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Hina Parvez Butt of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Sharmila Faruqi of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) seem to be trading barbs over Twitter as fate of the joint opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) hangs in balance amid widening cracks.
While rumour has it that a deal has been struck, pundits believe that the PPP could soon be backstabbing the PML-N and other PDM member parties despite being on the same page to oust the government until a month ago.
Differences have cropped between the PPP and the PDM over the issue of resignations from the assemblies and also on the election of Sherry Rehman or Yousaf Raza Gilani as leader of the opposition in the Senate. Both the PPP and PML-N — two of the largest political parties that are a part of the anti-government alliance — have intensified lobbying to win maximum votes for the slot.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman have strongly opposed Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s idea and asked him to stick to the original agreement agreed upon in the PDM meeting according to which the alliance had to support Yousaf Raza Gilani for the slot of Senate chairman while the PML-N would get the slot of leader of the opposition.
With the gulf between PPP and its allies in the PDM growing, Chairman Bilawal has reportedly intensified contacts with like-minded opposition parties hinting at an independent opposition alliance in the making.
Amid reports of trade of barbs between Maryam and Bilawal, it has emerged that other party leaders are following suit.
“Selection does not run in our veins but then there are some who always were [selected],” PPP’s Faruqi tweeted in an apparent jibe at the PML-N, a day after Bilawal referred to a “family from Lahore that had always been selected [by the establishment to run the country]”.
She was reacting to a tweet by PML-N’s Parvez, who had called out an “aasteen ka saanp [an ally who betrays]”.
While the two did not take any names, the exchange falls conveniently in time for netizens to assume the insults were aimed at each other amid deteriorating ties.

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Pakistan ambassador in Colombo and a United Nations expert have expressed concerns over Sri Lanka’s proposed move to ban the wearing of burqas.
Last week, Sri Lanka announced plans to ban the wearing of burqas and said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security.
Pakistan’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Saad Khattak, tweeted the ban would “only serve as injury to the feelings of ordinary Sri Lankan Muslims and Muslims across the globe.”
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, tweeted that the “burqa bans are incompatible with [international] law guarantees of the right to manifest one’s religion or belief & of freedom of expression.”
On Saturday, Sri Lanka’s minister of public security, Sarath Weerasekara, called the burqa a sign of religious extremism and said it has a direct impact on national security.
Weerasekara signed a paper on Friday seeking Cabinet approval to ban burqas.
The wearing of burqas in Sri Lanka was temporarily banned in 2019 soon after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks on churches and hotels that killed more than 260 people in the Indian Ocean island nation.
Two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Daesh group, or Daesh, have been blamed for the attacks at six locations — two Roman Catholic churches, one Protestant church, and three top hotels.
Sri Lanka also plans to ban more than 1,000 religious seminaries, saying they are not registered with the authorities and do not follow the national education policy.
The decision to ban burqas and seminaries is the latest move affecting Sri Lanka’s minority Muslims they make up about 9 per cent of the 22 million people in Sri Lanka.

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The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MOITT) is testing options available for the immediate launch of 5G in Pakistan.
As per details, the ministry has tested seven bands to evaluate the adoption of 5G services like low bands, mid bands and high bands.
“The Government of Pakistan aims to launch 5G services in the country by December 2022. Having 5G at disposal will open avenues for investment. It will also accelerate the progress towards achieving the goal of ‘Digital Pakistan’,” said an official of the ministry.
Last year, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) permitted mobile operators to conduct tests and trials of 5G technology under a limited environment and non-commercial basis.
PTA has also issued a framework for the Test and Development of Future Technologies, particularly 5G wireless networks in Pakistan.
The rapid growth in the demand for mobile data traffic for a better broadband experience has led to an increasing emphasis on the upcoming fifth generation of mobile technologies.
International Mobile Technology (IMT) 2020 is much broader than the previous generation of mobile broadband communication systems. The IMT-2020 will be a cornerstone for all of the activities related to attaining the goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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