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  • Hafizabad girl hires assassin to kill best friend for getting married

    Hafizabad girl hires assassin to kill best friend for getting married

    A girl in Hafizabad hired an assassin to kill her best friend for breaking a promise regarding living and dying together, and not getting married.

    According to reports, the victim was left critically injured after the hitman attacked her on the orders of her best friend.

    The accused had planned the murder to seek revenge when the victim decided to move on.

    She stole jewellery worth around Rs250,000 from her friend’s house and gave it to the assassin.

    A conversation between the accused and the hired contract killer has also surfaced after the incident. In the audio clip, the girl could be heard as telling the killer about the time of the attack and the victim’s whereabouts.

    The assassin reportedly broke into the victim’s house at midnight and opened fire.

    The accused girl is still at large.

  • ‘Cracks between Imran, establishment over letting Maryam leave country,’ claims journalist

    Senior journalist Haroonur Rasheed has claimed that the establishment has agreed to let Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz go abroad like her father Nawaz Sharif, but Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to let her leave Pakistan.

    In a TV show, Rasheed claimed that Maryam Nawaz wants to travel abroad but she cannot do so because her name is on the no-fly list due to her alleged involvement in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. According to the journalist, Maryam approached the powers-that-be for relief.

    The establishment agreed to grant Maryam’s wish but PM Imran Khan flatly denied her request, he claimed, hinting at an alleged rift between the prime minister and the establishment.

    As per Rasheed, Imran has told the establishment that it will stop Maryam from leaving Pakistan at all costs. “I will stop her from travelling abroad even if it costs me my government or freedom,” the PM was quoted by Rasheed as saying.

    Recently, Maryam Nawaz said that she had a medical condition that couldn’t be treated in Pakistan, but she would never ask the incumbent regime for relief.

    Last week, former minister and PML-Zia chief Ijazul Haq claimed that establishment and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif struck a deal after which the PML-N supreme leader was allowed to travel to London.

    In an interview with Samaa, the ex-minister claimed the change in platelets count was an NRO deal. “Certainly, there was establishment involved,” Haq had claimed. He had claimed that he knew the “platelets and blood report of Sharif was changed to facilitate his escape from Pakistan”.

    “I know that the platelet or blood report was something else and the report on paper was something else,” he said. Haq said the information is “authentic” and he has “proof” to substantiate his claim, reported Samaa.

    It may be noted that the former premier was rushed to hospital from jail after a drastic decrease in his platelets. Subsequently, he was allowed to go abroad for treatment in Nov 2019 after submitting an assurance in the court.

    Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is in London for more than one year due to medical reasons and his passport is also expired.

  • Maulana Tariq Jamil reveals reason behind launch of his own fashion brand

    After the news of Maulana Tariq Jamil starting circulating on social media, he was criticized over starting his own clothing brand despite being a religious cleric after which he shared a video message on his social media accounts. “Since 2000, I had been thinking about starting a business for my religious activities, especially to run a madrassa. During COVID-19’s lockdown, I have the opportunity to put that idea into practice.”

    “That was my intention [to make the madrassas self sufficient] and a few of my friends collaborated with me, after which we launched a brand with my name,” he added.

    Responding to criticism Maulana Tariq Jamil said, “I don’t understand where this idea of clerics running such businesses isn’t righteous came from. A lot of religious personalities we follow have been successful businessmen.”

    A LinkedIn page with the name of “MTJ – Tariq Jamil” has been created for the soon-to-be-launched brand.

    According to the brand’s LinkedIn page, “MTJ is being supervised directly by Maulana, is dedicated to weave people’s beliefs and convictions into reality. Provides a garment shopping platform to discover and re-associate with that lost identity that is ingrained in all of us.”

  • Karachi to gets its own IT park in two years

    Karachi to gets its own IT park in two years

    A private company will be establishing a state-of-the-art technology park in Karachi to boost Information Technology (IT) sector in Pakistan.

    The park will have high-end technological facilities for local software houses and companies, and it will be the first technology park in the port city, the commercial hub of Sindh.

    According to the official notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company has acquired 10,002 square yards of land in the Korangi Industrial Area.

    The IT park is likely to be completed within two years, inclusive of the planning and designing phases.

    According to the reports, the purpose of establishing technology parks is to boost their productivity by creating a helpful environment and available facilities.

    A special technological zone was recently set up in Islamabad to promote Pakistan’s IT sector. The government is working to promote the IT industry and services while catering to both the local and international markets.

    The sector had a remarkable performance over the last six months in terms of exports and the development of e-commerce at the local level while pushing the limits of the innovation of products and services.

    One of the reasons why the IT sector boomed in India and the Philippines is that many IT parks have been established in these countries, which resulted in a robust increase in productivity and exports in this sector.

  • NA-75 by-polls: Maryam joins in on ‘Pawri ho rahi ha’ trend, uses it to call out ‘rigging’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also joined in on the ‘Pawri Ho Rahi Ha’ trend, as she used it to call out alleged rigging reportedly carried out by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government during the NA-75 by-polls in Daska, Sialkot.

    ‘Pawri‘ trend went viral earlier this month, with celebrities from across the sub-continent adding to its popularity.

    During her address in Daska, Maryam said: “Yeh dhund hai, yeh Daska hai, aur Imran Khan awam ka vote chori kartay huay range haathon pakra gya hai [This is fog, this is Daska, and this is Imran Khan getting caught red-handed while stealing votes].”

    Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the PML-N vice president said that the events that transpired in the aftermath of voting in Daska have exposed the PTI government. She said the government’s alleged plan to steal votes was foiled by people who guarded their vote.

    The PML-N vice president accused the ruling party of taking the “20 presiding officers” hostage. She questioned why out of the 361 polling stations, the staff of only 20 polling stations had to go missing during the “fog” and why were the results of these polling stations suddenly changed when the officers returned after 12 hours.

    On Friday, at least two people were shot dead as both PML-N and the PTI alleged irregularities during the by-election on the National Assembly seat in Daska. Subsequently, the Election Commission of Pakistan withheld the results, saying it suspected irregularities in 20 polling stations.

    The commission said results of the NA-75 constituency were received with “unnecessary delay”, adding that it tried to contact the presiding officers several times but with no success.

  • Lahore’s King Edward establishes new dept only to accommodate Dr Yasmin Rashid’s daughter?

    Reports in the local press have claimed that one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious medical colleges, the King Edward Medical University (KEMU), has set up a new department only to accommodate the daughter of Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid.

    It was alleged that KEMU established a sub-specialty within the maternity department for the sole purpose of accommodating Dr Ayesha Ali as an assistant professor of maternal-fetal medicine in grade 19.

    Maternal-fetal medicine, also known as perinatology, is a branch of medicine that focuses on managing health concerns of the mother and fetus prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy.

    “She was appointed as a permanent employee while new appointments are usually made on a contractual basis,” a KEMU official was quoted as saying. Immediately after her appointment on January 12, she sought time off from her duties and flew to London, the official added.

    Reports further claimed that initially, a new department of fetal medicine was created at the Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU) to accommodate the health minister’s daughter.

    “Dr Ayesha was even selected for the post of assistant professor [at FJMU], but the appointment was never notified amid outcry over favouritism,” reports claimed and added that the new department was then created at KEMU instead.

    AUTHORITIES RESPOND TO ALLEGATIONS:

    This scribe reached out to the varsity for an official version of events surrounding the appointment allegedly made only to accommodate the minister’s daughter.

    Speaking to The Current, KEMU Registrar Dr Riasat Ali did not comment on Dr Ayesha’s appointment in particular but clarified the establishment of the sub-specialty at the medical institute.

    “As many as four sub-specialties were created at the KEMU maternity department but there is no controversy in it since all departments, over the passage of time, witness advancements,” he said, adding that a sub-specialty was also established at the department of medicine earlier.

    The appointments for all four sub-specialties were made while following due procedure, on merit, and in light of the approval of the relevant authorities, including the varsity’s senate and syndicate, the registrar said.

    While Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid did not respond to The Current’s queries despite repeated attempts to contact her, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar’s focal person on digital media, Azhar Mashwani, has tweeted to clarify the establishment of the new sub-specialties in both KEMU and FJMU.

    “Dr Yasmin Rashid’s daughter is a fetal medicine specialist practicing in England. She was appointed as an associated professor on one of the eight positions at KEMU on merit and contractual basis,” he said in a subsequent tweet.

    Mashwani added that Dr Ayesha was quitting her job in the United Kingdom (UK) to come to Pakistan where she will officially join KEMU a month later.

  • Woman employed by in-laws of Pakistani media mogul alleges labour trafficking

    Rehana Bibi, who was reportedly hired by Geo/Jang CEO Mir Shakilur Rahman as a servant for his sister-in-law’s family in Virginia, has accused the Yahya family, whose home and children she cared for, and their Pakistan relatives, Mir Shakil and others, of engaging in human trafficking, according to a report in The Washington Post.

    Bibi has filed a case in a federal court in Alexandria, seeking damages. The case is in its early stages as of now, the US-based media outlet reported.

    Bibi was promised a “well-paying job as a maid” in Virginia, but after arriving in the US in 2013, she “spent the next five years effectively trapped in a Loudoun County home”.

    In a response submitted in the court by the Yahya family, they said the allegations are “as reprehensible as they are false”.

    “The conditions Bibi described would not amount to human trafficking,” the newspaper quoted the lawyer as saying. “Taking the allegations in the light most favorable to her, Ms Bibi was oppressed, not trapped,” he told the court.

    Mayfield notes that Bibi “was able to leave the first time she tried” and argues that “enduring unpleasant working conditions does not make someone a victim of trafficking or false imprisonment.”

    BIBI’s ORDEAL:

    Bibi, who has applied for asylum in the US because of potential threats she may face in Pakistan, told The Washington Post that she was considering suicide due to the treatment meted out by the Yayhas.

    “I have not seen anybody in my life, not even in Pakistan . . . treat anyone like that,” she said, adding her employer barred her from visiting Pakistan to attend the marriage of her daughters. “I couldn’t even watch the weddings on the family’s iPad.”

    The report said: “She slept on a mattress on the basement floor and kept her belongings in her suitcase, according to the complaint; for the first two years, she says, she was in a storage room infested with insects.”

    “Bibi maintains that she was confined because she spoke almost no English and was told she was in the country illegally. The visa she came to the country on was good for only one year. She says the family almost never let her out alone and warned her that if she went to the police, she would be arrested.”

    “I still have a lot of back pain from carrying heavy loads for the family. She also has gaps in her smile from the teeth she lost during her service,” she told the Post. “I was scared all the time,” she said. “I cannot forget these memories.”

  • Pakistani-American lobbyist, who donated for Trump and Kamala Harris, jailed for 12 years

    The American Federal Court in California has convicted a Pakistani-American political donor for violation of the Foreign Act, awarding him twelve years in prison along with a hefty penalty of $15.705 million in restitution and $1.75 million in criminal fine.

    According to The News, 50-year-old Imaad Shah Zuberi of Arcadia was sentenced by US District Judge Virginia A Phillips for forging records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level US officials, evading the payment of millions of dollars in taxes, making illegal campaign contributions, and obstructing a federal investigation into the source of donations to a presidential inauguration committee.

    Zuberi was born in Pakistan and migrated to the US with his parents when he was just three-years-old. Eventually, he secured US citizenship.

    In 1996, Zuberi served in the US Army for about six months and was honourably discharged after sustaining a knee injury. He received a BSc in 1997 from the University of Southern California and an MBA in 2006 from Stanford University.

    The Pakistani-origin man was facing charges of donating $900,000 to the Trump inaugural committee. He was also a top fundraiser for former president Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, Dawn reported.

    He donated at least $100,000 for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and also raised funds for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in 2014, and then-California attorney general Kamala Harris, now vice president, in 2015.

    In November 2019, Zuberi pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by making false statements on a FARA filing, tax evasion, and making illegal campaign contributions.

    In June 2020, Zuberi pleaded guilty in a separate case to one count of obstruction of justice. His sentence today pertains to both cases.

    “The violations were part of a larger surreptitious effort to route foreign money into US elections and to use it to corrupt the US policy-making processes,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

    They also pleaded the court to reject Zuberi’s claim that funnelling money to influence US policy-making and elections was the “way America works”.

    “Zuberi turned acting as an unregistered foreign agent into a business enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers, adding, “He used foreign money to fund illegal campaign contributions that bought him political influence, and used that influence to lobby US officials for policy changes on behalf of numerous foreign principals.”

    “Zuberi flouted federal laws that restrict foreign influences upon our government and prohibit injecting foreign money into our political campaigns. He enriched himself by defrauding his clients and evading the payment of taxes,” said Acting US Attorney Tracy L Wilkison for the Central District of California.

    “Today’s sentence, which also accounts for Zuberi’s attempt to obstruct an investigation into his felonious conduct, underscores the importance of our ongoing efforts to maintain transparency in U.S. elections and policy-making processes.”

  • China shares dramatic footage of deadly clash with India troops

    China shares dramatic footage of deadly clash with India troops

    Dramatic footage released by Chinese state media purportedly shows deadly clashes between troops at the Indian border last year — a rare insight into violence at the tense, remote frontier.

    China’s defence ministry on Friday named four soldiers killed in the brawl, in the first confirmation of deaths by Beijing from an incident that had also claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers.

    Footage later released by state broadcaster CCTV appeared to show Indian troops wading through a river towards Chinese soldiers in the barren and ice-covered Karakoram Mountains, carrying sticks and shields reading “police”.

    A bilateral accord prevents the use of guns by either side, and brutal clashes between the two sides on the ill-defined border often involve sticks, rocks and fist-fights.

    “They have now moved another new tent here,” one soldier says in the video, which claims the Indian side broke the consensus and crossed the line to “provoke” the Chinese soldiers.

    Later footage shows a large melee of troops from both sides and clashes in the dark, before Chinese soldiers are seen treating a man on the floor whose head is covered in blood.

    The high-altitude border battle in the Galwan valley in June was one of the deadliest clashes between the two sides in recent decades.

    Beijing acknowledged that the clash had resulted in casualties but did not confirm if any Chinese soldiers died until this week.

    The CCTV voiceover said the Chinese soldiers were “heroically sacrificed”.

    Battalion commander Chen Hongjun and three other soldiers have been given posthumous awards, the defence ministry said. State media reported that the youngest soldier to die was 19.

    India and China fought a border war in 1962 and have long accused each other of seeking to cross their frontier — which has never been properly agreed — in India’s Ladakh region, just opposite Tibet.

    Beijing and New Delhi later sent tens of thousands of extra troops to the border, but said last week they had agreed to “disengage” along the border area.

  • IN PICTURES: Celal Al welcomes Humayun, Adnan and Reema to Turkey

    IN PICTURES: Celal Al welcomes Humayun, Adnan and Reema to Turkey

    Turkish actor Celal Al on Sunday welcomed Pakistani actors Humayun Saeed, Reema Khan, Sadia Khan and Adnan Siddiqui in Turkey.

    Sharing a picture of Pakistani celebrities enjoying their meals together in his Instagram stories, Celal wrote: “Adnan, Humayun, Reema and Sadia welcome to Istanbul. Turkey-Pakistan brotherhood zindabad.”

    Earlier, Humayun Saeed and Adnan Siddiqui left their fans excited when they informed them of their visit to Turkey.

    Reema also shared a picture with the production team of Diriliş: Ertuğrul on her Instagram account.

    Later Reema shared some fascinating pictures and video of their tour to Hagia Sophia Mosque. Posting a video on Instagram, she also shared the history of this Mosque and wrote: “The world-famous Hagia Sophia mosque ( Which has converted into museum also in Istanbul. A world Heritage site, was originally built as a cathedral around 1,500 years ago by the Bazantine Empire.”

    She also shared some pictures of the meetup with Kamal Tekdin, the famous series’ executive producer and other participants.

    Adnan Siddiqui also took to Instagram and shared a video of their tour. Sharing how he felt, the actor wrote: “It was spellbinding to offer prayer at the iconic Hagia Sophia Holy Grand Mosque. It is grand in ever sense of the word—history, beauty, political significance.”

    “A little lesson in history for those who may not be aware. The world-famous Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul, also a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally built as a cathedral around 1500 years ago by the Byzantine empire. The architectural marvel was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. In 1934, it became a museum,” he added.

    “Only in July last year, it became a mosque again and opened for prayer and worship,” he wrote.

    Earlier this year, a Turkish delegation comprising Diriliş: Ertuğrul executive producer Tekdin and actor Celal visited Pakistan where they met Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, Shehryar Afridi, Humayun and Adnan. It was reported that the two countries are working together on a joint production to strengthen ties and people-to-people contact. This tour of Pakistani celebrities to Turkey depicts that something very interesting is coming our way.