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  • ‘Zindagi Tamasha’s fate hangs in limbo

    ‘Zindagi Tamasha’s fate hangs in limbo

    In an emotionally-charged country like Pakistan, where religion is a sensitive topic, it was no surprise that Sarmad Khoosat’s Zindagi Tamasha ruffled many feathers and sparked controversy. Despite the director’s assurance that the film does not hurt any religious sentiments, people jumped to conclusions based on a two-minute teaser trailer. Nonetheless, fearing public unrest, the federal and provincial governments decided to stop the film from being released, just days before it was scheduled to.

    While the Federal Government has said that the film will be reviewed by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the Punjab Government directed the filmmaker to hold a screening on February 3 so that the film can be reviewed again. It is pertinent to mention here that the provincial and central censor boards had earlier cleared the film for release with a few cuts.

    The ban on the film sparked public outrage and members of the civil society and the film fraternity stepped forward to support the film and filmmaker. They also requested the government to extend more support to filmmakers and called for a more open creative space.

    After all the hue and cry, the hype and criticism around the film has died as its fate hangs in limbo.

    When The Current reached out to the Central Board Of Film Censors Islamabad for an update regarding the film, a source shared that it is “in limbo”. When probed further they asserted that work on the film’s clearance is still underway.

    Read more – Council of Islamic Ideology to ‘critically review’ ‘Zindagi Tamasha’

    Meanwhile, local media had reported that the CII is awaiting the green signal from the censor board so they can go ahead with reviewing the film for any objectionable content.

    As per reports, a three-member committee has been set up to review the film. The censor board has also been informed of this but no response was received from their end. The CII’s media coordinator Rana Zahid shared that the film can only be reviewed after they receive an invitation from the censor board.

    While the three-member committee does not include members of the council, it includes officers from the council’s research wing.

    According to the CII official, “All the members are competent and hold qualifications in Islam and social sciences. They were selected for this task after going through an interview process. We have shown them the CBFC letter and advised them on how to review the film, keeping religious sentiments in mind.”

    The committee will review the film and then submit a report to council Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz. The report will further be analysed 20 members of the CII after which a decision will be taken. The council members including the chairman will also watch the film after the report has been submitted.

    The CII has informed the censor board of all the preparations they have made but are yet to hear back from the body.

    Read more – Damning bans

    Meanwhile, no progress has been made on the review directed by the Punjab Government. They had directed Khoosat to arrange a review of the film on February 3.

    Khoosat has also made no public comment after the film was barred from release.

    Read more – Sarmad Khoosat appeals to PM, President to facilitate his film’s release

    Petition against Zindagi Tamasha screening withdrawn

    A petition filed against the screening of Zindagi Tamasha was withdrawn on Thursday (Jan 30).

    As per reports, the petition was filed on Monday (Jan 27) by a man named Chaudhry Qadeer Ahmed who alleged that that the film was against the spirit of the Constitution, hurt religious sentiments and violated PEMRA’s rules.

    The petition was heard in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by Justice Aamer Farooq who questioned the petitioner if he had seen the film anywhere or if it had been released yet.

    In response to the judge’s question, the petitioner’s lawyer said that he has not seen the film.

    “How can you comment on something that no one has seen,” questioned the judge.

    Ahmed’s lawyer explained that the film’s trailer had been released online and it “disrespected” naat khawans.

    The court asked the petitioner’s lawyer when the film was scheduled to screen. The lawyer informed the court that the film had not been released yet as the Punjab government had made a decision against it.

    Ahmed’s lawyer then requested the court to take back the petition which the court accepted.

    Khoosat’s father had also filed a petition against the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) for trying to interfere with the release of the film. However, after the film’s release was delayed, he withdrew the petition for reasons unknown.

  • VIDEO: PTI’s Faisal Javed reaches Kashmir event on bike after car breaks down midway

    VIDEO: PTI’s Faisal Javed reaches Kashmir event on bike after car breaks down midway

    Ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Javed reaches the venue of a Kashmir Day event on a motorcycle.

    Senator Javed reportedly sought a stranger’s help after his vehicle broke down midway. Kashmir Solidarity Day is to be observed by the country tomorrow (February 5).

  • CM Buzdar wants strict action against companies selling substandard fairness creams

    CM Buzdar wants strict action against companies selling substandard fairness creams

    Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Tuesday directed action against productions of low-quality fairness creams.

    The Punjab CM has approved ‘The Punjab Drug and Cosmetics Amendment Act’, according to which the drug regulatory authority will take action against companies making substandard fairness creams.

    During the meeting, CM Buzdar said that previous governments failed to take any action against mafia selling fake cosmetics.

    “There is no place for such kind of ‘mafias’ in PM Imran Khan’s government”, said CM Buzdar, adding that such people are playing with the health of the nation because they contained toxic ingredients.

    Last year in July, the minister for climate change, Zartaj Gul Wazir had initiated a crackdown on fairness creams across the country and ordered strict action against those selling substandard products.

  • Coronavirus: Sick Pakistani student from China shifted to isolation ward

    A Pakistani student, who was extracted from coronavirus-hit China as flights operations resumed between the two countries, has been quarantined since his return as he showed suspected symptoms of the novel epidemic, The Express Tribune has reported.

    According to reports, Shahzaib Rahujo studies petroleum at a Chinese university around 1,000 kilometres (km) away from Wuhan where the deadly coronavirus originated. He reached his village, Nangerji, late on Saturday night and was shifted to an isolation ward on Monday after he fell ill.

    “He was experiencing a headache, flu and cough when he reached Qatar. He took some medicine to relieve the symptoms and was able to reach the village safely,” Rahujo’s elder brother, Irshad Ali, told the media outlet. He added that his brother cleared medical screening at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, but once he reached his village, he started experiencing fever, flu, cough and fatigue.

    Kept in isolation, Rahujo is reportedly facing neglect at Civil Hospital in Khairpur where he is admitted, as medics there are not ready to perform tests on him. Ali posted a video over the internet showing how his brother Rahujo was being neglected in spite of his ill health and nose bleeding.

    “We were on our way to Karachi when they told us to come back to the civil hospital. There, they put him in a dengue ward. But there is no doctor and we are not being treated properly,” Ali said. 

    Several Pakistani citizens, a large number of which are students, are still reportedly stuck in China.

  • Imran regrets ditching Kuala Lumpur Summit ‘because of other friends’

    Imran regrets ditching Kuala Lumpur Summit ‘because of other friends’

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has regretted not attending December 2019’s Kuala Lumpur Summit in Malaysia, saying there were misconceptions among some friendly countries of Pakistan, which led to him and his team opting out of the moot, Dawn reported Tuesday.

    Addressing a joint press conference following talks with Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya, the premier said he wanted to share how sad he was for not attending the conference in Kuala Lumpur in the middle of December.

    “Unfortunately, our friends, who are very close to Pakistan as well, felt that somehow the conference was going to divide the ummah. It was clearly a misconception because that was not the purpose of the conference as evident from when the conference took place.”

    In December last year, Pakistan had pulled out of the Kuala Lumpur Summit of some 20 Muslim countries reportedly due to pressure exerted by Saudi Arabia. At the time, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had confirmed that Riyadh and the UAE had concerns about the summit.

  • Cleric arrested for selling meth to students, saying ‘it’ll help study Quran better’

    A cleric has been arrested for selling meth to his students, claiming it would “help them study and recite the Quran better”.

    According to The Star, the religious leader from Madura, Northeast Java in Indonesia had been selling the drug to his students at an Islamic boarding school and reasoned that it was permissible under Islamic law.

    Being an avid drug user himself, Ahmad Marzuki managed to avoid the police for two months after they learned of his actions.

    Despite being a fugitive, the religious leader still taught at other Islamic boarding schools in Surabaya and Mojokerto cities.

    On January 20, authorities finally managed to capture him when he was attending a funeral in Madura. Police officers located Marzuki and two other drug users at his home where they found a small quantity of the substance and other drug paraphernalia.

    After he was arrested, Marzuki said he knew meth is illegal under Indonesian laws, but found “no evidence against it in the Quran”.

    K.H. Said Aqiel Siradj, head of Nahdlatul Ulama — Indonesia’s largest independent Islamic organisation — on the other hand, said that while the Quran does not explicitly mention the drug, the religious text’s verses should be interpreted with a consensus among Islamic scholars and deductive analogy.

    Meanwhile, Marzuki will be charged under the Indonesian Narcotics Law. He reportedly also faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of 10 billion Indonesian rupiahs (PKR112 million).

  • Pakistani girl chops off man’s penis for trying to rape her

    Pakistani girl chops off man’s penis for trying to rape her

    A man’s penis was cut off after he attempted to rape a woman in Punjab’s Jaranwala.

    As per reports, a 24-year-old woman chopped off the 30-year-old man’s genitals when he tried to rape her on January 30. The FIR was registered on the complaint of the survivor’s father at the Jaranwala City police station.

    Her father’s statement reads that his daughter told him that the suspect broke into her house with a knife. He threatened to kill her and attempted to rape her. On getting a chance, the woman grabbed the knife from him and chopped off his penis after which the man ran off screaming.

    The police say the man is in police custody and under treatment at a hospital. The case is being investigated.

    In an initial statement to the police, the suspect has not only denied the accusations against him but also alleged the woman of calling him to her house and of attacking him, the police said. 

    The FIR has been registered under Article 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which states:

    1. Whoever commits rape shall be punished with death or imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than ten years or more, than twenty-five years and shall also be liable to fine.
    2. When rape is committed by two or more persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life.

  • Fawad Chaudhry recommended Mehwish Hayat for Tamgha-e-Imtiaz

    Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry revealed that he was the one who recommended Mehwish Hayat for the prestigious Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.

    In a recent interview, when asked who his favourite female actor is, Fawad replied that he is a big fan of Hayat, adding that he had suggested Hayat’s name for the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s highest civilian honour.

    “Mehwish Hayat is brilliant. As [information] minister, I recommended her name for Sitara-e-Imtiaz even though I had never met her, until recently”, the minister said.

    He shared that he recommended her because her films do exceptional business.

    Read more – 5 times Mehwish Hayat was woke

    The minister also remarked that people do a lot of sifarish to receive awards, asserting that no one asked him to nominate Mehwish.

    When probed further, Fawad said that he took awards very seriously and had always wanted youngsters to be nominated for awards.

    “I take awards very seriously and I only want them to be given to those who are toppers in their respective fields”, he said. “We try to ensure that merit is followed strictly.”

    Read more – Mehwish Hayat to run for PM in 2028?

    Mehwish had received immense flak on social media when she was awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in March last year. Most people were of the view that she did not deserve it though their views changed after her speech at Oslo, Norway and her strong stance against Bollywood films.

    President Dr Arif Alvi had conferred the award on Hayat during a ceremony in Islamabad.

  • Pakistani doctor wins hearts for volunteering to treat coronavirus patients in Wuhan

    A Pakistani doctor from Jhelum has won appreciation for volunteering to treat coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China.

    Dr Usman, a Pakistani teacher at Changsha Medical College, is the first foreign doctor who stepped forward to volunteer to treat infected people in Wuhan.

    The Chinese Embassy thanked the doctor saying, “We appreciate Dr Muhammad Usman Janjua, a foreign doctor to join the fight against coronavirus in China as a volunteer. He is a teacher from Changsha Medical University, China and hails from Deena, Jhelum, Pakistan”.

    On January 27, Usman formally applied to the Foreign Experts Service office of the Hunan Science and Technology department, hoping that he could go to the Wuhan for medical assistance.

    Usman told media that when the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus began in China, he kept an eye on the continuously updated figures and situations every day.

    “The staff of the foreign expert service sent me the methods of epidemic prevention every day asking me to protect myself and solving many difficulties for me.”

    Usman, 29, had dreamed of becoming a doctor since he was a child. He graduated from Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a bachelor’s degree in 2012 and returned to Pakistan to practice medicine for four years.

    During the four years of stay in his hometown, he had always been unable to forget China and Changsha. He said that China had provided him with good opportunities for education and employment.

    In 2016, he returned to China and began studying for a Master’s degree in medicine at Central South University in Changsha. After graduation, he became a foreign teacher at Changsha Medical College.

  • Man files petition to remove conditions on second marriage

    Man files petition to remove conditions on second marriage

    A man has registered a case in the Lahore High Court asking for the elimination of the condition in which he is required to get his first wife’s permission for a second marriage.

    Dr Muhammad Mudassir, who was sentenced for marrying another woman without his wife’s (now ex-wife’s) permission, has named the Punjab Law Ministry and provincial law secretary as respondents.

    He has appealed the Punjab government to make changes to the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961.

    A man doesn’t need the permission of his first wife to get married again in other provinces, the petitioner said, adding that such complaints could only be registered at union councils in Balochistan, Sindh, and KP. He claimed that Punjab has a higher fine too.

    On May 17, 2019, Dr Mudassir was sentenced to jail for one month and fined Rs500,000 for his second marriage by a special judicial magistrate in Sialkot.

    He was found guilty of violating the laws of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961. As per law a man must submit written permission from his first wife if he wants to marry another woman. If a man is found guilty of violating the law, he may be imprisoned for a year.

    The petitioner has asked for more time to submit additional documents. The case has been postponed till February 10.