaos untoward incident.