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  • ‘Lahore beats London’: Twitter goes crazy as mercury drops to 35-year low

    Twitterati, especially those from Lahore, lost it over the micro-blogging website after the residents of Punjab’s provincial capital woke up to the coldest winter morning in over 35 years.

    According to The Express Tribune, the temperature in the provincial capital was equivalent to Murree at 2°C early on Monday, which was followed by a minimum of 3°C and a maximum of 8°C on Tuesday.

    Data by Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) showed that shivering low temperature of 1°C was recorded in Attock and Dera Ghazi Khan, 2°C in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi, Multan, Chakwal and Bahawalpur, 3°C in Jhelum and 4°C in Sahiwal, Faisalabad and Sargodha.

    As winter blues grip Lahore, here’s what Twitterati have to say about it:

    https://twitter.com/fakihawajihaJvd/status/1211901883822071808

    Meanwhile, Chief Meteorologist Muhammad Riaz has highlighted that the current chilly spell would continue till mid-January.

    “Although climate change has some impact on weather patterns, there is nothing unusual. The coldest winter spell is witnessed from mid-December to mid-January every year,” he added.

    Weather reports issued by the PMD indicate that continental air is prevailing over most parts of the country and a shallow westerly wave is likely to affect the western and upper parts of the country from Tuesday (today).

  • PTI govt approves Rs11.7 billion for special military projects

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has approved a supplementary budget for military allowances worth Rs11.7 billion as the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) met on Monday.

    According to The Express Tribune, the meeting headed by Adviser to the Prime Minister (PM) on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, approved the allowances under three technical supplementary grants for Special Security Division (North), Internal Security Duty Allowance and construction of bunkers.

    Of the Rs11.7 billion, Rs6.2 billion have been allocated for the recurring cost of the Special Security Division of Pakistan — for protection of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-related projects — whereas Rs4.966 billion have been set aside for Internal Special Duty Allowance for troops deployed on the western border, a Ministry of Finance handout revealed.

    While the remaining Rs500 million has been reserved for the construction of community bunkers, the heads for the supplementary grants from where the budget will be diverted, have not yet been specified by the Finance Ministry.

    Earlier, the ECC had directed that the cost of providing protection to the CPEC and other important installations by the military should be made part of the regular defence budget instead of meeting it through supplementary grants.

    The Defence Ministry had requested a supplementary grant for paying the recurring cost of the Special Security Division and Internal Security Duty Allowance to the troops deployed on the western border.

  • 2019: High profile political arrests

    2019: High profile political arrests

    Soon after the Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI) came into power several politicians, mostly from the opposition and one from the ruling party, walked in and out of prison on charges of corruption, money laundering among others, Geo News reported.

    The majority of the politicians, and bureaucrats, arrested this year, have now managed to secure a bail bond from courts, many are still behind bars.

    Here are some of the high-profile arrests of this year.

    Maryam Nawaz

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had on August 8 arrested Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz Sharif in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case on accusations of involvement in money laundering.

    The anti-graft watchdog alleged that Maryam was involved in money laundering with the help of some foreigners between 1992-93 when her father Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister (PM).

    Maryam was granted bail by Lahore High Court (LHC) on November 4 after she had filed a bail peition on September 30, seeking post-arrest bail in the money laundering case.

    The PML-N leader is also fighting to get her name off the Exit Control List (ECL) to visit her ailing father in London, undergoing medical treatment after LHC granted him exemption to leave the country.

    Rana Sanaullah

    The senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Rana Sanaullah was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on July 1after alleged recovery of a large stash of drugs from his car.

    Minister for Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi had repeatedly claimed to have substantial evidence against Sanaullah and footages of the drugs recovered from Rana’s car. Yet, after almost six months, the prosecution failed to provid any such evidence to the court. 

    Later on December 22, the anti-narcotics court extended the former law minister’s remand by 14 days, however, the LHC on December 24 granted bail to Sanaullah in the narcotics possession case.

     Asif Ali Zardari

    Former president Asif Ali Zardari was arrested in July by the NAB, in connection to a money laundering case. NAB accused him of setting up fake bank accounts and illegally tranfering billions of rupees out of Pakistan. The accountability watchdog insists that Zardari has was acquired the money through kickbacks and bribes.

    However on December 11, the PPP’s president was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on medical grounds.

    Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

    NAB on July 18 arrested former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on accusations of illegally awarding a contract for an Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal while he was serving as the petroleum minister in the then PM Nawaz’s cabinet. 

    The accountability bureau claimed that the PML-N government rented out a terminal of the Engro Group for 15 years at a cost of Rs27 million per day. Khaqan’s name was later placed on ECL in April as well.

    Miftah Ismail

    Former finance minister Miftah Ismail was cuffed on August 7 by Pakistan’s anti-graft watchdog, after IHC rejected his pre-arrest bail.

    The PML-N leader was arrested in connection with an inquiry regarding the illegal awarding of LNG Terminal-1 to Engro Energy Terminal. Miftah’s remand was later extended from 16 to 20 days in December.

    He, however, was granted bail by the IHC on December 23.

    Hamza Shahbaz

    Opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Hamza Shahbaz, was arrested by NAB on June 11 in the Ramzan Sugar Mills (RSM) money laundering case and for allegedly owning assets beyond his means. 

    The accountability court on September 4 sent Hamza to Lahore’s Camp Jail on judicial remand after rejecting NAB’s appeal seeking an extension in his remand.

    Hamza’s case hearing couldn’t take place on December 20 due to a strike by lawyers and has been adjourned till January 3, 2020. He remains in the custody of jail authorities.

    Aleem Khan

    Aleem Khan — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwart — was arrested on February 6 by accountability bureau in cases pertaining to owning assets beyond his known sources of income and alleged offshore companies. Aleem, at the time of his arrest was serving as Punjab’s local government minister from which he resigned soon after his arrest.

    He was granted bail on May 15 by LHC against surety bonds worth Rs10 million, however he is still fighting the legal battle of a case regarding the illegal acquisition of Capital Development Authority (CDA) land.

    Ahsan Iqbal

    PML-N stalwart Ahsan Iqbal was arrested on December 23 by NAB as he appeared before the court in relation to a corruption case.

    NAB’s spokesperson after the arrest had said that the authority has cuffed Ahsan Iqbal in relation to the Narowal Sports City Complex case. An accountability court on December 24 granted a 13-day remand of PML-n leader in connection with the sports city corruption case.

    Faryal Talpur

    PPP’s senior leader and a member of National Assembly, Faryal Talpur, was arrested by NAB on June 14. She along with her brother, Asif Ali Zardari, was accused of laundering money through fake bank accounts. The anti-graft body is probing four cases where the former president and his sister are the prime accused. 

    The cases are about transactions worth hundreds of millions of rupees to both the leaders’ private companies, allegedly, by using fake bank accounts. Talpur was also granted bail by IHC on December 17 against surety bonds worth Rs10 million.

    Khursheed Shah

    NAB had arrested senior leader of PPP Khursheed Shah on September 18, accusing of allotting himself an amnesty plot illegally from a cooperative society in Sukkur. Nab also accuse Shah of acquiring assets worth some Rs700 million in the names of his frontmen through illegally acquired money.

    An anti-graft court on December 17 granted bail to the Khursheed against surety bonds worth Rs5 million. The NAB later approached the Sindh HIgh COurt and urged it to nullify Shah’s bail as it was “against the law”. On December 23, the SHC suspended PPP leader’s bail in the corruption case.

  • Asim Azhar ready to give away his jacket to one of his fans

    Asim Azhar ready to give away his jacket to one of his fans

    Asim Azhar has many fans in Pakistan as well as in other countries. Recently, the singer responded generously to one of his fans on Twitter.

    A fan took to Twitter to express that she likes Asim’s green jacket and if she can get it before 2019 ends. “Yaar mujy Asim Azhar ki green colour wali jacket bohat pasand hai. Hollywood walay tu apny fans ko apni chezin gift kr dyte hain. Can I get this before 2019 ends? #asimswag.” She tagged Asim and also used the hashtag #asimswag

    https://twitter.com/ThandiLife/status/1211324720802680833

    After her tweet, Asim replied that he has a few green jackets but he is ready to give away the one she likes. Asim tweeted: “I have a few green jackets. Which one do you like?? Send a picture & your address to asimazharofficial@gmail.com – we’ll try and make it happen before 2019 ends.”

    Anchorperson Iqrar ul Hassan also praised Asim’s sweet gesture.

  • MQM to quit PTI’s ruling coalition, help opposition topple Imran govt?

    MQM to quit PTI’s ruling coalition, help opposition topple Imran govt?

    Soon after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) to break away from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in centre and join the Sindh government, the MQM-P has expressed dissatisfaction over the federal government’s performance.

    According to The News, Bilawal had on Monday offered PTI’s ruling partners, the MQM-P, stakes in the Sindh government, saying Sindh and Karachi could only get their share of development if Imran’s government collapsed.

    “You can stop this injustice being done with Karachi and Pakistan by breaking your alliance with the PTI and toppling Imran Khan’s government to save Karachi, and we will fully support you. For the sake of Karachi, for the sake of the people of Karachi, we are ready to offer to the MQM[-P] in Sindh, as many ministries as they have in the centre today,” a very charged PPP chief had said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of four mega development projects in Korangi.

    While extending his offer, Bilawal had repeatedly called for toppling Imran’s government as he tried to persuade the MQM-P to break its alliance with the PTI in centre. He made the unexpected offer while Mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhtar — who belongs to the MQM-P — was attending the inaugural ceremony along with Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah.

    It wasn’t later that the MQM-P reacted to the offer by saying that they “hadn’t joined the PTI for ministries”.

    Dunya News quoted an MQM-P spokesperson as clarifying that the alliance with PTI “was for the benefit of Karachi and not to get ministries”. He further said that MQM-P’s politics were all about serving people; however, he reportedly expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the federal government.

    “Transfer powers to local governments instead of making offers of ministries,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying soon after Mayor Waseem Akhtar said that the MQM-P “could join anyone for the betterment of the people”.

    RULING COALITION:

    The PTI and its allies on one side and opposition parties on the other have closely contested their positions in the National Assembly.

    Given their respective numerical strengths, the ruling coalition has around 225 lawmakers while the opposition has nearly 221 members and the simple majority of the total lawmakers of 446 (342 MNAs and 104 senators) comes to 224.

    The PTI has 156 members of the National Assembly. Its allies have varying numbers. The Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) have five members each; Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has seven MPs; Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has three lawmakers; Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) has four MNAs and Awami Muslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party have one member each besides the support of two independents.

    They all come to 184.

    In the Lower House of Parliament, the PML-N has 84 MNAs; Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has 55 MPs; Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has 16 members; and Awami National Party (ANP) has one lawmaker. Two independents stand with the opposition parties. In the Senate, the PTI is supported by 15 legislators, the MQM-P by 5 senators, the BAP by two MPs, and BNP-M and PML-Functional by one each. If the decisive number of 16 senators, including those elected from the erstwhile tribal areas are placed in the government pocket, the total strength of the PTI and its allies comes to 39 senators.

    With BNP-M likely to defect from the ruling coalition and the MQM-P being offered ministries in Sindh, any changes to the hung parliament in favour of the opposition parties could be fatal for the PTI government.

  • 2019: Blunders & Pakistan Cricket

    The year 2019 has seen many questionable calls by Pakistan cricket managemnet, including several mistakes and blunders, Geo News reported,

    The departing year had the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the World Cup and a home Test series after a long drought of ten years. The year saw a plenty of action but at the same time it saw the equal amount of mistakes as well.

    The contributers of these mistakes not only included the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the cricket management, but the captain(s) — former and present — as well as the players.

    Fakhar Zaman’s presence in the team, despite poor form

    Everyone, except the cricket board selectors knew that the opener Fakhar Zaman had been out of form since the summer of 2018. Over a 26-game block before the World Cup (WC) 2019, the average score of the batsman was 29.34 runs. Despite having knowledge of the stats and clear signs that the left-handed was not performing well, the board went into the WC with just him and Imam-ul-Haq as their only two openers.

    Fakhar performed even worse and averaged even less at the tournament, with his 23.25 runs per innings often leaving Pakistan team short of a solid opening foundation which in-turn placed unwanted pressure on the middle-order to make up.

    Trusting Misbah with dual role

    Despite having much bigger and better cricketing setups, Australia, India and England had neither thought of ditching their chief selector and handing the additinoal job to their team’s head coach. But PCB still went for it.

    The move was criticised by many who considered it to be an ill-thought decision and the board weeks after former captain’s appointment itself realised that he would need a coordinator as well.

    PCB later appointed former Test spinner Nadeem Khan as the Coordinator of the National Selection Committee following a recruitment process.

    Sarfaraz Ahmed’s ill-timed replacement

    After Pakistan teams poor performance in the World Cup and failing to even qualify for the semi-finals, the cricket board brought many changes in the team after the tournament except for the captain Sarfaraz Ahmed. Replacing Sarfaraz then would have made more sense at the time but PCB flinched and missed the opportunity.

    Later in October 2019, once the time had passed, the board eventually decided to go for it. It was clear that Sarfaraz had been sacked after severe criticism from the team and the public which he received after the defeat from the hands of Sri Lankan team.

    The sacking in October was then termed unjustified and criticised by many as an ill-timed move.

    Naseem Shah’s selection for Australia tour

    The board selected fast-bowler Naseem Shah in the Pakistan squad for the first time against Australia knowing that the talented Mohammad Asif had earlier struggled alot on his debut tour of Australia. Yet, the 16-year-old pacer and the 19-year-old Muhammad Musa were picked against a stronger english side.

    Choosing Haris Sohail over in-form Fawad Alam

    PCB selected Fawad Alam for Sri Lanka Test series after his excellent performance and multiple centuries in the domestic tournament. The decision was lauded by cricket lovers but sadly, he was not picked in either of the two Test matches.

    Instead, the board retained out of form Haris Sohail, saying that he can also bowl. Sohail bowled a grand total of 10 overs over two Tests and scored a small amount of nine runs on the only occasions he got to bat.

  • London’s New Year’s Day Parade to feature ‘Visit Pakistan’ video

    A video inviting tourists and travellers to come visit Pakistan in 2020 will be aired on London’s New Year’s Day Parade (LNYDP) 2020, the World’s great street spectacular.

    According to APP, the special video will include a message from Prime Minister Imran Khan, pictures of Pakistan’s scenic beauty and popular tourist spots and glimpses of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s recent visit to Pakistan. The background tune of the video will be the National Anthem.

    Pakistan is among the 12 countries/brands which are being showcased on the Giant Screens covering the LNYDP throughout the day. The LNYDP screens will be located along the parade route of London at Piccadilly Circus, Pall Mall, Trafalgar Square and Big Ben/Houses of Parliament.

    The Pakistan High Commission in London shared that the video message will be played in front of as many as 650,000 street spectators in addition to more than 1 million viewing audience throughout the day.

    Apart from that, TV channels across the world will also be airing the footage of the giant screens.

    Pakistan has recently been named a tourist hotspot by the number one travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller. The British Backpacker Society (BBS) also rated Pakistan as a a must-visit adventure spot in the upcoming decade.

  • Maximum number of Umrah pilgrims in 2019 were Pakistanis

    The maximum number of Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the season on August 31 until December 26, 2019 were Pakistanis official statistics released by the Kingdom have revealed.

    According to a report in Arab News, 495,270 Pakistanis performed their Umrah during the period, followed by 443,879 Indonesians and 262,887 Indians. Other countries on the list included Malaysia, Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

    Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Ministry Spokesman Imran Siddiqui expressed his happiness at the news and iterated that “Pakistan was the number one country with more than 1.7 million people performing Umrah last year.”

    While Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have always enjoyed good relations in the past, following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ascent to office, the friendship between the two countries has further strengthened.

    Saudi Arabia has also relaxed its strict laws under the Vision 2030 reforms plan, making it easier for pilgrims to visit the Arab state. The plan aims to attract more than 30 million Umrah pilgrims and provide them with excellent services.

  • PM Imran distributes health cards to transgender community

    PM Imran distributes health cards to transgender community

    Prime Minister Imran Khan distributed Sehat Insaf card among the transgender community in an attempt to include them in this project.

    According to reports, a ceremony was held at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad to present the cards to the members of the transgender community.

    Scheme offers the free treatment for angioplasty, brain surgery, cancer and other diseases. The data has been taken from National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

    While addressing to the community, PM Imran said, ” The purpose of this initiative is to tell you that our government is embracing you”

    At least 15 million people will benefit from this policy. The card holders could receive medical facilities up to Rs 720,000. The medical facilities would be available in more than 150 private and government hospitals.

    The transgender community members in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had also got their health cards in May to end discrimination.

  • Groom shot dead over filming woman at his wedding

    Groom shot dead over filming woman at his wedding

    A groom in Peshawar was killed on the day of his Walima ceremony
    over a dispute on filming the women who were present at the function.

    According to the family of the deceased, an argument over recording
    a video of the women dancing at the event led to the shooting incident.

    As per reports, some of the guests were offended by the act, which
    is considered unethical in most areas of the Khyber-Pakhtunkwa province.

    The suspect identified as Abid shot down the groom a few minutes
    before he was leaving for the reception.

       The accused, including one
    of the brothers-in-law of the groom, ran away after the incident. According to
    police, the body was shifted to the hospital for a postmortem with search to
    arrest the accused underway.

    A special team headed by the Faqeerabad DSP has been formed to
    arrest the suspects.