Responding to Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir’s revelations why Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government came into power, senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar said that he is waiting for a statement by Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in response to such serious allegations.
“Dastagir has alleged that in November when a new army chief would have been appointed by Imran Khan, the new chief would have violated the Constitution and would have helped Imran Khan make false cases against his opponents in order to disqualify them. I have been wondering why DG ISPR has not given a statement about these serious allegations even though a couple of days have passed.”
Asad Umar said that he believes that Dastagir is lying but is still waiting for DG ISPR’s statement because these are very serious allegations and the from the military spokesperson should respond to them.
خرم دستگیر کے بیان پر ڈی جی آئی ایس پی آر کا بیان انا چاہیے، میں انتظار کر رہا ہوں – اسد عمر سر جی @OfficialDGISPR صاحب صرف @Asad_Umar صاحب ہی نہیں پوری قوم آپکے بیان کا انتظار کر رہی ہے۔ pic.twitter.com/N3CmUH4hRd
Asad Umar also said that in reality, the government knew that the PTI government would start delivering on the economy and thus Khan had to be ousted through a conspiracy.
Last week, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir revealed why the coalition government came into power.
“Mass disqualifications would have taken place had Imran Khan remained in power,” said Dastgir when anchorperson Syed Talat Hussain asked why the sitting government chose to come into power for a year and a half.
“This is based on information. Imran Khan and his followers would have stayed in power for 15 years. The entire Opposition would have been disqualified. He [Imran Khan] was of the point of view that he will remove everyone and will not spare anyone.”
“From Shehbaz Sharif to Khaqan Abbasi to Ahsan Iqbal, everyone of us would have been disqualified. We made a coalition government for that very reason. Imran Khan had fascist plans.”
The joint Opposition’s candidate Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan. Imran Khan was voted out of office through a no-confidence motion on April 9.
Data from the Reuters Digital Media Report 2022 shows that among users of social media platforms, TikTok took over Snapchat and Telegram in 2021 and 2022 respectively, across the world. It is the fastest growing platform among all social media channels. In 2021, only five per cent of the global audience was using TikTok and this number has grown to 16 per cent in 2022. Snapchat audience decreased by one per cent to 12 per cent while Telegram has seen an increase of five per cent with new global audience of 12 per cent.
The table shows change in audiences using Snapchat and TikTok
2020
2022
Change
TikTok
5 per cent
16 per cent
11 per cent
Snapchat
13 per cent
12 per cent
-1 per cent
Social media usage has also increased throughout the world.
Trust in BBC falls by 20%
Datamentioned in the report also shows that the average level of trust in news networks globally has reduced by eight points from 50 per cent to 42 per cent in a year. Moreover, in the UK, the proportion of people not trusting BBC has increased from 11 per cent to 26 per cent while the proportion trusting BBC has fallen by 20 per cent.
The attached graph shows how the UK audience’s trust in the BBC has dwindled over time.
Another important thing to notice is that TikTok is not just being used for fun videos. It is also emerging as a new player in the news ecosystem. More and more people are turning to TikTok for their news. It has also taken over Snapchat for news as well.
2020
2022
Change
TikTok
1 per cent
7 per cent
6 per cent
Snapchat
3 per cent
2 per cent
-1 per cent
Audience is less interested in news
Globally, the interest of people in news is falling. The proportion that says they are extremely interested in the news has fallen sharply over time. On average, in 2015, 67 per cent of global audiences was interested in the news while this number declined to 47 per cent in 2022 with a change of -20 per cent.
Country
2017
2022
Change
Argentina
77 per cent
48 per cent
-29 per cent
Brazil
82 per cent
57 per cent
-25 per cent
Spain
82 per cent
55 per cent
-27 per cent
UK
65 per cent
43 per cent
-22 per cent
USA
68 percent
47 per cent
-21 per cent
Consumers are avoiding the news
The report also says that 38 per cent of the audience actively avoided news in 2022. The audience becoming least interested in the news has been increasing from 2017 to 2022 in every country except for Italy. The attached graph shows the percentage of people staying away from news in different countries.
The most common reason for avoiding news is politics and Covid-19. Data shows that 43 per cent of users avoid the news because of excessive news regarding Covid-19 and politics. Moreover, 36 per cent of the audience thinks that the news has a negative impact on their mood.
People under the age of 35 struggle to understand news
People under 35 are also finding it hard to understand the news and it is causing them to avoid the news.
Younger audiences want journalists to express personal opinions
Data from the report shows that 46 per cent of the population between the ages of 18-24 do not want news channels to just report news on social media but want them to express their personal opinions alongside reporting news, while the opposite is true for people of age 55+. 57 per cent of older people want news channels to stick to reporting the news. The older the consumer, the more the proportion of them want journalists to stick to just posting news on social media.
Majority uses smart phones to access morning news
In most countries, the majority use mobile phones to access news in the morning with the highest percentage being 43 per cent in Norway. In most countries, the least used medium for news is print media. The 2021 report shows that the lockdown during Covid-19 proved to be a nail in the coffin for print media.
Younger audiences prefer watching the news rather than reading it
Although the significant majority still prefers reading news irrespective of age, data reveals that people aged 18-24 prefer watching the news (17 per cent) which is more when compared to older people (11 per cent for age above 55). The younger you are, the more you prefer watching the news rather than reading about it.
Key findings in Digital Media Report 2021
Data from the digital media report last year (2021)showed that the trust level for news reports in Asia-Pacific is no more than 50 per cent with the most being in Thailand. It is important to notice that the USA is reported to have a trust level of 29 per cent in the news, which is the lowest of all 46 countries selected for the report. The report says it is the aftermath of deep division over the US ‘stolen election reports’ and the killing of George Floyd.
To measure the trust level, people were asked to indicate if they trusted the news posted on social media,
Other key findings of last year’s report showed that Facebook, which was known for Covid-19 misinformation, was still used by 32 per cent for news and the most successful social media platform was YouTube.
A protest by the prisoners of Rara Central Jail in Muzaffarabad turned into a clash between the police and the prisoners on Saturday, reports Samaa News.
The clash started when some prisoners turned violent and started a fight with the security personnel.
The prisoners were protesting against the unavailability of facilities for the past few days. However, no casualty has been reported so far.
The police summoned additional forces to keep the situation under control and started searching for the prisoners who initially started the fight.
Last year, a clash was also reported in Adiala jail, Rawalpindi. The clash was between two groups that led to the transfer of 23 convicted and under-trial prisoners to other jails and the suspension of 11 jail officials, including two superintendents.
With the aim of maintaining traffic discipline and a safe road environment in the city, the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) has made the decision to suspend the driving licenses of habitual offenders of traffic rules.
Syed Mustafa Tanveer, Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic), said the ITP has put in place a system to hold those who break traffic rules accountable. He stated that digital challan records would be reviewed on a regular basis, and that those whose licenses had been revoked for repeated violations of traffic laws would have their license suspended.
He has also instructed the Zonal DSPs to maintain traffic discipline in the city and prosecute violators sternly.
In its first step, ITP examined the digital challan log and identified 17 people who had been involved in multiple violations under sections 15 and 16 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance. Six of the 17 violators have been ordered to attend traffic rules and road safety classes for five days, while the driving licenses of 11 others have been suspended.
He stated that violators of traffic rules will face severe consequences, and that road users will be held accountable in order to protect the lives of others.
SSP Traffic warned that violators would be supervised on a routine basis and that there would be no tolerance for traffic violations.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson has said in a statement that Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks on India were being “interpreted out of context and portrayed incorrectly”.
“There is no change in Pakistan’s policy on India on which there is a national consensus. Pakistan has always desired cooperative relations with all its neighbours, including India. We have consistently advocated constructive engagement and result-oriented dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, including the core Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” the statement said.
“India’s unabated hostility and retrogressive steps, however, have vitiated the environment and impeded the prospects of peace and cooperation. The onus, therefore, remains on India to take the necessary steps to create an enabling environment conducive to meaningful and result-oriented dialogue,” the FO statement said.
Bilawal clearly articulated this perspective, “referring to India’s illegal and unilateral actions in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJK) since 5 August 2019, describing them as an assault on the rights of the Kashmiri people, as well as rising Islamophobia in India, that created an environment unconducive for meaningful engagement,” it added.
“The foreign minister’s remarks are better understood in the overall context of his key message of conflict resolution that he emphasised in his address at the think-tank event,” the FO statement concluded.
‘Does it serve our objective that we have practically cut off all engagements with India?’: Bilawal Bhutto
Bilawal advocated for re-engagement with India asking whether cutting ties with India served the country’s interests.
“Does it serve our interests, do we achieve our objectives whatever they may be, be it Kashmir, be it rising Islamophobia, the Hindutva supremacist nature of the new regimes and the governments in India? Does it serve our objective that we have practically cut off all engagements,” asked Bilawal while speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad.
Bilawal identified India and the United States (US) as countries with which Pakistan’s relations were problematic.
The foreign minister contended that if Pakistan had achieved economic engagement with India in the past, it would have been in a better position to influence Delhi’s policy and prevented both countries from taking extreme positions.
In May, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reached out to Bilawal soon after he took the foreign minister’s office and invited him to a food security conference. The two also met in New York on the sidelines of the forum.
Since its launch in October 2019, e-Pay Punjab, an online payment solution developed by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and the Punjab Finance Department, has collected over Rs90 billion in tax revenue through 17 million transactions.
As per details released by the PITB on Friday, e-Pay Punjab has collected a total of Rs57 billion in sales tax, Rs11.5 billion in token tax, Rs9 billion in property tax, Rs4 billion in traffic challans, and Rs440 million in vehicle transfers.
It’s worth noting that e-Pay Punjab now accepts online payments for 23 taxes and levies from ten different departments. Its 1-Link network integration with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and all scheduled banks makes it a secure and dependable payment channel.
The e-Pay Punjab application, which has over 1 million downloads, generates a unique PSID number that is accepted by banks across Pakistan through their various channels, including Internet and Mobile Banking, ATMs, and physical branch visits.
It is also a secure, smart, and fast online payment option for the annual Token Tax. Vehicle owners can use e-Pay Punjab to pay their Token Tax from the comfort of their own homes.
The app’s primary objective is to make it convenient for the government to gather revenue in the form of taxes through a simple solution. With Pakistan’s first digital tax aggregator, the app demonstrates how Pakistan and its government are rapidly integrating financial technology (fintech) into their processes.
A man in Layyah allegedly desecrated the grave of his ex-wife’s mother after she refused to re-marry him. He allegedly committed the crime with the help of his brother Ramzan.
Yahya alias Pappu divorced Asma Bibi four years ago. However, he later changed his mind and asked Asma Bibi, his ex-wife, to re-marry him. Asma refused his proposal. Yahya then set the grave of his ex-mother-in-law on fire by pouring petrol over it to take revenge from his ex-wife.
Police filed a complaint against the two brothers and were able to apprehend one of them, Ramzan. Yahya is still missing.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has fired several employees as a result of a letter criticising the vocal billionaire’s public behaviour, according to a message to employees confirmed by AFP on Friday.
SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell wrote in an email late Thursday that a “small group” of employees sought signatures from their coworkers as a show of support for the letter and participation in a survey.
The mercurial billionaire uses Twitter on a regular basis to provoke, speak directly to customers and fans, and occasionally offend with unfiltered or crude remarks.
According to Shotwell’s message, some employees felt “uncomfortable, intimidated, and bullied, and/or angry” because the letter pushed them to sign something that didn’t reflect their beliefs.
“We have too much important work to do,” she continued, “and we don’t need this kind of overreaching activism”.
The company “terminated a number of employees involved” after conducting an investigation, Shotwell said, without specifying how many.
Musk’s public behaviour, as well as recent allegations of sexual harassment against him, were cited in the workers’ letter as “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us,” according to The Verge.
“Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX as our CEO and most visible spokesperson – every Tweet Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company,” the letter continued.
Musk, who also runs Tesla, is in the middle of a roller-coaster $44 billion bid to buy Twitter, which has heightened interest in the investor.
Due to a fuel shortage, the Sri Lankan authorities on Friday announced a two-week shutdown of government offices and schools.
“Taking into consideration the severe limits on fuel supply, the weak public transport system, and the difficulty in using private vehicles, this circular allows minimal staff to report to work from Monday,” said Sri Lankan Public Administration Ministry.
However, essential employees will continue working.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Education Ministry said on Thursday that schools will be closed for two weeks due to persistent power outages. However, the ministry said the schools should conduct online classes, if possible.
Sri Lanka has been experiencing roughly 12- to 13-hour-long blackouts for months.
Sri Lanka went into default on its $51 billion foreign debt in April and is currently negotiating a bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Are you still thinking about what to gift your dad on Father’s Day? Not sure what to get to make your father feel special? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. We made a list of things your father will enjoy.
Have a look:
Shahid Afridi Store
Shahid Afridi clothing store in offering flat 5 to 20 per cent discount on Father’s Day. The sale that started on June 15 will end on June 22.
Give your father a customised box of their favourite chai/coffee essentials. Though Ahsan Iqbal won’t like this gift idea much, your father will love it!
Cuff-links
Tell your father he is the best by gifting him cuff-links. Browse through this collection of cuff-links by Borjan. You will definitely find something for your father.
Massager
Who doesn’t love a massager? Gift your father this neck and shoulder massager and show him that you really care about his comfort.
If you are unable to buy anything, a little hug and a few kind words can also work!
