Girls, we know you’ll all be heading out to celebrate Chaand Raat soon. But is a chaand raat outing even complete without chooriyan (bangles) and mehndi? Here are some trendy mehndi designs you can flaunt this Eid.
Arabic Mehndi
Arabic mehndi is pretty and delicate and has spaced out patterns because of which it does not look overdone.
Indian Mehndi
Indian mehndi designs are full and crowded. It has packed patterns with thinner lines and tiny details. If you’re fond of mehndi, the Indian designs are for you.
Pakistani Mehndi
Pakistani mehndi designs are a cross between Arabic and Indian designs with flowers and leaves dominating the pattern. Gola/tikki mehndi designs are very popular in Pakistan because they are simple yet elegant.
Mehndi designs for fingers
For those who are looking for the bare minimum, they can opt for mehndi on the fingers only.
The month of Muharram is here and you will often listen to nohay being played on the radio, in homes, Imam Bargahs, Majlis’ etc. In case you didn’t know, a noha, when interpreted in light of Shia views, is a lament about the tragedy of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala.
In light of this, The Current has listed four Nohay that will help you understand the history of Karbala.
Mujhay Abbas Kahtay Hain
This noha is about Hazrat Abbas (A.S) also known as Qamar Banī Hāshim (the moon of Banu Hashim). Hazrat Abbas (A.S) was Imam Hussain’s (A.S) younger brother who is highly revered by Muslims for his loyalty to Imam Hussain(A.S). He was also well known in the Arab community for his bravery, strength and ferocity as a warrior. Hazrat Abbas (A.S) was martyred during the battle of Karbala when he went to bring water for the children from Nehar e Furat.
Meri Jaan Akbar
Ali Akbar was the son of Hazrat Imam Hussain’s (A.S) son. He was martyred at the age of 18 on the day of Ashura. Enemies attacked Ali Akbar and threw a spear (sinah) at Ali Akbar which went right through his chest. The enemy then broke the wooden part of the spear and left the blade inside Ali Akbar’s chest, to cause him more pain. As Ali Akbar fell from his horse, he called his father Imam Hussain (A.S) who tried to remove the spear from his chest but was unable to save him.
Zuljanah Hain Kahan Baba Jaan
Zuljanah was the horse of Imam Hussain (A.S), gifted to him by Hazrat Muhammad (S). When Imam Hussain (a.s) was martyred in Karbala, Zuljanah came back to the tents with the spots of blood on its body to inform his martyrdom.
Kiya Muhammad Ka Pyara Nahi Hoon
This noha by two youngsters is about Imam Hussain (A.S) telling people that he is the grandson of Hazrat Muhammad (P.BU.H) and why the Yazeedi Fauj denied water to him.
While everyone knows the reason behind why we observe Ashura, there are several misconceptions about what exactly Shias do on these two days.
To gain some better insight, The Current spoke to several Shias about how they spend the important days of 9th and 10th Muharram and here is a short summary of what they told us.
9th Muharram
On 9th Muharram, all Shia Muslims attend the majlis and juloos, where they listen to the historical background of the tragic incident of Karbala. In these gatherings, the religious scholars highlight the importance of the Family of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in Islam and the hardships they faced during the incident.
During zuhr, all men and women are segregated to offer prayer(namaz) during the juloos. After offering prayers everyone performs Ziyarat of Shabeeh e Zuljanah (Imam Hussain’s ride) after which they pray to Allah and recall the hardships of the family of Imam Hussain(A.S).
Many Shia families arrange drinks and food, also known as Niyaz, for people attending the juloos.
Then they pray Maghrib and Isha and do Ammaal, Nawafil that are specified for that night (Shab e Ashoor). They also recite Surah e Ikhlas because according to their Imam the surah is one of Allah’s favourite. They also eat something before Fajar for faqah which means they do not eat anything from Fajr to Zuhr.
After this, everyone gathers to listen to the Azaan e Ali Akbar (the son of Imam was the moazzan at that time and it was his last Azaan before his Shahadat).
10th Muharram
Ziarat e Ashoorah (Salam to Imam Hussain and his companions) is recited at zuhr following which everyone gathers to eat Niyaz because the faqah timings end then.
The night of 10th is called Sham e Ghareeban during which everyone listens to the hardships of the Imam’s family left after the shahadat of the male members. According to tradition, when camps were burnt down, the women and children were forced to evacuate and were made captives.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur and the Kartarpur Corridor on Tuesday during his four-day visit to Pakistan. Minister of Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri accompanied the him on the Kartarpur visit.
Mr. Guterres took to twitter to appreciate Pakistan’s efforts for peace and inter-faith harmony.
I was honoured to visit Pakistan’s newly opened Kartarpur Corridor – a corridor of hope, connecting two key Sikh pilgrimage sites.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur
“This is the best symbol that we can give for a world in peace and for a world in which there is mutual respect and there is the acceptance of what is different. Recognising diversity is a blessing, is a richness…not a threat. When we see in so many parts of the world fighting in the name of religion, it is necessary to say that religions unite us for peace and the best symbol is this [Kartarpur] shrine,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
A picture of two crocodiles covered in paan and gutka published in The News serves as a reminder how poorly we treat animals in Pakistan.
Journalist Zia Ur Rehman tweeted the picture published in the paper with the caption: “A sorry sight: crocodiles soak up the sun at the Karachi Zoo after paan and gutka-using visitors spat on them, leaving their bodies with blood-red spots.”
A sorry sight: crocodiles soak up the sun at the Karachi Zoo after paan and gutka-using visitors spat on them, leaving their bodies with blood-red spots. Pic via @thenews_intlpic.twitter.com/vva1zgRSy7
Animal cruelty is not new in Pakistan. Torturing animals in zoos and otherwise under the disguise of fun is unfortunately also a common practise in the country.
Last year, activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir tweeted pictures of a boy who used to post videos on social media while torturing kittens.
Social Media we need to track & report this boy. Runs 2 Fb profiles under names Bilal & Sed Qureshi. He posts videos of torturing kittens and teaching little kids to do same. He may have mental health issues but can’t be allowed to torture animals. Details https://t.co/INMfa55Xjdpic.twitter.com/i0nM90UnrX
If you want to get a discount at a wedding hall in Bahawalpur, you have to get married again! On your second, third or fourth marriage, a wedding hall in Bahawalpur offers special packages to men. The only caveat is that the first wife has to make the booking.
According to Samaa News, the owner of Al-Farooq Marriage Hall said that they offer 50 percent discount to men getting married for the second time, 75 percent to men getting married the third time and if men get married for the fourth time, they can get the hall for free at their valima. Talk about incentives!
A Bahawalpur hall has an offer which may interest those looking to get married again.
Al-Farooq Hall will offer a 50% discount on second weddings, 75% to those marrying for the third time and men getting married for the fourth time can host their valima for free #SamaaTVpic.twitter.com/8gA8WJTXdf
“Many
people have told them that they can’t afford second weddings, so I thought of
giving them an offer and making their lives a little simpler,” he told SAMAA
TV. “We are in the business of bringing people together, we don’t want
relationships to fall apart.”
A teenage girl charged with killing her own sister was acquitted by a model court in Karachi after her parents pardoned her and her three accomplices, one of which was her fiancé at the time.
According to reports, eighteen-year-old Alveena along with her fiancé Mazhar Mehfooz had murdered her 16-year-old sister Aleena in December 2017 in what police claimed was a staged robbery.
According to the prosecution, the female accused and her fiancé had confessed to slitting the throat of the victim since she shared a friendship with one of the two accused brothers and allegedly helped both visit her home in the absence of her parents and to blackmail the female accused after getting her intimate pictures in their mobile phones.
According to the FIR registered at the time of the incident, two men broke into the house for robbery and stabbed the 16-year-old to death for putting up resistance. They also took away cash, jewellery and other valuables.
The two co-accused brothers Ahsan and Abbas were charged with blackmailing the female accused and forcing her to kill her own sister.
After recording evidence and hearing final arguments from both sides, an additional district and sessions judge acquitted the accused.
The judge also accepted the compromise applications moved by the accused persons and the parents of the victim. In their application and affidavits, the parents of the victim said that they had pardoned all four accused, including their daughter Alveena and her husband Mazhar, in the name of the Almighty, without any duress and pressure and waived off their right to claim compensation as well.
Indian police on Friday shot dead four detained gang-rape and murder suspects as they were re-enacting their alleged crime, prompting celebrations but also accusations of extrajudicial killings.
The men, who had been in custody for a week over the latest gruesome case of violence against women to shock India, were shot in the early morning as they tried to escape during the staged re-enactment in Hyderabad.
Deputy police commissioner in the southern city Prakash Reddy revealed that “They were killed in crossfire. They tried to snatch weapons from the guards but were shot dead.”
The four were accused of gang-raping and murdering a 27-year-old veterinary doctor Dr Priyanka Reddy before setting fire to her body with petrol underneath an isolated bridge late on November 27.
The woman had phoned her sister saying she was scared of the men before her phone went dead. She said police did not take her seriously when she said her sister was missing.
The victim
Like in the infamous 2012 rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus, the case sparked demonstrations and calls for swift and tough justice, with social media swamped with demands for them to be put to death.
Shortly after their arrest hundreds of protesters also tried to storm the Hyderabad police station where the four accused were held. One lawmaker in the parliament called for the men to be “lynched” and another for rapists to be castrated.
Several hundred people flocked to the scene of the men’s deaths on Friday, setting off firecrackers to celebrate and showering police with flower petals.
The victim’s sister also welcomed the killings.
“I am happy the four accused have been killed in an encounter. This incident will set an example. I thank the police and media for their support,” the sister told a local television station.
Women in technology hub Hyderabad, home to Google, Apple and Microsoft, distributed sweets and tied Hindu ritual threads on the wrists of policemen to thank them.
On the other hand rights activists were aghast with the killing – police in India are often accused of using extrajudicial killings to bypass the legal process, often as a cover-up in botched investigations or to pacify public anger.
India’s former federal minister for women and child developement, Maneka Gandhi termed the incident as dangerous, saying killings cannot be an alternative to the process of law.
“They would have anyway got hanging for their heinous crime, but you can’t just pick up guns and kill people because you want to. Because law is tardy, you can’t kill people. What has happened is dangerous,” Gandhi told reporters.
A Supreme Court lawyer is reported to have said, “This is murder in cold blood. Fake encounter is not the solution, reforming criminal justice system is.”
“Now no one will ever know who really raped and murdered the Hyderabad woman.”
A senior Pakistani executive of Google, Tania Aidrus quit her position at the tech giant to lead Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative. Her decision to serve the country has won the hearts of Pakistanis who took to Twitter to thank her for her efforts.
#Pakistan welcome Tania Aidrus who quit job at tech giant @Google and came back to her homeland to lead Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Digital Pakistan initiative.
It is glad to know that Pakistan is now going to be digitise itself a big respect specially for Tania Aidrus who resigened to her post of Google Executive and now joining Digital Pakistan’s initiative hope this step would lead Pakistan towards hikes of success.#DigitalPakistan
I already love her. Tania Aidrus, clear headed, visionary, focused, professional, committed, intelligent, leader, knowledgeable, and full of passion to create value. https://t.co/lJgnmJ906C
According to reports, Tania arrived in Pakistan from Singapore to offer her services to the country’s digitalisation programme.
Tania was the Chief of Staff and Head of Strategic Initiatives on the Next Billion Users (NBU) team at Google which is focused on building new products and services that are aimed at addressing the emerging trends and needs of users in growth markets.
Prior to this, Tania was a leader in the Global Business Organisation at Google in the US and then in Singapore where she was the Country Manager for South Asia Frontier Markets at Google focused on expanding the Internet ecosystem, increasing product adoption amongst consumers and businesses and accelerating innovation.
Before being part of Google, Tania co-founded a mobile health diagnosis company called ClickDiagnostics which was focused on connecting rural patients in emerging markets to doctors globally. She also spent a portion of her career consulting for Fortune 500 companies and the US Government at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Tania holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSc from Brandeis University.
PM Imran Khan inaugurated the ‘Digital Pakistan’ campaign on Thursday. The campaign was executed by the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT), who were tasked with digitising all correspondence between the government offices. They were given only three months to complete the task.
According to a statement, Digital Pakistan is a comprehensive plan which will help the country in competing in the digital market globally and will also create jobs and ease for the people of Pakistan.
Earlier in September, senior PTI leader Jahangir Tareen had announced the government had engaged a senior former Google executive to help revamp its payment system and set into motion the digitisation initiative.
He said the government had persuaded the Google executive, who was in Singapore, to lead the project from Pakistan, after a lot of effort and headhunting.
“She is leaving Google. In fact, she has left it and she is moving to Pakistan and will lead the digitisation initiative,” Tareen had said.
Who says true love does not exist? This love story of a Danish woman and a Pakistani man will be the sweetest thing you will see today on the internet.
A woman from Denmark, traveled all the way to Pakistan to marry her love who was denied a Danish visa.
Greta and her parents came to Pakistan where she married Shahzeb. “I saw him for the first time at a coffee shop in Malaysia,” she said and thought that he was very handsome”.
“Pakistan gave us such a warm welcome. Shahzeb’s family members welcomed us with rose petals when we arrived and it was so beautiful. Nothing like that ever happens in Denmark. Pakistan’s culture is very beautiful, but people don’t really know anything about Pakistan and only read negative things about it. People must visit this beautiful country,” she urged.
Later, her parents shared the couple’s struggle with a radio station, who then released a song, titled Blacklisted Love, to tell the people their love story.
