Tag: Donald Trump

  • VIDEO: Joe Biden says ‘InshaAllah’ to mock Trump during first presidential debate?

    VIDEO: Joe Biden says ‘InshaAllah’ to mock Trump during first presidential debate?

    Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cast doubt during Tuesday night’s debate on whether United States (US) President Donald Trump would ever release his tax returns. 

    “You’ll get to see it,” Trump said repeatedly as moderator Chris Wallace pressed him to commit to a firm timeline. Biden retorted, “When? InshaAllah?”

    While the Arabic language phrase literally means “God Willing,” it also has colloquial connotations of ambiguous commitment.

    As Muslims, especially Arabs, pointed out the phrase used by Biden, many wondered if they had mistaken something for InshaAllah.

    Until journalist Asma Khalid of US-based National Public Radio (NPR), who is covering the 2020 presidential campaign, confirmed it.

    Biden earlier released his personal income taxes, which show the former vice president and his wife Jill Biden paid about 30% of their $985,000 gross personal income.

    Trump has refused to voluntarily release his income taxes, which had been a presidential custom stretching back decades.

    READ MORE: ‘Will you shut up, man?’ and much more from Trump vs Biden presidential debate

    The New York Times reported Monday that Trump did not pay any federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years. It said the former businessman paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and another $750 in 2017, the year he took office.

    Trump disputed the report during Tuesday night’s debate, saying he has “paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax.”

  • ‘Will you shut up, man?’ and much more from Trump vs Biden presidential debate

    From “will you shut up, man?” to “elections have consequences”, following are some of the quotes making news after Tuesday’s United States (US) 2020 presidential debate between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

    The polling is scheduled for November 3.

    SUPREME COURT NOMINATION:

    Trump, asked by moderator Chris Wallace about whether U.S. appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett should be nominated to the Supreme Court before the election: “We won the (2016) election. Elections have consequences.

    “We have the Senate and we have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee respected by all.

    “ […] I think that she (Barrett) will be outstanding. She will be as good as anybody who has ever served on that court. We won the election and therefore we had the right to choose her.”

    Biden: “We should wait, we should wait and see what the outcome of this election is.”

    Trump: “As far as a say is concerned, the American people have already had their say. … I’m not elected for (just) 3-1/2 years.”

    Responded Biden: “He’s elected until the next election. […] The election’s already started.”

    HEALTHCARE:

    Biden, told by Trump he had adopted former Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders’ “socialised medicine” proposals, said of the president: “Everybody here knows he’s a liar. […] You picked the wrong guy on the wrong night at the wrong time.”

    “[…] Folks, do you have any idea what this clown’s doing? I tell you what, he is not for anybody needing healthcare.”

    After Trump explained his healthcare proposal, Biden said: “He has no plan for healthcare. … The fact is this man has no idea what he’s talking about.”

    DEALING WITH THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC:

    Biden to Trump: “You should get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap and … the golf course and go in the Oval Office and (put) together Democrats and Republicans, and fund what needs to be done now to save lives.”

    Trump to Biden: “You didn’t think we should’ve closed our country (to China) because you thought it was terrible.”

    “… We’ve done a great job. But I tell you, Joe, you could never have done the job we’ve done. You don’t have it in your blood.”

    Biden on Trump’s leadership on the pandemic: “He panicked or he looked at the stock market. … A lot of people died, and a lot more (are) going to die unless he gets a lot smarter a lot quicker.”

    Responded Trump: “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”

    RACE RELATIONS:

    Biden on Trump: “This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division.”

    Trump to Biden, citing the then-senator’s support for the 1994 crime bill: “You’ve treated the Black community about as bad as anybody in this country.”

    Biden: “Yes, there’s a systemic injustice in this country in education and work and in law enforcement and the way in which it is enforced.”

    LAW ENFORCEMENT AND URBAN UNREST:

    Trump: “The top 10 cities and just about the top 40 cities are run by Democrats in many cases, radical left, and they’ve got you wrapped around their finger, Joe, to a point where you don’t want to say anything about law and order. And I’ll tell you what the people of this country want and demand law and order, and you’re afraid to even say it.”

    Biden said Trump had done nothing to calm the protests. “He just pours gasoline on the fire.”

    Responding to Trump attacking him on the suburbs, Biden said: “He wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. I know suburbs.”

    WHITE SUPREMACISTS:

    Wallace: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence or the number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland?”

    Trump: “I would say almost everything I see is from the left-wing, not from the right. … I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.”

    Wallace: “Then do it, sir.”

    Biden: “Do it, do it. Say it.”

    Trump: “You want to call them. What do you want to call them? Give me a name.”

    Biden, referring to a right-wing group: “Proud Boys.”

    Trump: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

    CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

    Trump: “I believe that we have to do everything we can to have immaculate air, immaculate water, and do whatever else we can that’s good.”

    Biden: “The first thing I will do, I will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.”

    ELECTION INTEGRITY:

    Biden encouraged mail-in voting by saying Trump does it, too. “He sits behind the Resolute Desk (in the White House) and sends his ballot to Florida.”

    Biden: “He cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of that election. … If I win, that will be accepted. If I lose, that will be accepted.

    “If we get the votes, he’s going to go. He can’t stay in power.”

    Trump: “Don’t tell me about a free transition. This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen. This is not going to end well.”

    Biden: “You will determine the outcome of this election. Vote, vote, vote. If you’re able to vote early in your state, vote early. If you’re able to vote in person, vote in person – whatever way is the best way for you. Because he cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of this election.”

    Asked by Wallace if he would urge his supporters to stay calm and pledge not to declare victory until the election is certified, Trump said: “I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully.”

    Trump: “If I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with it. They cheat.”

    Biden: “The fact is I will accept it and he will too. You know why? Because once the winner is declared after all the ballots are counted, all the votes are counted. That’ll be the end of it.”

    INTERRUPTIONS:

    At one point when Trump was interrupting him, Biden said: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential.”

    Wallace to Trump: “I think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.”

    Trump, referring to Biden, responded: “And him, too.”

    Wallace: “Well, frankly you’ve been doing more interrupting.”

    WATCH THE FULL DEBATE HERE:

  • Imran Khan paid more tax than US President Donald Trump

    In light of a recent New York Times report and the tax details of parliamentarians revealed by Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), it has emerged that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s mere Rs0.2 million in taxes was more than business tycoon and United States (US) President Donald Trump’s federal taxes during his first year in office.

    The directory, published on the official website of FBR, contains tax details of elected representatives belonging to six different assemblies; National Assembly of Pakistan, Senate of Pakistan, Balochistan Assembly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Sindh Assembly and Punjab Assembly. 

    According to the information released, former PM and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was the highest taxpayer, as he paid a staggering amount of Rs241,329,362 in taxes.

    The premier in 2018 — his first year in office — paid Rs282,449 in taxes whereas President Trump paid just $750 (Rs124,290 as of 2020) in federal income tax during his first year as president.

    Trump, who in 2016 suggested reports of tax avoidance showed he was ‘smart’, denounced the findings as ‘completely fake news’. The New York Times said that of the 18 years its reporters examined, Trump had paid no income tax at all in 11 of them.

    While there is no comparison between the taxes paid by the two leaders from Pakistan and the US, it merits a mention that both were equally criticised for alleged tax evasion.

    As for Abbasi, his paid taxes were twice as much as the entire cabinet of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) paid.

    Industries and Production Minister Hammad Azhar and Petroleum Division Minister Omar Ayub were the top two tax payers in the cabinet, contributing Rs59.4 million and Rs26 million to the exchequer respectively.

  • KYA BOLA? (Aug 26): ‘Trump ka aik crore naukriyo ka naara’, ‘wazire azam k sath dhoka’, ‘Usman Buzdar doosro se behtar’

    KYA BOLA? (Aug 26): ‘Trump ka aik crore naukriyo ka naara’, ‘wazire azam k sath dhoka’, ‘Usman Buzdar doosro se behtar’

    Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on August 26, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.

    ‘Trump Ka Aik Crore Naukriyo Ka Naara’

    It has been reported by Daily Jang that Donald Trump has promised to provide one crore (10 million) jobs if he wins the presidential election scheduled for November 3. 

    ‘Wazire Azam K Sath Dhoka’

    According to Daily Jang, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed has said, “Mein zaati taur pr Nawaz Sharif ko bahar janay ki ijaazat denay ka haami tha… woh yahaan rahein yaa Bartania mein, iss se koi farq nahi parrta… yeh sarrkoon pay aanay wali jamaat nahi hai. Wazire azam ko Nawaz Sharif k bahar janay ka afsos hai aur unko andaaza hogya tha inn k sath dhoka hua hai… log deal k beghair bahar nahi jatay, kahin naa kahin mamla tay hota hai.”

    ‘Usman Buzdar Doosro Se Behtar’

    Prominent journalist Saleem Safi, in his column for Daily Jang, has said, “Karkardagi k lihaz se sab se zyada aitraz Usman Buzdar pr ho rha hai halaan k ap kisi bhi mayar pr parkhein tou KP aur Balochistan k wazire aala ki karkardagi Buzdar Sahib se kai guna kharaab hai. Buzdar Sahib ne kuch naya nahi kia tou pehle se bani cheezo ko tabah bhi nahi kia… KP mein pehle se qayim idaaro ko tabah kia gya jab k Balochistan tou har hawaly se tabah-haal hai… lekin siyasat aur media mein tabsara sirf Punjab aur Buzdar Sahib ka hota hai.”

  • Foreign students will not be allowed to stay in the US if their classes move online

    Foreign students will not be allowed to stay in the US if their classes move online

    The United States said on Monday it would not allow foreign students to remain in the country if all of their classes are moved online in the fall because of the coronavirus crisis.

    “Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States,” US Immigration and Custom Enforcement said in a statement.

    “Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programmes must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” ICE said.

    “If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.” ICE said the State Department “will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programmes that are fully online for the fall semester nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States.”

    F-1 students pursue academic coursework and M-1 students pursue “vocational coursework,” according to ICE.

    Universities with a hybrid system of in-person and online classes will have to show that foreign students are taking as many in-person classes as possible, to maintain their status.

    Read more – University student expelled for protesting against online classes

    The decision was met with widespread criticism.

    “The cruelty of this White House knows no bounds,” tweeted Senator Bernie Sanders. “Foreign students are being threatened with a choice: risk your life going to class-in person or get deported.”

    Most US colleges and universities have not yet announced their plans for the fall semester.

    A number of schools are looking at a hybrid model of in-person and online instruction but some, including Harvard University, have said all classes will be conducted online. Harvard said 40 per cent of undergraduates would be allowed to return to campus — but their instruction would be conducted remotely. On the local front, the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has also announced that it would be conducting its fall semester online.

    There were more than one million international students in the US for the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

    The largest number of international students came from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

    President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for reelection in November, has taken a bullish approach to reopening the country even as virus infections continue to spike in parts of the country, particularly the south and west.

    With more than 130,000 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus, the US is the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic.

    While cracking down on immigration is one of his key issues, Trump has taken a particularly hard stance on foreigners since the health crisis began. In June, he froze until 2021 the issuing of green cards — which offer permanent US resident status — and some work visas, particularly those used in the technology sector, with the stated goal of reserving jobs for Americans.

  • Twitter slammed in China, Turkey, Russia after removing ‘manipulative’ accounts

    Twitter has removed over 200,000 handles for spreading pro-China and Russia messages while also boosting support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1271186240323432452?s=20

    The company said “a core network” of 23,750 highly active Chinese accounts had been removed, along with another 150,000 “amplifier accounts”.

    Amplifier accounts share content to increase engagement that increases word-of-mouth exposure.

    Twitter said the Chinese network had links to an earlier state-backed operation dismantled last year by Twitter, Facebook and Google’s YouTube, which had been pushing misleading narratives about political dynamics in Hong Kong.

    Twitter said 23,750 accounts were the main focus while other accounts were identified as helping to boost the messages.

    Twitter also revealed it has shut down more than a thousand Russian-based misinformation accounts.

    In an official statement on fake Turkish Twitter accounts, they said that “those accounts were fake profiles designed to support the president and were single-handedly managed by a central authority”.

    However, Erdogan’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun denied the allegations through his official Twitter handle while stating that it was an “attempt to smear the Turkish government and a popular political movement, which was unacceptable”.

    In general, the entire network was involved in a range of manipulative and coordinated activities. They were tweeting predominantly in Chinese, Russian and Turkish languages and spreading geopolitical narratives for political agendas.

    Last week, Twitter also accused United States (US) President Donald Trump of making false claims in some of his posts, although the platform has come under fire for not removing coronavirus misinformation.

    Earlier this week, the company said it was trialing a new “read before you retweet” pop-up aimed to promote “informed discussions”.

    A message will appear on articles that users share without actually following the link to the article.

  • Trump in bunker, blackout at White House, curfews across country: What you should know about ugly US protests

    Trump in bunker, blackout at White House, curfews across country: What you should know about ugly US protests

    Violent protests have erupted across the United States (US) since after the death of George Floyd who died in police custody, sparking outrage over police brutality, especially the treatment of African-Americans at the hands of authorities.

    With people across the country taking to streets, shaking the States to its core as some protests turn ugly, here is everything you need to know about it.

    WHO WAS GEORGE FLOYD?

    On May 25, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, died in Minneapolis city of Minnesota after a white cop, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while the suspect was handcuffed face down in the street.

    Two other officers further restrained Floyd while a fourth prevented onlookers from intervening.

    View Pictures of the George Floyd Protests Nationwide - The New ...

    During the final three minutes, Floyd was motionless and had no pulse, but officers made no attempt to revive him and Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck even as arriving emergency medical technicians attempted to treat him.

    VIRAL VIDEOS & CRIMINAL COMPLAINT:

    Several bystanders took videos of the incident, which were widely circulated and broadcast along with security-camera footage from nearby businesses; two of the officer’s body cams footage has, however, not yet been released.

    [GRAPHIC WARNING]

    A criminal complaint later filed against Chauvin stated that Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe while standing outside a police car, resisted getting in the car, and intentionally fell down; he went to the ground face down and, after Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck, Floyd repeatedly said “I can’t breathe”, “mama” and “please”.

    POSTMORTEM EXAMINATION:

    Two autopsies determined the manner of Floyd’s death to be a homicide. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s autopsy found that Floyd died from cardiac arrest during the application of “neck compression”, also noting as significant conditions “arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease; fentanyl intoxication; and recent methamphetamine use”.

    George Floyd: State, private autopsies agree death a homicide ...

    An independent autopsy commissioned by Floyd’s family found that the “evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause” of death, with neck compression restricting blood flow to the brain, and back compression restricting breathing.

    OFFICERS’ FATE & PROBE:

    All four officers were fired the day after the incident. On May 29, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter while on June 3, Minnesota attorney general amended Chauvin’s charges to include second-degree murder, and the other three officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

    Murder charges filed against all four officers in George Floyd's death

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is conducting a federal civil rights investigation at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is also investigating.

    WIDESPREAD PROTESTS:

    After Floyd’s death, demonstrations and protests against use of excessive force by police officers and lack of police accountability were held globally.

    Protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area were initially peaceful on May 26, and became violent as a police precinct and two stores were set on fire, and many stores were looted and damaged. Some demonstrators skirmished with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

    Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated, mainly peacefully, across the US for the ninth night while one of the largest protests, joined by Floyd’s relatives, took place in his hometown of Houston, Texas.

    Many defied curfews in several cities, imposed after violence and looting in some districts.

    With the episode drawing reactions from across the world, from global leaders, including the Canadian president among others, the Pope has also issued a call for racism not to be ignored.

    “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism,” he said, but also condemned the violence.

    Police stations and other buildings have been set ablaze, government establishments and offices of media organisations among other prominent structures across the country have been vandalised, and grocery, as well as luxury stores, looted.

    While military has now been deployed after President Donald Trump’s warning to protesters, support for protesters and against the regime is widespread.

    Exclusive: The US Military Is Monitoring Protests in 7 States ...

    Cops, at places, have also been spotted lending support to peaceful protests.

    TRUMP IN BUNKER, BLACKOUT AT WHITE HOUSE:

    As part of the protests, the White House was also almost attacked. The president spent nearly an hour in an underground bunker at the White House last week when hundreds of protesters gathered outside the mansion.

    The bunker, also known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), has been used on rare occasions to secure US presidents in times of peril.

     Meanwhile, a photo of blackout at White House also started making rounds on the internet with people calling it a “powerful symbol” of Trump’s “lack of leadership”.

    Trump has announced that he is taking “immediate presidential action” to put an end to the raging violence in the country.

    He even cited his own oath of protecting the country along with the Americans days after referring to angry demonstrators as “thugs”.

  • Facebook employees stage walkout after ‘Mark Zuckerberg refuses to take action against Trump’s posts’

    Facebook employees stage walkout after ‘Mark Zuckerberg refuses to take action against Trump’s posts’

    Facebook employees have walked away from their work-from-home desks and taken to Twitter to accuse Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg of not taking a stand against United States (US) President Donald Trump’s hateful posts on social media.

    As per the details, Reuters observed dozens of tweets against Mark in what was a rare case of the social media giant’s staff publicly standing against its CEO. 

    Thousands of people, including seven engineers of teams that maintain the react code library critical for Facebook’s apps, were among those who tweeted.

    Mark is wrong and I will endeavour in the loudest possible way to change his mind,” said Ryan Freitas, director of product design for Facebook’s newsfeed. He added that he mobilised more than 50 like-minded people to lobby for internal change.

    https://twitter.com/ryanchris/status/1267252760182788096?s=20

    Katie Zhu, a product manager at Instagram, tweeted a screenshot showing she had entered “#BLACKLIVESMATTER” to describe her request for time off as part of the walkout.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CAwHG02JH8P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Facebook Inc will allow its employees to take part in the protest and will not draw down their vacation days, said spokesperson Andy Stone. 

    Talkspace CEO Oren Frank tweeted he would “not support a platform that incites violence, racism, and lies”. The online therapy company also announced that it had ended partnership discussions with Facebook. 

    https://twitter.com/orenfrank/status/1267504648275005440?s=20

    It is worth mentioning here that Facebook CEO landed in hot water when he told Fox News that private social media platforms “shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online”.

    President Trump retweeted the interview that had come after Twitter flagged his tweet about mail-in ballots as misleading.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1265838823663075341

    It wasn’t later that Twitter responded to another Trump tweet pertaining to countrywide riots, for glorifying violence. Twitter covered up the tweet with a message warning it “violated Twitter rules about glorifying violence”.

    The viewers had to click on the message to see the underlying tweet.

    Trump posted the same message on Facebook, but Mark decided to let it stand unchallenged. “I have been struggling with how to respond to the president’s tweets and post all day,” he wrote in a post Friday. 

    “Personally, I have a visceral negative reaction to this kind of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric,” he said, adding that the company’s position, however, was that it should enable as much expression as possible unless it would cause an imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelt out in clear policies.

    “I don’t know what to do, but I know doing nothing is not acceptable,” Jason Stirman, a member of Facebook’s research and development team, wrote on Twitter in response to Mark.

    Should Facebook also move towards policing Trump’s posts? Let The Current know in the comments.

  • Twitter labels Trump’s tweets as ‘potentially misleading’ for the first time

    Twitter labels Trump’s tweets as ‘potentially misleading’ for the first time

    In a first, Twitter has labelled two tweets by United States (US) President Donald Trump making false statements about mail-in voting as “potentially misleading“.

    The two tweets, which were labelled as misleading after Twitter fact-checked Trump’s claims for the first time, had claimed that “mail-in ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent” and would result in “a rigged election”.

    The tweets were primarily about California’s effort to expand mail-in voting due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, the Republican National Committee sued California Governor Gavin Newsom over the state’s moves to expand mail-in voting.

    Twitter’s spokesperson said that the tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labelled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots”.

    The label attached to tweets of President Trump says “get the facts about mail-in ballots,” that link leads to a collection of tweets and news articles debunking the president’s statement.

    On the fact check page, Twitter writes “Trump falsely claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to a rigged election”. On the contrary, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud”.

    The move by Twitter comes in line with the new policy introduced earlier this month to curb the spread of “misleading content related to the pandemic”, said a Twitter spokesperson.

    Brad Parscale, Trump campaign manager, responded to Twitter’s decision in a statement. “Partnering with biased fake news media ‘fact-checkers’ is only a smokescreen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility.”

    Trump responded on Twitter, saying the company is “now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election” and that the company is “completely stifling free speech”.

    Have something to add to the story? Let The Current know in the comments below.

  • Murad Saeed trolled as Donald Trump ‘follows footsteps of PM Imran’

    Murad Saeed trolled as Donald Trump ‘follows footsteps of PM Imran’

    Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, who had falsely claimed that New York was to follow Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s coronavirus lockdown model, has been trolled by lawyer Reema Omer among others as United States (US) President Donald Trump expressed the desire for his country, worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, to reopen.

    The tweet by the lawyer came as Trump, who has been voicing his concerns over the adverse effects of the lockdown on the economy, tweeted, “REOPEN OUR COUNTRY!”

    The tweet by the US president coincided with PM Imran allowing to ease restrictions across Pakistan ahead of Eid to “wisely” provide relief to the labour class, daily wagers and lower-middle strata of the society.

    “Epic trolling,” tweeted senior journalist Abbas Nasir in response to Reema’s dig at the federal minister.

    ‘NEW YORK TO FOLLOW PAKISTAN’S LOCKDOWN MODEL’:

    In a May 11 viral video, Saeed had claimed that the US state of New York was going to follow the “smart lockdown” concept after being inspired by Imran Khan and Pakistan, however, fact checks revealed otherwise. Meanwhile, netizens shared videos and pictures of how the partial lockdown measures were failing even in Pakistan.

    The clip instantly gained popularity on social media and was reported by several Pakistani and international news outlets.

    “If you look at the smart lockdown concept implemented by PM Imran Khan even the governor of New York has quoted Pakistan’s contact tracing and tracking concept and are following it now,” the federal minister is heard saying while speaking at the National Assembly.

    Saeed also reportedly said that the cluster lockdown concept discussed by Khan is being taken forward by his counterpart Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom (UK).