Nineteen children have been arrested on charges of blasphemy across Punjab between January 1, 2023 and October 16, 2023.
In an appeal submitted to the Punjab Information Commission by the director of Legal Awareness Watch, Sarmad Ali, it was revealed by the Inspectorate General of Punjab Prisons that 19 minors were arrested out of whom six are in prison while the rest have been released, The News has reported.
Sarmad Ali explained to The News that several children in the country are facing charges carrying severe punishment. Some of these children are not even allowed to maintain their juvenility as explained by the law. Under Section 8 of the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, he explained, “Thus, owing to inadequate and effective implementation of [the] cited law which was promulgated in May 2018, many children have been [held] without fair trial or [have been] sentenced to severe punishment in sheer ignorance of the international standards and conventions which the state of Pakistan is signatory to.”
The law also explains that children-even if dangerous-must be given their due rights. Sarmad added, “Children that are accused of having infringed any penal law must not be treated as adults as they cannot foresee the consequences of their actions.”
Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh has been criticised on social media after a video of him praising controversial actor Johnny Depp went viral. The ‘Rocky And Rani’ actor was honoured with ‘The Red Sea: Honoree Award’, and in his acceptance speech the actor chose to praise Johnny by calling him his “screen idol.”
“I want to go off-script for a moment here. One of my screen idols is in the house, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Johnny Depp. My good sir, I’ve followed your work since Edward Scissorhands and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. What an honour to be receiving this in your presence. Thank you for everything that you’ve unknowingly taught me about the craft, sir. Master of transformation, versatility, something that inspired by you.”
Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard were embroiled in a public defamation case in 2022. The jury sided mostly with Depp, finding Heard guilty of defamation, penalising her for $10 million agile Depp was told to pay her $1 million.
X (formerly Twitter) users were outraged at Ranveer, mostly regarded as one of the non-toxic male leads in Bollywood, paying homage to a Depp.
“embarrassing..these celebs esp from bw don’t stand up for anything and when given a public platform they would commit atrocities like praising a straight up abuser. just accept ur award and leave like i am sure he doesn’t give a fuck. ranveer would ass-lick just abt anybody.”
embarrassing..these celebs esp from bw don’t stand up for anything and when given a public platform they would commit atrocities like praising a straight up abuser. just accept ur award and leave like i am sure he doesn’t give a fuck. ranveer would ass-lick just abt anybody. https://t.co/TPc7u8bIbN
“Powerful men side with each other and get hailed for low effort and unimpressive “acts of love”. Idealizing a rapist and abuser reflects a lot on you. It is easier to speak two lines praising your super rich and successful wife but hard to stand up for other women/survivors,” another user wrote.
Powerful men side with each other and get hailed for low effort and unimpressive “acts of love”. Idealizing a rapist and abuser reflects a lot on you. It is easier to speak two lines praising your super rich and successful wife but hard to stand up for other women/survivors. https://t.co/kNV9UTj1pU
The prime-time show anchored by Mehdi Hasan, one of the strongest advocates of the Palestinian cause on American news networks, has been cancelled by MSNBC network.
The decision was first reported by the news website Semafor on Thursday. The host of The Mehdi Hasan Show is a British-born journalist known for his hard-hitting interviews. He is a rare critic of Israeli policies on USA cable news and has a huge fanbase. The show was broadcast live on Sundays at 8 pm US Eastern time and covered national politics, current affairs, and global news.
Mehdi Hasan will instead now become an on-camera analyst and guest host. His weekend show will be replaced by an additional hour of Ayman, the news program hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin.
Hasan was recently very vocal about Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip. Earlier in November, he interviewed Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former ambassador to the UK, questioning him firmly on the high Palestinian civilian death toll, the Palestinian children that were killed by the Israeli military, and related matters. Hasan asked: “They’re people your government has killed. You’ve killed children. You accept that, right? Or do you deny that?” To which Regev replied: “No, I do not.”
“That was also a mistake”
I asked Prime Minister Netanyahu’s senior adviser Mark Regev about the Israeli spokesmen who have falsely claimed that there were terrorist names on a hospital calendar & that Palestinians were faking their injuries on camera:pic.twitter.com/UGLsEktyFf
MSNBC President Rashida Jones said the reshuffle aims to “better position” the network as it heads into the 2024 US elections.
Before what is reportedly the official cancellation of the Mehdi Hasan show, MSNBC faced criticism for temporarily taking Muslim anchors off air during the war in Gaza. The current decision has also attracted a lot of criticism.
Noura Erakat slammed the network by saying “He should be amplified, not shut down.”
MSNBC cancels Mehdi Hasan’s show@msnbc make this make sense. @mehdirhasan’s program has felt like an oasis on air and more needed than ever. His program w Mark Regev was a whole class on journalistic method. He should be amplified,not shut down. https://t.co/r5Saq1ssdm#Gaza
Columnist and Journalist Owen Jones praised Mehdi’s interviewing skills and said, “Look what’s happening: the few mainstream voices who challenge Israel’s mass slaughter of Gaza are under attack.”
There’s no better interviewer than Mehdi Hasan: forensic, razor-sharp, an encyclopaedic knowledge.
US journalist David Sirota noted that Hasan has reported critically on both Republicans and Democrats. “Canceling him is another step in the deliberate homogenization of news content into pure red-vs-blue infotainment,” Sirota wrote on X.
The thing is, @mehdirhasan has been one of the only people in cable TV news who has been willing to report critically on both parties. Canceling him is another step in the deliberate homogenization of news content into pure red-vs-blue infotainment. https://t.co/fsQfNsSkKE
Host and author Charlie Skyes appreciated Mehdi and called him the most gifted interviewer in US Media.
We come from different ends of the political spectrum and often disagree, but I’m sick at heart over all this.
@mehdirhasan is a once in a generation talent; The most gifted interviewer in US media, and nothing has changed my opinion about that https://t.co/aycNeNAQtK
Kenneth Roth, former director of Human Right’s Watch proclaimed the decision as outrageous.
It is outrageous that @MSNBC is canceling the show of @mehdirhasan. He is a superb interviewer for getting at the truth, and has been an honest, principled, and outspoken critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Was his criticism behind this move? https://t.co/dQOn93Loua
Race theorist and author Tim Wise lambasted MSNBC that the network should be ashamed of its decision.
Canceling Mehdi Hasan’s show makes no sense, except as retaliation for his honest approach to the attack on Gaza and general unwillingness to pander to bad faith actors in the name of “balance.” @MSNBC should be ashamed.
In a dramatic turn of events within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), founding member and dissenter Akbar S. Babar has raised concerns over the nomination of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan for the party chairman’s position.
Accusing the move of being more of a “selection than an election,” Babar, who previously filed the foreign funding case against the PTI, expressed doubts about the transparency and credibility of the intra-party election process.
پاکستان تحریک انصاف کورکمیٹی کی جانب سے انٹراپارٹی انتخابات کی تیاریوں پر اطمینان کا اظہار۔
تیاریاں کیا ہیں، کسی کو کچھ پتا نہیں۔چیف الیکشن کمشنر آج مقرر کیا گیا، الیکشن ایک دن بعد ہے اور تیاریاں مکمل بھی ہو گئیں۔
He said, “This must be a first that elections for the party’s central leadership have been announced without its electoral college in place as the electoral college of PTI’s central leadership is an elected provincial leadership which does not exist.”
According to Babar, the prolonged intra-party election process, initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic with a one-year extension granted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has failed to live up to the party’s commitment to transparent and fair elections.
Babar proposed that the Commission should appoint ‘obervers’ to monitor the PTI intra-party elections as it is already discussing the matter.
Babar, who served as the party’s central information secretary and vice-president in the past, claimed that it appears that the PTI has learnt hardly any lesson from its past history of holding rigged intra-party elections.
The decision to nominate Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, described as a ‘newcomer,’ has sparked internal discord within the party.
Some party leaders drew parallels between this nomination and the controversial appointment of Usman Buzdar as the Punjab chief minister, a move that faced criticism for its perceived lack of merit.
The selection of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan over other loyalists within the party, such as Ali Muhammad Khan, Senator Humayun Mohmand, and Advocate Hamid Khan, has raised eyebrows among insiders.
One party leader, speaking anonymously to Dawn, voiced apprehensions about Khan’s association with PPP leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, considering it an unwise move given the sensitive nature of the party chairman position.
“Unfortunately, Imran Khan has again done an experiment, just like Usman Buzdar, who left him when his difficult time started. The position of the party chairman is very sensitive and it could be used against the party,” he feared.
Amid rumours of delay in the elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has released the final list of delimitation of constituencies in the national and four provincial assemblies.
This progress paves the roads for the election schedule, which is more likely to be announced in the first week of December, as per the electoral body.
Previously, the ECP had said that the final list of delimitations for constituencies would be published on December 15, but it was later revised to November 30.
According to the notification issued by the ECP, the National Assembly (NA) has a total of 266 seats; 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities.
Balochistan has a total of 20 NA seats, including 16 general and four reserved seats for women; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 45 general NA seats and 10 reserved seats for women; Sindh has a total of 75 NA seats, of which 61 are general and the remaining 14 are reserved for women.
On the other hand, considering population, Punjab is a big province, and it has 141 NA seats, of which 32 are reserved for women. The federal capital has three general NA seats, with no reserved seat for women.
Article 106 pertains to the constituencies of the four provincial legislatures. According to this article, Balochistan comprises 51 general seats, with 11 reserved for women and three for non-Muslims, making a total of 65 seats.
In the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there are 115 general seats, along with 26 reserved for women and four for non-Muslims, bringing the total number of seats in the legislature to 145.
Aimal Wali Khan, the President of Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has accused Punjab authorities of engaging in harassment against Pakhtuns in the province.
“The Punjab government has initiated a crackdown on Pakhtuns from KP and Balochistan, who live there for work, trade, and business. If it doesn’t stop harassing Pakhtuns, we won’t allow the presence of non-locals in our province even if they’re government employees,” the ANP leader told a public meeting in the Titwalan area of Martung tehsil on Thursday.
عوامی نیشنل پارٹی پی کے 30 شانگلہ کے زيرا ہتمام ورکرز کنونشن، کنونشن میں کثیر تعداد میں ذمہ داران اور کارکنان نے شرکت کی۔ صدر اے این پی پختونخوا ایمل ولی خان کنونشن سے خطاب کررہے ہیں۔#ANPShangla | #Vote4ANPpic.twitter.com/MMbt2qtft5
Highlighting the right of individuals with national identity cards issued by NADRA to live or work anywhere in the country, Khan emphasized that Pakhtuns should enjoy the same rights as people from other ethnic backgrounds.
He urged the central government to release due funds to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa promptly.
Khan further addressed economic disparities, stating that while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced 6,000 megawatts of electricity and sold it to the center at a nominal rate, its residents were compelled to purchase the same electricity at a significantly higher cost.
The ANP leader said the people shouldn’t sell votes for “plastic pipes, water tanks and electricity poles” and should instead vote for the ANP for their and next generations’ development.
Lots of chatter about who will take Shangla online … the answer was given today ️ pic.twitter.com/LVP81mnHRr
He regretted that many coal miners from Shangla lost their lives due to a lack of safety measures at work. He blamed the issue on “bad governance and the corrupt system.”
He said coal mine workers significantly contributed to economic development but the state and government had neglected their welfare and development.
“As a lawmaker, I’ll strive for the workplace protection and welfare of miners,” he said.
The ANP leader said in the upcoming elections, the people should reject those, who had been making false promises to them for the last over a decade, and should vote for the ANP for their development.
ANP candidates Aurangzeb Khan (NA-11), Faisal Zeb Khan (PK-30), Altaf Khan (PK-29), district president Azam Khan and leader Gulab Shahpuri also addressed the meeting.
Zara Noor Abbas could win the cutest pregnancy announcement award if there ever was one, with a hilarious picture she posted holding a desert with a simple caption: “Round 2- – InshaAllah ”.
The actress married Asad Siddiqui in 2017, becoming pregnant in 2021. But sadly, the actress announced she had suffered a miscarriage and lost her son. We’re praying for her health and hope a miracle lies ahead.
It was also wonderful to witness celebrities showering love and prayers upon Zara and her husband. A-listers Saboor Aly, Mawra Hocane and other actors sent warm congratulations in the comments.
Among the celebratory notes was actress Merub Ali, who expressed her joy at becoming a khala.
Now go stand in a corner and think about what you did!
There were unverified rumours floating around the internet about a secret marriage between singer Taylor Swift and her former partner actor Joe Alwyn. The two were in a relationship for over six years, with Joe being the subject of several albums. The pair parted ways amicably in March during the early stages of Taylor’s widely successful Eras Tour.
Popular anonymous pop culture account Duex Moi, known for leaking celebrity gossip on their Instagram account, made a wild claim that Taylor and Joe had a secret marriage ceremony in 2020 which was never made legal. The account claimed they were ready to “die on this hill.”
But now Taylor’s publicist, Tree Paine, has stepped up to slam the page for spreading “fabricated lies”.
“Enough is enough with these fabricated lies about Taylor from Deuxmoi. There was NEVER a marriage or ceremony of ANY kind. This is an insane thing to post. It’s time for you to be held accountable for the pain and trauma you cause with posts like these.”
Enough is enough with these fabricated lies about Taylor from Deuxmoi. There was NEVER a marriage or ceremony of ANY kind. This is an insane thing to post. It’s time for you to be held accountable for the pain and trauma you cause with posts like these. pic.twitter.com/cFi0wQc9cp
The shut down of marriage rumours comes at the time when Taylor Swift released ‘You’re Losing Me’ on streaming platforms, which is widely speculated to be about why her relationship with Joe Alwyn ended. Many fans felt their hunch was confirmed with one of the lyrics being ‘Well I wouldn’t marry me either. A pathological people-pleaser.”
Previously, Taylor had danced around the topic of marriage when writing love songs about Joe. For instance, in ‘Paper Rings’ she wrote “I like shiny things, but I’ll marry you with paper rings.” Similarly in the track ‘Peace’ from the album ‘Folklore’, Taylor discussed how she would “give you my wild, give you a child”, in a track lamenting how she could never give her lover peace because of the scrutiny her relationships receive from the media.
An upcoming biopic titled ‘The Apprentice’ is set to explore the life of controversial real estate businessman and former president Donald Trump, tracing the rise of his business empire in the 70’s and 80’s. The film will also star ‘Succession’ alum Jeremy Strong and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalov as the late Ivana, Trump’s first wife.
There were big questions about who will play Trump, and we couldn’t have been more surprised that the final name is…… Sebastian Stan.
Y’all see the resemblance? Yeah, me neither.
The film was announced in 2018, with Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi set to direct and co-write the project along with Gabriel Sherman. Abbasi’s previous credits including directing the last two episodes of HBO original series ‘The Last Of Us’. He has also received the Un Certain Regard from the Cannes Film Festival for ‘Border’ (2018).
Cricket is the third most popular sport in the world with approximately 2.5 billion fans spread across the globe. The gentleman’s game, mocked at times for being slow, has morphed into a fast-paced, adrenalin- pumping speedy ride.
The first international match between two countries was played between United States of America (USA) and Canada in New York in 1844, but the fact that the International Cricket Council (ICC) did not exist in 1844, means this match wasn’t recognizes as an official game. The first official cricket match was played between Australia and England in Melbourne in 1877.
The first cricket World Cup was organized in 1975 in England, with the mighty West Indies walking away with the trophy.
How India destroying cricket for other countries?
India won just two matches in the 1975 and 1979 World Cup tournaments, the weakest team at that time. Wisden Sports magazine’s Chief Editor David Frith had infamously written in an article that a team like India should not play in the tournament if they have not improved and if a team like India wins, “I will eat my words.”
In the 1983 World Cup, India won four out of six matches in the group stage, cementing their place in the semi-finals where they defeated England by six wickets.
The final was played between India and West Indies, the hot favorite team after winning two World Cups in a row. All the odds were stacked against India, but the country created history on June 25, defeating West Indies at Lords, and lifting the Cup.
The historic win gave Narendra Kumar Prasadrao (NKP) Salve the confidence he needed to grab the mantle of the British’s own game from them. NKP Salve befriended Sri Lanka and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to form the Asian Cricket Committee, on which ICC had no control in 1984. They arranged a tournament between Asian teams, named Asia Cup. This was Salve’s way of telling Britishers that the southern countries could host tournaments too.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had no money to host a World Cup at first. Salve asked Pakistan to host the next world cup together. Then Salve contacted Dhirubhai Ambani with the help of Indira Gandhi. When the money was arranged, Mr. Salve put forth his proposal at the next ICC Meeting.
There was no rule before this that a new nation will host a World Cup. NKP Salve proposed a Rotational Policy. According to this policy “A new nation will host the World Cup after every four years.”
Australia and New Zealand agreed, . And when voting took place, India and Pakistan got the hosting of 1987 World Cup.
It was a success, but BCCI didn’t make any money 30 years ago. Even after the 83 tournament, Indian players would get INR 200 per day allowance and 1500 as match fees.
The South African cricket team was returning to international cricket in 1991 after a gap of 21 years and they were going to play their first three match ODI series against India.
At that time Indian television Doordrshan was broadcasting these matches and they were charging money for broadcasting instead of paying, and BCCI was just earning on tickets and on-ground advertisements.
But this time they kept the broadcasting rights in their hand and sold it to South African television channel for $200,000.
On the same year India opened their market for globalization foreign companies. New money started floating into India at the same time, these foreign companies wanted to market their products in India and nothing was watched more than cricket.
Because of satellite television, cricket was now seen even in small villages of India. It was great for these companies and BCCI. In 1993, India sold broadcast rights of England’s tour of India to a broadcasting company TWI for $600,000.
In no time, BCCI became the richest cricket board in the world. However, things change after you get rich. Remember, how NKP Salve grabbed 1987’s World Cup from England. It was decided according to rotational policy that England will host 1996’s World Cup.
But in 1996, a broadcaster named Mark Mascarhanes made an offer to BCCI that if India hosts the tournament, then he would give $ 14 million for broadcasting. BCCI liked the offer and got the hosting of 1996 World Cup.
But in 1996, Australia and West Indies refused to play their matches in Sri Lanka. Then a BCCI administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya thought, ICC’s next Chairman should be an Asian.
In 1997, Dalmiya contested ICC elections, and won.
But the question is, how?
Actually Mr. Dalmiya knew one thing, that most of ICC’s full time members would vote for the English Boards favorite candidate. At that time, associate teams had one vote each in these elections, but the representatives of these associate teams had no money to be present in the elections being held in London.
So Mr. Dalmiya bought tickets for representatives of associate teams, booked hotels in London for them, even hosted a dinner party for them before elections and when elections happened these representatives voted for Mr. Dalmiya and he won. Now an Indian was the boss of the world of cricket.
Indian Premier League (IPL) is the second richest sports league in the world, with a net worth surpassing 15 billion dollars but IPL is not the only T20 cricket league in the world. Every cricket Board has made their own cricket leagues, but BCCI does not allow their players to play in these leagues.
BCCI knows, value of these leagues might increase because of Indian viewership and if their value increases it might dilute the power of BCCI. So Indian players are not allowed to participate.
These boards have become so weak that they have to listen everything that BCCI orders because these boards only make money when India tours their countries. BCCI uses this very thing to get their things done in world cricket.
In 2012 England’s former Chief Justice submitted an independent report to ICC In which, he suggested some changes in governance. He felt that ICC shouldn’t be a Member Club Cricket Power is leaning to one side especially towards India. Associate nations aren’t getting enough funds, cricket won’t grow in these countries without funds.
BCCI takes the biggest share, ICC has only 12 full time members and 96 associate members. These members are underfunded. There is no chance that, cricket will grow in these countries without funds. Once $30,000 were given to the Chinese cricket board to improve cricket there. [2008 stats, current stats are not published]. China’s population is around 1.5 billion, how’s that even possible, that cricket will grow in country like China with such a small fund?
It’s not only about associate nations, even full time members are being further weakened. If we see the latest ICC Men’s Future Tours Program India will play most of the matches with top teams and with Zimbabwe and Ireland, India will play three and two matches respectively in five years, when Zimbabwe and Ireland are also full time members.
As far as the administrators of the game are concerned, they don’t care about West Indies Cricket. West Indies Cricket Board is bankrupt today, two times world champion team couldn’t even qualify for World Cup 2023, just because of lack of funds. How will these teams, cricket boards grow without the funds?
ICC is unofficially run by BCCI and instead of growing the game, they are shrinking it. In 2007’s World Cup, 16 teams played the tournament, and in 2023’s, only 10 teams participated. Apart from this there were 26 teams in International Association Football Federation (FIFA) World Cup 2006, and now there are 48 teams participating in 2026 World Cup.
You know why?
In 2007’s World Cup, India was eliminated early from the tournament, they could only play three matches. Broadcasters had to face a loss. If India had played more matches, broadcasters would have benefitted. BCCI reduced the teams and the format is designed in a way that India will definitely play nine matches.
BCCI doesn’t care about winning World Cups, they just want to make money. I feel, this sport should spread like football all around the world. With only 10 teams, it’s becoming boring and I think cricket has power to spread peace and happiness.
HowBCCI is killing Cricket:
You won’t believe it, from 2024 onwards, there will be no international cricket played for 2.5 months, only IPL. Isn’t this the murder of the sport we love so much?
Indian cricket is mostly run by Indian politicians and businessmen. Arun Jaitley’s son is president of Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). Rajasthan’s CM’s Son Vaibhav Gehlot is President of Rajhistan cricket Association (RCA,) Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew is a President of Mumbai cricket association (MCA), Anurag Thakur, BJP politician, was a president Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) from there he became a president of BCCI.
Today his brother is a president of HPCA. Ashok Sigamani is president of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), the son of a Minister Jyotiradhitya Scindia is the president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), his father was president of BCCI.
BCCI treasurer Chirayu Amin’s son Pranav Amin is Bihar cricket association (BCA)’s President, Sourav Ganguly’s brother is a President Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the most fun example of this is Gujarat cricket associations former president was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He gave that post to Amit Shah after becoming Prime Minister and today, Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah is the secretary of BCCI and I’m only talking about a few states here.
Cricket shouldn’t be run by politicians and businessmen, it should be run by former cricketers, that’s it. I’m the biggest fan of cricket, like any Pakistani, I can’t bear to see one private organization is controlling the growth of this game. I want this sport to grow all over the world because this sport can do many good things.
Afghanistan cricket team is one such example, these players initially used to live in refugee camps, they played World Cup in 2015 and you know what, Afghanistan cricket was initially helped by Pakistan.
But it feels like there are people in BCCI who don’t care about the growth of this game. They just want to make money, they just want to keep their power safe, even if they have to kill this centuries old sport to achieve that.
Note: This information is collected from various platform, like cricket websites, YouTube, Facebook etc.
