A James Bond Party themed party was thrown by British Deputy High Commissioner Karachi Mike Nithavrianakis in Karachi on December 3rd. Many celebrities including Mehwish Hayat, Ahad Raza Mir, Humayun Saeed and Imran Ashraf were present at the party.
Senator Sherry Rehman was also spotted at the event following the dress code.
Have a look at some of the pictures:
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, holding the state responsible for the lynching incident in Sialkot, said, “If the state does not take action against the ones accused of blasphemy then such incidents will happen.”
Taking his outrage to Twitter, Maulana wrote, “The incident in Sialkot is reprehensible and shameful. There should be a comprehensive investigation.”
“In the past, there have been similar backlash against government-sponsored fugitives accused of blasphemy,” wrote Maulana.
“Under the guise of such incidents, the international establishment conspires against the religious class and to make the Islamic provisions of the constitution controversial,” further tweeted Maulana.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal, disagreeing with Maulana Fazl tweeted, “Respectfully Maulana Sahib such incidents should be unconditionally condemned – Islam does not allow such fanaticism and illegal killings by mobs in any case.”
“The nation expects the scholars to guide the nation in this matter,” tweeted Iqbal.
Twitterati too reacted to Maulana’s statement.
The Sindh Cabinet has decided to lower the passing percentage in the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) from 65 per cent to 50 per cent for the session of 2021-2022.
Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah confirmed the news and said, “This decision would not only provide an opportunity to the provincial candidates to seek admission in medical and dental colleges/universities of Sindh but the seats which were going to be unfulfilled/vacant would be utilised.”
It was reported, that last year with a passing percentage of 60 per cent, 8,287 students passed in Sindh out of which 2,900 took admissions in the public sector. Of the remaining 5,387 students, only 800 took admissions in private medical and dental colleges as the remaining 4,587 were not able to get admission mainly because they could not afford it.
With this drop in admissions, Sindh will reportedly face a severe shortage of about 10,000 doctors in the next five years. CM said that World Health Organsiation (WHO) recommended one doctor for 850 people but Sindh has one doctor for 3,200 people. “Hence this gap of doctors will worsen if the situation persists,” he added.
According to Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) conducted a computerised MDCAT in October 2021. She said, “The test from the federal curriculum puts Sindh students at a disadvantage and resulted in a low pass percentage.”
The reduction of percentage will not affect the merit as it would remain the same as prescribed under the PMC Act.
Pakistan national cricketer Shoaib Malik, who belongs to Sialkot, has condemned the ‘violence’ in Sialkot by a mob.
Taking to Twitter, the cricketer said: “My heartiest condolences, I stand with the family of the deceased & strongly condemn this act of violence.”
He also said that what happened there should not have happened. The cricketer also demanded punishment for the culprits.
He further added: “What happened, shouldn’t have happened, we are embarrassed. The culprits should be punished at the earliest… #Sialkot.”
Former captain of Pakistan cricket team Shahid Afridi also expressed his thoughts, sharing a Quranic verse: “Whosoever kills a person … it shall be as if he has killed all mankind.”
Similarly, Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Hafeez expressed his grief on Twitter.
“Condemning horrific attack on a factory & shameful incident in Sialkot. As Pakistani i wil call it a black day for our society,” he wrote while adding hashtags of #Sialkot and #Justice.”
The gut-wrenching incident took place on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road, where workers of private factories brutally lynched a Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumara, on Friday.
The nation was shell-shocked and disgusted when the Sri Lankan national was brutally lynched and his body was set on fire by the mob. The sickening incident outraged the nation as the civil and military leaders denounced it as “horrific” “shameful” and “extra-judicial vigilantism”.
Several gruesome video clips shared on social media showed a mob beating the victim while chanting slogans against blasphemy.
President Arif Alvi said the vigilante attack has nothing to do with religion as Prime Minister Imran Khan promised that those responsible “will be punished with the full severity of the law”.
Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted that the “horrific, vigilante attack” on the factory and the burning alive of the Sri Lankan man was “a day of shame for Pakistan”.
“I am overseeing the investigations and, let there be no mistake, all those responsible will be punished with the full severity of the law. Arrests are in progress,” he added.
Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar tweeted that he was “extremely shocked at the horrific Sialkot incident”.
According to the latest updates, more than 100 people, including 13 of the main culprits have been arrested.
Police is identifying all the culprits using CCTV footages.
Meanwhile, the IG Punjab has ordered officials to submit a report within 48 hours.
The Embassy of Pakistan in the United States (US) had reportedly run out of funds and was unable to pay salaries of four months to the embassy’s locally recruited contractual staffers, reveals The News’ sources in a report by Journalist Wajid Ali Syed.
It was reported that a total of five staffers faced delays and non-payment of their monthly wages from August onwards. One staffer, who had been working there for the past ten years, resigned in September because of the on-going pay crisis.
Several sources disclosed that the Pakistan Community Welfare (PCW) fund, from which these unpaid staffers were paid out collapsed last year because the money was diverted to purchase ventilators and other medical equipment last year, after the pandemic. The embassy had to borrow money from other account-heads to keep up with the monthly salaries for the staffers hired locally.
As a result of this, the staffers wrote to the Pakistani ambassador in October. The ambassador repeatedly raised the issue with the Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad and managed to secure all salaries just last week. The embassy’s spokesperson confirmed that “currently there is no salary-related issue being faced by the Embassy staff.”
These local staffers’ salaries range from 2,000 to 2,500 dollars per month. They do not get the perks and privileges that FO employees enjoy. The domestic staffers are usually hired to help with the ‘Consular section’ that provides visa, passport, notarization and other consular services.
A man made a Guinness World Record for the maximum helicopter spins at the same time as skysurfing. His video has gone viral, reports ARY News.
Guinness’ website mentioned that KĒBĒ Keith Edward Snyder of the United States (US) attempted the record for the most helicopter spins while skysurfing on November 01, 2021, over the Pyramid, Egypt.
The official website of Guinness mentioned that the US national, KĒBĒ Keith Edward Snyder, attempted the unique record for the most helicopter spins while skysurfing on November 01, 2021.
This is not the first time for KĒBĒ to jump from a height of 13,500 feet, but this time he was focusing to set a world record. He attempted 160 spins to set the world record.
Synder said, “I would like to challenge what is now my own record. I’ve already gotten a little bit faster. But I’d like to bring that speed up in the mid-body. I’d also like to investigate a little bit of the physics of it.”
He said that he was widely inspired by the former skysurfing world Champion Rob Harris to set this milestone.
When he first saw Rob Harris, he said as stated on the Guinness website, “He was smiling and in the background, there’s a video of him skysurfing. He was spinning so incredibly fast and smooth.”
“What is that guy doing and what does he understand for him to be smiling? I wanted to understand that. And so my journey began.”
Since the clip was uploaded on YouTube, it gained more than 60,000 views and the numbers keep increasing. Netizens are praising the feat.
The offices of Vice-Chancellor, registrar and public relations at Punjab University were ransacked by hundreds of students belonging to Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT) on Friday after a confrontation between two student groups, reports Dawn News.
The spokesperson for Punjab University, Khurram Shahzad, confirmed the incident in a statement that supporters of IJT broke into the premises of offices “following a fight between some students and outsiders” near the main cafeteria.
The complaint has been filed against students for legal action over the violent incident.
Shahzad said, “The university has taken measures to establish peace on the campus and only a few dozen students on all sides are trying to disturb the peaceful environment of the university. The administration is identifying these students with the help of footage and strict action will be taken against them as per the law.”
The Punjabi Council spokesperson, Khurram Gondal, claimed that the IJT activists got engaged in a clash with them on Friday after a disagreement arose over the posters of two events that needed to be displayed at the hostels that they were organising separately.
The dispute started three days ago when the Punjabi Council were organising a cultural programme and put their posters on display at the hostels, which later members of IJT replaced with their event poster.
According to Gondal, IJT activists tore and burned their posters and later the conflict escalated to a violent clash between student groups near the main cafeteria.
IJT members arranged the protest outside the Admin Block, demanding the arrest of those who were involved in the attack on them. They forcefully entered the premises of offices where they destroyed the doors and windows.
On the other hand, IJT spokesperson, Adeel Chaudhry said that they were protesting to demand action against the outsiders who were residing in the university’s hostels.
He demanded, “These outsiders should be arrested because they were creating a law-and-order situation at the campus.”
The police brought the situation under control when they reached the University and dispersed protesters.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister (PM) Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed shock at the brutal Sialkot lynching of a Sri Lankan national but expressed confidence in PM Imran Khan’s commitment to punishing all those involved.
PM Mahinda Rajapaksa took to Twitter and wrote, “Shocking to see the brutal and fatal attack on Priyantha Diyawadana by extremist mobs in #Pakistan. My heart goes out to his wife and family.”
He said that Sri Lanka and her people are confident that PM Imran Khan will keep to his commitment to bring all those involved to justice.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said he is in contact with his Sri Lankan counterpart and has assured him of justice to the victim’s family.
“Sri Lanka has appreciated Pakistan’s response towards the incident,” Qureshi said, adding that the family has also been approached and “we will satisfy them completely”.
Priyantha Kumara, working as a manager at a private factory in Sialkot, was tortured to death on Friday by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.
New Zealand’s left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel has picked all the 10 wickets in an innings in the ongoing Mumbai Test against India on Saturday.
He had scalped all four wickets to fall on the opening day of the Test and carried on with his brilliant bowling on the second day as well to run through India’s line-up.
India was bundled out for 325 runs in their first innings with Ajaz ending with magical figures of 10/115, which are really very rare to witness in international cricket.
He became only the third bowler in international cricket to achieve this incredible feat. Jim Laker and Anil Kumble did the unthinkable earlier. Many bowlers came close since then, but they couldn’t grab all 10 wickets in an innings. All the wickets were brilliant set ups as well from the left-arm spinner nipping out top players of spin bowling.
Pakistan’s veteran leg-spinner Abdul Qadir has also grabbed 9 wickets in a match against England. This feat was achieved by the Pakistani legend in Lahore in 1987.
Anil Kumble took to his Twitter and congratulated the Kiwi bowler.
“Welcome to the club,” he wrote.
Several people from the cricket fraternity congratulated the cricketer for this amazing feat.
Civil Rights organisations have organised a rally to “protest and condemn” the Sialkot incident. The protest will be held today at 3pm at the Liberty roundabout Lahore. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan along with the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights, Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement and Women’s Action Forum have given the call for the protest.
A prominent member of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM) Ammar Ali Jan in a tweet said, “Words are not enough. We must rise against religious extremism destroying our country. Joint Action Committee, HKM and other organisations are holding a protest today in Lahore (Liberty roundabout) at 3 pm to condemn the barbaric event in Sialkot. Join us.”
A charged mob in Sialkot yesterday tortured, killed and burnt the body of a Sri Lankan man who was accused of blasphemy over some posters he had allegedly taken down.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the incident and has said that justice will be served.
The police have arrested more than 100 people involved, and one of the main culprits, Farhan Idrees has been arrested. Farhan gave an interview to local news channels, taking pride in the murder he committed.