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  • ‘I want to live in a country where there is no banning culture’: Asim Azhar urges PM IK to unban PUBG

    ‘I want to live in a country where there is no banning culture’: Asim Azhar urges PM IK to unban PUBG

    While PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) continues to remain banned in Pakistan, Asim Azhar has voiced his protest against the ban and requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to not let his youth down. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) banned the game after parents approached it complaining that the game was addictive for their children. According to details, three children in Lahore had also recently committed suicide due to the online game.

    In a series of tweets, Asim expressed his thoughts on the matter and said that banning the game won’t make any difference until we educate the youth.

    “Only if we invest in our education system as much, that we make our children – the future of this country, into humans with stable minds, we would never have to worry about any playform or game being harmful to the society,” said Asim.

    He continued: “I want to live in a country where there is no banning culture. Where the youth has enough awareness to know what is right and wrong for them.”

    Arguing his stance further, Asim appealed to PM Imran Khan and said that “the last time we banned something (YouTube) it took us so many years back”.

    “This is not just about a game, it is about the digital future of Pakistan,” argued Asim. “Every field will be affected. I am a victim of the ridiculous ban we had to face on YouTube for five years. We are again at the same stage. Please don’t let it happen again, sir Imran Khan.”

    He also requested everyone protesting against the ban not to use any hate speech.

    Asim also extended his support to Waqar Zaka who has been actively fighting against the ban.

    Meanwhile, Waqar Zaka expressed his disappointment at PM Imran Khan for not responding to the youth’s protests. He announced that he will contest in the next election and initiate a technology movement in Pakistan.

    https://twitter.com/ZakaWaqar/status/1287798265484910594?s=20

    Read more – Fawad Chaudhry urges to unban PUBG immediately

    The hashtag #ImranKhanPUBGkolo is currently trending at number one on Pakistani Twitter.

    Other celebrities including Hania Aamir also expressed their displeasure over the ban.

    Earlier in the day, PTA announced that the ban on PUBG will remain in place as the game developer has not yet responded to the authority about its suitable framework to address key concerns.

    Three days ago, on July 24, the Islamabad High Court had ordered the government to lift the ban on PUBG, much to the delight of PUBG fans in Pakistan. However, PTA, in a statement, said: “The order has been issued in accordance with Islamabad High Court’s orders after a hearing conducted by PTA on July 9 and in accordance with the provisions of PECA 2016.”

  • Peshawar University’s watchman completes his M.Phil degree while on job

    Peshawar University’s watchman completes his M.Phil degree while on job

    A man, who was appointed as a watchman 20 years ago when he had only done his matriculation, has now completed his MPhil degree from Agriculture University Peshawar.

    Hailing from Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Noor Marjan still works as a watchman at the Sheikh Zayed Islamic Center at the University of Peshawar despite completing his research on ‘comparative analysis of tribal customs with customs of Hindu and Sikhs’.

    While speaking to Independent Urdu, Noor Marjan told that he originally started this job to take care of his family’s expenses and to fund his education and now he only wants to be hired in a position that fits his academic qualification.

    While hoping to get a better job, Marjan told that he sometimes gets very disappointed. “But I can’t give it up because if I give up, there is no other source of livelihood and my pension will be lost.”

    Marjan has also worked in numerous departments as a caretaker at the same university. He said that in 2014 he served as a Superintendent of Examinations for four years, after which he was given the duty of a clerk in a university hostel which he did well. But he is once again employed as a watchman.

    Appealing to the government and the university administration, Marjan said, “I request that I be given a duty according to my education.”

    ‘I have done M.Phil including B.Ed and M.Ed which is related to the field of education, so if I am not a lecturer then at least I should be given the duty of teaching assistant so that I can continue my education for the betterment of children.”

  • Pakistan’s IT exports surge to $1.2 billion in FY2019-20

    Pakistan’s Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances have surged by 23.71% ($1.230 billion) in financial year (FY) 2019-2020.

    The numbers were revealed in a performance report released by the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) on Friday.

    According to FY2018-2019, the remittances were $994.848 million and they have now increased to $1.230 billion in FY2019-2020

    Mr Syed Aminul Haq, Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunications (MOIT), said that they have targeted and is working towards increasing these export numbers up to $5 billion in the next three years.

    He further said that under the vision of Digital Pakistan, we should promote and support all IT-related projects and connect Pakistan to the digital world.

    The ministry’s spokesperson also mentioned that 6,000 Pakistan-based IT companies were providing IT products and services to people in over 100 countries.

    Pakistani IT companies have been providing products and services to some of the world’s largest companies. The country has been ranked as the third most popular country for freelancing in the world.

    “The Information and Communications Technology industry of our country has seen high achievements in the past few years. Pakistan is surely heading in the right direction in terms of achieving that $5 billion revenue goal for the industry by the year 2024,” said the spokesperson.

  • KYA BOLA? (Jul 27): From PTI wanting PML-N’s ‘heaven’ tickets to corruption bhi sharma jati hai.

    Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on July 27, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.

    Half of the PTI Members of the National Assembly want PML-N tickets for the next election

    It is reported by Daily Jang that PML-N’s Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal has claimed that ” Half of the MNAs from Pakistan Tehreek Insaf are in touch with PMLN for ticket in next election. Har rukan-e- qomi assembly ko nazar a rha hai hay agly election mei PTI ki ticket jannat ki nhi jahanum ki hoge.”

    Shibli Faraz ko do saal mai Murad Saeed buna dia

    It is reported by Daily Jang that the  Deputy Secretary of Information for the Pakistan Peoples Party Palwasha Khan has said that, ” Wazir-e-Italaat Shibli Faraz par shaair Ahmed Faraz ki tarbeyat ka asar to nahi hua lekin  Imran Khan nay unhain 2 saal k andar Murad Saeed zaroor buna dia hai”

    Information Minister Shibli Faraz is the son of renowned Pakistani poet Ahmed Faraz.

    RELATED: VIDEO: Fawad Ch removes successor Firdous Ashiq Awan from Imran cabinet’s WhatsApp group

    Corruption bhi sharma jaati hai

    The Daily Express has printed that Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication, Dr Shahbaz Gill said ” Qayamat ki nishani hai kay Farzand-e-Zardari bhi corruption par qaum ko gumrah karnay ki koshish kar raha hai.  Inke walid ka tou kia kehna, unkay nam kay agay to corruption bhi sharma jati hai” 

    RELATED: PTI’s Shahbaz Gill offered Rs. 50 lakhs to become Maryam Nawaz’s advisor?

  • Punjab Textbook Board MD says hacker liked porn video from his Twitter

    Punjab Textbook Board MD says hacker liked porn video from his Twitter

    The chief of Punjab’s books and curriculum regulatory authority refuted accusations of inappropriate online activity and called it “a social media hack”.

    As per reports, Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) Managing Director Rai Manzoor Hussain Nasir took to Twitter to clarify the allegations made regarding inappropriate online activity. He issued a statement in which he said he fired at least 10 employees that were involved in “corruption” and “security breaches on my personal Twitter account”.

    Nasir said he was “accused of liking an immoral picture on Twitter and also of making inappropriate comments on photographs” after he banned at least 100 books on July 23.

    “I deny these allegations emphatically and maintain that I have been the victim of a social media hack. I am making every effort to secure my social media accounts going forward,” he added.

    He said that the PCTB under him had formed 30 committees to review a wide range of books.

    “The 100 books that have been banned contain blasphemous, objectionable content that is anti-Pakistan,” Nasir said, adding that the publishers of those books did not have the required No Objection Certificate (NOC).

    “Also during the past few days, I have dismissed 10 staff members in my office who had been involved in corruption,” he stated, adding that he shared the update as he believed it “to be connected to security breaches on my personal Twitter account”.

    Referring to the online activity on his Twitter account as an “obvious attempt at character assassination”, he said he would continue to lead the PCTB tasks responsibly.

    Last week, Rai Manzoor Hussain faced criticism for ‘liking’ a pornographic video on Twitter after the decision of PCTB of banning 100 books for containing ‘anti-national’ and ‘blasphemous’ content.

  • Bureaucracy in Naya Pakistan: Deputy commissioner ‘tortures’ subordinates over ‘poor performance’

    Bureaucracy in Naya Pakistan: Deputy commissioner ‘tortures’ subordinates over ‘poor performance’

    Despite Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan telling bureaucrats that they need to change their mindsets because “there is no room for ancient practices in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Naya Pakistan”, The Current has learnt details of the harrowing experience of a group of junior bureaucrats who were “subjected to torture” by their boss in Toba Tek Singh district of Punjab.

    According to sources, at least four of the said junior bureaucrats — currently serving as assistant commissioners (ACs) in different parts of the district — were subjected to torture by the deputy commissioner (DC) who “robbed” them of their official vehicles on late Saturday night and forced them to walk back to their posts over “poor performance”.

    “The ACs included those of Toba Tek Singh, Kamalia, Pir Mahal and Gojra tehsils,” they said and added the junior bureaucrats were ridiculed in front of lower staff of the DC Office as well as that of their own. “Reprimanding your juniors over unsatisfactory performance is one thing but mistreating them, the way it was in this case, is outrageous.”

    Speaking to The Current, one of the ACs, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that they had been subjected to torture as the DC, besides taking away their official vehicles, had also mistreated them by forcing them to stand outside the office as a punishment until around 1 am when they were told to walk back home. “We managed to make arrangements for our commute but three of us were women, and family members of my colleagues believe the mistreatment has scarred their daughters for life.”

    “This is not at all acceptable and we want the government to take action but it can cost us our careers,” said the AC, to which sources said that the victims feared calling their boss out or approaching high-ups because their immediate superior, which in this case is the DC, is responsible to evaluate them in the annual confidential report (ACR) that is a performance evaluation of a public servant.

    Toba Tek Singh tehsil AC, on the other hand, rejected his own colleagues’ claims. “It was just a routine meeting and nothing happened,” he said. When informed that his colleagues had already confirmed the claims regarding their mistreatment, the AC said “the DC can say anything to her officers”.

    “It was a meeting between the DC and her officers and we, under ethics of the service, are bound to obey the orders of our seniors.”

    Contrary to Toba Tek Singh AC’s beliefs, several other public servants and locals privy to the development are of the view that the DC “must be transferred for the sake of the people of the district as Eidul Azha and Muharram amid the coronavirus pandemic are around the corner and local authorities under such a supervisor cannot give their best at a sensitive time”.

    “There is a difference between running a tight ship and stooping as low as the DC did,” they say, urging Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar to take action.

    Repeated attempts were made to contact Toba Tek Singh DC as she was informed of the claims made by her subordinates but she did not comment.

    Attempts were also made to contact Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan to ask him about the government’s reaction to the incident and progress on its promise of revamping bureaucracy for better governance, but he too was unavailable.

    Meanwhile, PTI Toba Tek Singh President Dr Waheed Akbar Chaudhry and local leader as well as Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar’s brother, Chaudhry Muhammad Ramzan, have “appreciated” the DC over her treatment of the ACs.

    “People are always complaining about these officers for doing nothing. Whatever the DC has done was the right thing to do and we hope she will continue discharging her duties diligently and without any leniency,” they said in a statement.

  • Indian police ‘arrest’ goat for not wearing mask

    Indian police ‘arrest’ goat for not wearing mask

    In a bizarre incident, the Indian police ‘arrested’ a goat that was wandering in India’s Beconganj area ‘without wearing a mask’.

    The Beconganj police picked up the goat and took it to the police station in a jeep.
    When the owner of the goat got to know that the police had taken it away, he went to the police station.

    He pleaded with the cops and the police released his goat but warned him not to allow the animal to roam on the road.

    Circle officer, Anwarganj police station, Saifuddin Beg, however, said that the police had found a youth without a mask, taking the goat along.

    “When he saw the police, he ran away leaving the goat behind so the policemen brought the goat to the police station. Later, we handed over the goat to its owner,” he said.

    One of the policemen who had brought the goat admitted that they found a lockdown violation because the goat was without a mask. “People are now making their dogs wear a mask so why not a goat?” he said.

    The police apparently changed its version after people started joking about it on social media.

  • Did you know Diamond Supreme Foam has an ‘Islamic mattress’?

    Did you know Diamond Supreme Foam has an ‘Islamic mattress’?

    One of Pakistan’s leading mattress manufacturers, Diamond Supreme Foam, has an ‘Islamic mattress’, which the bedding industry giant boasts is the first in Pakistan.

    According to details available on the company’s website, the mattress called ‘Saha’ has “scientifically been developed and balanced for every body type based on Islamic principles”.

    “The Saha is Pakistan’s first Islamic mattress engineered for people who sleep on their back or their right side which is the Islamic way for sleeping,” says the description of the mattress that costs around Rs17,000.

    Medical science tells us that that the best healthy sleeping position is to sleep on your back or on your right side which is also the Islamic way of sleeping, practiced and taught 1400 years ago, it adds.

    “Sleeping on the right side does not let the weight of stomach and intestine to suppress the heart, hence blood circulation is not affected.  By sleeping on the right side, the heart remains in the topside, and aids the process of rising early before sunrise to perform Fajr: the prayer that starts off the day with the remembrance of God.”

    What do you think of the mattress and the manufacturer’s pitch? Let The Current know in the comments below.

  • PM talks about rumours that govt wants to ban social media

    PM talks about rumours that govt wants to ban social media

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, who is known for having social media as his primary source of information, has said the government will not impose a ban on any social media application.

    “But at the same time, we also can’t let anyone insult or spread false information about government organisations or the people working for them,” the premier pointed out in a statement.

    PM Imran also took notice of the delay in the preparation of social media regulations by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Ministry of Information Technology.

    He instructed the departments to present a report regarding it within this week.

    The PTI government has been criticised for its decisions regarding monitoring and regulating content on social media. This came after the government placed a temporary ban on popular online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and issued a warning to TikTok.

    The premier had in February also said that new rules were being introduced only to protect citizens and regulate social media in the country, which had come days after the PTI government led by him decided to impose restrictions in the name of citizens’ protection and national interest.

    Presiding over a meeting to review the social media rules, PM Imran had said that the new rules were not prepared to curb freedom of expression or victimise political opponents. He had claimed that the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore and other countries were also introducing such laws to protect their citizens.

    However, no action for the implementation of the proposed rules had followed.

  • Imran Abbas will soon be seen in an international film

    Imran Abbas will soon be seen in an international film

    Imran Abbas has revealed that he is working on an international film and will not be seen on television for at least the next year and a half.

    In an interactive question and answers session with his fans on Instagram, when a follower asked if he was growing his hair for a special project, Imran said that he is working on an international film. He added that although extensions can be added, “your own hair makes it feel different”. While the actor did not share further details on his upcoming project, it is likely that he is referring to the British feature film, titled The Trojan Horse, he had announced he will be doing back in May 2018. Imran had shared that he will be playing a spy in the film who is of Syrian-Morrocan descent.

    “I have many get-ups in the film and I will be seen in about six to seven disguises as I play the lead protagonist,” the actor had said. Filming for the movie was scheduled to begin in July 2018 but it appears that it might have been delayed.

    Later, when another follower asked when he will be seen next on television, Imran responded: “You won’t be able to watch me on TV at least for another one and a half year more (And even don’t know about after that either).”

    Meanwhile, Imran also joked that one of his recently concluded serials Jo Tu Chahy “kaafi farigh tha”. He added that this is what happens when you sign a project without reading the script.

    Read more – Imran Abbas defends himself after backlash on lion picture

    Imran also said that he is looking forward to watching Dil Bechara because it is his “moo bola bhai” Mukesh Chhabra’s first film and “the last film of the very talented Sushant Singh Rajput”. Dil Bechara released on Disney Hotstar on Friday and has become a huge hit. On the other hand, Imran has done several Bollywood films, the last one being Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in which he played Alizeh’s (Anushka Sharma) boyfriend.