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  • PCB unhappy with injured Shadab Khan walking out on teammate’s shoulder

    PCB unhappy with injured Shadab Khan walking out on teammate’s shoulder

    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed displeasure over how an injured Shadab Khan was carried off the field on the back of a fellow cricketer. Shadab Khan sprained his leg during a National T20 match in Karachi. A video surfaced online, showing him being carried out on the shoulders of his teammate.

    PCB is reportedly puzzled as to why Shadab was carried by his teammates instead of being carried out on a stretcher despite all necessary medical facilities being available at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex in Karachi.

    The Board is very concerned about the actions of the Rawalpindi team management. An inquiry has been started while PCB is considering issuing a show cause notice to the team management responsible for the incident.

    The incident took place two days ago during a match between Rawalpindi and Sialkot at the UBL Sports Complex, raising questions over the decision to carry Shadab Khan on the back of his teammate while adequate medical equipment, including a stretcher, was readily available at the ground. The PCB is investigating the matter.

  • Why are students in Islamabad protesting?

    Why are students in Islamabad protesting?

    A large number of university students in Islamabad protested on Tuesday demanding their universities and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) resolve their accommodation problem.

    Thousands of students were evicted from privately-run hostels after the Capital Development Authority (CDA) sealed many buildings over ‘non-conforming use’. It means that they were operating as a commercial enterprise without authorisation, reports The Express Tribune.

    The students also registered a public interest petition in Islamabad High Court (IHC) against CDA’s policy that has left around 30,000 students on the verge of eviction.

    The petition is filed under section 4(xxiii) of the Federal Universities Act and other laws stating that the universities are bound to create sufficient student accommodation on campus and also to “approve or license” hostels and lodgings existing in the city.

    However, in Islamabad, only five out of the 35 universities over the last two decades have taken any such steps. “As a result, students are compelled to reside in privately-managed student hostels located in the CDA sectors,” it informed.

    CDA issued non-conforming notices to over 70 hostels in November.

    According to the hostel owners, many students had to spend the night on the street after at least two hostels were shut down late in the evening without proper warning.

    The petition also points out that HEC has a statutory mandate to protect the interests of students including their accommodation matters, “but has so far failed to intervene in this crisis”.

    At the preliminary hearing, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued directions for the HEC chairman to grant a hearing to the students and redress their grievances.

  • ‘Massive dissapointment’: Malala’s failure to mention genocide in Gaza during lecture has Twitter angry

    ‘Massive dissapointment’: Malala’s failure to mention genocide in Gaza during lecture has Twitter angry

    Girls education activist Malala Yousafzai was selected to give the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg. In her speech, the Noble Prize Winner spoke at length about the gender apartheid in Afghanistan against women and girls, with no mention of the genocide of Gaza where the death toll has now crossed 15,000 civilians.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Malala urged for a ceasefire in Gaza, pointing to attention to the countless schools and homes that have been bombarded in the war, and for war criminals to be held accountable.

    Nelson Mandela was a staunch pro-Palestine supporter, who famously said during his visit to Gaza in 1999 that he “felt at home among compatriots”.

    “There is an apartheid state committing a genocide at the moment which you’ve been disappointingly silent on. If you take away anything from this trip, it should be the courage to speak up about what is happening in the here and now,” wrote a user.

    “Ironic that she mentioned apartheid, reason for Mandela’s struggle, yet not a word about Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians, brutal human rights violation and the ongoing genocide. Nothing but just a mouthpiece can’t be my inspiration anymore,” wrote another user.

    “She’s visiting South Africa, a country with apartheid history and she chooses to stay silent on an ongoing genocide. Mandela would have hated her bigotry if he was alive, his resistance was against the same mindset,” said a tweet.

    Previously Malala released a statement on October 10 grieving for the Palestinian and Israeli children who were caught in the war. Many were quick to slam the feminist activist for failing to recognise that this was a genocide where more Palestinian lives were being lost everyday.

    Many have drawn comparisons between Malala’s silence and climate change activist Greta Thunberg’s outspoken resistance against the genocide of Gaza. Greta published an op-ed for The Guardian where she criticised Israel as the death toll grows in Gaza, with more children passing away from Israeli airstrikes.

  • Green turtles fight to survive against Pakistan’s urban sprawl

    Green turtles fight to survive against Pakistan’s urban sprawl

    Against the backdrop of the mega port city of Karachi, choked with traffic and construction, four green turtles emerge from the frothy Arabian Sea seeking a spot to lay their eggs.

    Three immediately retreat to the water, put off by the glittering lights and heavy beat of a nearby beach party.

    But one trundles towards the end of the beach bank, its flippers whipping sand into the air before settling on a dry spot of sand in which to deposit 88 golf ball-sized eggs.

    Newly-hatched green turtles crawl towards the Arabian Sea, after being released by marine conservationists on Sandspit beach in Karachi. PHOTO: AFP

    Six conservationists tasked with protecting the last surviving turtle species to nest in Pakistan stand guard nearby.

    “Being human doesn’t only call for loving another human being. These animals also require the same attention and love,” said Ashfaq Ali Memon, the head of marine wildlife at Sindh province’s Wildlife Department.

    Sandspit Beach is a beloved recreation spot for the city’s 22 million residents, as well as a critical habitat for Pakistan’s endangered green turtles.

    Until the early 2000s, the beaches of Pakistan’s Arabian coast were the nesting habitat for five endangered turtle species, now only the green turtles come to shore to lay their eggs. PHOTO: AFP

    The eight-kilometre (five-mile) stretch of beach is being relentlessly encroached upon by the construction of concrete beach houses that have, metre-by-metre, eaten into the strip of sand where turtles nest.

    “Once I saw someone disturbing a turtle while she was laying eggs. She ran off for safety, leaving a trail of eggs behind her. That was a very painful scene,” said Haseen Bano, Memon’s wife who supports the work of the volunteers.

    Marine turtles have covered vast distances across the world’s oceans for more than 100 million years but human activity has tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient creatures, the World Wildlife Fund says.

    Until the early 2000s, the beaches of Pakistan’s Arabian coast were the nesting habitat for five endangered turtle species.

    Marine turtles have covered vast distances across the world’s oceans for more than 100 million years but human activity has tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient creatures, the World Wildlife Fund says. PHOTO: AFP

    Now only the green turtles come to shore to lay their eggs on just two beaches in Karachi and on uninhabited islands in Balochistan, further down the coast towards Iran.

    Alongside construction, noise and garbage pollution, WWF-Pakistan has also reported that diesel and petrol fumes have caused deformities in hatchlings.

    As well as major disruption to their nesting habitats, thousands of turtles are also injured or killed in fishing nets every year.

    Named for the greenish colour of their cartilage and fat, they are classified as endangered across the world.

    Sindh Wildlife Department has a dedicated team of six volunteers, paid according to fluctuating donations, who patrol the beaches after dark during nesting season between August and January.

    “When the turtles arrive to use the pits, our volunteers are present to take care of them and to ensure no one can disturb them,” Amir Khan told AFP.

    Data on the number of green turtles is not available in Pakistan but, for the past few years, the number of hatchlings has increased. PHOTO: AFP

    The 88 — a decent batch for a young female — were delicately collected the same night and taken to a protected coastal conservation centre and reburied in the sand for the 45-60 day hatching cycle, away from the danger of stray dogs, mongoose and snakes.

    Baby turtles just a few hours old and only about two inches long are meanwhile brought to the water’s edge in buckets by volunteers and released one-by-one, swimming off into the night.

    Data on the number of green turtles is not available in Pakistan but, for the past few years, the number of hatchlings has increased.

    In 2022, volunteers successfully hatched 30,000 eggs and the current year’s count has already passed 25,000 just over halfway through the season.

    Baby turtles just a few hours old and only about two inches long are brought to the water’s edge in buckets by volunteers and released one-by-one, swimming off into the night. PHOTO: AFP

    Khan said these “living dinosaurs” will continue to struggle against the accelerating urban sprawl of the city and the dangers posed by fishermen.

    “It feels good to take care of these turtles, they boost the beauty of our beach,” said Mohammad Javed, a 29-year-old volunteer who inherited the caretaker legacy from his father.

  • ‘Not me, Imran Ashraf decided to end the marriage’: Kiran Ashfaque

    ‘Not me, Imran Ashraf decided to end the marriage’: Kiran Ashfaque

    Kiran Ashfaque announced her marriage to PPP official Hamza Asim Chaudhary on Sunday, attracting a lot of attention, some of it from trolls. This was the actress’s second marriage, after her first one was to actor and host Imran Ashraf ended after four years.

    Kiran has boldly stepped up to shut down trolls who bullied the actress for quickly marrying after her divorce, reminding them she didn’t need permission from anyone for moving on. A commentator underneath her wedding pictures bullied the social media influencer for moving on to a man who wasn’t as attractive as Imran, to which Kiran responded:

    “He was the one who decided to end the marriage, no me. But Allah led me to a much better man than him.”

    On Tuesday, the actress shut down another troll who mocked the actress for getting married within a year after her divorce, responding that she wouldn’t sit around crying about her circumstances.

    “You mean I should have kept residing at my parents and remained depressed about my life while my parents were worried about me?”

  • In rare Israel rebuke, US restricts visas on extremist settlers

    In rare Israel rebuke, US restricts visas on extremist settlers

    Washington (AFP) – The United States said Tuesday it would refuse visas for extremist Israeli settlers behind a wave of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, as it also asked Israel to do more to spare civilians in Gaza.

    The visa measures amount to a rare concrete repercussion by the United States against Israelis in the nearly two-month-old war, in which President Joe Biden has nudged the US ally privately but also promised strong support.

    “We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

    “As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable,” he said.

    Blinken said the United States would refuse entry to anyone involved in “undermining peace, security or stability in the West Bank” or who takes actions that “unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities.”

    “Instability in the West Bank both harms the Israeli and Palestinian people and threatens Israel’s national security interests. Those responsible for it must be held accountable,” Blinken said.

    State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that dozens of settlers, who were not publicly named, would be affected. The visa ban also applies to their immediate family members.

    Restrictions on entering the United States will not apply to extremist settlers who are US citizens.

    Wave of violence

    Hamas militants stormed out of Gaza into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

    In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and has carried out air strikes and a ground offensive that have killed around 15,900 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

    Even though Hamas does not control the West Bank, some 250 Palestinians have been killed there by Israeli soldiers and settlers since October 7, according to a Palestinian government tally.

    The Palestinian Authority holds limited autonomy in the West Bank where Palestinians have complained of impunity over attacks and harassment carried out by settlers, some of whom have been serving in the Israeli military as forces are shifted to Gaza.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a coalition with far-right parties that strongly support Jewish settlement of lands seized in 1967, construction that is considered illegal under international law.

    Blinken visited both Israel and the West Bank last week just as a pause ended between Hamas and Israel.

    The State Department said that Israel has shown “improvement” in targeting its strikes in Gaza as it voiced concern about a repeat of the widespread bombing at the start of the war.

    “We will continue to monitor what’s happening and will continue to press them to do everything they can to minimize civilian harm,” said Miller, the State Department spokesman.

    The United States has also promised more than $100 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but has faced strong criticism in much of the Arab world for its diplomatic and military support of Israel.

    J Street, the left-leaning pro-Israel US group that is frequently critical of Netanyahu, praised the visa restrictions as an “important first step.”

    It said that the Biden administration should specifically restrict two far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet, Minister for National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

    Before entering politics, Ben-Gvir hung a portrait in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, the US-born settler who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers at a mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.

    The Biden administration has returned to the traditional US and international position of opposing settlements, although until now its stance has largely been rhetorical.

    Previous president Donald Trump switched course, with Blinken’s predecessor Mike Pompeo dropping objections to settlements and visiting one late in his term.

  • Karachi’s Jaweria arrives in India to marry Kolkata’s Sameer

    Karachi’s Jaweria arrives in India to marry Kolkata’s Sameer

    Another cross-border marriage is about to take place, this time in India. Jaweria from Karachi and Sameer from Kolkata are set to get married soon. Jaweria Khanum finally made it to India after a wait of five years to marry Sameer Khan Yousafzai.

    The two befriended each other on social media and got the approval of their families in 2018. The pair got engaged and started trying to get a visa to culminate their deep bond into marriage.

    Detailing the difficulties she met, Jaweria revealed that her visa was rejected twice, in addition to travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    She was eventually granted a 45-day visa after two rejections. The couple plans to marry in the first week of January, with Jaweria expressing joy at fulfilling her wish after five years.

    Following her arrival in India, she was received with a wholehearted welcome from her future in-laws. The couple is set to travel from Amritsar to Kolkata, where the marriage ceremony is scheduled to take place.

  • Sarfraz Bugti refuses to provide details of 14 bombing attacks by Afghans

    Sarfraz Bugti refuses to provide details of 14 bombing attacks by Afghans

    Caretaker government officials are not providing any information to support their claim that Afghan nationals were involved in 14 out of 24 suicide bombing attacks in Pakistan in 2023, Geo has reported.

    Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti disclosed on October 3 that from January until October, Pakistan has witnessed 24 suicide bombing attacks.

    “Of those 24 bombings, 14 have been carried out by Afghan nationals,” he added. “Afghan people attacked us. This includes the Peshawar mosque bombings and the one in Qilla Saifullah and Hangu, amongst others.”

    Sarfraz Bugti also claimed that the government has all the essential proof.

    “Afghan nationals are involved in the attacks on us. We have evidence. We have evidence of everything,” he stated.

    Sarfraz Bugti repeated his claim in multiple interviews with both international and Pakistani news channels.

    The interim government used these metrics to order all undocumented immigrants, as well as 1.73 million Afghan nationals, to leave the country or face deportation.

    Earlier last week, Sarfraz Bugti told Dawn TV that almost 400,000 Afghans have left Pakistan so far.

    Last month, Geo Fact Check reached out to the interior minister and asked for evidence of the involvement of Afghan nationals in suicide bombing attacks, but the interior minister hasn’t responded back until now.

  • Detained Iran protesters raped, sexually assaulted: Amnesty

    Detained Iran protesters raped, sexually assaulted: Amnesty

    Members of the Iranian security forces raped and used other forms of sexual violence against women and men detained in the crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted from September 2022, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

    Amnesty said in a report it had documented 45 such cases of rape, gang rape or sexual violence against protesters. With cases in more than half of Iran’s provinces, it expressed fear these documented violations appeared part of a “wider pattern.”

    “Our research exposes how intelligence and security agents in Iran used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish and inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on protesters, including children as young as 12,” Amnesty’s secretary general Agnes Callamard said.

    The London-based organization said it had shared its findings with the Iranian authorities on November 24 “but has thus far received no response.”
    The protests began in Iran in September 2022 after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22. Her family says she was killed by a blow to the head but this has always been disputed by the Iranian authorities.

    After rattling Iran’s clerical leadership, the movement lost momentum by the end of that year in the face of a fierce crackdown that left hundreds dead, according to rights activists, and thousands arrested, according to the United Nations.

    Amnesty said 16 of the 45 cases documented in the report were of rape, including six women, seven men, a 14-year-old girl, and two boys aged 16 and 17.

    Six of them — four women and two men — were gang raped by up to 10 male agents, it said.

    It said the sexual assaults were carried out by members of the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary Basij force, agents of the intelligence ministry, as well as police officers.

    The rapes on women and men were carried out with “wooden and metal batons, glass bottles, hosepipes, and/or agents’ sexual organs and fingers,” it said.

    As well as the 16 rape victims, Amnesty said it documented the cases of 29 victims of other forms of sexual violence such as the beating of breasts and genitals, enforced nudity, and inserting needles or applying ice to men’s testicles.

    It said it collected the testimony through interviews with the victims and other witnesses, conducted remotely via secure communications platforms.

    “The harrowing testimonies we collected point to a wider pattern in the use of sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities’ armory of repression of the protests and suppression of dissent to cling to power at all costs,” said Callamard.

    One woman, named only as Maryam, who was arrested and held for two months after removing her headscarf in a protest, told Amnesty she was raped by two agents during an interrogation.

    “He (the interrogator) called two others to come in and told them ‘It’s time’. They started ripping my clothes. I was screaming and begging them to stop.

    “They violently raped me in my vagina with their sexual organs and raped me anally with a drink bottle. Even animals don’t do these things,” she was quoted by the group as saying.

    A man named as Farzad told Amnesty that plain clothes agents gang raped him and another male protester, Shahed, while they were inside a vehicle.

    “They pulled down my trousers and raped me. I couldn’t scream out. I was really being ripped apart… I was throwing up a lot, and was bleeding from my rectum when I went to the toilet,” said Farzad who was released without charge a few days later.

    Amnesty said most victims did not file complaints against the assault for fear of further consequences, and those who did tell prosecutors were ignored.

    “With no prospects for justice domestically, the international community has a duty to stand with the survivors and pursue justice,” said Callamard.

  • Israel has ‘killed Christmas spirit’; Bethlehem reveals symbolic Christmas decoration this year

    Israel has ‘killed Christmas spirit’; Bethlehem reveals symbolic Christmas decoration this year

    The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, occupied West Bank, has new ideas for Christmas decorations as the season of festivity nears.

    Abandoning the conventional Christmas ornaments and Christmas tree decoration, the church has instead created debris symbolising the current destruction in Gaza. A pile of concrete pieces around an olive sapling can be seen in the setup, with a baby doll representing a trapped child under debris in the center.

    “While genocide is being committed against our people in Gaza, we cannot celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ this year in any way. We don’t feel like celebrating.,” the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem’s pastor Munzir Ishak told Anadolu Agency.

    “Our message to ourselves is this: God is with us in this pain. Christ was born in solidarity with those in pain and suffering. God is with the oppressed,” he said.

    “Secondly, we wanted to tell churches worldwide: ‘Unfortunately, Christmas in Palestine is like this.’ Whether Christian or Muslim, this is the situation we are going through in Palestine. We are exposed to a genocide war targeting all Palestinians. Unfortunately, when we think of the birth of Baby Christ, we think of the babies brutally killed in Gaza,” he added.

    Earlier last month in November, the Christian leadership in Bethlehem announced they will not have Christmas celebrations in the West Bank this year in light of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza which has resulted in killing more than 16,000 people.

    In a letter, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have unanimously agreed to cancel the commemoration of Christmas to conform to the spiritual significance of the holiday while Palestinians are being brutally killed by Israeli forces.

    City officials in Bethlehem also took down Christmas decorations in solidarity with Palestinians.