Tag: Pakistan

  • Kabhi haan, kabhi na; Gandapur to attend SIFC meeting after all

    Kabhi haan, kabhi na; Gandapur to attend SIFC meeting after all

    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has said that he will attend the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) meeting in Islamabad today after receiving an invitation from the federal government, The News reported on Saturday.

    “Yes, surely, I will represent my province in the SIFC meeting,” replied Gandapur when he was asked about whether he would attend the meeting or not.

    Earlier, the KP government had strongly criticised the federal government for apparently ditching CM Gandapur.

    “Ignoring the province and its people from their representation in the Special Investment Facilitation Council is a great injustice to this province,” said KP government’s spokesperson Barrister Saif.

    The SIFC meeting will be chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif at PM House today.

    The country’s top civil and military leadership, federal ministers and chief secretaries would attend the meeting.

  • National Highway Authority increases toll tax

    The National Highway Authority (NHA) has issued a notification on increase in toll tax.

    According to the notification, toll tax for cars has been increased from Rs 30 to Rs 40, for wagons from Rs 50 to Rs 70, and for buses from Rs 100 to Rs 130.

    The toll tax for articulated trucks has been increased from Rs 250 to Rs 350, an increase of Rs 100.

    The toll tax on the Lahore to Abdul Hakeem Motorway (M3) has been increased to Rs 500 for cars, Rs 750 for wagons, and Rs 2,500 for trucks.

    On the Faisalabad to Multan Motorway (M4), the toll tax for cars has been increased to Rs 650, for wagons to Rs 1,000, and for trucks to Rs 3,200.

    The toll tax on the M5 motorway has been fixed at Rs 900 for cars, Rs 1,300 for wagons, and Rs 4,500 for trucks.

  • Panicked govt brought students back from Kyrgyzstan over fake news, says journalist Azaz Syed

    Panicked govt brought students back from Kyrgyzstan over fake news, says journalist Azaz Syed

    Journalist Azaz Syed in his political talk show ‘Talk Shock’ recently revealed that the government of Pakistan spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring back students from Kyrgyzstan over “fake news and propaganda” while no other country did that.

    Syed said, “A panic spread over social media over fake news due to which students got scared and the government also panicked even though the Pakistani Ambassador over there insisted that students are safe.”

    “PM Shehbaz ordered the evacuation plan for students due to which 12 chartered planes were organized,” said The News journalist.

    Azaz added that the government government paid fines for the few illegal migrants that were present in Kyrgyzstan. “More than four thousand people returned and many of them had no money to travel further in Pakistan or to eat, so the government made those arrangements as well.”

    Azaz noted, “All of this over fake news. Look at India, their embassy released a press release for students to stay there because there are no threats. Almost 19,000 Indian students are present there and multiple other foreign citizens were also there and none of them returned.”

    He further said that most of the Pakistani students who returned “were in their initial study years while those doing their house job or final exams before graduation are still there.”

    “How will the returned students continue their studies now?” asked Azaz Syed.

    Fakhar Durrani, another senior journalist with The News, stated, “There was intense pressure on the government by PTI propaganda online that they completely panicked.”

  • Humaima Malick and Shaan Shahid set to sparkle on-screen again

    Humaima Malick and Shaan Shahid set to sparkle on-screen again

    Superstar Shaan Shahid’s new spy thriller movie, ‘Red, White, and Green,’ will feature his old co-star Humaima Malick, as per an Instagram story shared by the ‘Legend of Maula Jatt’ actress.

    Shaan is going to direct and act in a new movie about spy agencies in Pakistan and the US. He’ll star alongside Humaima, Mohib Mirza, and Uzma Khan. We don’t know when it’s coming out yet, but fans are excited for Shaan’s comeback.

    It’s the second time he’s teaming up with Humaima and Mohib after their work together in ‘Arth’ back in 2017.’

    Arth’ was quite different, focusing on love, betrayal, and self-discovery. Shaan played Ali, who gets involved with Humaima’s character, Umaima, while Mohib’s character, Umer, supports Ali’s wife.

    ‘Arth’ wrapped up with a positive vibe, telling a touching story about love, betrayal, and finding redemption. It showed how important it is to respect yourself and grow personally. Now, we’re waiting to see if ‘Red, White, and Green’ can capture that same hopeful feeling with its mix of action and drama.

  • No foul play in Raisi chopper crash: Iran

    No foul play in Raisi chopper crash: Iran

    Iran’s army has so far found no evidence of suspicious activity in a helicopter crash that killed the country’s president Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, state media reported.

    President Raisi, 63, along with his entourage died on Sunday after his helicopter went down in the country’s mountainous northwest while returning from a dam inauguration on the border with Azerbaijan.

    “No bullet holes or similar impacts were observed on the helicopter wreckage,” said a preliminary report by the general staff of the armed forces published by the official IRNA news agency late on Thursday evening.

    “The helicopter caught fire after hitting an elevated area,” it said, adding that “no suspicious content was observed during the communications between the watch tower and the flight crew”.

    Raisi’s helicopter had been flying on a “pre-planned route and did not leave the designated flight path” before the crash.

    The report said the wreckage of the helicopter had been found by Iranian drones early on Monday but the “complexity of the area, fog and low temperature” hindered the work of search and rescue teams.

    The army said “more time is needed” to investigate the crash and that it would announce more details later.

    Raisi was laid to rest in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday, concluding days of funeral ceremonies in major cities of Iran, including the capital, attended by throngs of mourners.

    Among the people killed in the incident was Foreign Min­ister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who was also buried on Thursday, in the town of Shahre Ray, south of Tehran.

  • PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry blames awaam for always abandoning political leaders

    PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry blames awaam for always abandoning political leaders

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senator Talal Chaudhry recently castigated the people of Pakistan for abandoning political leaders throughout history such as Zulifqar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and even Imran Khan.

    Chaudhry stated on Azaad Urdu’s podcast, “The people used to say that if something happened to Bhutto, the Himalayas would cry. The day Bhutto was hanged, the people went to work the next day.”

    He further said, “The people told Nawaz Sharif ‘Qadam Barhao, ham tumhare saath hain’ (Step up, we are with you) and when he [Nawaz Sharif] did – he became a hijacker [Sharif’s conviction in 2000 Musharraf’s Plane Hijacking case] but people went to work.”

    Similarly, he said “Then the same people claimed, ‘Imran Khan is our redline.’ He is now inside [prison] and the people are at work.”

    The PML-N senator then blamed the PTI government for their past behaviour of not engaging with political leaders and opposition when they [PML-N] wanted a charter of the economy.

    Social media reactions were mostly critical of senator’s views.

  • Islamic scholar Assim Al-Hakeem comes to Khan’s defense

    Islamic scholar Assim Al-Hakeem comes to Khan’s defense

    In an interesting Twitter clash, renowned Saudi cleric Assim Al-Hakeem clapped back at an X user when he posted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s picture showing him apparently prostrating at a shrine and asked the Islamic scholar whether the act was shirk in Islam.

    The scholar criticised the intent behind posting the picture and stated, “When one sees such a photo which is about 8 years old, one knows that the motive behind such a question is political and not religious.”

    Al-Hakeem further wrote, “You should fear Allah and when you hate someone, fight like a man and not use such dirty cheap tactics, trying to use Islam and religious rulings to support your party when you yourself most likely don’t even know the basics of Islam nor care about Islam or even the county!”

    The user later shared on X that the scholar had blocked him.

  • Hamad Azhar, Mian Aslam to lead PTI in Punjab: Omar Ayub

    Hamad Azhar, Mian Aslam to lead PTI in Punjab: Omar Ayub

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Omar Ayub said on Thursday that PTI founding chairman Imran Khan has given responsibility to PTI leaders, including Hamad Azhar and Mian Aslam, to lead the party in Punjab.

    While talking to journalists on Thursday outside Adiala jail, Omar Ayub revealed that Hamad Azhar and Mian Aslam met the founder PTI in Adiala jail, adding that the party trusts them and always backs them. He stated that Hamad Azhar and Mian Aslam are committed and loyal party workers.

    The opposition leader blamed Shehbaz Sharif’s government for the violence in Azad Kashmir.

  • SIFC ditches CM Gandapur and he’s not happy about it

    SIFC ditches CM Gandapur and he’s not happy about it

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has strongly criticised the federal government for not inviting KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to the upcoming apex committee session of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif summoned the SIFC’s session at 11:45 am on May 25. KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was not invited to the meeting.

    Chief Ministers of all other provinces have been invited to the SIFC meeting except Gandapur.

    KP government’s spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif condemned the federal government, saying that the “Form 47 government of Shehbaz Sharif” showed bias towards the province.

    Earlier this month, CM Gandapur had come down hard on the federal government, warning of a strong reaction if the Centre failed to give an exact timeframe for resolving the province’s core issues.

  • Journalist Nasrullah Gadani dies days after gunshot wounds

    Journalist Nasrullah Gadani dies days after gunshot wounds

    Nasrullah Gadani, a local journalist of Ghotki who was injured in an assassination attempt four days ago, has died in a private hospital in Karachi on Friday.

    After getting shot thrice on Tuesday, he was transferred to Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.

    Journalists have expressed anger while people blocked the National Highway in front of the SSP office in protest against the assignation attempt on the journalist.

    According to Geo news, demonstrators chanted slogans against the police.

    Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah and Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have expressed sorrow over the tragic demise of Gadani.