I don’t get it. Why would you send someone who could not choose his words to represent you with the Hazara community who are mourning a devastating loss? PM Khan has requested the Hazara families, who have not buried their murdered family members for the past four days, to bury their dead and said that he will come and meet them ‘very soon’. The families have been doing a sit-in in Quetta, requesting the PM to come and listen to their concerns. The PM sent his special assistant Zulfi Bukhari instead who asked the community members, ‘How will the PM benefit from coming to visit you?’ It really makes one’s heart break. This community that has faced such massive tragedy over the years, and they barely make the headlines. 

It might also be because our news is always so depressing that we turn to entertainment to make our lives feel a little better. In the past year, most of our followers have read entertainment stories, and it seems it’s because they want to escape — and not deal with the reality of what we live in. Our dramas are no less. They reflect what happens in our society but with such mirch masala that we can’t help watching it. Ashar and Ayesha break down what dramas are super hits this week. Oh and did you hear? Bigshot Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is making a movie about Lahore’s Heera Mandi and rumour has it that Alia Bhatt is playing the leading role. He might also be in talks with Aishwariya Rai and Deepika Padukone but one thing is for sure — it will be big. Although a good Bollywood movie makes for a great Saturday night, it kind of sucks that our history and culture is going to be shown in an Indian movie. We should be the ones making this movie — but then, have we given the space for a Pakistani Sanjay Leela Bhansali to grow?

Rumour also has it that the Pakistan Cricket Board has reportedly decided to remove Misbah-ul-Haq as the Pakistan cricket team’s coach and will bring in a foreign coach after the home series against South Africa and if you haven’t heard already, rumours online suggest that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are getting a divorce after seven years of marriage. 

No particular reason to smile today except this video of the Nawaz brothers and their take on Ahmed Shah’s viral video and as promised, the team got together to do a small New Year celebration yesterday. Here is a picture of all of us making a “C” for Current except only one of us actually managed to do a C. Spot the one who got it! 

Until tomorrow, 
Marium

Can I be honest and say that I could not watch ‘Ertugrul’? I started it but was so daunted by the five seasons that I stopped before I could get ahead. Two of our most-read stories today and yesterday are about Turkish dramas. Ertugrul’s Ozman Sirgood has a special message for actor Feroze Khan and Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry went to Turkey and visited the sets of ‘Kuruluş: Osman’ where he interacted with the actors of the Turkish historical series. When asked what went down on his visit, Fawad exclusively told us that he “discussed how to defeat PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement)”. Ha Ha! He is a funny one. 
What isn’t funny is that the head of police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has said that the mob that demolished a Hindu temple in Karak last week was able to destroy the religious site due to the “cowardice and negligence” of the policemen. They were incited by a cleric to go and destroy the temple. The families of the 11 miners who were killed In Balochistan this week are staging a protest on the streets, saying they will continue to do a sit-in, in the freezing cold, until the prime minister himself comes to Quetta to address their grievances, reminding him of his previous stance. 
Quetta might be sunny today but the province is incredibly cold. Karachi has some cloudy sunshine and rained out Lahore will not have any rain today unlike Islamabad where rain is expected. Lots of sun in Peshawar today though. Another one of our trending stories today has been the one detailing info on who morning show host Nadia Khan’s husband is. Her marriage this week made people believe in love again (and she looked truly happy). In Bollywood news, actor Urmila is not happy with actor Kangana Raunat who has come out and said that there are drug addicts in Bollywood. Urmila has challenged her to name them. I doubt she will name anyone, though no one will put that past Kangana who is quite capable to do so. One controversial and recently- arrested-by-NAB figure is PML-N’s Khawaja Asif. Want to know more about him? Watch this week’s ‘Know your Politician.’
I want to know more about you! Please write back and I plan to write a newsletter detailing about you guys — the ones who I speak to on a daily basis. Also, we are having a New Year office ‘party’ tomorrow (with masks and SOPs in place of course)! We haven’t seen each other in months since we have been working from home, so should be great fun! Will attach a picture of the event tomorrow!
Until then, stay honest!

Marium

You know what I really hate? Not knowing what will happen next. Take the weather for instance. Monday’s weather forecast had rain in Lahore during the day. It didn’t rain a bit and the cold lifted a bit but last night rain thundered and the cold set in my bones. Was not prepared for it. 
Students weren’t prepared for schools opening up this month, from Jan 18 onwards and the memes of Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood ‘betraying’ students are hilarious. I interviewed him when he made the decision to shut down schools due to the increase in coronavirus cases and he told me what his favourite meme was. An unexpected video of Maryam Nawaz went viral on social media as she video-called her granddaughter, asking her which toy she wanted. A social media troll got an unexpected response from Model Ayesha Omar when he criticised her choice of clothing and actor Sarah Khan did the same with someone who criticised her over her father’s death. What has the world come to when people just won’t let other people be? And it’s not like things are great across the border. Singer Diljit Dosanjh had to share proof of his Indian citizenship because people were criticising him for supporting the farmers’ protests in India.
The most expected and ‘better late than never’ was the news that the Lahore High Court declared that the “two finger test and hymen test carried out” to find out if a female victim of rape or sexual abuse is a virgin or not was against the constitution of Pakistan. I mean, really? The fact that this ruling is declared in the first week of 2021 is disturbing to say the least and shocking that such a law did in fact, still exist. 
An old video of comedian Moin Akhtar surfaced recently where he interviewed Indian actor Dilip Kumar when Kumar visited Pakistan in 1998. Sometimes when you look back at Pakistan, you wonder, when did such things happen? What was it like when the Beatles visited Pakistan, or Neil Armstrong? What was it like to be that free? I wonder and although I hate not knowing what happens next, I do hope we go back to being a carefree, inclusive and perhaps, less obsessed with virginity society once again. In case you were wondering, It is SUPPOSED to rain during the day in Lahore and Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi are cloudy and Quetta is chilly — but with plenty of sun. 

Stay warm!
Marium

Tragedy hit Pakistan on Sunday as 11 coal miners were shot dead in the Mach area of Balochistan after they were kidnapped and taken to a nearby field. Initial investigation reveals that the miners belonged to the Shia Hazara community and that is why they were targeted. PM Imran has condemned the incident as the government tries to find out how and why it happened. Although it is difficult to begin our Monday morning with such difficult news, it is important for us to remember that all is not yet well. Today also marks 10 years since former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated. A man whose life was taken because he stood with the minorities of our country. A difficult day indeed.
Karachi saw one of the coldest mornings in ten years two days ago. Lahore is freezing with rain today and so are Islamabad and Peshawar. Quetta and Karachi have sunshine but it’s fake, isn’t it? Might seem nice and warm but when you step out, you get a nice, cold surprise. 
Former television programme host Nadia Khan surprised her fans by getting married and people can’t get enough of her shaadi pictures. She also got into a very ‘not needed’ controversy with people asking if it was her second or third marriage. Does it matter? She looks happy and frankly, that’s all that should matter. Two of our most read stories this weekend were Bollywood related. Shahrukh Khan promises his fans a surprise in 2021 and Deepkia Padukone deleted all her Instagram posts, leaving an audio message behind. If you’re interested in more quirky things, ever wondered how Chinese soldiers keep their posture so straight? Here are rare photos that reveal the ‘unseen side of things’. It’s a day of reflection for us, and to begin the week on a sombre note is tough. Mushkil hota hai yeh realise karna kay humare mulk mai hamesha kuch na such ghalat ho raha hota hai, like our trigger-happy police. Is it really that bad ya aap kaheingay kay yeh tou dunya kay har mulk mai hota hai? For me the biggest surprise will be when I check out news websites and find headlines that don’t make me feel sad. What about you?

See you tomorrow,
Marium

Quetta is probably the coldest city today but it has plenty of sunshine. The rest of our major cities — oh boy, here comes either rain or sad clouds. In our morning mood poll on our Instagram handle (@thecurrentpk) yesterday more than 400 people voted that they were not getting out of bed. Sunday will prove to be the same.
If today’s the day you plan to keep scrolling on your phone, Saman’s review of Netflix’s Bridgerton is a must read because it doesn’t matter if you’re married or single, the arranged shaadi in Bridgerton is the marriage we all want. Yesterday’s viral video of a Saudi billionaire marrying her Pakistani driver was super controversial — is it true or not? The major political debate was about Prime Minister Imran Khan saying that there is nothing wrong with ‘taking U-turns’ if they don’t compromise your ideology. The problem with feeling so cold is that you really want something to pick you up. Maybe brave it, like Ashar and check out Yasil Al Luab, a restaurant in Lahore which promises authentic shawarma. Or if you need something to heal you, maybe you’ll learn something from Urooj’s visit to the Samadhi of Bhai Vasti Ram, who was Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s spiritual leader and renowned for his medicinal skills. Watch the video for a tour of the monument and how stories of his healing power and spirituality spread around Punjab. Or maybe the feel good story of the Pakistani origin doctor who wiped away $650,000 debt of 200 cancer patients in the US or if a local feel is what you’re looking for, check out our video of the people who made a major difference in Pakistan in 2020. If nothing is going to work, and nothing will get you out of bed, perhaps convince someone to get you garam chai while you stay cosy. And also reflect, like I have been, on how awkward it will be to actually meet and interact with people ‘normally’ once COVID is over. Would it be the same? Or would they (or you) have changed? Now that’s something heavy to think about while lying cozy in your bed on this rather dreary Sunday morning.

Till tomorrow!
Marium

We need to celebrate today. The beginning of the year always signals one thing — hope. Hope that there will be something better ahead.  Islamabad and Karachi are celebrating today with heaps of sunshine, and Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta are cold and cloudy today. I would like the students on this list to celebrate because the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has introduced a new degree attestation portal in a bid to make the process easier for students and Fahad shows you how to use it, with some hacks to help speed up the process. To be grateful for what we have, we sometimes come across stories of heartbreak. I felt awful for former religious scholar Aamir Liaquat’s first wife, Bushra Iqbal, who says that Aamir divorced her over the phone because of his second wife. The Karachi police have revealed that they received almost 800, 000 bogus calls in 2020 and what was 2020 in Pakistan like for politics and sports? And lets not forget the blunders our celebrities made this year. Although it makes my head hurt, watching what they’ve done, you can’t stop watching it either. A Current exclusive Senator Faisal Javed Khan says that cricketer Muhammad Asif is falsely accusing him of interference in PCB affairs. Why is this Faisal story a cause to celebrate? Because as I write this, having founded The Current almost two years ago, I am grateful. I have cause to celebrate with a team that goes out of its way to get stories, come up with creative ideas and loves to hang out with each other. That is, as any working professional knows, an ideal workplace and I have it. I am grateful that despite being a new platform, we are growing really fast. Our most watched interview this year hit more than 600,000 views on YouTube alone. We worked with the Facebook Journalism Project and managed to work from home (which if you have done, you know is very difficult). We won a huge Google award, the first by a Pakistani digital journalism startup, giving us countless reasons to celebrate. For me, I think my work, hot chocolate and a good book might suffice. Here is one of my favourite bookgram’s list of the best books of 2020 or check out the list of the best upcoming artists in Pakistan.
This year we have big plans. Plans that have been supported and funded by Google, plans that are outrageous and we are determined to execute them. But we can’t do them without your support. We will need your help and we look forward to listening to your feedback and asking you what you think. We would love to meet up, be it online or in person and hope we can soon. Until then I hope you have an amazing year and most of all, thank you for being a part of us. Here’s to getting many more reasons to celebrate this year, together.

There is no doubt that this has been a difficult year for us. We might be enjoying some cool sunshine today in all major cities of Pakistan thinking, it’s the 31st today. Where did this year go? I don’t think I would be wrong to say that food saved us this year. It feels like everyone cooked, baked, ate and passed the time hoping to survive. Survive we did but what does next year hold? For The Current’s team it was a variety of food: Saman ate ice cream from a local Lahore shop Frostis, Urooj ate French fries (she always does), Ayesha had chicken chili dry,  Amna survived on chocolate and our food reviewer lived on dumba karahi. 2020 left us all uncertain about the future and hum subh nay khoob kahaya, kay chalo kuch tou karein. Nawaz Sharif came under severe criticism for eating pizza and roaming around London and seems like if he isn’t back before Feburary, he won’t be having any Pakistani pizza either. I ate a lot watching Pakistani dramas this year and here is the list of the highest viewed Pakistani drama episodes in 2020 and obviously Meray Paas Tum Ho made the cut. A few new dramas came out this week and Ashar and Ayesha tell you if they are worth the watch. One of our most commented on stories today is that the international furniture brand ‘IKEA’ is coming to Pakistan – sparking the debate: should we make and promote our own furniture instead? I have to admit there was a lot to smile about this year too, news that made us Pakistanis proud, including the eight Pakistani women who are among the world’s 100 most outstanding nurses and midwives. The government has given a go-ahead to purchase a million vaccines that will cover the frontline health workers first – in early 2021. Good things at the beginning of 2021 and drama star Srha Asghar ended her year by getting married in a simple Nikkah ceremony . It’s early in the morning but I’m sure you’ve decided how you are going to spend your New Years Eve. Reply to this newsletter and let us know! Would love to hear from you. 
Marium

P.S. I lived on chicken biryani – the ultimate comfort food.

She is an author, parliamentarian and a diplomat, worked as a professional journalist for 20 years. She also worked closely with the late Benzair Bhutto. Here is what else you need to know about her.

#100MostHandsomeFacesOf2020 is trending on Twitter and people are tweeting pictures of their favourite celebrities, politicians and stars. Here are a few faces that have been nominated by social media users for the title. Kuch Twitter users ko lagta hai kay Prime Minister Imran Khan is one of the most handsome faces of 2020.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif was arrested on Tuesday by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from Islamabad, a spokesperson for the bureau and PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed.

A video of American social media star Ricky L. Pond grooving to Shakar Wandaan Re with his son has gone viral on social media. The song is from the film Ho Mann Jahaan featuring Mahira Khan, Sheheryar Munawar and Adeel Hussain.