Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi was implicated in eight more cases related to the May 9 riots on Sunday.
Qureshi is currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail on multiple charges while also serving a 10-year sentence under the Official Secrets Act by a special court.
May 9 riots took place when PTI founder Imran Khan was arrested from the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC). Scores of PTI workers and senior leaders were imprisoned for involvement in violence and attacks on military installations in 2023.
Meher Bano Qureshi, a PTI leader and the daughter of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, took to X to condemn the action taken by Lahore Police saying, “After 281 days in jail l, as a consequence of a sham trial, Lahore Police has arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi in 8 cases related to 9th May incidents in Lahore. The arrest comes after he was interrogated by Lahore police yesterday. Incidentally, it’s a well-established and documented fact that my father was in Karachi on the 9th.”
Ebrahim Raisi is no more. Newspapers and various other outlets have published countless obituaries both coming from the tainted western lens and that of religiously coloured frame. I, on the other hand, want to present an account of listening to Raisi’s speech once and was inspired by the depth of his words and the resolution in his tone.
“If Israel violates the sovereignty of the Iranian state again, the reaction will be different and who knows the Zionist regime will not exist,” the one who said these words is now buried in a freshly dug grave in Mashhad but certainly not forgotten.
Ebrahim Raisi (1960-2024) said these words in front of the students and teachers at Government College University Lahore, my alma mater. It was surreal, to witness a head-of-state speak in the prestigious Bukhari Auditorium. While the security and arrangements made it all very unapproachable, when he arrived it was warm and almost palpable.
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LAHORE: April 23 – President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi shaking hand with students during his visit the Government College University (GC) Lahore. APP/MTF/MAF/TZD
April 23 was the day I went to the university after a long time, not just to attend an esteemed ceremony but also covering it for The Current. The day was bright and because it was a public holiday in the city, I reached GCU Lahore almost gliding through the air early in the day at 8:30 am.
A crowd of selected people, all ready to bear witness to history in the making could be seen under the gothic lady.
Although no gadget was allowed inside, I managed to grab a pen and paper and took notes of the speech which is a piece of literature in true sense of the word. References of Iqbal’s poetry with the messages of the reawakening of youth made it worth lending an ear to.
The Vice Chancellor started her address paying tribute to the resilient power and the great potential held by the land of Persians. In Allama Iqbal’s words. “Tehran ho gar Alam e Mahriq ka Geneva, Shayed Kurra-e-Arz ki Taqdeer badal jaye.” The verse implies that if Tehran becomes the Geneva of the East, the fate of the world will surely change.
It turned out that Iranian President Raisi was not just fully familiar with the work of our national poet but remembered him as Iqbal Lahori for his work in Persian. He was pleased to be present in the institution where Iqbal studied and taught; and to be in Lahore, the city from where the revolution against oppressive colonial rule started.
While he stressed about the hybridization of knowledge and faith as the key to success in life, he stressed on Iqbal being the best example as someone who combined both excellently. As he moved on, like an expert orator, he felt the pulse of the audience and drew a comparison between the East and West. We believe the people of the East are higher than that of the West because of how they understand the “creation of knowledge”, Raisi quoted the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He laid out his vision by saying, “The West is somehow trying to have a monopoly in the field of knowledge and Science, but we the people of East can change that.” He emphasised the role of universities in imparting a deeper understanding of the current situation and the pivotal role of faith along with seeking knowledge.
He substantiated his argument by pointing out how the West claims to have championed freedom of speech and human rights but the brutal ways with which University students setting up protests and encampments in Europe and America against Israeli occupation of Gaza are dealt with is a testimony to the innate contradiction between the claim and the practice.
“Today the liberation of Palestine is not just an issue of the Islamic world but of the world as well,” he said in a passionate tone and with this the audience was totally invested and they were applauding him even before the interpreter translated his words. Raisi predicted that hate is brewing in the hearts of people against United States and this Zionist regime in Palestinian territory and this will take revenge from them.
We are usually so used to of seeing leaders just chanting out popular things and hardly something literary Raisi gave the audience a minor jolt as he quoted 12th-century Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi precisely from the text Fusus ul Hikam where he brought up the killing of children by Pharaoh only to prevent the birth of Prophet Moses. However, Allah was with Moses. Meanwhile, the nation of Moses was being created. He said that the same will be translated with Israel killing Palestinian children relentlessly.
He spoke like a warrior, someone who has stayed resilient in the worst of pressure. “If you stand against our nation, we will stand against yours”, Raisi said affirmatively. As he moved towards the end he put an emphasis on the support of Palestine as the common point of relation between Pakistan and Iran.
Coming full circle, Raisi left his mark with his final words which I quoted in the beginning. There are problems and issues of governance in every state of the world but what stands out is the resilience and the will to face opposition with head held high. With his words, Raisi inspired students to stand tall in the worst of situations and stand on the right side of history. The memory will forever be etched in my mind.
Supreme Court’s Justice Mansoor Ali Shah has clarified his position regarding his name in the Dubai Leaks scandal, stating that he didn’t buy the Dubai property due to loss of investment there, The News reported on Saturday.
Dubai Unlocked — a six-month investigative project with reporters from 74 media outlets in 58 countries — in which 17,000 Pakistanis were made public who owned properties in the city with a combined value of around $11 billion.
Among the Pakistanis listed in the property leaks are President Asif Ali Zardari’s three children, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s wife, Sharjeel Memon and family members, Senator Faisal Vawda, Farah Gogi, Sher Afzal Marwat, four MNAs and half a dozen MPAs from the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies.
Justice Mansoor of SC’s name also appeared on the list for owning a property in the Maison Residence Collection in the downtown Jabal Ali area of Dubai.
Justice, in his defence, acknowledged having made the investment as a lawyer in 2009 but it failed to materialise due to the project not being completed and he lost his investments.
“My tax filings are done by AF Ferguson & Co., Lahore and if you desire, I can connect you with them for confirmation of the above,” the judge’s response read.
Bollywood star Rajkummar Rao fasts every Friday, continuing his late mother’s tradition of doing so, the actor has said.
Speaking about diet during a promotion event for his new film ‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’, Rao said, “I observe a fast on Fridays. It is something my mother would do for Santoshi Maa.”
He started the practice at 16 and it’s been a part of his life since then. Despite challenges, he sticks to the routine.
“Sometimes, I do not eat any meals, and sometimes, when I am working and I need to put in a lot of energy that day, I have one meal at night,” he explained.
A landmark law requiring permission from the first wife for a second marriage has been challenged in the Federal Shariat Court, Lahore.
Shehzada Adnan filed an application in the Registry through the mediation of an advocate.
The petition argued that the law requiring permission from the first wife for a second marriage is against Islam. According to the constitution, no law can be made against Islamic principles, and any law against Islam can be challenged in the Federal Shariat Court. The petition cited research indicating that ten million women above 35 years of age are waiting for marriage.
The petition requested that the court declare the law requiring permission from the first wife for a second marriage as un-Islamic.
Veteran Palestinian film director Rashid Masharawi was abroad when the Gaza war broke out last year, so he decided to hand over the camera to other filmmakers still inside the besieged territory.
“They are the story” of Masharawi’s project, which he presented at the Cannes Film Festival in France, more than seven months after the conflict erupted.
“They were fighting to protect their lives, their families, to search for food, for wood to make a fire,” said Masharawi.The result is a collection of short films called Ground Zero recounting the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and ensuing humanitarian disaster from the perspective of civilians on the ground.
In one, a mother displaced by the conflict plops her daughter in a large white bucket and, with a clean Turkish coffee pot, gently pours water over her to bathe her. In another, a man recounts his 24-hour ordeal under rubble after the building he was in collapsed.
Masharawi directed the 20 teams in Gaza from abroad – a process he described as “very, very, very difficult”. “Sometimes we needed to wait one week to 10 days just to be in contact with somebody, or just to have internet to upload material,” said Masharawi, who was born in Gaza.
At other times, teams were busy searching for a tent, finding insulin for a director’s mother, or “an ambulance to go and save some kids”. The films are part of several Palestinian tales screening at the festival, including Mehdi Fleifel’s Athens-set refugee drama To A Land Unknown.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to health ministry figures in the region. Thousands of miles away from the conflict, Israel’s pavilion in Cannes is promoting its filmmaking.
Palestinian cinema does not have its own tent at the event, but Algeria has made space for its filmmakers at the other end of the international market in Cannes.
“Our narrative and storytelling is more important than ever,” Norway-based Palestinian director Mohamed Jabaly said.He finished filming his latest project, Life is Beautiful, just before the war started. A close friend who shot the last scene of the film has not survived the war. “He was killed while waiting for food aid,” said Jabaly.
Munir Atallah, of US-based Watermelon Pictures, is hoping to bring the quirky family portrait to North American audiences, saying Palestinians have “for too long been shut out by the gatekeepers of the industry”.
One Palestinian who has already found viewers in the United States is Cherien Dabis, who made 2009 film Amreeka and co-directed hit Hulu series Ramy. But the shooting of her latest film – a historic epic – was disrupted by the Gaza war.
One of the crew on the ground in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah, Ala Abu Ghoush, has responded by making a documentary about the stalled project, which they are calling Unmaking Of. “The film is really asking the question: What is the importance of doing films and art in this kind of situation, in this war?” said Abu Ghoush.
American supermodel Bella Hadid used her platform at the Cannes Film Festival to show solidarity with her ancestral land, Palestine. She wore a vintage dress with a red and white chequered pattern, similar to the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf. The outfit was a powerful statement of support for the Palestinian people.
A bold representation of resilience The keffiyeh, a traditional headscarf from the Middle East, has become a strong symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance. Its unique pattern has been seen on famous people, protesters, and even in political settings around the world, showing support for Palestine.
In keeping with her heritage, Hadid whose father Mohamed Hadid is Palestinian, stepped out on the French Riviera donning an old Michael and Hushi outfit. Hadid has long been an advocate of the ‘Free Palestine’ cause.Hadid rocked a vintage dress made from traditional Palestinian keffiyeh fabric, complete with tassels, from the 2001 runway. She kept the look simple yet chic with red sandals, a hair scrunchie, tinted sunglasses, and gold hoops (earnings)Reposting a picture of the dress from the designer’s original post on her Instagram story, Hadid reaffirmed her support for Palestine with the caption “Free Palestine forever.”
In a new development, the driver who crushed two activists of the ‘Save Gaza’ campaign to death on Monday turned out to be a serving lieutenant of Pakistan Army and also the son of a brigadier.
The suspect has been handed over to the Military Police for legal proceedings, the police said on Friday.
Four people, including a police inspector, were also injured as the vehicle ran over the participants of a protest being held just outside the Red Zone in solidarity with Gaza.
Subsequently, a case was registered at the Kohsar police station under sections 322, 337-G, 427 and 279 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the driver.
Police said that the car involved in the accident was registered in the name of the suspect’s father.
After the driver’s arrest, his father reportedly also reached the police station and attempted to influence the police for the release of his son.
However, after the MP and other departments of the army learnt about the incident, they arrived at the police station and took custody of the lieutenant.
Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan has said while addressing a ceremony by Punjab Judicial Academy on Friday, “Beware of those who want to sow discord.”
He emphasised the need to avoid institutional confrontation because it would only weaken the institutions.
The Chief Justice emphasized that the “judiciary does not want a face-off” with any bar, institution, or government, however, “this gesture should be seen by all parties”.
Justice Shahzad stressed the legal fraternity not become the “B team” of any government, agency or institution, except for enhancing coordination to improve the system.
He further said that they will “respect everyone until the courts are given due honour, otherwise, no one should set high expectations”.
The CJ advised the judges, who completed their pre-service training course, to realise a big responsibility on them which demands them to work fearlessly, without accepting any pressure and greed.
‘Friendship Marriage’ is a new relationship trend that is gaining popularity in Japan.
Under this new type of marital relationship, people are becoming platonic partners without falling in love or having sex, as per South China Morning Post. A marriage agency called Colorus, which specialises in friendship marriage, shared data related to the new trend. Since March 2015, around 500 people in Japan have indulged in this type of marriage. They have formed households and some have even raised children, reports NextShark news agency.
In friendship marriages, partners are legally spouses but without romance or sexual intimacy. They are free to live together or separately. Couples can also decide to have children through artificial insemination. In this relationship, both individuals are also free to pursue romantic relationships with other people outside the marriage, as long as there is a mutual agreement.
Around one per cent of Japan’s population of 124 million are choosing this kind of relationship that is based on shared values and interests, the report added. They include asexual individuals, homosexuals, and heterosexuals who are disillusioned with traditional marriage.
People interested in this type of relationship are on average 32.5 years old with incomes exceeding the national average, reveals the data by Colorus. The trend is also becoming popular among asexual individuals and homosexuals trying to avoid traditional marriages.
