Bollywood star Rajkummar Rao fasts every Friday, continuing his late mother’s tradition of doing so, the actor has said.
Speaking about diet during a promotion event for his new film ‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’, Rao said, “I observe a fast on Fridays. It is something my mother would do for Santoshi Maa.”
He started the practice at 16 and it’s been a part of his life since then. Despite challenges, he sticks to the routine.
“Sometimes, I do not eat any meals, and sometimes, when I am working and I need to put in a lot of energy that day, I have one meal at night,” he explained.
A girls’ school in district Bannu’s Meryan Tehsil was set on fire on Friday night in what is being perceived as a terrorist attack amid an increase in militancy in the tribal region.
The terrorists targeted the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Kotka Mumbati Barakzai, inflicting significant damage on the building. The school’s science lab was turned to ashes.
The miscreants stole solar panels and other items and vandalised the school’s boundary wall as well. They also wrote threatening messages near the main gate, warning of additional attacks if the school tried to resume classes.
Police officials collected evidence from the site, kicking off an investigation into the terror act, District Police Officer Iftikhar Khan told Geo News.
Schools in the district are currently closed due to the winter break. Meanwhile, the incident marks the first instance of a school being set on fire in Bannu following the upswing in militant attacks which came after the end of the ceasefire with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan last year.
However, this is not the first time this year that a girls’ school has been targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In May 2023, two girls’ schools were blown up by terrorists in the North Waziristan district.
The attack came after Islamabad initiated a new offensive against terrorists in response to a surge in attacks, including a destructive mosque bombing that claimed over 100 lives in February this year.
Historically, the TTP extremists have prohibited female education in areas that came under their control in the province.
But the country has, regardless, seen a return of terrorism in the form of targeted attacks by terrorists, particularly since late 2022. This year, however, the terror attacks witnessed a surge in militancy, particularly suicide attacks that reached the highest level since 2014.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has finalised the plan to start direct flights from Balochistan’s Kech district to Turbat city , ARY Newsreported on Friday.
This move will enable Pakistanis to travel to the popular tourist destination directly.
The airline will also operate flights from Quetta to Turbat from February 26.
It may be noted here that PIA had decided to operate flights between Turbat and Sharjah in January last year. ATR planes will be used for flight operations between Turbat and Sharjah.
The decision was taken to facilitate citizens to travel to the mountainous areas.
Moreover, PIA will resume flight operations from Lahore and Karachi to Gilgit and Skardu to promote tourism in the northern areas.
The national carrier will resume the flight operations on March 13. PIA will operate flights from Lahore to Gilgit and from Karachi to Skardu.
Police on Friday claimed to have arrested a suspect for his alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a woman after brutally killing her in Lyari, Karachi, ARY news reported.
According to details, the body of a woman was found near the Cheel Chowk area of Lyari on January 18 under mysterious circumstances, only to be found later that the victim, Sumaira was murdered by an electrician, who use to come for repairs at her home.
SSP Sarfaraz Nawaz while confirming the arrest said that suspect was an electrician by profession and has been arrested from the Kalakot area.
“He used to frequently visit her home for repair works,” he said, adding that on the day of the incident, the suspect went to her home to repair a light. The electrician murdered the woman and later subjected her to rape and fled from the scene.
He was arrested after the evidence collected from the crime scene pointed towards him.
Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed said that at least 1,000 cars are still stuck in Murree and “around 16 to19 deaths have occurred in cars,” he said.
Thousands of tourists are trapped on the roads in the area since last night. At least 16 to 19 people died of the extreme cold, while in their cars, during the snowstorm. The victims were stuck in their vehicles due to heavy snowfall at the tourist spot.
Administration of Rawalpindi and Islamabad closed the roads going to Murree due to large number of vehicles entering the hill station.
Thousands of tourists entered the hill station on Friday to witness the snowfall causing heavy traffic jams on the Murree-Islamabad Motorway. The authorities decided to close all kind of traffic going towards the hill station to avoid a further brutal traffic jam.
“We request all motorists and tourists to cooperate with the authorities,” the NHMP wrote on its official Twitter account.
— National Highways & Motorway Police (NHMP) (@NHMPofficial) January 7, 2022
Furthermore, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed has said that all the routes from Islamabad to Murree have been closed. The decision was taken keeping in view the rush of tourists and traffic jams in Murree. Sheikh Rasheed has also requested citizens to postpone their plans to visit the hill station.
Journalist Benazir Shah tweeted that SHO Murree told her that people did not die due to the extreme cold but because they left their car heaters on and the fumes caused their death. She also mentioned that the SHO told her that Muree had a 4000-5000 car parking capacity and the area has seen a record snowfall in the area.
The SHO said that most of the people who died did not die due to the cold.
“They died as they left their car heaters on and went to sleep. The fumes from the heater killed them.”
TRIGGER WARNING: The following video has graphic, distressing content of cars in which passengers have died due to the extreme cold. The Current has blurred the video.
* مری ٹریفک اپڈیٹ* کوہ مری میں مسلسل تیز برفباری کا سلسلہ جاری۔*صبح سے اب تک 27000کے قریب گاڑیاں مری داخل ہو چکی ہیں۔ترجمان ٹریفک پولیس مری آنے والے سیاحوں کو ہر ممکنہ سہولیات فراہم کی جائیں۔ سی پی او راولپنڈی ساجد کیانی* pic.twitter.com/MfN6gD1uFM
Meanwhile, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Taimoor Khan also left for Murree to monitor the traffic situation in the area.
سی ٹی او راولپنڈی تیمور خان مسلسل جاری برفباری میں ٹریفک کی روانی جائزہ لینے کے لیے مری روانہ۔ سترہ میل ٹول پلازہ پرٹریفک وارڈنز کو برفباری رکنے تک ہیوی ٹریفک کے داخلہ پر پابندی کے احکامات سیاحوں کی سہولت،رش کو کنٹرول کرنے کیلئے اضافی اوقات میں میں ڈیوٹی دینے پر وارڈنز کو شاباش pic.twitter.com/9w0FWGl6z6
