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  • Fazl not invited to Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari’s wedding: report

    Fazl not invited to Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari’s wedding: report

    Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) head Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also leading the anti-government opposition alliance, hasn’t been invited to the wedding ceremony of Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari to be held on Jan 29, reported ARY News.

    The sister of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will tie the knot with fiancé Mahmood Choudhry at Bilawal House in Karachi on Friday in a ceremony that would be attended by around 1,000 people.

    Though the invitation cards have been sent to the bigwigs across the country, it seems Fazl has not received the letter. According to a report, Fazl said that he was not invited by former president Asif Ali Zardari to the wedding of his daughter. “When asked as to many big names would be participating in the event, Fazlur Rehman said that he does not know about the big names but he is not invited,” the media outlet quoted him while talking to reporters.

    Bakhtawar’s mehndi ceremony will be held on January 27. The nikkah will take place on January 29 while the baarat is scheduled for January 30. All events are expected to take place at the bride’s residence in Karachi.

    PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be suspending his political activities for a week to participate in sister’s wedding. He was unable to attend her engagement as he was in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

    The spokesperson further added that close to a thousand guests have been invited to the wedding.

    Bakhtawar and Mahmood got engaged on November 27, 2020, in an intimate ceremony at the Bilawal House Karachi. Bakhtawar’s husband-to-be “Mahmood Choudhry is the son of Mohammad Younas and Begum Suraiya Choudhry who hail from the old town of Lahore.”

    “Mahmood, the last born of five siblings was born on July 28, 1988, in the city of Abu Dhabi. He completed his primary schooling in Abu Dhabi and secondary schooling in the United Kingdom. Mahmood further went on to read Law at the University of Durham.”

    “The family’s primary country of residence remains the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where Mahmood continues to run his businesses in construction, finance and tech,” added the statement.

  • Ayeza Khan says she always wanted a husband ‘jis per saari larkian marti hon’

    Ayeza Khan says she always wanted a husband ‘jis per saari larkian marti hon’

    Ayeza Khan has said that she always wanted a husband “jis per saari dunya ki larkian marti hon“.

    Opening up about her marriage in a rare interview on Ahsan Khan’s new show Time Out with Ahsan Khan, Ayeza said: “Mujhe jo hai na eik aisay larkay say shaadi karni thi jo hero ho, jis per saari dunya ki larkian marti hon. Aur meri hogayi (I always wanted to marry a man who is a hero and desired by all women in the world. And it happened).

    She continued: “Main chahati hoon larkian marein. Main tyaar kark aksar bhejti hoon inhein. (In fact, I want women to lust over him. I enjoy it. I make sure he looks amazing when he walks out of the house).”

    Read more – ‘Time Out’: Ahsan Khan returns with a new talk show

    Later, talking about their marriage, Danish Taimoor, who was also a guest on the show said: “I only consider the time we’ve spent together after marriage because that is when you really become friends and get to know each other.”

    Danish further shared that though they were together before their marriage, they always kept their relationship under wraps.

    “I feel you shouldn’t disclose your relationship until you’re married. You can’t publicly own someone before you’ve married them,” said the actor.

    Similarly, Ayeza said: “Danish and I were in a relationship for five years but we never talked about it in public. These days people openly post their relationships online which is not right. If you’re an unmarried couple, don’t show it on social media because once you’ve posted your personal life online, it’s impossible to erase it.”

    “When your children grow up and search your name online, the things that can pop up I’m afraid of that. We need to be the strength of our children, not their weaknesses. They shouldn’t have to face anything because of us,” she added.

    Read more – Danish Taimoor cannot ‘imagine a single second without’ Ayeza

    Danish also shared his thoughts on institution of marriage during the interview, saying: “I don’t understand why people run away from marriage these days. They think that if they get married, they’ll get stuck.”

    “Let me tell you something: nikkah is the most beautiful thing in the world. And once you get married to someone, you naturally start loving them in a way you may have never loved anyone before,” he added.

    Ayeza and Danish have been married for six years and have two children together.

  • Faysal Quraishi urges society to support rape survivors

    Faysal Quraishi urges society to support rape survivors

    Faysal Quraishi has said that rape is a stigma for perpetrators, not the victims.

    In a tweet, the actor said: “In light of recent news regarding a couple that kidnapped young girls, raped and recorded this heinous act – only one came forward and 45 didn’t for fear of society and stigma.”

    “Humari society apna qibla sahi karay, stigma perpetrator kay liye and victim kay liye support honi chaiyae,” he added.

    According to details, a local court has convicted a couple from Rawalpindi for luring girls and filming their rape to blackmail them. They were arrested in 2019.

    Additional District and Sessions Judge Jahangir Gondal awarded a death sentence to Qasim Jahangir over rape and recording explicit videos. Jahangir was also given a three-year prison sentence in addition to a life sentence and has to pay a fine of Rs2.5 million. His wife Kiran Mahmood has also been sentenced to life and has to pay a fine.

    The couple was tracked and arrested following a complaint lodged by a girl with the CPO Rawalpindi.

    Read more – President okays anti-rape law for speedy trials, harsher sentences

    According to the police, the girl, who was a student of MSc, in her statement said that the couple lured her into their car and took her to a house where she was raped and filmed. She shared that she was coming out of her college when a masked woman came to her and started talking to her. After introducing herself as a student at a local girls’ college, the two went for a walk before a car stopped near them and asked the two women to sit inside. The masked woman introduced the driver as her close relative and asked her to sit in the car.

    As soon as the girl was inside the car, black curtains were drawn and the car was taken to a house located in Gulistan Colony, where the accused raped her at gunpoint, while his wife filmed the scene.

    City Police Officer (CPO) Muhammad Faisal Rana said the couple had confessed to raping as many as 45 minors and filming their rape.

  • ‘Saudi crown prince desperate for patchup with Pakistan while Imran, Gen Bajwa may have moved on,’ claims journalist

    ‘Saudi crown prince desperate for patchup with Pakistan while Imran, Gen Bajwa may have moved on,’ claims journalist

    Anchor Usama Ghazi, among other journalists with a presence on YouTube, has claimed that Saudi Arabia is desperate to improve ties with Pakistan as it needs to get closer to the new Biden administration in the United States (US); however, it seems that the civil and military leadership in Pakistan may have moved on.

    Islamabad recently returned $1 billion to Riyadh as the second instalment of a $3 billion soft loan, as the country reached out to Beijing for a commercial loan to help it offset pressure to repay the last $1 billion in January.

    “Now that Pakistan will no longer be under Saudi pressure but the Kingdom will be fearing missing out on a lot under a new US government; it is trying to improve relations with Pakistan that have suffered blows over the past few months,” Ghazi said in a YouTube video, citing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s closeness with former US president Donald Trump as a major reason.

    He went on to claim that a new world was being formed with Pakistan, China, Russia, Turkey and even Iran if Biden’s US removes Trump-imposed sanctions on the country.

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    “Saudi Arabia is regretting not outrightly supporting Pakistan on the Kashmir issue against India and seeking back the loan […] but now the ball is in Pakistan’s court,” he said and added that leadership in Pakistan was no longer under any burden. “They have appointed Bilal Akbar as the new envoy [to Saudi Arabia] and Gen (r) Raheel Sharif is already there.”

    While the journalist also mentioned the under-construction Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline and what impact would it have in the new world, it is relevant to note that Ghazi is not the only one to have come forward with such claims regarding alleged Saudi desperation for better ties with Pakistan.

    Senior journalist Irshad Bhatti had earlier claimed that the Saudi government has refused to let former convicted PM Nawaz Sharif, leading to speculations if it was an attempt to appease the Pakistani government.

  • Wife stabs husband after finding pictures of him with ‘another woman’ without realizing images were of herself

    Wife stabs husband after finding pictures of him with ‘another woman’ without realizing images were of herself

    A jealous wife was arrested in Mexico for stabbing her husband after she failed to recognise herself in old photos on her husband’s cell phone thinking that he is with ‘another’ woman.

    The woman, identified by the police only as ‘Leonora R’ was arrested after law enforcement were summoned to a to report of a domestic dispute. The police said that when officers arrived at the scene, they found that Leonora’s husband, identified as ‘Juan N’, had been stabbed multiple times on his legs and arms.

    As per details, Leonora reportedly failed to instantly recognise herself because the woman in the images was younger, thinner, and wearing make-up. Juan told police he then explained to his wife that he had recently found the images in an old email and saved them to his phone, after which she realised that she was the woman in the pictures.

    Leonora was immediately taken into custody and remains behind bars pending charges, local media say.

    However the man was rushed to the hospital for his treatment of the wounds and is expected to recover soon.

    Police were notified after neighbors heard screaming and shouting inside the couple’s home

  • Keira Knightley says she will no longer shoot sex scenes directed by men

    Keira Knightley says she will no longer shoot sex scenes directed by men

    Keira Knightley has said that she is no longer interested in doing sex scenes just to appeal to men, adding that if there was a female director was behind the camera, she might consider it. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star also revealed that the ‘no-nudity’ clause in her contracts is partly because she now has two children.

    In conversation with director Lulu Wang and writer-producer Diane Solway on the Chanel Connects podcast, Knightley said that the “male gaze” and her own personal vanity was the reason behind her decision.

    “I feel very uncomfortable now trying to portray the male gaze,” said Knightley. “Saying that, there’s times where I go, ‘Yeah, I completely see where this sex would be really good in this film and you basically just need somebody to look hot.’”

    “So, therefore, you can use somebody else because I’m too vain and the body has had two children now and I’d just rather not stand in front of a group of men naked,” she continued.

    The actor further said: “We all empathise with men hugely because, culturally, their experience is so explored. We know so many aspects of even male sexuality. But we don’t feel like men can say, ‘Yes, I understand what you’re talking about because I’ve got this wealth of art and film and theatre and TV from your point of view.’”

    The British actress, 35, added a no-nudity clause to her contract after having children, saying she was more vocal now than she had been as a breakout star in her early 20s in movies like Pride And Prejudice and Atonement.

    “If I was making a story that was about that journey of motherhood and body acceptance, I feel like, I’m sorry, but that would have to be with a female filmmaker,” Knightley said. “I don’t have an absolute ban, but I kind of do with men.”

    “I don’t want it to be those horrible sex scenes where you’re all greased up and everybody is grunting. I’m not interested in doing that,” she added.

    Read more – Sana Fakhar responds to backlash on PDA picture

    In the past, Knightley has spoken in the past of clashes with male directors, launching a broadside against male colleagues in a 2018 essay:

    “They tell me what it is to be a woman. Be nice, be supportive, be pretty but not too pretty, be thin but not too thin, be sexy but not too sexy, be successful but not too successful. … But I don’t want to flirt and mother them, flirt and mother, flirt and mother. I don’t want to flirt with you because I don’t want to fuck you, and I don’t want to mother you because I am not your mother. … I just want to work, mate. Is that OK? Talk and be heard, be talked to, and listen.”

    “Male ego. Stop getting in the way.”

  • ‘Chinese govt has given proof of Shehbaz Sharif’s innocence’

    ‘Chinese govt has given proof of Shehbaz Sharif’s innocence’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday said that the Chinese government has given proof of innocence of party chief and former Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently in jail over money laundering charges.

    “This letter from the Chinese Embassy to Shehbaz Sharif goes on to prove our innocence,” the party leader was heard as saying in the video of a media talk.

    Earlier in the day, the incarcerated PML-N chief, during an accountability court hearing of the Ramazan Sugar Mills case of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him, presented a letter from the Chinese Consul General in Lahore appreciating him for his efforts into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in Punjab.

    According to a report in Daily Jang, the judge asked whether Shehbaz had something to say after the anti-graft watchdog’s arguments.

    “I have brought a letter sent to me by the Chinese Consul General in Lahore,” said the PML-N president as he started reading the letter before the court. “I have been facing a barrage of accusations for two years, yet the Chinese Consul General is praising my work as the CM. He is appreciating a prisoner – it is no doubt an honour for me.”

    NAB prosecutor objected to Shehbaz Sharif reading the contents of the letter during the hearing, stressing that it was irrelevant to the ongoing case and a waste of the court’s time.

    To this, the judge said he had already directed Shehbaz to stay on topic.

  • Hussain Nawaz challenges govt to trace Sharifs’ alleged $1 billion

    Hussain Nawaz challenges govt to trace Sharifs’ alleged $1 billion

    Hussain Nawaz, son of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has challenged that the government can keep 90 per cent of the amount if it can trace the $1 billion allegedly stashed by the Sharif family in offshore accounts.

    According to Geo News, Hussain Nawaz said that claims made by the government that Sharifs have stashed $1bn in foreign accounts are propaganda against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and his family.

    Speaking about the Broadsheet scandal, Hussain said that the government of Pakistan had to pay $60 million to the asset recovery firm in a bid to implicate the Sharifs in corruption cases.

    Hussain said the judgement authored by Sir Anthony Evans had stated that the London asset recovery firm hired Matrix Research Limited to investigate assets of Nawaz and eight members of the Sharif family for a year soon after NAB signed a contract with Broadsheet LLC but it did not find anything illegal.

    The former premier’s son said foreign governments don’t believe in the “lies” told on Pakistani media about Nawaz and his family. He further said that ex-PM Nawaz was disqualified as the prime minister of Pakistan on the account of “not taking a salary from his son”.

    Nawaz had left for London for a medical check-up last year after his health deteriorated in jail. The ex-premier, who was convicted in two graft cases, has refused to return since. The government also decided to cancel his passport on Feb 16 in a bid to bring him back.

  • CDA bans shooting stray dogs

    CDA bans shooting stray dogs

    The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to impose a complete ban on shooting stray dogs in the city.

    According to a report in Dawn News, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hamza Shafqaat, CDA officers, representatives of non-profit animal rights organisations, and citizens of Islamabad were among those present at the meeting when the decision was taken.

    Speaking to the publication, DC Islamabad Hamza Shafqat said: “Shooting has been stopped forever. It has been decided that municipal by-laws will be amended to remove the clause stating elimination of dogs.”

    CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed added that the governing body is exploring other options for the elimination of dogs instead of shooting them. Members of the meeting will reportedly convene again in two weeks to discuss solutions.

    At present, the civic agency has a special dog shooting wing which is used for the elimination of stray dogs. However, civil society and non-profit organisations have often protested against the inhumane act.

    Meanwhile, in June last year, to control the increase in the population of stray dogs in Peshawar, the Peshawar Livestock Department decided to neuter the animals instead of culling them and is offering a cash reward of Rs 200 to anyone who brings in a stray dog to the department.

  • Republic Day: Thousands of protesting farmers converge on Indian capital in convoy of tractors

    In a high-profile protest against controversial agricultural reforms, tens of thousands of farmers drove a convoy of tractors festooned with brightly-coloured flags through the outskirts of India’s capital of New Delhi on the country’s Republic Day.

    Growers, angry at what they see as laws that help large, private buyers at the expense of producers, have been camped outside Delhi for almost two months.

    Thousands more, steering tractors bearing the flags of India and farm unions, had streamed in from neighbouring states for several days ahead of the rally, planned to coincide with celebrations of Republic Day.

    “Our word should travel around the world, that we are fighting for our living,” said Devinder Singh, a 36-year-old farmer from Punjab, seated on his tractor. “If we lose our farmland, how will we survive?” he asked.

    Some took to Twitter to dispel rumours of the Indian flag being removed from Delhi’s Red Fort.

    The protests have so far been peaceful, and farm leaders have urged rally participants to refrain from violence. 

    Authorities used trucks to barricade the main route to the site, where hundreds of police, some armed with assault rifles, tear gas, and a water cannon, stood guard.

    Although some protesters breached police barricades at Singh and Tikri, another site, early on Tuesday, there were no immediate reports of violence.

    https://twitter.com/swatijaihind/status/1353941486673379328?s=21

    Agriculture employs about half of India’s population of 1.3 billion, and unrest among an estimated 150 million landowning farmers presents one of the biggest challenges to the authority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014.

    Nine rounds of talks between the government and the farmers’ unions have failed to end the protests, with farm leaders rejecting the government’s offer to delay the laws for 18 months, as they push for repeal.

    “The farm organisations have a very stronghold,” said Ambar Kumar Ghosh, an analyst at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank.

    “They have the resources to mobilise support and to continue the protest for a long time. They have also been very successful in keeping the protest really focused.”

    Police have allowed farmers to rally along approved routes on the outskirts of Delhi. But the tractor march threatens to overshadow the annual Republic Day military parade in the centre of the capital on the anniversary of India’s 1950 adoption of its constitution.

    “They could have chosen any other day instead of January 26 but they have announced now,” Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told media on Monday. “Conducting the rally peacefully without any accident would be the concern for farmers as well as police administration.”