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  • Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi supports stricter rules on social media use

    Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi supports stricter rules on social media use

    During a press conference in Lahore held on Monday, federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi pointed out that everyone knows how people who share fake videos in the United Arab Emirates or the UK are treated by those countries.

    He added that while there should be freedom of speech in Pakistan, there must also be a law under which a person making a false accusation can be arrested.

    As for the issue of the increased street crime in Karachi, the Interior Minister acknowledged the fact that the crimes are taking place in the city, but he also asserted that the police are fighting there on a daily basis.

  • Halaat kb behtar honge? Finance Minister gives timeline for structural reforms

    Halaat kb behtar honge? Finance Minister gives timeline for structural reforms

    Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb spoke at the US think tank Atlantic Council in Washington DC, stating that Pakistan needs two or three years to implement structural reforms prescribed by International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    The minister remarked that Pakistan does not need any more policy prescription from the IMF because it knows what it needs to do in terms of reforms.

    “We have known the what and why not for years but for decades. […] It’s time for us to actually start moving the execution of these aspects and why we’re looking for a larger and extended program, so once we get into the execution we will need a two to three-year time period to go through the structural reforms,” said Aurangzeb, previously the head of Pakistan’s largest bank.

    The minister also remarked that if Pakistan failed to implement reforms, then it would be looking at another IMF program later.

    The Finance czar was of the opinion that Pakistan entered 2024 in a much better economic shape and credited the nine-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) programme.

    He also emphasized that needs to bring the under-taxed and untaxed sectors into the national tax net and also said that taxation process needed reforms.

  • BCCI concerned about American facilities in T20 World Cup

    BCCI concerned about American facilities in T20 World Cup

    The Indian Cricket Board has began to worry about the facilities in America to be used in the T20 World Cup.

    According to Indian media, Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) has sent a recce team to New York to review the hotel and other facilities.

    ICC event matches are being held in America for the first time and no one has an idea of the facilities in America.

    An official of the Indian board will review the hotel and other arrangements. Indian players will leave for the US after the conclusion of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, while the players of the teams that reached the knockout stage will leave later.

    The T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place from June 2 to June 29 in America and West Indies.

    In the past, the Indian board has been arranging accommodation for the team in separate hotels from other teams.

  • Video of man whipping a Moroccan player in Saudi league goes viral

    Video of man whipping a Moroccan player in Saudi league goes viral

    A video of a Moroccan football player being whipped by a man during a match in the Saudi Football League is viral on social media.

    In the video, a man can be seen whipping a player of the Etihad Football Club team while security personnel grab the player and move back.

    The incident took place in Abu Dhabi, where Al-Ittihad lost to Al Hilal in the final match of the Saudi Super Cup, after which a man lost his temper and lashed out at losing team member Moroccan footballer Abdul Razzaq Hamdullah.

    Hamdullah, a striker from Morocco, scored a goal for his team Al-Ittihad in the match, but they lost 1-4.

    The Saudi Football Federation says that the action of the so-called fan does not reflect Saudi football, and condemn the incident. They also said that fan rules and regulations will be revised to prevent such incidents in the future.

    Football club Al-Ittihad has not expressed any reaction to the incident and the man has been detained by security personnel.

  • Video: Three African runners let Chinese opponent win in Beijing Marathon

    Video: Three African runners let Chinese opponent win in Beijing Marathon

    A video clip is going viral on social media of the Beijing Marathon race, in which a trio of African runners can be seen letting their Chinese opponent win by one second.

    In the video, it can clearly be seen that runners Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat from Kenya, along with Dejene Hailu from Ethiopia, are racing towards the finish line while Chinese runner, He Jie is also keeping pace with them.

    The African runners can be seen slowing down to letting He Jie win, pointing toward the finish line.

    The broadcaster noticed that they all were together on the 21KM track. The Chinese runner won the gold medal while African runners won a joint silver medal.

    According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), Willy Mnangat from Kenya said, “I let China’s He Jie win race because he is my friend.”

    After six hours, Mnangat changed his statement saying, “I was not there to compete, it was not a competitive race for me”.

    The Beijing Sports Competition Management and International Exchange Center, stated that they have started an investigation into the race.

    On this ‘suspicious win’, World Athletics said, “We are aware of the footage circulating online from the Beijing Half Marathon and understand an investigation is currently being conducted by the relevant local authorities.”

  • Shayad abh gas aajaye gi? Sindh to draft policy to produce gas from Thar coal

    The Energy Department of the Sindh government is planning to draft a policy for the production of liquid gas from coal, stated the Deputy Director Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) Asif Mangi in an interview with WealkthPK.

    SCA consultant Dr Farid A Malik has also said that Thar coal was declared a subject for gasification in the international laboratory of South Africa and could save up to 500 million dollars in foreign exchange annually.

    As of now, Pakistan is highly dependent on imported energy resources. In terms of gas import, an energy system from Thar’s 175 billion tons of coal reserves could reduce the energy import bill by 50 percent.

    Coal gasification is a process that converts solid coal into a combustible gas, composed primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, by adding an oxidizing agent (air, oxygen, water vapor).

    The SCA conducted a study to evaluate the probability of Thar coal for conversion to liquid and gas by sending samples of the indigenous coal to the South African Laboratory.

    The study revealed that Thar coal has high tar yields of 20 percent (air dried basis) and high CO2 reactivity, which were typical of lignite coal and suitable for gasification.

  • Bushra Bibi wants to leave Banigala sub-jail and go to Adiala Jail, court refuses request

    Bushra Bibi wants to leave Banigala sub-jail and go to Adiala Jail, court refuses request

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) turned down Bushra Bibi’s application, where she had requested a transfer from Bani Gala sub-jail to Adiala jail.

    IHC judge Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the petition and showed discontent as the lawyer of the former first lady was late to court. Judge Aurangzeb rejected Bushra’s request, without the lawyer present.

    After the rejection was announced, Bushra’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen reached court and said that he was late due to the long wait at checkposts.
    After her request to move to jail was denied, Shaheen urged the court to do a medical examination and address her health concerns. Bushra has alleged that she is being ‘slowly poisoned‘ at home.

  • PML-N leaders lambast the Faizabad Commission report

    PML-N leaders lambast the Faizabad Commission report

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has criticized the recently published report of the Faizabad Sit-in Inquiry Commission which gave a clean chit to the former Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General (retd.) Faiz Hamid and blamed the then-government for the entire event.

    Asif opined that the report was neither authentic nor reliable, saying, “Faizabad commission was a joke as General (retd) Hamid and former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa did not appear before the commission but only political workers like me did.”

    Questioning the reliability of the commission members, the defence minister said that they were not serious when he appeared before the commission.

    “The Faizabad inquiry commission must introspect about whether it fulfilled its duty or not,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Khurram Dastgir, a senior PML-N member remarked on GTV that Pakistan has its own parliament and that is the only constitutional and right way to investigate this matter.

    “Without accruing criminal liability, parliament must call all those actors to inquire the allegations,” said the former defence minister.

    “We shouldn’t leave this up to the annals of history but bring out the truth through parliament,” remarked Dastgir.

    Remember the Faizabad dharna? The 2017 Faizabad sit-in was organized by Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), led by Khadim Rizvi, on November 8 to protest amendments in the Elections Bill specifically the word ‘oath’ changed to ‘declaration’. On November 25, the government clashed with protestors after many attempts of ‘peace talks’, resulting in nationwide protests and the deaths of more than six people across Pakistan.

    Earlier, the Faizabad Dharna Inquiry Commission was formed after accusations were raised that the then Major General DG (Counter Intelligence), General Faiz (who later became D.G. ISI) was involved in the dharna to pressurise the government and to investigate the TLP 2017 sit-in. The Commission has finalized its report, seven years later, and has sent its report to the federal government. The report completely exonerates General (retd.) Faiz Hamid from any responsibilities in the incident.

    The three-member commission was headed by retired police officer Syed Akhtar Ali Shah and consisted of former IGP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan and Additional Interior Secretary Khushal Khan.

    The report put the onus on the then-ruling PMLN government, for mishandling the right-wing religious party’s violent sit-in.

    The report said that the fallout from the Faizabad dharna was “more due to lack of courage of conviction of the leader handling the issue and in particular the government of Punjab”.

    The report stated that former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had “confirmed that no individual/organization was involved in organizing or facilitating Faizabad Dharna”.

    Moreover, Mr Ahsan Iqbal, Mr Zahid Hamid, Mian Shehbaz Sharif and the then Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief were also asked about the alleged role of agencies in supporting the march and they all denied such allegations.

  • Lahore High Court annuls clause of age difference between boy and girl in constitution

    Lahore High Court annuls clause of age difference between boy and girl in constitution

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the amendment of Child Marriage Act 1929, a law made 95 years ago under which the legal age of marriage for a boy is 18 years and for a girl is 16 years, annulling the provision of age difference between males and females.

    Justice Shahid Kareem of Lahore High Court issued a five-page written judgment in which it is said that there is a need to take effective measures against child marriage. The high court declared “discriminatory” the specific portion of the legislation — Section 2(a) and (b) of the 95-year-old Act — which fixes different legal ages for males and females eligible for marriage.

    “The extract set out above makes a compelling case based on physiological and sociological factors for the executive to step up and take effective measures to counter the debilitating effect of child marriage,” the verdict read.

    The court decision said that under the constitution, all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, no citizen can be discriminated against, whereas in the Child Marriage Act, 1929, the age difference between a boy and a girl is discrimination, making this age difference unconstitutional and void.

    It is said that the government should amend the Child Marriage Act in 15 days in the light of the court decision, reports The News.

    “In sum, the words in section 2(a) viz. “if a male ….and if a female is under sixteen years of age” being unconstitutional are held to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect. They are struck down,” the verdict stressed and added “The Govt of Punjab (its relevant department) is directed to issue the revised version of 1929 Act (based on this judgment) within the next fifteen days.”

  • Post-nikkah living arrangements spark debate on X

    Post-nikkah living arrangements spark debate on X

    In a recent X storm, a debate erupted over the issue of post-Nikkah living arrangements.

    An X (formerly Twitter) user asserted that if a girl demands that her husband gets her a separate house after nikkah, it is her right to do so.

    Lo and behold, the post sparked reactions, with opinions sharply divided.

    Another user, while acknowledging the importance of discussing living arrangements before Nikkah, expressed concern over the notion of leaving behind the husband’s elderly parents, suggesting it could be unfair, especially when they are in need of help in old age.

    She also reflected on the generational differences in mindset, expressing a sense of apprehensiveness about the younger generation – Gen Z.

    This was interjected with sarcasm as another user, pointing at the fact that women, too, have parents that they leave behind, said— it is not that they are raised by “wolves”.

    This remark highlighted the underlying tensions and biases surrounding traditional gender roles and societal expectations placed on women.

    More reactions: