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  • ‘Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the PM of India’: Bilawal Bhutto tells Indian Minister

    ‘Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the PM of India’: Bilawal Bhutto tells Indian Minister

    Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari slammed Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi in response to his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s accusations about Pakistan perpetuating terrorism and sheltering Osama bin Laden.

    “I would like to remind Mr Jaishankar that Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the prime minister (of India),” said Bilawal at a press conference in New York on Thursday.

    “He (Narendra Modi) was banned from entering this country (the United States). These are the prime minister and foreign minister of RSS, which draws inspiration from Hitler’s SS,” he added.

    “In India, who perpetuates terrorism? Is it Pakistan? Ask the people of Gujrat; they will say it is their prime minister. Ask the people of Kashmir; they will say the butcher of Gujrat is now the butcher of Kashmir. I am not talking about some imaginary past; I am talking about today. They are not even attempting to wash the blood of the people of Gujrat from their hands for their own election campaign. Prime Minister Modi and his government have used their power to pardon the men who raped Muslims in Gujrat. The prime minister of India freed those rapists and terrorists.”

    “The Indian government does not believe in Gandhi’s ideology, but rather in the doctrines of his assassin,” said Bilawal.

    https://twitter.com/IbrarAMir3/status/1603491220566728727?s=20&t=RDyV6PKM20nB5RI-D5977w

    Jaishankar remarks on Pakistan came after State Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that India is a “rogue state” that projects itself as greatest victim of terrorism but is the perpetrator of it. Jaishankr said that Khar’s remarks reminded him of the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Islamabad more than a decade ago when she reminded Pakistan that “if you have snakes in your backyard, you cannot expect them to bite only your neighbours”.

    He claimed that Pakistan was “not great at listening to good advice … and now look what’s happening there. Today, it’s the epicentre of terrorism … and has its fingerprints over a lot of activities in the region and beyond”.

    Urging Pakistan not to blame others, the Indian minister asked: “How long Pakistan intends to practice [terrorism] and hide it by taking that debate elsewhere? Please clean up your act. Please try to be a good neighbour.”

    “We have lost far more lives to terrorism than India did,” said Bhutto-Zardari while pointing out that “India has been playing in the space” that has made it “very easy” to bracket Muslims with terrorism. “India has very skilfully blurred this line, making like us all are terrorists who are actually victims.”

    The Pakistani foreign minister noted that India has continuously perpetuated this philosophy, not just for Pakistan but Muslims in India too.

    The foreign minister said that Pakistan is proud of its achievements in the war against terrorism, as the country has taken concrete steps in connection with the National Action Plan for counterterrorism.

    He said that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) endorsed Pakistan’s measures taken to stem terror financing. Bilawal also said that it is wrong to blame the Muslim world for terrorism as terrorism doesn’t belong to any religion or region.

    He pointed out that terrorism has mainly targeted Muslims since 2001. Also, there were incidents where Chinese citizens were targeted in Karachi, he said.

    Highlighting the post-flood situation in Pakistan, the foreign minister said some areas of Balochistan and Sindh are still waterlogged. The massive flooding adversely impacted health, education and basic infrastructure.

    Assistance from the international community is crucial for Pakistan in coping with the challenge of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the victims, he asserted.

  • Soch Hai Apki: Which players are included in the PSL Season 8?

    Soch Hai Apki: Which players are included in the PSL Season 8?

    The draft of the season 8 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) took place in Karachi on Thursday. All six franchises selected their picks.
    Have a look at the complete squads of all the teams:

    Lahore Qalandars:

    Shaheeen Shah Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Kamran Ghulam,  Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Daniyal, Shawaiz Irfan, Jordan Cox, Jalat Khan

    Peshawar Zalmi:

    Babar Azam (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseeb Ullah, Jimmy Neesham

    Multan Sultans: 

    Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Joshua Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid, Arafat Minhas

    Islamabad United:

    Shadab Khan (C), Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Moeen Ali, Mubasir Khan

    Quetta Gladiators:

    Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Naveen ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Will Smeed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith, Ahsan Ali, Umaid Asif, Muhammad Zahid, Abdul Bangalzai, Aimal Khan, Martin Guptill, Omair Bin Yousuf

    Karachi Kings

    Imad Wasim (c), Haider Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Matthew Wade, Imran Tahir, James Vince, James Fuller, Andrew Tye, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Akhlaq, Irfan Khan Niazi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mohammad Umar

  • Pakistan is not ‘pursuing or receiving’ any discounted energy from Russia: FM Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan is not ‘pursuing or receiving’ any discounted energy from Russia: FM Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan is not “pursuing or receiving” any discounted energy from Russia, according to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is in the US for a seven-day visit.

    Earlier, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik had announced that Russia had decided to provide crude oil, petrol, and diesel to Pakistan at lesser rates.

    He had stated that specific terms and conditions of the discounted oil commodities will be decided upon during the upcoming visit of the Russian energy minister to Islamabad by mid-January, but that prices would be on par with or even lower than those being offered to other nations, according to Geo.

    Before that meeting, Malik had stated, the two parties would refine their ideas to the point at which an executive summary or an agreement could be signed and supplies would begin to flow.

    As winter approaches, Pakistan struggles to meet domestic gas supply needs while also trying to control a current account deficit that has been swollen by energy purchases, largely for oil.

    Because spot prices are still out of reach for the nation and shipments under long-term contracts are still insufficient to meet the expanding demand, the nation has been unable to purchase liquefied natural gas from the international market.

    In an interview, the PPP chairman said: “As far as Russia is concerned, we aren’t pursuing or receiving any discounted energy, but we are facing an extremely difficult economic situation, inflation, pump prices.”

    However, he acknowledged Pakistan’s energy insecurity. “We are exploring various avenues to expand our areas where we can get our energy from,” FM Bilawal said, adding that “any energy from Russia will take a long time for us to develop.”

  • Fire breaks out on stage during wedding ceremony in Gujranwala

    Fire breaks out on stage during wedding ceremony in Gujranwala

    A short circuit in electric wiring caused a fire to break out on stage during a wedding ceremony in Gujranwala.

    According to media reports, plastic flowers used for decorating the stage added fuel to the fire.

    A video of the blaze, in which people are putting out the fire themselves, went viral on social media.

    Fortunately, all the guests remained safe and the fire was finally put out.

  • ‘Haq mehr me 15 lakh’: Indian actor Faizan Ansari wants to marry Pakistani Tiktoker Ayesha

    ‘Haq mehr me 15 lakh’: Indian actor Faizan Ansari wants to marry Pakistani Tiktoker Ayesha

    Indian actor Faizan Ansari has expressed his desperate wish to marry Pakistani TikTok sensation, Ayesha Mano.

    In a video shared by an Indian media outlet on social media, Ansari said he was making arrangements to visit Pakistan to propose Ayesha. Ansari said he would give INR Rs1.5 million to Ayesha as Haq Mehar if she agrees to marry him.

    For the unversed, Ayesha’s dance video at her friend’s wedding ceremony went viral on the internet, garnering millions of views. Her groovy dance steps have forced Indians and Pakistanis to dance to Lata Mangeshkar’s classic hit song.

    She was recently invited by Nida Yasir on her morning show, Good Morning Pakistan.

  • Govt slashes petrol price by Rs10 to Rs214.80 per litre

    Govt slashes petrol price by Rs10 to Rs214.80 per litre

    The federal government on Thursday announced a reduction in the price of petroleum products by up to Rs10.

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) will be decreased by Rs7.5, petrol by Rs10, kerosene oil by Rs10, and light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs10.

    After the reduction, the new price of HSD would be Rs227.80 per litre, petrol Rs214.80 per litre, kerosene oil Rs171.83 per liter, and LDO Rs169 per litre.

    According to the details, new prices would be implemented at midnight tonight.

    The reduction follows a decline in global oil prices. Brent crude prices were down 33 cents or 0.4 per cent at $82.37 a barrel as of December 15 at 1453 GMT, while US crude futures were down 43 cents or 0.6 per cent at $76.85.

    After a Pakistani delegation visited Moscow earlier this week, sources indicated that Russia had confirmed the availability of 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Pakistan.

    They also stated that a delegation from Moscow would travel to Islamabad in January to negotiate the terms of a deal, including prices and the method of payment.

  • Aamir Liaquat’s ex-wife Dania Shah arrested in leaked video case

    Aamir Liaquat’s ex-wife Dania Shah arrested in leaked video case

    The Federal Investigation Agency has arrested well-known televangelist Aamir Liaquat’s widow Dania Shah, FIA officials confirmed Thursday.

    The officials, according to Geo News, said that FIA Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) Lodhran arrested Dania during a raid. The third wife of Liaquat has been apprehended for allegedly uploading a controversial video on social media.

    The action was taken on the complaint of the TV anchorperson’s daughter, the officials confirmed.

    Dania’s mother Salma Bibi said the police and other officials “barged” into their house and arrested her daughter. “I have come to the police station, but they are not telling me anything and Dania isn’t present here as well.”

    Aamir Liaquat, PTI dissident and member of the National Assembly (MNA), passed away in Karachi on June 9. His death under mysterious circumstances came as a shock to the media industry and people vented anger at the social media trolls who had hounded the famous TV host for his botched third marriage.

    The body was received by the late anchor’s son and the last rites were conducted by Chippa. Hussain was laid to rest in a graveyard on the premises of the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine in Clifton, Karachi.

    Later on, a controversy took place over his exhumation to ascertain the cause of death, however, the procedure was not performed after a court ruled against it.

    When the video was released, Mathira took to her Instagram stories to condemn the act of leaking nude videos of Aamir Liaquat by his former wife Dania Shah. She believes that it’s a ‘below the belt’ act by Shah against her ex and should be dealt with legal action.

  • Iranian footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani sentenced to death for supporting women’s rights and ‘basic freedom’

    Iranian footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani sentenced to death for supporting women’s rights and ‘basic freedom’

    Iranian footballer Amir Reza Nasr Azadani has been sentenced to death after he was arrested last month for participating in worldwide protests against the country’s clerical establishment.

    Azadani was arrested in connection to the deaths of three security personnel during protests in Isfahan and accused of waging war against God, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency.

    The 26-year-old Iranian league footballer is among at least 27 other Iranians facing death sentences in connection to the protests that have engulfed the country for almost three months.

    Two of those men — Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, both 23 years old — were publicly hanged this month.

    The world union of professional footballers, FIFPRO, said it was “shocked and sickened” by Azadani’s sentencing “after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedom in his country.”

    “We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment,” the organisation wrote on Twitter.

    Prominent current and former footballers expressed solidarity and called for executions to end.

    Former Iranian international star Ali Karimi and Iran’s World Cup team goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand used their social media platforms to call for the sentence to be revoked and an end to executions.

    Asadollah Jafari, the judiciary chief of Isfahan, was quoted by local media as saying that Mr Azadani was a member of an “armed group that operated in a networked and organised manner with the intent of fighting the basis of the Islamic Republic establishment.”

  • ‘General Faiz made Suleman Shahbaz flee from Pakistan’: Journalist Suhail Waraich

    ‘General Faiz made Suleman Shahbaz flee from Pakistan’: Journalist Suhail Waraich

    Senior journalist Suhail Warraich has claimed that Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, was sent out of Pakistan with the help of former Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG-ISI), General Faiz Hameed.

    In a candid conversation with journalist Fahad Shehbaz Khan, Warraich said that the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa was a good man, who did not make jail particularly tough for anyone, whether it was former President Asif Ali Zardari or Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif.

    Warraich further revealed that Gen Bajwa was never in favour of keeping these people in jail for long periods or of giving them pain when they were in prison. “Former PM Imran Khan wanted to give pain to the Opposition when they were in jail; he [Gen Bajwa] couldn’t do much but really helped everyone,” Suhail Warraich said.

    Fahad said that audio recordings of Hamza Shehbaz, Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif during National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody, were sent to General Faiz.

    Warraich elaborated that General Bajwa wanted to maintain his soft image. “He is one COAS who dealt with two governments and survived as well. He did not want anything to happen to Nawaz Sharif while he was in jail and hence he sent him to London.”

    The veteran journalist also confirmed that Shehbaz Sharif and General Bajwa were always on very cordial terms with each other.

  • Sahafi baradari rejects offer of housing society, accuses govt of bribing them for not reporting on RUDA

    Sahafi baradari rejects offer of housing society, accuses govt of bribing them for not reporting on RUDA

    Pakistani journalist community has come forward to reject the Punjab government’s offer of a journalists’ housing society to be built in the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA).

    On Wednesday, Pervaiz Elahi, the Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, allocated 700 kanals of land for the construction of a journalists’ housing society in RUDA.

    Taking to Twitter, Elahi said, “Another promise to the journalist community has been fulfilled. Ravi Urban Development Authority has allotted 700 kanals of land for Journalist Colony Phase 2 in its first phase.”

    He, further said that providing a roof for journalists is his top priority. “Plots were given to journalists in the previous period and still the promise of giving plots has been fulfilled,” he added.

    Right after the decision, Twitter was filled with tweets by journalists and human rights activists, jointly rejecting the scheme. They accused the government of bribing them with public money.

    Why are people against the allocation?

    The Ravi Urban Development Authority allegedly forcibly acquired farmland from farmers, destroying crops on hundreds of acres in the Ferozewala area.

    The farmers and landowners who have been victims of the project, accused the former premier Imran Khan of pushing the Pervaiz Elahi-led Punjab government to use force and arms for taking illegal possession of their land.

    In August 2020, the then prime minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the controversial real estate project.