Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mian Naseer has challenged the nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan from NA-122 Lahore.
The PML-N leader raised an objection to the nomination papers of the former prime minister, saying that Imran Khan is convicted while his sentence is suspended, not over, in the Toshakhana case.
The PML-N leader further said in his objections that the nomination papers of the former prime minister should be rejected due to his conviction.
However, the Returning Officer (RO) said that the decision on Imran Khan’s nomination papers will be made after hearing objections raised.
On the other hand, the scrutiny of the nomination papers of PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and vice president Hamza Shehbaz has been completed.
Objections have also been filed on the nomination papers of PML-N senior vice president Maryam Nawaz for the Punjab Assembly seat PP 80 from Sargodha.
As Pakistan gears up for the upcoming general elections, internal tensions have surfaced within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), notably between leaders Taimur Khan Jhagra and Sher Afzal Marwat.
The disagreement revolves around Marwat’s decision to enter the electoral race in Peshawar.
Jhagra, a prominent PTI leader hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has expressed objections to Marwat’s choice to contest the elections scheduled for February 8 next year from the NA-32 constituency in Peshawar.
During a recent statement, Jhagra emphasized, “It would be more fitting if a leader from Peshawar contested from that constituency.”
He underscored that the party, rather than individual leaders, should determine the candidates’ election constituencies.
In response to these objections, Marwat, in an interview with Geo News, stated that he has no personal interest in participating in the elections.”The PTI founder has directed me to contest elections from Peshawar,” he added.
Marwat, who has already submitted his nomination papers, reiterated his commitment to contesting elections from Peshawar as per Imran Khan’s instructions.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has reported a significant influx of nomination papers, receiving a total of 28,626 submissions from aspiring candidates across the country vying to participate in the upcoming polls.
As per the ECP’s data seen by Geo News, 7,242 men and 471 women have filed nomination papers for national assembly seats (general), whereas for provincial assemblies, the number stands at 17,744 and 802, respectively.
The ECP is currently scrutinising the nomination papers filed by the candidates with the stage set to culminate on December 30 (Saturday).
Meanwhile, appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers can be submitted by January 3, and decisions on these appeals will be made by January 10.
The top electoral body will issue the list of candidates on January 11, with candidates having the option to withdraw until January 12 i.e., before the ECP allots electoral symbol on January 13.
As per the data shared by the ECP, a total of 459 and 1,365 nomination papers have been received by the electoral body for the reserved seats for national and provincial legislature, respectively.
Meanwhile, on the reserved seats for non-muslims, 361 men and 32 women have submitted their nomination papers for provincial assemblies. For national assembly seats, the number stands at 140 and 10, respectively.
A total of 7,713 people have submitted their nomination papers for national assembly seats (general), with the number standing at 18,546 for provincial assemblies (general).
Rapper Macklemore, a vocal supporter of the Palestine cause, has again reiterated support for Gaza during a concert in Seattle on December 21 at the Climate Pledge Arena. Before this, Macklemore had been on a successful tour in the United States and Europe for his new album ‘Ben’.
He began with his famous song ‘Thrift Shop’ and another one from his latest album. Then, he talked about the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza and expressed his support for a free Palestine. Macklemore has been supporting this cause throughout the war. During the concert, he dedicated about four minutes to speak about the situation, using a style that resembled a poem. This isn’t the first time Macklemore has spoken out about the Gaza conflict. He had addressed the issue during a large protest in Washington D.C.
“There isn’t a drop of antisemitic thought in my head or my blood. Never again means never again for all. Have we not learned the lessons?” “I love my Jewish brothers and sisters so much and my perspective is one that’s saying ‘Free Palestine’ is also rooted in your protection.”
Macklemore didn’t hesitate to say that the attacks in Gaza are a genocide. “I want every soul in this arena to feel the reflection of love, but there’s innocent humans out in Gaza getting murdered with our dollars and those precious human lives are an extension of us.
“The word genocide is such a point of contention for some. And it’s more hurtful than seeing dead babies getting pulled out of the crumbled cement and the dust. Comparative suffering leads to believing the lie: there’s a them and there’s a us.”
He continued, “At some point, we drew lines in the mud based on the color of our skin, the Gods we worshipped, and the Divine up above. And historically, we’ve exploited black and brown bodies to climb up the rungs, but the ladder doesn’t work when it depends on the oppression of some.”
Macklemore’s speech had even more significance because he spoke at the end of a big world tour and in his hometown of Seattle, in front of a huge crowd. “When I say ‘Free Palestine’, it’s not because I’m against anyone, it actually means we should protect everyone. It means equality for all, respect, peace, and love. It means a right to exist regardless of what sector you’re from,” Macklemore said. At the end of his speech, the artist shared a simple message, and the thousands of fans in the 18,000-capacity arena cheered loudly. “And imma say it till I die, with my chest to the sky. Free Palestine, the message is love.”
Former Secretary of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, said on Wednesday that election candidates don’t need to appear before returning officers (ROs) to submit their nomination papers or for scrutiny of papers.
Candidates who are hiding or proclaimed offenders need to appear before ROs to submit their nomination papers; otherwise, their nomination papers will be rejected.
As per Section 62 of the Election Act of 2017, the election candidate is not required to be present at the time of submitting nomination papers.
Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad also said that former President General Pervez Musharraf said in 2002 that a candidate needs to appear before RO to submit their nomination paper.
The election order was illegal as Musharraf was targeting former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif at that time, and he wanted to keep Banazir and Nawaz Sharif out of the elections.
He said that in 2007, the ECP amended the Election Order 2002, after which Bhutto and Sharif did not need to submit their nomination papers and appear in person at the time of scrutiny.
“At the time of scrutiny of nomination papers, the candidate’s election agent, proposer and a voter who has registered an objection under sub-section (1) shall be present. The returning officer shall give him reasonable opportunity of scrutinising all nomination papers. Nowhere in this section is mentioned that the candidate must be present before the returning officer at the time of submission of nomination papers or scrutiny,” he added.
Priyanka Chopra is the latest celebrity to join the calls for peace in Gaza. On Monday she reshared a post by UNICEF on Instagram in support of the ceasefire in Palestine as thousands of children and minors got killed, while several others are missing amid the Israeli bombardment.
Priyanka has served as the Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF since 2016. The agency offers humanitarian and developmental aid to children in over 190 countries and territories around the world.
The post shared by Priyanka is attributed to Catherine Russel, the executive director of UNICEF, and reads, “Children need a lasting humanitarian ceasefire.”
The reshared post was originally posted on December 2.
The caption urged all parties to ensure that children are protected and assisted, following their obligations under international humanitarian law. In the caption, the organisation wrote, “Today, the Gaza Strip is once again the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. After seven days of respite from horrific violence, fighting has resumed. More children will surely die as a result.”
It added, “Before the pause, more than 5,300 Palestinian children were reportedly killed in 48 days of relentless bombing – a figure that does not include many children still missing and presumed to be buried under rubble.”
In November, Priyanka, along with other prominent personalities, extended support through an open letter while calling on the US Congress and US President Joe Biden to undertake immediate action for a ceasefire in the Gaza region in the Middle East.
The Pakistan’s cricket team is performing worse and worse, day by day. There was a time when Pakistan cricket was at its peak, when everyone talked about the speed and bowling length of Pakistani pacers like Sheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. The time when the first over of Shaheen was dangerous for opening batsmen, when Indian openers could not stay on the crease after facing just a few overs by Shaheen, when the speedster’s each ball was 145+ kilometers per hour (KPS).
But every rise has a fall, and this fall had been authored by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The PCB used every bowler like a machine, not caring about their injuries, mental stress, rest, and many things that are related to the fitness of an athlete.
Before the ODI Asia Cup 2023, the Pakistan pace trio of Shaheen, Haris, and Naseem was considered the deadliest bowling attack in the world. The trio had made it difficult to chase 200 runs in ODI for the biggest teams in the world.
It was a T20 match, but Naseem Shah’s spells at the MCG brought a whole set of different vibes. pic.twitter.com/3TAB6PnZOJ
If you remember the T20 World Cup 2022 final when Pakistani batters could only score 137 runs on a good batting pitch, this trio didn’t allow English batsmen to move and chase easily, but due to the very low target, Pakistan lost the match. In the semi-final of the same tournament, Pakistan stopped the strongest team of the tournament New Zealand by just 152 runs.
There are many reasons but here are some prominent reasons that PCB is destroying Pakistan’s cricket:
1-No backup bowler for the main bowling lineup:
The PCB used only Shaheen, Haris, and Naseem for a long time and didn’t prepare any alternative bowler in case of injuries or any other issues with these bowlers. As a result, Pakistan lost in the Asia Cup due to the unavailability of Naseem Shah in the bowling department, and the ODI World Cup.
The PCB knew that Naseem was injured before the Asia Cup, but they forced him to play, and as a result, Naseem lost his biggest opportunity to play in the World Cup and rested for approximately one year. Now PCB is using Shaheen in all three formats despite knowing that if he continues bowling like this we will lose him in the next one or two years.
According to a report, Shaheen bowled 750 overs at the age of 20, while Protease’s Kagiso Rabada was the second with only 344 overs. Shaheen, who bowled every ball on 145+ KPH, is now bowling at an average of 135 KPH.
India’s Hardik Pandya was injured during the World Cup and Muhammad Shami replaced him, but the replacement was much better than Pandya as Shami became the highest wickets-taker in the World Cup. Every team had a strong backup to give some rest to the main lineup.
2-No permanent spinner in the bowling lineup:
The Pakistan team has no permanent spinner in the bowling lineup. We used Shadab, Nawaz, and Iftikhar as our spinners for a long time. The pacers were covering the spinner’s mistakes. During the ODI World Cup most wickets were taken by our pacers. Where every team had a good spinner we were relying on Shadab, Nawaz, and Iftikhar who are all-rounders.
I don’t know how our selection committee works, we had only one spinner Abrar Ahmed and we included him too in the reserved squad. I mean are you serious? You are going to play the biggest event of Cricket without any spinner?
During Pakistan team’s tour of Australia, we don’t have any good spinners. Australia is playing with a proper bowling lineup in which Mitchel Starc is leading the pace department while Nathan Lyon is one of the best red ball spinners leading the spin department.
In the first test match of this tour in which Australia defeated Pakistan by 360 runs, we had only Agha Salman as a spinner.
3-Giving no chance to young batsmen:
The PCB is not giving any proper chance to young batsmen like Muhammad Haris and Saim Ayub. PCB allows Imam ul Haq to play as the opener in the Asia Cup and World Cup but does not give a single chance to these young batters who were more impactful than Imam as an opener.
PCB included Haris in the reserve squad of the World Cup and Imam in the main squad. On the other hand, where each team’s openers were playing on a run rate of 8+, our batsmen with a strike rate of 4 would have returned to the pavilion before the end of the power play and left all the burden on the middle order batsmen.
4-Involving national players in personal controversies
Former captain Babar Azam’s chat was leaked on ARY during the Wasim Badami’s show. This was a massive controversy because according to Badami, Chairman PCB Zaka Ashraf allowed him to show that leaked screenshot of Babar Azam’s chat with PCB’s CEO Arslan Naseer.
5-Selection of player/captain on personal desires
An audio leak of PCB’s Chairman Zaka Ashraf with an unknown woman came to light in which Zaka Ashraf was talking about Babar Azam’s removal as the national cricket team’s captain and how Shaheen Afridi was preferred over Muhammad Rizwan as T20 team captain.
This is the time when PCB should avoid these propagandas and should think about national cricket otherwise this may lead to the destruction of the only happiness of Pakistanis.
In 2023, Pakistan’s TV drama music has been fantastic! The dramas themselves may have been hit or miss, but the music was always spot on. Let’s check out the best music from Pakistani dramas in 2023.
Top Pakistani Dramas OST List
1. Tere Bin
OST Name: Tere bin Channel: Geo Entertainment Singer: Shani Arshad Lyrics: Sabir Zafar Youtube :Views: 78 Million
The beautiful music from the TV show ‘Tere Bin’ expresses the emotions and passion of the story. Shani Arshad’s singing is amazing and heartfelt, and it perfectly matches the on-screen connection between Murtasim (played by Wahaj Ali) and Meerub (played by Yumna Zaidi).
2. Ishq MurshidOST Name: Channel: HUM TV Singer: Ahmed Jahanzeb Lyrics: Sabir Zafar Youtube :Views: 6.1 Million
‘Ishq Murshid’ unfolds a compelling romantic story revolving around the two main characters, Shahmeer Sikandar and Shibra Salman. It’s lovely OST was performed by Ahmed Jahanzeb while the lyrics were by Sabir Zafar.
Enjoy Asim Azhar’s soothing voice in the melodious OST of ‘Mein’, featuring the perfect on-screen duo, Wahaj Ali and Ayeza Khan. Viewers applauded the captivating soundtrack that adds emotion to the show, enhancing the overall viewing experience.
The OST of Mujhe Pyar Hua Tha is the monster hit ‘Kahani Suno’, originally sung by Kaifi Khalil.This OST is one of the most viral songs of 2023.
5. Kabli Pulao
OST Name: Aankehn Channel: Green Entertainment Singer: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Lyrics: Imran Raza Youtube :Views: 14 Million
Green Entertainment presents the melodious OST of drama ‘Kabli Pulao’, composed by Sahir Bagga. The romantic song adds charm to the show. Don’t miss out on another beautiful track, ‘Tooti Phooti Si,’ in this engaging drama. Enjoy the musical journey with Kabli Pulao, filled with emotions and captivating tunes.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) accepted the nomination papers of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif from NA-130 Lahore constituency.
PML-N leader Bilal Yaseen submitted the nomination papers of the former prime minister.
He also confirmed that ECP accepted the papers.
Sharif has submitted nomination papers from Lahore and Mansehra constituencies.
“By the grace of Allah, Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers were accepted from NA-130,” said Bilal Yaseen, adding that ECP has raised no objections as yet.
“Nawaz Sharif will succeed from this constituency in the February 8 elections. He will be elected prime minister of Pakistan for the fourth time,” he added.
Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer, Amjad Parvez, also told the media that “the returning officer has said that everything is complete from your side.”
In a strategic alliance between Great Wall Motor (GWM) and SAZGAR Engineering Works Limited, the introduction of the Haval brand to Pakistan last year marked the commencement of a highly successful journey for the brand in the country.
Standing out among Haval’s impressive vehicle lineup is the HEV (Hybrid), distinguished as Pakistan’s first locally assembled hybrid SUV. Achieving this milestone in November 2022 propelled the HEV to the forefront, making it the most sought-after SUV in the market.
“Hybrid and Electric vehicles are the future… and we are very proud to be spearheading this EV revolution in Pakistan by bringing the first ever locally assembled hybrid to the country”, said Mian Ammar Hameed, Executive Director Marketing at SAZGAR.
After enjoying almost a year of head start as the only locally assembled hybrid of Pakistan, Haval H6 HEV finally has some competition in Hyundai Sante Fe and recently launched hybrid of Toyota i.e. the Corolla Cross but neither of them has been able to knock the Haval HEV off its perch at the top of the hybrid summit in Pakistan. A comparison with recently launched Corolla Cross can be observed as follows:
Haval has gone into the competition with initiative firmly on its side with recent unveiling of its absolutely stunning television commercial, showcasing a level of quality that can rival top-tier international productions, while maintaining a stark distinction of its own. This not only reflects the brand’s commitment to excellence but also reinforces its credibility.
The visually stunning TV ad portrays the vehicle emerging from a dramatic lightning storm, symbolizing the harmonious blend of the vehicle’s raw electric power with its exquisite design and aesthetic. The CGI work done here has surely catapulted automotive advertisement in Pakistan to a brand new level.
Take a moment to view the captivating video below and share your insights in the comments section!
The year 2023 was full of memorable moments of sports but here are some best moments that made us go wow.
1-Australia wins the men’s ODI World Cup
The Australian cricket team won the ODI World Cup in the November, pulling off the ultimate upset after defeating hot favourites and hosts India. Australia won the title by six wickets, brushing off the mighty Indian lineup with ease.
2-Spain wins women’s FIFA World Cup
Spain defeated the in-form England in the final of the FIFA World Cup final with a lead of 1-0. This was Spain’s first ever women’s trophy.
3-Pakistan became the No.1 ODI team
On May 6, Pakistan became the number one team in the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI ranking under the captaincy of Babar Azam, marking the first time when the green shirts topped the list.
4- Pakistan qualify for FIFA World Cup qualifier’s round 2 for first time
The Pakistan football team qualified for the first time in the history of FIFA World Cup qualifier’s second round. In the first round Pakistan defeated Cambodia by 1-0.
5-Virat Kohli breaks Sachin Tendulkar 50-centuries record
Indian star batsman Virat Kohli broke batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 50 ODI centuries, achieving the feat in the ODI World Cup’s semi-final match against New Zealand in Mumbai.
6- LeBron became all time highest scorer in NBA history
LeBron James became the all time highest scorer in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. During a match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunders, LeBron James surpassed the record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1989.
Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 38387 points in his career while LeBron James has scored 38390 points in his career.
