The Higher Education Commission has demanded the federal government to form a policy and provide funds to curb the use of drugs in educational institutes. University students are likely to get tested for drugs on campus.
As per reports, during a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Science and Technology , it was revealed that more than 76 million Pakistanis are addicted to drugs with most of them being university students.
“University students are increasingly getting attracted towards
ice (methamphetamine) and other harmful drugs. The government should devise a
policy to stop this,” said committee chairman Mushtaq Ghani.
The
HEC informed the committee about the issuance of guidelines for random drug
screenings that will make campuses drug and smoke-free.
“A policy would be needed to start random drug screening for which
more human resource as well as testing labs will be required. With our current
resources we can’t conduct drug screening tests at all universities,” said an
HEC official.
The committee has, therefore, advised the government to issue Rs21
billion for the HEC.
Conducting random drug tests, using peer pressure, signing
contracts with NGOs and reaching out to the root of drug trafficking will pull
drugs out from their roots, the HEC assured the standing committee.
It was also decided that the Anti-Narcotics Force will be called in the meeting to discuss their opinion on the matter.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that it will deduct salaries of the players who do not meet the fitness requirements.
According to a press release by the cricket board, “A player failing to meet the minimum fitness requirements will be fined 15 per cent of his monthly retainer, which will remain effective until he achieves the standards. Player failing consecutive tests will risk the chances of retaining his central contract category and may face demotion.”
All centrally contracted players have to undergo the fitness test which will be held on January 6 and 7. The available players will attend the two-day testing, which is aligned to their contracts.
Meanwhile, “Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Shadab Khan, who will be occupied with their commitments in the Bangladesh Premier League, will undergo the tests on 20 and 21 January.“
Players will be tested in five major areas namely fat analysis, strength, endurance, speed endurance and cross-fit, with all areas carrying equal marks.
Currently 19 top players are under contract in A, B and C categories and get monthly salaries ranging from 1.1 million to 0.5 million rupees based on their contract.
Director of International Cricket PCB Zahir Khan said that the players have been informed about the board’s expectations and sanctions, adding, “This time we have decided to enforce penalties, which is in accordance with the contracts, as part of our objective to make the players more accountable and responsible for maintaining high fitness standards throughout the year.”
Meanwhile, Imam ul Haq posted a picture of himself with his teammates “getting ready for the fitness test” while enjoying the winter sun and fresh oranges.
Category A – Babar Azam (Central Punjab), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan)
Category B – Asad Shafiq (Sindh), Azhar Ali (Central Punjab), Haris Sohail (Balochistan), Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan), Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab), Shadab Khan (Northern) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern)
Category C – Abid Ali (Sindh), Hasan Ali (Central Punjab), Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Imad Wasim (Northern), Mohammad Amir (Northern), Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shan Masood (Southern Punjab), Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Wahab Riaz (Southern Punjab)
Superstar Mahira Khan welcomed the New Year by interacting with her fans in a #AskMahira Twitter session and sharing some exclusive behind the scenes pictures and videos from her films Superstar and Parey Hut Love (PHL). While Mahira had the leading role in Superstar, she had an extended cameo in PHL.
Mahira started her trip down the memory lane with a picture of herself resting on the floor on the sets of her song Morey Saiyaan in PHL.
In the caption, she said that she feels “super comfortable on the floor” and “prefers it to sitting on a chair.”
Following that she shared more pictures of herself as Zeena including some adorable moments with producer and co-star Sheheryar Munawar and director Asim Raza.
Mahira Khan & Sheheryar Munawar
Mahira Khan & Asim Raza
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6vrATYBbmV/
Mahira then shared pictures of herself from the sets of Superstar and a video of herself learning the dance steps for Noori.
L-R: Director Ehteshamuddin, Mahira Khan, Bilal Ashraf. Sitting – Nadeem Baig
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6xoFWGhCId/
In the Twitter interaction with her fans, Mahira revealed the one film she can watch 10 times without getting bored, her last decade in a sentence, how she wants to be remembered, which Disney character she feels she is, and how she deals with her anger among other things.
Hahaha! Good question. I can get very angry, I do. But I usually only get upset with people I love a lot or am very close to. And take it out on them. https://t.co/9Wv685fYe2
@annoyyyinlady this will pass. Promise. You will look back at it one day with a smile. Therapy helps a lot. Please consider it. https://t.co/4XkPaY1WUw
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and Federal Minister for Planning and Special Initiatives Asad Umar have found the aloo gosht [potato-meat curry] served to them at Faisalabad Panahgah [shelter home] “even better than the one at PM House in Islamabad”.
This was revealed by Umar, who on Friday tweeted:
فیصل آباد میں پناہ گاہ کے دورے پر کھانا کھانے کا موقع ملا. وزیراعظم اور مجھے دونوں کو الو گوشت بہت پسند ایا. وزیراعظم کا کہنا تھا کہ یہ وزیراعظم ہاؤس سے بہتر پکا ہوا ہے
“Got a chance to dine at the shelter home in Faisalabad during our visit. Both I and the prime minister really liked aloo gosht. The premier said it was [even] better than the one he gets to have at PM House,” he wrote.
The tweet came hours after PM Imran and a few members of his team reached Faisalabad to inaugurate the first shelter home in the city, which has been constructed over a four kanal area as part of the government’s flagship Panahgah initiative.
WATCH VIDEO:
Accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar, the premier toured the shelter home to review the facilities being provided by the provincial government to homeless people, and received a briefing by the administration.
Last week, he had directed the chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to take steps to provide temporary shelters and food to every person in their respective province in the wake of harsh cold weather.
Given the extremely cold weather conditions I have asked CMs of Punjab & KP to ensure that no person is left out without shelter; & their administrations must take immediate action to provide temporary shelters plus food for those who cannot be accommodated in existing Panagahs.
“Given the extremely cold weather conditions, I have asked CMs of Punjab and KP to ensure that no person is left out without a shelter; and their administrations must take immediate action to provide temporary shelters plus food for those who cannot be accommodated in existing Panahgahs (shelter homes),” the PM had tweeted.
Earlier on Friday, the premier also broke ground on the state-of-the-art Allama Iqbal Industrial City that has been planned over an area of 4,000 acres.
The industrial city is a mega project of the Special Economic Zone of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Tensions between the United States (US) and Iran have escalated to an all-time high after top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani was killed on Friday in a US strike on Baghdad’s international airport.
The development has been confirmed by both Tehran and Washington, and the Pentagon has said that President Donald Trump “ordered Soleimani’s killing”, after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy.
Following Soleimani’s death, Trump tweeted an image of the US flag without any further explanation.
The pre-dawn developments mark the most major escalation yet in a feared proxy war between Iran and the US on Iraqi soil.
Here’s everything you need to know about the dramatic escalation:
WHO WAS QASSEM SOLEIMANI?
Head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force Soleimani acquired celebrity status at home and abroad as leader of the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards and for his key role in fighting in Syria and Iraq.
He was instrumental in the spread of Iranian influence in the Middle East, which the US and Tehran’s regional foes Saudi Arabia and Israel have struggled to keep in check, Al Jazeera reported.
Soleimani survived several assassination attempts against him by Western, Israeli and Arab agencies over the past 20 years.
Under Soleimani’s leadership, the IRGC vastly expanded its capabilities, becoming a significant influence in intelligence, financial, and political spheres beyond Iran’s borders.
WHY WAS HE KILLED?
It all started on Sunday with US military airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that killed 25 fighters and left militias vowing revenge.
SUNDAY (DEC 29)
According to a report, the US military carried out airstrikes on five sites in Iraq and Syria against the Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia, calling it retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it blamed on the group.
At least 25 fighters were killed and dozens wounded. The targeted group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the PMF and a founder of Kataeb Hezbollah, was also killed in the strikes Thursday that killed Soleimani in Baghdad.
The two were scheduled to meet and were leaving Soleimani’s plane at the airport when Friday’s attack occurred.
MONDAY (DEC 30)
The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia vowed to retaliate while a spokesperson for Kataeb Hezbollah denied the group was behind last week’s rocket attacks, including the one that killed the American contractor, saying Washington was using them as a pretext to attack his group.
“These forces must leave,” he said of American troops in Iraq, calling Sunday’s attack a “crime” and a “massacre”.
The Iraqi government said it would reconsider its relationship with the US-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some US troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation’’ of its sovereignty.
TUESDAY (DEC 31)
Hundreds of Iraqi militiamen and their supporters broke into the American Embassy compound in Baghdad, smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area.
The marchers, many of them in militia uniforms, shouted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” outside the compound, hurling water and stones over its walls. The group set up a tent camp overnight in front of the embassy and sprayed graffiti on its walls.
Some commanders of militia factions loyal to Iran joined the protesters outside the embassy in a strikingly bold move. Among them was Qais al-Khizali, the head of one of the most powerful Iranian-backed group in Iraq, who is on a US terror list, and Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the PMF, the umbrella group for the Iran-backed militias.
President Trump blamed Iran for the breach of the embassy compound in Baghdad and called on Iraq to protect the embassy.
Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
There were no reports of casualties. The State Department said all American personnel were safe and that there were no plans to evacuate the embassy. Following the storming of the compound, Defence Secretary Mark Esper ordered roughly 750 additional American troops to deploy to the region, with another 3,000 placed on standby.
The political influence of the PMF has risen in recent years, and their allies dominate the parliament and the government. That has made them the target of the anti-government protesters, who set up a sprawling protest camp in central Baghdad, and who for weeks have been trying to enter the Green Zone. Iraqi security forces have beaten them back with tear gas and live ammunition, killing hundreds.
The militiamen and their supporters, however, were able to quickly enter the Green Zone on Tuesday and mass in front of the embassy, with little if any resistance from authorities. Iraqi security forces made no effort to stop the protesters as they marched to the heavily fortified Green Zone after a funeral for those killed in the airstrikes.
WEDNESDAY (JAN 1)
The Iran-backed militiamen withdrew from the American Embassy compound after two days of clashes with American security forces.
US Marines had fired tear gas in response to stones thrown by protesters but no one was reported killed and the tent camp dispersed after the PMF called on its supporters to depart, suggesting their message had “been received.”
“We rubbed America’s nose in the dirt,” said Fadhil al-Gezzi, a militia supporter.
Embassy workers and diplomats were ultimately holed up for more than 24 hours during the situation at the embassy. Ambassador Matt Tueller, the American ambassador to Iraq, was traveling at the time of the attack but State Department officials told The Hill that he would return to the embassy amid the tensions.
FRIDAY (JAN 3)
General Qassem Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and five others were killed in the early-morning airstrike at Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi officials said.
A senior Iraqi security official said the airstrike, conducted by an American drone, took place on an access road near the cargo area of the airport after Soleimani left his plane to be greeted by al-Muhandis and others. The official said the plane had arrived from either Lebanon or Syria.
A university in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has set up a panel to investigate if Pakistani Marxist, poet, and author Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s iconic poem “Hum Dekhenge”is “anti-Hindu”, Scroll.in reported.
According to reports, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur has set up the panel after the poem was recited by students on campus on December 17 during a solidarity march held for their counterparts at Delhi’s Jamia Milia University.
A police crackdown on the Jamia Milia Islamia campus on December 15 triggered nationwide protests as part of the campaign against passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the ongoing National Population Register (NPR) update exercise and the proposed pan-India National Register of Citizenship (NRC).
During one such protest, about 300 students of the institute were not allowed to go out of the campus as large gatherings under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were banned, the institute’s deputy director, Manindra Agarwal, was quoted as saying.
A complaint was filed by temporary faculty member Vashimant Sharma and 16 others against the poem. “The written complaint filed by them with the IIT director states that the poem had some wordings that could hurt the sentiments of Hindus,” Agarwal said.
“A committee of six members was established, headed by me, to investigate the matter. Some students have been questioned, while the others will be questioned after they return to the institution after the holidays.”
The probe committee will investigate three areas – whether the students defied prohibitory orders, the social media posts they shared ahead of the solidarity march and if the poem of Faiz Ahmad Faiz is “anti-Hindu”.
‘HUM DEKHEINGE’:
The popular revolutionary poem was written by Faiz in 1979 when he was in Honolulu for a writers’ conference.The poem was included in Faiz’s seventh poetry book titled “Mere Dil Mere Musafir” in 1981 and is known for its rendition by singer Iqbal Bano.
The poem’s beginning deals with conventional themes such as injustice and oppression, then gives way to more overtly religious symbolism. Faiz writes that the idols will be lifted from the Kabah and goes on to describe a revolutionary inversion of power, where the pure-hearted, who were outlawed, or cast out, will be honoured.
The crowns (of those in power) will be thrown up in the air (alluding to a celebration) and their thrones will be cast low. The final stanza of the poem is the most religious in tone, declaring that the only name (essentially on people’s lips) will that be of Allah and a great revolutionary cry of “I am Truth” will go up and people of faith will rule again.
In recent times, the poem has become an anthem for rights activitsts taking to streets across the Indian subcontinent.
Contrary to earlier claims, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has reportedly decided to unconditionally back the amendments made to the Army Act by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to facilitate the extension service of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
According to Geo News, the decision was made after a meeting of PML-N parliamentary members received a message from the party leadership on Thursday, advising the party to fully back the amendment bill when it is tabled in the parliament by the government.
“The PML-N leadership reportedly does not want the position of COAS to become controversial, and has thus decided to support the PTI government in a bid to amend the Army Act under the directions of a verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) in this regard,” the report said.
A day earlier, the federal cabinet had in an emergency meeting accorded its approval to amendments to the Army Act under which the premier will be empowered to extend the tenure of all services chiefs.
The bill pertaining to the amendment will be tabled in the National Assembly on Friday and the amendment has been prepared as per the guidelines enumerated in the SC’s verdict.
The top court had in November 2019 told the government to legislate on an extension in the COAS’s services within six months, allowing Gen Bajwa to stay in office until then, after briefly suspending the notification of the extension in his tenure.
With the government going into action to ensure an extension for the army chief but lacking the numbers in the parliament for necessary legislation, the PML-N had earlier warned the PTI, saying it would not be easy if the hostile attitude of the Imran Khan-led government towards the opposition continued.
Former foreign media head of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and a close aide of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Anila Khawaja, has been called out for showing up at a private New Year’s Eve party “without being invited to it”.
Khawaja was called out by the host, Islamabad-based American blogger and former goodwill ambassador to Pakistan, Cynthia D Ritchie, after she trained guns at the latter for being “a foreigner who broke traditions of good grace and hospitality, and behaved rudely”.
“When will we learn to stand together and be respected on r [sic] own soil let alone abroad,” Khawaja tweeted.
2020 ..NYE Pakistanis silently stood like tamashbeen while a foreigner broke with all our traditions of good grace & hospitality to behave exceptionally rudely with their fellow citizen. When will we ever learn to stand together and be respected on r own soil let alone abroad! pic.twitter.com/8ksGgdqdSw
Reacting to Khawaja’s claim, Ritchie didn’t go easy on her and pointed out how the ex-PTI foreign media head hadn’t even been invited to the party.
You & 2 others came to my private party without an invitation. I was responsible for the guest list. You weren’t on it. Why? Because of your crazed behaviour over the years. It’s rude to show up without an invite. Learn some manners.Get over your entitlement. Our party. Our rules https://t.co/c5DzJrVWQh
“I know who you really are as a person: you’re threatening to write a tell-all about IK [Imran Khan] if certain things don’t go your way,” she said in a subsequent tweet.
Am I’m not the only foreigner @anilakhawaja – don’t forget your status; & don’t feign graciousness & piousness. I know who you really are as a person: your threatening to write a tell all book about IK if certain things didn’t go your way. All of which is thoroughly documented. https://t.co/8QupW04Bcx
Anila is claiming on WhatsApp forums I “lied” about another guest not being invited. That guest, like all guests, was required to RSVP & provide names/nationalities of their guests. He didn’t & wasn’t on the list. @PTIofficial your ‘foreign media head’ is (again) causing problems https://t.co/8QupW04Bcx
1/2 This is Anila… I blurred her number out of courtesy. She and another lady who were not invited came with a man who did not RSVP, and all guests were required to RSVP with their +1 name and Nationality. He did none of the above, so we was not on the list. Anila blocks me… pic.twitter.com/D2xrVwZBM9
2/2 Anila blocks me on Twitter then uses my latest tweet clarifying the issue that she called me a liar for on the very what’s app group she was bad mounting me. Then she leaves the group for some reason. pic.twitter.com/mHoaNclAsA
Anila Khawaja, who had been appointed as part of PTI’s decision to extend the media team of the party, started supporting Imran Khan’s politics when only a couple of people supported his political cause.
She was educated, bred and born in West London’s Ealing area.
Khawaja received her post graduate degree in education from Brunel University and became a British qualified teacher. She took a year out in 2005 to help out the victims in Pakistan during its worst natural disaster, leaving her family and a well-paid job behind.
She got involved in relief work during the 2005 earthquake that hit Pakistan, causing the death of more than 70,000 people. She worked with Imran Khan Earthquake Relief Fund (IKERF) for a year when Khan’s party was turned into an NGO for a year.
She was all set to return to London but was approached by the British High Commission to help start a British school in Islamabad.
It was around 2008 that she formally joined the PTI. Soon after joining the party, she was given the responsibility to deal with international media – a role she successfully performed till last year when there were shuffles within the party.
An old video of Prime Minister Imran Khan has been doing rounds on Twitter. The video shows the PM answering the question of whether Khan had ever been offered a role in Bollywood. To which Imran replied “You won’t believe it but I was once asked by an Indian actor who we all look up to, to act in one of his upcoming films. He even turned up in England to request me, but I was puzzled.”
The host asked the details about who offered him and why he rejected it. To which Khan revealed that “It was Dev Anand, who in my time was very well known.”
The fact was also revealed in Anand’s autobiography, Romancing with Life (published by the Penguin Group in 2007) when the actor passed away in London in 2011. In the book, Anand quoted that he wanted the Pakistani cricket star to play the role of a star in decline in his film Awwal Number. Anand wrote that Khan was speechless when he first told him about the film. “You have bowled me over, Mr. Dev Anand. But I don’t think I am a good actor,” said Khan.
Anand called him from Bangalore and told Imran Khan that he would be on the next available flight to London to convince him for the film.
Anand wrote “Khan invited Anand to his flat in Soho. “Imran was hospitable and a very friendly host. Khan was ambitious for his political aim”. Anand left the script of the film with him and Khan returned it the very next evening with a note that said he wouldn’t be able to take up his offer.
