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  • 184 recipients of civil awards announced; Edhi, Faraz, Ali Zafar, veteran actors, foreign delegates among others on list

    184 recipients of civil awards announced; Edhi, Faraz, Ali Zafar, veteran actors, foreign delegates among others on list

    A list of 184 civil awards recipients has been issued by the government on the occasion of Pakistan’s 73rd Independence Day, all of whom, including actors, poets, soldiers, television anchors, singers and foreign dignitaries, will be presented their respective honours by President Dr Arif Alvi in a ceremony on Pakistan Day next year.

    Philanthropist and Edhi Foundation head Faisal Edhi will be awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz. The Nishan-i-Imtiaz will be awarded to ace painter Sadequain Naqvi. Other recipients of the award include singer Abida Perveen and late poet Ahmed Faraz.

    Actors Bushra Ansari and Talat Hussain have been named for the Sitara-i-Imtiaz award. They have entertained audiences both inside and outside Pakistan for more than two decades. Anchor Naeem Bukhari is also one of the recipients of the award.

    President Alvi will also present the Pride of Performance award actors to Humayun Saeed, singer Ali Zafar and religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jameel. Sakina Samo will also get the same award for her acting skills.

    Last year, Mehwish Hayat, Sajjad Ali, Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, Babra Sharif, comedian Iftikhar Thakur and journalist Arshad Sharif were among others who received the awards.

    Pakistan Civil Awards were established on March 19, 1957, following the proclamation of Pakistan as an independent republic on March 23, 1956. The announcement of civil awards is generally made once a year on Independence Day, and their investiture takes place on the following Pakistan Day, March 23.

    According to Article 259(2) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, along with the Decorations Act 1975, the president confers civil awards on Pakistani citizens in recognition of gallantry.

    Awards for pride of performance are conferred for outstanding achievements in the fields of art, literature, science, sports and nursing.

    In December, the ministries and their divisions are invited to recommend candidates to the Cabinet Division. Received nominations are considered by three awards committees after which the final proposal is sent to the president for approval.

    The president can confer awards to foreign nationals any time during the year. For such awards, proposals are made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and approved by the president prior to conferral.

    The awards comprise five orders, each with four descending classes: Nishan [Order], Hilal [Crescent], Sitara [Star] and Tamgha [Medal].

    VIEW THE COMPLETE LIST:

    August 14, 2020
  • Pakistani researchers win Facebook’s ‘Integrity Research Challenge’

    Pakistani researchers win Facebook’s ‘Integrity Research Challenge’

    Agha Ali Raza and Ihsan Ayyub Qazi from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) wins Facebook’s Foundation Integrity Research that solves the problem of misinformation on Facebook.

    In February, Facebook asked academic institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from all over the world to send proposals.

    “Our goal is to support independent research that will contribute to the understanding of the phenomena and, in the long term, help us improve our policies, interventions, and tooling,” said Alex Leavitt, Senior Researcher at Facebook.

    Raza and Qazi’s research tackles the challenges by measuring the role of prior beliefs and analytical reasoning, and how this impacts the beliefs of internet users.

    Raza and Qazi also designed an educational intervention that uses influential public figures to spread awareness about misinformation on the platform.

    “We are thrilled to have our research been awarded the grant by Facebook which would serve as a stepping stone for us to take our project forward.

    Through our research, we aim to understand how non-textual misinformation (e.g. deepfakes) is perceived by internet users with low digital literacy and the role of pre-conceived notions, and analytical reasoning in shaping the beliefs of such users.

    We are hopeful that by the completion of this project, we will be able to make a substantial contribution towards combating the circulation of false and unverified information on the internet,” stated the winning duo.

    The social media giant received around 1,000 proposals out of which 25 awardees have been finalised for Facebook’s research and policy teams.

    The winners’ will be investigating issues across 42 countries including Canada, Denmark, Pakistan, Turkey, and the UK.

  • APS attack survivor Ahmad Nawaz is heading to Oxford University

    APS Peshawar attack survivor Ahmad Nawaz has announced that he has secured a place to study at the University of Oxford. Nawaz shared the happy news on social media with a picture of himself wearing an Oxford University jumper.

    He later shared that he will be studying Philosophy and Theology.

    Congratulatory messages poured in for Nawaz from across the world.

    The University of Oxford’s official account also congratulated the high achiever, calling him a “true inspiration”.

    Nawaz was only 14 when the Taliban attacked his school in Peshawar in 2014. He managed to save himself by pretending to be lying dead but he witnessed the horror of the massacre and his teacher get set on fire by terrorist militants. He suffered multiple injuries on his arm and was given special treatment at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Though Ahmad survived, he lost his brother in the deadly attack.

    Meanwhile, late last year, Nawaz had received the 2019 Legacy Award for the Diana Award and had attended a tea hosted by Prince William at Kensington Palace. He had become the first Pakistani to receive the Princess Diana Award for his anti-radicalization campaign.

  • Army chief to visit Saudi Arabia days after govt’s oops-a-daisy moment

    Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa will visit Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss regional security issues and Kashmir dispute with the Saudi leadership, as diplomatic strains occur between Islamabad and Riyadh over the Kashmir issue.

    Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar confirmed the visit while talking to a foreign news agency on Thursday.

    “Yes, he [Gen Bajwa] is travelling,” the Pakistan Army spokesperson told the foreign media outlet. He added that the visit is pre-planned and “primarily military affairs oriented”.

    During the visit, General Bajwa will have meetings with top Saudi leadership.

    The two countries are traditionally close and Saudi Arabia in 2018 gave Pakistan a $3 billion loan and $3.2 billion oil credit facility to help its balance of payments crisis. But Riyadh is irked by criticism from Islamabad that Saudi Arabia has been lukewarm on the Kashmir territorial dispute, motivating COAS Bajwa’s fence-building visit on Sunday.

    Pakistan has long pressed the Saudi-led Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to convene a high-level meeting to highlight alleged Indian violations in the part it controls. But the OIC has only held low-level meetings so far.

    “If you cannot convene it, then I will be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told local media last week. Qureshi’s remarks angered Riyadh.

    Last year, Islamabad had pulled out of a Muslim nations’ forum in Malaysia at the last minute on insistence by Riyadh, which saw the gathering as an attempt to challenge its leadership of the OIC.

    Saudia Arabia had already made Pakistan pay back $1 billion two weeks ago, forcing it to borrow from another close ally, China, and Riyadh is yet to respond to Pakistan’s request to extend the oil credit facility.

  • KYA BOLA? (Aug 13): ‘NAB Usman Buzdar se mutmayin nahi’, ‘Aug 14 was celebrated as Kashmir Day’

    KYA BOLA? (Aug 13): ‘NAB Usman Buzdar se mutmayin nahi’, ‘Aug 14 was celebrated as Kashmir Day’

    Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on August 13, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.

    ‘NAB Usman Buzdar se mutmayin nahi’

    It is reported by daily Jang (13 august 2020) NAB was not satisfied with CM Punjab Usman Buzdar. Har sawal kay jawb mei  pta nhi ,yad nhi ,bhool gya khty rahy….

    ‘Quaide Azam knew that August 14 was celebrated as Kashmir Day’

    It is reported by daily Jang (13 august 2020) Famous Journalist Hamid Mir wrote in his column” according to British government documents Pakistan like India came into being on august 15 while quid-e –Azam knew that from 1931 to 1947 august 14 was celebrated as Kashmir day. Therefore quaid-e-Azam approved the celebrations of Independence Day on august 14 instead of august 15. “

    ‘Hukmarano ko apni muddat puri naa honay ka yaqeen hai’

    It is reported by daily Jang (13 august 2020) Ameer Jamat-e-Islami siraj-ul-Haq said “ Lagta hai hukmarano ko apni mudat puri na hony ka yakeen hai isi liye wo ujlat aur afra tafri mei qadam utha raahy hain”

    ‘Usman Buzdar ki protocol ke baghair peshi siyasi mukhalifeen k liye sabaq hai’

    It is reported by daily Express (13 august 2020) Information Minister Punjab Fayyaz-ul-Hassan chohan has termed the appearance of chief minister Punjab Usman Buzdar without protocol as a high example of observance of constitution.  Usman  Buzdar ki peshi mein shrapasnd, badayanat aur takhreebkar siyasi mukhalifeen k liye ummda sabaq hai”  

  • Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt’s ‘Sadak 2’ becomes the most disliked trailer on YouTube

    Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt’s ‘Sadak 2’ becomes the most disliked trailer on YouTube

    Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Pooja Bhatt’s upcoming film Sadak 2‘s trailer dropped yesterday and the film is already trending for the wrong reasons. While the trailer is trending at number 3 on YouTube Pakistan it has garnered more than 6 million dislikes becoming the most disliked trailer on YouTube. The film is being ‘disliked’ for being a “product of ‘nepotism”.

    Read more – Sushant Singh Rajput’s fans call for boycott of Alia Bhatt’s ‘Sadak 2’

    According to a report in the Hindustan Times, a campaign to make it the most disliked trailer on YouTube was initiated in the days leading up to its unveiling, by fans of Sushant Singh Rajput, who died by suicide on June 14. Sushant’s fans have been propagating the conspiracy theory that the actor was shunned by the film industry and the ‘insiders’, which drove him to suicide. At the time of Sushant’s death, fans and social media users had attacked Karan Johar and Alia for having previously spoken dismissively about Rajput on the show Koffee With Karan.

    The film is a sequel of Mahesh Bhatt’s 1991 film Sadak and marks his return to direction after almost two decades. It was scheduled to release in theatres this summer, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will release digitally on Disney+ Hotstar on 28 August.

    Meanwhile, Pooja Bhatt responded to the hate by thanking the haters for making them trend.

    Netflix’s latest release Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, starring Janhvi Kapoor has also been trolled for similar reasons, with its IMDb rating being attacked.

    Watch the trailer for Sadak 2 below:

  • Special rescue services to be launched in Sindh

    Special rescue services to be launched in Sindh

    The director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) announced that a unified rescue service like Punjab’s ‘Rescue 1122’ will be initiated in six divisional headquarters of Sindh.

    As per reports, the future rescue service will have different teams for firefighting, ambulances and rescue operations.

    The sections will be divided among different organisations as the firefighting operations will be managed by Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and ambulances will be checked by Aman Foundation.

    The PDMA will run the urban search and rescue operation, whereas, a unified call center will be set up for collecting all complaints of the three categories.

    According to the plan presented by PDMA, seven teams will be made for urban search and rescue besides dedicating services of two teams for Karachi and others for each division province. In order to follow the international standard, 60 to 62 persons will be part of the urban rescue team.

    A total of six stations will be established for the urban rescue team in the provincial capital Karachi, whereas, expert swimmers will be appointed in two stations to be established near the beach to handle the drowning incidents.

    The PDMA director-general said that the project has been planned with the help of a global consultant and PC-1 of the rescue service will be submitted to the planning and development department.

    He added that the unified rescue service project will be launched within a period of one and a half years by the fund of the World Bank (WB) after getting approved by the government.

  • Sindh Govt comes under fire for ‘painting ancient archaeological sites white’

    The Sindh Government has come under fire after they shared pictures of restoration work done on Tando Fazal Monument (Masjid) Hyderabad. Their efforts did not sit well with the public who accused them of destroying heritage sites and whitewashing them. Following the criticism and backlash, the culture department deleted the tweets from social media.

    Read more – Pakistan’s forgotten heritage sites

    Social media users did not hold back from expressing their outrage over the matter.

    Some users urged the government and Supreme Court to look into the matter.

    Meanwhile, others made a meme out of the scenario.

    https://twitter.com/SyedXaidi110/status/1293567234397396994?s=20

    Later, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Sardar Shah explained the process and steps that were taken to restore the monument.

  • IT Ministry’s DigiSkills has Trained 1.28 Million People in Freelancing

    IT Ministry’s DigiSkills has Trained 1.28 Million People in Freelancing

    Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque has said that the national-level training program of the Ministry of IT has imparted training to 1.28 million youth in freelancing.

    Amin Ul Haque was talking to DigiSkills freelancers who called on him. The Minister met DigiSkills freelancers to have a direct account of their experiences of learning and earning through DigiSkills.

    He said that his Ministry is taking necessary steps to equip the freelancers, students, housewives, professionals, etc., with knowledge, skills, tools and techniques necessary to see the opportunities available in local and international online marketplaces to earn a decent living.

    He also informed the visiting freelancers that MoITT has entered into a partnership with JazzCash that will enable them to transfer money from their Payoneer accounts into their JazzCash Mobile Account in real-time and at the best exchange rates.

    In addition to this, DigiSkills freelancers can also register their Payoneer Account from the JazzCash App, eliminating the need for commercial bank accounts.

    Federal Minister for IT said that all issues of freelancers will be resolved and ordered for extending the outreach of DigiSkills program to schools and colleges. The Federal Minister also directed to increase the ratio of women in DigiSkills program from 23 per cent to 33 per cent and incorporating the minorities and transgender persons in this program.

    Visiting freelancers apprised the IT Minister that in the face of the current economic crunch DigiSkills Training Program has been a game-changer in their lives that has enabled them to continue their educational pursuits besides supporting their families.

    IT Minister appreciated the youth for their initiative to learn marketable intermediate digital skills that have enabled them to be self-employed besides earning vital foreign exchange for the country.

    Secretary IT said that he appreciates the youth trying to explore opportunities to overpower the conventional barriers and dependencies.

    Earlier in his opening remarks, Syed Junaid Imam, CEO Ignite welcomed and thanked the freelancers for taking time out for the interaction. He said that Ignite is focused on building an ecosystem for ‘future of work’, financial inclusion, and poverty alleviation.

    A National Level Training Program (DigiSkills.pk) was launched by the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication through Ignite National Technology Fund which has been providing free training in freelancing and other marketable skills.

    The program comprises of 10 courses including Freelancing, Digital Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Graphic Design, Digital Literacy, e-Commerce Management, Creative Writing, QuickBooks, AutoCAD, and WordPress.

  • Safdar for police case against Imran over ‘assassination attempt’ on wife Maryam

    Safdar for police case against Imran over ‘assassination attempt’ on wife Maryam

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law, Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar, has approached the police seeking the registration of a case against some 100 people, including Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, for “attempting to assassinate” his wife and party vice president, Maryam Nawaz.

    As per the details, Safdar has submitted at the Chuhang Police Station in Lahore an application seeking the registration of a first information report (FIR) against the premier, his aide on accountability and interior, Mirza Shahzad Akbar; National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal among others.

    In the petition, Safdar, who was accompanying Maryam for her NAB appearance, claimed that attempts were made to assassinate Maryam at the behest of the accused.

    “Sensing the seriousness of the situation, I drove away [from the NAB office] to save the life of my wife,” he said.

    The petition comes after PML-N supporters and police on Tuesday engaged in violent clashes outside the anti-graft watchdog’s Lahore office, where Maryam had been summoned to respond in a case of alleged illegal transfer of government land.

    While police and the Punjab government claimed that it was a deliberate attempt on the PML-N leader’s part to create anarchy, Maryam accused NAB and police of attacking the party’s workers and pelting stones at her bulletproof car. 

    According to the police, a case against PML-N leaders, including Maryam and Safdar, and as may as 188 workers has been registered at the Chuhang Police Station on NAB’s application.

    MARYAM ATTACKED WITH LASER GUN’:

    While PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has said if the police fail to book the accused, the party will move the Lahore High Court (LHC), claims regarding the attempt on Maryam’s life have been added to with party stalwart Rana Sanaullah saying that “a laser gun was used”.

    Speaking to a private media outlet, he said the “hidden agenda behind the clash seemed to be an attempt on Maryam’s life”.

    “How can pelting of stones inflict such damage on a bullet-proof vehicle? I think a laser gun was used from some nearby building,” he said.

    THE CASE AGAINST MARYAM:

    According to Geo, NAB has accused Maryam of receiving 200 acres of what was supposed to be government land in Raiwind. Reports claim that the transfer was made during former Lahore deputy commissioner (DC) Noorul Amin Mengal and former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general (DG) Ahad Cheema’s tenure.

    NAB had also summoned Mengal along with the LDA officials of that time with records.

    A tract of land, stretching over 3,568 kanals, was bought by the Sharif family in 2013. The largest part of the property, 1,936 kanals, was transferred to the name of Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif’s mother, Shamim Bibi. The land that was transferred to Maryam from that tract was 1,440 kanals.

    Maryam’s appearance on Tuesday was postponed after NAB told her to return, keeping in view the law and order situation.