Blog

  • ‘Three Pakistanis diagnosed with coronavirus have been cured’

    ‘Three Pakistanis diagnosed with coronavirus have been cured’

    Three Pakistani students diagnosed with coronavirus in China have been cured, the Chinese embassy in Pakistan has said.

    “We are pleased to learn that three Pakistani citizens affected by coronavirus in China have been cured and discharged from hospitals in Guangzhou and Shenzhen of Guangdong province,” the Chinese mission in Pakistan tweeted Wednesday.

    “All the best to them! Thank you, medical team in China,” it added, tagging Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Naghmana Hashmi, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza.

    No further details of the students, however, were shared by the mission.

    According to The News, Dr Mirza had in January announced that four Pakistani students in China were tested positive for the coronavirus at a press conference in Islamabad. At that time too, the SAPM had refused to share the names of the affected students with the media.

    “The government will take good care of the students who have contracted the virus,” he had said at the presser.

    The death toll from China’s coronavirus epidemic climbed past 1,100 on Wednesday but the number of new cases fell for a second straight day, raising hope the outbreak could peak later this month.

    As Beijing scrambles to contain the outbreak, the number of people infected on a cruise ship off Japan’s coast rose to 174 — the biggest cluster outside the Chinese mainland.

    Another 97 people died in China, raising the national toll to 1,113, while more than 44,600 people have now been infected by newly named COVID-19 virus.

  • Pakistani Love: They wanted to dream

    Pakistani Love: They wanted to dream

    The first time I saw her, she was wearing a beautiful blue shirt, seemingly lost in a deep conversation with herself on the balcony. It was one of the most intriguing moments in my life. She stood there, lean, tall and a head full of short brown curls. I couldn’t hear what she was saying to herself and I felt this urge to lean in and listen to her. Her warm, brown eyes met mine and she gathered herself. I had entered her personal space but she didn’t seem to mind. She smiled at me, awkwardly, and went back inside. 

     I wanted to meet her again.

    It wasn’t even a question because I wasn’t allowed to ask any. I belong to a desi, typical, religious family in Pakistan. Parents who were slaves to their patriarchal mindset and bound by the stereotypical standards set by society. There was constant shame. Shame for wanting to understand myself, asking about and saying words like sex, vagina, menstruation, puberty.

     Little brown bags hiding the shame of being a natural woman. 

    If it wasn’t for my sister, I would have never had the guidance that every girl needs. 

    After I hit puberty, I realized I didn’t fit. I wasn’t like the others. And there was no one I could tell. It’s the loneliest feeling in the world. Not having the courage to tell your family who you are. Tell them there is nothing wrong with me. I just love differently. Please let me. Accept me. I’m gay. And that’s okay. 

    It was fate. There is nothing that can convince me otherwise. A few days after I saw her on the balcony, I saw Sara* in a park. I walked past her and looked back. It was her. Fidgeting with her headphones. I walked on but I felt her gaze on me. I turned around. She was staring at my legs and when she saw me look at her, face flushed pink with embarrassment. 

    I smiled. 

    “Hi.”

    “Hey.”

    “Do you…want to jog together?”

    “Sure.”

    My curly brown girl.

    I felt suffocated and I wanted to scream. 

    “I am a lesbian!” I screamed, but not out loud. In one instant, every moment, I was two different people. I sat in a room with people defining the ‘normal woman’, and I felt this heavy burden. My heart, my mind desperately wanted everyone to know. My face revealed nothing. Being part of the LGBTQ community in Pakistan is a huge struggle. I do not have the courage to come out to my family because the chances of acceptance by my religiously inclined family are very thin. 

    Can anyone hear me?

    I dreamed sometimes. I would tell my parents, my sister, sitting down in our living room, me, sitting opposite them all. 

    I’m gay, I’m different.

    The burden would magically be lifted. I would be one person.

     They would sit silently as I would die a little inside. Tears streaming down their faces. Father, stoic. Mother, silent. And a crack would emerge.

     They would smile and say, it’s okay. We love you, just the way you are.

    I would cry tears of joy. And then I would drift out of my head and the dream would walk away. It would come back but would never stay. 

    I tried to kill myself many times. 

    Maybe in death, the dream would stay on.

    “I’m from Lahore,” Sara said. 

    “Why did you move to Karachi?” I asked

    “I’m a journalist, so for work really,” she replied, “but I don’t have any friends…” 

     “You have me.”

    Sara was luckier than I was. Smarter.  She had never tried to end her life, had gone for therapy but she faced the same internal struggle. We formed a bond that I always craved. 

    She was the image that stayed on.

    It’s been more than a year since I told her I loved her. We are happy. But there’s a cloud that forever hangs over my head. I know nothing good ever lasts. This society cannot digest the relationship Sara* and I dream about. But for now we are lucky to have each other.

     There are so many others like us. 

    They dream.

     They want to be able to find a partner who they can bring home. Smile with, hold hands with, be with. But they can never say it. They go missing from their homes, live their lives in despair. 

    God’s mistake. 

    There is no mistake in the love I feel for Sara. But there is a sadness attached to it. My parents will never know who I love. They will never feel the love their daughter feels. They will never hold my face in their hands and know, “She is happy”. They will never accept.

    As our fingers touch in secret, there are times I let myself drift. The dream changes. I am no longer sitting in that room alone, facing my parents. I sit with Sara.

    “Abba, this is Sara. Ami, Sara,” I would nudge her. 

    She would smile, her awkward smile.

    “Salaam Sara beta, it’s so very nice to meet you.”

    *Names of the author and characters have been changed to protect their identities.

  • Pakistani scientist is working on the world’s first eco-friendly aircraft engine

    Pakistani scientist is working on the world’s first eco-friendly aircraft engine

    A female aerospace engineer from Pakistan is developing a pollution-free engine for airplanes that will reduce global warming and induce artificial rain during flight. It is expected to be ready between mid-to-late 2020.

    The technological marvel’s inventor Dr. Sarah Qureshi has been working on the task since 2018 to eradicate the negative impact of commercial air carriers on the stratosphere (second major layer of Earth’s atmosphere) that adds to global warming.

    In an interview with an international news outlet, the Pakistani scientist explained the contrail phenomenon.

    “You see,” she said, “When an airplane flies; cloud-like contrails are formed. These clouds are water vapors frozen around small particles (aerosols) that exist in aircraft exhaust. These clouds blanket the atmosphere with emissions from planes, contributing to global warming.”

    The engine will have a unique pressure-based condensation system, which will cool the water vapors in the aircraft exhaust. This water will remain on the airplane and can be released as rain as required.

    An environmentalist at heart, Qureshi turned her academic research at Cranfield University, UK, into a save-the-planet attempt and boarded on a mission to build the world’s first pollution-free jet engine.

  • Dating in Saudi Arabia

    Dating in Saudi Arabia

    In Saudi Arabia’s rigid past, religious police once swooped down on rose sellers and anyone peddling red paraphernalia around Valentine’s Day, but now a more open – albeit risky – dating culture is taking root.

    Pursuing relationships outside of marriage in the conservative Islamic kingdom once amounted to a death wish, and would-be Romeos resorted to pressing phone numbers up against their car window in hope of making contact with women.

    Now a sweeping liberalisation drive – which has rendered the religious police toothless and allowed gender mixing like never before – has made it easier for young couples to meet in cafes and restaurants. Well-heeled millennials also hunt for romantic liaisons via Twitter and Snapchat, and apps such as Swarm – designed to log places the user visits but often repurposed to look for dates.

    “Selling red roses was like selling drugs,” one young Saudi filmmaker told AFP, sitting in a music-filled Riyadh cafe with his girlfriend while a courting couple gazed into each other’s eyes on the next table.

    “Even this was once unthinkable – a woman sitting next to an unrelated man,” said the girlfriend, a media professional. “Now women are asking men out.”

    Pre-marital relationships remain a cultural minefield though in a country steeped in Islamic tradition and where matchmaking is typically overseen by family elders, forcing couples to keep unsanctioned romance under wraps.

    Secrets and lies

    Samirah, a 27-year-old finance executive in the Saudi capital, felt a flutter of nerves when her boyfriend’s mother stumbled upon a handwritten birthday card and gift she gave him – and that risked her own family finding out.

    In a society where family honour is often tied to female chastity, the revelation would have provoked fury from her family and jeopardised their months-long courtship that began through common friends.

    Her boyfriend managed to deflect his mother, but the scare prompted the young couple yearning for more freedom to plan a forbidden rendezvous – a long weekend in Dubai disguised as a business trip.

    “Saudi society is more open, but everyone lies about relationships because people are judgemental,” said Samirah, who like other interviewees requested that her real name be withheld.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the millennial heir to the Saudi throne, has loosened social norms in a seismic cultural shift away from hardline Islam, allowing cinemas and parties while reining in clerics opposed to events like Valentine’s Day.

    In scenes unimaginable until just two years ago, women have been seen swaying on the shoulders of men at music concerts as the kingdom tears down the walls of sex segregation.

    But while the religious police have stepped back, the internal policing within Saudi families and society at large has not stopped, highlighting the limits of a Western-style liberalisation drive in a deeply conservative country.

    Saudi women also bridle at pervasive sexism in a society that — despite undergoing change particularly in urban areas — some say reduces them to their future role as wives and mothers.

    Sex outside of marriage remains a criminal offence in most of the Arab world, and the restrictions also fuel the risk of blackmail.

    “It is a big concern if you break up on bad terms,” said Samirah. “Women live in terror: What if he recorded photos and videos of me? What if he tells my father? What if he lands up at home?”

    Modern romance is also perilous for men — getting a hotel room can cause huge anxiety as couples are often expected to prove they are married at check-in.

    Nasser, a 25-year-old advertising professional, said last year one of his friends was caught kissing his girlfriend inside a private booth in a Riyadh restaurant.

    The restaurant manager threw open the screens and started filming them while shouting: “This is haram!” or un-Islamic.

    “Sometimes the only safe place to date is in your car,” Nasser lamented. “Dating is full of risks.”

  • Sajid Javid resigns ‘on principle’ after tensions with British PM

    Sajid Javid resigns ‘on principle’ after tensions with British PM

    British Conservative Party leader of Pakistani origin, Sajid Javid, has resigned as chancellor of the exchequer as Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson carries out a post-Brexit cabinet reshuffle.

    According to BBC, Javid rejected an order to fire his team of aides, saying “no self-respecting minister” could accept such a condition.

    He had been due to deliver his first budget in four weeks’ time.

    The former home secretary was appointed chancellor by Johnson when he became PM in July.

    His resignation follows rumours of tensions between Javid and the British premier’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings. “He has turned down the job of chancellor of the Exchequer,” the report quoted a source close to Javid as saying.

    “The PM said he had to fire all his special advisers and replace them with Number 10 [10 Downing Street, the headquarters of the UK government] special advisers to make it one team. The chancellor said no self-respecting minister would accept those terms.”

    Javid has been replaced by Rishi Sunak.

    Sunka may enact a looser monetary policy, in line with Johnson’s promises to spend on infrastructure. That would allow the Bank of England to step back with monetary easing, thus supporting the pound.

  • ‘.com’ domain prices to hike after 8 years

    ‘.com’ domain prices to hike after 8 years

    Domain prices for ‘.com’ are expected to rise by seven percent this year. The price has been static for the last eight years at $7.82 (Rs 1,212).

    According to reports, the proposal for an increase in domain prices was submitted in 2018. However, the matter only came to light now because the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organisation responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases, is close to granting the final approval for the price hikes.

    As per the proposal, the prices will increase to $13.50 (Rs 2,092).

    Why is The Price Increasing?

    Verisign, an American company that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, recently signed a deal with the US government, which will allow the company to gradually increase domain prices.

    It is important to understand that price hikes do not come from ICANN. They are actually a result of Verisign reaching an agreement with the Commerce Department, which supervises the ‘.com’ domains.

    In a recent blogpost, ICANN’s CEO Goran Marby said that “the organisation is not a price regulator and defers to the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Justice for the regulation of pricing for ‘.com’ registry services.”

  • Major win for Shehzad Roy as court bans corporal punishment for kids

    Major win for Shehzad Roy as court bans corporal punishment for kids

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday suspended Section 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and banned the practice of corporal (physical) punishment by parents, guardians and teachers on children.

    The decision was announced after singer-activist Shehzad Roy filed a petition in court to ban the use of violence to discipline children. A division bench of the IHC presided by Chief Justice Athar Minallah, suspended the PPC section until further notice.

    Section 89 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (No XLV) allows parents, teachers and other guardians to use moderate and reasonable corporal punishment as a means to correct the behaviour of children below 12 years of age.

    In his petition, Roy claimed that Section 89 is contradictory to the Constitution as it violates basic human rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    “Punishing children is being considered as essential for improving learning. News of torture and punishment of children have been reported every day in the media” read the petition.

    Justice Minallah, during the hearing, remarked that the country’s parliament had adopted a bill barring corporal punishment for children in 2013. The bill was not passed into law due to a technicality.

    Roy’s lawyer maintained that his client wanted the High Court to prevent violence against children until relevant legislation is passed.

    “Corporal punishment affects a child’s mental and physical health,” he asserted.

    After hearing the arguments, Justice Minallah directed the interior ministry to take immediate steps to protect the rights of children and asked for a reply from the federal government on the matter by March 5.

    Roy took to Twitter to express his gratitude over the IHC decision.

    Earlier, while speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court, Roy had said, “When a child is born, parents hit him, when he goes to school, teachers hit him, when he grows older and goes out in the society, police hits him to make him a better person. Research shows that the use of violence only increases violence.”

    Journalists, actors and members of the civil society lauded Roy for his initiative and hailed the court’s decision.

  • PTI’s new social media laws: Are you in some sort of danger?

    PTI’s new social media laws: Are you in some sort of danger?

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in centre has approved a new set of rules to regulate social media, requiring companies such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even TikTok, to register themselves and open offices in Pakistan to provide the government data of accounts found guilty of targeting state institutions, spreading fake news and hate speech, engaging in harassment, issuing statements that harm national security or uploading blasphemous content, Geo reported.

    But similar to claims of proponents of internet freedom, who fear that the legal document would be used to keep social media companies in check and curb dissent over the internet, is your freedom over the web really at risk?

    According to reports, the rules and regulations have been included in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and senior officials in the Ministry of Information Technology have confirmed that the cabinet has already given green light to the legal document.

    Further, IT & Telecommunication Federal Secretary Shoaib Siddiqui confirmed that after the cabinet’s approval, the rules and regulations need not be presented in the parliament for approval.

    According to the law, all global social media platforms and companies would have to register in Pakistan within three months and open offices in Islamabad within the same time period. The law requires digital media companies to appoint a representative in Pakistan to deal with a national coordination authority, which would be responsible to regulate content on social media platforms.

    It further requires the companies to set up data servers in Pakistan within a year and makes it compulsory for them to provide data of accounts found guilty of various crimes — including targeting state institutions, spreading fake news and hate speech, engaging in harassment, issuing statements that harm national security or uploading blasphemous content — to intelligence and law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

    It, however, is safe to say that only time would tell if the government can actually convince any digital media outlets to actually operate under these new regulations.

    Follow this link to give the new set of rules a read.

  • Shaniera Akram’s shoot for ‘Money Back Guarantee’ was full of drama

    Shaniera Akram’s shoot for ‘Money Back Guarantee’ was full of drama

    Shaniera Akram is making her movie debut and that too in Faisal Qureshi’s star-studded venture Money Back Guarantee. The star lineup also includes her husband Wasim Akram, Fawad Khan, Mikaal Zulfiqar, Gohar Rasheed and Kiran Malik.

    In an Instagram post, Shaniera talked about working on Money Back Guarantee and how her 12 days on set included a “sprained ankle, a bathroom lock-in, a painful tetanus shot, sleepless nights, loads of Lays Masala chips, language barriers to the next level, a romantic moment and an unforgettable chandelier stunt” that gave her “an out of body experience.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B8fsczRA2OC/

    The shoot for Money Back Guarantee has wrapped up and the film is eyeing an Eid ul Fitr release. The film, reported to be a satirical comedy, was shot in Karachi, Lahore and Houston.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B7u4TK_jgDr/
  • Bilawal names sister Aseefa to lead party if arrested by NAB

    Bilawal names sister Aseefa to lead party if arrested by NAB

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has named his sister and daughter of the late former prime minister (PM) Benazir Bhutto, Assefa Bhutto-Zardari, to lead the party in case he is arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the days to come.

    As the PPP chairman spoke to journalists after appearing before the anti-graft watchdog in the case related pertaining to JV Opel-255 — a joint venture between Zardari Group Pvt Ltd, of which Bilawal is a director, and a large real-estate business –, he was asked about his party’s plans regarding the execution of its forthcoming protest movement against the “anti-people” government’s economic policies in case he was arrested by NAB.

    “The [protest] march would go on come what may. Both the leaders and workers of the PPP know what struggle is and have never shied away from it,” Bilawal said, adding that his sister Assefa would, however, be there to lead PPP workers. “She’ll be my voice if I am arrested.”

    NAB HEARING:

    Earlier, Bilawal appeared before NAB for hearing of the case regarding JV Opel-255. 

    PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar had confirmed Bilawal’s appearance before the accountability bureau.

    “PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will appear before the NAB despite the fact that the NAB notice to him is just political victimisation. The PPP chairman believes in the supremacy of the law of the land,” Khokar had said.

    Khokar had noted that NAB sent Bilawal a notice within the week after he protested against the PTI’s “anti-poor” economic policies. 

    “NAB sends a notice to Bilawal whenever he criticises the government,” he had alleged, adding that the Supreme Court (SC) has already declared Bilawal innocent. “This is nothing but political victimisation by NAB.”

    The PPP chairman on Thursday reportedly recorded his statement with regard to the alleged transfer of over Rs1 billion from the accounts of JV Opel-225.

    JV Opel-255:

    JV Opel was set up in 2011 and had its office on a property in Karachi owned by the Zardari Group. From 2011 to 2013, the company did not generate any revenue, yet it purchased major assets, agriculture lands, commercial and residential properties in Islamabad and Karachi, according to a joint investigation team (JIT) report.

    The only amount it received, during this period, was Rs1.2 billion from its business partner, the real-estate firm, which, according to the JIT report, was not due to the Zardari Group.

    The investigators suspect that this payment was made by the real-estate company as a bribe or kickback for getting favours from the Sindh government in the form of illegal allotment of state land.

    While the JIT has not been able to make a direct link between the Bhutto scion and the fake accounts, it states that money stashed in these fictitious bank accounts was used to pay the water and sewerage bill of the Bilawal House; an amount to a restaurant that catered an event; to purchase air tickets for Bilawal and his younger sister; and to renovate his bomb-proof container and bullet-proof vehicles.