On Tuesday night, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake jolted Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The powerful jolts killed nine while 44 were injured, according to Al-Jazeera.
Celebrities across Pakistan urged their followers to take necessary precautions to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
During an earthquake, please remember to wear proper shoes and exit your home to prevent any injuries from the jolts, and stay on open ground until the situation is safe.
Actor Saba Qamar sent her prayers and wished for everyone to stay safe:
Dr M. Suresh Kumar who is currently serving as the Charge d’Affaires at the Indian Embassy in Islamabad, has arrived in Lahore for the first time since his appointment two years ago. Jang reported that the diplomat had breakfast with senior journalists, where he revealed an interesting tibit about food prices in the capital. He was recently purchasing groceries and was shocked to find out that the price of onions was Rs 300/kg, when in New Delhi it was Rs 20/kg.
Dr Kumar also addressed the matter of improving business ties between India and Pakistan, by saying that Pakistani businessmen are refused a business visa in India because of the fact that there are no business ties between the two countries. To which Pakistani businessmen asked how will business ties between both countries improve if they aren’t given a visa. To which Dr Kumar responded its like asking which came first- the chicken or the egg?
To answer another question, Dr Kumar said that Gujranwala is the city of wrestlers, and felt that there should be wrestlying and kabadi competitions between the two countries.
Dr Kumar also said that he will talk to the higher authorities in New Delhi to send an invitation to a delegation of journalists from Pakistan to visit India.
Jang also reported about a conversation with a senior official from the foreign office in New Delhi who remarked that after the restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the region, efforts should be made to improve the relation between Islamabad and New Delhi.
Newark in New Jersey is gaining viral traction for all the wrong reasons. The town has become the brunt of many a jokes after it was revealed that mayor Ras Baraka had been duped into forming a sister city partnership with a delegation from the ‘country’ Kailasa, which was found out to be fake six days later.
A signing ceremony was held on March 6 between the delegation from the fake country and city officials of Newark where Baraka had said:
“I pray that our relationship helps us to understand cultural, social and political development and improves the lives of everybody in both places.”
Last week, Newark officials admitted that they had been scammed by the Indian fugitive Swami Nithyananda, who was the head of the delegation from ‘Kailasa”, but said they were still committed to partnering with people from diverse cultures:
“Although this was a regrettable incident, the city of Newark remains committed to partnering with people from diverse cultures in order to enrich each other with connectivity, support and mutual respect.”
The partnership lasted for only six days, until it was dissolved for baseless.
The head of Kailasa, Swami Nithyananda, is an Indian guru who is currently charged with rape and child abduction by the Indian government. He has denied the accusations.
Nithyanananda writes that Kailasa was founded in order to ensure the “restoration, preservation and propagation of authentic Hindu culture and civilization after centuries of oppression and subjugation. It is the home and refuge for the international Hindu diaspora.”
According to its website, Newark is not the first town to be duped into forming the partnership, as so had Virginia, Ohio and Florida.
Residents of Newark found the incident to be shocking. Shakee Merritt spoke to CBS that he was suprised no one did a simple Google search on whether the country was real or not.
A 26 year old woman named Kajol from Delhi was seen being attacked by her father-in-law on Tuesday morning while she was heading for a job interview. The culprit was against her decision to get a job.
According to police officials, Kajol wanted to work in order to help her husband Praveen Kumar support their family but the father-in-law was against her decision and wanted her to stay at home.
According to the released footage which is now going viral on the internet, Kajol can be seen being approached by her father-in-law, who is holding a brick in his hand. When she tried to escape the attack, the father-in-law repeatedly hit her on the head with a brick.
Kajol was taken by her husband to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital where she received 17 stitches on her head.
Meanwhile, a case has been filed against the father-in-law by Kajol’s parents who live in Faridabad, according to the officials.
Veteran actress and politician Jaya Bachchan wouldn’t consider celebrity photographers to be her best friends, as in the past few years she has had a few altercations with them when they tried to approach her at events. However, lag raha tha bahaar agayi when Bachchan pleasantly posed for photos with two other women and cheekily remarked, “dekha mein kitna smile karti hoon.”
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to India, Abdulnasser Jamal Alshaali, in an interview with The Hindustan Timessaid that his country has played a role in the past in addressing tensions between India and Pakistan, though any future role it might play would be up to both neighboring countries.
Talking to Foreign Editor at The Hindustan Times, Rezaul Hasan Laskar about Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks about asking the UAE to help build a bridge with India, the ambassador said his country has “played such a role in the past”, but future endeavours will depend on both India and Pakistan.
He also talked about expanding the gulf country’s relationship with India, saying that UAE is engaged in technical discussions to finalise a rupee-dirham arrangement for trade as part of the efforts to build on the free trade agreement signed by the two countries last year.
He also said that UAE is keen on revisiting the arrangement for flights to India and introducing flights to more Indian destinations to help bring down airfare.
He said: “If you check the price of a ticket today, it’s more than 50 per cent higher than it used to be a few years back or it used to be pre-Covid. That’s already a market signal that we need to pay attention to because we are talking about this entire relationship and aviation is a crucial point in expanding this relationship.”
When asked about UAE’s plans to invest in food parks and renewable energy in India under the I2U2 framework, Jamal said the conversation between the Gujrat government and UAE is going on.
In recent times, both countries have grown close. In November 2022, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India to further strengthen its bilateral relationship with India.
Pakistan is observing the fourth anniversary of Operation Swift Retort—popularly known as Surprise Day— when the country’s armed forces gave a befitting response to Indian pilots.
On February 27 in 2019, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down two Indian planes that had violated Pakistani airspace. One of the Indian pilots—Abhinandan Varthaman—was captured alive by Pakistan, but was later handed over to the rival country as a gesture of peace and goodwill.
In a tweet, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to the Pakistan Air Force on Monday for its “befitting response” to the Indian violation of Pakistan’s airspace “on the pretext of false flag Pulwama attack”.
“While we aim for peace with all, we are mindful of our duty to defend the country. Let no one make any mistake about it,” he warned.
Today the nation pays rich tribute to PAF for a befitting response to the Indian violation of Pakistan’s air space on the pretext of false flag Pulwama attack. While we aim for peace with all, we are mindful of our duty to defend the country. Let no one make any mistake about it.
At the time, Abhinandan’s praise for the tea he was served grabbed the attention of the world, and Twitterati didn’t hold back on the jokes. This year too, social media users remembered the fateful day in a fun way.
The incident happened after 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed by a young Kashmiri boy. Later, India blamed Pakistan for the attack and Indian Air Force (IAF) launched an aerial strike near Balakot on February 26, 2019.
Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets crossed the line of control in a tit-for-tat move into Indian territory.
The PAF shot down two IAF aircraft and captured one of the pilots. The debris of the SU-30 fell in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and its pilot was killed, while the MiG-21 pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan, whose aircraft fell on the Pakistan side was captured alive.
Married couple Muhammad Singh Yadav from India and Iqra Jeewani from Pakistan were both arrested in Bangalore for forging fake documents and citizenship cards to help Jeewani stay in the country. Yadav (21) was working as a security guard at an IT organization in Bangalore, while Jeewani was a student from Hyderabad, Pakistan. Both met in 2020 while playing the online game Ludo where they fell in love, and then were in a long distance relationship. However during this time, Jeewani was being pressurized by her parents to get married, but the two of them knew that given the political tensions between India and Pakistan, they won’t be able to be together. Both Jeewani and Yadav decided to travel to Nepal together where they got married in a Hindu ceremony, according to the police. In order to help Jeewani stay in India with proper documents, Yadav got her a fake Indian citizenship card so that she may stay with him in Bangalore. The police informed BBC that they had traced the couple after Jeewani made a lot of calls during the day to her mother in Pakistan. After further investigation, Jeewani was declared guilty and handed over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office on 20 January. She was deported back to Pakistan in February while Yadav is still in jail. The BBC got in touch with Yadav’s family, who said that the couple had committed no crime, but had only fallen in love. “We don’t care if she’s Muslim or Pakistani, she’s our daughter-in-law. We’ll take good care of her,” said Yadav’s mother. Meanwhile, Jeewani’s family had confirmed that their daughter had reached home, but refused to speak further on the matter.
Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, appeared on a podcast where among other matters, he discussed the history of Ittefaq Group, the Sharif family business.
As a clip of the show went viral, Twitter had objections to Suleman Shehbaz’s version of history.
He said that the Sharif family prioritised business first and politics second.
“In 1970’s Ittefaq Group (Family business of Sharif family) was so big that no one knew about Tata and Birla in the region,” said Suleman to the host.
“In 1970s Ittefaq Group was so big k ye Tata Birla waghera ka tou pata he nahi tha” pic.twitter.com/42ONMlwd4d
It is pertinent to mention here that Tata Group was founded as a private trading firm in 1868 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.
Twitter had all kinds of reactions to Suleman’s statement.
Tata & Birla are two Conglomerates that have transformed the Indian economy in the last 150 years. Even Only Tata’s market capitalization is over $300 billion. Birla’s revenue is around $60 bln. What he is talking about, think people are fools. https://t.co/bsiFVwoPLZ
Indian poet Javed Akhtar’s comments about Mumbai attacks at the recent Faiz Festival circulated heavily on social media. Akhtar attacked Pakistan for refusing to hold accountable the terrorists behind 26/11 attacks. He also said that India had always honored and celebrated the legacies of Pakistani musicians like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mehdi Hassan, but Pakistan refused to do the same thing.
Why our media and so-called “elite” is mum over highly condemnable comments made by Javed Akhtar on our own soil? pic.twitter.com/tpLEswwt1x
Pakistani actors have slammed the Indian screen writer for his inappropriate comments and especially for misleading the audience into believing that Indian actors and musicians were not respected in Pakistan. Actor Ejaz Aslam criticized Akhtar for refusing to own up to the destruction India had done in Kashmir, instead of hating on the country that had invited him as a guest.
“Mr javed akhtar would you mind shedding some light on Kashmir issue ? You shouldn’t have come if you have so much hatred for pakistan, we still let u go back safely & thats our answer to your nonsense”
Mr javed akhtar would you mind shedding some light on Kashmir issue ? You shouldn’t have come if you have so much hatred for pakistan, we still let u go back safely & thats our answer to your nonsense #javedakhtar#goback#nonsense # pic.twitter.com/b7DCIdnH1o
Actress Saboor Aly reacted to the celebrities who were praising Javed Akhtar at the mehfil, and said she was ashamed that they refused to set professional boundaries towards someone who had disrespected them in this manner. She also felt that it was shameful how many local celebrities who are equally as talented are not given the honor and respect Akhtar was given for three days.
“These people were celebrating someone who had insulted them in their own home, and then sat at his feet and singing praises. What a shame! So-called educated people. You have never respected your own talent the same way. Some of the biggest stars in this country had passed away in severe circumstances when they didn’t even have any money to pay for their operation. Where were these people then who respected talent so much?”
Fashion designer Zara Shahjahan criticized the elite participants who had attended the conference where Javed Akhtar had said this, and also later had hosted a mehfil for him.
“He was not just allowed to come to Pakistan, he was allowed to shit on Pakistan and then the Lahori “fake” elite hosted a party for him where they cried on his knees.”
He was not just allowed to come to Pakistan, he was allowed to shit on Pakistan and then the Lahori “fake” elite hosted a party for him where they cried on his knees. https://t.co/jUgDFVUtdP
Actress Resham, who had also shared video clips of attending the mehfil hosted by Ali Zafar where Akhtar was honored, gave her defence on her Instagram stories. She shared that she deeply respected her country and its people, and was not aware of the comments he had made.
“I hold my country Pakistan in deep respect, and was not aware of the type of comments Javed Akhtar had made at the conference on the Faiz Festival that day. I condemn his words. As per our customs of special treatment, we consider guests God’s mercy but Pakistan is more precious to us than our hearts and lives.”
