The Ministry of Science and Technology has announced that the holy month of Ramzan will commence on April 14 in Pakistan.
“The moon of Ramzan, 1442 AH will be sighted on the evening of April 13, 2021,” said the ministry in a tweet. “The first of Ramzan will be on April 14, 2021. The moon will be clearly sighted in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi.”
Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also shared the announcement on social media.
رمضان کا چاند 13 اپریل کی شام کو لاہور،اسلام آباد،پشاور سمیت کئ دیگر شہروں میں واضع طور پر دیکھا جاسکے گا اور چودہ اپریل کو پہلا روزہ ہو گا۔ خدا یہ رمضان سب کیلئے رحمت اور برکت کا باعث کرے آمین https://t.co/d0DXRoRQaw
Chaudhry has been a vocal critic of the old-fashioned and outdated moon-sighting procedure, arguing that Pakistan should opt for science and technology to follow the moon cycle. He often clashed with the Ruet-e-Hilal committee on this.
In December, last year the government appointed Moulana Abdul Khabir Azad as the new head of the committee replacing Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus has resigned from her post amid growing criticism for holding dual citizenship.
“Growing criticism is a distraction to my ability to execute on the long-term vision for a Digital Pakistan. It is unfortunate that a Pakistani’s desire to serve Pakistan is clouded by such issues,” said Tania, who holds Canadian and Singaporean nationality, in her resignation letter.
Criticism levied towards the state as a consequence of my citizenship status is clouding the purpose of Digital Pakistan. In the greater public interest, I have submitted my resignation from the SAPM role. I will continue to serve my country and the PM’s vision to my best ability pic.twitter.com/BWBvBvO6uz
Furthermore, she stated that her Canadian nationality was a consequence of her birth and “not an acquisition of choice”.
TANIA&TAREEN:
According to media reports, appointments of Tania and Khurram Jamali, who formerly worked under Tania at Google, was facilitated by Jahangir Khan Tareen.
In April 2020 when the sugar scandal rose its ugly head and a subsequent probe into it led to the damning report that said Tareen prioritised his sugar mills over national interest, PM Imran Khan was disillusioned.
This led to a rift between the premier and Tareen, who, according to reports, are no longer on talking terms.
While Tareen has left the country for the time being and does not hold any direct or indirect power in the government, people cannot help drawing links between the rift and Tania’s resignation.
DIGITAL PAKISTAN INITIATIVE AND DIGITAL PAKISTAN FOUNDATIONCONFLICT:
Despite the existence of Digital Pakistan Initiative, Tania formed a nonprofit organisation called Digital Pakistan Foundation to attract foreign expatriates and talent to facilitate the digitisation process in Pakistan.
According to Tania, the government’s Digital Pakistan Initiative had no Federal Budget assigned to it, neither was it under the ambit of the Ministry of Information Technology (IT) or Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), leaving it stalled and dry.
However,reportssay, Shabahat Ali Shah, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National IT Board (NITB), and Tania were not getting along well since day one.
Both Shah and Tania were working for the IT Ministry and there had been an overlap of their work, leading to turf wars.
Taking advantage of Tania’s vulnerability, Shah allegedly want her sacked as the SAPM. To that end, the Digital Pakistan Foundation scandal was reportedly intentionally hyped up and leaked to a journalist, whose thread about the scandal was later picked up by various media outlets.
Credit goes to @ImranKhanPTI as #PM of #Pakistan for taking action whenever any wrong doing is pointed out. Top govt sources say contrary to what @taidrus claims as reason for resignation, she was asked to quit following unsatisfactory replies about making a private company pic.twitter.com/KoZDYgnRKn
Good to know that this Canadian Special Assisstant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan was asked to quit she never resigned volunteerly I am told one more resignation coming soon https://t.co/ITk3wdaiAC
Meanwhile, Tania says she will continue serving in Pakistan through public and private initiatives and will always be available for the cause of ‘Naya Pakistan’.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has opposed the ban on popular battle royale game, PUBG Mobile. In response to a tweet, he said: “I am against such bans because it is destroying our tech industry.”
He urged Syed Aminul Haque, who is currently serving as Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication, to take action to eliminate hindrances in the digital growth of our country.
Well I against all kinds of general bans, such attitude is killing tech industry we cannot afford such bans, I hope concerned minister @SyedAminulHaque ll take note of this ban and PTA ll be instructed not to encourage such bans as it hinders tech growth in the long run https://t.co/GiEcFpbzDN
PUBG Mobile was banned in Pakistan on 1st July after PTA received complaints from all quarters. PTA was later asked to explain the reasons behind the decision and submit a lawfully written order to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
In another hearing on 15 July in IHC presided by Justice Amir Farooq, the judge said, “PTA should have consulted with a psychologist to learn about the pros and cons of the game before the ban.”
Explaining the reasons behind the ban, PTA’s counsel said that the game includes anti-Islamic material as well as obscene content. In response, the judge said that there are numerous games with more violence than PUBG, however, it doesn’t mean banning everything is the solution.
Until now, youngsters have launched multiple social media campaigns to get the attention of PTA, Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, and other notable names to resolve the matter and unban the game.
