Blog

  • ‘It’s in the interest of the country that establishment and Khan be on same page’: Sheikh Rasheed

    ‘It’s in the interest of the country that establishment and Khan be on same page’: Sheikh Rasheed

    Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has said that there is no difference between Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and the military leadership and it is in the interest of the country that the establishment and Imran Khan be on the same page.

    In an exclusive interview with BBC Urdu, Rasheed said that the military leadership had decided that it would stand by the elected government.

    Responding to a question about the differences between the government and the army, the minister said, “Small differences can happen. There may be differences of opinion between the civil government and the establishment, but they are on the same page.”

    Rasheed had recently stated that the hand of the establishment is on Imran Khan’s head and later said that he was asked to withdraw this statement.

    However, Rasheed said he was still standing by his statement and that he had been asked by a person in the civilian government, not the establishment, to withdraw his statement. “I did not name the establishment but I meant that the policies of the government and the institutions are on the same page,” he explained.

    Rasheed further said that the PM is adamant on the issue of corruption and accountability and that he fired many people from the party or positions who were accused or suspected of corruption. “Imran Khan can’t do more than that,” he said.

    Accountability was Imran Khan’s biggest slogan but we did not get the success we deserved, he added.

    Rasheed said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was trying to repatriate those wanted by the courts and the government in Pakistan, but he also complained that despite many efforts, it is still not possible for Ishaq Dar to return.

    Regarding the return of former PM Nawaz Sharif, he said that the government of Pakistan is trying to get him back. “We have been doing this for three and a half years. We sent him ourselves, it is our fault. He [Nawaz] managed to throw dust in everyone’s eyes and went out.”

    Rasheed said that the reason for the former adviser on accountability and interior Shahzad Akbar’s resignation and the Prime Minister’s displeasure with him was not only about bringing back Nawaz Sharif or Shehbaz Sharif but also because “we could not bring back the money”.

    Sheikh Rasheed says there is room for improvement everywhere in the accountability process. “We need to prepare cases well, be good lawyers. Imran Khan has no lack of intent, he says giving National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) would be treason.”

  • Javed Iqbal’s release halted by Punjab government a day before Lahore premiere

    Javed Iqbal’s release halted by Punjab government a day before Lahore premiere

    Ayesha Omar and Yasir Hussain starrer movie Javed Iqval‘s release has been halted by the government of Punjab.

    The film’s director Abu Aleeha in a tweet said that Punjab Government has stoped the release of the movie despite the approval of censor board. He further said that he is going to High Court for appeal. The movie was set for its countrywide premiere tomorrow (January 28).

    Javed Iqbal was supposed to premiere in October, but it was pushed back to December 24 due to censor board approval.

    The Karachi premiere of the movie was held this week and it turned out to be a star studded event.

    Bulbulay diva Ayesha Omar, will also be seen alongside with Yasir in the biopic after their successful film, Karachi Se Lahore. The Untold Story of a Serial Killer: Javed Iqbal has been written and directed by Abu Aleeha.

    The Jhooti actor will be essaying the role of the Serial Killer while the Zindagi Gulzar Hai diva will be playing the role of a cop.

  • Girl’s father bites off finger of boy’s dad over love marriage clash

    Girl’s father bites off finger of boy’s dad over love marriage clash

    A girl’s father bit off the finger of a man’s father during a physical assault over a love marriage dispute at the Gulshan-e-Zia area of Orangi Town in Karachi, reports Geo News.

    Muhammad Hussain, the father of Muhammad Suleiman, told the police that the girl named Nabila lived in their neighbourhood and was also his son’s class fellow. He said that the girl fell in the love with his son and wanted to marry him. She went to his house and tried to convince Suleiman’s mother to let them marry each other.

    However, his mother explained to Nabila that her son did not have any job so he could not get married right now.

    Meanwhile, the girl’s father, Nadeem, reached Suleiman’s house along with his brother, Aleem, and they started beating Suleiman and his mother.

    They physically abused Suleiman’s mother by grabbing her hair. They also dragged her and tore off her clothes.

    While rescuing his wife and son, Muhammad Hussain was attacked and his finger was bitten off by Nadeem.

    Police added that Hussain was provided medical aid from the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Police arrested both Nadeem and Aleem for assault and lodged a First Investigation Report (FIR).

  • MQM vs PPP: One dead, many injured as police baton-charge MQM sit-in

    MQM vs PPP: One dead, many injured as police baton-charge MQM sit-in

    Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) workers and leaders had gathered in large numbers during the afternoon hours of Wednesday to stage a protest against the controversial Sindh local government bill in Karachi.

    Later on, the protesters attempted to reach the Chief Minister’s (CM) House for a sit-in.

    The police, however, baton-charged the crowd and used teargas shells in an attempt to dissuade it from entering the red zone.

    A worker of the MQM-P was killed and several others, including women, were injured when police fired tear gas and resorted to baton-charge on their sit-in outside CM House.

    Protest:

    MQM party leaders, including lawmakers, women, and children, started their march from the FTC on Shahrah-e-Faisal, and passing through different routes, they managed to reach CM House where they staged a sit-in.

    As per the police, the MQM-P leadership was asked to go back to the venue of the Karachi Press Club as this was the ‘Red Zone’ where all such political activities had been banned.

    The officer claimed that the MQM leaders did not listen to them, which compelled the police to take action against them by resorting to baton-charge and tear gas shelling.

    This is our Karachi — See the governance conditions, we have a right to protest: Wasim Akhtar

    Speaking on Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, MQM-P leader Wasim Akhtar said, “You [Pakistan People’s Party(PPP)] sitting in red-zone can do corruption but we cannot come there and protest? This is Karachi, these are our streets.”

    Anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada questioned Akhtar and said that the PPP government says that Jamat-e-Islami (JI) was also protesting in Karachi for the past 27 days, the government did not stop them, and that the MQM-P broke its commitment of a peaceful protest and took the law in its own hands, as the protest was supposed to be staged outside the Press Club but the party changed the route and came to CM House, which is near the hotel where Pakistan Super League (PSL) players were staying.

    Responding to this, Akhtar said, “Shahzeb, look how they [PPP] have destroyed Sindh and Karachi. The public was charged, people are fed up with press conferences, rallies. The public said we will go and talk to CM Sahib, and request him to resolve our issues. We continued our protest in peace. I was in touch with the administration, I had assured them that nothing wrong will happen, we just need to sit and protest. We will talk with whoever comes out of the CM House and lay down our demands. Who started all this?”

    “I told the administration, that we will take a left turn from Movenpick hotel, two to three women went ahead, Murtaza Wahab was on call with Amir [Amir Khan] Sahib. Murtaza said we will come to the gate [of CM house] and you [MQM-P] can tell us your demands. This discussion was going on when shelling, and baton-charge started on the main road,” said Akhtar.

    “The police started this, people got injured, tear gas and shelling were thrown at people. We didn’t even know, we were busy with negotiations. Murtaza Wahab was still on call, we informed him that the police is taking tear gas towards the people.”

    Akhtar said that he wasn’t informed that the PSL teams were staying in Movenpick. As per his talks with the administration, he was informed that the team was staying in Marriot, and their protest was not a hindrance in the way of security of PSL players.

    MQM-P, PTI want to divert public’s attention from real issues: Saeed Ghani

    Sindh Minister for Information Saeed Ghani, while speaking on ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, said that the situation led to the circumstances and the Sindh government had to take action.

    He further said that MQM-P decided to change the location of the protest, as they had earlier announced the demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club but they started marching towards the CM House.

    Negating Akhtar’s stance of not being aware of the situation, Ghani said they [MQM-P] were aware of the presence of the PSL teams.

    “We are not against protests, even JI has been protesting in front of the Sindh Assembly for almost a month now,” he said.

    Ghani further added that because of PSL, security is already on high alert and the protestors were warned not to move towards the CM House; however, they defied all requests and the police had to take action.

    Blaming the MQM-P, the PPP minister said that if the party workers and leaders had protested outside the Press Club, the situation would have been different.

    Criticising the party, he further added that MQM-P, along with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), wants to divert the public’s attention from the actual issues.

    MQM-P demands:

    Giving an ultimatum of 24 hours, the MQM-P have three major demands.

    The resignation of CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah. Second, Inspector General (IG) Sindh should resign immediately. The third demand is that the supporters of MQM should be released.

     MQM-P leader Amir Khan said the CM did not allow the people of Karachi to fulfill their democratic right of holding a peaceful protest.

    He urged the federal government to immediately intervene in the matter and seek an explanation from the police chief as to why women and children were subjected to brutal torture.

    MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi said democracy would be strengthened with their decisions.

    He warned former president Asif Ali Zardari to rein in his chief minister and reminded him that Bilawal House was also located in Karachi.

    “We don’t want to fight,” he said, adding that the MQM-P should not be compelled to take any ‘extreme’ measure.

    Government and Opposition’s condemnation:

    Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the incident and tweeted, “I have taken note of the violence used by Sindh police against MQM’s peaceful protest…Will take necessary action against those responsible after receiving these reports.”

    Sharing a video statement, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail condemned the “police brutality”, adding that local government should resolve the issue with mutual understanding and dialogue.

    https://twitter.com/GovernorSindh33/status/1486364990005256193

    Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said that the Constitution of Pakistan allows its citizens to protest. “PPP’s approach to suppressing dissent by force is shameful.”

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry highlighted that there was no need for such “hooliganism” at a time when PSL is just around the corner.

    Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi tweeted, “Sindh Police is responsible for the death of one peaceful protester & the injuries to members of Parliament.”

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Miftah Ismail, said, “The democratic PPP in Islamabad is all too happy to be a feudal usurping political party in Karachi. PPP should do better than to beat peaceful protestors in the street.”

    PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also condemned police brutality. In a tweet, Khokhar said, “Death of MQM-P worker as a result of police high-handedness in Karachi is deplorable.”

  • Pakistan to mark one year polio-free

    Pakistan to mark one year polio-free

    Pakistan will mark one year of being polio-free tomorrow. The last infection of the poliovirus in Pakistan was recorded on January 27, 2021, according to officials, and Friday marks the first time in Pakistan’s history that a year has passed with no new cases, reports AFP.

    Lahore became the first polio-free city in the country back in April 2021.

    A five-day anti-polio campaign kicked off on Monday all over Pakistan. About 150,000 health workers are taking part in the five-day anti-polio drive to inoculate 22.4 million children under five years of age, according to a statement issued by Shahzad Beg, the coordinator for polio programme. 

    Hamid Khan, a police constable who was escorting polio vaccinators, was martyred in a terrorist attack in Kohat on Tuesday.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • 25 people lose their lives to Covid in 24 hours, highest death rate since October

    25 people lose their lives to Covid in 24 hours, highest death rate since October

    According to the National Command Operation Center (NCOC), Pakistan recorded 7539 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours with 25 people losing their lives to the deadly virus, the highest death rate since October 14. The COVID-19 positivity rate in the country is over 10 per cent from eight consecutive days.

    On Wednesday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 1,446 coronavirus cases, the highest number of infections in a single day since the pandemic began. In April 2021, the province had recorded 1,265 cases of Covid-19 in a single day.

    Peshawar’s positivity rate was 35.89 per cent on Wednesday. Morever, the positivity rate in Karachi has reached to 26.91 per cent and in Lahore the positivity rate was 15.25 per cent in the last 24 hours.

    Read more- Schools to close in Lahore if more than three Covid cases found, 5,000 school tests a day

    .

  • How to reuse N95, KN95, and other disposable Masks- A complete guideline

    How to reuse N95, KN95, and other disposable Masks- A complete guideline

    It is very troublesome for people to change their masks after a single-use. We will explain how you can reuse the recommended masks — N95, KN95, and disposable masks to prevent coronavirus.

    How can you reuse masks?

    For healthcare workers, it is recommended that they can reuse N95 masks while keeping them in brown paper bags after each use.

    How safe is it to reuse masks during increased cases of the Omicron variant of Covid?

    Yes, it’s totally safe to reuse masks if you handle them with care. You are required to touch the elastic of the mask only while covering your face and afterwards you can wash your hands.

    How to use your mask if it gets wet?

    Mask is wearable again if it gets wet due to condensation of your breathing but make sure to keep the masks in the paper bag in a dry spot, ideally by a sunny window, to decontaminate. It can help enhance the viral-deactivation process.

    However, if your mask is drenched during rain, you need to throw it away immediately because moisture degrades the mask little by little.

    Don’t try to wash your masks

    If you are thinking of washing or disinfecting your masks, you cannot use absolutely any kind of bleach or alcohol for washing. You can use the paper bag method for sanitising as it is less expensive and easy to use. It has fewer chances of damaging the mask effectively.

    What is the right time to throw away your mask?

    The United States (US) organisation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests throwing your N95 mask after five times’ use for health workers. However, for other people, you can reuse the mask until the elastic strings become loose to fit and if the fabric looks clean and provides good airflow. You can only throw the disposable masks immediately where you are present in a highly ineffective area or you met with a Covid-positive person.

    It is important to know that dust, air pollutants, pollen, make-up, skin oils, inactivated virus accumulate and block the filters.

  • Twitter receives record number of govt requests to remove content, including India’s

    Twitter receives record number of govt requests to remove content, including India’s

    Twitter has revealed that a record number of requests have been made from several governments around the world to remove content from the social media platform between January and June 2021.

    According to the platform, 95 per cent of the demands came from five countries which include Japan, Russia, Turkey, India and South Korea.

    The company said that in July 2021, it had seen a surge in government demands to take down content posted by journalists and news outlets.

    In a report, they said that 43,387 legal demands for the removal of content from 196,878 accounts were made in the six months. It is the largest number of such requests in a reporting period since Twitter started releasing its transparency reports in 2012.

    Sinead McSweeney, Twitter’s vice president of global public policy and philanthropy, said, “We’re facing unprecedented challenges as governments around the world increasingly attempt to intervene and remove content. This threat to privacy and freedom of expression is a deeply worrying trend that requires our full attention.”

    Previously, Twitter faced high-profile tussles with governments from India to Nigeria over content moderation and regulation.

  • PTI announces appointments of its Central Organisation

    PTI announces appointments of its Central Organisation

    The ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has formed its Central Organisation and announced its appointments, reports The Express Tribune.

    The establishment of the organisation was approved by party chairman, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

    The Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati, Member of National Assembly (MNA) Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali and Amir Bakhsh Bhutto have been appointed as Senior Vice Presidents (SVPs).

    While Atif Khan, Hamidul Haq, Naseebullah Murree and Nawabzada Sharif Jogezai, Ejaz Chaudhry, Ibrahim Khan, Aftab Siddiqui and Advocate Ataullah will act as VPs.

  • Shahid Afridi to miss the first few matches of PSL 7 due to back injury

    Shahid Afridi to miss the first few matches of PSL 7 due to back injury

    Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who is repsenting Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Quetta Gladiators this season, is expected to miss the first few matches of the highly-anticipated league, starting tomorrow.

    The veteran power-hitter Afridi sustained a back injury in a practice session on Tuesday. He was also not part of the training session of Quetta Gladiators. Afridi was hopeful of being fit in time for season seven but he is not 100 percent fit yet.

    As per Geo Super, Afridi requested Quetta to excuse him from the bio-secure bubble. Along with the back pain, a relative of Afridi’s wife has passed away so the cricketer has to attend to personal matters as well.

    Sarfaraz Ahmed, who will be leading Quetta, said they will use their marquee player judiciously and make sure he doesn’t aggravate his injury.

    Afridi was unavailable for the UAE-leg of the PSL 6 because of back injury while representing Multan Sultans.

    The T20 bigwig has piled up 4,395 runs in 326 matches and has maintained a stupendous strike rate of 154.21. He has shed 344 wickets in the shortest format.

    The top-flight bowling all-rounder Afridi alongside England stylish batter James Vince will play for Quetta Gladiators in PSL 2022 edition.

    Afridi played four matches for Sultans in last year’s edition that was played in Karachi and UAE. The veteran shed two wickets and made three runs.